Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is a nightmare dressed as a daydream—specifically the dream of glamour and fame.
From just the comparison titles for this book, I was hooked. “Yellowjackets meets She Is a Haunting”—what more could you possibly ask for? Then that stunning cover burst onto the scene and I knew I needed this book in my life.
Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is a truly arresting book as it stopped me dead in my tracks and took over my brain completely. This is a sapphic YA horror dripping with blood, sweat, and tears in a very literal sense. It has sequences that burrowed their way into my head and have not left since. Cheng excels at creating this atmospheric, suspenseful tone that oozes unease and tension. Every page feels like a knife edge. Right from that opening scene, you know this is not going to be a book that holds back.
Sunny is a brilliant protagonist. Instantly, her voice is so fragile and endearing, while there is also the sense of more than a few buried secrets hidden within her narrative. She had the fall from grace and superstardom. Trying to piece her life back together and live up to the harsh expectations placed upon her by her mother is tough. This training camp appears as a lifeline for her, but what is she truly willing to sacrifice to reach the top again? That question of what lengths you will go to in order to achieve what you want is a central one of the book.
Cheng leaves us in messy ethical territory often, with clear-cut answers not quite surfacing. This is a book revelling in the darkness between and the simmering rage of it all.
The focus on the K-Pop stardom machine is fantastic. Cheng infuses the story with an excellent exploration of the commercial machine exploiting these young people for their glimpse of stardom. All of the fantastical elements are well-executed, but could also double for the trauma inflicted on our characters. We explore this concept of celebrity culture, particularly Idol culture, through two timelines—the band and TV show and the present day training camp. Sunny, Candie, and Mina all experience very different impacts of this culture and watching that unfold was fascinating, but also nauseating.
There is a particular scene about midway through that really cements the real-life horrors Cheng is weaving into the more conceptual ideas and classic conventions of the genre. Trying to unpick the truth of what really happened between those three was something that kept me absolutely glued to the pages. I also think Cheng captured that essence of teenage friendships so well, particularly in this unique pressure cooker of a situation. When you add in complex dynamics and the exploring of sexualities as well, it builds a vivid and nuanced picture that is not quite as you first expected. Cheng delves into some heavy and impactful issues, so please check trigger warnings before reading. However, these felt like they were handled with sensitivity and care.
It all builds into an explosive final third, where the action is top notch and the twists come thick and fast. You have the past and the present collide in spectacular ways, which also nod to the throughline of battling your own traumas. It leaves you with more than a few questions, which I would expect to be explored further in the sequel. That ending was fantastic and Cheng’s continuation is a must-have for me.
Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is a fantastic exploration of the true cost of fame, where there will be blood.
Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Yellowjackets meets She Is a Haunting in this debut speculative thriller that follows a disgraced teen idol who comes face-to-face with the demons of her past in a glittering, cutthroat K-pop competition.
After a shocking scandal that abruptly ended her teen popstar career, eighteen-year-old Sunny Lee spends her days longing for her former life and cyberstalking her ex-BFF and groupmate, Candie. The two were once inseparable, but that was then—before the tragedy and heartache they left in their wake.
In the here and now, Sunny is surprised to discover that Candie is attending a new K-pop workshop in her hometown. Candie might be there chasing stardom, but Sunny can’t resist the chance to join her and finally confront their traumatic history. Because she still can’t figure out what happened that horrible night when Mina, the third in their tight-knit trio, jumped to her death. Or if the dark and otherworldly secrets she and Candie were keeping had something to do with it . . .
But the workshop doesn’t bring the answers Sunny had hoped for, nor a happy reunion with Candie. Instead, Sunny finds herself haunted by ghostly visions while strange injuries start happening to her competitors—followed by even stranger mutilations to their bodies. In her race to survive, Sunny will have to expose just who is behind the carnage—and if Candie is out for blood once more—in Linda Cheng’s spellbinding sapphic thriller that will have readers screaming and swooning for more.
