Important to know about me: I love American Psycho, I love The Devil Wears Prada and I am endlessly fascinated by (though not sucked into) wellness and beauty cults, very specifically goop. So on the surface, this is the perfect book for me.

And in a lot of ways, it was. I’m a litfic guy through and through and I love a cast of unlikeable characters. (Not you Jamie, I am never talking about you.) Sadly, though, I found that it fell a little flat for me. I’m not sure if it was the weight of the comparisons, but it lacked the punch I wanted from it.

Which isn’t to say I disliked it at all. I’m giving it 3.75 stars overall, and although the first third dragged for me at times, I powered through the rest very quickly once it hooked me.

I think maybe I wish this book had been more of something, though I can’t pinpoint exactly what. Grosser, more gory maybe. I wish Sophia had either been a villain who would commit to it, or been a voice of reason. As it was, her occasional bursts of morality (which always quickly fell to one side) just ended up annoying me. Be a bad guy! Be the horror you wish to see in the world, Soph! The same can be said for the 2008 plot. I’ll try to stay spoiler free, but I really wish the ending of that was that she’d done something much worse than she did. That history had really repeated itself, which in my opinion, it hadn’t.

This all sounds very negative but again, I actually did like this book once it grabbed me. I liked its despicable cast of characters (Soph aside) and their self-centred delusion, I liked the way it somehow combined what was very obvious with a slow reveal. I loved the clear picture it gave me of HEBE, the way these women and this company was so familiar and clear. The Ashleys are generic characters, as they should be, but they each felt very real to me. I’ve known these girls my whole life, I’ve loved and admired them, I’ve felt jealous of them and I’ve also hated them and rolled my eyes at them.

Ultimately, I wish this had leaned more into the blood and gore of it all. I wish Soph had been a real Villain. But I felt entranced by the world of HEBE, by these women and their awful quest for immortality and beauty, and so I would say the good outweighs the bad for me.

Sophia is a 29-year-old who lands a job at HEBE, a beauty and wellness company in Soho. It becomes immediately obvious that there is something weird in how they create their products; Sophia, having little to lose, just goes along for the ride.

Short, fun and weird in the best way. While it did take me a while to get into the story, once I did I was thoroughly hooked; there was something so... uncomfortably entertaining about it that made it impossible for me to put it down.

Even though I found it a bit predictable at time, it still is a well-done satirical horror. I almost wish it descended more into madness, sometimes it felt like there was so much more that could have been done and the author was holding back. But it still was a fun time for sure.

Many thanks to Dialogue Books & Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Starts out as quite sad, shows how obsessed these people can be with looks, and not aging, then takes an incredibly sinister turn, and is all the better for it.
It's creepy but actually a fun read.
Leaves you wondering, how far would someone go to stay looking young!

It was also quite jumpy, one minute something is happening and then it’s hours later but this isn’t explained you’re just left to guess. Secondly, the characters were underdeveloped, again a lot could have been done with them but none of them really went anywhere.

The content itself was pretty disappointing. It does what it says on the tin, but it really doesn’t bring anything new or especially engaging to the table. It’s a very surface-level “indictment” of beauty and wellness culture and the obsession with anti-aging

Honestly I think if you like beauty gurus on Tiktok than this book might be for you. the characters have no personality and the book is just superficial. I struggled to care about anything happening in this book.

Overall, hyping it by comparing The Devil Wears Prada and American Horror Story has made the book fall flat in my eyes.

youthjuice is one of many intriguing books inspired by the wellness culture of Goop. If you're a fan of Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang or Goddess by Deborah Hemming, then be sure to check out youthjuice!

Thanks to NetGalley for the Arc!

A creepily macabre teenage trauma and hilarious ride. Read this at your leisure the writing stays with you. Fun from the outset but gradually turning dark and twisted. Original.

Sophia has just started a job at Hebe, a wellness and beauty company capitalising on all the latest trends. But how far are people willing to go in pursuit of the perfect skin?

I think I may have spoilt the effect of Youthjuice by having finished the brilliant Rouge by Mona Awad recently. They are very similar in terms of concept, but I think Rouge succeeds where Youthjuice sadly falls down. Part of the issue is down to the writing style, although it’s very descriptive in places, there’s a lot of tangents and flashbacks which muddy the story and make it difficult to know what’s happening in places. I also really think the cover of the book ruins the main twist which takes away the impact that could have been gained.

Sophia is a complex character and gets seriously unhinged as the book goes on. I really enjoyed this, but some of the decisions she makes are questionable and I didn’t really understand her motives at times. I found the flashback scenes quite dull and slow-moving and they didn’t really add anything to the plot. There’s also quite a lot of plot-holes, unrealistic scenarios and unanswered questions which spoilt the experience for me, but I don’t want to list them here for fear of spoilers for other readers.

Overall, I think this book doesn’t quite hit the mark as well as other similar novels that are out there, sadly. Thank you to NetGalley, Dialogue and Renegade Books for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I read Yellowface (R.F. Kuang) earlier this year, I loved how unhinged the main character and now I am so glad that I have found another main character like that in Youthjuice. The story is told from the perspective of Sophia, a 29-year-old former barista who has started working in the storytelling department at a major luxury beauty brand HEBE and has a damaging habit of overly picking her skin (including one vivid description of her peeling back a hangnail to her wrist which made me feel quite ill). Soon, Sophia starts using HEBE's new product which seems to heal her hands magically and the story really picks up when she figures out what the main ingredient is and starts putting things together about the potentially creepy company she works at. The ending felt a bit too easy but I found the rest of the story perfectly paced with wonderfully written yet at some points flowery prose which really helped give an insight into Sophia's mental state throughout the story.
Thankyou so much to netgalley and the author for the arc. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and am so excited to read more from this author in the future.

Death Becomes Her meets Goop.

I had a fun time reading this, but I'm not entirely sure that it did what it set out to do. The present-day story was fun and the writing held my interest, though the horror was pretty light for something that is described as a horror novel. The split timelines didn't really add anything for me. I didn't see what purpose the flashbacks served, since they didn't really clarify anything about our protagonists character, nor were any of her issues really resolved by the end of the book. Overall enjoyable but forgettable.

What in the Elizabeth Báthory did I just read?!

The plot of the book was not what I had expected. Although some parts of it were as I had anticipated, it certainly took me in a different direction. However, I must say that I did enjoy reading it.

Initially, I was drawn to the main character Sophie and hoped to like her, but as the story progressed, I realised that it was her who would be the Patrick Bateman from American Psycho references!

The book is not exactly a horror story, although the theme of horror is predominant throughout. The story delves into some dark and unsettling themes, and there is a strong presence of weird girl vibes.

While I had high hopes for the book, I believe it fell a little short of my expectations. Nevertheless, I still found it enjoyable. I needed more background to many of the characters including Tree the brainchild of Hebe, and I would have liked more detail into the process of how they got rid of their evidence.


I have to say the vegan tee totalers with a side hustle for young blood was a hilarious twist to the story.


Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. My review is my own opinion.

"Youthjuice" for me was a literary version of a very bad episode or a season of "American Horror Story". Lots of absurd, very little horror, obsession with underground, secretive projects that revolve around something sinister and bloody. On top of that, the characters, including Sophia, fell flat, despite the attempts of introducing protagonist's trauma-driven backstory.

After reading the description and promo materials, I was hoping for much, much more.

It’s a no from me on this one!! It had so much potential and could have made for a great book with a bit of comedy and horror mixed together but it just didn’t happen. Firstly, there are two timelines running and separately I wanted to know what happened in both but together, there wasn’t much relevance to it until right at the end. I spent most of the time wondering why I was reading certain parts. It was also quite jumpy, one minute something is happening and then it’s hours later but this isn’t explained you’re just left to guess. Secondly, the characters were underdeveloped, again a lot could have been done with them but none of them really went anywhere.
Overall, hyping it by comparing The Devil Wears Prada and American Horror Story has made the book fall flat in my eyes.

This story revolves around Sophia who is recently employed at HEBE, a wellness/makeup company. Here, she comes across 'youthjuice', a product that is a one stop solution for all beauty problems. She becomes obsessed with it. When she ultimately learns about the key ingredient and its supply chain, she is in a dilemma. Does she continue using the product or is the cost too much?

The message behind the book was good. It teaches that running from aging is futile. It ultimately catches up. Here, the people involved are so desperate for anti-aging solutions that they stop at nothing to make it happen.

The premise is definitely interesting but the execution sucked. I tried hard to get into the novel but the start was quite slow and uninteresting. By the time I felt interested in the plot, I had developed a severe hatred for the protagonist. She is extremely shallow and displaces all blame onto others. When she sees other women, she simply sees one dimensional people who care nothing beyond their looks, acting innocent and flirty, just caring about fun. She talks about how the interns at Hebe flutter around the office giggling, filing nails, and pushing around coffee to seniors. In most scenes she infantilizes and sexualizes them. When it comes to one particular intern Jamie, she even fantasizes humiliating her sexually which was disturbing to read.

The plot summary mentions that she is looking for deeper meaning in life. I don't agree with this description. Her life and worries remain shallow. I wanted her to suffer consequences for her extreme actions but she gets off scot free. That's my biggest complaint. I wanted her to suffer or show any responsibility at all. But she is the one who actually flitters about. Did I mention that I hate her?

This story also shows a past timeline of the year 2008 which involved her friendship with Mona. This made me realize that her shallowness came with age. Here, she actually showed a bit of emotions. Later, her shallowness and selfishness take over. All she cares ahead is about pretty hands. No friendship or relationships matter to her. She just uses everybody as per her convenience.

Overall, it's not just the protagonist whom I hate. The plot didn't hold my attention either. Therefore,

2 stars

Special thanks to NetGalley, EK Sathue and Dialogue Books for providing me this DRC. Much appreciated!

This is a 3.5 star that l've rounded up to a four on this rating system.
This book has everything a weird girl book requires.
- no plot just vibes
- a woman coming undone
- a hint of body horror
- commentary on the depths of hell that is being a woman
I anticipate this book will be really popular. It has the same reading experience as critically acclaimed books such as 'boy parts'and 'natural beauty'.
It wasn't my favorite book, but I did enjoy it. I particularly liked the dual timelines.
The only issues I had with this book is that I didn't connect with the characters at all, and the pacing was tedious at times. But those things do boil down to personal preference so don't let that put you off reading.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A really interesting, clever horror novel that felt very *now*. I was drawn into the novel right off the bat thanks to great pacing and fantastic characters! Although it wasn't scary, I thought the commentary the author was engaging in regarding aging, youth culture, and wellness was super relevant and would really grab current, contemporary audiences. I loved the characters, thought they were exceptionally engaging and vivid, and I loved their motivations.

The ending was satisfying - I didn't find myself aching for more or less, or wishing the author had gone further. Over all, I was thrilled with this text - it's something that I've been yearning for but struggling to find anywhere else at the moment.

Has HEBE, a cosmetics company for the GOOP generation, solved the problem of ageing forever? Testing a new moisturiser, recent hire Sophia thinks they have. But she discovers that ageless founder Tree is hiding something sinister. As is Sophia when she falls out with a school friend and her flatmate. Juxtapose Gen Z's obsession with healthy, trendy eating against gore and blood, and you get a novel that's deliciously different.

Thanks to NetGalley, Soho Press and EK Sathue for the preview copy.

A glam horror for the TikTok generation, Youthjuice manages to achieve a compelling yet repulsive story whilst also critiquing the beauty industry and society’s obsession with perfection.

I really enjoyed this, I am not normally a horror reader but the book had me hooked and struggling to look away even when it was far more gory than I am normally comfortable with.

★★★☆☆ (3 stars)

Stylistically speaking, Youthjuice is a bold outlier from other reads. I felt as though I was in a haze reading this, which gave the plot an unsettling touch of the uncanny that I found highly compelling.

I thoroughly enjoyed the unravelling of our narrator Soph’s mind - she’s an unreliable, deeply disturbed narrator, so being witness to the cracks in her sanity slowly forming was an unsettling, immersive experience.

Commentary on the beauty industry and its effect on women was a strong, confrontational theme. This was nicely interwoven with the disturbing lengths HEBE went to in order to achieve beauty and everlasting youth. I did however feel that several characters were lacking depth.

For such a disturbing book, I unfortunately felt let down by the ending. When you’ve been through such a depraved descent into darkness with a character, you don’t expect an ending where everything is wrapped up neatly in a bow. Sadly, I felt that the ending of Youthjuice was exactly that. A little too rushed and easy. I wished it had a darker ending that felt more aligned with the tone of the rest of the novel.

There were some deliciously creepy parts of Youthjuice that I absolutely loved, yet there were other areas that left me feeling as though the plot was a touch incomplete. In short, I’d say this had some lovely dark The Devil Wears Prada vibes, and the potential to be a great horror, but could definitely have done with being just a touch more f*cked up towards the end.

(Huge thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book! The above opinions are entirely my own.)

A really enjoyable book touching on elements of youth, vanity, the beauty industry as a whole with an added sprinkling of creepy elements.

Told from the POV of Sophia, our main character it follows her present, her past and her slow decline as a seemingly normal new job all of a sudden gets a little bit weird. I felt really engaged with Sophia's mental state and thought process throughout the read, this was amplified by the somewhat choppy writing style and regular flashbacks.

It had a nice balance of mystery, body horror, and popular themes (skincare and beauty) to be a highly recommended read on my list.

this book definitely made me question the beauty industry, the story really resonates with a reality that is similar to where we are headed with the beauty industry and multi level marketing / pyramid schemes.