Prudence’s whole family is deeply immersed in the Ladybird Scouts, a girl scout-esque social group that is really a demon fighting organization. Prudence herself was a scout up until three years ago, when she saw her best friend killed during a battle. Since then, Prudence has quit the scouts and tried her best to live a normal life while recovering from her trauma. But when she’s forced to re-enter the fold and train a group of junior scouts, Prue finds herself getting closer to the scouts. As evil brews in her town, Prue will be forced to confront her demons—both literal and metaphorical.

Scout’s Honor is a paranormal YA novel that blends fun with serious in a perfect balance. The novel deals with mental health very thoughtfully: Prue is still struggling with trauma and anxiety three years after her best friend’s death, while the world around her (including her family and fellow Ladybirds) tells her to move on. She struggles with feeling weak or too soft, but in mentoring younger scouts, she begins to see her softness as a strength. The Ladybirds have always been trained to be strong, hard, and sharp, but Prue dreams of a new version of the Ladybirds that embraces vulnerability and makes space for everyone.

This novel also deals with friendship and family as Prue finds her new place amongst the scouts while reckoning with those she left behind. She struggles with feeling out of place in her family, especially with her hyper focused mom who is devoted to the scouts. While this is obviously a fantastical read, many teen readers will relate to Prue’s desire to find her place and be accepted as she is. While Scout’s Honor is very much about mental health, it’s also an action-packed read with a dose of humor and campy paranormal vibes.

In terms of diversity, Prue and her family are Puerto Rican, and there are several other supporting characters who are Black or Latinx. Prue and her boyfriend are both fat, and there are side characters who are queer and disabled (including one who uses a prosthetic limb).

Readers who enjoy fast-paced novels with lots of action scenes will enjoy this book, as will those who liked Lily Anderson's previous book, Undead Girl Gang. I'll also be recommending it to fans of the Babysitters Coven series by Kate Williams. Scout's Honor brings an excellent balance of heavy topics and fun demon fighting, and is a great addition to any YA collection.

The audiobook was narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Frankie Corzo, and she did a superb job. I initially started reading an eBook version of this book but had trouble getting into it at first, but once I switched to the audio version I was immediately immersed. Frankie Corzo perfectly brought the characters to life and I couldn't stop listening!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC of this book.

Prudence is a legacy Ladybird Scout, but it's not all just teaparties and pink uniforms. The Ladybirds are actually a secret society hunting interdimensional parasites that feed on human emotion-and sometimes just humans. After witnessing the death of her best friend, Prudence left the Ladybirds, but she is forced to train new recruits by her mother, and discovers secrets about her old group that she will have to expose.

This was pure fun! I seriously love the premise and really enjoyed Prudence and her friends and family. The narration is so good! Frankie Corzo is one of my all time favorite audiobook narrators and I was not disappointed this time!

I think this struck a good balance between fun and kooky and weird, but also dealing with some serious topics. It battles some interesting themes surrounding familial expectations and secrecy, as well as dealing with Prudence's PTSD. I enjoyed this one a lot!

Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Bullying

Audiobook Review⁣
Title: Scout’s Honor⁣
Author: Lily Anderson⁣
Narrator: Frankie Corzo⁣
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🅢🅤🅜🅜🅐🅡🅨⁣
Sixteen-year-old Prudence Perry is a legacy Ladybird Scout, born to a family of hunters sworn to protect humans from mulligrubs—interdimensional parasites who feast on human emotions like sadness and anger. Masquerading as a prim and proper ladies' social organization, the Ladybirds brew poisons masked as teas and use knitting needles as daggers, at least until they graduate to axes and swords.⁣
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Three years ago, Prue’s best friend was killed during a hunt, so she kissed the Scouts goodbye, preferring the company of her punkish friends lovingly dubbed the Criminal Element much to her mother and Tía Lo’s disappointment. However, unable to move on from her guilt and trauma, Prue devises a risky plan to infiltrate the Ladybirds in order to swipe the Tea of Forgetting, a restricted tincture laced with a powerful amnesia spell.⁣
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But old monster-slaying habits die hard and Prue finds herself falling back into the fold, growing close with the junior scouts that she trains to fight the creatures she can’t face. When her town is hit with a mysterious wave of demons, Prue knows it’s time to confront the most powerful monster of all: her past.⁣
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🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦:⁣
A Girl Scout like group that slays monsters, yes please! This book was so campy and fun, but also managed to deal with anxiety and PTSD. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun read. I thought the narrator also did a wonderful job.

This is set in a world with interdimensional parasites that feast on human emotions. There are only a few people (young girls mostly) with the sight who can vanquish them under the guise of "Ladybirds scouts" who pretend to be Girlscouts, essentially. Prudence, our MC, experienced a deeply traumatic event where she and her best friend were attacked by one of these parasites while training, which ended in her best friend dying. And this is where we start the book; a year or so out from the trauma, with Prudence refusing to be involved with the Ladybirds anymore, much to the very verbal disappointment of her mother.

I was a bit torn with this book because I loved the idea of it so much, but was disappointed in the execution. Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the acknowledgment of PTSD is basically what I dream of anytime I rewatch the series, but this wasn't quite what I was hoping for in regard to that. I liked the characters but overall it was missing something that made me love it. I was hoping for a book that had more focus on what Buffy messed up on, which was putting too much responsibility on little girls and not explicitly talking about why it's wrong. The end didn't really address this, or the fact that the mom was basically abusive to Prudence when dealing with PTSD, even against her therapist's wishes. I love that therapy and PTSD are mentioned, and I love that Prudence chooses to remove herself from the scouts. Buuuuut that's pretty much all I enjoyed re: Buffy with PTSD. Prudence's mom is a really horrible character that basically never gets acknowledged. She forces Prudence to go back into the scouts regardless of her feelings on it and regardless of what Prudence's THERAPIST has to say on the matter. I was just really disappointed that the mom's actions are never addressed as more than what Prudence is experiencing and how it's further traumatizing her, and it's never settled at the end of the book, essentially.

What I did like was the world-building, the suspense, and the plot in general. This was a pretty unique idea and I enjoyed how it was executed, even though I do wish there was more detail in the fight scenes with the parasites and a bit more in general to those aspects of the world and story. I also thought the added relationship of Prudence and Kyle was just fluff that wasn't necessary and was very cheesy. ("The way his blue eyes sparkle just for me, I'm overwhelmed with remembrances"....not even sure what this means.)

2/5 stars rounded up for a unique idea and for some characters who I loved (SASHA).

This is a fun and entertaining paranormal take on your classic scout troop. The idea that an entire organization of you female scouts helps keep humanity safe from interdimensional parasites is just far enough out there to work! There are definite themes of acceptance and testing tradition that will resonate with a lot of readers. However, I find this to be too light and fun to be a used as a serious conversation starter for tough topics. Recommended for YA collections.

This was one of the most unique books I have read so far this year. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book but the description was so interesting I had to give this a chance and I am so glad I did.
The concept of a girl scout type group being a front for a magical organization that kills giant bug like creatures is everything! That alone is reason to pick up this book but if you need more this book has it all. The main character is amazing and I freaking adore her for her sarcastic comments and very real depiction of PTS and anxiety. The side character are amazing and I want them all to be my friends. Plus this book is packed full of action. This literally has it all. Please do yourself a favor and check this book out.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Macmillan Young Listeners in exchange for an honest review.

The Criminal Element isn't exactly the Scooby Gang, but they filled the void in my life that I've been missing! I enjoyed Anderson's take on monsters with the mulligrubs that feed on human emotions along with the overall exploration of the good and the bad aspects of the Ladybird Scouts. Prudence Perry is a good protagonist and I appreciate how SCOUT'S HONOR explores Prue's trauma alongside the pressures of legacy familial obligations.

Overall I really enjoyed this, I loved the diverse group of characters and how there was an adult presence that wasn't perfect, but also wasn't absent. I need this story to continue! I need Anderson to tell us what happens next!

Frankie Corzo does a great job with the audiobook narration.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan audio for the ARC of this!

This was super fun, and I loved the messages that the book is sending about friendship, what it means to be a girl, and kicking monster butt. This was perfect for fans of the author’s other book Undead Girl Gang, or of Babysitter’s Coven and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (especially if you loved the Scoobies). I was not expecting the ending at all, but I think it was perfect.

Rep: Puerto Rican American mc with PTSD and anxiety, Mexican American sc, queer Puerto Rican American sc, Black scs, poc scs, plus size characters

The concept of this book is really cool. Girl Scouts who can see monsters that feed off emotions and are secretly trained to kill them. To outsiders, everyone who can’t see the monsters, the Ladybirds organization just looks like girl scouts. They are very prim and proper and help out in the community. They host tea parties, car washes and bake goods.

Prudence’s friend was killed by a monster on a mission 3 years ago. Traumatized, she left the sisterhood. Now dealing with PTSD and anxiety, Pru just wants to live a normal life with her boy friend and friends without having to deal with killing monsters. Instead she gets into trouble and is stuck returning to the sisterhood to train 3 junior scouts. She devises a plan for herself to get the Tea of Forgetting, a drink that will cause amnesia, rendering her blind to the monsters around her.

As she’s training her own girls, Prudence sees how her old friends are really not great people. They talk down to the baby birds and Pru, think they’re better than everyone and don’t treat people very well. Pru realizes she doesn’t want her or her baby bird to be like them. She tries to teach them better ways to be scouts, and doesn’t want them competing against each other. It was nice to see her forge her own path, not listening to everything the guidebook and her mom and tia tell her to do. As she said, there’s more than one way to be a Ladybird. Some things are worth changing.

The mom and tia Lo were so annoying. They treat her like shit most of the time, talk down to her, treat her like a useless child, embarrass and belittle her. They force her into doing things without giving her a choice and just really pissed me off. I get they’re not happy she left the sisterhood, but witnessing your best friend die by monsters at 13 years old is pretty damn traumatizing. Cut her some slack. At least her dad backed her up a lot.

Pru deals with her trauma throughout the whole book. She’s constantly worried about her friends, who can’t see monsters, and Babybirds, who are diving into this scary and dangerous world of monsters. She wants to protect them all, and most importantly, she doesn’t want to lose someone else. She has multiple panic attacks throughout the book but her boyfriend and friends are always there for her. Her mom, tia and fellow Ladybirds, not so much.

I like that they mentioned how some of the Ladybird organization’s rules and traditions were transphobic, homophobic and misogynistic. They also don't care about the girl's mental health enough. It was mentioned that some of those rules got changed recently, and by the end of the book, more changes will hopefully be made.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It deals with trauma and friendship very well and has a lot of action. It’s a cool world and I would definitely like to read a sequel, where we get to see what the organizations looks like in the future.

I love the cover, it’s so pretty. And I enjoyed the narrator of the book, she did a good job.

<i> Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book. </i>

Scout's Honor is a book with a really awesome premise. A scout organization fighting interdimensional evil parasites called mulligrubs, what's not to love? Unfortunately, for me there was a lot not to love. First of all, Prudence is introduced gushing and gushing and gushing about her boyfriend. While this can certainly be realistic for some teenage girls, I prefer to read about strong female characters who have more personality than one defined by being all about some boy. What's worse she goes on to brag about drinking alcohol after that. Right away, I'm not endeared to Prudence at all. But she's so cool with her pink hair (which she mentions a lot - the color that is). So by the time, we get to her guilt about her best friend, I just could not with Prudence. Personally, I think Prudence would have been so much more likeable had the author started with the story of her best friend. While some people may enjoy this story, I didn't, and I didn't like Prudence at all. This book just was not for me.

I LOVED this! The kids were so cute and it reminded me of the Bubble podcast mixed with Troop Beverly Hills.
Also had wonderful growth for the characters and the mental health aspect and fixing systematic issues and I had a really great time!

Prudence is done being a Ladybird Scout. While from the outside, it’s merely a group of girls who knit and volunteer in their community, Pru knows the secret - that knitting needles are the perfect weapon until you graduate to steel for banishing monsters that feed on human emotion. She’s left the Ladybirds after a tragic accident, until her mother catches her sneaking in after curfew and forces her to train new initiates.

I love a good gimmick, and girls secretly learning to kill monsters via a lady’s society drew me in from first reading the synopsis. It took me a bit to get used to the grubs, but I think it was a really unique and fun premise, and it was executed really well!

It felt almost dystopian with the Ladybird app and the capitalism aspect of buying charms, merch, and starter kits - in that way it really reminded me of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray which I LOVE. Earning points on a leadership board to gamify their patrols and earn scholarships was so strange but fits into the story well.

I love the sisterhood that Pru’s troop shows, and the pure chaos of their first tea meeting (complete with white gloves and disgusting tea 😂). There was so much to love about this book, and it also put a spotlight in PTSD, trauma in general, anxiety, and panic attacks.

I’m so glad that I picked this up because it was a delight that I wasn’t expecting! If you love a paranormal YA set in our world, I’d definitely recommend picking this up!