This ticked all the boxes I'd expect for a YA gothic souther horror.

The writing style flowed nicely. The plot had a lot of great build up, but did feel a tad rushed to wrap up in the end.

You get multi POV's and learn about the mysterious success of those on the other side of the crossroads. The success of one town is literally seeped in deals with the devil.

Teenagers from both sides try working together to solve the mysteries around the town while also learning what they're willing to sell of their selves to achieve their dreams. The clock is ticking as the periodical cicadas festival is approaching and the questions are piling up.

Worth the read.

When Devils Sing is a haunting, Southern gothic YA debut that weaves together folk horror, family secrets, and devil’s bargains in the sticky heat of a small Georgia town.
I really enjoyed the atmospheric writing and the eerie sense of dread that builds throughout the book. 🖤
The four POVs,, Sam, Isaiah, and Reid,each brought something unique to the story, but I’ll admit it took me a while to keep everyone straight and fully grasp the connections between them. Once I did, I was hooked!!

The pacing felt like a slow burn, 🔥 which worked for the most part, though the final climax left me wanting just a bit more payoff. That said, the themes of legacy, identity, and power are explored in a way that feels thoughtful and fresh, and the cultural richness Kaur brings to the story adds a welcome depth.
If you’re into layered mysteries, small-town secrets, and a touch of the occult, this one’s worth the read.


Thank you to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I found this a pretty solid read. I definitely enjoyed the setting and vibes the most. Those were immaculate. It was just pacing and plotting that left me feeling a bit unbalanced. I got a little uninterested in the middle and had difficulty caring about what was happening, and the end felt as though something was missing.

Overall, though, I felt the bones of the story were pretty solid. Just needed a bit more in fleshing everything out.

2.5 stars!

A set-in-southern Georgia horror novel that follows four young adults investigating the disappearance of Dawson Sumter. Lake Clearwater’s high powered residents spin a messy web of lies and secret alliances with the supernatural.

Without revealing important plot lines, the story does well in exploiting the cruelty and promise of the american dream through connection and inequalities. A few things I wish were better formulated:
-the development of the characters: despite all having connecting backgrounds and interpersonal relationships, through their dialogue it felt that these ppl had barely spoken to each other before
-multiple POVs before establishing characters through story telling, it made the plot and time lines feel disheveled
-the pacing of the story: felt slow, but may be in relation to multiple POVs

Things I thought were well done:
-the personification of the devil
-portraying life at the crossroads, giving a tangible aspect
-small town classism, betrayal, lies
-visuals, while graphic and somewhat disturbing, amazingly depicted
-the plot line was well thought out and in depth

The ending felt complete in a natural story ending way, leaving room for a sequel following Neera's story. I will definitely keep this author on my list!

I love different POVs in a book, but the different characters confused me for a good portion of the beginning of the book. It made sense as I went on, but to keep the different connections together and who is who in the community seemed like too much at first. This seemed like a slow burn which I don't mind but the climax of the story seemed to be missing something. The storyline as a whole was enjoyable.

YA southern, gothic horror

A town caught between three devils. The crow, the snake and the cicada.

“You’re … the devil, aren’t you?” Sam murmured.
“One of three,” the devil said plainly.

When Dawson Sumter goes missing in the Deep South of Georgie, four teens band together to investigate his disappearance. In doing so they unravel some darker secrets than they expected to find.
The book is told in the POV of four different teens.
Neera’s family owns the motel, but they’re drowning in debt. Isaiah is the son of a prominent judge and secretly runs a popular true crime podcast. Sam is the daughter of the local hitman. And Reid is the youngest son of the richest family in Lake Clearwater.

I found the pacing a little slow in the beginning. I didn’t mind it as it felt more like a slow burn initially and laid out what was going on. As it got closer to the end, I do feel like it was rushed and the ending left me wanting more. I also found the solution to be a bit too easy. I think if the ending was drawn out but the events of it stayed the same, I would have been more pleased.

I found some of the questions surrounding Ajay left unanswered and interactions with Grant fell flat for me.

Overall, I did enjoy this read. It entwined southern mysticism with Punjabi culture and displayed atmospheric scenery. It also portrayed some of the economic difficulties and discrepancies that America displays in our southern states.

Thanks to NetGalley & Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW. Violence, substance abuse, addiction, murder, animal death/mutilation, death, suicide, kidnapping

Thank you so so much to the author and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC!!

Overall giving 3.8 / 5 stars - I did enjoy this, however it did lose my interest throughout the middle of it and did leave me feeling like I was going in circles. I also was not a fan of the continual depictions of animal abuse/suffering (I know it’s horror genre - just not my thing when it comes to horror). As a native Georgia girly absolutely obsessed w the setting and parallels to many things I’ve heard about Lake Lanier, that part was pretty sick!

Overall I’d recommend to a friend - but with heavy warnings. Def more of a book for mood reading but not bad by any stretch!!

**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Actual rating: 4.5

Xan Kaur debuts with a Southern gothic YA horror, When Devils Sing. Readers follow four teens with very different perspectives and experiences with the wealthy community of Lake Clearwater and the neighboring town of Carrion in Deep South Georgia. Neera is struggling as a musician in the only Punjabi family in town as she carries the legacy of her uncle whose suicide seemed a little too much like a cover up. Sam has just been in a horrible car crash with her brother in the vehicle and he is sure to die, whether from the car accident or by the hands of their enforcer father. Both girls know the only way out is to make bargains they can't come back from. Meanwhile, Isaiah is a Black boy with a Harvard acceptance letter and a farming family aside from his father who can be found making inroads with the Clearwater folks. Secretly, Isaiah runs a true crime podcast exposing investigations into communities like theirs. Reid is born into wealth as a Langley, a member of the founding family of Lake Clearwater. But Reid knows his mother's death wasn't an accident and when his best friend Dawson goes missing, it looks like he might be next. Secrets, devil's deals, and cults abound where the teens must work together to not only escape, but survive the Fourth of July.

This story has so many interconnected threads, but Kaur never seems to lose track of them. The diversity of characters featured is a reflection on Kaur's experience growing up in a Punjabi family in the Deep South of Georgia, and the story is all the richer for it. The sticky heat of southern summers and the cries of the cicadas as this overwhelming demonic brood is such a solid way to embody the horrors and the beauty of the American South. The insidious nature of these tight knit wealthy communities is also something featured and deserving of commentary, deals with the devil or no.

Because of the twists and turns and mystery-solving at the heart of this story, there is little I can say beyond the fact that I promptly pre-ordered this book after finishing it. Especially as someone who has ties to the Blue Ridge Mountains and grew up in and around the south, this one sank in deep and grew roots while still being light enough to be appropriate for the target age demographic.

Folk horror and gothic fans alike will appreciate Kaur's debut and I look forward to future works from this author.

thank you for the arc!
i didn’t mean to submit this review just yet so i am editing it until i have finished the book properly!
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✧₊‧˚⁀➷ 3.15/5 .ᐟ

ʚɞ ⁺˖ setting .ᐟ lake clearwater / carrion, georgia. carrion resident dawson sumter goes missing, prompting the main characters neera, isaiah, sam, and reid to investigate. as they do so, they uncover lake clearwater's mysterious founding myth and discover that clearwater's prosperity is suspiciously correlated with deaths in carrion that occur every thirteen years.

ʚɞ ⁺˖ worldbuilding .ᐟ when devils sing contains a creepy, gothic atmosphere, but because nothing actually occurs for two-thirds of the book, i can't actually say whether that's because of the writing or my own nausea whenever i read a book that has a rural setting. i was probably equally creeped out by tom lake. one thing i very much did not like is that in establishing the myths/setting the reader is told the main plot very early on in the story, and yet all the characters don't even meet/start investigating until at least part two, two-thirds into the book.

ʚɞ ⁺˖ plot .ᐟ excellent concept, mediocre execution. i think i started this a week ago, and i've read three other books in the meantime before continuing with this because part one is so dull. i don't think we needed 250 or so pages just to establish context and introduce characters, but whatever. on the other hand, after i finally got to part two, i devoured everything. fast-paced, interesting, actually involved the mystery aspect promised in the blurb, and the characters finally discovered what the reader knew since page twenty.

ʚɞ ⁺˖ characters .ᐟ i didn't connect with any of them, which is mainly why i didn't enjoy part one. i'm not opposed to character driven stories, but everyone in this so... i don't have a descriptor, but they make my skin itch. i thought i would like neera, because desi, but i had just as much of a difficult time time empathizing with her as i did the other three. it's not that i hate any of them, and i empathize with neera's and sam's backgrounds as i would anyone in those situations, but i just don't care about them personally. even the neerasam lesbian moments didn't move me, which is crazy. neera and her mom's relationship at the end was sweet, though.

ʚɞ ⁺˖ overall, thought it was mostly just okay. thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy.

4.25✰
“in carrion, they have a saying: the devil can be seen coming from a mile away. that is where our story begins.”

other than it being a southern gothic horror, i wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. i expected the folklore about three devils coming to life, but i didn’t expect the exploration of classism, grief and how far you would go to protect your family. neera’s struggle with grief and the loss of her uncle was especially raw and relatable: “because whoever she met from then on, they only met a girl that had been broken and hardened by grief.”

thank you to xan kaur, macmillan and netgalley for the arc 🖤

When Devils Sing is a modern take on Southern gothic horror and facing life at a “crossroads”

This book does a great job at setting the scene of a small town divided by classism and racism. I enjoyed the writing style and the podcast snippets throughout the story. I became fully immersed in the story and couldn’t wait to see which Devil and what character would be targeted next!

The songs added the right amount of anxiety to keep me turning the pages. Along with the songs and podcast snippets, Kaur did an amazing job at developing her characters. Each pov offers insight into the differing dynamics within Southern Georgia. I personally enjoyed morally gray characters and this story is full of them!

I grew up in south Texas so I’ve heard the stories and songs about the three devils. Like so much of the cast, I was wary on the legitimacy of the tales. While I didn’t fully believe them, I headed my ancestors warning. For me, it was frogs and butterflies not cicadas that signaled the start of terror. I’m happy a BIPIC author shared this story because ALL perspectives are needed when sharing historical details whether it be factual or folklore.

Overall, I’d recommend this book for fans of horror, thrillers, and diverse casts.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc of When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur in exchange for an honest review.

When Devils Sing is a tense, atmospheric descent into Southern Gothic horror. It blends folklore, class tension, and adolescent reckoning in a way that feels both timely and timeless.

The novel centers around Dawson Sumter's disappearance and the group of four teens who begin to peel back the carefully maintained layers of their town. What starts as a mystery rooted in a missing person case quickly expands into something darker and older, drawing on urban legends, generational rot, and the chilling symbolism of the returning cicadas.

The voice here is confident, the pacing deliberate, and the setting is so well-crafted it almost becomes a character of its own. I appreciated how the horror was grounded in both supernatural elements and real-world corruption, creating a feeling of unease that lingers. While some character dynamics could’ve used a bit more depth, the narrative payoff is strong, and the themes—power, legacy, and who gets to survive—hit hard.

It’s the kind of book that gets under your skin without relying on cheap thrills. Fans of Mexican Gothic or She Is a Haunting will find much to love here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this story.

When Devils Sing is a southern horror including devils, mysterious disappearances and culty communities. The story is told through Neera,Sam,Reid and Isaiah as they try to save people they love and trying to not get wrapped up in what is happening during the festival season.

I thought the concept was good. The summer mysteries with the freaky cicadas was something that I could see being a great movie. I thought the writing was quite slow and nothing was happening until the last 50 pages. The characters were diverse and each of them gave a new perspective to different parts of the mystery.

When Devils Sing is a chilling small-town mystery with Southern gothic vibes and a strong sense of atmosphere. The writing is immersive and the slow-burn tension builds well, though the pacing lagged at times. I liked the eerie folklore and horror elements, but some parts—especially the storyline with the devils—wrapped up too quickly after so much buildup.

The multiple POVs added depth, but a few characters blended together, which made the narrative a bit hard to follow. I also would’ve appreciated a content warning for the more graphic scenes.

Overall, a solid debut with a haunting tone. Worth checking out if you like eerie, character-driven mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, and the author for the ARC.

Thank you so much to the publisher for allowing me an early read of this wonderful book! I really enjoyed this book, as a fan of southern gothic literature! It’s dripping with suspense and that eerie and sweaty southern style! I was hooked from page one!

Thank you for the arc! This book was not really my cup of tea, but I manage to power through to the end.

Absolutely loved this one! Such a fresh twist on gothic horror—unlike anything I’ve read before. It felt like being back in Georgia, and if I wasn’t already uneasy about cicadas, I definitely am now! So glad this was my first Netgalley read ♥️♥️♥️

I really enjoyed the first half of this book - the first half was easily worthy of a five star rating. The writing was wonderful, and the southern gothic setting was gorgeous, and I was very excited to continue. The blurb and the absolutely incredible cover really felt like they sold the book accurately. The horror was solid, if a little sickening (be warned; there is detailed animal cruelty).

However, this book fell off significantly in the latter half. The characters never became likeable enough for me to root for them, and the pacing was Not Great. Such a strong start with such a rush and forced ending. I hope that the final version of this book cleans up the second half, because this book has so much promise.

All that to say, I will definitely be giving Xan Kaur another shot when they come out with books in the future - they are immensely talented.

Thank you so, so much to Macmillan and Xan Kaur for the advanced readers copy - all opinions are my own.

3.5 stars

This is a moody, Southern gothic mystery with strong true detective vibes and a haunting small-town setting. The story follows four teens investigating a disappearance tied to an ancient legend and a corrupt elite in rural Georgia. The atmosphere is tense and eerie, and the social commentary adds real depth.

I loved the creepy tone and slow unraveling of secrets, but the multiple POVs blurred together at times, and some characters lacked development. The “three devils” storyline, which was the most intriguing part, wrapped up too quickly, leaving me wanting more.

Still, it’s a solid, suspenseful read for fans of Mexican Gothic and dark mysteries rooted in place and history.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.