This was an intriguing YA mystery story with an interesting concept. In this book, we follow Ember as she embarks on trying to take down the Red Court. The Red Court is a group of girls within her school who do favours for people (such as rigging student elections or breaking people up) in exchange for a favour down the road. Ember's sister was a former victim of the Red Court and Ember is determined to take them down and make them pay for what they did to her. As Ember dives deeper into the Red Court and their inner workings, she starts to lose herself to revenge, and loses those closest to her.

Like I said, this book had a very intriguing plot line that sounded like the premise for an awesome thriller/mystery. And while, at times, it delivered, there were other times that just fell flat. The conclusion to the mystery and overall plot was, in my opinion, a little underwhelming. I enjoyed reading about the things the Red Court did, how they achieved them, and Ember's decent into the group. I just wish the payoff at the end was more. Some of the ways in which problems/questions were solved were also a little too convenient for my tastes.

As for the characters, I did enjoy Ember's character overall. She was really smart and she seemed to have her life together. Towards the middle though, she seemed to lose who she was and it didn't really match her as a character. I enjoyed Gideon's character and I felt bad for how much he had to put up with. While Chase was an interesting character in himself, I didn't love the romance he was involved in as it seemed a little random, especially at the beginning.

Overall, this was an entertaining YA mystery, but I just wanted a little bit more from it in the end.

2/5 stars. I only read about 60% of this book. At first I was enjoying it but the more i read it the more i realized it was written in a very immature way. I was very intrigued by the entire concept of the story but the execution was just not there. Maybe if they’d been in college and not high school and the writing was better it could’ve worked.

While I didn’t go into this novel expecting a whole lot, this author really blew me away! Great read and really fast paced! While I expected some of the twists, I appreciated that it was less about any twists and turns then it was about the narrators own journey and her discovery of what power can do to others. Great YA read for any fans of “Gossip Girl” or “Pretty Little Liars”!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

A glittering descent into the toxicity of the high school social scene, this YA thriller will rivet fans of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl.

This book's heart of darkness reeled me in. It's an unflinching examination of the lure of power - and what happens to one girl's idealism and character when she becomes part of the inner circle. The revenge plot at the heart of the story is hypnotic.

Ember is ruthless in her ambition to become a member of the Red Court. She is motivated by her need to exact revenge, and she is merciless in her quest for justice. When she is tapped to become a member of the elite group, she is exhilarated. But soon, Ember becomes addicted to the heady sense of power she now has access to. She faces a crisis of existential proportions - she cannot expose the Red Court and topple the hierarchy unless she figures out who she is and what she really wants.

None of the characters are likeable. The premise seemed incredible - secret societies, revenge, mystery, etc. Unfortunately, the premise was better than the execution. It just fell flat for me.

These Vengeful Hearts definitely has a Pretty Little Liars feel, but without the overwhelming darkness and questionable content. It's a fun read that I think many of my students will enjoy!

If I didn't have the audiobook for this, I would have probably DNFed it. I just could not get into this story. It felt so predictable and I felt myself rolling my eyes throughout reading this. I'm so overall this type of YA story.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't for me, but that's my fault, not the books. It was a lot more fantastical than I was expecting, and nothing really blew me away.

This is definitely an intriguing YA thriller - for new readers, the plot twists won't be as predictable as for seasoned readers. So I'll be getting this for my classroom library and I think it is just the type of book to hook new readers - especially with the Alice in Wonderland connections.

This was crazy!! As a school administrator, this book was terrifying! Yikes!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fun read! I love the secret society component to this book. I seem to really enjoy those tropes. Ember was a pretty interesting character as well. I am interested to see what else Katherine Laurin has in store for the future.

I was going to give this book a 3.5 stars but after reading the epilogue, I decided to give this book 4 stars.

This book to me had a lot of unnecessary fillers, but the suspense of who is in charge and how they will be brought to their knees is what kept me engaged. For some reason, when I read the synopsis, I thought this would be a retelling of Alice and Wonderland and this is FAR from it. The suspense aspect of the book is what made this book interesting but there were moments where I got “bored” with the added information.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

The Red Court is a secret society of girls who run around Heller High with the Queen of Hearts at their head. You can ask anything of the Red Court, rigged elections, couple break ups and different grades. But you will owe them something in return. Ember is a sophomore at Heller High who works to infiltrate the Red Court with one goal in mind. Take them down.

I actually ended up enjoying this book more than I initially thought I would. The writing style was really easy and the plot started pretty quickly. I liked the intrigue of it all. The romance was pretty cute but it didn't take over the story. I did think the resolution wrapped up a little too quick and neat, but there was a set up for a possible sequel I thought. Overall a good, quick read.

I gotta say this book reeled me in with the cover and the "secret society" premise. I mean, who doesn't want to read about high school secret societies and someone who is determined to take one down from the inside??

This ended up being very middle of the road for me. It wasn't as suspenseful or dark as I was hoping it would be, but it did bring that Mean Girls feel that I love.

Ember is FINALLY getting to join the Red Court-- a secret society that uses favors as currency. They're a group of girls who rig elections, break up relationships, and basically anything else they're asked to do... but it comes at a price. Ember has been trying to get noticed by them because her sister had an accident which left her paralyzed years back, and the Red Court were at fault. She's built her whole high school career on getting into the Red Court and getting revenge!

I liked that it didn't take long for Ember to get in to the Red Court and get involved in their antics. I liked that she went through some sort of inner turmoil with actually liking some of the girls in the Court and liking the power she had-- but at the same time feeling guilty about that and still wanting to take them down. It was a cool push-pull dynamic.

I feel like it could've went down in a more thrilling way. I was expecting a big mission at the end to go wrong and the big reveal to come then. It actually happened very gradually and without the punch I wanted.

I think this book was fun for what it was and I see potential for more Katherine Laurin books in my future!!

OVERALL: A fun take on high school secret societies. I liked the characters and the revenge plot, but wanted a bigger punch out of the ending.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC of These Vengeful Hearts in exchange for an honest review. This story follows Ember Williams on a quest for revenge. She attends Heller High (called Hell High by the students), where instead of popular students ‘ruling’ the school, there is a ‘secret’ society (secret is in quotes because many of the students know it exists and have asked for favors, but other truly believe it to be a myth which seemed a little far-fetched after seeing some of the things that the Red Court did) that runs Hell High. The Red Court (sort of based on Alice and Wonderland) is led by the Queen of Hearts and everything is done through playing cards. This society is full of only female members that, at the synopsis accurately put it, deal out favors and social ruin in equal measure. Ember has been trying to become a member of the Red Court since she started high school. She wants revenge, to dismantle the Red Court forever. Two years ago, her sister, April, was in an accident orchestrated by the Red Court that left her paralyzed. Since then, Ember was plotted to join the society and ruin it.
The story starts right before Ember gets invited to be a member of the Red Court. I thought this was a great way to get to know Ember a bit before she joined. I mention that because one of my favorite things about this book was the way Ember changed and developed throughout the story. After joining the Red Court and completing her first mission, she realized two things: that this take down wasn’t going to be easy and that she actually kind of liked the manipulation she was tasked to complete. Things definitely got a little muddy, morally speaking, for Ember as this story progressed, which in my opinion was the best part of the story. Ember was an interesting character. She finds herself in over her head, lying to all of those she’s closest to, and crushing on someone she was specifically warned to stay away from. I loved it all.
Overall, this book was fast paced, suspenseful, and full of drama and secrets. I liked Ember. I liked her best friend Gideon (who is gay). I liked Embers partner in the Red Court, Amber (who is also gay). I liked how the relationships developed. It was exactly what I wanted it to be when I read ‘secret society in high school’ in the synopsis. Also, with that ending I’m really hoping there will be a sequel or companion story.

I really loved this book! What a well-executed thriller.

Ember is determined to take down the Red Court, her school’s most elusive and secret club that will humiliate, blackmail, and essentially ruin anyone you request—with the understanding that you’ll owe them a favour, which they can call on at any time. But when Ember finds herself in the middle of the Red Court, she realizes that maybe she’s in over her head.

I really loved the writing: it was fast-paced and kept me reading. I also really enjoyed the relationships between Ember and her friend Gideon and her love interest. (And there’s no love triangle/jealousy between the best friend and love interest!! Truly amazing!!)

The ending was also SO GOOD. I wonder if that’s just an open ending for the author to torture us, or if there are actually plans for a sequel. Either way, if you enjoy thrillers, definitely check this out!

This was a really great book. I loved reading about Ember, joining this secret society of powerful ladies who rule the school in secret. But only so she can get revenge for what they did to her sister. It was such an intriguing concept, and I enjoyed watching it play out!

I was really interested but a bit apprehensive about this book. After all, it's about her infiltrating a group to take it down to get revenge. And I'm a really nervous person, and there was just so much that could go wrong. And it did, but it's never quite as awful as the black void of things going wrong makes me think.

The whole idea of the Red Court, well, they either right wrongs, or they're paid to do damaged. The former I could get down with, a bit of teenaged vigilantism. But the being paid to use their talents on people who don't deserve it? Yeah, no, that takes it too far. Plus the way they used the people who requested favours from, to later owe the group a favour in return, it's sketchy!

That ending though! After so many twists and turns and Ember becoming a person that's hard to recognize as who she started off in the beginning, well, I knew things would go down. But I do wish that it had been a little more all or nothing with that one twist. But I enjoyed how it ended!

This was such a great book, and I really enjoyed reading it!

These Vengeful Hearts was a page turner. Ember has been wanting to take down the secret society of "The Red Court" at her school. When she is a sophomore she finally gets tapped to be a member. So she joins so she can start building her case against the secret society and take the queen down. Ember starts questioning who she is. I felt like this story is definitely something I have read before but I found it to be pretty enjoyable.

These Vengeful Hearts has a stunning cover! I was excited to read about a secret society and the deceit such a society was sure to create. Overall, I thought the book was interesting but felt like it needed just a little bit more to leave me completely fulfilled. Although it wasn't my favorite book of all time, I will absolutely still recommend this book to anyone who will listen.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately and These Vengeful Hearts looked like it would be fast paced and entertaining. For the most part it kept me captivated, but there was a part in the middle where I found myself bored. Once I found myself sucked back in I wound up finishing the book pretty quickly, These Vengeful Hearts was entertaining and it was exactly what I needed to get out of my reading slump.

These Vengeful Hearts is a plot driven novel about one girl’s quest for revenge against a secret society that does favors for people and exposes secrets. I loved the idea of the Red Court and I found the take-downs entertaining to read. The pacing was pretty fast, but towards the middle of the book it got a little slow and boring. When the book picked back up I couldn’t read it fast enough. The tension ramped up and I was anxious to know what would happen next.

The characters are all pretty one dimensional, but I expect that in this type of story. The Red Court is full of girls who either enjoy deception or are out for their own personal gain. These girls all cross moral lines in the Red Court and it would have been more interesting if we got to read about their motives. When Ember joins the Red Court and starts enjoying the take-downs she realizes that there is darkness within her. Ember’s struggles with doing things that go against her morals are part of what make this book a more interesting read. I wish that the characters felt a bit more real and that the book explored morality a bit more. It ended a bit too neatly to feel believable.

Overall I think this book was entertaining, but it didn’t feel completely believable. I really liked the concept of a high school secret society that pulled the strings behind the scenes. I feel like the characters could have used more depth and that the ending wrapped up too neatly. If you;re looking for a fast paced read I recommend checking this one out, but if you’re looking for a deeper story These Vengeful Hearts isn’t for you.