This is an odd book. I did not HATE it, but I found myself putting down and not being excited to read more.

Forced myself to finish it.

Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I like the premise but it was hard to keep track of characters and the timeline because of the constant flashbacks. I read 62% of it and I still don't know where the story is going.

I'll be honest. It started pretty slowly, but I loved the last hundred pages. I'm especially pleased with the fact that she ended on top. I love a female success story even when it involves women's wrongs.

thanks to netgalley for a free arc of this title in exchange for an honest review. this is one that i’m going to HAVE to purchase upon release. a fearsome, gory satire of the wellness industry, youthjuice is a biting critique of consumerism, girlboss feminism, and what it means to be beautiful. sathue creates a complex, unhinged narrative through sophia, and the way her mind unravels the deeper she gets in with the hebe crew is deliciously evil. absolutely loved the tongue-in-cheek humor and delectable body horror.

Wellness culture taken to the extreme. I fully enjoyed this novel - the pace picks up about halfway through and feels like a fever dream in the best way.

In many ways this reminded me of Rouge by Mona Awad. Beauty cults gone wild. Guts, gore, glamour.

I absolutely loved the author’s writing style, and found the novel engaging. I particularly enjoyed the jumps between 2008 and present day to reveal Sophia’s past.
I didn’t find this to be a page turner, and at times the plot felt a bit lacklustre. That being said, I did still enjoy youthjuice and it’s a wicked satirical horror.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

At 30, Sophia has landed a branding job at a hot, new, goop-ish startup-- which turns out of be even more evil than most hot startups. She gets lured in and starts losing her grip on everything else: boyfriend, roommate, basic morality. Interesting premise, lurid details and imagery, but IMO missing compelling characterization and a suspenseful arc.

Wow, just wow. This book was a wild ride and I loved it!
The plot centres around Sophia Bannon and her experience as the new Creative at HEBE, a beauty company centred around youthfulness run by Tree Whitehouse. As part of her "induction" (I suppose), Tree gives Sophia a sample of a new product to try and asks her to keep track of her use and results in a notebook. Sophia uses the cream on her hands that are heavily scarred and the cream works amazingly. Her hands seem to bounce back to what they once were. But Sophia can't understand why the cream would work so well. Sophia then finds herself questioning HEBE and their products when strange things begin happening around her.

I was captured from the start of the book. The writing style was great and I loved how it would go from present day to the past for Sophia. It helped me as the reader understand her in more depth and consider how her past impacts her in the present day and also her reaction to things.
I also loved how we slowly see Sophia slip further into herself and question her sanity. It was the perfect psychological thriller (and also horror - there are some scenes that will stay in my mind for awhile).

The cover is also amazing and plays into the plot so much. Once I got into the crux of the story, I looked at the cover and it all clicked into place.
I know that I will 100% be buying a copy for my shelf when it is released!
Keep it on your radar for 2024!!

This was a wild fun ride. youthjuice is about a young woman starting a job at a skincare company, but there's something about the ingredients and the owner that makes this not your normal skincare company. For fans of Mona Awad (Rogue), The Glow, and Melissa Broder, pick this one up!

4 stars
Loved it! This was so different from what I was expecting and from anything else I’ve read. The writing was phenomenal! The end felt a bit rushed but it was fine. I really hope to see more of this author in my future.

honestly this felt like the little sister locked in the attic of “natural beauty” by ling ling huang & “the herd” by andrea bartz.

i thought it didn’t bring anything new or exciting to the table, like “natural beauty” did what this did but did it so much better. 3 stars is being generous i guess but certain parts were gruesome and the writing was stellar.

many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for supplying me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

HOO boy this was a ride.

The blurb compares this with American Psycho and The Devil Wears Prada, but I honestly disagree with both of those assessments. Youthjuice is like the lovechild of a three-way tryst between Suspiria, Death Becomes Her, and the legend of Countess Elizabeth Bathory (and honestly, if you know the Bathory legend, you basically know the plot of this book. If you don't, don't look it up until after you read it). It was a little too predictable - I guessed the secret ingredient in youthjuice and methods by which Tree and co. stay young within pages - but that didn't mean it wasn't fun.

The ending wrapped up a little too quickly and a little too ambiguously for me. I was really hoping that Sophia's arc would mirror that of Susie Bannion's from the 1977 Suspiria, but instead was more like the ending of 2018 Suspiria (IYKYK). Also, the fact that Sophia shares the same initials and same last name as the heroine of Suspiria really solidified the comparisons for me. I was seriously wondering if Sathue had watched both versions while writing this.

I'd recommend this for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Sarah Rose Etter (author of Ripe), or anybody who rolls their eyes even a little bit at companies like Goop and MoonJuice and the ideals they try to sell us. You'll really never look at the wellness industry - and the seemingly ethereal grifters at the center of it - the same way again.

Sophia Bannon is the new Creative at Hebe, a skincare and makeup brand founded by Tree Whitehouse in 2013 and named after the Greek goddess of youth. She is living the dream in the big city with boyfriend Richard and rich roommate/influencer Dom. Tree gives Soph an experimental cream, telling her to track its effectiveness, she uses it on her hands as she has scars from biting her nails and cuticles excessively, an old habit which likely dates back to trauma she had with childhood friend Mona that we see in flashback. The cream works well. Really well. Maybe too well. Is something going on at Hebe?

Interesting story. Book will likely drawn comparisons to ROUGE which I have read, and NATURAL BEAUTY which I haven’t and they all seem timely and Goop-ish. I didn’t find Sophia very relatable and didn’t care much about what happened to her, but maybe I wasn’t supposed to. Overall a fun read.

Youthjuice left me with my jaw on the floor from start to finish. It was deeply unsettling while poignantly true to itself - I wanted to give it four stars because of how uncomfortable it made me feel, but I'm giving it five as I think the pure talent that E. K. Sathue displayed in the plot, characters, and atmosphere make it deserving. HIGHLY recommend this book to fans of A Certain Hunger, Woman, Eating, and Ripe.