Youthjuice was a wild listen. I like the books lately that look at the darker side of the beauty and wellness industries. Add it to the canon

Youthjuice 🩸💉💄💋🧴
by E.K. Sathue
3.7/5 ✨

Described as American Psycho X The Devil Wears Prada.. 😱

I will always pick up a book with a pink cover - and then you add a little blood, too? I’m in! I’ve always had an interest in the fashion industry, especially the dark underbelly of it. The idea of life-changing skincare is so exciting!! But once you find out the cost.. 😳

Sophia is a female Patrick Bateman and she had me cracking up multiple times out loud. Tree is a trip and seeing her run HEBE kept me on my feet.

If you’re expecting a ton of gore - don’t. This is more subliminal and will come to bite you in the butt before you know it. Suzy Jackson was a dream to listen to and she brought this story to life. She kept bringing me back for more!

If you enjoy a slow burn about luxury beauty culture that tiptoes across the horror genre, give this one a go.

Thank you to Netgalley and E.K. Sathue for gifting me an ALC of Youthjuice!! 🩷

unfortunately, while the synopsis of this was promising and the idea of a horror book that comments on today's beauty standards is definitely interesting, this was just lacking in execution. i do not have much to say besides the fact that this was incredibly dull and uninteresting, the characters all blended into one another and it made this to feel longer than it actually is. i do not think this book is in any way comparable to american psycho and i think that is a big claim to make. i don't feel like it had particularly good commentary either.

about the audiobook, the narrator had a really soothing voice but i do not think it fit the vibes of the horror genre or this book, so while it did not heavily impact my listening/reading experience, it did nothing to improve it. i genuinely think their voice would have been more fitting for romance/contemporary books.

Beyond disturbing and highly entertaining. I’m totally immersed in beauty culture, but this made me really think about what exactly I’m chasing. Lots of layers in this skewering of our obsession with appearance.

I really enjoyed the book and narrator, but I feel like I personally don't do well with audiobooks. For some reason, I tend to fall asleep the moment it comes on, whilst with actual reading I can pay better attention.

3.5 Stars

Youthjuice was my first by author E.K. Sathue. This horror-ish, satirical audiobook fits in with today’s youth-obsessed culture. The book boasts a mixture of American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada.

The star of our book is 29-year-old Sophia, who just started her first real job, a career, if you will, in an all-woman-run and owned beauty supply company. This is her dream job, everything she could ever want. While everything seems perfect, interns begin to go missing without an explanation. Tree, her idol and boss, asks her to test a beauty cream with unbelievable results. It has to be too good to be true. The key ingredient is wonderfully shocking! At what lengths will you go to remain youthful?

I wouldn’t really consider this a horror book; maybe it's a pre-horror? I’m used to splatterpunk, and this is at the other end of the spectrum. This book fits our society’s obsession with beauty products. Since the book is from Sophia’s point of view, you don’t get much depth and backstory from the other characters, even from her. The writing style was pretty interesting, and it did keep me engaged for the most part. The narration was good, but she seemed so perky and upbeat the entire time. I didn’t care much about the flashbacks.


Thank you to Netgalley and E.K. Sathue for gifting me an ALC of Youthjuice. I am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Youthjuice by E. K. Sathue
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Youthjuice follows Sophia, a 29 year old New Yorker who just started a new job at HEBE, a high end skincare company. HEBE is testing out a new powerful moisturizer known as Youthjuice.

I’ve seen this book described as American Psycho but for beauty culture, and um… yeah, sounds about right! I don’t think this book was really saying anything we don’t already know - beauty culture, especially the hype surrounding anti aging and skincare, is problematic and troubling, and some people will stop at almost nothing to stay looking youthful. The beauty industry is just that - an industry that exists to make money off of these insecurities. We all knew this already. However, that isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the story. These values and problems are personified in the way that the company HEBE and its leadership go about creating their products (that lipstick line scene was INSANE but not completely unrealistic 👀). The story definitely kept me on my toes and I never knew what Sophia or Tree were going to pull next - they really lean into their crazy sides and are honestly really terrifying characters.

Thank you to @netgalley for the audiobook ARC!

Macabre commentary on aging and beauty, a horror tale reminiscent of Dracula and full of female rage.

I think you’ll love the creepy saccharine vibes, the dark isolation, and the bleak helplessness infused throughout. This one is dank, people!

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for my copy. These opinions are my own.

Sophia works at HEBE, a luxurious skincare and wellness company in New York's SoHo. Sophia has her problems, and among them are hands. Due to childhood trauma, she constantly chews on her fingers, leaving them raw. She wears gloves to hide her hands from other people. HEBE's newest product "youthjuice," a fatty, luxurious moisturizer is given to Sophia. She tries it on her hand, and the results are undeniable - Sophia's skin looks flawless. Almost as if she had never had any problems at all.

As Sophia becomes more embedded in HEBE's world, cracks begin to show. She witnesses odd behavior, resource scarcity, and a growing sense of unease. Her investigation leads her to discover the horrifying truth behind youthjuice's effectiveness.

Prepare to be disgusted, disturbed, and strangely delighted. The opening pages hint at the depravity to come, and the story takes a surprisingly dark turn. The juxtaposition between HEBE's picture-perfect facade and the horrifying truth behind youthjuice is both hilarious and terrifying. The horror unfolds gradually, perfectly capturing the reader's attention. One minute you're following Sophia's new job at HEBE, the next you're reeling from a shocking revelation about her lace gloves.

Overall a very fun read!

I tried to get into this but felt no connection to the characters. It felt like a chore to listen so I did not end up finishing it.

What a disgusting delight of a book. The author takes you on a darkly funny ride into the world of luxury beauty brands to leave you pondering the cost of youthful beauty.

A book being touted as "American Psycho" meets "The Devil Wears Prada" creates pretty big shoes to fill, and I think "youthjuice" is mostly up to the task. I found Sophia to be a little flat as a main character but her journey into HEBE, the luxury skincare company she works for under Tree Whitestone, an enigmatic CEO obsessed with staying young, was compelling and creepy enough to keep me reading. Sophia's shallow and ambitious, a dynamic duo of traits for a narrator who gradually becomes more unhinged. The themes of this book and the critique of our youth obsessed culture remind me of books like "Natural Beauty" by Ling Ling Huang and "The Glow" by Jessie Gaynor. I like this trend of books and "youthjuice" is a pretty good addition to the genre. Thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for the audio arc.

"Wrinkled, wrinkled little star... hope they never see the scars." - Madeline Ashton, Death Becomes Her (1992)

The Countess Báthory, meets American Psycho, and they shares a twelve-step goop routine? And written by a former beauty editor? Hot damn, YOUTHJUICE has all the makings of the perfect summer slasher with a Gothic cherry on top.

Sophia Bannion is an almost-thirty copyeditor and chronic nail biter embarking on her first day at the popular beauty brand, HEBE, named after the Greek goddess of youth in SoHo. At HEBE's helm is Tree Whitestone, the epitome of millennial beauty and Girl Boss energy. While quickly seduced by HEBE's lifestyle brand and beauty products, it doesn't take long for the sparkling veneer of the company to begin to wear off for Sophia. Told from her perspective split between the present day at HEBE and 2008 in the post-Y2K spray tans and whale tails days of yore, YOUTHJUICE is a deeply neurotic and uncomfortable story about female beauty, the aging process, and the corporations and influencers keeping it all afloat.

While YOUTHJUICE harbors a seemingly predictable plot line on the surface, it holds a wonderfully disturbing twist, so I hope readers won't sift through too many reviews before just diving in to this one. This was a fun read that I greatly enjoyed listening to poolside and feel confident deeming this the horror beach read of the summer. Solidly in the Top Five for sure. Plus, I'm all in for female character driven "coming-of-rage" stories. Give me more, please and thank you.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an audiobook review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very interesting take on the beauty /influencer industry. Definitely gory and horrific, our main character is hgihly flawed. SHe is the perfect anti-hero who you want love, and who does the right thing in the end. Sathue also comments on how cut throat, pun intended, the beauty industry is - often, many are completely dispensable. Overall, it is an interesting read, that will at times shock, but does promote critical thinking.

Well. Honestly, I would have DNF'd this in the first 20% if it weren't for it being an audio and having seen a friend (that I highly trust) give it a 4/5. The beginning of this screams every other influencer/beauty trope book from the last few years - therefore, I was bored to death. It took too long to get to the good stuff that sets it aside from those books. After that, it's decent enough but I found it hard to care. Did have a few metaphors/lines that were profound... but again, I didn't care enough.

Quiet horror. I don't always like it, but this time, I did. What would you do to remain youthful in appearance? I always find it fascinating and horrifying the lengths people will go to stay looking young. I write this as I'm sitting in my bed at 2am plucking a hair off of my chin, so take from that what you will. This was a good book. Don't go in expecting BAM -in your face- *horror*, go in expecting some disturbing behavior and humanity horror.

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media, and EK Sathue for the audiobook ARC of youthjuice!

youthjuice was such an interesting story to listen to. The descriptions of the beauty industry and what everyday people will do to achieve beauty was so horrific and eye-opening, and the story really creates a paranoia around anti-aging products. I'll be honest, I wasn't able to follow the storyline with Mona as much or understand how it related to what was happening in the "now" storyline, other than the reveal at the end.

In terms of production, the audiobook wasn't the best in my opinion. There were several points where you could tell the audio had been heavily edited or recorded on a different day. I also felt like the narrator's voice did not chance enough when speaking dialogue from other characters.

A darkly sweet and innocent calamity! How far will one go for youth and beauty? This story speaks to so much of today’s beauty woes. The over-the-top obsession with remaining young. I like how it seamlessly slipped into the horror realm. I’ll never look at my jar of moisturizer the same!

The audiobook is read by Suzy Jackson who has the perfect voice for the main character. She is also easily understood at faster speeds.

Thank you NetGalley, RB Media, and author EK Sathue for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A disturbing, kind of terrifying and weird summer HORROR that had me hooked from the first line!

I was not expecting such a BEAUTIFULLY GRUESOME read! Very CULTISH and cliquish vibes.

Almost 30 year-old Sophia, works at a trendy skincare company, HEBE, and gets the opportunity to slip into the ‘In Crowd’ when she’s asked to test a new miracle moisturizer, youthjuice.

Sophia, who suffers from a horrendous and devastating nail-biting and picking habit that wreaks havoc on her hands, requiring her to don gloves 24/7, slathers the cream on her hands one night and wakes up with perfect skin.

As she delves deep into the world of HEBE and its ‘In-Crowd’, Sophia discovers disturbing and murderous secrets. Secrets that she could be willing to keep because Sophia, herself, is hiding many dark secrets of her own….

WOW. AMAZING and raw! Fans of Rachel Harrison and Christina Henry will LOVE this book!

This is described as American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada. I’d say it has a bit of both, but I wouldn’t go into this expecting it to be either. youthjuice examines our incessant obsession with being eternally youthful. It holds up a mirror to show how horrific and ridiculous it all is. youthjuice is disgusting, disturbing, and delightful.


Reading the first few pages immediately had me wanting to know more. Right from the start, you're given a taste of the depravity that will ensue. I was not disappointed. The story got surprisingly dark. I really liked the juxtaposition of the seemingly perfect environment at HEBE and the terrible truth about youthjuice.

The horror elements are slowly introduced in the story in a way that really worked for me. One minute you're following the main character Sophia as she starts her job at HEBE and the next you're taken aback when you learn why she always wears lace gloves. I also really enjoyed how the author tied in references to Elizabeth Bathory and Dorian Gray. These references happen in the very first pages of the book, so I wouldn't consider this a spoiler.
I loved how we’re slowly immersed into the world of HEBE. As the story unravels, we witness the lengths people are willing to go for beauty.

Sophia isn't necessarily likable. In fact, I'd say she's not necessarily someone you want to root for. I still found myself compelled to keep reading. Likable or not, Sophia is an interesting character.

Now, onto the few criticisms I have.
The story moves back and forth in time from current day to Sophia’s adolescent years with her friend Mona. Sometimes, it felt that the flashbacks just interrupted the flow of the current day story; they didn’t always feel necessary. I definitely preferred the current day story to the Mona story line as I found Sophia’s time at HEBE far more compelling.

I would have preferred the Mona story line to be reduced in favor of developing the relationship between Dom and Sophia. I also would have loved more time at HEBE, especially more time with Tree. I felt that Sophia’s reaction to youthjuice’s secret ingredient was a bit disappointing.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, twisted little story. I found that the tone of the book reminded me a bit of Jawbreakers. Those who are familiar with the beauty industry may get an extra kick out of some of the scenes in the book, I know I sure did. I really could go on and on, but I'll stop here. Suffice it to say that I'd recommend this to anyone. Especially if you enjoyed Maeve Fly, Rouge, and/or Natural Beauty.

I think the narrator was the perfect fit for Sophia.

Remember: Beauty is possible.

Thank you to NetGalley, Soho Press, Hell's Hundred, RB Media, Recorded Books, and the author for the audiobook and eARC.