Book was not what I was expecting. But I did enjoy the plot and story. Not a lot of romance which was refreshing for a ya novel. Wish there was a bit more conflict between Nora and the goddess. Felt like there was a ton of buildup and then over very quickly.. The writing style would appeal to a younger ya audience. Not sure it would appeal to the older ya /new adult genres. The main relationship
In the book focuses on two best friends Nora a Becca. That relationship does carry the story.

This book seemed all so normal—best friends, separated by an unnamed fight. But with people disappearing, a mystery lays out before the reader, who is leisurely walked through time, and the ordinary is anything but.

This book is a very slow burn. I didn’t know what was happening for a good chunk of the novel, but really enjoyed not knowing. The Bad Ones is another super fun read from this author.

My first YA horror novel and I think it’ll be my last. Although the premise was good—if felt at times clumsy or cumbersome. I was annoyed with all of the internal thoughts within the book. With that being said, I know a lot of people that will love this book and it makes for a great recommendation for YA Horror readers.

"The Bad Ones" by Melissa Albert promised a gripping tale of high school friends ensnared in a sinister childhood game. Becca's disappearance, along with others, adds a layer of mystery that had me hooked. Nora's quest to untangle the tragic history of disappearances was intriguing.

Despite the compelling premise, the novel's pacing felt cumbersome. The repetitive elements and frequent internal monologues disrupted the flow, making it hard to fully immerse myself in the narrative. The potential for an excellent read is there, but the length seemed excessive, stretching the story thin.

The concept of losing chunks of time added a fascinating dimension, echoing the urgency of Nora's quest. The struggle to solve the mysteries before time runs out creates a palpable tension.

In essence, "The Bad Ones" has the ingredients for an exceptional read. A concise revision, perhaps 100-150 pages shorter, could transform it into a gripping thriller, and I'd gladly give it another go if such an edit were made.

More YA horror, please! I do admit to taking a little longer to read this book that I would usually like, something about the opening didn't immediately grab me but after a few chapters I had settled into a rhythm. That, and I really enjoy this author's writing. I'm a huge fan of small town/suburban settings, toxic friendships, and missing people (in books!) so this really was up my street even if I wanted to shake Becca's shoulders sometimes. Also, the cover art is stunning. Will order into the store!

I was hopefully optimistic about this book because years ago when I read Albert's Hazel Woods (also as an e-ARC) I found myself somewhat intrigued by the premise and pleased by the beautiful prose but in the end this one let me down a bit. First off, I was under the impression this was a horror fantasy novel and while there are some fantasy elements (or maybe magical realism elements?) to it I would by not means call it a horror novel. Maybe a mystery/thriller at best. It was also fairly slow, not REALLY picking up speed until at least a third of the way through. And even then it was still kind of messy. The main character doesn't really figure things out herself, they more just get handed to her. I also, once again, want to point out that perhaps the adults in this novel might have considered getting our main character some therapy. If your teenage daughter's best friend goes missing and then she expresses she kind of feels responsible? You should probably try to get her into a therapist ASAP. But I digress. I feel like the only characters who we really well developed were our main character and her (missing) best friend, which left everyone else feeling...lacking. Now that's not to say it was all bad. Albert has come up with a very interesting idea, certainly unique, with some interesting themes. It sounds like it should have been right up my alley, but it just ended up being a miss for me. I also found the writing to be insanely clunky, at least compared to what I recall of her debut novel (although it has been many years, so I might be misremembering things. And this is also an ARC, so that might change in the final copy). All together the premise alone wasn't enough to save this book for me, and I can't say that I will be hand-selling it to any customers, although I certainly won't steer anyone away from it either, because while it wasn't for me other people seem to be enjoying it, and I can see how others might find more to enjoy than I did.

Content Warning: semi-toxic friendship, missing people, grooming, death of a parent, death

+ What interested me in reading this book was this line “the occult power of childhood play and artistic creation, and the razor-thin line between make-believe and belief” because as a kid in the 80’s, all we did was make-believe play but I remember also when we played with Ouija boards and wanted to find ghosts or spirits or was fascinated with ghost stories. So in many instances does this book speak to my childhood and young adult self. It reminded me of kids yelling “bloody mary”, or singing that rhyme from Freddy Kruger movies “one two, Freddy’s coming for you…” that stuff freaked me out as a kid so I wanted to see if this book would give me that same creepy feeling.

+ Four people go missing, one of them is Nora’s best friend, Becca. Becca has had a hard life with her parents dying and her being all alone except for Nora. But their friendship changes along the way and becomes a bit toxic when they start playing the goddess game. The Goddess Game is something born of an urban legend at their high school, there is a story, but people have different versions of it. I loved how Becca and Nora was so creative and created their kingdom and made more goddesses! 

+ The writing really is immersive and made me want to keep reading to find out what happened to these missing people and what happened to Nora and Becca. Also something was happening to Nora and I just needed answers. I felt like the author really captures their semi-toxic friendship though, and their emotional journeys with one another.

~ I kept reading because the writing is wonderful but it started to drag. I didn’t feel like we were getting much details about the disappearances. I also felt like the big reveal was a disappointment which is a bummer. The story kind of glosses over why three of the people disappeared and I guess I wanted more details. Then ending feels rushed. 

My Thoughts:

The book started off strong but the ending to me was rushed which is a bit disappointing. I did like all the themes in the story about grief, toxic friendship, childhood stories turning into maybe something real, and urban legends that start from a story that takes on a life of its own. I just wish it ended as strong as the beginning but I was left wanting more.

Eleanor is a high school student living in Palmdale. She grew up being best friends with Becca a girl who unfortunately lost her parents a year apart and doesn’t get along with the stepmom her dad married after her mom‘s death
. When Becca goes missing it’s on the same night that a teacher a girl name Kllo and another classmate goes missing. For people going missing in such a small town is a big deal and when Nora‘s mom tells her a classmate went missing when she too was in high school Nora wants to know more. The day after her BF goes missing she finds clues that Becca left for her to follow but win a guy named James shows up at Eleanor‘s house with undeveloped film and a note wrapped around it from Becca Nora is baffled because she didn’t think her best friend had any other friends which was a bone of contention in their relationship or at least it was until three months ago when Rebecca wanted to play a game they used to play as children and it ended in an argument something that would haunt Eleanor but as far as this guy James goes they start spending time together to find out what happened to Rebecca. When they were 10 years old older girls found them in the woods playing games as children do and when one of the girls says you should teach them the goddess game Eleanor and Becca think it is the jump rope song about the goddess but the not so nice older girl tells them a story that the girls are captivated by but in the end don’t believe but they use it to make their own game and create their own goddesses and one was a goddess of revenge so win Nora sees the note around the film that says remember the Goddess game Eleanor remembers it but has no clue as to what her friend wants her to do. Due to lack of sleep or true mystical happenings strange things become norm for Nora she has weird dreams and even weirder experiences but what does this all have to do with her friend Rebecca and Rebecca going missing it seems all the people who are missing have done something wrong to someone with the exception of Rebecca so why is she missing? This is what Eleanor tries to find out. I had high hopes for the sport and was looking so forward to reading it but some of the authors descriptors were way out of my wheelhouse such as “his words were seaworthy” or as I scroll through his photos he had the look of someone who peeled his rib cage back to let me see his beating heart. I get the sentiment but that just sounds gross and as far as his words were seaworthy I get it again but they had way better examples in the book that I am not going back to find. Not only that I thought this book went on way too long and there was so much she didn’t tell James the hot guy who no one spoke to… Because that’s believable. It was just a lot in this book I didn’t have time to spend that much belief it really makes me sad but I don’t like a book because I know authors spin months and sometimes even longer trying to cultivate the best book to offer the readers but I just didn’t get on with this book and I’m sure some people will but I was just not one of them. I do want to say I was all Lynn for the first 40 or 50% and as I said I did find her descriptors strange but could’ve dealt with that had it stayed interesting it just became way too long but I digress you may love it. I want to thank flat iron books and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I am too old to be reading this book. The writing felt super young and cringy. I didn’t enjoy this. If the characters weren’t so immature, I would’ve liked this book more.

The Bad Ones was a curled snarl of a book, soaked with rage and consumed with vengeance.

It was a stunning, shiver-inducing supernatural mystery. Albert just has such a gift for creating atmosphere that sinks its hooks into you and will not let go. From the very first page, I was completely under the spell of this book. It is a pacy, suspenseful read with plenty of twists and turns to uncover. The central mystery thread is so well executed and ties into the wider theme of rage and retribution. Albert asks what lengths would you go to in order to exact justice and reclaim a power stolen from you? This is particularly prevalent through the lens of feminine rage and the motifs of abuse, specifically within power dynamics and relationships. It is dark, unrelenting and spellbinding. I delight in stories like this that pulsate with a deep seated thirst for revenge and a twisted sense of retribution. Albert ensures this is challenged, but left morally murky and ambiguous. Every action has consequences, even if you are unaware of the darkness of those consequences and what they may cost the justice seeker themselves.

Albert also thrives in that blurry boundary between fantasy and reality. This book delights in the liminal spaces and the creative power of stories to transcend these spaces and become something more. They are both a belief system and a way to grapple with trauma, evolving into something potentially more sinister. I also loved how they epitomised the somewhat toxic relationship between Nora and Becca, laced with secrets and suspicions that cloud the judgement of everyone involved. They are both three-dimensional, flawed and messy characters that have their own problems to deal with and relationships that begin to emerge. Their narrative shows the progression from childhood to adulthood, but also the limitations of background and perceptions of outsiders. It challenges you to think beyond the norm and indulge in the childhood imaginations, which may have morphed into something else entirely.;

The Bad Ones is a captivating, sinister and deeply angry book that also delights in complex characters and the ambiguities of creativity.

This book is a perfect mix of both fantasy and thriller. Albert does an amazing job at providing just enough information to keep the reader hooked, while also second guessing their theories. There were times where even reading some scenes in the dark would give me goosebumps.

I really enjoyed how everything progressed and was woven together. The jumping back and forth from time or person was never confusing and helped the story along rather than hinder it and jumble the readers' place. Wonderful job at making sure this was done efficiently and without unnecessary plot lines.

My only critique was the speed of the resolution. The beginning of the book was so nicely spaced, but the every last chapter felt a little rushed. I would've gladly read more pages of Becca's side of the story! Perhaps maybe even a book 2?

“I didn’t know how to help her as she shrunk her life, shrunk herself…”

“The Bad Ones” by Melissa Albert

When three people go missing one winter night the town is thrown into suspicion by everyone. Nora’s ex-best friend is one of the missing. Nora is on the hunt to find Becca and save her with the clues Becca has left. When reality and fantasy mix Nora wonders if the mystery is linked with the Goddess of Forgotten, a childhood game the girls used to play together.

This book was amazing. The entire book I was mentally trying to figure out how much is supernatural or just grief and mental illness. The writing was very poetic and fantastical in terms of descriptions. The world that was built gave me a hazy feeling like I was recalling a distant memory, which was so perfect. 5 out of 5 stars, so mesmerizing.

“Those are the memories I can bear to handle.”

My obsession with girlhood continues with this YA supernatural horror that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. While it was YA it didn’t read that way. Alberts writing gets to the root of the emotions you experience when navigating the the on ramp to adulthood. When your problems suddenly get very real but you still have to make it to homeroom on time. She so perfectly articulates the imagination attached to being a young girl, the land of make believe and imagination but also of revenge and twisted games. This was also the first time I saw the delicate complexities of a friendship breakup so accurately portrayed. I will say that while the resolution fell flat for me it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the story.

The Bad Ones is funny and fresh and so captivating. I feel so lucky to have gotten to read this early, I couldn’t put it down. This is the perfect book to get a young girl hooked on reading

Can I give this six stars? Because I would. Albert successfully captures the darkness and the light, the pain and the joy of friendship and play, and then submerges it all in a riveting horror thriller ride with an awesome cast of characters and a mythos all its own. This book encompasses so many things I love. The way Albert puts the weight of the tale on the intense and complicated friendship between two girls makes it cut deep for me. And the way friendship, and the act of play and storytelling within that friendship, is infused with a powerful and transformative magic mirrors parts of my own experience in ways that are both profound and sentimental.

I’m always delighted to see an author who is truly a gifted writer choose to write Young adult fiction m, or fantasy, or mysteries instead of Literary Fiction, a genre with no shortage of quality writing.

I expect Melissa Albert’s work attracts a lot of plot readers at least initially, but I hope her skill as a writer eventually becomes something readers notice and appreciate as they delve into her work.

I love the Hazel Wood books, and was sadly less enamored of Our Crooked Hearts, which was of course well written but less appealing in terms of plot.

So I’m thrilled to see a return to form here from Albert, who has written a terrifically original, well-plotted, and gorgeously written dark fantasy for the YA audience.

Typically gods don’t make great foes in fiction for a number of reasons, but Albert has used that concept exceptionally well, and written a story equal parts creepy and resonant. I loved the characters and the writing, as well as the unsettling, evocatively macabre atmosphere.

An auto-read author if there ever was one, I can’t wait to see what Albert gives us next.

I want to preface this by saying that I wrote this in three parts while reading the book, so this is made up of my thoughts in real time. I like doing this for books that I'm not particularly feeling from pretty early on to kind of document if my opinion changes at all. So without further ado, let's begin.

I’m writing this part of the review at the start of Chapter 22, roughly 42% through the book. I am tired. This book has actually put me to sleep on several occasions. There are 54 “named” chapters, and 10 other chapters titled with timeline points, and the two FMC’s names, Nora and Emma (it’s actually Becca, which tells you where I’m at mentally right now with this book...). So that brings the total chapter count, for all intents and purposes, to 64. I normally wouldn’t really care about that, except for the fact that the FMC Nora is so insufferable right now, that at this point I’m rage-reading, and it’s making the story drag. This is the third time I’m trying to read this book since downloading the file to my kindle app and it’s the first time I was able to get past the first ten-ish chapters. At this current moment, I do really enjoy the premise. There’s just something about Nora and Becca that I do not like, at all.

Right now, I’m taking the time to read through the other reviews on NG to see what the general consensus is (it has an overall rating of 4 stars), and was kind of (but also not really) shocked to see that there were other people who shared the same sentiments. The beginning of the story is attention-grabbing enough that people have been pulled in, but are ultimately feeling like reading becomes a chore. Which is how I’m feeling about it now.

I feel like if this was a print book, I would be incentivizing myself to read like I did back in high school and college, with putting snacks at the end of the chapters I had to read in massive textbooks for homework. Unfortunately, I cannot do this in the Kindle app... And unfortunately, this book does feel like homework at this point.

And I don’t think the issue lies in the fact that it’s a YA book. I do tend to like YA books, as they’re typically decent enough palette cleansers for when I get out of my dark and objectively *~icky~* reading moods. But The Bad Ones is just falling exceptionally flat right now. I like the story more when the focus/narrator is focusing on the /other/ people involved in the story. I feel like that says a lot.

Nora and Becca's relationship is starting to show itself as the toxic friendship briefly mentioned at the end of the synopsis on NG. I got the vibe early on, and still have the vibe even 22 chapters deep, that Nora is weirdly obsessed with her. And I feel the weird need to point out that I keep calling her Emma and not Becca, and I really, truly feel like that says a lot about how I feel about this book at this current moment.

There’s also this weird tension between Nora and the other photography dude that was friends with Becca (again, the lack of knowing this guy's name says a lot) that seems like it’s leaning towards romance...? It feels extremely unnecessary in the overall plot. And Nora was weird about him being friends with Becca... GIRL!!! You didn’t talk to her for MONTHS, what do you expect? But also? She’s allowed to have other friends...? Unless I’m missing something? I don’t know. It all goes back to not liking the relationship/friendship between Nora and Becca and just their characters in general. It’s giving me both the heebs and the jeebs.

Something else that’s bothering me and making it hard to read, and I know that the file is relatively unedited... but the syntax is weird, right? It could just be me, honestly. But there’s something weird about the way the story is written that is making me have to reread lines several times to wrap my head around it.

At my current spot, nothing is leaving me filled with suspense or wondering what’s going to happen. I am purely just wondering when the next time Nora says something annoying will be. I'm confused about the Mr. Tate angle right now because it's just ‘Mr. Tate is bad’, but I’m sure that’s going to be expanded as I continue reading, considering it was just introduced as a plot point in chapter 19?20?

But I’m going to continue reading now, and I’ll come back when I have something to comment on.

Hello, it’s me again. Now at the first page of chapter 32 and I do have things to say. First and foremost, I do still want to DNF this book, but I’m pushing myself through it against better judgment. Second, I do understand the Mr. Tate angle. Dude’s a creep and deserved what he got in the disappearing. Which... as I’m reading, I think the girl in the prologue that everyone saw was actually Becca, considering the last chapter was about some kind of weird and vaguely explained apprenticeship with some older woman who can tell a bad person from a good person just from one glance.

The initial draw that the book had for me in the premise has now been entirely lost. I find books that center around people who call the shots so to speak, extremely tired. If I knew going into it that this is what the plot would turn out to be, I probably wouldn’t have requested the book. I don’t think there’s ever been a book with this plot point that has been done well enough to not earn some eyerolls whilst reading. And boy did I roll my eyes when Becca mentioned playing “goddess”. I don’t know, it doesn’t feel original enough to me. Also a very interesting concept to pose to young adults, considering the age range is typically geared towards 12-18 year olds, however more than half of the people who actually read YA novels are over the age of 25 based on my findings. I wouldn’t want to pose the concept of being the one deciding who dies to someone still very impressionable? That’s probably just a personal problem?

In the ten chapters between the last chunk of text and this one, I still dislike the main two girls. The word choices that are being made when the narrator is focusing on Nora makes me think that they were made to make Nora sound smarter, but in reality they just make her even more insufferable. I don’t know what the author’s reasoning for the word choices were and I don’t want to speculate further than I have because I just want this book to be over. I have a little over 2 hours left, per the tracker in the Kindle App, so at this point I can't convince myself to stop reading since I'm so close to the end now.

--
I'm now done with this book and. Just and. I don't know. It was a book...? I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone to be completely honest.

The one/two page chapters sprinkled through the book started to really bother me, mainly because if I'm picking up a book that boasts 40+ chapters, I'm expecting a book that should seriously be considered for being split into two separate books because the chapters are 20+ pages long. This was not that.

This was honestly not a lot. A lot of words, sure. But there was nothing that really stood out to make this worth talking about with anyone. In hindsight, I probably should have DNF’d after chapter 22.

I really don't like being negative about books because I do know how much work it is to write something, let alone publish it. So I can appreciate authors’ abilities to do it, and that's where one of the two star rating comes from. The other star is for Ms Ekstrom. She was the only character that I actually liked. And she was the only character I couldn't get a read on, no pun intended. Her being revealed as the woman that Becca was meeting with did actually make me go “huh...” whilst reading, which was the only positive adjacent reaction that I had.

If I could recommend just the chapters that focused on Ms. Ekstrom, without any context needed, I would. But I can't.

Someone that will bother me for at least the next 7 business days, is James’ character (I remembered his name this time, look at me go). He felt… wholly unnecessary. His character was so poorly developed. The mysterious photographer guy, with a beautiful face, who comes off as moody is maybe... just... shy... Please go away. That is so… James deserved better development, especially if Nora is going to say that he's the shoulder that she needed to deal with everything happening. He gave like four crumbs of plot when he was around, and I'm supposed to just be okay with that? Also??? Still feel like the romance aspect was what? Unnecessary! Not everything needs to have this as a sub plot, and I wish the story would have developed without it. Not only because it was unnecessary to the main point, but because I just don't think Nora deserves James and I don't trust Nora. James deserves better.

Justice for James 2k24.

I have a lot more notes for this book and some of the characters and events that take place... but for brevity's sake, I'll keep those to myself and most likely add screenshots/quotes to a blog post after the book is published.

I’m sure this author’s other works are great (although I have seen several people compare this book to one of her other series and said it was pretty similar), but I have a fairly decent idea that they’re not my cup of tea because this book overall wasn’t my cup of tea. Even though this isn't my cup, I do wish the author a very successful release.

I would like to thank NetGally, Flatiron Books, and Melissa Albert for the opportunity to read this book ahead of being published. I am truly appreciative of it.

Thank you Netgalley and Flatiron for providing this ARC for review!

I currently read a lot of fantasy, but if I'm being honest, my love of reading is rooted in horror novels, so I was excited to switch it up a bit. This book follows the Palmetto's most famous true crime story - the night multiple people disappeared and no one can figure out how they are all connected...except Nora.

There is so much tension as we follow Nora's journey to find out the truth, with "replacement" friends woven throughout as the result of the current state of her most important friendship. The relationship is key to the story, though it quickly becomes clear that Nora may be better off. She's able to form new bonds, but she forms them in alignment with the relationship that started the entire ordeal.

The tension in the book keeps you reading, but when I got to the big reveal, I was a little disappointed. The theme of devotion and to whom is interesting, but I thought the urban legend could have been a bit more developed so it felt more tragic and worthy of the long-standing goddess game.

This was my first book from Melissa Albert and it won’t be the last. This is a Young Adult Horror book. I really enjoyed myself with this book and it was nostalgic for me. It reminded me when my cousins and I were kids and we would play this game of making potions from whatever we found outside-sticks, grass, leaves, mud, etc. We would chant and when we were done . We would splatter the concoction on the tree. Almost like making an offering to Mother Nature.
The care free days.
This book has a horror murder mystery of who did it. Then gives you twists and turns that you never see coming. It brought up a lot of memories from childhood, which is awesome when a book can unintentionally do that. I really enjoyed this book and hope anyone that reads it, likes it as well.

Thank you to NetGalley, Melissa Albert, and FlatIron Books for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review

First and foremost, thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron books for this arc. My opinions are my own.

I have mixed feelings about this one.
One of the things I liked about this book was how atmospheric it was. I could feel the eeriness that the town and Nora were experiencing. The overall story kept me on my seat. I never knew what was real or what wasn’t. I didn’t find the twists to be too predictable either.
However, I don’t know how I feel about the characters. I liked Nora enough but hated Becca. I know that they are supposed to have an unhealthy friendship, but it was still really hard to read. I was hoping this story would go into a different direction than it did when it came to learning to let go but it didn’t.
I also found the ending to be rushed and flat. When the “big reveal” was happening, I was a little let down. Going to a different character's backstory for a couple of chapters, although it’s important, messes up the flow of the story. I also found that it was hard to remember who was who in the flashbacks since the characters had the same letter of their first names. That’s probably just a me problem but I struggled through it.

Overall, it was a good, quick read. I think a lot of people would like this one even though I had rather mixed feelings about it!

3.25 stars

I’ve read a few of Melissa Albert’s other stories and I think this one takes the cake so far! I really thought I called the end to the book but I was definitely wrong! I absolutely enjoyed this book and it was so unique. I’m so glad that James and Nora had a happy ending and Becca was safe. I want to know where the goddess went and if she just disappeared forever. I can’t wait to enjoy what ever else Melissa Albert comes out with.