I debated on rating this 3 or 4 stars, but decided on 4. Overall, I quite enjoyed this book! It wasn’t what I originally was expecting from the description, but it was still very good. It was quite gory in parts, it may not be good for younger teens. The ending left me with a few questions, but not so many that I think there will be a sequel. They are questions that I think you just have to imagine the answer to. Again, I really enjoyed this book. I will be recommending this to customers at work.

This was okay. I did read it all. Did I enjoy it? Eh. It was hard to hear how much the main character hated herself and the way she was described. It seemed to be aiming for a Carrie vibe, but it just kind of missed it.

I did appreciate that the cop wasn’t a pedophile. A lot of media would have gone there, and this book didn’t. The rest was just okay.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

This is my first DNF of the year. I got about 15% in and just couldn't read another page. The characters are such tropes that they don't even seem real. I know it's listed as a satire, but there was nothing in what I read that made me care about what was happening or if it'd ever get amusing.

I really wanted to like this book–the cover and description drew me in! I wasn't sure if it was going to be a serious horror or more of a B-Movie feel, but I was looking forward to it...

But honestly, there were red flags for me from page one. The sheer amount of fatphobia and misogyny throughout was incredibly difficult for me to read. I think there's a way to balance depictions of bullying with a recognition that what's being said is hateful and damaging, but it really didn't feel like that for me.

I found the plot to be a bit disjointed–there are some POV switches throughout that didn't make a ton of sense to me, and I didn't find any of the characters particularly compelling. Honestly, it feels like there's at least three stories in this book, none of which are given proper room to shine.

This book was absolutely not for me, but I could see some readers with a high tolerance for bullying (including both verbal and physical violence), and a desire for a teen movie/b-horror flick mash-up maybe enjoying this book.

This book is campy, over the top horror. Mildred is bullied and ignored to the point of desperation. When she goes looking for a curse to punish her tormentors, she unwittingly makes a witchcraft deal to host a demon. As she delivers retribution to those who have wronged her, she literally consumers their qualities. As her killing and cannibalism escalate she risks losing herself to the demon’s bloodlust forever. This book doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are passing attempts to explain why the mean people are that way. But, in the end everything serves to propel the plot forward. Mildred hosts a demon, kills mean kids and eats parts of them. The classic “be careful what you wish for” revenge story.

While I wasn’t the target audience, this one did fall a little flat for me. I wanted this book to be We Ride Upon Sticks. But it lacked the depth, humor and character development. If you enjoy a propulsive, superficial, gorey to excess revenge novel, you will enjoy this one. The topic and striking cover art will appeal to students.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Swallow in exchange for an honest review.

So, I'm 99% sure Swallow is meant to be cheesy B-movie horror satire which means fans will almost certainly be mad at me for not getting the joke, but I think it's important to acknowledge that something being satirical doesn't automatically mean that it's impossible for it to be bad. I get what Swallow was trying to do from a humour perspective and I think it could have worked in a more condensed form, but it's paced like a serious horror/ high school novel which forces a lot of the saterical aspects to be repeated to the point of just being annoying instead of comical I don't think perspectives outside of Millie's were really needed and cutting them out would have reduced the page count to better highlight the horror tropes being explored since most if not all of them happen in Millie's scenes anyways.

This book is definitely out of my realm of genres that I normally read. I wanted to branch outside of my comfort zone and read it. Unfortunately I was disappointed by it, but I was at least somewhat entertained! I think if I were more of a horror fan, I would've enjoyed this book more.

Wild, fun, satisfying, and perfect for fans of revenge fiction, especially those who are into revenge horror.

I’m a big fan of revenge novels, so from that angle I expected to love this. But I’m also someone who mostly likes gothic horror rather than modern horror,
and on that count this book was a pleasant surprise for me.

When Sam Schill first introduces us to Mildred, we definitely feel sorry for her. But are we on her side? Theoretically yes, because bullies are gross and awful, but Mildred doesn’t seem to give us much that prompts anything beyond basic human sympathy.

But as Mildred grows stronger (in part by not entirely natural means), she starts to grow on you. Given her actions, it might be tough for some to truly root for her (I was, for the record), but it’s tough not to be on her side even if you don’t agree with her methods (which, by the way, are only partly “hers,” but I’ll say no more about that here).

Schill deploys the slightly gleeful but light touch that is needed to write this breed of horror, and her deft handling of the material is why it still appeals to someone like me who is way more into gentleman vampires and creepy old houses than blood and guts.

To that end, fair warning: This book does get very, very gruesome at times, though not (and I say this as someone who doesn’t like my murder to bleed too much) in what I would consider to be an upsetting way.

As I was reading Swallow, I kept asking myself where Schill could possibly go with the ending, as it is the kind of story where the end really does matter in terms of the reader’s overall opinion of the story. It’s also the kind of story that’s difficult to end both the way it needs to and the way we want it to, yet Schill managed to walk that line perfectly, and she even tossed us one of *those* final lines of text that always brings me such joy when I come across one.

There are comparisons to be made to Lisa Lutz’s The Swallows and Hannah Capin’s Foul is Fair (both good revenge novels in their own right), though Swallow is lighter and more fun than the former and more likable than the latter.

The pacing is excellent (I read it in a day, then got sad that it was over), and the story (including the fantastical elements) was clever, funny, and—as with any good revenge novel—deeply satisfying.

I didn't really know what to expect going into this, but it was a really fun change of pace from anything else I've read lately. The tone and plot of the book is very teen slasher / B movie, complete with very gory scenes. A lot of the dialogue was very campy and over the top, which wasn't a bad thing, honestly. There aren't many YA horror books out there, but I think this one was executed fairly well.

A couple negatives: I didn't think multiple POVs were necessary. It didn't really add anything to the story, which was disappointing because I though there would at least be some type of confrontation in the story somewhere.

And lastly, I didn't really like the cover (more specifically the color choices).

Sometimes, you can't help yourself. You want to stop reading but you can't put the darn book down. I did not like any of the characters and I was not thrilled with the story, but I had to keep reading. 3.5 stars

Book Review for Swallow
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

Some of the reviews mention not liking the cover, but the cover was what drew me to this book in the first place. I like it.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the story quite as much. It was like a forgettable teen horror movie, and I was hoping for something more like Jennifer's Body. I guess what I really wanted was something cooler and more stylish. This was just... meh.

The writing was serviceable, but it didn't exactly inspire vivid pictures in my head. Which is strange, since there were gory scenes. There wasn't really any urgency to the writing though, and I think that's where it fell flat for me. Also, there were multiple POVs, and everyone sounded the same. The way it was structured, I almost feel like the author did picture this on the screen as a horror movie when writing it.

I finished this before bed last night, and when I woke up this morning I had to struggle to remember the ending. So for me, this wasn't exactly bad, but it was forgettable.

2.5 stars

This is definitely not for the squeamish. The tale of the high school outcast, pushed too far has become cliche, but this definitely had a macabre twist. The characters were all a little one-dimensional, stereotypical and unlikeable. Fast little mediocre read.

You know when you read a book that’s so bad it’s good? That’s the best way I can describe this book. Kind of the same way you enjoy trash reality tv or a really terrible B horror movie. It’s horrible but SO MUCH FUN. You already can tell from the synopsis this is going to be something you really can’t take seriously before going into it. Basically, Mildred is bullied at school and decides to get revenge on her bullies by supernatural means. She encounters a witch’s shop, gets manipulated by a witch and ends up possessed by a demon which eats all of her bullies. Yes, Mildred morphs into a demon and eats them lmao.

With “I can’t take any of this seriously” books like this one, I judge them on 2 things: 1. How interesting the plot is and 2. How fun I had reading it. I don’t judge on characterization, plot development, writing skill, or even originality like I do typical books because I know this book is designed to be ridiculous. I know it will probably be poorly written, unoriginal, and over the top. That’s what I mean by judging this book differently before you go into it. Don’t expect good character or plot development, or you will be disappointed. This book was completely over the top, filled with cliches, with the most insanely unoriginal typecasting of teenagers I have ever seen. Yet at the same time, I couldn’t put this book down? I just couldn’t wait to get to the end to see what would happen. I was never bored and I had fun! I ended up neglecting my responsibilities because I wanted to finish it and see how it ended. It was a lot of fun despite it all, so I would give this a solid 3/5 stars!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for sending me an advanced copy for review!