There was so much going on in here! This book had the feeling of a queer-indie-horror-video game, if that means anything to you, but I think this would be really cool with some kind of graphic/visual content. Overall, I couldn't have predicted exactly where we ended up, but I did figure some of the reveals out before they came. The pacing also felt a little inconsistent to me, where we lingered sometimes in certain scenes and sped through others, and I couldn't really get a grasp on a lot of the secondary characters, or the actual scale of the setting in terms of area or population. Overall, though, I had a fun time with Tyler and Josh and Kayla, even though I'm still wrapping my brain around the more bananas parts of this!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Blending genres is so hard to get right, but this book nails it. The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle glues the reader to the page with its constant gear-switching between horror, romance, fantasy, and mystery. Huge fan of horror, especially when it’s as gory and as detailed as this.

Rating: 3.88 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 2/5
-Cover: 4/5
-Story: 2/5
-Writing: 3/5
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, LGBT, Romance
-Fantasy: 4/5
-Horror: 1/5
-LGBT: 4/5
-Romance: 3/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Ehh

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

This whole book was... something. I liked the base of the story and adore podcast/youtube type books. From the beginning though it was just so confusing. That threw me off for most of the book because then towards the middle it just slowed down. Then the characters, Tyler especially, wasn't someone I connected or even really liked. I felt like he had me by the collar and was dragging me everywhere.

This book may not be for me. I couldn't get into it but I can respect the writing style which is punchy and quirky, and the voice is consistent.

Giving 3 stars because I'm not going to punish a book for my feral ADHD and I sincerely think this is a clever concept and I will recommend it to readers I think will enjoy it.

3.5

Setting: Canada
Rep: queer protagonists; mostly queer cast; trans author; BIPOC side characters

This is a weird ass book. It's a mash up of several genres and for a lot of it I wasn't sure what direction it was going in. It is also a long ass book - it took me a while to get through! I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it but it was a good book, so it's a 3.5 rounded up to 4.

I was so pleased to be allowed to read The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle through Net Galley even though it has already been published.

This book was a hilarious and gruesome fever dream about a man struggling with his sexual identity and feelings for his best friend all while getting tangled in the mystery of his missing mother and the purpose of the shady island and its secrets.

There is no way to anticipate where things are going to go in this story and that's part of what makes it outstanding.

I loved this book and it kept hitting me with heartbreaking twists and turns I didn't see coming. Truly a rollercoaster ride. It had so many moments that made my heart race and made me laugh out loud. Could not recommend enough. 10/10 no notes.

**SPOILERS**

Tyler is a Youtuber who investigates cryptids and other mysteries with his best friend, who he is in love with but was recently rejected by. He receives a strange video featuring his mother, a B Movie Star, from an unknown source he believes is a stalker. The strange video propels him to go investigate his mother's last known whereabouts, a weird island.

Tyler's quest to get information about his Mother who left when he was a child takes him to a secluded island that is populated with all manner of strange and interesting people who are all queer. Lorded over by a larger than life and oddly charismatic man in a cowboy hat who moonlights as a Drag Queen, Tyler discovers packs of roving dogs, sleepwalkers, strange vibrations in the forest as well as strange hypnotic creatures.

Tyler visits during the Island's famous Dog Days annual celebration and while he investigates his mother's connection to the island he discovers pieces of a larger mystery all while he obsesses over the dynamics of his relationship with his best friend. Things go sideways when it turns out the stalker was on the island all along. Not only that, the island has a strange effect on its residents, making it impossible to leave as well as other strange and unusual changes. A lot happens in this story and the author managed to wrap everything up in a neat bow.

Short synopsis: Cryptid-hunting influencer goes into the woods to solve a mystery that he has a personal connection with in a smart, gory, comedic horror novel with strong queer representation.

I can't think of a higher difficultly level in genre writing than horror comedy. You have to construct tension and please seen-it-all horror fans. You have to be funny, which is just really hard. You have to be clever to convince the audience that they have to be sharp to keep up. The action has to move fast to keep the audience's attention - no soaking in gothic dread here. Plus, there has to be real emotion grounding it or it's just a forgettable puff of smoke.

The book that comes to mind when I read this was The Dresden Files, which engages in similar high wire act of marrying action, wit and a deepening mystery. One of my favorite series of all time. But, it reminded me of early Dresden Files, which are notably the work on an author still finding his footing. (Want to be clear I am talking about quality of writing and not the famously cringe-y boob-talk elements of those books.)

Basically, I liked this book, but I think the author has only scratched the surface of his potential.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher and TRULY, best of luck to Steve Hugh Westenra.

Title: The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle
Author: Steve Hugh Westenra
Pub Date: 13/Oct/23
Publisher: Victory Editing
Genre: Horror
Percentage read: DNF at 40%
Youtube: February Wrap Up video, 3/3/24
The StoryGraph: 7/2/24
Instagram: Review post on 9/2/24
So Tyler Kyle is a youtuber with his friend. They investigate cryptid sightings together and although Tyler knows that his friend is heterosexual, he has confusing feelings of romantic love towards him. After they drunkenly kiss one night Tyler decides to investigate a video he was sent, by his stalker, revealing a link with his long lost mother. However, when he arrives on the island he is overwhelmed by the ominous feeling and odd occurrences that seem to be going on the island. Will Tyler find the answers he wants and will he figure out his own sexuality questions along the way?!
This review will only comment on the experience of reading it to 40%. This novel is written in the first person and is overtly stream of consciousness. Although this is not my favourite style of writing, I did love the amount of queer representation there was. There were references to Canadian folklore which was fun too. If you enjoy books that feel like a fever dream this is definitely for you. There is something about Tyler and the plot that makes you want to know what happens and find out what’s going on. And while I did not find it funny or particularly atmospheric, I can see how a lot of people would get that aspect. I also really wanted to know the outcome of Tyler telling his friend how he feels. However, all of this was not enough to keep me reading. While I could see the potential of the plot and the characters, I felt it would have benefitted from a couple more rounds of editing (Tyler read like he was a teenager instead of in his thirties); and potentially a sensitivity reader due to the nature of many of the themes. For example, references to gender, sexuality, race, religion, and ethnicity were all bandied about in a very jarring way that was not always called for, or appropriate. I wonder if this was intended to be social commentary, if this is the case I support it 100% and this is why I am still making the effort to review a book I did not finish. More editing I feel would work out the disjointed nature of the sentence structure and flow. As a reader, I want to be shown more and less of the telling what to visualise.

Whew, what a ride!

That title. That cover. That synopsis. How could I not insta-request The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle?

Unlike other reviews I'm seeing, it actually took me a little while to fully get into the book. I just could not tell where it was going, and what everyone's deal was. But once I did, I was absolutely hooked. I love the characters, the setting, the "soundtrack", the writing, and especially the representation. It's subversive, it's part mystery - part horror, it's sometimes gross, and at times hard to follow, but at the heart it's a love story, and I loved it.

This book is out now, read it!

So thankful to the author for writing this, and to Victory Editing NetGalley for the e-book I received in exchange for an honest review.

Tyler Kyle is kind of an ahole, but a charismatic and sarcastic ahole. To escape his best friend slash cryptid hunting YouTube co-host Josh (who Tyler is hopelessly in love with), the ever self-depricating. Tyler decides to investigate the mystery of his missing B-movie actress mother Virginia Kyle.

After receiving a cryptic video of his long missing mother and a clue involving a mysterious island that once was the home of a conversion therapy camp, Tyler enters a conspiracy greater than anything he could have imagined. The residents of Echo Island are cut off from society with no Internet, no cell service, a despot-like town leader, and a hush-hush Stepford wife response to all of Tyler's questions.

But is Echo Island a prison or a sanctuary? Tyler will have to discover the town's secrets on his own, but perhaps he has more in common with the townsfolk of Echo Island than he originally thought.

I was blown away by this book! Greek Mythology and LGBTQAIP representation meets John Dies At The End style sarcasm.

The blurb for this book hooked me but the story and the characters had me devouring it in a single sitting. I laughed, I cried (twice), and I will 100% be buying a physical copy to keep on my bookshelf.

Fabulous read. Huge fan of horror, especially when it’s as gory and as detailed as this. Writing was superb, if slightly above my levels of intelligence (thank you, kindle, for your dictionary definitions). Will be recommending!

This was a good novel by a first time author for me. Wasn't really scary to me, but enjoyable still. Look forward to more by the author

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this upcoming release!

I must be honest, this was bizarre. It is eclectic at its best and drawn out at its worst. On paper I should have loved this but I think for me it just fell flat. I don’t think it’s the books doing, it just was not for me.

4.5 stars

I loved this. I was invested from the jump.
Steve Westenra has written a phenomenal genre bending novel. It is obviously a horror novel but with so much heart and humor.

I can’t wait to own this as a physical copy ❤️

3.75 stars

It started to slow for me and I had no idea what was happening till I got halfway through, wow things happened very fast! It was scary and creepy.

I thought this could have been 100 pages less, a lot of the parts felt very unnecessary.
Overall the plot was good and it makes you want to keep on reading.
Also, it made me laugh a lot, which is good.

If you love horror, creepy, funny stories then this is it!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC copy.

The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle is a masterful look at horror brought into the modern age. The protagonist’s voice gripped me the beginning and WOW! Is that ever a vivid, engaging, and REAL narrative!

Afrer picking up this book, I found myself returning time and time again to read just a few more pages, fascinated by a unique and horrorific (yes, horrorific) plot. That’s unusual for me these days and I LOVE a book that can hook me like that. I loved this adventure of a charismatic and realistically complicated YouTube star who gets a little too close to the spooky subject matter he covers.

There is plenty of good humor in this book, so it was a welcome surprise to have a variety of horrors wind their way through the story. I don’t want to spoil ANYTHING, but I appreciated the author’s innovative take on the genre.

There are plenty of good books that lack the spark that this author has in their writing technique. Engaging moments of prose really hit me from time to time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for an extremely enjoyable experience. Bravo!

I loved how this book blends elements of horror, comedy,thriller, and romance by using particular touchstones to reference. For anyone concerned by the “horror” element, think of this much more in line with the eeriness of Twin Peaks rather than the jump scares of The Conjuring or the violence of Saw.

This book was a bit of a wild ride. I enjoyed it from page one! The story instantly grips you and doesn't let go until the very end (and let's be honest, not even then because you're going to be thinking about this one for awhile after you close it). It's a horror, monster story, with an atmospheric feeling of dread. Honestly, the monster in the book is one that I avoid in books, movies, and shows, it's just not my thing and is usually done very poorly. However, you don't find out about this monster until at least 3/4th of the way through, and by then I couldn't stop reading to save my life. The monster parts were well written and not cheesy or over the top.

Tyler Kyle is a very likable character and there's a point in the beginning that I wasn't sure if he was a "reliable narrator" or was making up things for the story to seem more wild. There was a specific part in regards to his "diary" that was a little confusing at the time. But as things are revealed, it all makes sense. The point of view changes towards the end to Josh, Tyler's co-host and best friend. Josh was also very likable with a little chaos thrown in. The other characters had so much story and life to them, and even when one is thought to be a bad guy, it's hard to stop liking him. They add so much heartbreak when it's needed, also so much fun and friendship.

I will mention that this book was longer than most. I read it digitally and when the timer said it would take 9 hours, I figured I had an error. It took that long for sure but never felt like it. There was no point that something wasn't happening, the story was always progressing. Reading it before bed was a horrible idea, and I ended up staying up way too late every single time. It's one of the best books I've read in the last couple of years. There is a list of content warnings included in the book, please be aware of those, it could be quite triggering for some people.

I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is, potentially, one of the best times I've ever had with a book. Like, ever.

It's quite hard to describe this book, in the fact that it goes so bat shit off the walls insane, and I loved every fucking second of it. It's gay, and there's romance, but it's weird, and like everything else, insane. It's horror, but it's absurd and nebulous. It's comedy, but it's creepy and odd.

Two things kept coming to me while I was reading this. The Twin Peaks inspiration is rather obvious, if you've seen it and read even one chapter of this book it's pretty plainly in your face. It's great, I love Twin Peaks and I love weird absurdist horror that seems like it has no idea what it's trying to do while knowing exactly what it's trying to do.

The other, oddly enough, is the seminal animated classic Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. I'm not crazy, right? It's there, and it's inspired to say the LEAST. It is, indeed, Terror Time Again.

Anyway, this isn't so much of a review as it is me just screaming about how fucking weird and amazing this book was and that's really the type of review this book deserves. Just...a lot of weird screaming and urging you to read it for yourself. Just make sure to check the trigger warnings in the back of the book though, cuz oh BABY does this book graphically go to a lot of places you don't expect it to.

What started off as promising quickly became a mess of uninteresting plot lines and annoying characters throughout. I really liked the start of this novel but after a little bit it just became a chore to get through.