Great read! This book reminded me a little of the Pretty Little Liars series. The story is about a girl named Ember who seeks revenge on a secret society that she believes had to do with her sisters accident that left her in a wheel chair. Ember embarks on this mission to find out who the "Queen of Hearts" is and is asked to join the Red Court and along the way finds herself liking if not loving the power she gains. Along the way, Ember is challenged and has to decide if this power is worth her losing her friends and herself in the process. Great YA book and is a quick read that keeps you guessing.

I was extremely lucky to receive a digital ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

The premise: a secretive girls-only group that is almost mob-like in the way they carry out favors, revenge, and pranks.

The outcome: *oomph* Not so great.

I’ll be honest – after reading the first five or so chapters, I ended up skimming/skipping the middle and going to the end to read the last 20% or 30% to see what would happen with this promising premise. This debut didn’t deliver on that promise, though – I just did not care about the protagonist’s journey of revenge, especially since I didn’t like her in a passive way. She didn’t do anything wrong, but I just DID NOT CARE, and that was the overall mood of the story. Even now, about two weeks ago (three? who knows!), I just don’t care or remember much of anything.

This was an ARC, which makes it all that more disappointing, because obviously I want to be able to shove books into people’s hands and say “Hey, this is awesome, and I’m happy I got to read it early, whether I ever actually read it on time or not!” but that simply didn’t happen here. It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t something I cared about at all, and I can’t see much more than that, because that’s the main thing I remember about it – that I just didn’t care.

The cover of These Vengeful Hearts drew me in at first, and the blurb held promise of a dangerous secret society that ran a high school with an iron fist, handing out favors but only to those who give something up of themselves at a later date or pay the price later. Sixteen-year-old Ember Williams knows the price someone can pay because her older sister had to pay it and is now paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, and ever since April’s accident, Ember has vowed to infiltrate the Red Court and take them down.

But Ember doesn’t know that belonging to the secretive group just might destroy the lives of her best friend and those closest to her, as well as her own reputation and sense of morality. After being asked to join after throwing her card into the ring, Ember is paired with a girl who keeps her cards very close to her vest, mostly communicating with Ember via burner cell phone. The Red Court doesn’t talk amongst themselves or know who other members are except for their partner, so Ember’s campaign to take them all down proves very difficult.

Written from Ember’s point of view, I really enjoyed following her journey from straight-A student, athlete, and overall good person to sliding down the slippery slope of morally gray areas where the Red Court would ask her to manipulate and manufacture situations as people have asked to help out their ideas. Her best friend Gideon was a breath of fresh air both supporting Ember and trying to keep her from going off the deep end. Ember’s character really goes through a lot in this book, and her growth was nice to see, along with another character that Ember befriends.

I give These Vengeful Hearts a five out of five. As Ember grows more deeply embedded into the Red Court, she’s in danger of losing herself and her goal–and that’s when the book becomes so much more devious and enjoyable. The overly emotional and drama-filled halls of this high school reminded me of why I’m happy to be very far removed from those years. I found myself wanting to keep reading when I needed to stop to do other things. The novel wrapped up things pretty nicely with a little glimmer there for a sequel, and I for one would love to see another book in this series.

This book was amazing. As soon as I saw the cover, I was drawn in, and this did not disappoint. The concept might’ve been one of my favorites in a while, it was so intriguing, and made you question everything. Pieces of this were beautifully quotable, and although I don’t read thrillers often, this was everything I wanted.

Blurb
After her sister is injured after being taken down by the Red Court, Ember is determined to get revenge. She crafts a plan, building up every year of high school up to an ultimate finale in which she is recruited to be the Red Court’s newest recruit. However, in order to get the ammunition she needs to take the Court down, she must become one of them, compromising her own moral compass.

Ember was what made this book for me. I loved her for not being perfect, for having that dark side, and for embracing it. She was perfectly wicked, and I loved it. Her quest for revenge was written extremely well, she was as realistic as they come. She’s definitely one of my favorite characters.

I also loved the romance in this. Sure, it wasn’t the spotlight, but it still shone. Again, it was realistic. It came on as natural, Chase and Ember didn’t fall in love immediately. Also, I can’t turn down an enemies to lovers, and although this one wasn’t super vicious, I loved the rivalry between them. Of course, they hit a bump in their relationship, but it felt like a part of the plot, not like it was added just to be there.

And, saving the best for last, the Red Court! Yes, it was super unlikely that a group of thirteen girls could blackmail an entire community and hold that much sway, but it was super enjoyable. I love watching machinations go down, and I love manipulative characters, so this was right up my alley. I felt like the method of communication was ingenious, I loved imagining some of the scenarios.

These Vengeful Hearts is definitely one of the best books I’ve read recently, and I’d recommend it for anyone looking to entertain themselves. I didn’t find it predictable at all, and I really loved the characters. This was great!

Thanks to Katherine Laurin and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

This is a quick and fun autumnal read.
I enjoyed the setting, I'm always intrigued by a school setting and secret societies. This has both.
The protagonist enters the school with the idea of becoming a member of the secret society that has harmed her family personally. She is invited to join and part of the deal is that you become available to the group to carry out "pranks" or tasks at anytime. Her goal is very different though, because she wants to infiltrate the group in order to undermine them. Sounds great.
The overall plot and character development lacks a bit in my opinion. This brought the overall story down from what it could have been for me.
I enjoyed it but would have liked there to be more depth.
I recommend this for anyone looking for the school setting and loves the secret society vibe as I do.
#TheseVengefulHearts #NetGalley #InkyardPress

Really enjoyed this book! Perfect YA, very high school and intriguing. I also liked the characters and their development. It did seem a little unrealistic, very mean girls, but was fun to get into that world. Would definitely recommend to teen/YA readers who like mysteries and thrillers. It did take me a little while to get through just because I was reading it online and it seemed very long, I think if I had this as a physical ARC I would have gotten through it faster because it was very intriguing.

An interesting take on high school revenge, secret societies, and the lengths we'll go to in order to get a taste of justice.

If you are looking for a story about revenge then look no further. November joins a secret organization at her school that can manipulate outcomes (relationships, prom nominations/wins, roles in the school play) by using a system of favor and secrets. But really, November only joined with the intention of finding out who the Red Queen is that runs the group and taking everyone down for the accident they caused that paralyzed her sister. But when November starts liking her power too much, things start to turn even more dangerous.

Overall I found the concept to be really interesting, I just was not a big fan of November. She is just barely 16 and a Sophomore in High School but acted as if she was an independent adult with her schedule and her thoughts, her ability to come and go with no regard to parents or rules or anything it seemed. She felt very unrealistic to me as well as I could not connect to her at all emotionally, she was almost like a robot at times, saying the right thing but not actually feeling it it seemed. Also, the start of this book was very slow, so slow I had to put the book down multiple times because I just could not get into it (or care) but finally got the motivation to finish since I read with a friend.

There was a satisfying conclusion which I appreciated, wrapping everything up as well as can be expected with a group of sneaky manipulative high school students. This could be a book for you if you like strongly independent characters, secret societies, and epic revenge stories.

I'm a sucker for dark plots with deeply flawed and disturbing characters, especially the main character. I do love the heavy atmosphere here--something between psychological and thrilling--and the struggle not to be your WORST self is evident in THESE VENGEFUL HEARTS. It has everything a YA reader could want: mean girls grappling for power, a secret society, ruthless intent--and a girl bent on revenge for all the right reasons. I loved it for all of this, despite the consequences not really sticking, the predictable plot, and not so fleshed out characters. It's the kind of story you go to when you want a certain vibe--revenge vibes--but not necessarily to be surprised or shocked.

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. The 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.

A YA thriller? YES PLEASE!
The Red Court....a secret society..a cult..mean girls... (whatever you want to call them) are based at Hellar Hall. They grant favors in exchange for suture favors. The Red Court only seems to come together when there's a social crisis going on.
Ember wants to get revenge on The Red Court after being involved in the accident that left her sister paralyzed from an accident. This was when she was a freshmen in school. Now she's a sophomore and excited to be able to join The Red Cour. Perfect time to infiltrate this awful organization. With her new "responsibilities" as a member, she's slowly building a case against them.

Just like any other time, when given too much power, you're bound to abuse it. Ember isn't giving up no matter what, and she's not going to stop until she makes things right. This book was awesome. The author really threw some plot twists in there, making you wanting to know what's next. A book that shows you how far people will go to get what they want. I wonder if there's going to be a sequel? Thanks to NetGalley, Inkyard Press, and Harlequin for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love a revenge story and These Vengeful Hearts was a great one. It had a lot of twists and turns, which kept me wanting to read more.
A lot of times when I read books like this, a girl bent on revenge, I find the reason for wanting revenge to not necessarily be worth it. However, I thought Ember’s vendetta was certainly warranted. She was seeking revenge for decent reasons.
I liked Ember a lot and I liked that she was so self-aware. She knew that she may have enjoyed the things that the Red Court was doing a little too much. The Red Court was very mysterious, something very different than the typical bully stories I've read. That also made the story very interesting as not only was Ember trying to bring the Red Court down, but figure out who they were. I saw most of the twists coming, but there were one or two that got me.

This was soo good! The story kept me hooked, I couldn’t put it down.
The suspense was fantastic. I loved the secret society.

I love me a good secret society story! This one did not disappoint. This dealt with a high school secret society, this Mean Girls on crack and in secret! This was a great YA dark mystery that I loved and enjoyed every minute of it!

The Red Court is a secret society at Heller High that deals out favors. Students can send them a message to get revenge on someone at the school, but the favor comes at a cost that will be repaid at a later date. Ember wants to join the Red Court so she can take them down. She blames them for causing her sister’s accident years ago, that left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair. However, joining the Red Court may take more out of Ember than she’s able to give them.

This was an exciting and suspenseful story. The chapters were short which made it easy to read quickly. The tasks that Ember had to do for the Red Court were also fast paced, which left a lot of cliffhangers to encourage me to keep reading.

My suspicions about the identity of the Queen of Hearts, the leader of the Red Court, were correct, so the ending wasn’t too shocking. It was a satisfying ending and all of my questions were answered, so there weren’t any loose strings. The ending left the possibility for a sequel, which I would love to read!

This was a great story!

Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Ember Williams has finally received what she's wanted since she was in middle school - an invitation to join The Red Court. The Red Court is a secret society that rules over Heller "Hell" High, granting people "favors". The catch is, once you ask them for a favor, they own you until they deem it repaid.

I enjoyed this one, I liked the characters and the story was fast-paced. It was a little bit predictable in some parts, but not so much that I didn't want to keep reading!

I can think of a few students of mine that will love this book, so will definitely be purchasing it for my library.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

i really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the plot of the book.

I really enjoyed this book. While the characters were a bit juvenile and petty, it fit for their age and what they were going through at the time. I wasn't sure how much I would like it but I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly it hooked me and drew me in. I love that not only was it a thriller, there was also a fairly sweet love story there as well. This is probably what kept me the most interested to be honest. I wanted things to work out for the two lovers so badly that I was rooting on even the most devious behavior!

This is one of those that you would hope would never actually be true, but also has a pretty realistic vibe to it, enough so that you could see some group of people who think that they know better creating a group like this to get even with people who have wronged them. It reminds me of the Netflix show "Get Even". Which is actually very similar to this book in many ways. So if you liked this then maybe binge that show real quick and get your fix.

All in all I am impressed with Katherine Laurin's writing and how she had me hooked from the very beginning! I think I read this all in one sitting due to the fact that once I started, I HAD to find out how it ended.


Worth the read!

I'm not a huge fan of drama and this book had a lot of it. It definitely kept my interest and the narrator was great but I found it whiny and annoying at times. Maybe because I'm not the right audience for it. This is definitely for middle grade kids. Not my favorite. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my gifted copy.

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<p>›<strong> </strong>To be honest, I requested an arc for <em>These Vengeful Hearts</em> because the cover is absolutely stunning. It beings in October, and takes place mainly at Heller High.</p>
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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>"A Queen of Hearts was the eponymous calling card of the Red Court's leader, and its presence could only mean one thing: my invitation had finally come."</em></p></blockquote>
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<p><strong>›</strong> I use the <a href="https://youtu.be/iZhinxtTMFQ">CAWPILE method</a> to rate books.<br>0-3 Really bad<br>4-6 Mediocre<br>7-9 Really good<br>10 Outstanding<br><br><strong>›</strong> <strong>Characters:</strong> 5<br>The characters are okay, they didn't jump off the page, but there is diversity. Ember, the main character, is interesting despite the fact that her behaviours didn't feel authentic. Her best friend, Gideon, is gay with a Korean background which is cool - BUT he has a crush on a barista at their local coffee spot and that felt stereotypical. Ember's sister April was a flat character, lacking any personality. Haley, the girl who recruited Ember into the Red Court was probably my favourite character. The girl nicknamed "the fire alarm" had so much potential. With a name like "fire alarm," you'd think she's be bad-ass yet when she's revealed it was anti-climatic. </p>
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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>"I've known the Red Court was real for the last two years, ever since April told me that they were the ones who caused her accident. They're the reason she may never walk again."<br>"So you're doing this for what? Like revenge or something?"<br>"Or something. I'm not becoming one of them. Not really. I'm joining so I can destroy the Red Court."</em></p></blockquote>
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<p><br><strong>›</strong> <strong>Atmosphere:</strong> 4<br>Descriptions and world-building are lacking. I didn't <em>feel</em> anything at all. No smiling, no laughing, no crying, no real suspense. MEH.<br><br><strong>›</strong> <strong>Writing Style: </strong>5<br>cliché, corny, unrealistic dialogue.<br><br><strong>›</strong> <strong>Plot: </strong>5<br>Anti-climatic, NOT a page-turner. <br><br><strong>›</strong> <strong>Intrigue: </strong>4<br>Nope. I didn't really want to keep reading and had to push myself to finish.<br><br><strong>›</strong> <strong>Logic: </strong>6<br><br><strong>›</strong> <strong>Enjoyment: </strong>6<br><br><strong>Average</strong> 5<br><br>1.1-2.2 = ★<br>2.3-4.5 = ★★<br>4.6-6.9 = ★★★<br>7-8.9 = ★★★★<br>9-10 = ★★★★★<br><br><strong>My Rating </strong> ★★★<br><br><strong> › Final Thoughts</strong><br>• <em>These Vengeful Hearts</em> is a teen novel about family, loyalty, deception, betrayal, truth and explores whether the ends justify the means. This was just an okay read for me, I'd recommend it to people who liked <em>One of Us is Lying</em>, or <em>One of Us is Next</em>.</p>
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<p class="has-background" style="background-color:#92e491">Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.</p>
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<p><span id="reviewTextContainer2444285380" class="readable"><span id="freeText5945572884667617765"><i>*Quotes taken from an ARC copy and subject to change*</i></span></span></p>
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