This book is BANANAS. I couldn’t tell how seriously it was taking itself— sometimes it seemed steeped in irony in such a funny way (the hardware store in Hell… the sitcom chapter…) and then other times it seemed to have absolutely no grip on the realities of storytelling. Either way, the writing was pretty abysmal and the character work VERY poor. I could picture this very vividly as an animated TV show (kind of a darker Hazbin Hotel) and I actually think the epilogue works really well. But I just could not get a grip on this. It’s truly unhinged and reminded me of some of the worst fanfiction I’ve ever read.

This book starts off weird, rectifies itself during the middle and then falls flat at the end. Rascal is 18 eons old and he's half demon and half human, but I'm pretty sure humans didn't exist EONS ago. If you let that aside, there's the whole being dead but not really after you die i.e. Rascal's mother. The ending really made no sense to me and Jay is basically and after thought. It does, however, capture teenage angst pretty well, although it fails at almost everything else. The pacing is off almost always, but it takes an even sharper turn once Rascal's realization about his love for Jay happens. The middle is the most cohesive part but not nearly as interesting nor coherent enough as to salvage the whole book.

Well that was a toxic dramatic ride.

Jay is constantly bullied by a group of boys, one of whole used to be his friend, for being openly gay. The daily torment leads him to summon a demon to help him get revenge.

Rascal, the demon summoned, is the son of the recently overthrown devil and the estranged brother to the new one. He plans to use Jay’s downfall to win back the throne of hell.

While very dark subject matter is involved in places this book is weirdly naive and innocent. It could be jarring at times.

I don’t think I’d venture to call this book ‘good’, but it was entertaining for sure.

I wanted to enjoy this book a lot more than I did, unfortunately I struggled to push myself to keep reading it.

DNF @ 20%

I'm saddened to say I could tell right away that this book wasn't for me. I found the writing style to be incredibly difficult to follow and off-putting. It will simultaneously incredibly vulgar but also felt like it was a middle grade or YA at the same time to the point where I had to double check what age category this book was in. The synopsis sounded right up my alley, but this really fell flat for me.

3.5 stars !

i honestly don’t know what to think about this book. this is nothing like i’ve read before so i knew i’d be stepping out of my comfort zone, but i still wasn’t expecting that.

i enjoyed reading about the magic and the elements and i loved the dual pov so we could learn about jay and rascal! however, the writing style wasn’t really for me and it put me off at first, but i still decided to try and found some enjoyment out of it. probably not a book i’d recommended to others, but if you want to give it a go just go for it, it’ll be a strange, what-the-fuck quick read for you!

thank you netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review

I think this book has its highs fro sure. I think if it finds its right audience it will do wonders. but as someone who is american a lot of the language and slang seemed... confusing and i found myself reaching for my phone a bit too much to enjoy this sadly. i wish that was not the case, but it is. overall the theme and plot is there, but it just seems a little hard to follow so im giving it an average rating of 3/5 stars

1⭐️

ARC kindly provided by publisher via NetGally for an honest review.

DNF @ 25%… Unfortunately the book was not it for me. The cover and description had a very interesting premise, but the writing and story itself fell flat for me.

The beginning of this book had me hooked. I especially enjoy books that somehow talk about heaven/hell or have some angelic/demonic representation. Having been raised in a Catholic household, but being atheist myself, I have always gravitated towards books that would put my parents' religion into different perspectives. Hence why I was drawn to this book. I have to say that from the very beginning, I quite realized that it was not going to go the way I had expected.

Nonetheless, I was entrapped with the theme presented: the degradation and corruption of the human soul because of the incessant search of revenge.

The book has a very YAtish narration, I generally do not mind this, but I think it kind of clashed with the theme presented, as it has a very dark tone.

Although I was indeed hooked from the beginning, and I read the book fairly quickly, I struggled with it many, many times, starting around half the book.

When the main character, Jay, is first presented, it is easy to understand him and feel compassion towards him, but that's about all I can say about him. There's is absolutely no character evolution. Well, there is an 'involution' (which, yes, I said was the main theme for me), but one the made absolutely no sense, and invalidated everything seen.

Regarding the rest of the characters, I feel there is nothing much to say about them. Some of them have very important roles approaching the very end of the book, and yet, we see almost nothing of them. They were as plain as they could be.

I was expecting to see more 'action', or at least I wanted to see interesting things happening in the book, but I think the majority of the things that happened (although sometimes gruesome) lacked anything remotely similar to being impactful. Although the book is very WTF in the end (it wasn't good per se, but it really surprised me).

I gave it 3☆ because even if I struggled to finish it and even lost a bit of interest towards half of it, I did like a lot the beginning and still was hooked enough in the story to not DNF it.

The intro piece really gives a whole new perspective before even getting into the story - knowing that in part this story reflects, or somewhat represents, some of the author’s experiences made this read even more impactful and powerful. A mosaic of truths and lies, where we too, as readers, forget where reality ends and fiction begins.

That being said, ‘Rascal’ was a whirlwind of craziness, one of the weirdest plots I’ve encountered recently. I should’ve expected nothing less after reading ‘Cream’’.
In his desperate and frenzied search for revenge against his bullies, Jay summons Rascal the demon, whose only objective is to gain power in Hell, but to do so he must drag Jay down with him.
What ensues from this deathly pact is a rapid descension into chaos. Not only does Jay risk losing those he cares about, but also his humanity.

The predominant emotion this left me with is confusion. The plot was very convoluted and messy. As the reader, I was kept out of the loop for most things going on. The scheming and revenge planning happened off page, showing me the aftermath of it all instead of letting me participate.
The Hell politics took up a way too much screen time, and it was unfortunately not all that interesting.
Not to mention the insane dynamic between the characters.

For how outrageous the plot was, I still very much enjoy Jay H.D.’s writing style. Apparently, I don’t need to enjoy the book to still be able to appreciate their art.

This book was so fun!

I liked the idea behind the story and the writing style is very YA in my opinion, so it wasn't exactly the kind of book I'd usually gravitate towards. In saying that, I still did have a good time reading this.

I am also a big fan of dual/multiple POV and this did a good job of differentiating between the characters, so both felt unique.

I will agree with some other reviewers that the ending is a bit of a rush, so I did lower my rating for that reason.

All in all, this is a great LGBTQ+ book about revenge, and it does take you on a ride. It's just a shame about the ending!

I had fun with this book! The horror/gory elements of the story were more out of my comfort zone, but I liked all of the characters a lot. The relationships were messy and interesting. I loved the writing style! Watching a queer kid get revenge on his bullies was also a bit satisfying tbh 👀

A good enough read but it took me a while to get through. It’s definitely not something I usually read but I quite enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I was unable to finish this book. I stopped at about 30%. Rascal presents itself with a distinctly British tone, which may appeal to some readers but leaves others, like myself, feeling disconnected from the narrative. (I had to google a lot of the slang.)The dialogue and characters' ages convey a young adult vibe, but the content displayed, such as the language, displayed otherwise. The book felt like it was forcing itself to be something it wasn't, striving to adopt a style or tone that didn't come naturally. This story felt unrealistic and lacked in depth as far as plot. Unfortunately, the writing style fell short of expectations. There was a reoccurring theme of telling the reader what was happening. There was a lack of descriptive elements. I felt as though there wasn’t really a story being told. There wasn’t a plot. I felt as if I was reading someone’s diary entries but they added aggressive fantasy elements.
There was potential for this book. The summary was captivating and reeled me into wanting to give the book a go. In the end, the book ultimately fell short of delivering a compelling and engaging narrative.
This book may be for some people, but it wasn’t for me.

Rascal is a disturbing yet camp novel about a human and a demon. Jay is a social outcast, a queer human boy who is bullied at school, unliked by his parents, and desperate for something to change. So he summons Rascal, who is the son of the Devil and the two of them agree to get back at the people making Jay's life miserable.

This book doesn't take itself seriously, which leads to some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments between all the graphic violence and sex scenes. We alternate between Jay's chapters on earth, where he exacts revenge on his bullies and deals with first love; and Rascal's chapters in Hell, where he's dealing with social hierarchy issues because of his brother and father. Both characters deal a lot with morality, and how the events of the book warp them over time.

I enjoyed this; it was a fun, well-written read, and as long as you don't go into it thinking it's going to be a serious novel, you will have a good time.

I didn't like this. The writing style was too casual and when it got to Rascals sections it read like bad fanfiction which is a shame because the premise was great

I love books about the occult that explore the concept of demons and hell. The book was very well-paced for the most part. I felt the ending was pretty rushed, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, but it didn't ruin the experience for me. I liked that the book was in a duel POV in books and I think this book used it well because we got to see both Rascal and Jay's story and what they wanted from one another. It was a good read, and I did like it.

3.5*
A good new adult reading, filled with unnecessary fantasy elements.


About a month ago, I read another book from the same author called Cream, that one was amazing and so good that I was sure I’d read more from Jay HD.

So here I am. Rascal’s narrative is enjoyable and the story feels original, and even though the beginning is slow and the ending is bad [ it has a wannabe-plot-twist about Jess that I really hate (hide spoiler)], everything that happens in between is well worth the reading.

The book is told from two perspectives: Jay, a young gay boy that suffers from bullying; and Rascal, a demon that has lost his place in Hell’s politic structure.
As I’d said many times before, I really enjoy when teenagers talk and act like teenagers, and Jay and his friends behave like that. There are some funny moments that I liked, and Jay’s daydreams, fears and hopes make him very relatable.
Readers need to understand that main characters are under no obligation to be heroes and that characters don’t HAVE to be likable.
Jay is, in fact, the hero, victim and villain of his own story and that was the best way to told that story.

Rascal’s character and POV, in the other hand, are not as interesting as Jay’s, [ and as the ending is 100% Rascal, it’s fair to say that I didn’t like it nor enjoyed it (hide spoiler)] but it isn’t bad either. But authors need to understand that not every character needs a redemption arc.

The book has some dark aspects and descriptions, as well as some erotic elements and a lot of drugs, so keep in mind that’s it’s not a YA book.


The Best: The New Adult/Coming Of Age aspect of the book. I’d LOVE to read a contemporary book from the author. Like… no fantasy, no magic, no creatures. Just drama.


The Worst: The ending is REALLY bad.


I received this for free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.