#when devils sing

faves of 2025: YA horror

The Corruption of Hollis Brown

They Bloom At Night

The Dead of Summer

Hazelthorn

When Devils Sing

Beautiful Brutal Bodies

Winning the Award for Terrible Parents in Fiction!

Wʜᴇɴ Dᴇᴠɪʟs Sɪɴɢ by Xan Kaur is a captivating Southern Gothic horror that ensnares you from the first page and really makes you question what would cause you to make a deal with the devil.

We follow four teens as they become entangled in the dangers of their hometowns as past and present intermix - where everyone knows that people go missing every 13 years with the arrival of the cicadas but no one knows exactly why.

If you love tense and atmospheric creeping Southern Gothic, complete with cult activity and living folklore, then Wʜᴇɴ Dᴇᴠɪʟs Sɪɴɢ is the book for you.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘢

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭

𝘈𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘢

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘵

𝘉𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘢

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵

Thank you to Macmillan for originally providing a digital review copy!

When Devils Sing

Rating: 3/5

Book Blurb:

Four unlikely allies in a small town investigate a local teen's disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their community is far more sinister and ancient than they could’ve ever imagined. For fans of She is a Haunting, True Detective, Mexican Gothic, and Midsommar. When Dawson Sumter goes missing, all he leaves behind is a smattering of blood in room 4 of the debt-ridden motel owned by Neera Singh's family. Disappearances like this aren't uncommon in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially every thirteen years when a periodical cicada brood returns from underground, shrieking their deafening screams.

For Neera, Dawson is another reminder that in this corner of the South, the rich only get richer, and the poor—well, nothing good comes their way.

Neera sets out to investigate Dawson’s whereabouts—if he even still lives—along with three other teens: Isaiah, son of a prominent judge and clandestine true crime podcaster; Reid, son of the wealthiest man in the region; and Sam, estranged daughter of the local hitman. As they find themselves entangled in a messy web of secrets and lies, they discover the riches of the adjacent Lake Clearwater community may have a terrifying source of power dating back to the town’s founding and an ancient urban legend about three devils, each more sinister than the next. How deep does the rot go, and can they find a way to escape its reach?

Review:

A southern gothic about a missing boy, a small town with dark secrets, and four teens who are right at the center of it. This was a really atmospheric gothic read and while it was really slow it had a really well done atmosphere and vibe to it. I do think it's an enjoyable gothic read for YA readers but it was just too slow for me personally. I do adore gothic books but I kind of wish it had a faster pace. The book has a fairly slow burn and pace and everything finally picks up at the end in a fun kind of horror/gothic twist but it's a slow read until that point.

Release Date: May 27, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

bugs & insects bookmark + books

for all the creepy crawlies (affectionate)... here's some bug adjacent books I enjoy:

The Works of Vermin - horror fantasy set in a city of plants and giant bugs and political turmoil

The Stone Wētā - climate fiction novella about a network of women protecting climate data in a future where science is suppressed

What Feeds Below - YA fantasy horror adventure about a girl rescuing her friend from a deep cave ecosystem full of dangerous plants, creatures, and monsters

Werecockroach - weird sci-fi novella about someone moving into a new flat with some odd flatmates, on the day aliens arrive

House of Hollow - YA horror about 3 sisters with lost memory from the time they went missing as kids, after one disappears again

2025 reads / storygraph

When Devils Sing

YA southern gothic

set in a small town that holds a festival for the cicada broods that emerge every 13 years, often coinciding with disappearances

follows the son of the town’s richest man, whose friend is missing

the lesbian daughter of the local hitman, who made a deal with a devil to save her brother after a car crash

a Punjabi-American girl who dreams of being a musician like her late uncle, and has to find a way to save her family’s debt-ridden motel

and the son of a prominent judge who’s a true crime podcaster, and was contacted by the missing boy before he disappeared

in the lead up to the cicada festival they all have to work together to investigate what happened, and if he can still be saved - or if he’s part of a much darker secret about their town