I love paranormal fantasy and I immediately liked Hell to Pay from its opening chapters. It’s a great heist and shenanigans filled story with intriguing potential to become a series.

The world building and magical system were unique and original enough to stand out. I’m comparing it to Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows and Ninth House for various reasons, including the atmosphere. There are gods, demons, travel between the afterlife and resurrections. It seems like a lot, but the author did a fantastic job of balancing the overload of magical info. Still very much YA but straddling that fine line with some content.

I liked the characters, Elle is the defacto leader of the con group, she’s brash and unpredictable. I liked her sense of humor and her familiar Crowlene (this cover 😍). The rag tag characters and heist are reminiscent of previously mentioned books, I liked the interactions and enjoyed the silly situations at times. Some of the plot pacing was inconsistent, but I’m more than curious to see if we join Elle and her crew on another heist in the future!

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group for the advance reading copy.

Pub date: July 28, 2026

Title: Hell to Pay
Author: Lora Beth Johnson
Genre: Paranormal, YA Fantasy
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️