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lphr3ads 's review for:
These Vengeful Hearts
by Katherine Laurin
*DISCLAIMER: I received a review copy in exchange for an honest review.*
TLDR: This book has a well-rounded, but flawed, main character. Who's the monster here? Reads like a vicious Pretty Little Liars book with Mean Girls on steroids. It was fantastic.
I normally stay away from psychological thrillers and that applies to Young Adults as well. But the cover and the blurb grabbed my attention from the get-go and I don't regret losing sleep in order to finish this book. First, you have a mysterious group called the Red Court that roams the halls of Heller High School. The Red Court is an anonymous group that wheels and deals in social humiliation and only the Queen of Hearts knows who's who. Main character, Ember Williams, is on a mission to get payback for her sister's accident. Going undercover to infiltrate the Red Court and get payback is the only thing on Ember's mind. Ember is determined, but I appreciated her struggle to come to terms with who she was becoming and how far she was willing to go to get revenge. Actions have consequences, but unfortunately, that wasn't something that was really fleshed out. Nothing was really resolved to a point where I was satisfied. While some of their past actions have had unforeseeable consequences,
the Red Court is no more powerful or omniscient than the main character. The Red Court functions and acts based on the whims and desires of students. Moral ambiguity doesn't excuse what the Red Court has done, but it does change how Ember sees them. Ember does get her big confrontation, but as I've previously said, it wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be. The secondary cast members were decent, but I would have liked more character development for Gideon and Chase. Overall, it was a good read.
TLDR: This book has a well-rounded, but flawed, main character. Who's the monster here? Reads like a vicious Pretty Little Liars book with Mean Girls on steroids. It was fantastic.
I normally stay away from psychological thrillers and that applies to Young Adults as well. But the cover and the blurb grabbed my attention from the get-go and I don't regret losing sleep in order to finish this book. First, you have a mysterious group called the Red Court that roams the halls of Heller High School. The Red Court is an anonymous group that wheels and deals in social humiliation and only the Queen of Hearts knows who's who. Main character, Ember Williams, is on a mission to get payback for her sister's accident. Going undercover to infiltrate the Red Court and get payback is the only thing on Ember's mind. Ember is determined, but I appreciated her struggle to come to terms with who she was becoming and how far she was willing to go to get revenge. Actions have consequences, but unfortunately, that wasn't something that was really fleshed out. Nothing was really resolved to a point where I was satisfied. While some of their past actions have had unforeseeable consequences,
the Red Court is no more powerful or omniscient than the main character. The Red Court functions and acts based on the whims and desires of students. Moral ambiguity doesn't excuse what the Red Court has done, but it does change how Ember sees them. Ember does get her big confrontation, but as I've previously said, it wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be. The secondary cast members were decent, but I would have liked more character development for Gideon and Chase. Overall, it was a good read.