Loved all the horror tropes and the overall story and characters were very fun!
Lots of trigger warnings for this book though (rape, abortion, homophobia) and this along with how pretentious I did find the characters at times (I love you the most Ren, but I do often HATE reading your parts of the book) meant I felt pretty mixed about my feelings with this one. Might check out the sequel though particularly if we get more character development (plus Transylvania!)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Amazon.

Lovely gothic mystery

A mix of gothic novel and mystery, a book that pays homage to one of those great moment in literature history: the summer of 1816 when Mary Shelley's FRankenstein and Polidori's The Vampire were born.
A gripping read, atmospheric and intriguing. The characters are quite entitled and I didn't like them but the excellent storytelling kept me reading.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A YA book written by M.A. Bennett? I want it immediately. The story follows four teenage (18/19) horror fans spending the summer in the villa that inspired Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.
First we have Eve, a gothic novel booktuber with a morbid fascination with death following an operation gone wrong.
Then there is Hal, a soon to be film student who runs a youtube channel reacting to horror movies.
Ren, my personal favourite, is a gender-defying, vampire obsessed, ex-catholic who is quite flamboyant and easily the most likeable character.
Finally there is Griffin, a well known rapper running from someone and just wants to disappear for the summer.
All the characters are running from something in their past which slowly becomes revealed thoughout the story. The story is told from all their perspectives and I really liked how they seemed to be aware that everything that was happening around them seemed to follow the conventional horror movie rules. There are romantic elements between some of the characters but these are pretty mild and don't take over the mystery/horror part of the story. The plot twist about one of the characters was somewhat predictable and the ending felt a little rushed but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Just like with S.T.A.G.S., M.A Bennett knows how to set up a sequel and I am so looking forward to be able to read that whenever it comes. I can't tell too much about the story without spoiling it but it's definitely a creepy page turner

Despite being YA, there are some potentially triggering themes which I think should've been advertised more so be sure to check out the content warnings first but they may be spoilers: Child loss, abortion, sexual coercion

Thank you so much to M.A. Bennett, Hachette Children's Group and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in return for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

Young Gothic follows four young creatives as they attempt to recreate, 200 years later, the creative catalyst experienced by the famous writers Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley and Dr John Polidori, after their time at the Villa Diodati in the Summer of 1816. What results here is part whodunnit, part horror and all kinds of creepy, as the self-titled Young Gothics find themselves pursued by dark and malevolent forces. But are the things that lurk there by Lake Geneva real, or in their heads? Fueled by the horror stories of the Fantasmagoriana, the four find themselves questioning the motives, and sanity, of their housemates, and of themselves.

The voices of the 4 main characters are distinct, and I liked how the narration switched between them from chapter to chapter. The short chapters were also a winner for me. As a mother to 3 young children I often find myself reading in short bursts in quiet moments amongst the general chaos of life, so I find a book holds my attention best, and I can get through it quicker, if the chapters are short enough for me to finish one or two in my limited time.
I did find the characters sometimes sliding into stereotypes, and some plot aspects are predictable, BUT given the story's repeated discourse about gothic/horror tropes and archetypes I am leaning towards believing that this is the point, and that it is wholly intentional. And honestly, even if it isn't, it didn't distract too much from my enjoyment of the book anyway.
I found the first 2 thirds of the book most enjoyable. Without giving anything away, I did find one particular story arc, and the treatment of two of the more minor figures involved, fairly problematic, in that they felt very much like props to propel events forward, without being considered properly as characters in their own right, but again, perhaps this was an intentional decision, as a further comment on the formulaic nature of the genre. That being said the reactions of the major players to them and their fates did not seem authentic to me, and the ultimate tying up of this particular loose end seemed a bit rushed and unsatisfying. I expected bigger consequences or ramifications for at least one of the Young Gothics. But maybe this will come to pass in the inevitable sequel that is teased at the end.

All in all, I really enjoyed Young Gothic. It romped along at a great pace that kept me engaged & eager to read the next chapter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Children's Group for giving me the opportunity to review an advanced copy.

OK, fair warning - this is one of my Books of the Year. I finished it and could not stop gushing all over my socials. It may be hard to write this review, because I really am just 'EXCITED NOISES’ about it overall!

I shall, however, do my best dramatic goth pose and try to explain just why you need to pick this book up.

Most horror fans know that one of the key dates in horror history was the summer Mary Shelley and her poet husband, plus Lord Byron and his friend/doctor holidayed at the Villa Diodati. From that fateful meeting came the novel Frankenstein, but the experiences of those gothic dilettantes became almost a fairytale in itself.

Imagine if the mysterious owner of the Villa sought four young people to recreate that inspiration in the modern world. Those with a love of the gothic, certainly, but also with genuine sparks of creativity, utilising modern technology to combine vlogs and grimoires into an entirely new set of monsters.

I went into this with only the most basic idea of the story, and when I saw that it was a ‘found footage’-style narrative, I was intrigued. As ‘Dracula’ was told in letters and diaries, so is this, cleverly combining modern tropes with classic storytelling to convey the hope and excitement of the Chosen Guests embarking on their adventure - and bringing all their unique baggage with them.

As I read on, I realised how incredibly cunning this book is. Using the language of young adults in the 2020s, it’s easy to be wrong-footed and think we’re in for an quick slasher tale. Instead, each chapter unfolds to reveal more detail, about our characters and their difficult histories as well as the intricate game that they’re caught up in. This may be the opportunity of a lifetime, but it’s also a trap…

Each of our protagonists is well-written and sympathetic, and I was rooting for every one of them as the net started to pull tight. They may be a self-described modern ‘Scooby Gang’, with the ‘Cabin in the Woods’ tropes also being clearly lamp-shaded, but there are no caricatures here. I cared for them with their fears, pain and genuine humanity when faced with frankly impossible circumstances.

If you know your gothic literature (or horror in general), there’s Easter Eggs galore, but even though I had an idea of where things might go, there is absolutely no way that I could have foreseen how events would unfold.

As brilliantly plotted as Agatha Christie in her prime, this book is sheer brilliance and deserves all of the attention from horror fans, as a true love-letter to the genre. From its origins to present day (and I hear rumours of a sequel!), I’ll continue to recommend this everywhere I can.

This is an adventure that will stay with you, and that I’ll be gladly revisiting to see what I missed!

I was kindly sent an early copy of this book by the publisher, but the above opinions are entirely my own.

A gothic murder mystery/horror combo with intriguing characters, think this will be a winner in the library for older readers.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

Young Gothic, Young Gothic, 01
by M.A Bennett
★☆☆☆☆
427 Pages
multi-character POV
Content Warning: child loss, abortion, sexual coercion


DNF'd at 9%

The concept behind this book was utter brilliance – recreating that magical time in history when Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, John Polidori and Lord Byron gathered in one place and came away with the famous conceptual plots for Frankenstein and the Vampyre.
Sadly, it felt like the author agreed and wrote the book with that self-satisfied undercurrent of 'look what a great idea I created'. It really put me off, especially when the plot and characters couldn't live up to the promise of the concept.

I was surprised that this was billed as Teens & YA by the Hachette Children's Group, yet it contained the heavy triggers of abortion and sexual coercion. However, I can't comment on those because I didn't make it far enough into the book to come across them.

For me, the characters – a collection of 'bright and brilliant' creatives – were extremely unlikeable and overly pretentious with holier-than-thou attitudes. All of the characters were trying to be too relevant, using words like 'hench' and 'peng' – which, full disclosure, I have NEVER heard/seen before! – and yet they all failed to be even remotely relatable to real-life teens or creatives.
Strangely, the author put a lot of effort into the slang used by the teens, yet there were frequent grammar issues, like “if there would be a point” instead of “any point” and “my eyes are on stalks”. I have no idea if this was another choice made for the characters sakes, to somehow display their creative minds or their personalities, but it really rubbed me up the wrong way.

Honestly, it feels like the author wrote a homage to horror movies and literature, and only decided to make it YA to take advantage of the popularity of that market right now, because it felt VERY much like it was written as an adult novel. It had hints of the 90's movie The Haunting. The characters all had egos and reputations – like the viral BookTuber and Brit Award attending rapper – of adults. These did NOT feel like teenagers, in any way. Eve was a stereotypical goth girl, G the Poet was a stereotypical rapper, and Ren was a stereotypical gay teen with a flair for the DRAMATIC and OH MY GOD caps thought processes, to the point where I just rolled my eyes and gave up.

Again – full disclosure – I have been that teenage girl with a death sentence hanging over her head, having had cancer at 15 – and I REALLY disliked Eve and her attitude towards her own illness. I know everyone has a different experience of life-changing, terminal situations, and when you survive it leaves you with a shadow, but the way Eve acted, and insisting that she'd 'died' in some way, was frustrating to read and not the kind of message that I'd like to see in YA novels, for teenagers who might go through similar experiences. It doesn't leave a good impression or provide hope. More than that, I felt that Eve especially couldn't just explain or introduce herself, she had to somehow out-do everyone else, to prove that she wasn't just one-dimensional – even though she really was! – and wanted to make it quite clear that she was more than she appeared all the time. It got tiring, even only in the 9% I read.

While I do enjoy a good gothic story, Young Gothic mostly drools over anything gothic or horror rather than trying to be something new and individual or clever. There were SO MANY opportunities to take the story in a new and interesting direction, but it clung so tightly to what came before that it never gave itself room to breathe. It relied far too heavily on the past – trying (and failing, IMO) to imitate the Dracula epistolary concept in the first chapter – but it didn't actually COMMIT to any of the many directions it drifted towards. If it had just picked ONE direction and stuck to it, it probably would have been far more successful.

In the end, the story and characters didn't capture my interest at all. It was a cheesy horror movie from the late 90s that never quite reached the potential of the original concept. I didn't care where it went, what happened next, or if the characters grew out of their petty competitive clash of egos, because I didn't like any of the characters or connect to them.

Unfortunately, I think people will rave about this book because it feeds into all the currently popular tropes in YA horror fiction at the moment. Sadly, this just wasn't enough for me. I wanted something NEW and interesting, something that took what came before and BUILT on it. I wanted it to take the original concept, twist it, mould it, and make it into something smart and clever.

Overall, I'm really disappointed. The concept had a lot of promise, but it relied too much on that concept and just didn't even try to reach its full potential.

A cleverly plotted gothic story. Told from 4 pov each character has their own story to tell and this adds to everything within the tale. This confirms MA Bennett as one of the must read ya authors

Book review 📚
Young Gothic by M.A Bennett
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oh my goodness. I requested this book on a whim after seeing Gothic in the tittle. Yes, I always go in blind, it’s more fun. But usually, it’s just the cover that draws me in. A pleasant surprise when it was the title more than the cover that hooked me! To try and put into words how spectacular this book is will be difficult but I will try!

The gothic vibes – prepare yourself because every single aspect of this book lived up to its title. But the added concepts of mystery, magic and charm in addition is phenomenal. It’s hard to imagine a book being successful with so many different vibes, but Bennett has achieved that.

I loved the multiple POVs from the 4 main characters, it helps enhance the story and have more of an insight into each character and their feelings along the way. I was completely invested in all of the characters and just could not put this down until I was finished.

Bennett clearly has a unique way of writing where she makes the reads creepy and GOTHIC but the way she also made it fun was mind blowing.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an e-Arc copy in exchange for an honest review. I LOVED THIS BOOK!! I love the concept and how Bennett combined the gothic classics with a modern day setting was really well done. I really enjoyed the difference in the characters and how they all had their own personalities. I also enjoyed the pacing - I genuinely flew through this book. I liked the reveals at the end but it fell a tad flat to me. Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed this book and would recommend!

As a read, this was magical, mysterious, and brimmed with gothic charm. Eve, Ren, Griff, and Hal are their own characters within their own rights, and each of their point of views frames the story in a way the adds to the narrative instead of being confusing or repetitive.
As a horror fan (both books and films), it was refreshing to find a YA novel allude to classic horror and gothic references, and the way this story is written and structured does itself justice, especially when conventional twists and turns within the pages occur. There are your typical stereotypes and archetypes, both in character and setting, but it helped add to the mystery when you think they follow what you’d expect typically but instead they twist a little bit more to maintain some mystery!
I’ve never read any of Bennett’s previous works, but I might have to after this! A fabulous read that was fast paced and thrilling from beginning to end.

Creepy, enticing, and a little bit cheesy, Young Gothic is a spirited if flawed mystery that takes a quintet of teens and plops them on remote Switzerland, at the birthplace of Shelley's Frankenstein, only to run into a series of haunting and the like. It has audacious scope but clumsy execution (the 2016 setting contains dialogue on the edge of cringe), particularly the final reel which threatens to spill into outright goofiness. On the whole though, it's an enjoyable, Gothic treat for YA readers.

Introduction
M.A. Bennett is well known for her intricate, plotty books; the STAGS series is her most famous, but she's written others as well. While Gothic specifically is new to her, I couldn't wait to see how she'd handle it. And look at that cover! Although I'm going spoiler free here, I'll tell you that everything on that cover relates to something that happens in the book.

Plot Summary
As you read above, the plot concerns the Villa Diodati, the famous summer house where Byron, the Shelleys and Polidori created their infamous works of fiction during a cold, stormy summer. Frankenstein, his monster, and the progenitor of Dracula were all born in the villa. Four English teens are invited to stay as part of a creative workshop hosted by a Swiss philanthropic company. They are all afraid of something; they are all running from something. But they may find their demons have followed them.

Characters
Our four main characters seem like fairly typical teens. No spoilers, but each has a tragedy of a different kind in their pasts. I appreciated that there were only four to keep track of - I often have trouble with large casts! The characters were nicely different from each other without being complete stereotypes.

Writing Style
MA writes in a chatty, easy to follow style. She is excellent at building tension and knows exactly when to back off and let things rest a little. Her descriptions of the surroundings are amazing, all sky blue lakes and creepy churches and decadent houses. Amazing.

Themes and Messages
This is more or less a straight horror story, but there are a few hints of messages - that we aren't always responsible for what we think we are, that 'responsible' and 'guilty' aren't the same thing, that we should embrace all parts of ourselves, even the parts that seem monstrous. None of this is 'beat you over the head', it's all just in the background, simmering away under the horror and jump scares.

Setting
I mentioned the descriptions of the setting above, but I'll mention them here again because it really is brilliantly done. The decandence of the villa, the different rooms and spaces, the views outside. Even the trips they take away from the villa are amazingly described. It all adds incredibly to the atmosphere.

Strengths
It really is a remarkably creepy book, and we're given just enough information at just the right times to let us figure out what's happening and who it's happening to and to guess at the ending. I got some things right and some things wrong, which is pretty good for an M.A. book!

Weaknesses
Especially in the middle of the book, it felt a little like we'd got stuck in a loop of 'scary thing happens, everyone discusses while keeping secrets, scary thing happens, everyone discusses while keeping secrets'. Luckily that didn't last long, the kids started communicating properly, and the story moved on. I'm also not 100% sure what the aim of the antagonists was? I may have missed something in the monologuing - oh yes, there's monologuing. Perhaps it'll be explained more clearly in the probable sequel.

Personal Connection
I genuinely did find this creepy, and I'm not someone who scares easily with this kind of thing. I thought the earlier parts, where it was all mysterious and we didn't know what was going on, were more creepy than later, but then I enjoyed having a better understanding as well, so I guess it balances out!

Conclusion
This is a great read for horror or mystery loving teens. You don't need to have read Frankenstein or Dracula; the basic pop culture knowledge we all have will be plenty to carry you through.

Further Reading/Viewing
If you enjoyed this one, you might like M.A.'s STAGS series, or the stand alone The Island. I also recommend the Red Eye series, a set of mostly unconnected horror stories for teens - I especially recommend Frozen Charlotte for horror or, for another isolated setting, Fir. And of course you could try Dracula and Frankenstein for some OG horror!

Filled with deadly secrets and the monsters you thought only existed in your mind ...
Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren embark on the summer of a liftime at the Villa Diodati, bitthplace of the stories of Frankenstein and Dracula.

Soon, their stay falls under the shadow of mysterious events, dark secrets and monsters that should be inaginary coming to haunt the four young people. Until a fifth guest is found dead ona dark and stormy night - Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren then become suspects in the murder.

This is a great YA horror with some truly spine-chilling moments, a lot of atmosphere and nods to the classics in the genre. I particularly liked M.A. Bennett's character building and development, all enveloped in mystery, drawn out at just the right pace to keep the reader gripped. A must-read for fans of gothic horror.

I’m a HUGE fan of M.A Bennett’s work so was delighted to be approved for an ARC of Young Gothic.
I devoured it. It’s a classic YA read thats easy and fast paced with fact and fun twists and turns - many I expected, some I didn’t.
I did feel like some elements were being repeated over and over again and found some of the twists pretty predictable but this tends to happen with YA mystery! Ultimately it’s a good read!

Thank you to Hachette Children’s Group and Netgalley for the ARC!

A huge amount of Gothic inspired fun full of twists and turns on every page. I will have students lining up out the door for this one!

Utterly devoured this one. Lots of fun and filled with twists and turns I wasn’t expecting! I did feel like some elements were being repeated over and over again, and found some of the twists predictable, but ultimately really enjoyed the reading experience.

“Why can’t she be every woman like Chaka Khan says? They don’t make good songs out of bad ideas.”

If you like horror of any kind—Gothic, slasher, even J-Horror—you will love this book. Following Eve, Hal, Griffin, and Ren as they win the chance to summer in the same Swiss villa as Mary Shelley and her peers, this book soon spirals into all out madness without ever losing its initial heart. As strange occurrences dig up buried secrets from their past, each of our narrators must face their own monsters. None of them ever felt like a weak link: not Eve, with her morbid fascination with death after a close brush with it; nor Griffin, the rapper with a gruesome past wishing he could just disappear; nor Ren, my favourite gender-defying, ex-churchgoing Yorkshireman; nor even Hal, whose typical male-film-student attitude I hated with a passion at the start but grew on me as he grew as a character. The big twist is pretty obvious from the start, but instead of spoiling the surprise, the foreshadowing only made it even more enjoyable to follow along the trail of breadcrumbs to the classic Gothic novels that inspired it. In short, this book combined all the best elements of contemporary mystery with everything I adore about the Gothic genre, and I can only hope the sequel hook pays off.

I am forever indebted to my friend who introduced me to M.A. Bennett, after buying me a copy of S.T.A.G.S. a few years ago. I then went on to devour the entire series, to the point where I didn’t want to read the final one, because I didn’t want it to end. Well, this book is exactly the same - I couldn’t wait to read on and find out how the story would unfold, whilst simultaneously not wanting the book to end. I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw that M.A. Bennett had a new book out on NetGalley and signed up for it in record time. And wow oh wow, I’m honestly winning the lottery with my ARCs lately. This book is simply further evidence of Bennett’s ability to write a story filled with intricate twists, relatable and endearing characters as well as an excellent air of mystery, gothic beauty and the macabre.
The premise of the story is inspired by the meeting of four of the greatest gothic writers: Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, John Polidori and Lord Byron. Based in Geneva, the story follows the view points of four young adults who are awarded the chance to stay at the same place, but 200 years later. Each of the characters has something to hide and their secrets slowly reveal themselves, as well as secrets about themselves that they didn’t even know they had. But who can they trust? Can they even trust what they think they know about themselves? Can they trust their own eyes?
I honestly cannot recommend this book enough (as well as any books by M.A. Bennett) and will always be on the lookout for any books written by her; she has an amazing talent for writing gothic YA literature. The part about Schroedinger’s Cat in the scenario of a stranger knocking at the door - truly inspired and if it wasn’t for my Ring doorbell, something that I would wonder about everytime!
As soon as I finished this, I was online shopping to ensure that I have a physical copy of this to add to my collection - if only there was a special edition of this available! Now to begin the agonising wait for (hopefully) the next instalment in this story.

Oh, and spiders and flies are never something that I relish having around, but now will never be able to look at them without thinking about the ‘crunch’ that they might make…

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, M.A.Bennett and Hachette Children’s Group for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.