1.5 stars rounded up.
Heartache and Hellfire seemed really promising at first. At the start, the book had an interesting way of explaining Heaven and Hell. With its famous people name dropping and the sentiment that tortures in Hell are now boring, it reminded me of the TV series The Good Place. One of the torture methods are also similiar to the one from the TV series, along with the use of Sartre’s well known quote “Hell is other people.”

Nearing the middle of the story, I was quite unsure of what I was reading. Reaching the end, I was utterly confused. What was the story here? What was the point? This book is marketed as horror, humor & satire, and romance. But the horror aspect itself was lacking, humor & satire barely worked (for me personally it’s because I really enjoyed TGP hence me thinking this would be as good) and the romance was so poor it got me thinking if maybe the relationship was written as an afterthought. Yes, we get it, Mara is neurotic and Silfer is bored and they both hate their respective world. But what else? There was no good build up to their relationship. Out of nowhere I-love-yous was said, people were killed and an apocalypse was started just so they can be together. There was nothing that made me root for this relationship and their journey. Writing only one moment that made each of them fall for eachother (Mara’s dream and Kathy’s death) does not make for good chemistry. And adding several dirty talks and sex scenes above the no chemistry? Even worse. Lastly, it felt like the book forced too many subplots towards the end, like Mara’s birthmark and Stifler’s army initiation.

Thank you to NetGalley, BJ Swann and Elizabeth Bedlam for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know what I just read....

The main character is terrible. What a horrible person, they put me off for the whole story I won't lie. But, besides that I was so confused the whole time of what was going on. I will give the author credit however for the vivid descriptions used throughout the story but, man the main character is trash...

Thank you netgalley..

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What the hell is this.

The writing in this novel was so stunning. The world building of the "Hell" was so fascinating that oddly enough that along with the devils were my favorite part of the book. I would really be interested in a book that was set solely in hell and we got to learn more about the devils.

I’m so sorry, I just hated the main characters so much! It really prevented me from getting into the story or caring about them. I did think the descriptions of the hellscape were fascinating! Just not a story for me!

Thank you anyways to NetGalley, the authors, and Publisher!