Book Tour: Beautiful Brutal Bodies by Linda Cheng

Beautiful Brutal Bodies

by

Linda Cheng

YA Horror

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Publishing Date: November 4, 2025

Page count: 336 pages

SYNOPSIS:

Full of skin-crawling folk horror and sapphic romance, this feral fairytale and standalone follow-up to GORGEOUS GRUESOME FACES follows a reclusive songstress and her bodyguard who must unravel the occult mysteries of their past to escape from a cursed island.

Tian is a singer-songwriter with a massive online following, known for her hypnotic vocals and ethereal looks. But behind the glamorous façade is a disturbing reality: raised in an isolated mansion, Tian is a prisoner in her own life.

Liya is Tian’s childhood friend and her only close companion, tasked with protecting Tian at all costs. But hidden beneath Liya’s beautiful human exterior is a beastly secret: her teeth are far too sharp, and her appetite much too ferocious.

When several fans mysteriously suffer fatal injuries while watching her livestream, Tian, along with Liya, are sent to a spiritual healing retreat on a remote island in the South China Seas. They are joined by Tian’s musical collaborator Shenyu, a troubled idol whose recent brush with the law and string of bad boyfriends has him seeking his own new start. But the trio soon discovers that the island is no peaceful getaway. There is constant surveillance, bizzare rituals, and something terrifying lurking in the forest. Something not quite human.

In order to escape with her loved ones, Tian must uncover her connection to the island’s blood-drenched legend — and the truth behind Liya’s monstrous identity — before the island claims them all as its final sacrifice.

Content Warning: blood, body horror

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Linda Cheng was born in Taiwan and spent her childhood moving between cultures and continents. She received her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and worked as an art director across South Carolina and Georgia where she developed a deep love for sweet tea, grits, and Southern Gothic stories. She currently resides in Vancouver, Canada with her family.

Her debut novel GORGEOUS GRUESOME FACES was named one of Kirkus Review’s best young adult books of the year 2023, and has been nominated for the 2025 White Pine Award.

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November 3rd
BookCrushin – Book Look
Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – Promotional Post

November 4th
Mx. Phoebe’s Viewpoint – Review, Favorite Quotes
The Violet West – Top 5 Reasons to Read Beautiful Brutal Bodies

November 5th
Betwixt The Sheets – Promotional Post
Kim’s Book Reviews and Writing Ahas – Review, Tik Tok

November 6th
Ilovebooksandstuffblog – Promotional Post
The Clever Reader – Promotional Post

November 7th
Confessions of a YA Reader – Promotional Post
Never Hollowed By The Stare – Promotional Post

November 8th
Books1987 – Promotional Post
The Book Dutchesses – Promotional Post

November 9th
foxingontheedges – Review

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Book Review: When Ghosts Call Us Home by Katya de Becerra

When Ghosts Call Us Home by Katya de Becerra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is an eerie, atmospheric story of a young woman trying to reconnect with a beloved, missing sister.

When Ghosts Call Us Home is the creative brainchild of talented author Katya de Becerra and is a gem of a young adult horror story that breathes uncertainty and unease into every suspense-filled page. The inwardly focused narrative placed me in the story at the very center of the young protagonist’s frightening experiences.

The main character, Sophia Galich, had struggled for the past five years with the fame and renown of her older sister, Layla, and her starring role in Layla’s hit horror, Vermillion. Even though she knew all the terrifying images in the movie that her twelve-year-old self had encountered during the filming were special effects, they’d imprinted themselves deep and refused to release their grip on her psyche.

But after her much-loved sister disappeared without a trace two years ago, not a moment goes by that Sophia doesn’t grieve her absence. She jumps at the chance to return to the house where the film was shot to search for signs of her missing sister, even though it is for a documentary on the film in preparation for the five-year anniversary of its release.

Knowing her parents would not approve of this plan, Sophie constructs a well-planned deception to keep them in the dark, including forging their signatures and sending them pictures from her friends’ vacations. The parents have to be grieving themselves, but it appears from the story they have a long history of being distracted when it comes to their daughters, while they are trying to make a living. Note to parents: there are enough good ideas presented here to be considered a fairly good how-to guide.

The story unfolds from Sophia’s point of view, with surprise after surprise increasing the suspense. There’s a scene reminiscent of The Phantom of the Opera when a chandelier inexplicably crashes down on the exact spot Sophia was sitting moments before. The eerie goings-on, the constant sound of the ocean pounding against the rocky cliff where Cashore House sets, and the certainty of being watched by more than motion-activated cameras keep everyone, readers included, on the edge. I became unsettled by the atmosphere in the old house and began to notice every weird sound in my own as I read. The payoff, however, was well worth the unease.

I recommend WHEN GHOSTS CALL US HOME to readers of young adult horror, thrillers, mysteries, and suspense.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.

View all my reviews

Book Review: The Devil's in the Dancers by Catherine Yu

The Devil's in the Dancers by Catherine Yu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Suspenseful and atmospheric young adult horror story!

The Devil's in the Dancers by Catherine Yu is an engrossing and eerily atmospheric young adult horror story set at an exclusive and elite summer ballet intensive for the children of the wealthy and privileged. Told from the viewpoint of a hopeful young scholarship student who is there to augment her high school resume for her application for admission to Harvard, this haunting, upended fish-out-of-water story had me glued to its pages.

Marianne "Mars" Chang is thrilled to be accepted into the prestigious Allegra Academy summer ballet intensive on a full scholarship. She is shocked when the founder, Allegra Bechler, takes a personal interest in her attendance, holding out the possibility of a place at the school for the regular term, if she'll do her one small favor. Alex, Mars's roommate, is Allegra's great-niece and is acknowledged as the best dancer in the program, despite the girl having expressed her flagging interest in dancing. Allegra wants Mars to secretly replace Alex's daily nutritional supplements with a new and improved formulation not yet on the market. Mars agrees despite her ethical reservations, but finding the right moment to make the switch proves to be a logistical problem. As she begins to question the fairness of giving the most privileged dancer yet another advantage over the others, she impulsively shares one of the pills with a struggling but devoted scholarship student. Hannah shows immediate and amazing improvement in her performance, but soon begins to exhibit some alarming side effects. When Allegra turns a deaf ear to Mars's concerns and Alex's friends close ranks against her, she desperately tries to warn Alex of her aunt's plans and get her away from the ominously over-secured campus.

Mars is a likable main character with reasonable hopes and aspirations, despite agreeing to the founder's suspicious plans to switch out her great-niece's supplements. Why didn't she just approach Alex straight on? Mars is an underdog from the wrong background, with a reach-for-the-stars dream. Alex is the cool girl, and Mars develops a crush as she gets to know her, genuinely lacking the thought of how Alex's status could enhance her own. However, her attraction to her roommate takes a backseat to the mystery behind the need for the supplements and what is really going on at the school. Alex's friend from home, Naomi, Sophie, and Sasha, are creepy and menacing 'mean girls' and their presence really keeps the action suspenseful.

The Allegra Academy setting is gothically atmospheric, with empty, echoing hallways and unusually proportioned spaces. In a secluded, remote location, the sprawling campus is fenced and gated, with a plethora of cameras keeping watch, but perhaps not for possible intruders, but for the program attendees. Strictly-enforced curfews add another layer of control and a hint of menace.

The plot moves quickly, and the author's storytelling is absorbing; I read this book cover to cover in one day. The ballet classes and dancers' experiences will be familiar territory to students of dance. The aches, the pains, the interminable rehearsals, and the chaos of the dressing room before performances are realistic and may be eye-opening to those unfamiliar with ballet life. I loved how the story gradually transformed from a fish-out-of-water tale into a horror story with unexpected elements of the supernatural. The climax was an absolutely terrifying surprise and answered the questions I'd been harboring from the very beginning. I was delighted that I was not left hanging in the aftermath but presented with an ending of hope for normality for the girls.

I recommend THE DEVIL'S IN THE DANCERS to readers of young adult horror, especially those who enjoy stories set in boarding schools, remote settings, ballet, and a hint of sapphic romance.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy through Toppling Stacks Tours.

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Book Review: Lonely Places by Kate Anderson

Lonely Places by Kate Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An atmospheric setting, creepy plot, and guilt combine for a satisfying young adult tale of psychological terror.

Lonely Places is a new young adult psychological horror story by author Kate Anderson, and its rich, evocative setting will have readers jumping in their seats at every unidentified noise. The young protagonist is realistically portrayed, and many readers will easily relate to her and her feelings, effectively edging up the engagement in this absorbing tale.

Chase Woolf is the older sister and narrator of the story. Soon to turn 18, she’s desperately unhappy with her father’s choice of the family’s vagabond lifestyle. She longs for a stable, traditional home, specifically the one from her childhood memories in Boone, North Carolina, where they lived down the street from her paternal grandparents until their deaths. Instead, her father has committed the family to living at a remote fire lookout station for a year. Her goal is to make enough money over the summer and upcoming school year to escape her current life, as well as the guilt she bears for leaving her much younger sister, Gus, behind in the woods at her family’s campsite six months earlier and the young girl’s resulting trauma. Lost for hours, when the family finally found Gus, she was tear-streaked and terrified and hadn’t spoken a word since, except to mumble to herself and now the trees that surround the fire lookout station their father has brought them to for the coming year.

The setting in remote Utah in the middle of the Pando Aspen Grove, a real location, is vivid and creepy and plays a main role in the unfolding tale. The slow reveal of past issues at the fire lookout station are eerie twists that serve to intensify the growing suspense as Chase watches her younger sister start to spend more and more time in amongst the trees, collecting the myriad bones she finds, slowly fading away from the young sister she knew and changing for the worse. As a parent, I wanted to shake the girls’ parents; both of these girls needed more help than a change of scenery or just ignoring it could provide. In addition to the unique and compelling mysteries of what was going on at Pando, there is the start of a normal romance for Chase at the nearby summer camp.

The author’s easy-to-read writing style, evocative setting, vulnerable protagonists, and slowly simmering suspense of the story kept me interested and invested from start to finish. I recommend LONELY PLACES to readers of young adult psychological horror and thrillers.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.


View all my reviews