The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert is one of my most anticipated reads of February. It was pretty great even if I would say that it's not a favorite from Melissa Albert (that still goes to The Hazel Wood and Our Crooked Hearts). That said it's quite atmospheric and eerie. It took a bit for it to really reel me in, but I found myself hooked by the mystery at the center of this horror story. I appreciated the history scenes and the research the characters had to do - even searching microfiche at the library. Overall, if you're a fan of this author, you can't miss this new release.

An entertaining YA horror mystery novel. The pacing was a bit slow for my taste but overall the characters felt whole and the interpersonal relationship / interactions felt realistic. There’s no real explanation for the “horror” aspects but I didn’t mind that.

I read an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

i would have liked this book even more if i didn't know what level of creepy dark gorey evil girl witch fairytale gritty glamorous magic melissa albert was capable of. but i do, so this was a level below.

i liked some things about this — evil girls, friendship, possession — and didn't like others — abrupt ending, eh relationships, kind of inconsistent logic around the magic. but i like melissa albert everything so it all works out!

This book revolves around two friends Nora and Becca. One is missing, and the other is searching and finding clues to her absence.
I'm not normally a big fan of YA, but this one was a mesmerizing combination of horror and fantasy that I found very alluring.

The Bad Ones deals with themes of revenge, friendship, and how far someone will go for those they love. It's an intense emotional and intriguing mystery with just enough of the supernatural.

Overall, this was creepy and gothic. I enjoyed the small town with its secrets and Legends.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

THE BAD ONES by @melissaalbertauthor is a very atmospheric, dark mystery wrapped up tight in local folklore. There are layers here that slowly unfurl to reveal the stepping stones to unravel the mystery. Missing children, dark magic, nefarious adults and unsettling devotions abound.

Read this one if you like dark YA fantasy, layered mysteries, folk horror themes and loyal friendships.

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher @flatiron_books for the audio-ARC.

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Thank you, Flatiron and Netgalley, for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. I DNF'ed at 50% and tried to continue to read it, but I decided to move on. I will try returning to this one in the future and giving it another chance.

My main reason for DNF'ing is that the story is SLOW and tedious. I keep finding myself zoning out while reading.

This was a really interesting book that kept me on the edge of my seat. The pacing was a little slower than I'm used to, but overall, I enjoyed it. 3.75/5⭐.

I really liked this one. If The Bad Ones was a tv show/movie during my teenage years you can be sure I would be glued to that screen every week. Four teenagers (and one teacher) vanish without a trace one Saturday evening. There is seemingly no connection between them, but Nora knows that her best friend Becca didn't run away and she's still alive out there. Piecing together the clues Becca left for her, Nora discovers the Goddess game they played as children may have a more sinister origin than as a basic nursery rhyme.

The book was creepy and I loved the supernatural elements. I thought Nora was a great main character and I loved following her as she tracked down the history of the Goddess Game. This was a bit of a slower burn, so I ended up tandem reading along with the audiobook and really liked reading it that way. In terms of movies/tv shows this reminded me of, I found elements of Pretty Little Liars/Fear Street/Stranger Things (season one), so if you like any of those I would recommend checking out The Bad Ones.

Thank you to Flatiron and NetGalley for a review copy.

“Goddess, Goddess, count to one…
who will you pick when the day is done?”

This book had such an amazing build-up in the plot, and while it may have been a bit slow in the beginning, it was worth the climb for this amazing and brutal ending. As each chapter unfolds, we follow our FMC on her struggle to uncover her best friend’s disappearance along with 3 other people in town. We’re gifted beautiful moments of our FMC reliving her childhood friendship, and glimpse little pieces of story time magic that Melissa Albert so artfully sprinkles throughout her books.

I’m usually pretty close or spot on at guessing an ending and I had a full ah-ha moment when I reached the climax of this book – I truly didn’t see this full ending coming. This story is so beautifully written and highlights female friendship, love, loss and revenge.

Would definitely recommend if you’re looking for a YA Horror that’s queer-normative and lighter on the gore.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an E-ARC copy of this book!

Overall this was an ok book. It is not the strongest of Albert's catalog but it was solid. The pacing played a part: it is extremely slow until about a third in. The ending is also underwhelming.

3.5 rounded down because it just wasn't strong enough to be rounded up.

I was a bit bored In the beginning of this one. I did like the pretty little liars vibes this gave off and it feels like a good mystery for a Ya. J could see my students liking this (Highschool) I did want more thriller and less supernatural and the ending was a bit odd for me.

4.5/5 stars

This book is amazing! It's exactly the sort of folk horror/gothic fantasy story that has become Melissa Albert's brand, and I loved it. It managed to have both the suspense and the tinge of youthful nostalgia (with a twist) that Our Crooked Hearts has, and yet be entirely unique. This book is compelling from the first sentence and pulls you right in to the mystery. Nora is a really interesting narrator, as her past is more complex than is initially let on and she's not entirely reliable, but you can't help but root for her to find her way, both in the plot and in the broader scope of her life. I really enjoyed the folklore and horror elements, and I thought they were woven very well into the missing-persons-mystery element of this story. It seemed initially as if there were too many different threads for them all to connect together, but in the end they did. This book is also just exactly the right balance of whimsical and spooky! I was drawn into the magic of Becca and Nora's childhood memories while also creeped out and on the edge of my seat as things unfolded in the present. It was unsettling in the way that always urges me to keep reading and reminded me of a modern-day fairytale (a real one, not a Disney-version of one).

I will say, I was a bit confused by some of the logistics of the reveal (like how Becca, as a physical being, could have been where it turned out she was while she was missing). But I liked other elements a lot, like the exploration of toxic friendships, and the true power of imagination and what we put our faith into. And I know that the fantasy elements of this make it easier to explain away some of those elements of the end that confused. I did really like the reveals and who turned out to be behind it all, I thought the pacing of that was excellent! I also wish we had maybe gotten some more from some of the side characters, especially the lit mag crew---because they were good friends to Nora and tried to save---James as a love interest, and Cat and Miranda as Nora and Becca's family members. It was sometimes hard to grasp the weight of scenes without more knowledge of the side characters. That said, I do understand that Nora and Becca were dangerously absorbed in each other (hence the Goddess Game, etc) and so it does make sense that much of the story would be mostly focused on them as well, without fleshing out the other characters.

Over all, so well-paced and well-written. Perfectly scary and magical! I really enjoyed this book a lot and will say that Melissa Albert has definitely carved a niche for herself, and she owns it. I love it.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert! It was engaging and well-paced with a likable main character, Nora. I’m not sure I would classify this book as horror though but more of a magical mystery/thriller.

The prologue gives this book a strong start by introducing us briefly to the four people who disappear in one night. Considering that the book starts off slowly with Nora only piecing together that four people have disappeared after the first few chapters, the prologue ensures that the reader at least knows that four people have disappeared right off the bat. Nora slowly discovers more about the three people other than her best friend, Becca, and each revelation is spaced out enough to keep me wanting to read more.

The ending is probably the weakest part of the book as we have <spoiler> Becca basically explain her entire side of the story from a hospital bed. The toxic friendship between Nora and Becca remains unaddressed with Nora seemingly forgetting about it with Becca’s return.</spoiler> I wished that Nora had a stronger character arc as I felt like the book was moving towards Nora realizing <spoiler>how manipulative Becca was and how poorly she treated Nora at times. I really disliked how Becca’s trauma was basically used to justify her behavior towards others, especially Nora, and the harm that she caused.</spoiler>

The book also does a pretty bad job of explaining why <spoiler> the entity that possessed Nora was so bad. Obviously, I’m not condoning murder but there’s no reflection on how Becca/the entity literally prevented a school shooting and stopped a child predator/groomer. It's not clear that Becca or frankly Nora really learned anything from their experience or how to deal with evil in the world. </spoiler>

If the ending was stronger and the toxic friendship between Nora and Becca was explored more, I think this could have been 5 stars. As it is, this is a solid 4-star read.

I was really intrigued by this one (I mean, that cover! The description!), and I found myself drawn in easily by the horror and mystery of it all.

The Bad Ones follows Nora, a high schooler whose town is rocked by the mysterious disappearance of 4 individuals on the same night. And one just happens to be her kind of ex-best friend. Following the clues her friend left behind, Nora unveils a supernatural truth at the heart of the disappearances, and realizes she may be closer to the mystery than she originally thought.

I thought Nora was a great protagonist, and I loved that we were uncovering things alongside Nora throughout the story. Weaving together Nora and her friend's past and present was an interesting way to connect all the dots. It was definitely creepy enough to keep my heart pumping!

Overall, I enjoyed the read. I will say that I felt that pacing was a little slow in the beginning, but picks up in the last half or third of the book. There are a lot of twists and turns, and plenty of things I didn't see coming. Although it didn't all work for me, I can see what the author was doing and appreciated the story for what it was!

This is a complicated beautiful story about the way girls are so often ignored when they go missing and the way they are blamed. I've always been curious by this unattainable idea of a perfect victim. That none of us are valid until we are that but we will also never be that. I think this captures that.

This book ended up not being for me, and I did not finish it. I knew I was taking a chance, as horror is not a genre I typically read, so I won't be reviewing this title. I did spotlight it as part of the blog tour, and here was the intro of my post:

Today on the blog, I’m featuring The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert. This is the latest release from The Hazel Wood author, and while that series may have some light horror vibes, this one jumps right into the genre. The tone of this book reminds me of a cross between The Wicker King and Carrie. If either of those titles resonated with you, I think this one will be right up your alley. I would be interested to know if you’ve read this author before, and if you have plans to pick The Bad Ones up!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

This was such a fun read! I loved how the mystery unraveled over the course of the book. The biggest reason this was a four star read and not five stars was the massive info dump explainer towards the end that answered most of the questions left in the book. But I would still absolutely recommend!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

Slow burn at the start but definitely picks up towards the end! I found myself drawn in completely by the main character and loved the supernatural aspects.

Over the course of one winter night, four people vanish without a trace from Nora's small town -- and one of them is her estranged best friend, Becca. As Nora searches for the truth about Becca's disappearance, she discovers a dark secret in her town's past -- as well as a mysterious connection to a game Nora and Becca played as children that involved a vengeful goddess. As the lines between make-believe and reality blur, Nora must attempt to unravel the town's secrets before Becca is lost to her forever.

The Bad Ones is one of those books that is all vibes, with a dark, moody atmosphere and elements of sinister magical realism. Melissa Albert immerses you in the world of the book with lush, vibrant prose and ethereal imagery. Nora is a believable teenage character whose actions and responses feel authentic for someone of her age and circumstances, without seeming completely overwrought or annoying. Her complicated relationship with Becca is well-written and allows Albert to explore some interesting themes surrounding toxic female friendship, the mysterious power of make-believe, and the magic and invincibility of childhood -- and the agony of leaving it behind.

I wanted much, more more from the mythological and supernatural elements, though. The conclusion didn't fully satisfy me because there is no explanation for how any of it actually works, or how the myth truly originated. I'm not one of those readers who needs everything spelled out for me, but the end of this did leave me scratching my head and wishing for more, especially since the pace of the book is quite slow so I'd been hoping it was building up to an earth-shattering ending. Others are loving this book a lot more than I did, so if The Bad Ones sounds up your alley, I'd definitely encourage you to give it a try.

The Bad Ones (ARC)
Melissa Albert
4⭐️

Pub Date: 2/20/2024

Woah! This one took me in for a ride. It's YA, thriller and horror altogether! The beginning was immediately interesting. People are missing. And as I read on, the story just descends into a more sinister plot. The confusion I was feeling was tingling my senses in all the right ways. All I can think about is "what the heck is happening?" The writing style is really good although again, just because of the actual plot, it was a bit disorienting. But I thought that was appropriately done. It's mild, there's not a lot of rush or action but the unsettling feeling was very heavy. I do wish that there were more details about the victims, the aftermath and also the angel that was on the cover! It did mention it at the beginning but since it's the cover, I was kind of anticipating it to be more of that. But I will say, I could not stop reading it!!!