When I saw the description of this book included this quote: "American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada: outrageous body horror for the goop generation," I knew I need this book. 🫣😆

This novel is perfect for fans of authors like Mona Awad. It is creative with a interesting fever dream quality and has a lot of similes, metaphors, and other various figures of speech layered throughout as it focuses on the self absorbed and superficial mentality of the beauty industry and its fear of and fight against aging.

However, it was on the slow side for my taste and was not very plot focused, although it did get darker and more disturbing toward the end, it felt a bit bland. I would be interested to read more by this author in the future and see how her style and delivery evolves.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It gave off Devil Wears Prada vibes but with a dark twist! The plot was good, but I would have liked to see a little bit more gore. The ending was good as well, it would have been coo if Sophia became a version of Tree when she became CEO. Overall this book had me hooked from beginning to end and I would listen to it again!

Overall, pretty predictable. A quick and easy read that was entertaining but not groundbreaking.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the ALC!

youthjuice follows Sophia Bannion, a 29-year-old who is starting a job at HEBE, a skincare company in NYC. She meets the company's CEO Tree Whitestone and falls deeper and deeper into the world of beauty and youth. youthjuice follows a few recent novels focusing on the horror of the beauty industry and the warped way in which society translates the appearance of women into their worth. It asks the question of how far people will go to achieve their ideal appearance.

I liked a lot of things about youthjuice and found it an enjoyable read overall. I do wish the author had gone a bit further with the horror and gore aspects and at times the writing felt a bit YA. I really liked the ending, however, and this redeemed the story overall for me.

I would recommend to anyone who is fascinated by the beauty industry and the impossible standards it sets!

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for early access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, I appreciate NetGalley and RB Media for the opportunity to listening Sathue's YouthJuice, narrated by Suzy Jackson.

Jackson's narration style pulled to the forefront the "mean girl" Devil Wears Prada aspects of NYC's SoHo vibe.

Sathue's talent for descriptive writing and absurd metaphors really struck me. I will forever think of the milk-smell-between-the-legs description Sophia came up with to describe her unwashed friend. Story-wise, Erzsébet Báthory's horrendous actions seemed to be a huge influence twisted into today's realm of cutthroat working environments and what pretty privilege can offer a woman there. The desperation to maintain pretty privilege and maintain society's standards of #GirlBossing were key themes in YouthJuice. The fear of aging is a tired topic for horror/thrillers. However, it couldn't be more relevant: Twelve-year-olds are using retinol now.

While this work didn't read as completely new, it was still an interesting concept, especially when we take a closer look into Sophia's characterization--and buried secrets.

Horror isn’t my usual genre, but the blurb for this one was too good to pass up. Definitely read for Glossier gone wrong(er) vibes and a horrifying critique of the beauty industry and our cultural with obtaining a ‘perfect’ exterior.

Premise: a beauty company employee finds herself in too deep - fast - after her boss finds the horrifying secret to eternal youth.

I loved how close to reality so much of it felt, so that the horror felt like something that could exist in a conspiracy theory. This is what fans of the pizzagate/Q fictions wish their stories were, but better told and more fun.

The things I didn’t enjoy were all to do with the genre not being my vibe, so I didn’t take off for them (excessive body horror, so much vomit it’s essentially an additional character, descriptions so graphically disgusting your stomach turns, etc.)

Thanks, NetGalley and SoHo Press, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The audiobook of this was a quick listen with a good narrator. It was a fun dark comedy while also touching on more serious and more emotional things too. I liked the jumping around in time to give the characters more depth while also moving the plot along. This managed to be an enjoyable book even while still being about intentionally unlikeable characters. This reminded me of Repo! The Genetic Opera (especially Paris Hilton's character) combined with a darker Devil Wears Prada vibe. I also liked that the social commentary was very clear without being overbearing or bogging down the plot.

This was wildly predictable and has been done many times. Just by looking at the cover you know what you’re getting. So my only complaint would be that this is marketed as a “mystery thriller” and it’s hard to be thrilled when you know exactly where everything is going at all times. Nonetheless it was fun to read and I enjoyed the characters.

Thank you Hell’s Hundred and Net
Galley for the ARC.

The beginning was a bit hard for me to get into. By the 20% mark it made me want to vomit and that’s when I decided it was a good book. This type of woman terrifies me and is antithetical to what I believe but being a human in America in 2024 I understand how this type of person develops, even if it makes me uneasy.

The point of view is one every young girl understands on some level, the type of person they hope won’t look their way if they’re not already one of them. She is insecure about everything. She notices everything about everyone else. Sathue does a wonderful job of letting us into her world without making her cartoonishly vain or her background unrelatable. We see how she’s become this person and maybe we can understand.

The writing is good. It never feels flat or bland, maybe a bit at the beginning but I was unsure if I was interested in the story at that point. There are a lot of similes and thought they do for the most part enhance the imagery, sometimes it feels like a bit much. Every other thing she notices is like another creepier thing.

Sci fi technology always seems dubious to me. It’s hard for me to suspend my disbelief, but of course an author isn’t going to develop the secret to forever youth. The explanation given though is very hard for me to suspend disbelief about. It’s too obvious and of course it’s an homage to spooky women of the past and the timeless human theme of stealing youth and life force from others. But I might have enjoyed a more in-depth explanation of where the serum came from, an explanation that it’s not just the obvious but an entirely new technology relying on an ancient truth.
It’s also very hard for me to suspend disbelief about where they procure these serums. If a side character can follow the lead to the shady secret why hasn’t a journalist or anyone else? Where are all the ******s going?? What’s their explanation for why they’re all *********ing??

I really enjoy the authors writing and jabs at hollow capitalist liberalism. Literal vampires masquerading as humanists and better than you because they know the right opinions to have, all while being not just anti women but anti human.
The ways Sathue shows these women reinventing the same misogyny that’s been perpetrated forever in the name of feminism and liberalism is fantastic, and even hints at the fact that they know it’s bs but it’s easier to change the reason than the behavior.
Love love love the allusion to René Magritte. “This is not a person. It’s a photo. Even the real Ashley was more image than human.” It encapsulates the idea and twists it so as not to understand the woman better but to dehumanize her into just a picture. She was flat, barely there, why should I care about her?
Overall I really enjoyed this book. The ending reminded me of The Circle by Dave Eggers in the way things change but they don’t.

'Rouge' and 'Bunny' by Mona Awad mixed with the tales of Elizabeth Bathory and her blood baths and the Devil wears Prada. Sophia starts a new job in fashion and beauty working for HEBE, there prized upcoming product is an anti aging cream. But at what price is the cream made and how far are people willing to go to stay young vibrant and beautiful. Sophia has a troubled past that pushes her further in the depths and striding with ease with what is happening behind the closed doors of HEBE, but for how long and what is she willing to do to keep their secrets.

The story is very well-written, but unfortunately, it's not my cup of tea. It reminded me too much of "Maeve Fly" and "Rouge," two books I couldn't stand, so I think this similarity ruined the experience for me. However, I recognize its quality and rounded up my rating to 3.5 stars for rating purposes.

This one took me back to my college years when reading flippant things about rich beautiful people's problems in New York City, and this is exactly that. Add in some light horror, and a little Season 3 Outlander Witchiness and here you go. This is a break from the more intensive reading I do to work on myself and better understand the larger world.

Is this important? Nope. Is this innovative? Nope. Is it entertaining? I read it in a day, so yes.

This book is exactly what you expect and that was what I needed. AND it works for the “y” prompt in my A-Z Horror Challenge.

"I unravelled, a monster of a girl,"

Starting her first real job, a career, at the exclusive women ran and owned beauty company is a dream come true for Sophia. As someone who's always played supporting character to her glamorous friends, Sophia is finally being seen for the first time in her life and by the enigmatic Tree, her idol, no less.

"I could cry, not from the pain but the exquisite pleasure of being known,"

But behind the sleek offices and the handcrafted ice sculptures is something Sinister, the bright, young interns are going missing en masse and the beauty cream Sophia is forced to take home may not be tested on animals, but it's cruel in a wholly different way.

All white parties and bathtubs of blood, Sophia is soon drawn into a darkening spiral of hollistic beauty.

"The battle of Time is built to be lost. The deck is stacked against a girl she recognises herself in the mirror,"

Visceral and gross at times, this book takes us on a whirlwind trip through the beauty industry and the pressures on women to have it all but still look fresh faced.

If you like unlikeable characters, weird girl books, and can handle a little bit of gore, than this is the book for you.

Make sure to check the content warnings on this one!

I really enjoyed the narrator and the way she voiced the complicated main character in a way that was at times vulnerable while also being a terrible person.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape for this eaudio arc. All opinions are my own

With women constantly feeling the need to look younger than their age, this story resonates with trying crazy fads in order to look more youthful. I enjoyed reading about the journey of Sophia in her new job at a skincare company. Clearly things are not as they seem, and it was interesting to watch Sophia's reactions to learning about what actually goes into products in this skincare line. The craziness of what she sees is awesome. I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves horror in the beauty industry.

An interesting take on the skin care industry’s obsession over anti aging products. It’s a slow burn for the horror but a good story. I found it hard to sympathize with the main character but over all an entertaining listen, the narrator was good. Finished in one day.

I do not generally read horror. That said, the premise of this was way too intriguing to pass on this one. The “horror” of the book is less horrifying (for lack of a better word) than what I usually think of the genre, but I do think it was classified correctly.

I have conflicting feelings about Sophia. I found it interesting how willingly she accepted the horrifying aspects going on, and her lack of shock or willingness to trust her best friend and talk with her about what she’s observing.

My main critique of this book is that the ending came on quickly, and when I got to the epilogue, I was wondering if I had missed some chapters because it felt like it concluded more quickly than I was expecting. I think the ending could have been wound down a little more slowly, but it didn’t end so abruptly that it was jarring.

Ultimately, this was a fun, different horror novel that makes you think about what people may be willing to do to achieve the appearance of youth. I often listened to this book while doing my own skincare routine, which was pretty funny. I love how this book takes the skincare industry’s practices and asks “what’s the cost one will take for youth?”

This is a fun horror. It's kind of exactly what I was hoping for when I requested it something where I don't exactly love or relate to the characters but I'm here for the plot and the juice.
Feels like a guilty pleasure horror book!
I say pick this up if you're looking for something kind of fun and grotesque and creepy that'll make you think twice about your skincare regiment.

Suzy Jackson was the perfect narrator for this story! She had the perfect tone and cadence that kept the story flowing.

The blurb is correct, I will never moisturize the same again. I was side eyeing my skincare all morning long wondering if there were any *secret* ingredients. I love this little genre of books focusing on the devils of the beauty industry and the obsession with youth. For that reason, the last 100 pages really stood out to me. I wish we had more of that action throughout the story.

The ending was confusing… I think I missed something?
Speaking of missing something, I’m not quite sure what the point of Mona/the flashbacks were.

This was silly in the most enjoyable way possible. It reminded me of Georgia Clark’s The Regulars in a way. So if you liked that or are interested in a quirky, fun read I would recommend giving this a try.

Thanks NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC!

The premise of this book was right up my alley. A thriller / horror with a millennial main character who feels her age is slowly creeping up on her. Sophia joins HEBE a skincare company that promises to help you stop aging forever - but at what cost and who is paying it? Sophia is a terrible person with no redeeming qualities. Although the vibes of this book were super fun, I felt the plot was lacking. The ending left me with complete whiplash. Sophia's choices came completely out of left field with zero explanation. I even went back to re-listen to chapters thinking I had missed something, but I did not.