From Influencers to Prey: Exploring the Dark Thrills of Stream and Scream

Stream and Scream by Melissa McSherry and Dana LeeAnn

Stream and Scream is a slasher-like book; it follows Olivia, who is one of 15 influencer contestants. They signed up for a game of survival, and promised followers, fortune and viral glory if they win. They must survive the weekend and reach the safe zone while being hunted. The catch? The show is real, the hunter is real, and the screams they hear are real. Jaxen is the hunter, a military-trained one at that, and he likes hearing the screams. When he sees Liv, he instantly becomes obsessed and possessive; she is his. He will hunt her, and enjoy it, but he won’t kill her. The producers want her dead, but nothing comes between Jaxen and what he has laid claim to.

⚫️Dark Romance ⚫️Obsessed Stalker MMC ⚫️Primal Play ⚫️Survival ⚫️He falls first ⚫️ Pierced MMC ⚫️Forced Submission ⚫️Dub-con ⚫️Hunter/Prey Dynamic

🔴Graphic Violence 🔴Gun Violence 🔴Stabbing Violence 🔴Throat Trauma 🔴Sexual Content 🔴Dub-Con 🔴Psychological Manipulation 🔴Military PTSD 🔴Blood Loss 🔴Murder 🔴CNC

I received this as an ARC. I don’t remember signing up for it, but hey, I am not complaining! I decided to go in completely blind; I didn’t read the blurb, all I had to go off was the cover. I read the prologue and instantly thought, ‘This is giving me Wrong Turn 2: Dead End vibes.’ I’m not sure if this was the inspiration, but if you have ever watched that film, it is the same concept: influencers participating in a reality TV show about survival in the forest. In Wrong Turn, however, they get picked off one by one by the cannibals. I like the Wrong Turn films, so after reading the prologue and getting that vibe, I knew I was going to enjoy this book.

Okay, what did I like about this book?
I enjoyed Jaxen, the hunter. He is highly trained and a little cocky with it. He is possessive of Liv and has little regard for anyone else. I imagined him to be smoking hot, confident, cocky, dangerous and demanding. He was certainly demanding; he took what he wanted. I like that in a book boyfriend, would not let a man look at me wrong in real life though haha.

I swear if he touches her, if one goddamn hand so much as grazes her skin, I’ll make this forest choke on the bodies it’s already holding, stack fresh corpses on the old ones until the ground splits under the weight

Liv, Olivia the FMC, I liked her; she was feisty, and she was smart. Had this been a real survival game (not one meant to kill all contestants), I think Liv would have had it in the bag. Does she have questionable morals? I mean, maybe, she fucked a killer without much care for the fact that he took out all other contestants, but you know, god forbid a girl have a type.

You think you can break me and then act like you care? Fuck you

I liked the setting, and the Wrong Turn vibes too.

There were a couple of errors I came across, one in which she learns that the hunter is called Jaxen, yet in the next chapter, she’s thinking that she didn’t even get his name. I also felt like a couple of times, paragraphs were repeated but worded slightly differently. Maybe just an oversight in editing, or what can happen when a book is cowritten. I also felt like Jaxen said Liv was his, a few too many times, we get it, pal, you need therapy lol. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it very much and would recommend it.

They’ll come for us. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually. With more resources, more professionals, more money than I’ll ever see.

I also like that the ending has left it open for more books in the future, Jaxen and Liv will be hunted, hopefully we get to read about it.

Thank you to Melissa and Dana for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5