This was an okay listen. I thought the storyline was interesting but I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I felt like there wasn’t enough of a back story to be invested with them. The storyline had me interested so that helped save the read overall.

It’s been a while since I picked up a YA novel, but I was interested in Ann Davila Cardinal’s Breakup from Hell.

The synopsis was a hook, but, once I started reading it, I instantly liked Miguela (Mica) Angeles’s characterization. She loved her grandmother and her group of friends, even when she was at odds with them. But, it was clear as day to me that she also felt stifled by what she viewed as a monotonous life—same friends, same town, same everything. She basically wished for change, and boy did she get it in what was probably the worst way.

There was a substantial amount of religious themes present throughout Breakup from Hell. For example, the characters quoted scripture and Mica attended a religious school. However, when angels, saints, demons, and hell are involved, I pretty much expect it.

The quick pace of the story allowed for the paranormal and horror aspects to show up on page fairly early, and the events unfolded one after another. It was basically instantaneous—and it wasn’t much of a mystery for me either—because the synopsis is pretty clear as to what the story was about. I didn’t mind the predictability though, because I liked the explanation the author provided for why it was happening. And, ultimately, I was very entertained by Breakup from Hell.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Harperteen) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

I loved the idea of this book, but unfortunately, I had to DNF it 40% in. I love an insta-love story but this one lacked the pacing of the action portion of the story to keep up.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

My interest was piqued by the title and synopsis I ultimately chose to read Breakup From Hell because the synopsis and title piqued my curiosity. It had an interesting concept and a diverse group of characters. It was different from anything I've read previously.

That said, I found myself torn between intrigue and boredom. It felt as though it was longer than needed and could easily have been a novella or even a graphic novel. I realize that I am not the target audience for this particular book which could've had a lot to do with it. Yet and still, I enjoyed the overall story and am not disappointed to have read it.

Voluntarily reviewed after receiving a free copy courtesy of NetGalley, the Publisher and the author, Ann Dávila Cardinal.

Once Harper Collins comes to an agreement with the HPC Union, I'll post my review. Until then, I'll be withholding support for the company.

EDIT: Now that there's been an agreement, here's my review!

I'm going to start this off by saying that if you're looking for a romance, this isn't the book for you (don't worry, I'll get to this later).

That being said, Break Up from Hell is a fun, action packed adventure. Picture a Supernatural x Lucifer crossover but make it feminist. There's sneaking around, scheming, family secrets, Christian mythology and a whole lot of demons. I loved Miguela's relationship with her Abuela, and how close knit her friend group was. Barry was my favorite out of them (hello, Pegasus and piglets!) but I loved each of the characters so much. Things are a little campy sometimes, but that's what made the book so fun.

Now, onto the (not-so) romance. Don't get me wrong the MC Miguela dates Sam (son of satan), but it's very abrupt and not particularly romantic. She's also super suspicious of him by the second time they meet, and even mentions seeing him again just to keep an eye on him. Their "romance" doesn't even last half the book, and honestly, Sam doesn't even get all that much development compared to the other characters like Abuela and Miguela's friends. I felt like it was a bit misleading to market things as romance, the title and the blurb imply that it's the main plot, when it's very much a secondary one.

I have one more bone to pick with Breakup From Hell, but please don't think I disliked it, because that's not the case at all! In this day and age, I was pretty disappointed to have Miguela slut shame Sam's sister, Rona. I know Rona is an antagonist, but there are so many other more creative insults that could've been used instead of repeatedly calling her a "ho." Maybe it's just because the author seems to think that teens still use insults like it's the early '00s and everyone is obsessed with Mean Girls, (I can't remember the last time I heard someone use the term biatch, which was used in this) but it definitely pulled me out of the story when that was happening, which was unfortunate since it was part of the climax.


If you're looking for a fun, family and friend oriented action story, this is the book for you! Break Up From Hell had some laugh out loud moments, and some badass action scenes, if you're considering reading it, definitely try picking it up.

Breakup from Hell was not what I was expecting, but it was one interesting wild ride! Breakup from Hell is action packed and kept me interested from the beginning.

Mica meets Sam, who turns out to be a bit different, and this sets a chain of reactions for Mica and her friends. It's kind of hard to talk about what happens without giving spoilers, and I think it's best to go into this book blindly (also it's not really a romance as it's described).

Breakup from Hell had plenty of funny moments while taking on the hellish group of Sam and his friends/family. The bleak is balanced with the humor and left me wanting more. It appears to be set up like it could be a series and I am here for it.

Fascinating magic system with this book and I loved it! Plus it was good paranormal book to read! Highly rated!

What a ride. I had no idea what I was getting into when I asked for this book because it didn't match my expectations in the best way possible. First of all, the cover is gorgeous and I love it and I don't want to say it's misleading, because it tells you exactly what it is but my preconceived notions of this book were a hinderance for the first 10%. I thought I was walking into a humorous version of Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, or Fallen by Lauren Kate. Some kind of YA romance with biblical flavor with a demonic twist. Incorrect. Absolutely wrong. By that logic, I struggled to understand what I was reading until about 20% in.

At about that point I realized that this is campy as hell, Ahem.

It's a riot, honestly from start to finish, I just didn't know it yet. At about the time that the cast start having demonic visions and there are moving shadows I realized what was up. One of my favorite things about this is that it didn't pull punches in terms of horror/creep factor. Even though this the end of the world centered around a romantic relationship, from very early on there are truly graphic depictions of demons and melting flesh and fire. Just chaotic stuff. It set the stage and tone for the novel and it's woven together so well.

My one critique, if it can be called that, is that this will be better as a movie and I do mean WILL BE. There's no way that this won't be picked up somewhere and turned into a short series, or film because honestly, all the work is already done. Down to suggested soundtrack moments. This screams to be acted out, and it's effortless to see the framework for these shots. It's action packed, hilarious, just wild enough to lose yourself in. A treat.

When I tell people about this I will be sure to point out that this is campy, hilarious, and not trying to take itself too seriously. In hindsight, everything from the title, to it's tag line, even the imagery on the cover is perfect. The only thing holding this book back was me and once I got out of my own way I ate through the 25%-100% in less than three hours. Short, sweet, (unlike this review) and absolutely worth a spot on your shelf.

I really wanted to like this book, but I felt the execution was so lacking I did not want to slam it on Goodreads. I applaud the attempt at diversity, but the characters were so cardboard I thought this story would have done a lot better as a comic book, with artwork carrying what ought to have appeared in the writing. It did not seem to know if it was a book for tweens or teens. When Lucifer is defeated with a smashed cell phone, I thought, right. The audience is supposed to be fifth grade.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙔𝘼 𝙧𝙤𝙢-𝙘𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙩, 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙤𝙗𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙖 𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨.

📍 Read if you like:
• Undead Girl Gang
• The Babysitters Coven
• Supernatural Suspense
• Clever, Hilarious Stories

This was such a fast-paced and quick read. I found myself flying through the book, the writing is so easy to follow.

I’m surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book. It was so fun and hilarious. This was a clever YA story.

The friendship in this story was so genuine and I felt so connected with the characters. Mica was a fascinating character, at times you’re rooting for her and at times you’re yelling at her for the decisions she makes. I also loved the supernatural side of the book.

Also, I just want to address how much I loved the connection between Mica and her grandmother. They were so close to each other and it felt so wholesome.

There were times when I found myself questioning what I was reading… with the romance and supernatural mixing.

The ending was a bit rushed in my opinion, but I enjoyed the story as a whole. I loved the representation and the characters! Also, the friendship vibe the book gave was amazing. Overall, this was a quick and unexpectedly fun read.

Thank you to HarperTeen and Netgalley for providing me with an Arc in exchange for a review.

DNF @ 5%

I will not be posting my review or star rating until the Harpercollins Union has a fair contract, in order to not cross the picket line. Please help support the union in anyway you can whether that be spreading awareness or donating.

This was a supernatural lovers to enemies and I ate this story up! It was such a fun and entertaining read for me, while having themes of growing up, identity and importance of family (Abuela) and friends who become family! I loved the main character, Mica and as I kept reading on, I felt like I was rooting for her so much. When I read YA books like this, I think about how a younger me would have LOVED this story. I def felt like I was watching a tv series! The love interest, Sam had a big secret he was keeping which once was revealed made the story really snowball, making the story feel like nonstop action! Some parts had me shook and others actually made me laugh out loud.

This was a fantastic YA book that I honestly couldn’t put down. I loved Mica and her friends and how the story evolved the way it did. It was really well written and the characters were all well developed. And I absolutely adored Abuela!! Based on the ending it looks like the author isn’t done with these characters, so I definitely look forward to seeing what will happen next with them all!

Breakup from Hell was absolutely fantastical! Cardinal wrote a story that was so well written I found myself flying through the pages, unable to put the book down, pondering what would happen next. My favorite piece of this entire story was how believable the characters were.

The writing is clear and clean, and very immersive. The book hums along at a good clip, but the pacing makes sure we're given time to breathe between plot-intensifying moments. The story was absolutely engaging and the work that went into the settings was noticeable and superb. I felt absolutely transported and I'm so incredibly glad I was able to read an arc of this story.

2/5

Thank you to the HarperCollins Teen and Netgalley for the access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was marketed with an emphasis on the relatio ship aspect between our MC (Mica) and the son of Satan, but I feel like this was a flaw in marketing as the book is more about the actual action.

I don't think this is a bad book, but it seems to suffer from not quite knowing where it falls in terms of audience. Due to the themes and age of the characters I assume it's meant for older teens, but the tropes and general lack of theme reads much more like middle grade. I have probably read more middle grade books with stronger messages than this.

As the book is very plot-centric, we unfortunately don't get much organic development of our characters or their relationships with each other. Everything feels very surface level which only meant the romance (that this marketed) fell that much flatter.

I thought it was curious that the author decided to make them very explicitly Catholic. I'm not sure her intentions, but it reads like a statement that Catholicism is THE Christianity. I found it more interesting than anything and would love to know if there was any reasoning behind that. However otherwise, due to misguided marketing and, lacking sense of self for the book's intended audience, and simply not enough time for the characters to develop anything, this book just wasn't for me. However, I do think it could be an extremely entertaining read for someone looking for a simple adventure with secret powers, a dash of forbidden romance, and some Christian mythology.

CW: death of loved one (moderate), gore (M), gaslightinggaslighting

This is fast pacing, entertaining, enjoyable paranormal romance you may finish in one sitting! The characterization is good! The love story is insta and pacing needs a little balance but overall: just like its strikingly beautiful cover, it's worth to dive into and enjoy the full wild ride!

“I’ve broken up with boys before, but none of them made my root beer boil and tried to kill me with a flying stool top”

Ann Dávila Cardinal has one aim- to give her target audience a full rollicking ride and she largely succeeds. Breakup from Hell is not your once in a lifetime book and it doesn’t pretend to be either. This is YA fantasy which seemingly goes on a Twilight path only to swerve and move into supernatural territory.

The protagonist Mica has her life in and around a small town Vermont with friends and grandma. Feeling suffocated, she secretly applies to UCLA but things take a weird turn with the mysterious figure of Sam entering the scene along with an equally creepy sister and friends. With random visions and supernatural encounters following his arrival, Mica starts questioning Sam’s motives and identity. Will she uncover Sam’s truth and in the process decipher her past forms the crux of the story.

Positives first- the relationship between Mica and her grandma is sweet and equally well written is the friendship between Mica and her friends. The only negative is the random shift between romance and supernatural within a span of few chapters and I felt this could have been explored better. Overall a fun ride.

Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #BreakupFromHell #AnnDávilaCardinal

God, should I have DNF'd this? Yes, absolutely. I truly don't know how I made it through this book. I guess part of it was that this is a quick and easy read (and also relatively short). I just really did not like this. Let's start with the writing: it was incredibly immature, and juvenile but in a way where it seems like the author hasn't interacted with a teenager since like 2012 at the latest. It was incredibly cringey and painful to read. The main character was also absolutely insufferable. The male lead literally used the words "you're not like other girls" to describe her and she took that as the biggest compliment she'd ever gotten. If that doesn't tell you enough about her than I don't know what else will. Just in case, here is something else about her: she constantly acts superiour to everyone else in this small town because she's tough and loves horror and knows really obscure movies like *rechecks list* The Conjuring. Yeah, feeling cool and edgy and misunderstood for liking extremely mainstream things wasn't cool in 2010 and it still isn't know. She was also incredibly stupid. Oh my god, I haven't read about anyone this plain ol' dumb in quite a while. She missed the most obvious of clues, while also being suspicious of the most normal of behaviours. Blegh, it was insufferable. On top of that the romance was incredibly underdeveloped, insta-lovey, and completely without chemistry as well. The only thing I liked about this book was how intriguing the plot was. It was obvious from the start something was amiss and even though some parts of it where incredibly obvious, I was quite curious about the answers to other questions. However, once we got those they felt incredibly stupid and lame. It literally made my eyes roll. However, I still didn't DNF because at point I was that far already that I just feel like I had to make that suffering worth something. I really wish I could have loved it because the premise sounded so much fun. Incredibly cheesy, yes, but also a whole lot of fun. However, it ended up just being absolute misery and I hate myself for wasting my own time.

Is this Catholic propaganda? Potentially. Did I have a blast with it? Absolutely! This book doesn't really do anything new or groundbreaking, but it is a fun little romp. The characters are funny and despite the catastrophe lurking in the background, it manages to stay pretty lighthearted.

So many YA books are heavy hitting these days that it's always fun to read a more silly story.

DNF'd @ 25%

I liked the idea of Breakup From Hell by Ann Dávila Cardinal, but it just wasn't for me. The concept sounded pretty fun, but the execution of it was lacking primarily in the pacing and the characters. I don't know if these elements improved over the course of the novel, but I lost all interest in bothering with continuing on with it.