These Vengeful Hearts had a very "Pretty Little Liars" or "Riverdale" vibe, which brought me back to my teen years. I really enjoyed the story premise with the Red Court and Ember's plan to take them down from the inside.

I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety of the book. It's been a while since I've read a thriller, and this one has got me wanting to read more.

The book was well written and makes it hard to stop reading. I'll definitely be looking for more by Katherine Laurin in the future.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. I thought that the narrator did a great job on the audiobook and I was sucked in from the very beginning.

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. The narrator of the audiobook did such a good job. i really enjoyed listening to this novel.

I was not able to get to this one prior to it being archived, but I was so interested in the synopsis that I sought it out after publication.

Secret society is an exciting story to read. This one was just okay. I do look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I thought the writing was good, but the plot lacked development.

I highly enjoyed the twist and turns of These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin.

Initially, I thought it was going to be a very typical YA mystery/thriller. However, as the story progressed, I kept being surprised.

I found Ember highly relatable. I would do just about anything to care, protect, or even the score for those that I love, especially my sibling. The group of characters was great, and I found myself invested in all of them because they were well developed. I found my interest in the plot and characters equally balanced.

I enjoyed that this was a standalone novel, although it ended with the possibility of a sequel in the future.

Laura Knight Keating did a good job with the narration. While Ember’s voice was very distinct, I found some of the other sub-characters voices were somewhat similar. I found her emotion was very strong, and her voice was pleasant to listen to.

I received an advanced audiobook copy from RB Media through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

These Vengeful Hearts is a YA thriller and a debut novel for the author. It was compared to Mean Girls and it really did remind me of that type of high school story and environment where a group of girls rule and mostly cause havoc for anyone that gets in their way. The difference here is that these girls are part of a secret society, the Red Court, so secret that even the girls in it don't really know who most of the other members are! The Red Court grants favours to students who request them anonymously, favours that can have awful effects on the lives of others. Just like what happened to Ember's older sister a few years ago.
The protagonist Ember, a 15 year old girl, is out for revenge for the incident that left her sister paralysed and makes a plan to gain a place in the Red Court with the hopes of bringing it down from the inside.
Reading this book does require some suspension of belief that a secret society of students can not only exist, but reign over the whole school, staff included, and can get away with committing crimes. But if you can do that then you're in for a treat. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it had some great twists. Yes, it's full of teen drama and cliches but it's a YA book so I'm not sure why some readers have expected different.
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a brilliant job. Her voice was perfectly suited for Ember, she sounded believable and was really engaging. This was definitely not a book that left you zoning out.

***Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and RB Media!***

I have to confess that I am a sucker for a book about a dark secret society that has a pretty cover. That is exactly the reason why I asked for this audiobook. I was intrigued by the synopsis of a girl who wants to take down the secret mean girls society from the inside. That’s a compelling story! Unfortunately it just wasn’t that good.

Ember started out as an interesting narrator but she lost her shine very quickly. She is supposed to be enacting this giant plot for revenge on behalf of her sister! But most of the time she is worrying and comiserating on the steps she has to take to get there. Surely you thought about these things when you were hatching this plan? No? Why not?

The plot was very cliqued with people asking the Red Court to make them homecoming queen, breaking up a couple, or embarrass someone for stealing a boyfriend. But the logistics are never really fleshed out. What if multiple people are asking to be made homecoming queen? Which one do you choose to help over the others? It’s all about trading in favors and this secret society is largely an unspoken about open secret. None of those things are talked about, which made the story seem trite.

I can’t tell you how this ended, to be entirely honest, because I tuned out. I was so bored with the story that it just became white noise. And then suddenly it was over and I didn’t even hear how it ended.

Ember Williams is determined to take down the Red Court, that rules her school. The Red Court makes deals and will take people down in return for a favor later on. Even if you graduate your favor still can be called in. Ember's sister was hurt by the Red Court and Ember has sworn vengeance on them but first she has to become one of them. After she does that can she remain on task or will the power go to her head?

This is an interesting YA novel that shows honesty is the best policy and that things that seem so important in school really don't mean that much later on. Its about what lengths you are willing to go to in order to have your request come true. Are you willing to hurt other people for nothing more than a favor?

I really liked the narration and the struggle of the main characters. The ending wasn't a huge surprise to me but it worked well. I really enjoyed this book.

I'm going to start by saying that I am extremely picky when it comes to audiobooks. If I can't stand the narrator then there is no hope that I will finish the book. This narrator kept me engaged even though the book itself didn't do much for me. This does not to say the book was without merit.

Could I see a group of my students devouring this book? Absolutely but this one was not for me. Working in a high school does not allow me to suspend my disbelief enough to allow for a secret society like the Red Court to exist. The lack of response from school administration also stopped me in my tracks. I found myself more upset with the adults involved than engaged with the story. That being said, I will probably pick up a physical copy for my library when I am able.

<i>arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for the honest review</i>

DNF @ 40%

I will say I really enjoyed the audiobook narrator. They did a great job portraying the main character and they are the main reason I even made it to 40% of the novel. I would definitely listen to other books that they narrate in the future!!

As for the actual novel, I was really not a fan from the beginning. I was intrigued by the thought of our main character becoming this morally grey person, having to infiltrate this secret high school society but this just had me frustrated and annoyed the entire time.

The main character is doing this because this secret society is the reason her sister had a serious accident and injury — that, I was on board with but the fact that her sister kept saying she didn’t need to do this, didn’t need to get revenge for her really made me uncomfortable.

Plus, just some of the plot points and decisions made by our main character seemed immature and this might be because I am over the age this book is set for.

I do think younger readers will have fun with this but unfortunately this just isn’t the book for me.

I am still very appreciative of the fact that I received this opportunity to read and listen to this novel!!

From the summary this book has everything to interest me; mean girls, secret societies, a teen girl bent on revenge. I was hoping for a heroine I could cheer for, a group of villainous girls to hate, and a thrilling rivalry to see who would come out on top. I presumed there was maybe even real danger involved as one girl was left paralyzed by their exploits. Unfortunately, this book fell flat and did not live up to my hopes.

Ember was juvenile and kind of horrible, so I didn’t feel any desire for her to achieve her goal of revenge. The Red Court seemed like normal, albeit ruthless schoolgirls. Their exploits were regular high school stuff like breaking up a couple or having someone voted prom queen. I know I was supposed to feel that this was intensely gripping but it felt low stakes to me. High school drama can be cute and entertaining, and it can certainly have real consequences in some cases but for most people who wins prom queen does not make a difference in real life. Although for those in high school it feels like life and death the reality is that it matters little. As adults we are left with a general positive or negative feeling about high school, but I can’t say that it plays a real part in my adult life. I have lots of memories but nothing that bears much relevance to my life.

I acknowledge that I am an adult well out of high school who reads and enjoys a lot of YA and I do wonder if this would have been more emotional and meaningful for me if I were back in my teens. Am I too far removed from this type of trivial spectacle to be affected by it? I found it predictable and even boring to the point that I sped up the playback speed of my audiobook just to get through it faster. In the end I’m not entirely clear about why this book didn’t work for me. It wasn’t horrible by any means. I just didn’t connect with the characters or feel the importance of the drama, so it has left me feeling kind of ambivalent. In the end it was okay but not particularly memorable and I would not feel inclined to read any sequel that may come from the ending.

I listened to the audiobook version and I think the story lends itself very well to the format. It was a straightforward plot that was easy to follow. The narrator did a really good job at capturing the cattiness and sometimes apathy of the teen characters. It added to the fun to hear them plot and be horrible instead of just reading about it. While I wish the plot would have been stronger, I have no issues with the audio and if you’re going to pick up this book I recommend the audiobook.

Thank you to RB Media /Recorded Books for providing an audiobook copy via NetGalley for review.

Average YA thriller. More drama, less thrills. Also the quality of the audiobook needs improvement. The voice sounds very tinny when sped up.

These Vengeful Hearts was a bit like a train wreck that I just couldn't look away from. The characters are all very flawed and the plot line is a little unbelievable but I couldn't stop listening!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my audiobook copy of These Vengeful Hearts in exchange for my honest review.

The Title/Cover design:
This title was interesting but what drew me to this book was the cover.

What I liked:
It was a very unique book. The main character showed how much she loves her sister but joining a dangerous group called the red court. The ending was definitely a shocker wasn't expecting that at all;.

Narrator: the narrator did a really good job. I look forward to listening to more audiobooks by her.
Author: I can't wait to read more books by her.

I loved this! The suspense and storyline kept me hooked, I couldn’t put it down.
I loved the the secret society.

The narration was fantastic, the story and characters came to life

I had never heard of it before, I found this book while browsing on NetGalley. But it piqued my interest because I love teen crime. I saw the low rating on GoodReads, so I was scared, but I requested the audiobook.
The protagonist of the book is Ember, who wants to take revenge on the Red Court. To do this, she first had to get into the most powerful group in the school. The Red Court is a secret school group from which every student can ask for something in return for a favor.
I didn’t expect much from this book, but in the end, I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say the story is insanely exciting, but it was interesting enough. It contained a few typical YA cliché, I often found it illogical, but I didn’t expect much from the book.
The narration was also good. It wasn’t one of the best audiobooks of my life, but it wasn’t bad either.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but there were a few YA cliché. Regardless, I’m sure I’ll go on with the series.

My Hungarian review:
Erre a könyvre NetGalley-n böngészve találtam rá, előtte még sosem hallottam róla. De felkeltette az érdeklődésem, mert szeretem a tini krimiket. Láttam az alacsony értékelést GoodReaads-en, így megijedtem, de mégis feljelentkeztem a hangos könyvre.
A könyv főszereplője Ember, aki minden vágya, hog bosszút álljon a Vörös Udvaron. Ehhez először is be kellett jusson a középiskola leghatalmasabb csoportjába. A Vörös Udvar egy titkos iskolai csoport, akiktől minden diák kérhet valamit cserébe egy szívességért.
Nem vártam sokat a könyvtől, ezért meglepőwn élveztem. Nem mondanám a történetet őrületesen izgalmasnak, de elég érdekes volt. Kicsit a tipikus YA húzásokat tartalmazta, sokszor logikátlannak tartottam, de nem is vártam sokat a könyvtől.
A narráció is jó volt. Nem tartozott életem legjobb hangoskönyvei közé, de rossz sem volt.
Összeségében élveztem, kicsit sok volt a YA klissé, ettől függetlenül biztos folytatom a sorozatot majd.

The cover and description to this book seemed so very interesting. However, I found myself being so bored by the whole thing. It felt like homework to open the app and listen to this book. Unfortunately, it took me over a month to read and I lost the desire to read anything else during this time.

This was on the darker side of Mean Girls to me. I thought the concept was really interesting. If a secret society like the Red Court existed high school be even worse than it already is with just the normal high school akwardness.

Ember's sister was seriously injured by the Red Court and now Ember's taken on the role of bringing down the court. Ember infiltrates the Red Court in order to find a way to disband it from the inside. Once she's in she realizes that asking a favor of the court can haunt you even after you leave high school and you'll always wonder when you'll have to return the favor. The deeper Ember gets the more she starts to crave the power the Red Queen offers to its members. It gets difficult for her as time goes on to remember the initial goal she had of bringing down the court and because of that she may lose those closest to her.

I enjoyed this book overall and found the plot to be really interesting. I think the reason it isn't a 5 star read is because the ending fell a bit flat for me.

The audio was really well done and I thought the narrator did great job! I would listen to more books narrated by her.

When a girl sets out to avenge her sister and seek justice for his sister's injury, she is met with a high school secret society that makes her question her loyalties and her reasons for getting involved to begin with.
This was an engaging YA read. I enjoyed the narrator as well.

I was honestly shocked by how much I enjoyed this book! A fun quick read. An entertaining story with a Mean Girls vibe. Ember is a smart, successful, well rounded, sophomore on a mission. She is determined to become part of the Red Court, A secret society of girls at her high school who pulled the strings and rule the school.
Looking forward to reading more from this author!