{"id":7321,"date":"2023-09-07T16:00:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T23:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/?p=7321"},"modified":"2023-09-07T15:53:26","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T22:53:26","slug":"damned-if-you-do-teen-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2023\/damned-if-you-do-teen-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Damned If You Do &#8211; Teen Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewed by Jasmine Sov, age 17<\/p>\n<h2><strong><em>Damned If You Do<\/em> by Alex Brown<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ever since Cordelia Scott\u2019s abusive father left when she was ten, life has been pretty normal. Now in her senior year of high school, Cordelia has other concerns: stage managing the school play, crushing on her best friend, and keeping her grades up in AP Lit. Unfortunately for her, those concerns are about to get a lot more\u2026hellish. When she finds out that Fred, the new guidance counselor, is actually a demon from Hell, she doesn\u2019t believe him\u2014until he summons hellfire at his desk. What\u2019s more, her father didn\u2019t actually leave: Fred killed him and sent him to Hell. And ten-year-old Cordelia made a deal with him to do so by giving him a part of her soul. Now, Fred\u2019s back to cash in on his end of the deal. If Cordelia doesn\u2019t help him subdue a rival demon, part of her soul will be lost forever\u2014and that rival will set an even more demonic plan into motion. Can Cordelia save her town, her soul, and most of all, herself?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDamned If You Do\u201d bills itself as \u201cqueer Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Filipino folklore.\u201d However, it didn\u2019t include as much romance and folklore as I had hoped. There\u2019s one creature from Filipino myth present\u2014an aswang, which was both cool and scary whenever it showed up. Other than that, the novel mostly draws from the Bible. The queer romance between Cordelia and Veronica is definitely there, but I wish more had happened between them besides pining after each other for most of the book. The writing is mostly brisk and witty, but there\u2019s some gore midway through the book that shifts the tone to a more serious one. Soon after, the tone becomes comical again, which was a bit jarring.<\/p>\n<p>3.5 stars<\/p>\n<p>Find this book in our catalog: <em><span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff\" href=\"https:\/\/pasadena.ent.sirsi.net\/client\/en_US\/default\/search\/detailnonmodal\/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:422104\/one\">Damned If You Do<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Catalog Number: YA FIC BROWN, A<\/p>\n<p>345 pages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewed by Jasmine Sov, age 17 Damned If You Do by Alex Brown Ever since Cordelia Scott\u2019s abusive father left when she was ten, life has been pretty normal. Now in her senior year of high school, Cordelia has other concerns: stage managing the school play, crushing on her best [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":7325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-teen-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2023\/09\/DIYD.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-1U5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7607,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2024\/damned-if-you-do-teen-book-review-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":7321,"position":0},"title":"Damned If You Do &#8211; Teen Book Review","author":"Nathan Wang","date":"May 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Reviewed by Jasmine Sov, age 17 Damned If You Do\u00a0by Alex Brown Ever since Cordelia Scott\u2019s abusive father left when she was ten, life has been pretty normal. Now in her senior year of high school, Cordelia has other concerns: stage managing the school play, crushing on her best friend,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2024\/05\/65212969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6789,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2022\/the-truth-project-teen-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":7321,"position":1},"title":"The Truth Project &#8212; Teen Book Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"January 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Review by Jasmine Sov, 15 The Truth Project By Dante Medema Cordelia Koenig isn\u2019t worried about the senior project everyone else is stressing out about\u2014she\u2019s already got a master plan. She's going to take a DNA test, and then write poetry based on her results. With that under control, she\u2019ll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81vmurp-J6L.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81vmurp-J6L.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81vmurp-J6L.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81vmurp-J6L.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81vmurp-J6L.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81vmurp-J6L.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4642,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2018\/the-closest-ive-come-teen-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":7321,"position":2},"title":"The Closest I&#8217;ve Come &#8212; Teen Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"April 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"review by\u00a0Jacob Chon, age 15 The Closest I've Come\u00a0by\u00a0Fred Aceves \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Marcos Rivas is like any other high school student. He simply wants to be loved. \u00a0From his basketball games with other guys from the hood, to his abusive stepfather, Marcos\u2019s life is not giving him that. All he gets are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2018\/04\/the-closest-ive-come.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1209,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2014\/paws-to-read-teen-book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":7321,"position":3},"title":"Paws to Read &#8212; teen book reviews","author":"Jane Gov","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the spirit of our Summer Reading \"Paws to Read\" theme, below is a selection of animal stories reviewed by teens. \u00a0 Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi If you are looking for a book that is entertaining and fun, \"Amulet: The Stonekeeper\", is the book. This book is fit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Teen Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Teen Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6766,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2022\/ashfall-legacy-teen-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":7321,"position":4},"title":"Ashfall Legacy &#8212; Teen Book Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"January 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Review by Sam Redfearn, 15 Ashfall Legacy By Pittacus Lore When Sydney Chambers was just a toddler, his father left, and he and his mother began to run from the Australian government. At the time, Sydney had no idea why, but when he was twelve, his mother drowned him. Fortunately,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81lxEKqSdlL.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81lxEKqSdlL.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81lxEKqSdlL.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81lxEKqSdlL.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81lxEKqSdlL.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/81lxEKqSdlL.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7063,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2022\/hush-hush-teen-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":7321,"position":5},"title":"Hush, Hush &#8212; Teen Book Review","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"December 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Reviewed by Hailey Chen, age 14 Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick Nora Grey is not someone who would be described as living in the spotlight. In fact, she didn\u2019t even crave that type of attention, content with just her best friend and widowed mom. However, this all changes drastically when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2022\/08\/6339664-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7321"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7330,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7321\/revisions\/7330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}