I wish more people actually gave a f*** about black girls instead of dismissing their pain. Black girls shouldn’t be easily forgettable and this novel boldly ensures that we have a chance to be remembered.

Liselle Sambury has crafted not only one of the best YA novels I’ve read, but also the best psychological thriller/horror I’ve read since The Between by Tananarive Due. Fat-phobia, abuse, child neglect, are a few of the numerous topics that the author dives into. The alternating dual POV between Brittney and Daisy provides the reader with a present and past timeline that uncovers what happened to a black Jane Doe at an alleged haunted mansion in Canada. The book’s slow pacing is the perfect buildup as the mystery unravels and the writing gives an intimate look at how trauma can travel through generations. 

Daisy, Grace, and Ivy are all victims whose trauma has transformed them in different ways. Too often black women’s pain is minimized for the benefit of others. Some of us scream like Daisy, some hide behind wide grins like Ivy, or some seek revenge like Grace. Our responses to whatever we’ve had to endure get overlooked or demonized. Not all of us get the luxury of having a Brittney, Jayden, or Kingsley do everything they can to protect us or amplify our voices. It is unexplainable how freeing it is when we are actually seen and heard. 

The modern gothic-like ambience is unsettling and the visual descriptions induce fright, but the true horror is the  overarching theme that monsters in real life are closer to us than we think. It reminds us that our pain is only a chapter and not the whole book, therefore we have the power to turn the page and get the ending we deserve. Frightening, emotional, and visceral, Delicious Monsters is the perfect blend of the supernatural and our sordid reality.