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A review by woodsybookworm
youthjuice by E.K. Sathue
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Madame Bovary meets Goop in this new thriller following a young social media marketing artist. After she joins popular cosmetic company Hebe, Sophia finds herself as one of the select few chosen to learn the company's dark secret behind its newest creation, youthjuice.
I wanted to love this book. I saw the cover and read the blurb, thinking it would be a fun horror novel making light of the beauty industry. Instead, I found myself mostly bored as the main character consistently jumped into narrating her past rather than focusing on the horror of youthjuice.
⚠️ Spoilers below:
Honestly, the book probably would have been more entertaining from Tree's perspective - how she came up with the idea to sacrifice interns, how she collected victims, how she convinced her full time employees to follow her like a cult leader, and her devolving mindset in desperation for eternal youth.
There was so much that could have been fleshed out and explored if we followed Tree over Sophia who barely talked about youthjuice at all - the book read more like her fictional memoir than what could have been an interesting horror story about a moisturizer made from literal human blood.
I wanted to love this book. I saw the cover and read the blurb, thinking it would be a fun horror novel making light of the beauty industry. Instead, I found myself mostly bored as the main character consistently jumped into narrating her past rather than focusing on the horror of youthjuice.
⚠️ Spoilers below:
Honestly, the book probably would have been more entertaining from Tree's perspective - how she came up with the idea to sacrifice interns, how she collected victims, how she convinced her full time employees to follow her like a cult leader, and her devolving mindset in desperation for eternal youth.
There was so much that could have been fleshed out and explored if we followed Tree over Sophia who barely talked about youthjuice at all - the book read more like her fictional memoir than what could have been an interesting horror story about a moisturizer made from literal human blood.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, Drug abuse, and Drug use