Holy moly, this book was REALLY good.

It's hella gross and super dark, but the story is really wonderfully told and the writing is surprising and dynamic and beautiful. And as for the audience--I mean, kids love reading old, dark, gross Stephen King books, so why not this instead? Why not a terrifying, disgusting, unflinching story where queer people save each other?

I am loving where horror fiction is at these days. Keep 'em coming.

I am not a fan of traditional horror but I loved this book, but I also can see how it is not everyone’s cup of tea. This is a book where being aware of the trigger warnings beforehand is important because for some readers it could be an upsetting read.
One of the things about this book that stood out to me is how the world building happens. The characters know what’s happening so they don’t need to explain everything to each other. As the reader you learn as it’s relevant. Which made the world feel more real to me, this could be confusing to other reader but it keep me interested and immersed in the world. It also adds to the re-reading value of the book.
I also personally found my self loving how much white leaned toward the body horror. It made my skin craw but it was written so well. I was also impressed with how two horror topics that get used so often in media ( religious cults and zombies) as used is such original and new ways.
Thank you to Peachtree and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

i'm not often a fan of horror but this was absolutely amazing! i adored how unapologetically queer this was. there were so many queer and trans people in this book and it feels very natural. the trans anger was great and i loved the rep. i haven't read that many books trans books so having this incredible one is amazing. i devoured this in one sitting which is rare for me but this was so much fun! this is such a unique premise and i love how it was executed.

Please pay attention to the content warnings on this one, but wow! What a ride!

Benji is a trans boy who carries a plague within him. We go along on his journey to unpack so much religious trauma to find freedom. It is such a dark story, with so much violence and murder. No one has clean hands in this one, but it is an apocalyptic survival story driven by the characters. A lot of the queer stories I'm seeing are romance ones, and yes, those are nice but dang, this one was just so... beautiful. There's so many levels of queer representation here, thanks to survivors living in the local LGBTQ+ Center, and Autism rep. My words are failing because there's no way I can do this book justice.

Benji is a fantastic character. Raised in a Christian cult, he finds a new group of friends that allow him to explore his beliefs, even as he becomes a monster. He still prays, but finds a level of belief that is comfortable for him and not as... murdery as the cult. He continues on, living with the religious trauma, the trauma of seeing his father murdered in front of him, of being misgendered, of knowing there's a virus inside him that's a ticking time bomb, and yet, he acts with hope, with kindness, taking time to learn everyone's pronouns, respecting boundaries. I love Benji so much.

This book was everything I wanted and more!!! Just pure queer rage. It was fast-paced, interesting, disturbing and honestly scarier than I thought it was going to be. It had me hooked from page one. Benji was just so incredibly strong and resilient and full of ANGER!!!! I think the author did a fantastic job at conveying gender dysphoria through body horror. From my understanding, a lot of trans individuals feel the same way in regards to their dysphoria. The way religion and trauma is interwoven through the story was just so on point and beautifully handled. I could feel Benji’s pain and rage as I read. Although this is YA, this book is definitely not for the faint of heart. It was very disturbing and pretty graphic for a young adult novel, but I think it was essential to the story and the message that was being conveyed. The side characters were also very dynamic and interesting and I would love to see more of their backstories and how they all ended up where they did. Absolutely amazing. This book is out now!! Go read it!!!

*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review*

Hell followed With Us is a queer horror dystopian by author Andrew Joseph White.

I honestly had a really hard time rating this one. I loved the descriptive aspect of the author's writing. The gore / horror was on point, it gave me chills and made me cringe in the best ways. However, I felt some of the back story/world building wasn't completely fleshed out. There was more than one occasion where I was slightly confused at why things were happening. There's some sort of virus mutation turning people into monsters and religious fanatics who call themselves Angels. Personally I'm not a fan of religious cult based stories and that's what this was, so it lost me there. Each chapter begins with a Bible verse and I'll be honest at one point I just started skimming the religion parts to get to the characters themselves and their conversations.

The highlight of this book were the main characters. Our trans lead Benji is literally turning into a monster and trying to hold on to the goodness in him and be true to himself. The next prominent character after Benji is Nick. Nick who absolutely stole my heart. He's autistic and the representation is very well done. He's such a strong character who pushes his own limitations to be able to care for those around him. I was thrilled that we were given a few chapters from his POV. A majority of the book takes place at a LGBTQ+ youth center, so the remaining supporting cast is made up of different members of the rainbow.

In the end, Hell followed With Us is a decent debut novel. Make sure to check the multiple trigger warnings before starting, but if you're looking for a violent queer horror set in a dystopian future give this a shot. Author Andrew Joseph White definitely has a talent for description, and I look forward to what he comes up with next.

Holy sugar this is an intense story.

Hell Followed With Us is a futuristic dystopian religious fanatic driven world where no one but the righteous is allowed to live. Andrew Joseph White takes us into a very dark place where judgment is found everywhere even within the walls of safety.

White intermixes religious texts with the story of Benji and his escape from The Angels. Benji’s journey has been extremely difficult as Benji is transgender and gay. Imagine having body dysmorphia after you have been injected with a serum that will change you into a monster against your will. The horror of having no control of your body and your life is amplified in this horrific tale.

Benji thinks he has found a safe haven, for now, but even within the rainbow world there is prejudice and nothing is as it seems. White definitely hits all of the notes of what is happening within our community now in this tale that is supposed to be science fiction, but eerily reflects the chaos going on around us right now.

There is violence, death, friendship, and love. There is a love story mixed in this tale, but don’t expect a happily-ever-after as Hell Followed With Us is not that kind of tale. It is about the truth of rainbow lives (at least how I see it). It is the truth about nonconformity. It is what we are living right now, but set in a futuristic setting where no one has the answers but all we can hope for is to survive the right now.

Hell Followed With Us is dark, broody, and action-packed. It's a horror tale set in the future which reflects today. It’s the perfect addition to our Fright Night line up.

When the synopsis of this book called it "furious" and "queer" they were beyond right. This book punches you in the face from the first page. I got sucked in so quickly that this 400+ page book flew by before I knew what happened.

I adored the complexity of each of the characters and the storyline. Religious zeal turned murderous is one of my favorite tropes and this one went the kind of dark I was hoping for. Throw in all the body horror and I LOVED it. I specifically enjoyed Benji's struggle with his faith throughout the book. Even knowing he was raised by religious monsters, the faith and thoughts were still ingrained in him and he had to work through if it was a habit he needed to break or something he wanted to recreate for himself. And the Theo thing. I love Benji's struggles with everything tbh.

Also, seeing a group of queer kids and having them not be perfect and welcoming! The reality of some being more open than others and people within the queer community still judging each other felt so realistic and made the story feel more relatable.

I loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter that gave historical context within the story. And the writing just kept me hooked from chapter to chapter!

This book is fast-paced and gorgeous and, yes, furious. I loved it with my whole heart and I hope everyone picks it up!

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sixteen year old trans boy Benji is on the run from a cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. He’s desperately searching for place where the cult cannot get their hands on him, or more importantly, the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQIA+ Center, known as ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret. The cults bioweapon is mutating him into monster deadly enough to wipe out humanity from the earth once and for all. Still Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens. That is as long as Benji can control the monster inside and use it to defend the ALC. Eager to belong Benji accepts this offer, until he discovers that Benji also has ulterior motives for offering him a spot.

While I absolutely recommend this book and think it was super enjoyable. I do urge you to be cautious if themes of transphobia, particularly misgendering and using someone’s deadname, and body gore trigger you. There is a lot of body gore with pretty vivid descriptions.

I don’t really read a lot of YA anymore. I think I’ve grown out of it over the past few years. However when I read this description I really wanted to give it a try. A lot of queer stories are overly sweet and tame, and this sounded like the complete opposite of that. A group of queer teens fighting a religious extremist cult, hell yeah. I’m all here for that. What I did not expect was the amount of body gore in this book, like there’s a lot of it. I found myself wondering if this book was really YA at multiple points throughout the book, and for me that’s a positive, because as I said I don’t really read a lot of YA anymore because I’ve grown out of it. The body gore was absolutely disturbing and I loved that.

One of the main points of this book is its representation. Benji is a trans boy, Nick has autism and the ALC is an LGBTQIA+ centre and everyone there is queer. I loved the representation. There were some interesting conversations about what it means to be queer and just how varied the queer community is. I also got my first exposure to neo pronouns within a book which was a bit of learning curve for me. As I said it was my first exposure so I’ve never really used neopronouns and they confused me a bit at first. But I like that they were included and this book actually taught me something.

Overall this was a really enjoyable book and I preordered a physical copy because I want to have this on my shelves and support the author. I will also keep track of anything this author publishes in the future because as a debut novel this was fantastic and I cannot wait to see what the future brings.


The reason why I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because to me the body gore started getting pretty repetitive and lost most of its impact. At the start I was genuinely grossed out, yet also enthralled by the descriptions but the further I got into the book the more I started tuning it out. The descriptions started feeling very similar and didn’t do much for me anymore. Also I would have liked to see a bit more development for the side characters. Some of the side characters were really intriguing and I wanted to see a bit more of them, or hear a bit more about their backstories which this book didn’t go into. However I also understand that if that was done the book would have probably been too long.

This book was freaking amazing. From the amazing representation, the beautiful writing and overall theme of the story. I loved every minute of it. Don’t get me wrong this book was horrifying but it was also so freaking queer and I am obsessed with it! I cannot even begin to find the words for how perfect the queer rep was presented. This has been the first book I’ve read where the autism representation hasn’t been offensive. I’m also here for all these queer books shining a light on religious trauma that the community faces. Such a fantastic read!

I will 100% be picking up anything Andrew Joseph White writes.

There are truly no words to fully describe how this novel makes me feel.

Hell Followed With Us follows our main character, Benji, a trans boy that a religious cult wants to make into the ultimate weapon. He attempts to flee the life he was born into and ends up running into a rebel force of queer teens, fighting to stay alive.

What could possibly be more terrifying than a group of religious cultists that think the bible truly is gospel? Honestly, nothing in my book, All of these characters were so warming and lovable, even Cormac at the end of the day (but f--- Calvin). Andrew created a true found family that would leave any queer person giggling with glee despite the circumstances of their meeting. The use of religious excerpts and text throughout the book were perfectly placed. My absolute favorite part of this book was the descriptions of Benji's body changing. They were done so well that I could practically see the transformation and feel it. I also thoroughly enjoyed all the representation from the use of neopronouns to a main love interest with autism.

The angels were absolutely horrifying as villains and exactly how you would expect religious people to view theirselves in a situation like this. Committing mass genocide? Obviously God's will! Drowning babies in a river? Obviously for the greater good. And THEO, man is that guy literally the worst!! The story makes you wonder back and forth if this man is an ally or a foe. What a well crafted villain.

This will probably be my top read of the year, I truly could not put this ARC down.

OMG! Where do I even start...
I don't think I have ever read a YA book that suits my taste for horror this well.
It is the right amount of grossness and emotions and everything was just perfect that it's unbelievable when you think about this being a debut book.
If you like graphic body horror as much as I do, you would love this book.
And White does such a good job at pacing in this book that even though it's a fast-paced plot, the writing made it seem like you went through the whole thing side by side with the characters and not just observing the events from God's POV.

Hell Followed With Us is a dystopian YA novel that is set in a future where the world has fallen apart and then a religious cult took advantage and released a horrific disease to cleanse the earth.
This book has amazing queer and nuerodiverse representation and the found family elements were amazing, but I just don't think it was for me. The body horror was a little too much and there was so much bible quoting I ended up getting frustrated. And I get it, the narrative is deeply rooted in religious themes, I just started to find them pretty unnecessary in a lot of places.
I understand why this book would appeal to other people, but I found more that I disconnected with than connected with.

THIS BOOK DOES NOT MESS AROUND. The intensity of the gore and violence brings to mind biblically apocalyptic anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Devilman Crybaby. I knew I would be enraptured by this book as soon as I had read the synopsis, and I was right. Even though there is a lot of focus placed on character, the pace was quick and relentless. AJW's prose is OUTSTANDING -- this book occupies a place between YA and literary in my mind.

I STRONGLY appreciate the ways in which this book faced LGBTQ+ topics. It was refreshing to read about a trans boy who experienced dysphoria in ways that are different from the common narrative (Benji doesn't mind his period, or cares to flatten his chest). Benji's dysphoria and transness is still explored in incredibly complex and raw ways. This story also has a realistic take on the found family trope. I love trope subversions, so seeing a "found family" that was full of conflict, hatred, lashing out, and was basically what a group of young adults would actually act and look like in the kind of apocalyptic scenario they were in was so delightful for me. It was realistic!

I'm giving this 5 stars because I could not put it down, but I do want to mention that I found the ending a little bit underwhelming. Everything leading up to the last handful of pages had my jaw dropped. It's hard to fault the ending though, because the narrative went to some extreme places, so I'm not sure what could have made it more impactful. Keep in mind I'm really only talking about the last few pages, after the dust of the climax has settled.

Overall I am hugely impressed by this debut and cannot wait to see what else AJW produces! 👏👏👏

5 star storytelling right here and an epic debut too! I loved this book, the style, and the characters and the viscerality in the prose too!

A full 5/5 stars for Hell Followed With Us! The writing was amazing, the story and characters were GRIPPING, I couldn’t put it down. Even on the parts that had me cringing (I’m squeamish and easily grossed out so sometimes the body horror was a little Much) I just HAD to keep reading.

This book was stunning and horrific, terrifying and brutal, but with moments of hope that these characters (and readers) cling to in their terrible times. I highly highly recommend reading this but with careful research into the content warnings.

This book was a fantastic YA horror! A bit gory and gruesome for me at times, but I was absolutely gripped by the story and it kept me guessing until the end. Full review on TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdcoDr5G/?k=1

4.75 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Peach Tree Press, and Pride Book Tours for an arc of this book!

Years after the Angels released "The Flood" virus and destroyed most of humanity in the name of God, Benji escapes their clutches just after being infected with the Seraph strain that will change his body and let him control others changed by The Flood. Benji finds the past LGBTQ+ Center and the survivors there, including Nick. They have to work together to try and use Benji's new situation for good...and make the Angels pay.

This book is phenomenal! It is dark and twisted and Benji is absolutely feral. He is a trans boy who grew up in an extremely religious community and the internalized hate he has to fight in order to survive is incredible. He goes through so much but he absolutely bites back and that's what I love so much.

I also love Nick and the others at the ALC. They are really interesting characters. I wish Nick had more pov chapters because I absolutely loved those parts!

The world building in this is really good if a little fast. I do wish I had a little more of this story because I just loved it so much and wanted to live inside for longer.

This is an incredible post-apocalyptic tale about queer resistance and taking your world back from oppressors. I loved every second of it.

Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Deadnaming, Body horror, Violence, Gun violence, and Gore
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Post-apocalyptic and horrific throughout, but also simultaneously sweet and soft. The celebration of queerness and the determination to embrace the way it changes and others us runs a lovely parallel to Benji's journey with the Flood. The chord of finding fulfillment and belonging within queer community even among the ashes of a broken society and in the face of hatred that this book is built around is timely and will be, I think, moving to anyone who is queer in this day and age. That White manages to pluck your heartstrings and say 'aww' at the tenderness of youth amidst the backdrop of viral death and destruction is admirable and a nice reminder that there really is always hope.

OK folks, heads up: you better have a strong stomach to deal with this one. I am frankly shocked that this is a YA book. I am decidedly not in the YA age group, and there were multiple occasions reading this book where I got physically ill, it was so graphic. So I guess that’s a compliment to the author; I mean, he wanted to provoke a visceral reaction, and succeeded. Between the gory bits and the religious cult’s hate filled psychosis it’s a lot to deal with. But taking the real life prejudice and bigotry of religion against LGBTQ+ people and translating it into a very literal war was excellently done. And the detail and little touches, like showing Nick stimming, were quite realistic. So as long as you’ve got a strong stomach and head to deal with this heavy subject matter then you should read this book.
Oh, and I’m not listing trigger warnings, because I don’t even know where to start 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you to NetGalley & Peachtree Teen for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.