justine

sign here by claudia lux is a debut novel about a guy who works in hell and makes deals with people to sell their souls to the devil, in exchange for something they want. the setting sounds interesting bc it seems like hell went corporate & every day sounds like a v inconvenient day at work. some parts allude to the tortures of eternal damnation and sometimes it’s briefly described, but the setting isn’t scary at all (unless jager & pens that don’t work frightens you). 

the harrisons have their typical rich white family drama so it wasn’t all that interesting to me, but the morally grey (i know, how morally grey can you be if you’re in hell) peyote trip was my favorite out of all the characters and i enjoyed his pov the most as he makes his way up the corporate hell ladder + tries to get these people to sell their souls away by signing a contract on his tablet (lol).the chapters are really short for each pov and we spend a lot of time back and forth diff settings and diff timelines so it a little suspenseful & keeps you engaged.

although i enjoyed this read, there are some inconsistencies that i won’t be mentioning bc *spoilers* and some loose ends + weird & creepy behaviors by a certain character that i wish were explained and addressed. i’m glad i slept on this bc when i finished this book last night the ending gave me that high that you get when you finish a book and think about the events that happen after the ending and the character’s future, but now that i’ve collected my thoughts a bit more, i feel like this just had too much going on and too many side stories that didn’t really feel cohesive in the end. 

this was such a fun middle-grade spooky read that brought me back to my 3rd grade days of sitting in the library during lunch to read Goosebumps & bringing those books home over the weekend.
I loved following Ollie & friends as they navigate through the ‘other world' to get back home. also, really love the cover! reminds me of jeepers creepers.