How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates
Slasher Rom-Com, #1
Shailee Thompson
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: Feb. 3, 2026
Genre: Rom-Com Slasher
When Jamie Prescott and her best friend Laurie attend a speed-dating event, Jamie expects to meet a roster of mediocre men and indulge in some street food afterwards. She doesn’t expect one of her dates to have his throat slit at their table during a blackout. After the lights come back on and there are more bodies on the floor, it becomes clear that dating can be a very dangerous pastime.
Armed with makeshift weapons and Jamie’s extensive knowledge of what NOT to do in a slasher, the remaining speed daters try to find an exit while the killer adds to their body count. As the night progresses and Jamie comes face-to-mask with the murderer, she begins to suspect they are committing the slayings to woo one of the daters and turn them into a real-life Final Girl. But Jamie has other plans, and as she fights for her life, she can’t help but find herself ensconced in a love triangle with two of the other survivors. Will she make it through the bloodshed to find her Happily Ever After? Or does this machete-wielding psychopath have another ending in mind?
My thoughts…
The idea of a rom-com slasher novel sounded like just the thing for October. However, this story went from good to WTF as it progressed, and here’s why.
Jamie is attending a speed dating event with her friend. Emphasis on the SPEED part. She meets people for a handful of minutes, before talked to the next guy. It’s not far in that the murders start. This story, theoretically takes place in the matter of a couple of hours. A couple of hours of being terrified you are going to die, seeing people get killed in front of you, and facing your attacker head on and escaping. So why… TELL ME WHY are we dry humping in the janitor closet with a man you met during the speed dating. A man who very well could be the killer? And let’s say that he’s not the killer or some stranger she just met. Let’s say he’s an ex that you’ve known for a decade, and trust…. what, pray tell, sets the mood? Apparently being covered in someone else’s blood, bleeding yourself, and being witness to a handful of people’s deaths/corpses. The fact that she’s drooling over, and then dry humping one of the participants… or really ANYONE during this entire thing just left me so utterly confused. It’s as if the author took a break from her manuscript for a bit, went back to her laptop and then COMPLETELY FORGOT what book she was writing.
Honestly, by the end of this story, the only thing that would redeem it would have been if Jamie dies.
