Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC!

I read Maeve Fly last year and was obsessed, so my expectations for American Rapture were high. This was horrifying in a totally different way, and did not let me down! It’s a coming of age story with a heaping portion of religious trauma, apocalyptic action and gruesome horror moments. I truly cared about our main cast of characters, especially the sweet dog.

Propulsive. Intoxicating. Bloody.
“I am adrenaline. I am fire. I am a girl desperate to stay alive.”

The flu is making its way through America but this isn’t your average flu. Sophie, a sheltered and well-behaved Catholic girl, is just trying to make it through the awkwardness of her teenage years; feeling ashamed and embarrassed when faced with the secular world. But when this “flu”—causing manic and lustful behavior in the infected—makes its way to the midwest, Sophie will have to do more than just face the secular world… She’s going to have to fight it, causing her to question everything she believes.

I love books with religious themes but they make me shake with rage because of their insanity and how close to reality it is sometimes. Very dystopian/apocalyptic which isn’t usually my cup of tea but alas, I loved it. Leede’s storytelling is distinct and refreshing; it’s hard not to gobble up her stories even if they tend to be slightly repulsing at times.

Compelling reflections on faith, sexuality, identity, mortality, and the freedom of choice.

A dark but brilliant novel.

Thank you Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Out 10/15/2024!

Thank You Netgalley and Tor Publishing for the arc.

This book was certainly one hell of a ride. Something about Horror and religious guilt always makes for an amazing story.

The care and attention that was put into setting in this book really puts it in a league of its own. From a small town, to a desolate county. I loved every second of it.
The cast of characters were amazing. Their dynamics with one another were one of the best aspects of the story. I love when apocalyptic books have that one scene where everyone is happy before the storm. This one didn't disappoint.

I find that books involving deadly viruses tend to deconstruct your thoughts on the world and rebuild them in a different way than before. I think its success in doing so is a clear sign of its incredible writing.

Definitely one of my top reads of the year.

Wow. This novel had me speechless. Part bildungsroman, part religious horror, I was hooked from the start. This gripping page-turner digs deep into religious shame, guilt, oppression, and trauma, but ultimately still manages to be hopeful and uplifting.

When a pandemic rages across the United States, the afflicted are stricken by feverish, basal lust before they die. Raised in a highly religious and isolated environment, Sophie has always had a curious mind. Now, faced with visceral carnality, she's forced to deconstruct her beliefs as she flees through a burning world while trying to stay alive and find her brother.

This novel doesn't shy away from religious trauma in all its forms: a highly patriarchal, oppressive family structure, sexual repression, conversion therapy, and more. Within that environment, Sophie is faced with the horrors of fledgling womanhood, living in a body that feels uncontrollable, constantly at war with her forbidden emotions, sensations, and desires.

While I found this novel less gory than Maeve Fly, these realistic, plausible, utterly human horrors were far more disturbing and unsettling. From radio personalities whipping the religious right into a murderous frenzy to the keening grief and loss amidst a pandemic with no end in sight, there was a persistent sense of fear, paranoia, and mistrust. This was an incredibly compelling read and I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time.

This book spoke to me on so many levels - I had to put it down several times. Very intense, graphic. So much horror. Leede has an amazing talent - taking our society's crap and exposing on such level.
A teenager on the brink of adulthood - leaden with so much guilt. So. Much. Guilt.
Sophie's constant battle with her body, her guilt, her upbringing not only exhausts her but also the reader. Her growth requires an apocalypse - severe ties with her parents, leave home in desperation to find her twin.
This resounded deep for me - raised as a Roman Catholic, strict mother, not encouraged to interact with boys, repressed sexuality, lack of self identity as well as self esteem. It took me decades to shed the shame ingrained.

After reading Maeve Fly and it being one of my favorites of 2023, I could not wait to get my hands on CJ Leede's next book. Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read it early!

American Rapture is a wild, enthralling ride with a lot of heart. The ending gave me the same ache I felt at the end of Maeve where you want so much for the character especially after all they've been through. I cannot wait to read Leede's next book.

American Rapture is a riveting post-apocalyptic horror novel about a teenage girl who has been repressed by overbearing Catholic parents her entire life. Then the apocalypse happens. A virus that leads to uncontrollable lust and sexual violence. American Rapture follows Sophie as she tries to survive both the apocalypse and overcome the guilt and repression that she was subjected to by her Catholic faith.

Leede does a fantastic job of both keeping the plot moving but also giving us time in the MC’s head. I am not a 16-year-old girl but I was able to relate to and empathize with Sophie because of how well she was written.

This book will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you angry (like seriously so mad at some of the awful people), and it might make you vomit during one particular sticky scene 🤢 American Rapture is not Maeve Fly - they are both very different books and they should be. But they are both fantastic and show Leede’s range with her writing. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

American Rapture will be released on October 15th from Tor Nightfire.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the advanced eBook in exchange for an honest review.

Well this story was equal parts disturbing and enthralling!

From the author of “Maeve Fly”, a new apocalyptic story is arriving to blow readers’ socks off!

“American Rapture” mixes religious fanaticism with a bizarre virus sweeping across America. A very sheltered Catholic girl is at the centre of the story and readers follow along with her as she learns about the world around her, discovers who she truly is, and questions the strict set of beliefs she has been taught her whole life.

All I’m going to say is be prepared for a cycle of shock, disgust, heartbreak, and hope.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Tor Publishing for a copy!

I absolutely loved this book. It was a wild ride from beginning to end, and I read it in entirely one sitting. I'll be recommending it to so many people, because I genuinely believe that CJ Leede is a modern master of horror. I can't wait for the next one.

This book wrecked me completely. It means so much to me in so many ways. I'm going to say it now - it's my number one book of the year, and yes I know it's only June. This book has my soul.

I grew up Catholic and homeschooled, isolated from everyone and everything and I really relate to Sophie, at least my inner child does. I didn't have a good home life. As an adult, I relate with Cleo so much and I absolutely adored her. Also, the Spotify playlist CJ made for Cleo has my heart and I've been listening to it on repeat since finding it.

This is such a heavy story with so many deep and dark topics, but it was also extremely healing and validating. I'm so very grateful to CJ for this story and appreciate all the heart she put into this. There were multiple times I screamed "how are you in my head right now?"

CJ is one of my all time favorite authors now. She was one of my favorites already for Maeve, but this just further solidified that standing for me and bumped her up on my chart.

I was skeptical about the almost uniform praise in the ARC reviews of this book. The Familiar and a few other recent reads of mine got heaps of praise from advance readers and they turned out to be flops.

So was this a flop? Thankfully, no! I can’t say it was a five star read for me, but I think for many people it will be. The praise it’s gotten from advance readers is justified imo.

I think I might even have loved this if I hadn’t read Courtney Summers’s terrifying and pathos-laden zombie novel This is Not a Test last year (and revisited it a few times since). While very different in their particulars and plots, the books share a similar premise. They both follow a sheltered, inexperienced teenage girl, with domineering and abusive parents, who finds herself alone in a zombie apocalypse. After years of floating zombie-like through her life in the normal world, in the apocalypse she experiences a sexual awakening and discovers just how badly she wants to live. So how could I not compare?

On a narrative and theme level I think this book might be better, but I never felt entirely immersed. I found the ending of American Rapture emotional, devastating, and I came to care deeply about the main characters—our heroine Sophie, her dog Barghest, cop Maro, and cinnamon roll Ben. But I just never quite felt grounded in the story in a way that left me feeling connected to Sophie. I never felt like I was experiencing her story with her, entrenched in her mind. That is often the difference between a 4 and 5 star book for me. I think this was a really good book, but I don’t see Sophie being a character I remember a ton about in a year. Whereas I still feel like I lived through the apocalypse with Sloane in This is Not a Test.

This is not to say Sophie wasn’t a three-dimensional character. She was a heroine of depth and grit, but I do feel she and most of the characters seemed crafted to explore certain choices, beliefs, traumas, and ideas more than having sprung from Leede as individuals…if that makes any sense.

I maybe sound like I didn’t enjoy this but I genuinely did. On the whole it’s really well-written. I loved the dialogue, which I found natural and often very poignant, and the main characters are sympathetic and easy to root for.

I know some may balk at the Maro stuff due to the age difference between Sophie and Maro, but I liked it. I think being a teenager doesn’t preclude you from harboring romantic and sexual feelings for someone older. Leede explored the feelings on both sides in a very thoughtful way.

I finished this eager to pick up Leede’s first novel, but having looked into it, I think the level of horror in that one might be too much for me. Unfortunately, I am a scairdy cat. But I will be on the lookout for whatever Leede writes next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

A scathing critique of religious control of women and purity culture through the lens of a covid-era plague apocalypse. What if lust and attraction could end the world?—A truly unique addition to the zombie apocalypse genre.This plague really takes that rape apologist semtiment that "men can't help themselves" to the extreme. Be prepared for sexual assault and graphic descriptions of violence, gore, and sexual content.

The midwest version of "sad beige houses for sad beige children", teenager Sophie feels like a bystander in her own life. Other people decree what she can do and when. This overarching control stems twofold: from the small religious town weighing expectations down heavily upon her as well as her own micromanaging parents. Falsely believing that keeping their daughter incredibly naïve and sheltered from what they deem as <i>secular society</i> would keep her safe, Sophie is wholly unprepared to navigate social settings or the public.

Were it not for the copious hours she spends reading guides and how to books—as she couldn’t read the vast majority of what resided in her library—she definitely would have had an even rougher go of it. These tips and tricks she's memorized do come in handy when things go awry in action focused scenes, yet they don't help the all-encompassing awkwardness that is Sophie trying to talk to her peers. At times she's so sheltered and out of the loop she comes off as almost robotic until her religious guilt chimes in reminding her not to want for more or to belong.

The writing style is very choppy and lacks deeper descriptions or thoughts from our protagonist, which is intentional and highly successful in my opinion. Bored and miserable in a lackluster, unimaginative life Sophie coasts by and dissociates, while secretly longing for the freedom to make her own choices. Her coming of age arrives during the apocalypse, a taste of freedom surrounded by sweat, cum, and terror... oh and lust zombies can't forget about those.

This one is for all the girlies who are angry and have christian religious trauma. Midwest small towns are a breed all their own, and wow I know people personally who were raised like this. If you had religion used to hurt and control you, while the creed of purity culture hung overhead, I think you'll take something from this story. Also if you're a victim of SA and someone used religion to punish or shame you for your victimhood please know it wasn't your fault and you did nothing wrong. Surviving isn’t a crime any more than existing is.

TW: violence, sexual assault, homophobia, religious trauma and control, character death (parents, children, found family, pets)

4.25 - 4.5 stars -
American Rapture dives head first into the chaos of an apocalypse where the infected exhibit an uncontrollable, frenzied lust. Set in Wisconsin, my home state added a layer of connection for me, though I noticed some inaccuracies. The main character Sophie is a sheltered Catholic girl from a strict, rigid family, provided a compelling perspective. Being Catholic myself, I had to put aside my personal feelings about the faith to fully appreciate Sophie's journey.

Despite my personal baggage, the story was thoroughly engaging, drawing me into the turmoil and complexities of each character. The story's vivid portrayal of desperation and survival kept me hooked, and I found myself deeply invested in the fates of these characters. The ending of the novel was intense and emotionally raw. Overall, American Rapture is a gripping read that skillfully blends horror with human emotion.

Sophie Allen is a sheltered teenager living under the thumb of her strict parents and their oppressive brand of Catholicism. Her only friend and ally, her twin brother Noah, has been sent away to a program for “troubled” teens. Her life is boring, and bleak, and so so small…until a new virus cleaves through the country, turning people into sex-crazed maniacs. Now she has to leave everything behind and fight her way across Wisconsin, collecting a motley crew of companions as she fights her way to her brother, and fights against her awakening awareness of her body and what it means to be a woman
🪽
OOF. OOF OOF OOF. First of all thanks to @tornightfire for providing me this arc, THOUGH IT DOES FEEL VAGUELY LIKE A THREAT. In all seriousness, this is a novel that’s going to delight horror fans. It’s brutal unforgiving, but also heartbreakingly tender and incredibly important. Sometimes a book about female sexuality is written by someone who’s lusting after it, who makes it feel dirty: with this story that is so clearly not the case. CJ Leede masterfully shows the inherent terror of budding sexuality, tapping into the fear so many teenage girls feel at some point in her life. The ending fell a little flat for me (some open endings are a little too open in a way that makes the story feel unfinished) but over all this was a great-and heartbreaking-read.

Maeve Fly was one of my favorite books from 2023, so hearing that CJ Leede was working on a religious horror book? Hell yeah! I received an advanced reader’s copy to review and couldn’t be more happy that I didn’t have to wait any longer to read it.

American Rapture ramped up quickly and stayed there, giving the reader little rest between scene after scene of violence and mayhem. Sophie is an extremely sheltered girl in Catholic school, dealing with normal teenage problems. She’s processing her developing sexuality and beginning to question her Faith for the first time, so why not throw an apocalypse into the mix? From there we’re constantly moving forward in an attempt to find her twin brother and just one tiny moment of safety between scenes of violence as the world quickly falls apart.

I was drawn into the frantic pacing and had a sense of anxiety the whole time, barely able to process the horrible events before the next thing was happening. When it begins to feel like too much, Leede slows down. Not to give respite-we would be so lucky! No, we’re then treated to the most heartbreaking moments of the book, drawing out the gory details that made me squirm and wish for it to stop.

As you can see, I loved American Rapture. CJ Leede, you know what you’re doing-please don’t stop.

This is a tough review to write because I so wanted to love this one after Maeve Fly was one of my favorite books of last year. But this one just didn’t hit the same. Although I ended up enjoying the story by the end, there were large chunks of the beginning half of the novel that really dragged for me. I still think CJ Leede is an amazing writer with such creative ideas, so I look forward to continuing to follow her career. But something was just missing with this one.

I think part of my issue was that I expected this novel to be something it wasn’t - I anticipated more of a religious cult novel. And although there is a religious cult tangentially important to the story, that is not really what this novel is about. Instead this is more of a pandemic horror story laced with religious trauma. I found the religious trauma element much more interesting and could respect what the author was trying to do with the pandemic elements, but I just wasn’t really into that part of the story. It lends itself to large stretches of the novel where not much is happening other than the main character trying to find safety, and this was the part I really struggled to get through.

The main character, Sophie, is kind of interesting in that so much of the world is new to her due to her repressed background. But after a character like Maeve, she was largely forgettable to me. I did really enjoy the found family aspects of the novel, and when the large group of survivors were together talking about their past lives and helping each other to heal, those were the parts I really connected with and wanted more of. I liked the idea of Sophie searching for her real brother but finding family along the way. Unfortunately, this is really only the second half of the novel. There was also an age gap relationship hinted at that I found a little odd and uncomfortable given that Sophie was 16.

I don’t want to discourage anyone from reading this as I think there is a lot to offer here to others, particularly if you do enjoy pandemic stories or can relate more to the religious trauma elements. I think I set my expectations too high with this one and am left feeling disappointed but not sorry that I read this if that makes any sense.

A towering, complicated, emotional thrill ride through an American Hell. By digging deep and pushing boundaries, CJ Leede has produced what is easily her best work to date. The sleaze of "Maeve Fly" replaced with the massive feelings of a you g girl raised in a strict Catholic household in the Midwest. Half brutal post apocalyptic adventure, half introspective musings on what it means to alive. Excellent!

★ ★ ★ ★ • 4

This was unsettling in the way that only dystopian novels can be, but I mean that in the best way. I’d heard good things about CJ Leede’s debut, Maeve Fly and decided to give this book a try. Did not disappoint.

The given book description is a bit brief and vague, so I think it’s downplayed how big of a role religious fanaticism, toxic purity culture, and trauma play in the storyline. The main character is extremely sheltered and there’s definitely lots of TW. That said, I thought that the book was really good, but because of that specific aspect of the plot I wouldn’t recommend this to just anyone.

I really enjoyed the author’s writing style, which did a fantastic job of painting a very bleak and disturbing world from the eyes of a character who had trouble navigating things even while everything was “normal”.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is the first book I've considering dnf-ing out of fear. The author blends the coming of age story with the horror of living through the apocalypse so well. The highway scene genuinely had me sweating. I can't wait to grab a hard copy in the fall!

Just prepare to have your heart be ripped apart in the best and worst ways possible. This book is an amazing story about a virus ravaging the United States and creating an apocalyptic world à la The Walking Dead, but more importantly this intense personal journey of our FMC, Sophie. It was very interesting to see Sophie's life before this virus changed everything. The intense religious views she was taught was so well described and thought out that it almost felt like we were already living in the apocalyptic world from the book summary. It was tragic from the beginning when we slowly learned how emotionally and socially stunted Sophie was forced to be because of her upbringing. And then when we learn why her family was as religious as they were, specifically her mom, it just makes it all the more devastating.
Then as we go through the story, when the virus is really making itself known and its directly effecting Sophie and changing how the world works, we see her really understanding that maybe her upbringing wasn't quite right. I really loved the found family that she collects and loses along the way, and how her different relationships with each of those people changes how she views the world. I also thought it was so interesting to see Sophie be enticed into these new adult relationships that are being violently forced on her. She knows that what she's seeing is not how it's meant to be, but since it's so new and unknown, she still finds herself being tempted into wanting to explore these new things even if it may not be entirely inappropriate. But at the same time, she's also discovering the more innocent and childlike aspects of romantic relationships, so it's a really great exploration of balance and just the unknown in general that we see Sophie take on.
I think there probably could have been a little more conflict between the belief's Sophie grew up with and what she's seeing in real life. I think she is just way too accepting way too quickly of everyone she meets and their lifestyles. Of course were shown that Sophie is a really good person pretty early on, so it makes sense that she's quicker to accept others, but it seemed a little unrealistic. I think we should have seen a little more shame and guilt, and maybe a bit of unwilling hatred towards those who are different, instead of just a lot of innocence and naivety.
Overall, I think that this was an amazing story filled with very loveable and realistic characters and heartwarming relationships. It's a great exploration of human nature, especially when put into extreme circumstances. However, definitely check trigger warnings before reading, some of the topics in this book can be rough for people to read.