The narrator has done a fantastic job. The book was addictive and an interesting fast read though the story is little slow paced some times. The book reminded me of the movie 'The Mean Girls', which brings to mind another interesting book I read recently which uses 'The Mean Girls' quotes ( Tweet Cute).

Coming back to this book, it was interesting but you would have guessed what happened to Ember's sister by the middle of the book. All the suspense built up in initial chapters is not completely justified in the end. The first few chapters kept my attention which was lost somehow in the middle but the final chapters are true page turners and grabbed back my interest.

Thanks to NetGalley , Author and the publishing house for the ARC.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an audioARC of These Vengeful Hearts in exchange for an honest review.

These Vengeful Hearts is about a high school secret society called The Red Court who have been making dreams and nightmares come true for years. After her sister gets in an accident that The Red Court caused, Ember decides to join there ranks to try and take them down from the inside.

The main thing you need to know going into this is that its not a thriller. It's shelved as a thriller but the mean girls comparison on the cover is a lot more accurate. This is a high-school drama book with a really unique twist, but that doesn't make it a thriller. It's honestly more of a character study on Ember than a mystery.

For the most part, I liked it! The premise was interesting, it was well-paced, and the narration is really well done. It's very, very, simular to mean girls plot wise so if you didn't like mean girls, you won't like this.

While I was still entertained, Ember wasn't a really good character to follow. Her personality is really flimsy and instead of showing us her decent into getting wrapped up in the power she has(a la Kady Heron) Ember occasionally just abruptly goes "I can feel my self getting wrapped up in the power I have." Most of what we know about Ember comes from everyone else telling us how smart and cool she is and Laurin attempts to flesh out her interests by having her and everyone else in this book constantly go "Ember is a track and debate star! And a straight As student!" which just made me really confused about where the debating, training, and studying was. There's about 1 track scene despite her status as a member of the track team was mentioned dozens of times and 1 debate scene even though its mentioned at least once every 2 minutes and while its totally fine not to include scenes detailing all of your MC's hobbies if you mention Ember debating every two minutes I thought it'd have at least something to do with the plot. Instead we get a few lines of a pretty surface level opener and Ember going "the other team panics knowing we've crushed them" (and it so wasn't a 'we crushed them' moment to the point where I'm outing myself as a debate kid to tell you that) and every time her love for debate or running was mentioned it felt like the plot was yelling 'Look! She has interests!'

These Vengeful Hearts is the story of Ember, a loyal sister obsessed with getting revenge for her older sister. April was injured in a tragic accident and the culprit is a shadowy organization at school called The Red Court. The Red Court will help you with whatever you need, though everything comes with a price. Ember decides that she must go undercover and take down The Red Court from the inside. But once there, Ember starts to like the feeling of power and control that she’s gained. She will have to decide what matters most to her when her friends come into The Red Court’s crosshairs. And no one leaves The Red Court...

This was a fast-paced book that was hard to pause! I listened to the audiobook version and the time flew by. The narrator does an excellent job of voicing all the characters and it was pleasant to listen to. I found the most compelling part of this story was Ember grappling with her desire for power and control. Watching Ember navigate between trip wires as she ruthlessly worked toward her goals was very satisfying. I did not feel overly invested in the love interest, who felt somewhat dull.

I really liked the concept of The Red Court, a sinister and shadowy organization that is both legendary and feared. The secrecy, rules, and Ember attempting to learn the identity of the mysterious Red Queen was captivating to watch. To me, the story stumbled slightly in the conclusion, but I still found it enjoyable. If you are a fan of Gossip Girl or Riverdale, I think you will love These Vengeful Hearts. I can’t help wondering if there will be a sequel after that ending! These Vengeful Hearts is available now. Thank you to Katherine Laurin, RB Media, Inkyard Press, and Netgalley for a free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

How much would you pay to make your high school experience easier? Or to win Homecoming Queen, get set up with a crush? The Red Queen and the Red Court can provide these opportunities for you but it will come at a price. For Ember its more than a favor, its about revenge. These Vengeful Hearts is a Gossip Girl meets Pretty little liars in this revenge plot to take down a secret society. With a fast-paced plot, Laurin will have readers on the edge of their seats, holding their breath to find out how Ember will succeed in her revenge plot. While the plot revolves around revenge, Laurin does weave in heavy topics that high school students face; such as rigging social events, having a had in the destruction of a relationship, and intervening with faculty lives. These themes fall short on deeper topics that could have been tackled and seemed to be touched on briefly and not at a deep level. While the lure of a secret society that holds powerful connections will draw the reader in, the lack of excitement and Red Court assignments makes the fast pace plot lackluster. I wanted more danger, high stakes request that Ember was forced to look at her own morals and that of her student body. The Climax felt rushed and did not fit the context of the book. These Vengeful Hearts needed more rage and twist to really make this a great read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers RB media for granting me access to this audio book in exchange for an honest review.

These Vengeful Hearts follows the story of highschooler Ember, star track athlete, model student and captain of the debate team who is destined for great things but all of it is an act to gain entrance to 'The Red Court'. The Red Court is a secret society run within Heller High where members work on a favor based system to take someone down, expose them or ruin their life in return for a favor from the person requesting. When Ember was fourteen her sister was victim to The Red Court and after a terrible accident was left paraplegic. Ember has always sought revenge and wants to join in order to take the organisation down from the inside. The society is run by the elusive 'Queen of Hearts', all requests are approved by her and she is the one who grants favors to serving members.

The other main characters are April Embers sister, Gideon who is Embers best friend, Hayley who becomes Embers partner in The Red Court and Chase who is Embers love interest. After Ember is accepted into The Red Court she is immediatley send jobs to do but when the jobs involved are surrounding her closest friends she has to evaluate what is more important choosing her friends or keeping up the charade in order to take down the secret society.

Over the last year or two i have really enjoyed some of the dark academia books i have read and its becoming one of my favourite tropes but this one was a bit juvenile for my tastes. it never really felt like the stakes were high enough, i wanted to be on the edge of my seat. Some of the 'take downs' were built up and then felt quite anti climatic. It has an element of Mean Girls to it in the same way that Ember is pretending to be a part of the Red Court but finds herself enjoying some of the jobs shes given which causes her to lose some friends along the way.

Some of the relevations towards the end were well done and i didnt see them coming. After that point in the story i started to feel for Ember whereas i didnt really before, she just seemed a bit bitter over everything.

Overall, this was a quick easy read (or listen should i say) the narrator did a great job. I did enjoy it but i wanted it to be darker, creepier and more high stakes. Id still recommend for readers wanting to get into dark academia but more of a YA take on the genre.

My track record with YA mystery/thrillers is not amazing. I’ve read a few others this year and most have not really captured my attention. This one is being compared to Karen McManus, which is a really good comparison, but as someone who didn’t really like One Of Us Is Lying, I found this thriller a better example of what a YA thriller needs to be.

For each genre I look for something different when I’m determining a rating. A YA thriller, for me, needs to have an interesting setting with interesting character dynamics, the mystery or thriller aspects need to actually be part of the plot with main characters that play an active role, and the story can’t be completely predictable, nor can they be so simplistic that I overlooked that conclusion because it seemed stupid.

Laurin immediately brought me in with the best internal narration that I’ve read in a while. I loved the little moments where the MC is telling a lie and her inner dialouge says something extremely sarcastic. The friendship dynamics and the relationships produced some cute moments that I also really enjoyed. Often these types of thrillers have very little lasting friendships and I love to see some levity being brought to this otherwise dark book.

This is not an action thriller, so don’t go into it looking for high action, but I really loved the active role that the MC playing in the events happening to her. She was very determined and wouldn’t let the other characters stop her from what she wanted, for better or worse. I also liked the drama that was created, as rather than just petty squabbles over boyfriends the thrilling aspects included character assassination and election rigging, which was a lot more interesting.

Finally the predictably was the thing that lost this novel half a star for me. The ending was complex but there was one aspect that had me rolling my eyes a little bit. It was a conclusion that I determined would be a bit anti-climactic from the beginning, but I was actually pleased with the other aspects, and I did enjoy the ending.

You’ll notice that plausibility is not one of the things I look for, as this from the very start forced you to suspend your disbelief, that a group of teenage girls could blackmail half a school without getting caught for years and that none of the former students ever told the authorities of how the situation got this dire.

I'd also like to mention that the cover of this novel is just beautiful. I love the simple ascetics and the little pop of colour with the flowers and the title. I also listened to part of this through an audio review copy and loved the narration!

Overall this was a very fun and interesting read! I loved the characters and the story wrapped up nicely, with a chance for a sequel. I for one would gladly read a sequel and I’m definitely going to be looking into any new releases from this author. What’s your favourite mystery/thriller that was released this year? Leave a comment down below and be sure to like and follow me for future updates and reviews! Happy Reading!

4.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the premise of the book was intriguing. I mean a secret society, gossip, secrets, and revenge? The perfect setup for an intriguing YA read. The idea was there but the execution was not. I thought the story was super slow and nothing really happened with Ember’s revenge plot. She chose to join the Red Court after they caused her sister’s accident, but once she was a member, the thrill of being bad got the best of her. She was thrilled by the ideas of doing secret things for people in the school. She’s perceived as this goody-two shows student who is also an athlete and on the debate team, but she was very good at doing bed things for the Red Court. I was also expecting more spy-ish things. It was pretty uneventful. I also called that April had been a part of the Red Court when she was injured. It was obvious when we were told how she got hurt. Let’s talk about Ember and Chase. We were told that Chase was a horrible guy and that they were enemies. Once she had to talk to him because of the Red Court, Ember fell in love. Not once did they fight like enemies and there was no banter. He was instantly nice to her and their relationship was cringey. It wasn’t realistic at all. This book was full of cliches and it wasn’t for me. I also had the chance to listen to the audiobook, and I don’t know if it’s the app I listened on, or the format or what, but it sounded echoey and robotic. There was barely any emotion from the narrator and it made it difficult to finish. The end so anticlimactic that I honestly didn’t care what happened. Overall this book missed its mark and just wasn’t for me.
Rating: 2⭐️

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin was a page turn that I was pleasantly surprised with. It’s been a while since I read a YA thriller and I’m so glad this is the one I picked up. These Vengeful Hearts reminded me how much I love YA thrillers and has encouraged me to read more.

The Red Court is a secret organization at Heller Hall that grants favors in exchange for future favors. The Red Court is usually involved any time there is social sabotage. Nobody is safe from The Red Court except its members.

Ember’s sister was in an accident caused by The Red Court. Ember decides to join The Red Court in order to try to take it down. Ember wants to find the leader, The Queen of Hearts and get revenge. Can Ember find the leader? Can Ember take down The Red Court? What will this cost Ember?

These Vengeful Hearts was very fast paced and had me hooked from the beginning. The characters also really added to the story. Ember was definitely my favorite. Ember is very loyal to her sister and her cause. I really enjoyed seeing how she changed throughout the book. I was obviously rooting for her the whole time. Ember tried so hard to become friends with Hailey, her Red Queen partner. Hailey did not make it easy and Ember never gave up. Hailey is a strong female character.

I listened to the audiobook and Laura Knight Keating did a fantastic job. I always forget how much a narrator can make or break a book until I listen to one that stands out. Keating was perfect for These Venegeful Hearts and added to a great book.

I highly recommend These Vengeful Hearts to all YA thriller fans. If you like audiobooks I definitely recommend the audiobook, but I am confident the book is great too.

Thank you NetGalley and Recorded Books/ RB Media for These Vengeful Hearts.

A YA modern Thriller which will keep you engaged throughout the pages of the book.
Ember Williams is 16 year old girl, set out to take revenge against the Red Court, a secret society of Elite girls at the Elder High, who were involved in her sister's accident. Ember has hada first hand experience how Red Court ruins the lives of students. She joins the Red Court to dismantle this society and take down the Queen of Hearts, who hurts the innocents. As she continues to be a part of Red Court, she becomes too involved and comes to know the dark secrets behind Red Court and her sister's accident. Will she be able to take her revenge? Will she be able protect her loved ones?
I really like the plot in the theme of the story, I have mixed feelings towards the protagonist, she seems original like someone you can relate to. The writing style is amazing and totally gripping. The narrative has done an amazing job, I love how she was able to capture all the emotions of the protagonist and express her perplexity throughout the story. I like the story, the characters were good. I felt that the character of Chase could have better developed. And I must say that this book is fabulous, it captures the attention of the readers at first sight. Overall it is an amazing book and I would totally recommend it to all of you.

A solid YA "thriller" - Ember Williams is a little competitive, a little obsessive, a little in over her head. But she's also been plotting revenge for going on 4 years now, so that's to be expected. I like my heroines hungry, scrappy, pushing the boundaries, and Ember definitely did that. There are some clever analogies here where she talks about pushing boundaries and where the lines are that we cannot cross. Also the messy relationship between something that's wrong but your good at and kind of enjoy versus what is right and good and just. And aren't high schoolers always a bit vindictive?

I will say that I was a bit annoyed whenever Ember went all weak-kneed around her crush. But I liked that there were queer characters (even if not our MC) who were more than just the "token gay friend" and that the disabled character was happy and feeling fulfilled and experienced a wide range of emotions while also dealing with things like accessibility issues (ie saving up for a hand-controlled car but needing to be driven until she saved up enough)

The primary antagonist ended up being petty and annoying, screeching clichéd lines and taking matters into their own hands. Perhaps they will be redeemed (or at least made more interesting) if there ends up being a sequel.

Book 196 towards my goal of 280! 4.5/5 stars for this YA Contemporary/Mystery. Infiltrating a high school secret society.....I mean, what else do you need to know?! The cover is absolutely stunning! Great story that was really unique! Loved the characters. Narration for this book was perfect!

**I received this book in exchange for honest review from Netgalley**

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this book!

I really loved this book! It reminded me of the movie Mean Girls and the show Pretty Little Liars (I haven't read those books though).

September is so vicious and willing to get what she wants, but is also compassionate and struggles with her empathy.

There were so many twists and turns in this book that I really loved! It definitely kept me guessing up until the end.

I thought this was gonna be a stand alone up until the last paragraph! So now I'm ready for the next book! Bring it on!

CW: bullying/harassment, divorce, verbal abuse

Before going into the book, I expected something dark and cult-like. But this was the opposite of that. I did enjoy some parts but overall it was a disappointment.

These Vengeful Hearts follows Ember Williams on her quest for revenge against a secret society, known as the Red Court. The premise was so interesting and had so much potential but it fell flat.

The plot was predictable and I predicted many things way before it was revealed. This decreased my enjoyment as I prefer to get shocked while reading a mystery. I was also so confused at the beginning of the novel because we were not given any background information regarding the Red Court or any of the characters until we are about a quarter within the novel. It made Ember’s revenge plan a lot less believable and I did not care for it either.

Ember was an okay character, albeit generic. There was no nuance to her characterization. It’s either black or white with her. She had the, and I quote, “holier-than-thou” personality trait which I did not relate to. Additionally, some of her actions and inner monologues made me inwardly cringe.
I honestly liked Gideon (her best friend) more than her, the extra star is for him because he’s the real MVP in the whole book. He puts up with so much of Ember’s problems and yet he still stood by her side.

In terms of the romance, I was not feeling it. It was so forced and unnecessary. Chase and Ember went from rivals to sweethearts. This was so random because it came out of the blue without any development. They also did not have any chemistry whatsoever and we are suddenly expected to believe that they like each other without any further interactions other than random banter and one deep conversation.

The narration was top tier. Keating did a wonderful job of portraying Ember’s emotions as well giving every character their own distinct “voice”. I had fun listening to her and it made my reading experience a lot more enjoyable.

Overall, it was a disappointing read. It had so much potential but the execution fell flat. However, take this review with a grain of salt. I’ve seen good reviews so maybe it’ll one for you. It wasn’t for me personally.

A typical YA mystery with a mega Pretty Little Liars vibe. It's fast paced and addictive, but also a bit predictable. But I kind of expected that going in. This was perfect for a quick, fun read.

The narrator did a good job, perfectly paced. Reccomend this on audio.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Inkyard Press/RB Media in exchange for an honest review.
What an absolute delight this book was! I was drawn in by that gorgeous cover and the intriguing premise, and this book definitely surpassed my expectations. These Vengeful Hearts is the story of Ember, a girl set on revenge against a mysterious society at her school known as The Red Court. This society takes requests from students and puts out 'hits' on people, taking down their reputations, relationships and more. Ember's older sister lost the ability to walk after being targeted by the group and so Ember is determined to join them and take them down from the inside.

Firstly I really have to compliment the writing style of this book. It goes for more of a contemporary than a YA thriller tone, and as a result it was incredibly enjoyably and well-paced. There was plenty of intrigue but where most YA thrillers fall flat in their execution, These Vengeful Hearts managed to excel by making it focused on characters and the relationships between those characters. I adored Ember and I found her very compelling. Even throughout her more morally-ambiguous actions, she remained both sympathetic and likeable. The side characters were similarly complex and I found them all vivid and distinct, which again doesn't always happen with YA fiction.

Secondly, this is a very well-crafted book in terms of pacing and plot. Rather than relying on cheap cliffhangers or nonsensical clues to keep you reading, instead it lulls you into a false sense of security with the contemporary tone. You get used to things being a certain way and then the Court will suddenly change or raise the stakes and you are caught off guard. I was lucky enough to get both the audiobook and the e-ARC and I ended up listening to the whole thing in the space of a few hours because I was so absorbed in the world. I would recommend the audiobook as a great way to consume this story and it makes for a very enjoyable experience.

Overall, I would strongly recommend this book for people who enjoy the plots of YA thrillers but are usually disappointed by the writing. As I have said, it isn't quite a thriller in tone but this was definitely more of a positive. I know I will remember the world and characters of this book much longer than I usually would with a book of this type, and I am very excited for a potential sequel.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I’m going to be completely honest here but the only reason I requested this book was because of the cover and the reviews were so good. I lost interest quickly, in fact, I don’t think there was ever a time where I was ever interested. If this wasn’t an audiobook I probably would’ve quit long ago. I listened to this at top speed because I couldn’t wait for it to end.

These Vengeful Hearts is about a secret society of mean and petty girls in high school. At first, I was reminded of Pretty Little Liars and thought that there would be some quick, fast paced drama. There’s not. Ember’s plan of revenge was weak and whenever she had a rush from doing something “bad” I got second hand embarrassment. Her inner turmoil of bad versus good was just.. predictable. Literally everything was predictable in this. It was SO young adult but not in a good way. I guessed everything that happened and was correct. Even the romance was completely forced, Ember and Chase are enemies and rivals but suddenly Chase has feelings for her? Out of no where? I hate that.

Also, there’s not much background information on the club itself and why Ember wanted revenge in the first place until like 20% into the book. That annoyed me because why would we care when we don’t even know what’s going on? Even when we find out what’s going on, I was a little over it by then. Overall, I found this book quite lacking in every aspect.

Thank you to Netgalley & RB Media for the audiobook.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary audio copy of THESE VENGEFUL HEARTS by Katherine Laurin in exchange for my honest review.***

4 STARS
Narration 5 STARS
Story 3 STARS

Ember is tapped to join The Red Court, a secret society at her high school that does “favors” for people in exchange for help with favors. Anyone can ask, some regret it. For Ember, joining the Court isn’t a power play. She wants to bring them down for causing her sister April’s accident two years ago.

Secret clubs in YA lit can be a lot of fun for readers, not so much for the characters participating in them. For me, my imagination runs wild with rumors of real life secret societies, like ones alleged at Harvard. I’d probably be the last to know if one existed anywhere I attended school. I know for sure I’d never have Ember’s guts to try to bring down the Red Court. April seemed to be thriving adjusting to her wheelchair, so I had a bit of difficulty understanding her motives. I wished fewer of the girls had been Mean Girls, which I see as a negative stereotype. THESE VENGEFUL HEARTS isn’t campy like MEAN GIRLS, which I loved, or the trope wouldn’t have bothered me.

Laura Knight Keating’s flawless narration helped me overcome any plot issues I had. Her voice took me deeper into the story than I would have probably felt reading the story.

THESE VENGEFUL HEARTS is a great listen.

This book was just okay, probably a 2.5, but I've rounded up to 3. A pretty classic high school drama type story with a suuuuper mean girl "secret society" that basically tries to ruin people's lives by request or if they were crossed somehow. It didn't really feel secret society like, to me, just more like a gang of bullies who rule the school and stay sort of under the radar.

The crux of the plot is that Ember pretends to want to be in this secret society so she can take it down from the inside and get revenge for her sister, who she thinks was badly hurt by the group. There are some slight surprises, and Ember falls for a guy she's supposed to be doing something to, etc. Ultimately, the book felt like one I'd read before.

The narrator, Laura Knight Keating, was pretty perfect for the voice of the overall tone of the story. Very preppy high school vibe.

A clear YA novel that takes place in a high school that has a not so secret, secret society that rules the school. Ember Williams has been working hard to create a resume that would be appealing for her to be asked to join the Red Court in her high school. With a vendetta to take them down due to a life altering injury that happened to her sister, Ember is thankful when she is asked to join and is ready to take them down in anyway.

I can appreciate a good YA book, even though they aren't my typical read anymore. I love that this book had a great plot with great characters that I liked following through the ups and downs. I was glad that the teenage drama was kept to a minimum, so I wasn't rolling my eyes at unnecessary drama.

Ember was great. She wasn't a goodie two shoes, but definitely not the mean girl. I liked that she was a middle of the road girl, but had a moral code where she could see the faults of some of the things she was surrounded by. I appreciated that she had some learning moments and made some faults, but definitely grew from the beginning to the end of the book.

All in all, I would recommend this book, especially to readers who are a fan of the young adult genre.