Book Review — "Birthday Party Demon" by Wendy Dalrymple

“If she had only listened to her gut and pleaded with her friends not to mess with the dark arts…”

There’s a new YA horror series in town, kids!

United under the banner Totally Freaked! will be a string of standalone horror books written by various authors. The first four are expected to drop periodically throughout 2025, beginning with Birthday Party Demon by Wendy Dalrymple.

Dalrymple kicks things off with a sweet sixteen sleepover that goes terribly awry when a trio of girls accidentally summon a demonic entity that possesses the body of one and flings the other two into a warped dimension.

Birthday Party Demon is steeped in its 1990s setting. Neon see-through phones with three-way calling. Pagers. Renting videotapes. Fashion catalogs. Jelly shoes. Scrunchies.

Ouija board. "Light as a feather, stiff as a board”

sprinklings of Witchboard, The Craft, The Exorcist (fluids) and Jennifer’s Body