Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of Mayhem. All opinions expressed are my own.

I have heard this is VERY similar to Lost Boys, but I've never seen that movie so for me it was completely new. I really enjoyed Mayhem’s character as she struggles between being a caregiver to her mother and also trying to be a carefree teenager. It's something I was able to relate to very closely and I thought it was portrayed really well. There's a raw, deep pain that is explored in this book dealing with domestic violence, addiction and suicide that if you haven't lived with, might miss the mark. The authenticity of this without it being too heavy, was what kept me hooked.

There's also magic and a serial killer in this book. Those aspects, especially the killer took a backseat for me. I wish the magic had been explained a bit more and I truly don't think the serial killer part was needed. There was a lot of tension leading up to it and then nothing. It was over far too quickly and neatly packed up for my liking. I think there was enough going on in the story without that. But overall, I enjoyed this one.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 14, 2020
For years, Roxy Brayburn has avoided her home in Santa Maria, California, refusing to talk about her hometown and the strange things that happen there. Now, with nowhere else to go, she returns with her daughter, Mayhem, to live with Roxy’s twin sister, Elle. After the death of her father, and years of abuse from her stepfather, Mayhem finally feels like home in Santa Maria. She easily fits in with her aunt Elle’s foster siblings, and she is finally starting to feel more like herself. However, when she discovers a journal among her mother’s old things, a journal that tells the intriguing and mysterious tales of the Brayburn women, she begins to wonder exactly what secrets her mother has been keeping. When a serial killer starts murdering young women in Santa Maria, Mayhem and her new friends quickly decide to see if the rumours are true, and take action into their own hands.
“Mayhem” by Estelle Laure, is described as “Lost Boys” plus “The Craft”. I can definitely see the “Lost Boys” component but there is definitely more of a “Practical Magic” vibe, in my opinion. The magic that runs through the female line of the Brayburn family, and the horrible fate that befalls any man who manages to fall in love with them, is all very Hoffman-like.
That being said, the novel was a slow start for me. It took a while to get into but I can’t necessarily blame Laure for that, as it seems that is the case these days with most of the books I read. Once I was able to commit to the novel, I was hooked. The magic, the eccentric and outsider group of teenagers, the sisterly connection, combined with likable yet strange characters, “Mayhem” is an interesting tale for sure.
I would’ve liked some more details of the story to be a little more fleshed out. The magical water, the vampire connection that was hinted at and then dropped; it seemed a lot of the interesting parts of the story were simply touched on, when they had a lot of potential.
I’ve never read Laure before, and “Mayhem” was definitely a good start for me. Magical, mystical and full of teenage angst, it definitely kept my interest. However, the storyline was obviously not that unique and I was missing some details that I desperately wanted. Overall, a decent read for fans of Hoffman and her ilk, who are looking for a little bit of magic.

I received a review copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

CN because this one could potentially trigger hardcore: domestic violence, suicide, drug/substance abuse/addiction, mentions of rape, codependency, serial murders

While the topics are handled carefully and with decency, I still want to give a fair warning to those who need it as they are the core of the story because it's about Mayhem (and others) dealing with all this.

The story is about Mayhem Brayburn, a 16-year-old girl that escapes her abusive step-father with her mother, Roxy. They return ot Brayburn Farm in California, where Mayhem discovers the answers to long-kept secrets and her family's magical heritage. But that is not all. There's also a serial killer on the loose, a teenage HEA romance and other shenanigans going on.
On paper, the concept is actually interesting but the executions is...problematic. Let me elaborate.

The book is...okay. The writing style is messy, going from jumbled and confusing to readable. Only very few passages are actually nice to read or lyrically appealing. The best way I can describe the writing style is that it is functional, most of the times because sometimes it borders on incomprehensible word salad that needed a stronger editor and a clear goal.

Speaking of goals, this book tried to be too many things at once and delivered at nothing. We have a protagonist escaping a violent and absuive step-father, a toxic relationship with her mother, a lot of family secrets, a magical source that gives the Brayburn family powers, a "witch" family that works as protectors of a California town, a teen romance, a serial killer subplot AND a subplot about family and feeling left behind. That is too much plot for such a slim book at it shows. The book is simultaneously too long and too short, with certain chapters and passages repeating known subjects and meandering aimlessly.
But there's also this weird thing that there is too much and too little introspection. We see the world from Mayhem's POV and I feel like the author wasn't able to strike the right balance or decide if she wanted to delve into feelings and thoughts or have action-driven plot and ended up with neither.

All plotpoints are dropped incredibly fast - except for the insta-love - and done quickly. Once Mayhem has her magical powers, she can use them withing seconds, hours tops for more difficult skills, while Neve, her aunt's soon-to-be-adopted daughter took weeks to hone those skill. Supposedly it's Mayhem's bloodline that makes her the best at doing magical things and that reeks of lazy excuses. There's also another darker part about "skills are inherited and genetic" that I won't discuss right now but I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about.

What really gets me is that difficult conversations and problems are dealt with really easily. Mayhem sees the serial killer immediately upon "training" her magical skills and senses him. A few chapter of mother-daughter toxicity and repetitive conversations later, she finds him without problems. The killer isn't who I thought it was going to be. In fact, it's a random dude, an NPCs you don't give a shit about, and he's killed so quickly after being found by Mayhem that his death and subplot become inconsequential to the story. Even when his death is being investigated and it seems that they - Mayhem and her family, who killed him because they are the protectors of the town thanks to their magical powers - might be in trouble...the problem solves itself by just disappearing.
The synopsis makes it sound as if the characters might suffer grave consequences for the committed murder. But nope. Nothing happens. And the subplot is instantly forgotten and neatly thrown away at the end with one sentence.

Mayhem's toxic relationship with her mother, Roxy and the way Roxy treats her like she's her parent and worse even a romantic partner? Never to be dealt with. Acknowledged but ultimately dropped.
Her violent step-father? Gotten rid of in cartoonish family sitcom style.
The broken family bonds? Eh, it's fine.

And that is ultimately the biggest flaw of this book: the problems ARE factually big and awful; they need urgent adressing and are impactful and harmful but the "solutions" are so quick, so easy, so incredibly childish that all issues seem inconsequential. Problems are solved how they are in a 90s sitcom. Think of Full House: some nice little speech about the week's issue, neatly dissolving the problem that is never to be heard of again.
The problem are so monumental and gargantuan (we are speaking of a literal serial killer, a murderous step-father and a mother that has inappropriate almost-sexualised contact with her daughter, plus lots of family secrets, lies and magic that makes you addicted like heroine) and the solutions so ridiculously simple that you're left behind wondering wha the fuss was about, despite the problems being actual problems, and deeply unsatisfied with the "resolutions".

I think there is great potential for an amazing novel that knocks you off your feet but this is sadly not it. I wanted a full three-course meal and got served anaemic plasticy cotton candy.

I don't hate the book. It's not bad or problematic contentwise. It's just...eh.

I recieved an arc on Netgalley in exchange of a review. Mayhem and her mother Roxy leave their abusive home and move to Santa Maria where Mayhem gets to know she comes from a family of witches. I like the beachy California vibes with partying kids. I also like Mayhem's growth over time. I also like the cover art of the book

Wow.

Mayhem by Estelle Laure was pitched to me as Lost Boys meets The Craft, and you know what? It certainly fulfilled the atmosphere of both. On a beach where the ocean gives way to a cove where something makes the water strange, a generation of women with unusual powers, and one girl and her mother run face-first into a terrifying legacy.

What intrigued me the most is how Laure's prose made the scenery come to life. Through Mayhem's eyes and the journals she finds, the coast of Santa Marie comes alive with a rich history of powerful women and their magic. Lovers die anguished deaths, curses can curdle in the blood, magic can turn to madness, and all while a killer stalks the beach. This prose gives life to the people living there, wayward Mayhem, lost Roxie, and the cast of Brayburn characters who guard an important secret. Although I wished some of the focus shifted to Mayhem's mother about how she changes her destiny, so to speak, Laure succeeds in creating a book deeply entrenched in the nuances of the 1980s with blood and magic hiding in the ocean water.

Mayhem is a deeply atmospheric summer read about vengeance and family. Recommended for fans of supernatural beach reads and Summer of Salt.

I received a complimentary copy of this e-book ARC from the author, publisher, and Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but I ended up really liking it. Having never seen The Lost Boys, the plot was new and fun to me and I found the characters really likable.

I love the film 'The Lost Boys' and this book is basically a story set in that same universe, even with some of the original characters making an appearance. It is an okay story but I'm not sure how I feel about my favourite 80s film being used in this way.

2 stars - applied to the first half of the novel

DNF at 50%.

I was instantly drawn in by the suggestion that this book connects in some way to _The Lost Boys_ and _The Craft_. However, I was instantly turned off when I started reading and could actually picture scenes from the films playing out in the novel. A common way to pitch a book is to suggest that fans of [insert other works and writers here] will enjoy this. However, I am disturbed by what feels more like lifting than joining a community of other pieces.

Along with this primary concern, I found the first half of the novel (I wasn't able to go beyond that) slow and challenging. I appreciate the author's work with the tough stuff: domestic violence, child abuse, rape, and codependency. But these issues are tackled in so many other works and in more original and effective ways.

This book made me feel so uncomfortable, not because of the subject matter but because of the apparent theft. It's not enough to acknowledge the connections; that's like yelling "I'm stealing from you!" as I run off with your wallet.

If you have never seen either of the referenced films - which seems possible for contemporary teen audiences - give this a try. If you have, and especially if you - like me - saw this as a convincing point to read, I advise against this one.

Thank you to Sarah Bonamino with St. Martin’s Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I really wanted to like this book. I was immediately interested after reading the summary. Magic and the 80s? Sign me the hell up. Sadly, this book was a miss for me. I really liked it at the beginning, but the further I read the less I liked about it. There were some aspects that I really liked, but the things I didn’t care for outweighed those things.
We follow Mayhem as she and her mother, Roxy, return to Roxy’s hometown of Santa Maria. Mayhem and Roxy are running from Roxy’s husband who is abusive. I liked how this book covered hard topics. The abuse was hard to read about, but realistic. Roxy was also addicted to drugs. This was a topic that was covered well. It was discussed thoughtfully and with care. This isn’t always the case, so it was something that I appreciated.
The magic in this book was so interesting. It follows the Brayburn bloodline, mostly. It stems from an ancestor. Their powers come from water that isn’t water in a cave that most people will never be able to find. I thought the magic was chaotic and horrifying and wonderful. This was probably my favorite part of the story. Learning about the history of the family, how the magic came to be, and how the adopted children of Mayhem’s aunt, Elle, came to have the Brayburn magic.
But these adopted cousins that Mayhem has just met were part of my problem with this book. Jason, Neve, and Kidd are wonderful at first. Neve immediately decides that she and Mayhem are going to be best friends. This wasn’t really believable too me because Neve was hot and cold with her. Keeping secrets and leaving her out of things, but acting like this isn’t between them when it suits her. Then Neve takes things too far and I just really didn’t like it. I guess things came around in the end, but I just didn’t care for Neve. Then there’s the romantic relationship that kindles between Jason and Mayhem which I just couldn’t find it in myself to care about.
Finally, the ending was just so unsatisfying. There’s talks about healing Mayhem’s cousins from the magic, but there was no follow through with that and that just made me mad.
Overall, I enjoyed parts of this book. I read it very quickly. It was a captivating story, but there were too many things that I just didn’t care for. Also, I read other reviews that said parts of this story were almost word for word from the two stories it was inspired from. I haven’t read or watched them so I cannot say but there were more than a handful of reviews that mentioned this. I think there will definitely be some people that love this book, but it was a miss for me.

Am homage to something else is fine, but I'm not sure about wholesale character (yes, Frog Brothers, I'm talking to you!), plot line, and concept lifting... I wanted to like it - The Lost Boys is one of my favorite era movies - but mostly just felt like I was reading parallel universe fan fic and it just wasn't enough to hold my attention.

4.5 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com on 1 July 2020



Mayhem Brayburn was 3 years old when her mom fled their home of Santa Maria landing in Taylor, Texas. Taylor and her mom’s second husband Lyle is pretty much all Mayhem has known. Lyle is a southern charmer on the outside and an abusive control freak on the inside. Mayhem’s mom Roxy has taken more than her fair share of beatings, but when Lyle comes after Mayhem, something breaks in Roxy.

Fleeing back to Santa Maria to her ancestral farm, Roxy has fences to mend and a personal life to clean up. Her twin Elle is there to pick up the pieces, along with her three “kids” - former street kids that Elle is fostering. Mayhem has never had a friend other than her mom. She is excited and terrified that these three won’t accept her, but Elle has tasked them with teaching Mayhem about the family secrets. Apparently the Brayburns are known in Santa Maria for their special powers, or what people suspect are special powers. Mayhem has a lot to learn.

Books about teens with magic powers are not unique, but Mayhem captures teens in an honest and fresh light. The codependent relationship that Roxy has fostered with Mayhem is in need of work. Elle, while being Roxy’s twin, is almost her flip image. She is grounded and solid and what Mayhem needs right now. The three foster kids each have come from harsh circumstances, and the magical powers granted them set them free, while still locking them up.

It is a unique story. One that I thoroughly enjoyed and think that many YA readers will enjoy. There are adult overtones of violence, sex, and drugs that will be too much for young readers. However, for most mid-teens, they might have seen worse in video games. Definitely giving this one an A. Excellent storyline and character development while keeping me glued to the pages.

Inspired by Lost boys with a female lead character, this book is about a woman and her daughter relocating after a traumatic experience. I liked the way it handled such difficult themes. However, the first half was slow and hard to get into. I liked the ideas, but just didn’t see them carried out fully.
*many thanks to Netgalley for the copy in exchange for my review*

I couldn’t get past the first 5% - very heavy subjects for what I thought was a teen/YA book. I would have liked to have seen this subject content be referred to in the summary/blurb, as I would not have chosen to read it if I had known this.

A fantastic reimagining of The Lost Boys meets The Craft! I love the punk 80s vibe, and MAYHEM herself is badass!

**Review to be posted on my blog on 6/29/20**
**3.5 stars**

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

My Reactions:

My Attention: what is this magic water? 🤔

World Building: Late 80’s California coast inspired – think…Lost Boys. The magic system? Vague.

Writing Style: lyrical

Bringing the Heat: 🔥🔥

Crazy in Love: insta-Love

Creativity: magic water gives drinker powers (at times confusing)

Mood: dark 🌑 and a little nostalgic

Triggers: domestic abuse, drug use, death, killing, toxic relationship

My Takeaway: there is magic in the water and it can make you see things

What I Liked:
*The cover and title. Love it.

*I liked the whole Santa Maria, California beach 80’s vibe in this book. You can definitely tell it is inspired by The Lost Boys. I felt some nostalgia and I haven’t watched that movie in awhile so I can’t compare it side by side, but it definitely got the vibe right.

*Roxy and Mayhem’s relationship is complex. They confront many issues like suicide, the family’s past, domestic abuse and drug addiction. I’m glad that Mayhem and Roxy come to terms with their “roots” and their family history. Roxy had a lot of secrets she kept from Mayhem but she was drowning in a lot of her own pain and misery.

*This whole story intrigued me because it’s starts off as an abuse story and then…things just get twisted in a strange way that at times worked and then a lot of times that didn’t.

Things That Made Me Go Hmm:

*This magical, addictive “water” that was being described in the story was aggravating me a little because of how vague it was. It could make the drinker see who was good and evil and that made the Brayburn bloodline powerful. But at times I was almost hoping this was The Lost Boys remake and vampires were gonna jump out somewhere – that didn’t happen.

*They use this magic power basically at the end to stop a serial killer. But there is a lot going on already with Roxy and Mayhem, this killer is just not a focus of the book or it didn’t seem urgent enough to me until the second half of the book.

*The insta-love between Jason and Mayhem felt unnecessary. He became her “great love” in a span of days!

Final Thoughts:
Without the magic elements of this book, I found Mayhem’s story gripping as she and her mother try to start over their lives in Santa Maria. The magic water introduction felt a bit weak to me and confusing but I did like the nostalgia of The Lost Boys. Mayhem standing up to her abuser and learning about her family and the magic they have is a powerful message that everyone can learn from.

I always enjoy when authors make a change in direction and with her third YA novel Estelle Laure edges away from teen dramas into the world of the supernatural with the excellent Mayhem. However, it is not a complete turnaround as a large proportion of this 1987 set story is a compelling family drama, the twist being that the Brayburn clan are not your average family. Teen readers will have to show patience in this slow burner, before figuring out what exactly makes them different.

Mayhem begins with sixteen-year-old Mayhem Brayburn and her single parent mother, Roxy, returning to the family home in the seaside town of Santa Maria. For the previous thirteen years they have lived in Texas with Roxy’s violent and domineering husband Lyle who recently struck Mayhem, the final straw in a catalogue of domestic abuses instances which led to them running away. The teenager barely remembers her ancestral family home but is aware that her natural father died there, possibly suicide, not long before her mother moved to Texas thirteen years earlier. Much of the story is built around Mayhem’s return to Santa Maria and the secrets connecting her to her family and their weird history.

In the years away from Santa Maria, Roxy has developed a prescription drug habit and the complex relationship between mother and daughter lies at the heart of Mayhem. Expanding that, Mayhem deals with the complex family dynamics in the Brayburn family and the vaguely explained hold they have over the local town. In the time Roxy has been away her sister Elle has fostered three other children Jason (almost eighteen), Neve and Kidd who is nine. The eldest and youngest are natural brother and sister, whilst Neve is a wild free spirit who is a contrast to the much more reserved and closed-off Mayhem.

The convincing friendship dynamics of the four children were crucial to the success of the book and for most of the time their relationships dominated the plot and the supernatural element lurked in the background. Readers looking for a loud supernatural romp might find this book to be rather frustrating, it is a much quieter coming of age story with Mayhem trying to uncover the mystery of herself and her connection to the local area, which frustratingly, nobody wants to talk about. It is very subtly handled with Mayhem being an engaging first-person narrator who moves from outsider to a key member of the group of four. On the other hand, her mother Roxy was frustrating, with her daughter showing more sense of responsibility than the flaky parent.

I felt one of the main taglines which has been used with this book was slightly misleading; “The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel.” Firstly, technically there are no traditional vampires, there is only one boy in the story, and it was not ‘feminist’. Just because a book has predominately female characters does not automatically make it a feminist novel. Comments have also been made of its mid-eighties setting, it did not particularly come across as eighties; neither did it rely on pop-culture references from the period, but this was not a particular drawback as the story could have been set anywhere. The author is obviously a fan of The Lost Boys as Mayhem features several references to the film, including characters called ‘The Frog Brothers’ which fans of the film will undoubtedly recognise.

The supernatural element revolves around what makes the Brayburn’s different from everybody else in Santa Maria, with added conflict thrown in because the three other children are not Brayburn by blood. At a certain point the ‘magic’ is explained away because the town is built upon a ‘Psychic Vortex’ where weird stuff can happen, never mind The Lost Boys, this had me thinking of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s ‘Hell Mouth’, where Sunnydale was located!

Whilst Mayhem is uncovering her family’s weird history, helped by the discovery of old diaries, there is a second major plotline of a serial killer, the Sand Snatcher, killing young women, which eventually involves Mayhem and her new siblings. This was not the strongest element of the story and seemed to lurk in the background before bubbling to the top towards the end of the novel and was resolved far too easily. However, the spooky beach setting was excellent and contributed much to the atmosphere. On the downside, an unconvincing, and unnecessary, romance was also thrown into the plot in the final third.

Mayhem will be aimed at girls aged thirteen and above and continues the trend in recent horror and dark fiction to turn male characters into background wallpaper and, sadly, that is exactly what Jason was. Overall, I enjoyed this novel, but its success with real teen readers will depend on how well they connect with Mayhem as a leading character and their interest in the family vibes which dominate the story. Some readers will find it too slow and lament the lack of action, but for fans of teen driven dramas with a supernatural twist there is much to recommend.

It's the 80s, and we follow Mayhem and her mother who have just moved back to the mother's family home after escaping an abusive relationship. Mayhem soon comes to realise that there's more to their family than she ever would have thought. This book promises 80s vibes, mystery and magic and has heavy nods to the 80s cult classic 'The Lost Boys'.

Let me start off by saying that 'The Lost Boys' is my favourite movie.

I was clearly excited by this book when I received an email offering me access to an ARC... but overall I was left with mixed feelings.

I enjoyed the writing, general vibes of the book, and some aspects of the story. The book also felt very nostalgic which does make me question who this book is for as it is a YA but how many current teens will feel nostalgic about the 80s? I personally didn't live through the 80s but I felt that nostalgia having grown up on 80s movies and having had such a love for 'The Lost Boys' since I was fourteen.

Then the last page of this book happened which completely lost me. There is so much present within this book which was ripped directly from the film to an extent it was uncomfortable. The last page of this book featured a quote directly from 'The Lost Boys' which really had NOTHING to do with this book and was given to a different character (but still one from the movie) which added insult to injury.

Honestly removing the quote and the presence of the brothers within this book (or leaving them at one brief cameo) probably would have left me with much more positive feelings overall but I've had a hard time getting past it to enjoy everything else this book had to offer.

I think for now I'm settling on a rating of 2.5.

I’ve seen lots of reviews bring up similarities to Lost Boys but I truthfully don’t remember it will enough to draw comparisons. If anything, it reminded me a little of Alice Hoffman. With a little less subtle whimsy, a little more not so subtle murder. That’s not a complaint though. I enjoyed the balance it struck.

There were a lot of surprising elements I wasn’t expecting. I thought the whole vengeance, seeking justice aspect would be the main plot. But that seemed to take a back burner to the mother-daughter story. If anything, I wish it had gone more into the generational stories between the families.

This really wasn't my thing. I like to have a clear grasp of who characters are and their relationships to one another right from the start, I'm just a character-driven reader. I was constantly getting confused by characters and their relationships, which made this overall reading experience really tedious for me. This isn't a personal observation, but many people have said that this is a really strong copy of The Lost Boys. I have no knowledge of The Lost Boys, though, so I couldn't say for sure!

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<p>This book is <strong>such </strong>a tough one to review. It contains several of my favorite tropes - found families! creepy small towns! magical secrets! - and some of my least favorite tropes - insta-love! retellings that add nothing to the original work! As someone who hasn't seen <em>Lost Boys </em>but <strong>loves </strong><em>The Craft</em>, I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, I just felt dissapointed.</p>
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<p>The major weakness of this book, in my opinion, is the plot (or lack thereof). When I was trying to compose a summary for this review, I found myself drawing a blank. It's about... water? Someone has magical powers? Saving the town? Something about... immortality? Maybe? Truthfully, I was incredibly confused as I was reading, and while I hoped things would be cleared up by the end, I only had more questions. Such as: what's with the <em>Lost Boys </em>tie-in? Why set this book in the world of <em>Lost Boys </em>at all? In a lot of places, this felt like the author's self-insert fanfiction, and it was difficult for me to figure out what exactly was even <em>happening </em>at scenes that should've been climactic. </p>
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<p>Simply put: I'm at a loss for how to review this one. I really have no idea what I read, and I feel legitimately confused by the "plot" of the story. What <strong>happened? </strong>I'm normally someone with (I like to think) good reading comprehension, and I'm baffled by how little of this book made sense. I really, truly felt like I forgot how to read at several moments in this book, and when I finished reading, I had that most bizarre feeling of confusion. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what happened in this book. If anyone can provide some kind of plot summary, <strong>please </strong>do. I'm just at a loss for words with this one.</p>
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