Reviews

Wicked Little Things by Justin Arnold

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maggeroni's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

3.25

thisgayreads's review

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3.0

3 / 5 ⭐️'ˢ

“Wicked Little Things” By Justin Arnold

📕 Edition: Audiobook

Honestly, this book wasn't my cup of tea. While the premise had potential, it just didn't resonate with ME. 🤷🏻‍♂️

The story follows Dane Craven, a 16-year-old witch who returns to his small hometown after his cousin's murder. With uncontrollable fiery powers, he's thrust into a coven of fashion-conscious 'mean girls' who want to give him a makeover. The idea of mixing witchcraft, murder, and high school drama sounded intriguing, but the execution fell short for ME.

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miranda_graham's review

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adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Overall, a decent (cheesy) teen fantasy rom com deal. We love a book that has openly gay, bi, trans characters. Thank you for the inclusivity! My issues with the book are:

1) So…did our main character summon a ghost to kill his cousin? It is a bit unclear still in the ending.

2) Dear cousin still died being a bit of a bigot. But learned better now he was dead? Is this really the plot point we needed? Couldn’t he have died thinking he was in the wrong for painting a slur on Dane’s head and simply died trying to help save the family from the ghost?

3) I feel like we could have gotten more backstory for the ghost “Rabbit Skins” to understand why he agreed to a deal with the devil. It would have even been more satisfying if when vanquished, he said “Thank you” to Dane or something to signify that he regretted the deal he made.

4) Maybe just a me thing, but I don’t understand how Dane and E.J. were taking their relationship so seriously so fast? And the whole E.J. being a werewolf thing felt forced. I’m not sure it was really necessary as a plot point. Yet it does open the door to future books in this universe (also with the side quest of searching for a lost trans-brother) so I can understand why the author may have included this. May have better served this book if E.J. was seriously considered as a suspect for the murders before the actual killer was revealed.

On the whole, this was good if you’re in a mood for cheesy teen love with some monster stuff sprinkled in-between.

Content Warnings

jaredjustwantstoread's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

That’s the ultimate question at hand for Dane. He’s suddenly found himself with a lot of power and it’s not fully in his control. On top of that he has to solve a mystery and catch a killer.

I was in from page one. This book has so many of my favorite things: horror, queerness, witches, mean girls, an adorable animal sidekick. Not to mention sarcasm and sass.

It’s giving Heathers meets Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets Halloween. How very!!

I don’t read a lot of horror, even though it’s one of my favorite movie genres, and I honestly picked this up on a whim. I thought it looked fun and gay and creepy. And it delivered on all of the above. I’m so here for the creepy rabbit man and his even creepier lullaby.

The whole story has an undercurrent of eeriness. Every bump and creek might be the killer coming to claim his next victim. Especially when you least expect it. It does a good job of balancing the hair-raising scares and the sweetness of a budding queer romance without either feeling out of place.

This weird world of magic and monsters is inhabited by standout characters who make it hard to pick a favorite. Some had to grow on me, but by the end I was fully invested in them, rooting for them every time they went into a situation any sane person would walk away from. There are too many damn abandoned buildings in this town!

And of course I love me a bitchy mean girl. Blair Waldorf, Regina George, Cordelia Chase, the Heathers. The loves of my gay life. I’ll take them all and eat up every crumb. And now I have the Reds to add to my collection of queens and icons.

I don’t want to say too much and spoil it. So I’ll just say, if you’re looking for a fun, creepy Halloween read, I highly suggest checking it out. I’m really hoping there’s going to be a sequel. I need more Dane and Aloysius and EJ and Hannah and the Reds in my life.

And as always you can check out my live reactions in my highlights.