As if the title alone wasn’t enough to lure me in, the first sentence in the description is The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls and that’s it. I was done!

As a 90’s teen, this book takes everything I used to look up to in the late 80’s and lets me bask in it’s reminiscent glory. References to black rubber bracelets snaking up arms, Tiger Beat and River Phoenix. Mohawks and mesh shirts and ripped fishnets. This book is everything that shaped me into the goth rebel I am today. Throw in the seriously supernatural vibes and I am trash for this book.

“Santa Maria may always have been small, but it’s never been sweet.”

And seriously, if that doesn’t sound like my kind of town, I don’t know what does.

Mayhem and her mom Roxy find themselves in Santa Maria, the small beach town Roxy grew up in. It’s where Mayhem was born, where her father is buried. It’s the town Roxy was trying to forget.

But the second Mayhem steps foot on the family farm, she feels like she belongs. In a way she never did in small-town Taylor, Texas.

“At night, the boardwalk is different… there’s more underneath it, like it’s all powered by an electric current.”

Mayhem is a story in parts. She’s also a girl in parts. A before and an after. We get snippets from family diaries, tracing the lineage of the Brayburn women and the power they wield back through the generations. But then we get the history of Mayhem herself. What life was like with an abusive stepfather and a mother who escapes inward instead of out.

When they get to Brayburn farm, Roxy’s twin sister Elle has taken on three adopted kids. Neve, Jason, and Kidd. Through them, Mayhem discovers the power her blood gives her, learns how to use it. And may I say, this is my favorite part of Mayhem.

“How do I tell her I don’t want to be an innocent anymore? Innocents get hit. I want to hit back.”

The supernatural elements creep up on you. They’re there, in the open, mocked but with an edge. Are there really vampires lurking in the shadows of the beach? Maybe. But the missing girls are real enough. And this is where Laure brilliantly weaves the supernatural into this world.

This magic is not what I was expecting. It’s subtle but it fits. Mayhem is angry. She’s angry at her mother, angry at Lyle. And this power gives her anger dimension and focus. It gives her purpose. After all, it’s in her lineage to protect Santa Maria from the monsters.

It’s a magic born from violence and baptized in anger. And it’s so deliciously morally grey I want to wrap myself in several shades of it. It’s a magic of want and need, so like the vampire mythology we’re familiar with but in an entirely new context, given an entirely new form. And I am here for it!

“Everything comes with a price. Every victory has a trail of blood behind it. Maybe the sorrow I am dragging behind me means a victory is coming my way.”

Mayhem is a girl I recognize. She’s tired of feeling powerless. Tired of being told who to be and how to act. Tired of watching as good people suffer and bad guys get away with literal murder. She’s tired of hiding. She’s tired of being afraid. Take away the supernatural elements and the message is still the same. It’s about learning how to stand up and fight back. How to lean on people for support, and how their love can only make you stronger.

The supernatural elements of the story are almost secondary. There, but not the point. Except, maybe they are the point. I remember falling into my imagination often when I felt powerless. Imagining what I would do if ever given the strength, the magic, the power to do something about it.

Maybe that is where the magic comes from. Maybe we read about what that could look like and we will it into existence. Maybe we magic ourselves into being the girl who can stand up to the monsters.

“You could be the bogeyman and you wouldn’t ever have to be scared again because you would be the scary one.”

In short, this book is everything I love in a story. The atmosphere is the haunted surreal landscape that The Lost Boys captured so succinctly. It’s light and dark, chaos and order, violence and peace, all wrapped into one.

If I didn’t talk about the plot much, it’s because this book is a fever dream of a journey. We traverse centuries but stay with Mayhem the entire time. We see her past but live her present. It’s a story where empowerment is the point. It’s a story only Mayhem can tell, really, a story you have to experience with her to understand how it all fits.

What I can say is this. If you love a haunting atmosphere and a beach scene with a serious bite, you will love the backdrop of Mayhem. If you love fierce girls coming into their own, learning how to fight for themselves, their friends, their families, against anything and everything, you will love Mayhem. And, if like me, you remember Tiger Beat and had a serious yet devastating crush on River Phoenix (or the Corey’s for that matter), you will love Mayhem.

Thank you so much Wednesday Books for including me on this tour and gifting me this delicious copy!

With the feel of a fable and a revenge tale, Estelle Laure’s Mayhem is a paranormal young adult story about Mayhem Brayburn who returns tothesmall California coastal town of her birth with her mother after her step-father goes a step too far.

Mayhem is told from Mayhem’s point-of-view as well as those of her ancestors. The ancestors’ stories provide the background for the current day that Mayhem is discovering as she goes along.

During the course of the novel, Mayhem transitions from a quiet, obedient young woman to one willing to take risks, especially as she comes to terms with who she and her family are. That said, she isn’t entirely comfortable with the way her family has handled things in the past. She is at heart her late father’s daughter.

I found the novel intriguing, mostly well-paced, and, for the most part, satisfying. There was unfortunately one plot point involving the all-powerful water that fell apart for me that needed to be explained but was overlooked during the latter part of the story. This was one reason why I didn’t rate the novel higher than I have.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mayhem by Estelle Laure is one of those books that straddles the line in genres but the most prominant is this is definitely young adult. With that genre though I would definitely warn of a few things with this one such as rape, abuse and language. The story takes place in the late 1980’s making it also historical along with being set in the same world as The Lost Boys giving it a fantasy edge involving some magical realism.

Now when they compared this book to The Lost Boys I was excited to pick it up with that being one of my favorite movies however I was not expecting to go in to the story with the setting almost exactly the same. Instead of the two boys and their mother visiting their grandfather in Santa Carla, California we have a teen girl, Mayhem, and her mother running from an abusive step father to Santa Maria, CA. When they arrive Mayhem goes out with the other kids in the home to a boardwalk desribed almost exactly as I remember. This includes all the missing girl poster and a warning from the Frog brothers about vampires.

Now here is where we finally start differing the story into something of it’s own besides the characters being changed. Mayhem begins to learn that her mother’s family is infused with a long line of witchcraft after Mayhem picks up an old journal of a relative. This all leads to Mayhem learning magic and then helping stop a serial killer.

Now, at first I was a bit excited to be dropped into a Lost Boys world thinking that may make me love the rest of the story but instead I think it actually lead to disappointment. As much as this seemed to mirror the original it also strayed away and to me that story just wasn’t as strong as the vampire original that I think the author would have been better off just creating a similar original world all her own so readers could immerse themselves into Mayhem’s tale that to me this way felt a bit anti-climatic so this one turned a bit meh to me overall.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Here we go again, disappointed by the expectations set by the blurb...

I really did want to enjoy this story more than I did. While it was touted as "The Craft meet The Lost Boys" I felt more as if it was "If Practical Magic stole the entire setting of The Lost Boys." While the story itself had some fun and unique ideas, I felt as if the overall nostalgia it was aiming for came across more as outright plagiarism. While I did thoroughly enjoy the 80's California beach town vibes, I had a hard time following (or caring about) certain parts of the narrative.

Oh I am honestly confused what I feel about this book. I mean it was definitely a strange reading experience for me. And despite everything, I was anticipating where it was all going. The book talks about Mayhem Brayburn, Brayburn a family of maternal descendants where they have supernatural abilities.

There's so much that I want to write but I can't find words for it. I liked the rush I felt, thinking about how despite being broken, you can still live on being okay. I liked how somewhere the character of Mayhem developed. But there were many gaps that I felt needed to be filled. I would have liked to read more about the magical lineage and what the Paranormal Activities were all about. It just felt a little too rushed. that I feel should have elaborated more, it felt as the story was being rushed on. So basically I wished that the novel was stretched a bit more. But I definitely enjoyed the novel and especially the narrative.

The book discusses about Rape, domestic abuse, emotional and physical abuse, suicide, drive use, murder, death of family in past, traumatic childhood experience. The author has explained about this before the novel begins.

Disclaimer: This review is not sponsored. I am part of the International Blog Tour for this book and I was given an e-ARC of the book by the publisher and author in exchange for an honest review.

CW: Suicide, Domestic and Emotional Abuse, Sexual Assault, Drug Use, Kidnapping

When I saw this book on NetGalley, I knew that I had to hit that request button right away. Mayhem was definitely a tough read, but an important one. So when I read the Author’s note at the first few pages of the book, I know that the story will keep me awake. I included the Author’s note at the end of this blog post, so feel free to check it out.

Powerful, dark and magical. That’s how I would describe this book. Let me give you three reasons why Mayhem should be in your TBR list. How the story of the Brayburn women lit the way and how magic allowed them to find strength in their weakness.

1.) It talks about real-life issues

I always find it brave if an author decides to write a book about sensitive, real-life issues that aims to raise awareness and find comfort in the hands of the readers. Laure doesn’t only give us a glimpse of how violence and assault looks like, she also gives us a slice of reality by showing the trauma it leaves to the victims. Sometimes it feels like there’s no way out, but this book tells us otherwise. I know it writing this book was hard, but I truly applaud Laure for bringing the Brayburn women to life.

2.) Magic and destiny

Magic runs in the blood of Brayburn women, and Mayhem’s arc revolves around discovering what she’s made of, what she could do and who she could be. I love me a good discovering-my-purpose trope and I’m thrilled this book was infused with it. I understand that the main theme of the book was not magic, and maybe that’s why I wished there was more of it, but I really think seeing more of it would anchor the plot more. In the end, I still enjoyed how badass Mayhem is!

3.) It did not shy away from including flawed family dynamics

It’s not always rainbows and butterflies. I like it when a book shows an imperfect family because that makes it more realistic. The mother-daughter relationship as well the sibling bond it this book is flawed, but they still loved each other and willing to protect the people that they love. Flawed, but still flawless.

Overall, Mayhem was a good read! Though I didn’t connect with some parts, I truly understand the purpose why this book came into life and believe me when I say that I received the message. I truly hope that this book will give comfort to people who relate the most to the Brayburn women. This book is power, and this is for you. You are invincible. You are magic.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for giving me an early copy of the book. Huge shout out to Sarah Bonamino and the rest of the St. Martin’s Publishing Group team for including me in this blog tour!

Mayhem has a lot going for it. Magic, Vampires, and some very strong female characters that deal with a lot of dark themes. I will say that I struggled to get through the first part of this story. It was very slow and at times I felt confused. It felt like the story was really a journal entry before it really got going and that made me feel like the entire thing was out of place and well kind of weird.

I have to say that this was closer to The Lost Boys vs. The Craft. I think that the only real similarities to The Craft was the fact that it had magic and women. Other than that it was almost a copy of The Lost Boys in parts.

I think the author did a wonderful job with covering the darker themes of this story. And I think readers who like darker themes will enjoy this one. I do wished that the magical use would have been explained more. And that it wouldn't have been so close to The Lost Boys. It was far too similar in spots and I think that really took away from what I was looking for in a retelling.

Overall, I think readers who like horror, dark themes, and powerful women will enjoy this one.


Go into this one knowing: Rape, Domestic Abuse, Suicide

First off, I will have to tell you that I read neighter Wilder Girls nor Lost Boys, so I am not able to refelct on how much that played into the story.

Mayhem is a beautiful, intriguing story that cauhgt me up and made me unable to put my kindle down. Mayhem – May – Brayburn and her mother return to the families home, only for May to discover her lineages secrets. I was expecting a witchy summer read and that I did get. Kind of. The focus of this book is more on the interpersonal relationships of the characters than the actual magic, but it still does play a significant role.

What I loved about this book was how Laure weaved the relationships between both May and her mother Roxy as well as how Roxy and her sister Elle interact. The conversations mostly felt real and authentic. The same goes for most of the other relationships between the characters. Also, the characters developed along the storyline and grew together. The only character kind of not doing that was Roxy – she changed very quickly once she stopped taking her valium. Besides that, the only part of the book that stood out as unbelievable to me was how May reacted to taking mushrooms – from one moment to the other, she wasn’t high at all any longer.

Most of the time, I wasn’t really sure about the narrated time, and I still am not. How much time passed from the first chapter to the last? I will absolutely not be able to tell you. Besides that, the book is built in a mostly linear way, with occasional diary enrties that the protagonist reads and that function as a kind of flashback for the reader.

Sadly, I didn’t really get much of the 80’s vibes – sure, there were references to VHS players but besides that (and the absence of smartphones and presence of cable phones) I didn’t really get too much of that promised energy.

Mayhem is a fluent and fast paced book that I did enjoy a lot, even though it has it’s flaws. All in all, it was a three star read for me.

Last but not least, we come to triggers – Mayhem has quite a few of them:

rape
domestic violence
drug and alcohol abuse
murder
slight gore
suicide
sexual abuse
serial killer

'Mayhem' by Estelle Laure is credited as being The Lost Boys meets Wilder girls in a supernatural feminist YA novel.

Now.. I haven't read Wilder Girls, it's on my neverending TBR list, but I have loved The Lost Boys since it was released back in 1987, which is also the year 'Mayhem' takes place. It was the summer between junior high and high school for me and I was wildly into music.. pretty boys and girls.. and parties already. Most of my friends were in bands.. or chasing the enchanting characters in the bands.. and I was on the cusp of realizing I would work in and around the entertainment industry for my whole life. In fact, that moment was just a couple short months and one journalism teacher away.

Already, I was enamored with horror and vampires.. but pretty vampires in horror were the quintessential for me. Then along came this film that shook my world. There was a tale to be told, faces I'd never seen before and immediately fell for, and the temptation of mortality. The great moral dilemma.

As fondly as I remember the film, when I read the synopsis for 'Mayhem,' I knew I had to read it.

The story centers around Mayhem Brayburn, a girl who along with her mother Roxy, are on the run from a tyrannical stepfather/husband. After years of his abuse, he finally goes too far and her mother takes her and escapes toward her childhood home.

Santa Maria, California may hold all the family secrets that Mayhem has never been able to reach through Roxy, but that's all about to change. There, she meets her aunt Elle's new family, begins to discover what it really means to be a Brayburn, and why her mother remained resolute in avoiding the ancestral place for so many years.

What I love about this story is that despite Roxy's struggling hold on her will and Mayhem's festering anger and frustration, there is a uniquely beautiful mother-daughter connection between them. These women have been through hell already. The result is a sense of fragility about Roxy that Mayhem is desperate to protect. Even in the early moments of the book, her main focus is not herself. It's her mother's safety and state of mind.

Though there are tensions between Roxy and Elle, deep down the theme is the same. Love, family, and loyalty. Women who either are strong.. or trying to remember how to be.. standing together. Not tearing each other down.

Elle's kids.. are something akin to Max's boys.. but the dynamic is very different.. and the grip Santa Maria holds on them is not what we knew of Santa Clara either. Honestly, few people in Santa Maria are exactly as they seem and there were times Laure had me guessing at things that I would only change my mind about a few pages later. I will say I didn't get nearly enough of Jason. There's a deep well of character there, you can see it in all the quiet glances and soft words. We get glimpses of it and I loved them, but I feel like it could have been a much richer experience for me.

Another interesting approach Laure took was a narrative shift between Mayhem and entries in a journal passed through the hands of Brayburn women that came before her. Heartfelt writings detailing their loves and losses along the way. Tragic decisions that led to unforeseen outcomes for many of them.. and make no mistake, there are some reckonings coming. The question is how it will all play out in the end.

I had seen another reviewer state that this book was no good. That it was just The Lost Boys flipped and basically copied directly. The idea crushed me because that's not what I got from the summary and obviously it's never what you want from a retelling. You want to see a story from a new perspective, not just a shift in the individual telling it. But they were wrong. Since I knew that was their opinion going in, I even went back and rewatched the film to make sure everything was still fresh in my mind when I got about halfway through the book.

Sure, there are a few moments here and there. The Frog brothers do indeed appear and they maintain the personalities we know, but they really just offer a sense of familiarity. There is a quote near the end of the book that is directly taken from the film, but the references are used sparingly. Locations like the cliffs, some atmospheric similarities.. those appear as well, but more like landmarks orienting you to where you are in the story.. tethering you between the two tellings.. and holding you suspended in a state that is like a memory that never was.

I can't say enough good things about this story. Give it a chance, you'll be so glad you picked it up.

Title: Mayhem
Author: Estelle Laure
Genre: YA
Rating: 3.8 out of 5

It’s 1987 and unfortunately it’s not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy’s constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem’s own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren’t like everyone else. But when May’s stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem’s questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.

I really loved the movie The Lost Boys, and I liked the idea of this book, but…this felt like it did more than take inspiration from The Lost Boys. Some thing were exactly the same as that movie, which both unsettled and disappointed me.

There’s a lot going on here: family issues/drama/secrets, the serial killer angle/mystery, the magic plotline, the romance, teen angst…While I enjoyed the writing, the plethora of things going on + the strong similarities with The Lost Boys made this an unsettling and somewhat disappointing read.

Estelle Laure was born in London but grew up in the United States. Mayhem is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

An excellent story that mixes element of coming of age, family saga, horror, magic realism and thriller.
All those elements work well together and the author did a good job in delivering a gripping and entertaining story.
I love this characters, the woman are both strong and frail and they have to live with their heritage working to accept themselves and their action.
The plot is slow burning but the pace became faster after the first part of the the book. The world building is interesting and I loved the storytelling and the style of writing.
It was the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

“I don’t know how to explain in words the feeling I have now, about how a person’s history affects their standing with themselves. About how in Taylor my mother and I were peculiar and nonsensical, but here we have the strength of all the Brayburns behind us and it runs like a current under our feet. Makes us stand taller.”

I had a lot of hope for this one, I was born in ’86 and love all things pop culture from the 80’s & that mixed with women empowerment and a bit of magic sounded AMAZING. With nods to The Lost Boys & The Craft, I can totally see both of these inspirations in this story, with a twist towards fantasy.

May and her mother flee to Santa Maria, California, and she finds out more about who she is and where she comes from, which includes a magical existence she knew nothing about.

While this author tackles plenty of issues - (possible trigger warnings) abuse, death, depression, violence and mention of rape- the author portrayed each of these in a way that was authentic and left a lasting impression. I wish this attention to detail was paid to the bits where magic was happening, or in parts of action in the story - they seemed rushed and incomplete and I would have loved to have had MORE. Instead I would continue on in hopes of finding out more from another scene.

Overall I enjoyed it, it just fell short on what I was expecting in some areas for this supernatural YA title, 3.5 stars from me. Looking forward to reading more from Laure in the future, thank you to Wednesday Books, and imprint of St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this title in exchange for my personal review.

I have to tell you about this book I just finished reading called "Mayhem" by Estelle Laure. This book is everywhere. I kept telling myself for the past few months that I have to have this book. Well, somewhere along the course of needing this book (because I have a serious fear of missing out, aka FOMO), the publisher contacted me about reviewing this title. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

When I went to download the title, I put myself on pause, because how much do you want to bet, I probably had this book in my Kindle already? Oh, I was right to assume I already had it this entire time I was going nuts over the fact I needed this book. Don't ask me where or when I got the book, but it was there waiting in my Kindle for me to consume already.

And consume it ravenously I did.

Like most books, I don't read the synopsis very often. That was the case with "Mayhem." So when I started this book, content warnings started to flash before my eyes. So if you are sensitive to domestic violence, drug/alcohol abuse, suicide, murders or rape, please steer clear of this title, because it has all of that.

If you can shoulder on, then let me tell you about this book.

Mayhem and Roxy are back in Santa Maria, California. They come crawling back to their hometown, after having fled from an abusive man with only the clothes on their back and what they could grab in a few short minutes. It took Lyle banging Mayhem against a wall repeatedly to get Roxy (her mother) to run with her back home to Santa Maria.

Once upon a time, Roxy fled Santa Maria with a three year old Mayhem. She swore never to go back there again, but dire circumstances caused her to change her mind and take Mayhem back home to the Brayburn Farm.

The Brayburn women have a secret that Roxy ran away from. They are special in a sense that they protect Santa Maria from the weird stuff that happens in this strange psychokinetic blip on the world map. Strange things happen here. If you ask the weird Frog Brothers what's up in Santa Maria, they'll tell you vampires roam the Boardwalk.

You really get some kind of The Lost Boys vibes coming from these two. Actually, a lot of what's happening in Santa Maria seems very much like The Lost Boys. After reading "Mayhem" I decided to watch The Lost Boys again (available to buy/rent on Prime Video), which was released back in 1987. Ironically, that is the same year "Mayhem" takes place.

Ends up the Frog Brothers are the very same Frog Brothers from The Lost Boys, comic bookstore and all. The Boardwalk, roller coaster, the Sax Man, mom going to work in a movie rental store, and even the Brayburn Farm set up on the hill overlooking the town are very reminiscent of The Lost Boys.

So if you loved that 1987 classic, you will like this book. One side of the boardwalk is for the vampires. The other side is for the Brayburns.

What exactly are the Brayburns? They are a cursed lineage where magic and terror combine in a Doctor Sleep kind of way. They will suck the evil out of you, especially if you are a very bad person.

When Roxy and Mayhem arrive at their ancestral home, Elle (Roxy's twin sister) is living on the farm with three foster kids. At first touch of Kidd's hand (the nine year old), Mayhem reveals a little too much of her own truths. Yet, she doesn't understand why she would just blurt out to anyone how she was truly feeling. You can tell right from the beginning that these three kids are different.

They wake up late and stay out all night long, not returning until almost sunrise. What exactly are they doing all night long? Their neighbor is a cop and notices that these three always seem to be around when another girl goes missing.

Yes, there are girls missing. Six of them, in fact. The cops are not doing anything, claiming that maybe they just ran away. But everyone knows there's a serial killer on the loose.

Will they find the serial killer before he claims his next victim?

This book was so good. I couldn't put it down. I am actually hoping there will be a book two, because if you're a Lost Boys fan, any continuation or side story to go along with that amazing movie will make you want more. It is still a legendary cult classic for a reason.

Now, I don't want anyone to be dismayed by my review. Remember, I said vampires to one side of the Boardwalk, the Brayburns to the other side. What that means, I guess you'll have to read the book to find out.

I really enjoyed Mayhem by Estelle Laure. It is kind of a coming of age story for teenage Mayhem. After fleeing an abusive situation in Texas, she returns to California and learns who she is and where she came from. I thought the characters were really well written and loved her aunt Elle. The time period was the late 80s and it was spot on. The plot was very interesting, it had just the right amount of magic and mystery to keep you invested. I highly recommend this book for a fun summer read.

I am not familiar with The Lost Boys - I watched the movie when I was a kid with my cousin - and I have never seen Craft before so I can't say how good is the comparison, but I did like the book as it was.
I like the writing, I think it's the strongest point in the book. It deals with some pretty heavy topics, but it managed not to make me as uncomfortable as some other books do. Now, I'm not saying that the book will not make you uncomfortable or that it isn't graphic because it is. I just think this writing worked for me.
The book is written in two perspectives. You get Mayhem's perspective as you are following her story and the second one is in the form of diary entries that introduce you to Brayburn history.

The pacing is quite slow, and I enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second. The second part felt a bit underdeveloped and I had a hard time connecting with the plot - I got a bit lost at times. I didn't completely connect with the characters, but again, that might be just me.

To sum it up I did enjoy this book, I hope the final version clears up some things that I thought were faulty with the ARC. I'm considering getting the final copy because I want to reread it at some later time since I didn't give it my complete devotion (the exams and everything that's going on in the world right now were always at the back of my mind making me lose focus). Also, I'm really looking forward to Estelle Laure's future works.

Thank you to Wednesday Books & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Set in 1987 and described as a YA feminist mash-up inspired by The Lost Boys and The Craft, Laure's latest novel centers around Mayhem Brayburn, a young girl who's always felt there was something off about her, and whose mother, Roxy, inexplicably ran away with her when she was just a baby. MAYHEM picks up with Roxy and her daughter moving back to their hometown of Santa Maria, California, unintentionally setting Mayhem on the path to uncover her family's deepest secret.

I'd never read anything by Laure before, but this was a fun and quick read. I think the best parts of this book were in the first half -- the character relationships were solidly established and interesting to watch as they played out, and the mystery behind Mayhem's family secret (combined with a kidnapper loose on the town) made for some very intriguing chapters. Personally, I didn't have an issue with the supposed similarities to The Lost Boys screenplay since I'm not that familiar with it, hence the magical elements embedded into MAYHEM read as interesting and original. However, the main reason I'm giving this a 3-star rating and not 4-stars is because I do think the second half leans a bit too heavily on magical realism, causing the characters and their relationships to take a backseat in the main storyline. Nonetheless, this has more to do with my preference when it comes to genre mashups in novels, so if you're a big fan of magical realism and mythology, then this is definitely the book for you. My favorite aspect of the book is its focus on feminine power and its feminist message -- I wish books like these were more widely written when I was a teenager.

I started Mayhem with anticipation.. I love a good YA horror story and comparison to The Lost Boys definitely had me intrigued. I'll admit there was a lot to like in this book: woman empowerment and strength, mystical powers, mysterious lineage, soul mates, reunited twin sisters and much more. That said, I felt like there could have been more background and build up. I also wasn't a fan of the ending, but that's my personal preference. For these reasons, the story lacked that special something that would have made it remarkable for me. It was still an enjoyable read and one I would recommend to those who enjoy somewhat scary young adult books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars (release date July 14, 2020)

You can read all of my reviews at https://nerdgirllovesbooks.com/.

This is a fun YA fantasy book that is marketed as being "inspired" by the movie The Lost Boys. It's a quick and easy read, however the book follows much too closely the the movie and doesn't contain many original concepts. (It is also mentioned that the book is inspired by the movie The Craft, but I don't really see it).

The story is set in 1987 and revolves around sixteen-year-old Mayhem Brayburn. Her mother Roxy is addicted to drugs and alcohol. Mayhem lives with Roxy in a small town in Texas with her abusive step-dad. Mayhem and Roxy eventually flee Texas and return to Roxy's hometown in California. They move in with Roxy's twin sister Elle, and three kids that Elle is fostering. Right away, Mayhem notices that something is "off" about Elle and the children.

Santa Maria is a small coastal town that has an unexpectedly high crime rate and is currently being stalked by a serial kidnapper that is taking young teenage girls from the beach at night. So far, none of the girls have been found and no one knows if they are alive or dead.

It turns out that Roxy fled Santa Maria to escape the magic that runs through the female lineage of her family and to save Mayhem from it, however Mayhem discovers it anyway and embraces the power. Her family is considered the caretakers of Santa Maria and exact a form of vigilante justice when someone from the town has been harmed. With this new power, Mayhem starts to look for the serial kidnapper to bring him to justice.

As I said before, the book is a fun, easy read and if it didn't copy the movie quite so much, I would have enjoyed it more. That said, if you don't know the plot of The Lost Boys movie, you will enjoy the book and it probably won't bug you. There was only one aspect that I thought was similar to the movie The Craft, so that isn't a problem.

Other than Mayhem, there is very little character development. A couple character's story lines are begun, but are just left hanging and never developed or resolved. This is annoying. The book is unevenly paced and dragged until roughly the middle. It improved after that and the story moved along nicely. The book is pretty grim, but there are moments of humor here and there.

Overall, the book is a fun, enjoyable read.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

Whenever a book is described as “a beguiling, lyrical, beach-gothic page-turner,” you can pretty much sign me up as interested. I was super excited about Estelle Laure’s Mayhem from the time I read the synopsis on Goodreads. Not only did the book turn out to be exactly the whimsical 1980s fantasy that I hoped it would be, but it’s also a lot more than just that.

Mayhem promises a lot in that short synopsis — the 1980s and beachy vibes and supernatural-esque fantasy AND the power of women and family. Not only did Mayhem follow through on each of these elements, but it provided a lot of realistic and relatable characters in a beautifully picturesque setting in the California of the 1980s. The character relationships are the real stand-out of this story, and the interactions between May and her mother were complicated and sincere and really special. While the fantasy and mystery of the story were also important and well-done, I can’t downplay how important the characters are in Mayhem.

I do feel the need to note that Mayhem deals with a lot of really important and sensitive topics – including physical and sexual abuse. The author notes her reasons and explanation for her use of these topics in a note at the beginning of the story, but it’s worth keeping these elements in mind when deciding whether or not Mayhem is a good book for you!

In short, if you’re in the mood for a family driven story with a focus on women finding their voice and discovering their past — combined with heavy doses of Stranger Things and Stephen King — definitely give Mayhem a try.

Super special thanks to the author, the publisher, and to Netgalley for providing me a copy of the book for review!

Thank you St. Martin Press for providing me with a review copy.

Synopsis from Goodreads: It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else. But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.

What I enjoyed most about this book was the 80's vibe I got while reading this. I wanted to just jump into the California scene. This was such a unique book, filled with adventure, angst, and even a touch of magic.

The relationship between Mayhem and her mother stood out to me and while the stories are different, the relationship with my own father was an anchor in being able to relate to Mayhem.

Another element I enjoyed while reading the book was the diary entries throughout the book. The entries made me feel closer to Mayhem if that makes any sense.

I know that some people will say that the book mirrors The Lost Boys. And while I can see that, the book holds its own originality.