Title: Kiss Slay Replay
Author: Rachel Harrison
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: September 1, 2026
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Horror
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Don’t be fooled by the cutesey (but bloody) cover — Kiss Slay Replay is not a light-hearted romp with a hint of horror. Instead, it’s a full-on horror nightmare, with an interesting mix of introspection and terror.

What’s worse than going to your best friends’ wedding, months after calling off your own wedding just three weeks in advance and then living in a quagmire of what-ifs, regrets, and second guessing? All of the above, but with slaughter!

Willa is dreading the wedding weekend, despite its charming rural lakeside location in the Hudson Valley. She’s happy for Steph and Jace, but being there will mean being with her college best friends, all of whom, some ten years later, seem to have found happiness and meaning in their lives. Meanwhile, Willa has just ended her own long-term relationship, feels isolated and directionless and questions every decision she’s made, and has to not only go celebrate her friends’ marriage, but also see her ex at the wedding.

She knows her friends are running out of patience with her, despite how much they love her. She just needs to get her act together long enough to get through the weekend. The rustic setting is gorgeous — a wedding venue that was once the location of a lakeside summer camp. (Uh oh…) When Willa escapes into the woods to give herself a break from the wedding intensity, she sees a strange masked man in the distance… or does she? Maybe the stress and alcohol are getting to her. Maybe she’s seeing things.

She isn’t. What feels like a typical horror movie scenario unfolds. The masked man is a terrifying slasher who attacks the wedding (where, of course, there’s no cell reception, no one is armed, and everyone is too drunk to defend themselves). It’s awful… and (not really a spoiler) ends with Willa herself being murdered.

Except not. Because after a painful death, Willa wakes up back in her own bed, fully aware of everything that just happened. But when she checks her phone, it’s Friday again — the day she woke up and drove to the wedding. Checking in with her friends, she allows herself to be convinced that she had an incredibly vivid nightmare, and sets off for the wedding… only to arrive and see how it’s all exactly the same as it was in her supposed dream.

But things don’t go exactly the same way… and I won’t go into further detail, other than to say that Willa is really and truly caught in a time loop, and that each new version of the wedding day features a brand new type of carnage, mayhem, and death.

Kiss Slay Replay is the trippiest of time loop stories. I’ve read a bunch with a rom-com focus, which this most assuredly is not. Instead, Willa experiences horror trope after horror trope, but in a visceral, terrifying way, always ending in her painful, sometimes disgusting death, as well as the deaths of all of her friends. Stuff of nightmares for sure!

At the same time, Willa is deeply mired in the self-doubt and inner paralysis stemming from her break-up. She knew things with Ravi weren’t working, and hadn’t been for a long time. Calling off the wedding was the right thing to do — but she feels that she’s come adrift in her own life, and sees no point in anything. Starting over is awful. Feeling like a burden to her supportive friends makes her tired and upset. As her friend Cass tells her, the only way out is through… but Willa can’t see her life ever truly changing or how things will get better.

When will I know if I’ve made it out of the loop? At the stroke of midnight? Tomorrow morning? Never? Am I going to spend the next week, month, year, the rest of my life waiting for another monster to show up? Wondering what horror lurks in the shadows?

It occurs to me, that’s actually not so different from how I’ve been living Preemptively experiencing misery. Ye of little faith.

The time loop horror serves as a bloody representation of Willa’s inner life. Give up, or fight? Persevere, even though every day is terrible? Can she hide from the horror, or will it find her anyway? What if this is all life is?

The introspective moments in no way slow down the momentum of Kiss Slay Replay. From the moment I started, I simply couldn’t put it down. At first, I assumed each time loop would bring back the slasher, which I was kind of dreading, as slasher movies/books are not my favorites by a long shot. But no — while each day unveils some fresh hell, none of the horror scenarios repeat. Each is horrifying and terrifying in its own way. And while it’s amazing that Willa doesn’t just give up, we also get a vivid example of what happens on a day when she decides not to go to the wedding. (Hint: It’s not good).

Rachel Harrison’s novels are always a delight, and she never fails to produce a twisted take on what might at first glance seem like a familiar horror sub-genre (witches, haunted houses, vampires, and more). This author is a masterful storyteller, and her unique characters and premises make for compelling reads, every single time.

Kiss Slay Replay is not for the faint of heart, obviously. But if you enjoy horror and want something that will hook you from start to finish, don’t miss this newest (terrifying) gem.

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