The Review
The Title/Cover Draw:
This cover is one of the most beautiful, and probably what drew me to want to read it.

What I liked:
This was an interesting concept. I felt like I hadn’t read a story totally like this.

What I didn’t like:
I got lost in the middle and can’t remember some of what happened. This was more my fault than anything else though.

What kept me reading:
I thought the main character was really complex and her motives were pure.

The Characters:
Really interesting characters, although there were a few male characters i would have liked to know more about.

The Ending:
Definitely a few twists I didn’t see coming.

Consider if you like :
Mean Girls
You can see my video review here:
https://youtu.be/3tn8Am9wjdo

I really enjoyed this one. It was a fun teen school drama full of twists and turns.

My favorite part was the storyline. I loved the idea of the secret society running the school.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really establish a connection to any of the characters. I thought they were fine but there was nothing there for me to hold on to.

I really enjoyed the narrator. I thought she did a great job.

I’d recommend this to fans of Ninth House.

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

Please tell me that there will be a sequel. Because I would totally read that one. There is potential for one. I personally enjoyed this book. I loved Gideon. He would totally be my best friend. Can he actually exist? The same goes for Chase. He sounds totally like the person I would have a crush on. One thing that I liked is that this book is addictive. I could not stop listening to the book. I just wanted to know more and read on.
I could have guessed some of the twists. Especially regarding April. However, I usually don't guess the obvious twists. So that's entirely on me. I would recommend the book.
I received the (audio)book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If Mean Girls and [book:Before I Fall|6482837] had a baby, I think this would be it's pretty book baby and written style. (First of all, this cover deserves 5 stars all by itself. But anyway....) This was non-romantic YA at it's best. Not that there was no romance, but that wasn't the main drive of the story. Which I love. So much YA is completely driven by romance, but I love finding the gems that aren't.

Ember has been inducted into a secret club in her high school--the Red Court--that does secret favors for students...but at a high cost. Great concept. Great characters. Every now and then it dragged for me and it was incredibly predictable, but none of that deterred me from enjoying it. Lots of fun. And certainly memorable.

Means Girls meets The Skulls.
The girls are stereotypical high school mean girls, the bullying and nastiness is over the top.
This is a revenge story and initially held my interest but it got tiresome pretty quickly. I should have seen the ending coming but somehow I missed it.

The way this book was set up I was expecting a really dark YA story and sadly this book didn’t deliver. It was plain, dull and at times predictable. I wanted more of the secret society aspect and less of the teenage growing pains and angst. The ending was a letdown and I felt it was wrapped up too nicely for my liking. The only reason I kept on with the story was due to the narrator. They did a really good job with bringing this story to life and I say that as a very picky audio book listener.

WOW! I was honestly shocked by how much I enjoyed this book! I don't typically read YA but both the synopsis and the cover drew me in from the very beginning.

These Vengeful Hearts is a gripping thriller about a secret society of modern day mean girls and one girls mission to dismantle them. The plot and characters were both developed phenomenally. There was the perfect amount of tension and twists to keep me interested. Overall, this was a fabulous audiobook!

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

The students of Heller High School are ruled by The Red Court. These are faceless and nameless individuals who can fulfil your wildest desires or enact your harshest revenge plots with only the promise of a future favour in return. Ember longs to be one of them. Not for the power and not for the glory, but to avenge one of the Court's victims - her sister.

This was an interesting story-line that kept me engaged throughout but it felt more angsty contemporary than dark academic, as I was anticipating. The secret society this featured was structured in a way that consistently made me want to learn more but the favours fulfilled were, again, focused on the drama and angst than the intricacies of completing them. This did absolutely nothing wrong but was merely not entirely suited towards my reading tastes, hence the ambivalent rating.

This is something I think many teen readers will like.
It definitely had a bit of a Mean Girls vibe.
I enjoyed it for what it was. The main characters story arc was interesting to watch. The theme of power going to your head is always an interesting one and I think it was explored well here.
I loved the chemistry between the main character and the love interest. I thought they had a strong dynamic as academic rivals.
The narrator was really good.
The best friend character felt a bit cliche and not well developed.
I wish the secret club stuff had gone darker but it wasn't bad.
The story was a little predictable and bland which is why I am giving it 3.5 stars.

** A copy of These Vengeful Hearts was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

I loved the premise of the book but thought it could be executed better. Overall, it was a fun/fast thriller about the dynamics of revenge, secrets, power and relationships.

I loved this book! Mean Girls on steroids! Great narration! I highly recommend this YA thriller! Relatable, flawed characters drive a well crafted storyline. This is my first read of Katherine Lauren, but it won’t be my last! 5 stars for story, narration and overall,

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

These Vengeful Hearts was a book that I have been dying to dive into. Eventually I found the time to do so and I'm not sure how I exactly feel about it. In it, you will meet Ember who has the dreams of taking down a secret cult/society/club/whatever. Eh, it was okay for me. She was also okay for me but frustrating as well to read about. I just couldn't get invested in her.

Other than the story line being predictable to me, I did enjoy some of the darkness in this book. Maybe I was expecting more because secret clubs and stuff aren't really new to me. It seems to be trend lately and I was expecting something a bit more. I, also, just wish I got more revenge or maybe better revenge than I got.

In the end, this book was pretty repetitive. Which could end up being annoying at times and I almost wanted to skim through this book. Luckily for me, I had the audio version and just had to listen/pay attention.

For fans of Pretty Little Liars or One of Us is Lying, These Vengeful Hearts is for you! This high school has a secret society (need I say more?)

I loved the plotline of this one and the plot twists! I definitely recommend this quick-paced YA read.

This was a fairly enjoyable and utterly ridiculous YA contemporary about Ember, who wants to avenge her sister's injury at the hands of the Red Court in her high school. She puts a plan into action to infiltrate the Red Court to take them down but gets more embroiled than she expected. Firstly, I thought that the narrator for the audio book was great, with lots of variance in her tone and different voices for different characters. Plot-wise, there was nothing unexpected here. It ticked a lot of the standard boxes, with conflict escalating in the right places and resolution happening when it was warranted. I thought the characters were all pretty generic and honestly, I don't think I'll remember this book next month! Definitely a fun read but nothing earth shattering.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Ember wants to take down the Red Court because the Red Court injured her sister years ago. Ember makes a plan to get accepted into the Red Court and bring the Queen of Hearts down. Ember is recruited to the Red Court and learns more of their secrets and puts strains on her relationships.
These Vengeful Hearts is marketed as a mystery thriller, but I wouldn’t say it really is. It is on the darker side though. Honestly, Ember really didn’t have a plan and how the take down happens was not that great. There was romance too, but it was made out of no chemistry. This was a meh story that had a lot of potential.

I received this and as an audio galley to listen to for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for giving me access.

Secret societies, high school, and huge secrets! This had a lot going for it and I wasn't disappointed. With some predictability, there were still a lot of turns that I didn't see coming.

I really enjoyed the growth of certain characters and the downfall of others.

Can this be a movie? Because I would be sucked in so fast stuffing my face with popcorn!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Today I bring you another juicy YA Thriller.
Like I recently said in my review of All Eyes On Her- there’s nothing original about this story, but it’s akin to watching some entertaining reality TV. This one is Mean Girl-esque.
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It is set in Denver, where I live and the author also lives here, so I love that 💕
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There is a secret society in Heller High called The Red Court, whose leader is The Queen of Hearts 👸🏼❤️
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Any student can ask a favor of The Red Court, but then they become indebted to them forever if they do. The Red Court demands payment in spades and are known for reputation destruction.
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Ember’s sister was hurt by The Red Court and she is completely consumed with infiltrating them and taking them down from within ✨

First of all, I want to thank the publisher.for accepting me and giving me an advanced copy of this audiobook.

These Vengeful Hearts is about Ember, a girl who wants revenge and wants to take down a secret society called “The Red Court” that once hurt her sister April. The Red Court does favours in exchange for other favours, all these favours are decided by The Queen of hearts which is the leader of this secret society. Ember had planned to take down The Red Court and expose The Queen of Hearts for years, now she has been finally accepted to be part of The Red Court, and we follow her path through this experience.

The cover of this book is beautiful, I love it, the red flowers were a really good touch for it and I really appreciate it.

The narrator of the book was what I loved the most, she really kept me in the story and she gave me chills sometimes, and her voice was perfect for this.

The book itself is good, it’s well paced and it’s interesting and exciting.
The plot was interesting, I always wanted to know more, and sometimes I just really freaked out because it was so good, but I went WORSE than freaked out when there was a plot twist.
The characters were also something I liked, especially Chase and Ember, I love how it transcends fast from enemies to lovers. There was something that I felt missing that was Chase’s Brother, they never mentioned him ever again.

Finally, I really loved and enjoyed this book, and I think there could be a sequel, but I prefer if there’s a series of this book or even a movie, I would totally see it.

My love goes to this book, this was the best book I’ve ever read this month, thanks to Katherine Laurin for writing it. This totally deserves my 5 stars.

I was drawn to Katherine Laurin's These Vengeful Hearts for its Gossip Girl-esque vibes. A high school secret society set on exacting vengeance and granting favors? Count me in.

Ember Williams just has to get on the Red Court - Heller High's secret group of girls devoted to bringing down their peers, led by their merciless Queen of Hearts. Ember wants on the Court because she wants to see its end. Her sister was paralyzed by the Court's misdeeds and Ember wants payback.

When Ember is invited into this elite secret society, she is handed more than she bargained for. Taking down the Red Court is not going to be as easy as she anticipated. Can Ember bring the Court to justice without further damaging the lives of her family and friends?

If you like dramatic, gossipy YA novels, then you will find much to love about These Vengeful Hearts. Be prepared to enter a ruthless secret society run by a group of stony-hearted girls, hell-bent on wreaking havoc on their high school. The Red Court shows no mercy and always shows up to collect what is owed.

These Vengeful Hearts gets off to a running start, deftly introducing readers to Ember and her motives. When Ember makes it onto the Court, readers are presented to its inner workings alongside her, making them feel as if they too are being inducted. Get ready to be morally torn as Ember is subjected to scandalous plot after plot - just how far would you be willing to go to take-down your peers ... and sometimes your friends?

Although this storyline has great promise, the book falls a little flat after the initial set-up. Not much happens in the plot aside from more take-downs, and the story lacks in character development. As someone who really enjoys connecting with characters in books, I felt on the periphery of Ember and her friends' lives. I would have enjoyed this novel more if I was able to become more invested in their story.

I listened to an audiobook production of this novel, and the narrator Laura Knight Keating was quite convincing as a teenage girl. While her voice lacks in range, she committed to the project and made me feel as if I was listening to Ember herself. My one complaint is that her voice did not remain at a steady volume throughout the book. At times, she would let her voice drop, especially when characters were whispering, making it difficult to hear parts of the story.

With a beautiful cover and a compelling, relatable plot, These Vengeful Hearts is sure to be savored by its young adult audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.