Scream All Night by Derek Milman - Blog Tour, Review, Excerpt, & Giveaway

I'm very excited to welcome you all to my leg of the Scream All Night blog tour, hosted by Rockstar Book Tours!  Today, you'll find the details and summary for this novel, my review, an excerpt, an about the author, Derek Milman, a giveaway, and the blog tour schedule.  Thanks for visiting my stop on this blog tour!

About the Book:

Title: SCREAM ALL NIGHT

Author: Derek Milman

Pub. Date: July 24, 2018

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 400

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible, B&N, iBooks, TBD

A darkly hilarious contemporary realistic young adult novel about growing up and finding your place in the world, perfect for fans of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Running With Scissors.

Dario Heyward knows one thing: He’s never going back to Moldavia Studios, the iconic castle that served as the set, studio, and home to the cast and crew of dozens of cult classic B-horror movies. It’s been three years since Dario’s even seen the place, after getting legally emancipated from his father, the infamous director of Moldavia’s creature features.

But then Dario’s brother invites him home to a mysterious ceremony involving his father and a tribute to his first film—The Curse of the Mummy’s Tongue. Dario swears his homecoming will be a one-time visit. A way for him to get closure on his past—and reunite with Hayley, his first love and costar of Zombie Children of the Harvest Sun, a production fraught with real-life tragedy—and say good-bye for good. But the unthinkable happens—Dario gets sucked back into the twisted world of Moldavia and the horrors, both real and imagined, he’s left there.

With only months to rescue the sinking studio and everyone who has built their lives there, Dario must confront the demons of his past—and the uncertainties of his future. But can he escape the place that’s haunted him his whole life?

My Review: 

❋ ❋ ❋ ❋ ❋

I received an ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Scream All Night by Derek Milman was one of my most anticipated YA debuts and luckily for me it was an absolute delight to read. I can honestly say that this is one of the most original YA novels I've had the opportunity to read - and it was exactly up my alley. If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I talk quite a bit about the horror host Svengoolie and the movies that he shows on MeTV. Long story short, but I'm a fan of cult classic B-horror movies and it's fun to chat with other fans. Anyway, I've never read a YA novel so prominently featuring these types of movies and the behind scenes work on them, but Milman does a remarkable job of bringing a dose of unsettling and absurdist dark humor to his standalone YA contemporary set in a horror film studio about a very dysfunctional family. The author also does a brilliant job of bringing all of the characters to life from Dario, Oren (a total scene stealer), Jude, Hayley, the crew, and even those that don't have a lot page time still bring a good deal to bear on the story and the core cast. I loved that all of the characters manage to feel incredibly real, if flawed and a little strange. They feel like people you could actually meet who are doing their best to figure out where they truly belong in the world. Dario's arc over the course of the novel is quite rewarding begins to sort out his priorities. Plus, the setting is totally awesome and crucial to the story - I'd don't know about you, but I'd love to explore Moldavia Castle.

Overall, Scream All Night by Derek Milman is a uniquely original must-read YA debut. I couldn't get enough of his brand of contemporary and I couldn't stop turning the pages. I was truly invested in Dario's story and watching him grow and come into his own. Like our cast, I also felt completely immersed in the insular bubble that is the studio. Seriously, this book has everything I love from fantastic characters, the mother of all dysfunctional families, a great setting and excellent world-building, a decent emotional gut punch of a backstory, laugh out loud dark comedy, and plenty of references and tidbits to keep us horror fans satisfied. Basically, you need Derek Milman's debut in your life. I'm dying to see what he'll come up with next!

Thanks again, Edelweiss!  I read this ARC from July 14 - 16, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.


Excerpt: 

Chapter 1: Return to Moldavia

Slightly before dinner, Keenan House, the group home where I live, gets a call that my homosexual exorcism is scheduled to take place next Thursday at four.

“But I’m not homosexual. And I’m not possessed,” I say to Len, my counselor.

“You sure?” says Len. He cracks open a PBR and takes a long, gurgling sip.

“Bet you’re both,” says my roommate, Jude, lacing up his boxing gloves.

“Actually,” says Len, belching, softly punching his gut, “I think it’s your brother calling.”

Oren. Of course.

Late-afternoon sunlight smears across the cinder-block walls through broken, yellowed blinds. I throw down my graphic novel, which I was actually half enjoying, and roll out of my sagging lower bunk with a groan. I walk down the hall and grab the phone.

“Why are you calling me?”

“’Cause I know you have lots of homo demons inside you,” says Oren, stifling one of his loud, chirpy laughs. “And I thought maybe it was time for a devil cleanse.”

“Uh-huh.” I hear projected voices in the background—like announcements on a PA or something. “Where are you?”

“Hospital.”

“What?”

“We’re burying Dad next week. Funeral is Thursday.”

“Dad died?”

“No, no.”

My dad has been slowly dying for forty years. Emphysema, hairy cell leukemia, diabetes, arthritis; it’s like he just went shopping one day for chronic diseases and never made any returns. More recently, he’s been sliding into dementia.

Thing is, this might really be it. The doctors are pretty sure. “He has two weeks max,” says Oren.

“Shit.” I bite my thumbnail—an old nervous habit instantaneously reborn. I’m suddenly terrified that my family, who I was legally emancipated from three years ago, might be planning something deeply, morbidly insane. But it’s not as bad as all that.

Just a live funeral.

“A what?” The phone slips out of my hands. I juggle it back to my ear.

“Dad’s final wish was to be buried alive,” says Oren.


About Derek:

Derek Milman was born in New York City, but grew up in Westchester, NY, where he wrote and published a successful underground humor magazine that caught the attention of the New York Times, who wrote a profile on him at the age of 14.

Derek studied English, Creative Writing, and Theater at Northwestern University. He began his career as a playwright (his first play was staged in New York City when he was just out of college), and earned an MFA in acting at the Yale School of Drama.

Derek has performed on stages across the country, and appeared in numerous TV shows and films, working with two Academy Award winning film directors.

Scream All Night is Derek's debut YA novel. He currently lives in Brooklyn where he is hard at work on his next book.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads


Giveaway Details:

1 winner will win a signed finished copy of SCREAM ALL NIGHT & swag, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:
7/16/2018- Sweet Southern Home- Excerpt
7/16/2018- YA Books Central- Interview
7/17/2018- BookHounds YA- Guest Post
7/17/2018- Always Me- Excerpt
7/18/2018- A Dream Within A Dream- Review
7/18/2018- Wonder Struck- Review
7/19/2018- Confessions of a YA Reader- Review
7/19/2018- Moonlight Rendezvous- Review
7/20/2018- Kat’s Books- Review
7/20/2018- Rhythmicbooktrovert- Review

Week Two:
7/23/2018- The Clever Reader- Review
7/23/2018- Smada's Book Smack- Review
7/24/2018- Lisa Loves Literature- Interview
7/24/2018- THE BOOK NUT- Review
7/25/2018- A Gingerly Review- Review
7/25/2018- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt
7/26/2018- Daily Waffle- Interview
7/26/2018- Don't Judge, Read- Interview
7/27/2018- Two Points of Interest- Spotlight
7/27/2018- Book-Keeping- Review