4.5 stars rounded up

I really enjoyed this - it's a nice mix of mystery with dark fantasy elements, set in a well done YA framework. I definitely stayed up late reading it!

I think this has adult appeal - give to fans of Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House and Holly Black's Book of Night.

The premise and beginning of the story grabbed me, but the mc bored me. That with a way too slow plot that seemed to drag its feet at moving forward made this book a chore to read.

3.25 ⭐️ NetGalley ARC Review
The description of this book sounded really interesting and unique, so I was excited to give it a read. I found the whole concept/plot intriguing, but I felt the overall execution of it to be lacking something. I was invested from the start, wondering where the story would take us, wanting to figure out what happened to all the people who mysteriously disappeared. However around the middle of the book I felt like things kind of lulled and then they picked back up towards the end (in which everything happened all at once and it was almost an overload of information). I’m not sure if it was the ending in of itself or just the way it was told, but it wasn’t as satisfying as I was hoping. It made sense and everything was technically wrapped up, but I felt like it was missing something. To me, it almost felt as if the story was just on the edge of fully committing to the supernatural/fantasy elements, but not going all the way. I think if it had been expanded on/added to (and not in such a rushed manor), the story would’ve felt more complete as well as more satisfying to the reader. I enjoyed the characters and there was a little romantic sub plot, which I didn’t mind, but it also felt a little random/incomplete. I think it should have been built up more and further explored or excluded completely and just been a friendship. Overall, it was a fun enough and easy read, which I enjoyed for the most part, but I do feel like it was lacking in some areas.

3.5 stars rounded up. In order to solve the mystery of the #PalmettoVanishings, The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert delves deep into past wrongs and the creation of the Goddess game. It is a slow paced mystery and asks you to suspend disbelief because it deals with the supernatural. Slow pacing and some glitches in reality decreased my enjoyment of the story. The cover art is fantastic and the author’s creativity is amazing. Thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the ARC. I received an advance review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Oohh this dark and twisty new YA offering from Melissa Albert is so good!

We’ve got strange disappearances of 4 young women in a small town, local folklore, vengeful goddesses and loads of witchy goodness.
I’m here for anything Melissa Albert writes and I loved this one. It’s a slow burn but the sinister tone of the book and horror elements will keep readers flying through the pages wanting to find out what exactly did happen to those girls?

This is a story that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Overall a really fun, paranormal YA horror book!

Thank you Flatiron Books and NetGalley for providing me with and ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First, I must say that I really love Melissa Albert’s writing style. It reeled me in right away. And what an imagination! I loved the idea, and I loved the slow revealing of the meaning behind what was thought of as an innocent childhood jump rope rhyme that actually had a much deeper and darker genesis—kind of like most nursery rhymes and fairy tales!

When her best and only true friend goes missing along with three other people, Nora finds herself traveling a twisted and rocky path to find out what happened, a path that takes her to some very dark and scary places. Albert’s characters are well drawn, its a wonderful plot, and there is more than one surprise in this wonderful YA book.

This was wonderful. I really loved the theme of childhood imagination merging with something darker and becoming more sinister as childhood gives way to young adulthood, with those games becoming more meaningful and deadly. The characters were all very vibrant and the mystery unraveled at a satisfying pace. This is my favorite Melissa Albert book to date.

I'm a huge fan of Mellissa Albert and The Bad Ones does not disappoint. It's a highly entertaining YA supernatural mystery with vanishings, vengeful goddesses, possession, and some light romance thrown in. I would describe it as My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix meets The Secret History.

3.5 stars. The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert — available Feb 20!

Thank you Flatiron Books and NetGalley for my free advance copy 🫶

Read this if you:
💀 are all about the vibes, and the vibes are dark
👯‍♀️ had/have a bestie that you get into epic fights with
🧙‍♀️ ever played hedge witch in the woods as a child (or adult?)

Four people vanish overnight from the same small town, and one of them is Nora's best friend Becca. Becca who sent a strange text to Nora right beforehand, and who seems to have left clues behind for her as to what's going on. But the clues are bizarre, and they seem to point to the old town legend of the "goddess game" — which every child knows of and has played, possibly to dangerous outcomes. Has Becca somehow confused reality and legend? Or is the goddess real, and hungry for souls?

This was such a fun ride!! I flew through it and found the pacing pretty solid, though it did drag just a bit for me in the middle. The vibes are immaculate, so if sinister suspense is your thing, you'll love them too. I found myself relating hard to the games Becca and Nora used to play, including their current "game" of not talking to each other (teen girlhood is tough, y'all). I wish the ending had been more impactful for me, it was wrapped up super quickly, but overall I found this one really enjoyable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I really enjoyed this one. It was unique to anything I've read before. I read it in just over a day. The pacing was and the characters interesting. This is my first read by this author, but won't be my last!

A fascinating concept for a book. However, I found the main character quite irritating and the way she behaved and how she was discussed did not match. There was a romantic plot line that was entirely unnecessary. Overall, a really interesting book, just some improvements could have been made.

The pacing is slow at first, but once things kicked into gear I found myself anxious to know where it would go next. When it came to characters, I felt Nora and Becca were compelling and well-developed, but there were so many side characters I found it difficult to keep track. On the positive side, the romance between Nora and James was very sweet. The prose was standard for a YA thriller, however there were some metaphors and turns-of-phrases that struck me as odd or confusing. There were certain words I had to look up, as I had never seen them before, so I can’t imagine the average teenager would understand them either. All in all, this is a solid addition to the genre and will resonate strongly with its intended audience.

The Bad Ones is a YA horror thriller, especially thrilling with the three disappearing scenes in the beginning. Albert's third novel/series is more YA than her previous hits, with a sweet, well-meaning main character Nora who has a loving normal family and active high school life.
Spoiler: and there's a happy ending rather than an ominous goodbye.

Thank you Flatiron (Cat) and Netgalley for the digital advanced review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron books for this ARC!

(netgalley arc)

The Bad Ones is your typical YA thriller, similar to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and One Of Us is Lying, except with some supernatural elements.

I wasn’t super impressed by the way the story panned out, but it was very entertaining and did its job at being thrilling and keeping the reader on their toes. I also enjoyed most of the characters, which is pretty rare in thrillers.

All in all, I would recommend this mostly to teens (obviously) and/or those who are fans of Holly Jackson and Katherine McManus.

Thank you Netgalley and Flatiron.

First of all. I wanna say Melissa has a unique writing style that I struggled to get into. Her pacing and storytelling is a bit unusual to me. However this was perfect. The reason it was not a five star is mainly due to me struggling with the writing and pacing. That's more of a me issue than author though.

It took a little time for me to get into the story, but once I was there, I was hooked. This story is creepy, suspenseful, and dark. If you like stories like this told from the perspective of a teenage girl, then you need this book.

*3.5 rounded up to 4 for Goodreads scoring system*
Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for my arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

"The Bad Ones" by Melissa Albert was a surprise for me. I was not a fan of Albert's Hazelwood duology but the things that didn't work for me in that series, worked well here. The book follows teenager Nora as she tries to unravel the disappearance of her best friend and the three other disappearances that rocks her small midwest town.

I really enjoyed this for the most part. Albert did such a great job of maintaining the tension and giving us a protagonist who was believable as a teen but her decisions weren't downright stupid like some other MCs (looks at recent reads). Nora felt very relatable with regards to her people pleasing and her desire to keep onto her childhood friendship with Becca. Albert, again, I think did such a great job of showing us how our childhood friendships can affect us in young adulthood and I just related to Nora so much; her feelings of insecurity with her friendship with Becca felt similar to my own when I was a teen and I appreciated that Albert treated it maturely.

The creepiness of this book was nice too. The unsettling story of the truth behind the goddess game, the creepy kids' games that Nora and Becca used to play, and the way the disappearances happened were well done. I only had to cut stars because I wish there wasn't a hint of romance in this. I get why it's included but it felt like a situation where a girl needs the love of a boy to feel "complete." I think it would have been better had things remained platonic because nothing is really changed by the inclusion of the romance. I don't know. I like and enjoy romance but in this case, it just felt weird to me.

Another plus for Albert is the way that as the reader, we too feel like Nora as she's putting things together. There were a few moments where I guessed the next story beat, but for the most part, I was putting things together at the same time as I'm reading Nora do the same. And I just adored Nora. The way she tries so hard to not be such a people pleaser and the way that she can't help but do that was so relatable. As someone who was a people pleaser to the point that it was affecting my mental health and perception of self as a teen, I think Albert did a great job with Nora.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot and it's giving me food for thought about rereading the Hazelwood duology.

The setting for this story is set in a small town where the sudden disappearance of four individuals shrouds the community in mystery. The majority of the plot takes place on a single winter's night, where Nora attempts to unravel the truth behind her estranged BFF Becca's vanishing act.

The line between reality and supernatural becomes increasingly blurred as the plot progresses. Not only are we trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearances but also the complex dynamic of semi-toxic friendships and childhood games that have made their way into adulthood.

Nora is attempting to decode a cryptic message left by Becca that unveils a very dark place in the town's past. I think the elements of suspense, dark magic and nostalgic childhood memories drew me into the story and kept me invested.

4/5 stars

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
When this book popped up on NetGalley and was described as a supernatural horror novel I knew I had to request it. I'm not usually a fan of horror but I loved Albert's Hazelwood series (which is fantasy with a little horror) so I knew that even if the plot didn't draw me in the writing would. But the plot did draw me in so here we go.

I can't really summarize the book without giving too much away but I'll try. Our protagonist Nora is in an ongoing fight/friendship pause with best friend Becca, the two haven't spoken in months but when Nora gets a weird text from Becca she rushes over to her friend's house - only to find her friend missing. To make things stranger a couple of other people have also gone missing. Nora is determined to find her best friend and figure out how the other disappearances are all connected. The horror/supernatural element comes from a sinister playground rhyme and later game.

Honestly this book stressed me out. I was waiting on the edge of my seat for things to get bad and props to Albert for keeping the tension up throughout the book. However, I felt like the ending was a little disappointing from that perspective. Again no spoilers but if you've seen the film Drag Me to Hell (I do not recommend) I was expecting a similar ending.

Overall though I did enjoy this book a lot and it definitely kept me guessing throughout.

I was provided a free copy of this book through NetGalley.

Melissa Albert has really cemented herself as a one-click author for me. This book broke a wicked slump, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Filled to the brim with her customary amazing character work, spooky twists and turns, and haunting prose.