Category: YA

3 star, YA

Review: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.

Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.

Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.

Ahh, the awaited sequel that I finally got to. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped it would be. Still, that doesn’t mean I won’t be picking up that sequel immediately when it comes out!

Hell Bent is the follow up story following our protagonist, Alex Stern, as she journeys to hell (and hopefully back) to rescue our old favourite, Darlington. An incredibly dangerous journey, and one well-hidden, of course. With no one left at her disposal to risk her dangerous journey, and people wanting to stop her at every turn, will Alex be able to succeed in bringing back her long-lost mentor?

The characters for the most part were still excellent, as usual. I like that they all have this very human quality, since they don’t always perfectly fit their trope, making them more complex and nuanced characters. There aren’t too too many characters present, so it was easy to have a deeper dive into their characters. Particularly Alex and Darlington are heavily heavily focused on in this book, unsurprisingly. Some characters make a reprise from the first book, but overall I didn’t find them to be too important.

Ah, the plot. This is where I really struggled. I don’t think it was bad necessarily, but I feel like there wasn’t as much happening as I had hoped. It really blends in with many other books that I have read that have a similar theme, and didn’t really stick out as anything that special. There were also a couple of plot points that I’m not sure were totally necessary or that helpful in building the story. Overall I thought the plot was a bit weak, but this may be due to my high expectations based on the first book.

Speaking of my expectations, the world-building was also lacklustre in my opinion. While Ninth House had all the happenings of Yale and adjusting to the secret society life, this book really only had Alex tunnel-visioning on saving Darlington. There is a lot that happens and Alex does travel around, but in general it felt more like subsidiary little (and I mean little) plot lines to continue her on her quest. It didn’t feel as expertly woven together as I have come to expect to really make this magical world come to life. But again, this could just be my overly high expectations.

Overall, I wouldn’t say I was disappointed per se, but I certainly thought the book would be written differently. So I would just say it was different from what I expected, not that it greatly fell short of an objective standard. I think I really was just biased here by my expectations, so take that with a grain of salt for sure. After all, I still am looking forward to the next book!

Overall Recommendations

Hell Bent is the second book in this series following Alex Stern in her magical secret society at Yale. In this book Alex attempts to enter the underworld to rescue her long-lost mentor who had been taken by the shadows. All alone in her efforts as she is stripped of power and privilege, will Alex be able to finally be able to rescue Darlington? The story is heavily focused on this quest, so if you like adventure and heist, you won’t be disappointed with this sequel.

4 star, YA

Review: Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Seven friends throw a 1920s-themed party, where it’s all pretend–until one of them is murdered. One of Us Is Lying meets Knives Out in this killer locked-room mystery.

Someone brought a knife to the party.

To celebrate the end of high school, Izzy Morales joins her ride-or-die Kassidy and five friends on a 1920s-themed getaway at the glamorous Ashwood Manor. There, Izzy and her friends party in vintage dresses and expensive diamonds–until Kassidy’s boyfriend turns up dead.

Murdered, investigators declare when they arrive at the scene, and now every party guest is a suspect. There’s the girlfriend, in love. The other girl, in despair. The old friend, forlorn. The new friend, distressed. The brooding enigma. And then, there’s Izzy–the girl who brought the knife.

To find the killer, everyone must undergo a grueling interrogation, all while locked in an estate where, suddenly, the greatest luxury is innocence.

Overall Recommendation:

Suddenly a Murder captured my attention from the start with its intriguing premise (locked room mystery, anyone?) and a cast of equally suspicious characters. The 1920s themed setting was so much fun, even though the story is set in the present. With a fairly fast pacing and plenty of flashbacks from each potential suspect that only makes them each look more guilty, I couldn’t make up my mind on who the culprit is. That’s the ultimate highlight for me in a murder mystery: a book that keeps me on my toes and constantly guessing.

The setting: an old mansion on its own private island that’s been empty since the 1920s.

The beginning: a group of just-graduated high school seniors get the privilege of staying for a week at said old mansion. Did I mention they’re a bunch of super privileged kids?

The surprise: everyone has to stay in 1920s character for authenticity during the week as part of the fun. Oh, and also, one of them dies. And it wasn’t an accident.

The cast of characters: oh boy, where do I even start?

Suddenly a Murder has one of my favorite things in mysteries: locked room mysteries. When you’re isolated in such a setting, is it more believable that the killer is someone random who somehow magically broke in? Or is it more plausible it’s one of the few people present? Who would want to kill Blaine, a popular guy who was among friends?

The cast of suspects has to be interesting, with motive or at least opportunity, or else the whodunnit would be solved way too easily. And this book does it all.

Kassidy, the girlfriend.

Chloe, a girl who may be more upset at his death than expected.

Fergus, the (neglected) childhood best friend.

Ellison, the new friend with his own hidden secrets.

And Marlowe, the aloof rich boy who may be harboring ulterior motives.

Oh, and of course, Izzy, our protagonist, who brought the knife to the mansion. When your protagonist is an unreliable narrator, it heightens everything as it makes it hard to believe everything as it seems on the page.

What made this book such a page turner for me was the inability to make a solid guess at the killer for most of the book. Everyone could’ve done it. Everyone has a motive. And everyone was hiding secrets from each other and our point of view.

In the vein of Knives Out, the pair of detectives assigned to the case were an eclectic match, with one not actually being a real detective but a consultant with interesting techniques for sniffing out killers. I loved seeing how they themselves went about looking for the truth when everyone lies and no one’s narrative may represent the events fully.

I will say the ending was not what I expected. I’d like to think I’ve read enough YA mysteries to know how most end, so it was interesting for it to conclude this way. All in all, a really solid read.

4 star, YA

ARC Review: Frenemies with Benefits by Lydia Sharp

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

A playful and sexy contemporary rom-com perfect for fans of The Kissing Booth and Tweet Cute

If there was an award for Least Able To Function Around Cute Boys, Jess Webster would clean up. She can barely talk to a guy, let alone engage in naked things. But now that high school is over, Jess resolves to put her big girl pants on and at last bang bag the longtime object of her desire, Andrew. All she needs is someone to practice on first.

Enter Benjamin Oliver. Jock hot, nerd hot (which is just greedy, really), star quarterback, and all-around pain in Jess’s ass. While Jess would rather nap on a nest of fire ants than be his girlfriend, there’s still something about him that sends a jolt through her stomach, making him her best (and only) candidate for her guy game glow-up.

With summer in full swing and not one, but two, cute boys on the horizon, Jess is pretty sure she’s on the winning side of the bargain. But can her deal with Benjamin stay purely business-with-pleasure? And, the question that Jess soon can’t ignore: does she want it to?

Overall Recommendation:

Sometimes you want a book that’s purely fun and full of tropes you enjoy. Frenemies with Benefits gives exactly that, with enemies to lovers and fake dating and plenty of angst stemming from miscommunication. While the premise is pretty full of steamy stuff, the author takes care to write about first times and sexual experiences in a thoughtful manner without the explicit detail to focus on a teen’s thoughts and feelings through her romantic journey. A quick read all around but a fun one I truly needed at this moment in time.

**Frenemies with Benefits came out August 29, 2023**

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica Webster wanted to catch the eye of the guy of her dreams, her older brother’s best friend, when they come to spend the summer with her at home. But with her innocence in all things relationships or otherwise, how would she get this college guy to notice her?

Frenemies with Benefits is full of fun and heartfelt moments alike that kept me flipping those pages as fast I could. As a mood reader, this fulfilled so many lighthearted romantic tropes I could ask for. Enemies to lovers! Fake dating! All the angst one could request with the miscommunication. To become a catch, Jess agrees to learn the ropes from her rival, Benjamin Oliver, a known player and all around annoying guy. Little does she know, no strings attached is rarely so simple.

In the vein of Cameron Lund’s The Best Laid Plans, the journey our main character takes from innocent girl to one who knows what she wants was fascinating. Jessie was at times very insecure about her ability to attract a guy emotionally so she put so much into the physical skills to draw Andrew’s eye. I found it was a fine balance to have Jess uncertain about herself and going overboard with her insecurities. But she really came out of her own head when in the presence of Ben. Their banter was absolutely everything. I loved his smirks and her savagery. While Jess said she hated him a lot, I mean, we all knew it wasn’t really right? Although we didn’t get Ben’s POV (would’ve been pretty great, I’m not gonna lie), there was always this sense that he saw her more highly than their apparently horrible first meeting that set them down the path of “enemies”.

The story started out as simply no strings attached kind of a deal, but Lydia kept it steamy without the explicit details. It wasn’t exactly fade to black but the wording was careful to maintain PG-13 so the emotions of such scenes are not taken away in the haze of lust. I appreciated this for the story it was trying to tell, especially surrounding someone’s first time and all the emotions that come with it. The growth Jessie took emotionally, not just sexually, carried the story for me.

As with most no strings attached stories, complicated emotions or unexpected wrenches get thrown into the plan. From here the story gives us some fake dating as well that continues to show the vulnerability of both Ben and Jessie beyond the physical attraction. I felt the pacing and transition was great as nothing dragged on too long before moving with the progression of their relationship. The writing and plot overall is definitely catered to younger readers in the YA genre but I still enjoyed it for what it was. If you’re fans of The Best Laid Plans and Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty series, this one’s for you.