I really need to stop reading YA for review, it’s so hit or miss for me, and unfortunately, ‘Damned If You Do’ was a miss. The concept is really cool, and the bones of a fun horror/comedy are there, but I found the characters a bit immature for my taste (which is fine, because it’s FOR teens, but it’s time to accept I’ve grown out of most YA for this reason) and the humour fell flat for me. The plot was a bit trite, but had a couple of good twists. Definitely think this is a good pick for actual young adults interested in horror with a very gen z internet sense of humour, but not for adults who like more emotionally mature YA that lands in the category for marketing and character age purposes.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the audiobook version, as the narration was stiff and awkwardly over-enunciated. It was a difficult listen, but I imagine the physical or e-book versions would be more bearable.

Despite marking this one as firmly Not For Me, I am still very grateful to RB Media, Recorded Books, Netgalley, and Alex Brown for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Actual Rating 2.5

TW: Child Abuse (off page), Depictions of Hell, Alcoholism (Adults and Minors)

Seven years ago, Cordelia’s abusive father disappeared, leaving her and her mother broken and floundering. Now in High School, Cordelia is struggling to balance her school’s theater production with keeping her grades up and harboring a secret crush. But when she finds out that an adult at her school is actually a demon, and one she’s supposedly made a deal with before, her entire world shifts. She also learns that unless she helps him with one final task, she’s likely to lose her soul to Hell.

This read was over the top and heavy on the comedy, which I didn’t mind, but I certainly have to be in a particular mood for. In a similar way, it kind of felt more like a MG read except for the swearing and darker themes, so I guess this read is on the younger side of YA. This was partly due to the amount of comedy/humor that was incorporated, which was used to balance the darker themes and events. I did enjoy how the author included the theater production aspect of the setting and how well it tied the story together. I liked the inclusion of Filipino mythology, though I wanted much more of this aspect than was included.

One of my main dislikes of this one was that the adults in this largely ranged from absent to downright toxic. I was disappointed at the number of worthless adults, specifically parents. The remaining characters were okay, neither good nor bad. It honestly felt like they were written for their role rather than well developed, which detracted from the characterization and my overall enjoyment of the read. As the characters weren’t that strong, the romance was not that compelling either.

While everything was resolved by the end of this tale, it did set up for a sequel. I also would not call this a work of horror, rather just a supernatural or paranormal fiction. Despite all the negatives I listed, this was an easy, mostly enjoyable read that wasn’t a waste of an afternoon. If you enjoy somewhat over the top YA supernatural reads with cheesy moments, then you’ll likely enjoy this one. My thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

TW: moderately graphic DV and religious themes on the paranormal.

Thank you to RB Media, Recorded Books, and Netgalley for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really entertaining read if you're looking for an action-packed queer YA Horror with a smattering of comedy well blended with Filipino Folklore. What I did love most was the approach to the DV the FMC experienced.

There are a lot of kids out there who carry on with the baggage of misplaced guilt and the continued effects of childhood trauma. This central theme that Brown explores using the paranormal to help guide a healing process might definitely be of help to some who are silently suffering.

While I do feel like there was a little bit of a pacing issue as I found my attention waning at certain points and I did wish for a more in depth development of character in terms of action rather than being told certain realizations, i still had a lot of fun with this book!

From the start of the story to the very end Damned If You Do is a wonderful book. It takes you on the journey of Cordelia who has lived for year with what feels like a whole in who she is after making a deal with Fred, everyone's favorite guidance counselor and demon, to send her abusive father to Hell. She also asks to forget, but when the demon who founded the town is close to becoming bigger and badder with his 100th deal Fred gives her a chance to fill that hole. But from the start it's clear that having that piece of her soul back won't free Cordy from the fear of being just like her father and the guilt for what she's done.

We get to see Cordy navigate this major task of trapping a powerful demon, coming to terms with the choice that saved her in the moment and her and her mother in the long term, and being pushed into really addressing her feelings for her best friend Veronica. And though there are many moments where one or more of these things feel like they're going to be solved, they happen when they should. Taking on the burden over the town makes way for Cordy to handle her personal demon aka her father. And she does that while knowing she has people in her corner and that Veronica, someone she feared would turn their back on her, supports what she needs to do in order to be at peace. And navigating a new romance with your best friend in the world is hard to do when you have life threatening things going on, so it being right after she handles everything else just fits. And yet again it shows her and us that as she goes about dealing with the strained relationship with her mother - and the new possible threat to the town - Veronica will be there by her side in a role that doesn't have her panicking about who has her back.

I would happily take so many more books about this group of people and how they take on things like what they're rushing off to handle at the end of the book. I love them all so much and I think that anyone who gives them a chance will too.

Damned If You Do is a sapphic YA contemporary fantasy based on Filipino folklore. It's been compared to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I can totally see where that came from. There's even a "oh, there's trouble? Must be a Tuesday moment" that tells me the author is almost certainly a Buffy fan! The absurdity and humor in Damned If You Do definitely reminded me of Buffy.

I loved the use of Filipino folklore, the demon guidance counselor (which is SO Buffy), and the friends to lovers romance. I will warn that this book features one physically abusive parent and one pretty neglectful parent, so be kind to yourself if that content might be triggering. There was a lot to love about this book. It's a fun read, especially if you love contemporary fantasy or things like Buffy!

I always love reading a book with Filipino representation! Pinoy Pride!!!

Cordelia has had a rough seven years after her abusive father up and disappeared. A mom that has withdrawn within herself, in love with her best friend, not making any marks in school, and managing a play that leaves much to be desired. Add a demonic guidance counselor asking for a favor, into the mix and it’s one big powder keg!

This book has all the found family vibes you could be looking for! Brown did a great job at building such a diverse band of misfits. The relationship between Cordelia and Veronica is *chefs kiss*.

I could absolutely see this as a mini series on Cartoon Network! Most of the characters are part of the theater group, so naturally their exaggerated personalities would be perfect for a children’s cartoon.

This one did take me a bit longer to get through on audio. Mainly because I had a difficult time with a few of the character voices chosen by the narrator. That is 100% a preference and not at all popular opinion.

When opening this audiobook, I had no idea what to expect and to be honest I do not think I was expecting what I got when I did open this.

This is a story of a senior in high school is trying to find her way through her horrible past and trying her best to maintain her relationship with her best friend while also keeping her abusive father in Florida. She finds herself in a world full of nightmares and one specific person doing their best to ruin her.

While the plot of the story wasn't something I would normally read, I did enjoy the plot line. There were times I wanted to yell at the characters to do something but what good book doesn't have that?! I enjoyed the overall plot and ending. The only thing I had trouble with was the narrators voice they chose for the audiobook. I did not like the voices they used for different men and I found it to be very annoying and made it extremely hard to get into the book and keep going. This has already been published but any feedback is good, and I wanted to be honest in how I felt.

Damned If You Do centers around Cordelia Scott, who wished for her father to disappear when she was 10. Skip to the present, where her new guidance counselor is actually the demon who granted her wish and doomed Cordelia's father to Hell. Now Fred, the counselor, wants her to do her part in the bargain--help him trap his rival demon in a Precious Moments Maleficent figurine. This book contains revelations, betrayals, guilt, and aswangs (a filipino mythological shape-shifting creature).

As soon as I read the synopsis I knew I had to get this book. I mean, filipino folklore!?? And queer too?? This is literally the book for me (I'm filipino and I actually have never learned much about our folklore because I was raised abroad and my parents didn't introduce me to it, yadda yadda) First and foremost, Amielynn Abellera's narration was Amazing! I loved the different voices for each character, even though there were some voices that were hard to listen to (Dustin's grating wobbly voice). I also the filipino accents for Cordelia's mom and mrs Dominguez, they're kind of like how i'd imagine fil parents who lived abroad for more than 10 years.

This book is marketed as a horror comedy, but I felt that the comedy part was a little corny and awkward, especially when it kind of spoiled the serious parts of the book. Some dialogues felt quite sitcom-y and ruined the mood. The horror aspect was brilliant though, I love the gruesome body horror and the overall atmosphere.

I like how the characters are ready to slay demons and stuff, but wouldn't a little sense of self-preservation be nice too? (Yeah, Dustin 'I want in' Jones.) I love Cordelia's determination and bravery, Veronica's steadfastness (and badassery!!), and Dustin actually grew on me at the end. There were genuinely funny moments in this book -- Fred's live laugh love poster, the existence of Novitiate/Sister annabelle, verdelia being cockblocked so many times. This is a solid one, and I think this'll be a great series in the future!

Big thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Huge thank you to Recorded Books for giving me early access to the audio book edition of Damned if You Do.

Listening to this book over the past few days have made all the chores I completed while listening simply fly by. The narrator, Amielynn Abellera, is excellent and I'm planning to look for other books she's read as I love her narrative style.

The book itself was one I wish I had had in middle school/high school. As a queer theater kid who loved mythology and ghost stories I know it would have captured my imagination like no other. As it stands now, I enjoyed my time with this book, and loved the overall narrative structure.

I do think there were times where the main characters internal voice was a little repetitive. Also I found the foreshadowing to be heavy handed in some parts to the point where it makes the main characters choices not always make sense. I do acknowledge that I am not the target age for this book, so it's very possible I was letting myself get ahead of this story.

Overall I thought it was a fun fantasy read with a very honest description of what survivors of abuse and trauma go through on the daily. I think this is a very important book and I know that there are young people out there who need a story that's all about slaying demons. The real ones, and the ones we make for ourselves.

I picked this book up knowing very little about it, but I do believe after reading it that the marketing frames it as a slightly different book than it is. I did not find that this felt very horror-like, as the comedic writing made it very difficult to take the serious topics and moments seriously. The voice of the audiobook narrator may have played a part in the comedy not landing for me, too, as their voice for some of the characters felt very outlandish and irritating and made them feel more like caricatures of The Bully, The Love Interest, etc. The book itself I found difficult to finish, as it did not really focus in on much of the folklore that the blurb promises, and the romance felt very flat as did the comedy and humor as a whole. I found myself feeling that this book would have almost benefited more from being written with younger characters leaning more towards middle grade, as the premise was very intriguing but the characters were just not believable to be the age they say they are. In the end, I found this one difficult to finish but I do hope it finds readership and an audience where the humor will land and the characters will feel more realistic! .

Rep: sapphic Filipina mc with anxiety and PTSD, sapphic Filipina sc, Brown non binary sc, Filipino scs
Rating: 3.5

This book is full of demons, deals with demons, Filipino mythology and grief. Demons and making deals with them are pretty common, but this one had a nice twist with the Filipino lore. It’s a nice blend of funny and heavy.

Cordelia really goes through a lot of grief from the trauma and abuse with her dad. She lived 7 years without him, yet she’s still dealing with lasting effects. At times she even thinks she’s just like him, or that her actions are like his. She just needs lots of love and affection, poor girl. Give her therapy, please.

Cordelia and Veronica were pretty cute. Cordy was so clueless lol I loved their nicknames, Harmonica and Accordion. I liked Cordy’s best friend, Sal, who is non binary. They accepted the whole demon situation with such ease and had no problem helping them look for a solution. Fred was also pretty nice and not what you’d typically expect of a demon. I was surprised even Dustin got some character development and was actually decent by the end.

The mom very odd. I don’t really understand why she was so distant. I get she was traumatized by her husband and his disappearance, but she was so numb to the world, and especially to her daughter. She should be happy he’s gone and they don’t have to deal with him anymore. The dad was so shitty, I hated him so much. I didn’t understand how he could do the stuff he did.

Surprisingly, the solution wasn’t simple. Cordelia had no idea how to stop the demon that's about to take over her town. Even Fred, the other demon, doesn’t know. They end up going on a wild goose chase of trial and error. Just when you think they’re making progress, there’s a plot twist and things don’t go smoothly. They actually had to use their brains to think of ways to trap him.

The Filipino folklore was really cool. The Aswangs sounded very interesting. I love the concept of shapeshifting, so this was great. Manananggals were also mentioned. I love all kinds of mythologies and learning about them. I didn’t know about any of these creatures before, so it was nice learning about them. I would’ve loved to see even more of the cultural aspects.

I wasn’t a fan of the narration. Specifically the dialogue. A lot of the side characters sounded either robotic or like a douchebag lol the mc’s voice was ok and the narration itself was good though.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book

Tech rehearsals are busy enough without a deal with a demon coming back to haunt you and putting your soul and many lives on the line. Cordy is wrapped up in all of this and is also trying to balance her school and social life as well.
Damned if you you do is a YA novel that deals with issues of identity, parental abuse, and good vs. evil.

I wanted to like this book, but I did not enjoy the narration and found it so distracting that I DNF'd the book at 30%. I especially did not like the narrator's male voices and there were a LOT of men in this book, so it was happening often. The story was interesting and different than a lot of other teen fiction I've read. I think I would have enjoyed it more just reading it instead of trying to listen.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This was such a fun YA novel with witty dialogue and funny characters! It did really well balancing lighthearted moments with heavier, emotional moments.

It excelled with portraying with teen emotions. The MC, Cordelia, feels a lot of guilt and angst for what she did to her abusive father, and I thought that was portrayed really well.

The cast of characters were fun, although most felt very one-dimensional. The only two characters that were well-rounded were Cordelia and Fred, the school counselor/demon. Everyone else gave me filler character vibes, even the love interest, Veronica. But even then, the dialogue and interactions were written well.

I loved the theater production aspect of the story. It was woven so neatly into the storyline that it felt natural and not forced. Everyone involved in the play was funny to an extent and had loud personalities.

The second half lagged for me because it was really tropey. Everything unfolded as it should've and there weren't really any fun plot twists to keep me on my toes.

I liked the inclusion of Filipino mythology, even though it was very light. Cordelia had a kalis blade and there was an aswang. I wish there was more.

The audiobook narrator just didn't do it for me. They had a strange way of narrating dialogue and different character's voices that was very stilted, like they were reading word for word on a script. It didn't feel natural at all and kind of irritated me at times since they did well with general narration.

Overall, I'd recommend this YA novel for a quick, fun contemporary fantasy read. I can't wait to read more from Alex Brown.

Thank you to Recorded Books and NetGalley for this arc.

3.5 Stars

When Cordelia was 10, she wished for her abusive father to disappear. A demon heard her plea and granted her wish. But in return, he took part of her soul and wiped her memory. Seven years later, that same demon is back to make a new deal. Help him destroy his rival, another demon who wants to wreak havoc on the town, or spend eternity in Hell.

Great idea and concept. I love how the author weaved Filipino folklore into the story. It's something I'm not familiar with and found it intriguing. With that said, I wanted more from the side characters and storyline. Some characters felt superficial or one-dimensional. Also, as others have stated, the romance was underwhelming. There was all this build-up in the beginning but barely went anywhere as the story progressed. Lastly, there were moments when the story got a little too cheesy and corny for my taste.

Overall, a decent YA fantasy. Would recommend it to fans of YA fantasy and paranormal.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Alex Brown, and RB Media, Recorded Books for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

I want to start by say I'm not own voices so please go look at those reviews first. I can not attest to the accuracy of the folklore either so again go check own voices reviews first.
This book is not horror. I have seen it labeled as ya horror in several places and I want to say right here and now that its not true. This book is a paranormal fantasy but its not scary so if that label is keeping you away please don't let it.
Now I was a little disappointed in the lack of scaryness but regardless of that I still really enjoyed this book. All though it was actually a really fun romp. Its nothing like Buffy but the paranormal vibes and fun characters reminded me a bit of that sort of story. The whole story was tens but there was a ton of humor to balance it out plus it had a nice sprinkle of romance as well.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book. They were fun and different without being the "I'm such a relatable teen" type. They felt real and while some of the reactions felt a little mild for the situation it still really worked.
I definitely enjoyed this one. It felt kind of like watching a 90s horror comedy but also nothing like that. I had the same nostalgic feelings while reading it even if the story was unique and not set in the 90s. This was just a really solid read for me.
Ps. There are several trigger warnings for this book so please go check those first!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The chapter titles were so cheeky and fun, most of them made me giggle. I loved the demons and creatures in this book and its use of folklore. The “deal day” in the town reminded me of a Faustian bargain and made me worry for all characters involved. This was an interesting and fascinating read.

It's not often that I say a narrator has ruined the book but I can definitively say that if the narrator does the second book I will not be listening to it.

This seems to be not quite a universal opinion because I've seen some people praise the narrator but I have also seen others note some of the issues I had.

I can't even focus on the book because of how frustrating the narrator was.

So first and foremost there are different speeds for how she spoke. There was the narrator speaking speed and the dialogue speaking speed and they were different. The narrator speaking speed was fine the voice used was great and had the whole book been narrated that way it would have been awesome. But it's not. All of the dialogue is slowed down. The easiest way I can describe it and get you to understand what I mean is this. You know those assholes who speak slower and super enunciated to people who are hard of hearing or elderly? That's how all the dialogue is. It is spread out and so dramatically emphasized that it's exhausting to listen to. I even had this sped up to 2.5 x speed and it was STILL like that.

I'm going to need someone in the audiobook production industry to tell me if the 1X speed of audiobooks is the speed that the narrators actually speak at or if it's a set speed that all narration is slowed down to because I need to know. I refuse to believe that anyone would speak as slow as the 1X was on this book.

So beyond the super frustrating speed issues, all of the voices for the secondary characters were just weird. They were overly done and drew away from the story. Like I said, the narrator voice was great and I wish there had been just small tweaks instead of these dramatic persona changes. There's a difference between giving characters individual voices and overdoing it so much that they sound like a cartoon caricature.

Honestly I think the book was good. I think the story was good. I enjoyed elements of it and I loved how queer it was and I enjoyed the magic elements but I cannot get over how frustrating the audiobook was.

Moral of the story here is that if you're going to read this book I highly recommend physically reading it versus listening.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of my favorite shows when it first came out so the thought of being able to find something like that again was too good to pass up. Add in the Filipino folklore that I think there is never enough of and I was hooked. This was an incredibly engrossing thrill ride, filled with messy family relationships, high school dynamics, school plays, teen angst, and demons. It was nonstop action and so much fun. I enjoyed everything about it and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read about folklore, first love, and monsters.

Narration was well done, no issues.

Deal with the devil!

Cordilia never questioned her abusive father's absence. One day he just left. But one school day, her counsellor reveals himself as a demon with whom she made the deal. Get rid of her father in exchange for a part of her soul. Now the counsellor demon 😈 needs Cordilia to help him with a demonic problem else she will be sent to the same place as her father and spend eternity together.

I am going to say this outright, I loved the title and the main plot of this book. Cordilia's character as a stage manager is done very well. The author made sure not to overcomplicate the world buildup by just keeping enough creatures in there. There is also a side angle of folklore, town legends and childhood friends that are going on to keep it interesting. Everything rounds up together in a great cozy ball towards the end and wraps all the mysteries in its periphery. Enjoyed reading this one so much!

Genre: #Fantasy #middlegrade #lgbt
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

Thankyou @netgalley @madethisforlu @pagestreetya for the digital ARC