This premise sounded very exciting to me but missed the mark. I didn't really understand the purpose of the flashback chapters and I also do not think we got a proper view into why Sophia would go along so readily with HEBE and Tree. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC!

Youthjuice by E. K. Sathue is a commentary on the beauty industry and beauty standards of today, and how the truth behind them can be truly horrifying. Sophia Bannion gets a job at HEBE, a luxury skincare startup company in NYC that's named after the Greek goddess of youth. If the company name doesn't give you a hint into the plot then maybe the strange and mysterious occurrences surrounding the company's new moisturizer, youthjuice, will. I was excited to start this book, I've been getting into the horror genre a lot more and thought this would be right up my alley; the premise sounded interesting and creepy! Unfortunately, it didn't make me fall in love with it, and I honestly had a hard time even enjoying it at all.

I get what Sathue was going for, but it just didn't come together cohesively in my opinion. Maybe it's because I read this over a longer period of time and not in one sitting or over a few days, but it just didn't feel like it had a steady plot or pacing. The truth behind youthjuice wasn't as ominous or shocking as I was expecting, it felt kind of static... as did the characters. I ended up enjoying the flashbacks more than the present day plot, and even that seemed to end quite suddenly with no point. I feel like there was a lot of build up but then the reveal just fell flat, both for the flashbacks and the present. It definitely put out the message of how the beauty industry can be and how people are so obsessed with staying young, but it just didn't have that great impact that the author was trying for. The descriptions were certainly icky so Sathue gets a point for that aspect.

As for Sophia, it definitely seemed like she was a little out of it throughout the entire novel, which I think the author did on purpose, which also helped to convey an eerie atmosphere, but I also think this narration style aided in the overall confusion of the story. Maybe it's just me but I felt like the story and message were hard to follow because of this. It wasn't a terrible read, but it didn't blow my mind either. I think there was a lot going for this premise but the execution just fell flat in the end.

I wish that this was a little less American Psycho and a little heavier on character development. Though I do enjoy sometimes when a book ends and our MC has learned no lessons, in this short novel, it feels lacking and left me with a sense of “what did I read and why?” The horror images of women taking baths in the blood of interns is very tongue in cheek, though.

Well, this was different. It started out slow and I almost said enough. But I kept going and the middle picked back up only to disappoint me at the end.
This is not a bad attempt at a horror book but it tried a little too hard in my opinion. The writing was very lyrical for horror and it was definitely a stream of consciousness fever dream vibe. Not my favorite. It did by some miracle keep me going until the end. It’s not a bad book just not for me.
Thanks too NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for a honest opinion. 3⭐️

Really good if you're wanting to get into the weird litfic genre. Sometimes I was a bit lost in the writing and I did expect more craziness to happen being described as American Psycho esque with "outrageous body horror," but I'm not disappointed I read it. Some good talks of beauty standards and past trauma, but I feel like it resolved very easily.

2.5 stars. Youthjuice attempts to be a horror novel and a commentary on influencer culture, and does neither particularly well.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Soho Press for an ARC of youthjuice, in exchange for an honest review.

Sophia, a young woman on the brink of her 30s, gets a job working at this new up-and-coming beauty brand, HEBE. Her whole life, she has been kind of plain, and has a horrible habit of chewing her nails to the point where her hands are completely scarred. Once she is accepted into the HEBE culture, the CEO gives her samples of a new product - called "youthjuice," which has the promise of anti-aging and beauty. Once she starts using youthjuice, her life completely changes and Sophia is sucked into the beauty culture...and will do anything to keep this newfound youth and beauty.

I thought this story sounded really interesting, particularly because I'm around the age that Sophia is, and I understand the pressure society puts on us women to remain beautiful. This generation and the younger ones are constantly exposed to social media and influencers who promote and sell beauty products. Social media has pushed this idea even more over the years; everything is about beauty and aesthetics. Celebrities get plastic surgery and promote or sell all kinds of products, which are made to prolong skin elasticity, clear your pores, remove fine lines and wrinkles, etc. These companies even target women as young as their 20s as a "preventative" measure.

Although this concept isn't groundbreaking, I haven't read many books about the beauty industry, much less horror books about it. I loved this concept of a company creating a moisturizer that keeps you young. The characters were shallow and only cared about themselves, making them unlikable, which I thoroughly enjoy. All these characters were beautiful, but beauty was only skin-deep for them. They were unhinged and willing to do anything to stay young and relevant. What started out as something meant to help others became infested with greed and selfishness. The tension throughout was built really well, and the horror was definitely more of a slow burn. The last quarter of the book really picked up, and the body horror was a gruesome trainwreck that I couldn't look away from. I enjoyed how delusional and unhinged Sophia had become over time; it was kind of fun to see what would happen next. The horror elements in this really reminded me a lot of A Cure for Wellness, but the characters reminded me a lot of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, Norman Bates from Psycho, and Countess Bathory, who was essentially a serial killer in the 1500s.

I did kind of expect more gruesome body horror; I feel like the author held back a bit. The concept was highly dark and disturbing, so a little more body horror could have made this even more terrifying. However, it was still enough to make me feel a bit squeamish at parts, and I'm sure other people will think this pushes boundaries a bit as it is. I also didn't like the character (Sophia) enough to feel vindicated for her by the end of the novel, so that "good for her" feeling was more of a "meh," since she was so horrible, like everyone else in this story. Overall, I had fun reading this one and sped through it within a couple hours.

A wild ride. This is true beauty horror. I was left reeling with every choice and decision our character made along the way. This came from the mind of Guillermo del Toro

WTF did I just read? But in, like, the best sense. The entire time I devoured this book (one sitting) I felt like I couldn’t quite catch my breath. Which, coincidentally, I imagine the main character feels a lot of the time too.

The writing is so descriptive that I had actual visceral reactions in places. As someone who reads (and watches) a lot of thrillers, supernatural, horror, things of that ilk, not much has that sort of reaction on me but there were a few times in this book where passages had actual effects on me. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say I always found nail biting incredibly gross before. Now? I find it downright harrowing, the stuff of nightmares. Hey, I told you it was weird around here. Intrigued yet?

The manic passages had me feeling manic, the ones where Sophia is on top of the world had me right there with her, when she was nervous I was too. The writing here really grabs your hand and takes you alongside every feeling, not just a “watch from afar” feel. The power of words, eh?

So. If you want an absolutely insane read at a breakneck speed, based around glossy wellness brands owned by people with ridiculous names and impossibly perfect influencers like you see all over social media, but with the feeling like you can’t look away from an inevitable gruesome, fiery accident, all wrapped up in a package of ‘unsettling and weird’ this is probably your book.

It’s really more like 3.5 stars. I’d say overall, I enjoyed it, but I felt like it didn’t really do anything new or audacious with the premise to fulfill its potential as social commentary (read Mona Awad’s Rouge for a novel that does!), and it also failed to establish the tension necessary to make it effective as a horror novel. It did have some deliciously gross imagery, especially in the second half of the book, and a unique dream-like storytelling voice. I’m curious to see what comes next from Sathue as she hones her craft!

Sathue is going to be big on the horror scene, especially with such a satiric and feminist take on vampires, the beauty industry, and getting the eyes of other horror greats on it (see: Rachel Harrison).

A young woman works for a shady cosmetics company. Simple enough premise, right? Definitely not what you think, though! Beautifully written prose, with a b-plot that I wasn't specifically sure where it was heading. A little on the anti-climactic side, sure, but definitely worth a read. This short book has moments of humor, bougie references, some great imagery, and feels, in what I think might be part of the point, a little detached from the main events. This mostly works in its favor. You have only as much of an idea as Sophia does.

How far would you go for eternal beauty and youth?

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was fun! In terms of the trend of beauty being killer in fiction, I thought the writing in this really differentiated it from the pack. It was lyrical, beautiful and haunting, and it really gave a kind of dreamlike quality to the book.

here we go, another entry in the ever-growing pantheon of beauty-related horror books, joining the likes of Rouge, Aesthetica, and so on.

in this story, we have sophia bannion, new employee at a new york-based skin company called HEBE. after meeting the company figurehead tree whitestone, sophia is given a new product to try - youthjuice - a serum that has absolutely incredible impacts.

this story oscillates between two timelines - her current day job at HEBE and hanging out with her ridiculously wealthy addict best friend and beauty influencer roommate dom, then back in 2008 where she and her frenemy? mona discuss boys (a specific line about pete wentz made me side-eye) and try to navigate the world without catching the negative attention of the mean girls in town.

right off the bat, you know that sophia's past is important and something within it contributes to the fact that she's always in gloves; her hands are scarred and replete with self-inflicted wounds. pretty soon into her youthjuice skincare regimen, sophia realizes that the scars on her hands are... healing? no, they're disappearing. what's in that sauce?

you may have heard the name elizabeth bathory referencing this one and if so, you already know where this one is going. (soylent green is people, etc.)

there was some weird, unhinged stuff in this to be sure, especially what's going on with sophia and her roommate in her roommate's bathroom. honestly though, with a comp title like american psycho, i think i was expecting this to go a little bit harder than it did.

i'm a big fan of books like Kill for Love and Boy Parts, both of which felt like they'd have a similar vibe to this book. this book, for me, ended up being just okay, like a thriller author tried to dabble at horror and couldn't quite escape the confines of their original genre. like, don't get me wrong - this is a good book, but i do think that the horror could have been more horrific. i wanted to be surprised. i wanted to be horrified! i was neither of those things and felt like i was calling every reveal before i read them.

let's bright side this, though - if you're not a horror person, this is the book that you need on your radar. you'll get the creeps and it'll work for you. good for me, great for most.

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.

"youthjuice" by E.K. Sathue offers an intriguing exploration of society's constant obsession with eternal youth. It's body horror and the beauty industry. The concept is engaging, but this just didn't work for me as much as I hoped it would.

Thank you to NetGalley and Soho Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Body horror meets the beauty industry in this tense little story about a girl who takes a job at a prestigious beauty company. Quickly pulled into the upper circle of the company, Sophia is let in on the company's secrets, secrets that can stop aging in its tracks, secrets that come at a cost. As her status rises and her long-suffering skin-picking habit quells, Sophia will do anything to stay where she is. It's a slow-growing tense book that exposes the darkness lurking beneath the desperate scrambling to stop the visual aspects of aging before they ever begin.

I really enjoyed Sathue's fresh and unhinged (in the best way!) voice, but the overall story didn't do it for me. This was my first foray into the body horror genre and it's not for me but I can see how the right audience would devour this one right up!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending an ARC.

Like a cross between American Psycho and Mona Awad's Rouge. I loved this horrifying take on the beauty industry. A life-changing skincare routine that will having you seeing red... A gruesome, batshit in all the best ways read.

One of 2024's best horror novels!

I found the characters very hard to connect with. The writing was monotone and the storyline was predictable.