Author Melissa Albert is back with the new book The Bad Ones. Nora and Becca have been best friends for as long as they can remember. After a mysterious emergency pickup, Becca seems to have cut Nora out of her life entirely. When Nora receives a strange text from Nora in the middle of the night, she rushes to her home. That night, four people vanish from their small town without any sign of where they could have gone. Nora immediately tries to figure out where Becca has gone, but keeps coming across a series of seemingly coded messages from her best friend. Could the secret to Becca's disappearance be connected to an occult childhood game the two once played?

Melissa Albert is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors to come across my review desk. Her writing is smart, fascinating, and fabulously creepy. Her female characters feel like real people, even when they do seemingly unreal things. The Bad Ones is the type of book that once you dive in, you won't want to put down until you get to the stunning conclusion.

The Bad Ones is now available.

I’m a fan of Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood series, so I was glad to see her in even better form with this YA horror revenge tale. The eerie nature of the mystery here kept me engaged the whole time and I was eager to find out what happened to Becca and the other missing townies. Always love a complicated friendship story, and thought this deftly showed how childhood-to-teenage codependent relationships can be both toxic and wonderful.

I do wish the ending had turned out different, but I’m a supporter of women’s wrongs, so…take that as you will.

I really enjoyed this one from Melissa! Atmospheric, engaging with the perfect amount of horror elements. This book left me uneasy at parts but continuously flipping the pages. I loved, loved the aspect of taking childhood games that are often rooted in something tragic and truly making it horrifying as we Melissa did with the goddess game. I loved Becca and how flawed she was throughout the book.

Definitely will continue to pick up more books by Melissa!

In a small town with a lingering secret, three teens go missing on the same night. As Nora works to figure out what happened to her friend, she reveals more secrets and rethinks their troubled past. Sometimes your friends are more dangerous than the Bad People in this addictive, supernatural thriller.

A perfect start for reluctant readers as three unconnected teens are lured by something supernatural and ominous. Part mystery, part complicated toxic friendship, part girls securing their power, Bad Ones will have readers sleeping with the lights on for fear of what might be lurking in the dark. The immersive, cinematic quality of Albert’s writing makes this creepy, claustrophobic thrill ride compulsively readable. A “steal this from your teen” selection: writing so smart, sharp and visceral it will surely appeal to both teen and adult readers. The fluid timeline keeps readers on their toes smoothly to an explosive end. A good fit for readers who enjoyed Our Crooked Hearts, Ginny Myers Sain Dark and Shallow Lies, Amelia Brunskill’s Wolfpack or Courtney Summers complex girl relationships.

The nitty-gritty: A supernatural revenge story revolving around a dangerous game is the focus of Melissa Albert’s latest, a beautifully written, dark tale with a compelling mystery.

Melissa Albert once again proves what an excellent writer she is with The Bad Ones, a YA horror/mystery that is perfect for adult readers who don’t usually enjoy YA—take it from me, I’m one of those readers! This is a dark tale with strong urban legend elements, touching on the unique bonds of childhood friendships and how toxic they can become. The otherworldly elements are subtle until you get to the end, but I loved the journey, and the mystery was intriguing enough to keep the pages flying.

On the night Becca Cross disappeared, three other seemingly unrelated people went missing as well, abruptly and without a trace. Nora and Becca were inseparable friends until only a few months ago, when Becca did something unforgivable. But when Nora receives a strange text from Becca—”I love you”—she’s compelled to investigate. Something must be wrong, because the text felt like a good-bye. Nora goes to Becca’s house, but instead of finding Becca there, she finds her cell phone abandoned in the back yard.

When Becca doesn’t turn up the next day, and reports start coming in of other missing people, Nora fears the worst. And if something happened to Becca, why is Nora finding strange clues that could only be from her best friend? With the help of the reclusive James Saito, a boy who knew Becca through their mutual love of photography, Nora decides to find her friend, and in the process, figure out what happened to the other three people who are missing: a thirteen year old girl named Chloe, a teenaged boy named Kurt, and Mr. Tate, a teacher at Nora’s high school. Becca left James a message—Tell Nora I’m off to play the goddess game—and Nora has a place to start. Because the goddess game was what came between the two friends in the first place.

Albert doesn’t waste time setting up her mystery—the disappearance of Becca and the other three, seemingly unconnected people—and the reader is immediately sucked into the story. Most of the chapters are told from Nora’s point of view, but we also get some flashback chapters that follow Becca leading up to the present. These sections (“Six Months Ago,” “Three Months Ago,” etc.) reveal more details about Chloe, Kurt and Mr. Tate and why they might have been targeted. We also learned more about the goddess game and how its origins are shrouded in urban legend, as well as Becca’s chilling connection to the game. It isn’t until almost the end that we finally learn what really happened, and I loved the way the author tied everything together.

At the heart of the story is a complex, ultimately unhealthy relationship between Nora and Becca, which starts when they are only seven and escalates into a codependency that’s nearly impossible for Nora to break out of. At first the girls are thrilled to have found each other. Becca is the new girl in school, a petite, sprite-like creature who chooses Nora out of all the kids in her class to befriend. Becca has a vivid imagination and creates all sorts of magical games throughout the years. The nearby woods act as their playground, where the two can let their imaginations soar. Nora goes along with everything, especially when Becca takes up photography and creates her “goddess” photos, posing Nora in costumes and inventing names and purposes for each goddess. Eventually they incorporate the goddess game into their play, a trust game with deadly consequences. It’s this game that finally fractures their friendship, when Becca goes too far one day and scares Nora to death. Up until the scary codependency parts, their friendship brought back lots of memories from my own, magical childhood, so for me this story had an extra layer of nostalgia to it.

In order to explain the goddess game and how it started, we meet another character later in the story, a woman who is connected to the high school and may be the key to everything that’s happened. Melissa Albert is a master at complex plots and characters, and I was in awe of the way she was able to tie all these threads together at the end of the story.

Definitely not your run-of-the-mill YA, The Bad Ones is perfect for readers who like their stories dark, and their characters darker.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Paranormal mystery, crime drama, and YA best friend story all in one - heck yes!

As always, Melissa Albert gives us interesting, powerful, young women with complex backgrounds who face unusual, paranormal nemeses. Albert doesn’t try to instill bland moral lessons with her stories, she explores her characters evolving identities with refreshing authenticity.

This was a fast-paced read that didn’t take much time to get to the action. It contained many of the themes Albert’s other novels include, and that’s part of what I love so much about her books. She’s a master of describing dream worlds and bringing urban myths and classic fairy tales to life with dark, suspenseful vibes.

The Bad Ones left me with many questions about the technicalities of how, why, and what next in this story. I wonder if a sequel is in the plans? I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled! I can't wait for one or more of her books to become a movie/TV series.

I really enjoyed reading this (as I have every single one of her books). I kept thinking about it for weeks after I finished. I recommend this to Melissa Albert’s devoted fans and YA witches who need to spark a fresh reading streak.

#TheBadOnes:⁣
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Thank you so much @flatiron_books @macmillan.audio partner for my gifted copies.⁣
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“you don’t have to take the world as it’s presented to you. You can be the dissenting vote. You can be judge, jury, and hangman, so long as you’re ready to run”⁣
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This book was worth the wait y’all. I impatiently waited in line at Y’allfest for an ARC of The Bad Ones, and my husband got the last one. I read about half the book and just knew this would be amazing on audio. It did not disappoint and was worth the wait. ⁣
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This creepy atmospheric vibe with a toxic codependent friendship, this book gave me a nightmare or two. I really liked the “past” chapters, as they really gave some fantastic insight on the characters. I can’t give away too much, but it was written so perfectly.⁣
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Audio was great Emma Galvin really turns up the heat on the dark/sinister lurking in the background. I was so engrossed with the audio, I felt it was amazing.⁣
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If you watched School Spirits on TV, I definitely think this will be something you’ll enjoy. The Bad Ones just released yesterday!⁣
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Predict: The Bad Ones… ⁣
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The bad ones are coming out of the box!

The strength of The Bad Ones is it's eerie, sinister atmosphere, spurred on by the fear and paranoia that is gripping the local high school. The book certainly had stand-out moments, like the prologue, which gave me literal goosebumps. There is something extremely satisfying about a book introducing you to characters only to abruptly pull the rug out from under you.

Unfortunately, my original excitement about the premise gradually waned as the plot started to drag forward. One of my largest gripes is that the different pieces never clicked together in a satisfying or cathartic way. Maybe this was caused by the acts of revenge feeling so far removed from the central character, or these moments coming too late in the story. It could even be a case of a story trying to be too many things at once and leaving me with nothing impressionable. I can't remember another book I have read where I felt like the plot just ... fizzled out. Definitely not a horrible book by any means, just ultimately not for me.

Also, why do all the characters hold it against Nora that she was a chronic liar in elementary school? Her frontal lobe is still developing, cut her some slack.

I always go into this author’s books not knowing what to expect and then I am just hooked from page one. This had just the right amount of spooky, edge of your seat suspense with a dark magic that you don’t quite understand but makes you want to read more to figure it out. Great ending and I have to say surprised by the touch of romance but it added to the story a bit of sweetness. Loved this book!

3.75⭐️

Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start off by saying that Albert’s writing is incredible. It is so captivating and immersive, and I truly had such a great time reading this story. I loved how the book started out. I was so invested in the missing persons cases. It was so creepy; and a great YA horror, supernatural mystery. Nora was a great protagonist, and I felt that she was a great developed character, who was smart and focused on trying to find out exactly what was going on in her town and where her best friend went. I loved all of the clues scattered throughout the book, including Beeca’s POVs that happened several months previously and what Nora, James, and others are able to discover while searching for the truth.

I think what made this fall short for me was how long it took to get to the resolution. If it were shorter, possibly 50-75 pages less, I think it would’ve worked better for me not to be able to get distracted so much within the last 3rd of the book.

Overall, I think it was a really fun read, and I am looking forward to reading more of Albert’s work in the future.

I have not read a Melissa Albert book before but I have been eyeing her books for a while now. This cover drew me in though so I definitely wanted to read this one.

The beginning of this book was a little confusing for me but Melissa brought it together well a little later in the book.

I liked the magical/supernatural aspects of this book. Though it felt unreal it also felt like some sort of story you might here as a ghost story.

I loved the little match macking that happened in this book. James was so cute and made me want a cute little boyfriend as well.

This book definitely made me want to read more books for Melissa so I will definitely be checking those out (hopefully soon).

I enjoyed this thrilling atmospheric story. It started slow but I was intrigued the whole time. I knew from the cover it was going to be a good one. I will definitely not be playing the goddess game!

The Bad Ones follows Nora's journey to find her best friend, Becca, who disappeared on the same night as three other people from their small town. The mystery surrounding the disappearances ties into a local legend about the Goddess Game, which Nora and Becca played as children, as have generations of other Palmetto women. This book explores the dark side of local legends, the power of female friendship, and the lengths that we will go to in order to defend our chosen family.

I prefer fantasy/witchcraft edging into the paranormal but I don't often go for straight up horror. I did, however, recently read Melissa Albert's Hazelwood duology and loved it, so I wanted to give her works another go. This is young adult horror, so I figured it wouldn't be too scary, and it really wasn't.

Albert's does an amazing job building atmosphere, infusing scenes that would be fairly normal high school with "edges" and "mist" and other stuff that makes you feel like you're in the scene with them. I was definitely in that creepy high school, I have that picture solid in my mind. However, when you are losing control of your mental faculties and your best friend may be possessing you but is also missing, why would you keep going to school?

The story unfolded way too slowly for my taste. I kept thinking, it's going to pick up, I'm almost done, and while the chapters were short, I struggled to get through them.. The pacing stayed the same slow rhythm, with lots of unnecessary scenes along the way. While this did keep me from guessing exactly what would happen, I wanted to know how it would wrap up, and I wanted it to GET. THERE. FASTER.

Basically, four people go missing in one night, and it becomes apparent to us as reader's it has to do with the goddess game and eliminating "the bad ones" who seem to have "darkness" in their character. The definition of bad one seems to be internalized to the goddess de jour so I am left with a lot of lose threads about the whys and whats.

Bottom line, I think this had a decent plot, but it was too slow for me and the ending was not particularly satisfyingly. But seriously, she nailed the atmospheric writing.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Flat Iron Books, and Macmillan Audio for my advanced copies and the chance to review it honestly.

In a single night, four people vanish without a trace. Becca, Nora’s estranged best friend is one of the missing. While trying to find answers, Nora discovers a darkness in her town’s past.

The Bad Ones is a slow burn that take me a bit of time to pick up its pace. It’s mysterious and creepy. It’s the childhood game that gave me the most uneasiness. I really wouldn’t say it’s scary but I did find it to be enjoyable and the right amount of eerie. I had trouble eating it initially because there were parts I really loved but the pacing really impacted my reading experience. Overall, it’s entertaining and the paranormal aspects were fun, just don’t go into this one with too many expectations… especially if you need concrete answers for things. The Bad Ones is out now!

Happy reading

"I'm off to play the goddess game."

A deadly game, an unforgettable night. Four young people vanish without a trace and a friendship is cracked wide open. Such a crack is a chasm, wide enough for a vengeful goddess to slip.

Albert's new book, The Bad Ones, is shrouded in mystery and the supernatural. This is one for the girls who wanted to be chosen, who found other entities to pray to and be preyed upon. Play the goddess game and remember.

This is a solid three stars for me; my favorite parts were the descriptions of the photographs and the art. I thought the out-of-sequence narrative was only used for drama, making the mystery feel really contrived, but still readable.

I read Melissa Albert’s Hazel Wood series a while back and I liked those books so I was excited to read her latest young adult fantasy. I was really intrigued by the premise of this book- four people vanish from the same small town in one night, the main character’s best friend is one of the people that goes missing, and there’s this strange town lore involving a creepy childhood game. It sounded like a book I would really enjoy. While I did like Albert’s writing, I thought the story was not that memorable. To be honest, I read this a month ago and I don’t remember much about it. I do remember I was left with many questions by the end and I was not a fan of the ending. Also, the characters seemed really young. I think younger teens would enjoy this book. Unfortunately, this book was not for me.

Nora gets a text at almost midnight from her estranged best friend, which sends her barreling through the woods towards her house...and danger. Strange things have happened in their town, with 4 people disappearing in the same night, from the high school art teacher, to a loner boy with few friends, a 13 year old girl at a sleepover, and Nora's best friend.

This book was so good. There was so much intrigue, so much teen drama, and also plenty of adult drama as well. No one in the town is safe, and it all seems to be tied to the mysterious goddess game that the girls of the town have been playing for decades. But what is the game? How does it start?
The characters are all wonderfully flawed. Becca and her stepmother have a terrible relationship, but not because Miranda is a horrible person. Nora and Becca fight and stop talking over a disasterous goddess game. Madison is shattered that her best friend has disappeared from the graveyard while she was only 15 yards away. And what is going on with the town's teachers? Even they are not immune from the secrets and lies that seem to lie just below the town's surface.

Melissa Albert's books just keep getting better and better!

The Bad Ones took too long to rev its engine and never really recovered, in my opinion. It felt like instead of three acts, it had just two very long acts: the very slow one where almost nothing happens and I felt like I should just DNF the book and the moderately paced one where action picks up but it still wasn’t compelling enough for me to call this a great novel.

The sad thing is Melissa Albert’s writing is stunning. She has great style. Her prose is full of fantastic word choices and lovely sentence structure. The passages in this book covering Nora’s (the protagonist) inner narrative were some of the only redeeming parts of this book because of how stunning and imaginative the writing was. Where it all fell apart for me was in the pacing and plotting of the story. It’s not that the story wasn’t interesting–it simply wasn’t interesting as presented in this book. It had all of my favorite hallmarks of a great YA supernatural horror-fantasy but with none of the panache.

So I’m giving it three stars for a very mixed review with very mixed feelings.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review has received a rating of three stars or lower so it will not be posted on my social media sites.

File Under: Fantasy/Occult Horror/Standalone/Supernatural Fantasy/Supernatural Horror/YA Fantasy/YA Fiction/YA Horror

This book was full of twists and turns and games and I truly did not know what was going to happen next. A great addition for any YA collection, especially for those who are into dark fantasy!