Mayhem, Estelle Laure
Mayhem, Estelle Laure
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Mayhem
A Novel

Author: Estelle Laure

Narrator: Chloe Cannon

Unabridged: 8 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/14/2020


Synopsis

The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel.

It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else.

But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good.

But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.

From the acclaimed author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back, Estelle Laure offers a riveting and complex story with magical elements about a family of women contending with what appears to be an irreversible destiny, taking control and saying when enough is enough.

A Macmillan Audio production from Wednesday Books

"Laure has crafted the genre-busting, romp-of-a-read we need right now. A sweeping generational story, Mayhem comes with all the trappings I’ve come to expect from Laure’s writing—flawed characters, gorgeous prose, rich settings—only this time, infused with a dose of gothic fairytale. Mayhem is full of magic."—David Arnold, New York Times bestselling author

About Estelle Laure

ESTELLE LAURE, the author of Mayhem and This Raging Light, believes in love, magic, and the power of facing hard truths. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Her work is translated widely around the world.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nilufer

I think I’m gonna express my feelings briefly this time. I’m giving Switzerland stars to this book! ( which means 2.5 stars rounded up 3 and I gave more points because I enjoyed the promising and exciting start and idea of feminist mash-up of Lost Boys and Craft but as far as I saw that was just the......more

Goodreads review by Chelsea

This is tough, because I loved what the author was trying to do here, but Mayhem begs the question of how much material can you pull from an original story and be considered a retelling, versus plagiarism? Many early reviewers have already stated exact replications from Lost Boys, which took away fr......more

Goodreads review by Chelsea

When I heard the premise of this one (a feminist, female-fronted retelling of the Lost Boys? SIGN ME UP) I was SO excited. I had clearly had pretty high hopes for this one, but this book ended up being really weird and honestly just.. underwhelming? The writing itself was great, but the story as a w......more

Goodreads review by Elle

2 1/2 stars. I see what the author was trying to do with this book: the 80s-Stranger-Things vibe, the concept of vigilante justice, the storyline about abuse. I only wish these aspects translated. This book follows Mayhem, a high school junior who has recently escaped an abusive situation with her m......more

Wishlist | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest I am so happy to have the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for Mayhem by Estelle Laure. Thank you to the team at Wednesday Books, for sending me an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. Head over to my blog post for an exclusive c......more