I'd like to thank UCLan Publishing for providing this e-arc, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 ⭐ magic and teenagers, what could go wrong?

It's all fun and games till somebody gets eaten.

Meet Ivy, a young adult trying to keep kids safe from spells gone wrong and hell creatures. When things take a turn, Ivy has her own reasons to put her safety on the line to help save a teenage girl...

This was a lot of fun. Quick to read and keeps you entertained enough that you just want to see what happens next!

This was a fun and quick read about Ivy, who opened a rift into dark magic four years ago with her friends and now works as a security guard in a school to protect the children from monsters and hell hounds. Her cat is her Gran and that's not the only weird thing! Ivy is in a race against time to save a girl who has a hell hound after her and there is lots of fighting and magic spells to create an exciting and fast paced book.

I loved this! Fantasy at its finest, normal people, normal lives but dark things happen when friends try and raise one of their own from the dead! YA but can be read by anyone. Check it out if fae and demons are your thing!

Lots of action, reminded me of Buffy but crossed with zombies. This is my first book by author Bryony Pearce but would happily read some more. It flowed well.

I really wanted to like this but struggled to get into it. I didn’t know where I was from the start and just felt confused.

It had great potential but just wasn’t for me - I had to DNF

I loved this, it was so quick and easy to get into and just fall in love with the world and it’s characters, it’s so fast paced and so much action, so much fun, gore and such a great YA horror, recommend to anyone, I’d have loved this as a YA myself

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This book wants to be the next Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a little bit of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
The premise was good enough. Magic in modern Britain didn't exist until one day Ivy and her friends manage to perform a deadly spell. Now a portal to hell has opened and Ivy has took it on herself to protect her community from zombies.
Zombies aren't normally a subject I'd choose to read about. Maybe that's why it took me a while to get round to reading this Netgalley approval. However, this was a pretty good YA horror. I think I wanted a bit more world building and explanation though.

I had a few download issues with the book and by the time it was sorted, the file had unfortunately been achieved. Happy to re-review if it becomes available again.

I absolutely loved this book, it was right up my street! I requested an ARC of this novel, having read another YA novel published by UCLan Publishing, Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw. This was just as entertaining and I read the entire book in one sitting. I will definitely be putting more of Bryony Pearce's works on my TBR list.

I will be honest and say that Raising Hell was a book that left me conflicted. The fact it was such a quick and easy read had a part of me wanting to give this a three-star rating. At the same time, it was too quick and easy for me to give it such a rating. Therefore, while this one did have some interesting elements, it was not quite enough to win me over.

I think the main reason why I did not love this, why I felt it was too quick and easy, was because there was no real depth to the worldbuilding. We had an explanation that linked to the story, yet there were lots of bigger picture details that were never explained in full. I wanted those details, wanted to see how they really played into things, yet there were always over and done with too quickly. I think part of this comes down to the fact that this story was so fast paced. It focused upon the action, which was great, but it meant the other important aspects were somewhat lacking. With more focus on these details – to create a bigger picture, to make the emotions of the characters more believable – it would have been great to explore some of the details at a slower pace, with the story spread out over a longer time.

All in all, this had potential, I enjoyed some aspects of it, but it didn’t quite deliver.

I'm a little bit torn on this one. On the face of it it's a good story, good characters etc. But it just wasn't quite as I hoped. I suppose what I was hoping for was a Buffy type story but with a British edge to it. But this felt a bit like an above average fan fiction story of an American series, but one where they happened to be in Britain....except it didn't feel British at all. But if I can let that go it really is quite enjoyable. Its telling my 10 year old loved it.....not 100% positive it was suitable for her but it really seemed to appeal. So 3 stars from me, but a extra star for getting her reading!

A super fun YA supernatural adventure with a wonderfully British sense of humour. This reminded me of the style of my favourite middle grade and young adult books growing up and it was really just a whole lot of fun.

This has the potential to be an interesting series, though I felt some elements of the story were not explained early enough to help us really understand why certain events were happening. A healthy disregard for the rules and a knowing black humour helps this story rattle along, and definitely hint at some potential issues to come.
Our main character is a young woman called Ivy. When we first meet her she is wandering into her old high school carrying a machete and on the lookout for dangerous teenagers. I admit, at this point, I had no idea what was happening or how we came to be in this situation. Little information is given at the beginning, but we witness Ivy's involvement in trying to prevent one of the students from summoning a hell hound and causing total chaos. The world building does not come early, and though this does lead to some uncertainty over why these events are happening it didn't mar my enjoyment of what was actually taking place.
What we soon learn is that Ivy and a group of friends were responsible for carrying out an act four years ago that changed the way the world works. They opened a portal to hell as they tried to summon the dead body of their friend. Things did not go to plan, people died, and Ivy now feels she has to atone for her dalliance in black magic by protecting those teens who seem to have an affinity for the dark arts.
We follow Ivy and her unwilling companions - which include her grandma's spirit stuck in a cat - in this journey to try and help banish the hell hounds summoned at the start. Someone is behind these growing events, and Ivy eventually learns that no matter how well prepared you are for strange occurrences, sometimes you have to make it up as you go along.
There's plenty of action, a lot of bizarre events and a healthy love of gore. As a teenager I think I would have loved this - we watch the misfits trying to find their place in this new world, without guidance and - on occasion - getting it horribly wrong.
While the world-building left a little to be desired at times, there was enough here to entertain me. I particularly enjoyed the hints of what might come next as Ivy learns to adjust to her new skills.
Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this in advance of publication.

I was so excited for this and it didn’t disappoint! Just the right amount of serious and light-hearted. It was fun with lots of tense/action packed scenes and I really enjoyed it!

This starts by immediately hooking you in to the action, with a twist on the idea of school “checkpoints” scanning students for weapons/contraband.

The story then begins from the middle: in the past, Ivy and her teen friends, grieving, meddled with forces outside their understanding and brought magical forces into the world, which only teens have access too. Chaos ensued. In the present, Ivy has a job Buffy-ing magical security at the local high school in order to secretly make amends, and lives with her grandmother, who is… a little unusual. And that’s where this story begins.

Teens meddling, like teens will, manage to start a zombie near-apocalypse, and it is down to Ivy and her friends to try to right past wrongs and fix their mistakes before everyone dies… or worse!

There is loads of shock-horror here – heads lopped off and babies eaten – some humour, and even a little bit of a political commentary (the BRP). There are themes of guilt and blame, sacrifices and selfishness, and the dangers of acting on pure emotion without considering the consequences.

Not everything in the plot made sense, and the characters were not all as well-developed as I would have liked, but this was a really fun, action-packed read and I would definitely be happy to read more from both Ivy Mann and Bryony Pearce in future.

- Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

This was fun!

I originally requested this as I loved a thriller by Bryony who mentioned that she had a YA read coming out! With a name like Raising Hell and that plot synopsis, I was sold.

Ivy is quite a run of the mill character, who by the end I was really rooting for as she's shouldering a lot of burden and finally has that defining moment where she unfiltered tells everyone her feelings. To have a let open a rift for dark matter to enter the world whilst your grandma is turned into a snarky cat? Life's tough. But Ivy's got a job to do.

This read more MG to me which isn't a bad thing at all, but I felt this lacked substance as YA. The descriptions do get very gory (love) and there is fighting and harsh words but this is barely a whisper. Surrounded by goths with attitudes, there aren't many relationships or friendships but Danny was my saving grace and enjoyed the part he played.

An easy read to pick up when you need a fun YA fantasy that has a slight darkness to it - zombie apocalypse anyone?

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this one early!

What a thrillingly gory ride! I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book and it really did not disappoint. I am looking forward to any future works from this author thanks to this book.

Thank you to the publishers and author for providing me with a review copy of this book via Netgalley for an honest review.

Ok, I never knew how much I needed a gory zombie apocalypse book until I read this.

Because I’m terrified of zombies.

I usually don’t go near any books, movies or mention of zombies. For some reason, I decided that I wanted to try reading this and then I actually got sucked in to this weird ghosty, zombie, hell-filled world.

What really drew me in was that the main character named their machete, Matilda. It was so odd that I just had to read on. It was like I was dropped into this world and I was so confused in the first few pages that I kept reading to find out more.

It was just what I needed. How do I know? Because I READ THIS IN ONE DAY! No joke, I started at 8 am and finished just now (night). This never happens to me so I’m mind blown.

It was like reading a really cool, gritty version of buffy the vampire slayer but with hell hounds and zombies.

Overall, a very enjoyable book. Slightly chilling, slightly comedic but overall brilliant.

Raising Hell by Bryony Pearce is set in a world where a rift has been opened which allows black magic to happen.  Ivy works as a school security guard in a high school as teenagers are the ones who can work magic.

But Ivy is hiding a secret - she was there when the rift was opened, along with her friends.

This is a YA urban fantasy novel, which is entertaining, and a good introduction to urban fantasy.  I enjoyed the way the story was woven together, and was cheering on Ivy and the others.

 Raising Hell  was published on 3rd June 2021 and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

You can follow Bryony Pearce on  Twitter ,  Facebook ,  Instagram  and her  website .

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  UCLan Publishing .

What an opening! And the thrill ride doesn't stop there. This book is so fast paced and fun from the first page onwards. Ivy is such a brilliant and kickass character and having it set in the UK was so nice to see.

There's a great balance between humour and action that keeps you turning pages and making this a hand to put down book.

This is a must read for fans of of YA Horror, Buffy, The Craft and zombies! I can highly recommend Raising Hell!