The Youngbloods: Family Demons

by Gwenda Bond, Kami Garcia, Sam Humphries

Don’t miss the first book in an addictive new serial novella trilogy brimming with suspense, dark humor, and romance! Meet the Youngbloods, an unforgettable family of antiheroes.

The Youngbloods are a mafia-like demon family, sent as a sinister advance team to prepare Earth for an infernal invasion. But when something goes wrong, the demon invasion never comes and the Youngbloods are stuck on crappy Earth with the worst creatures in the world—each other.

Petra Youngblood is the family’s hunter. Her job: to track and kill the annual human sacrifice that keeps the Youngbloods immortal. Otherwise, they will crumble to dust. But as Petra is hunting down this year’s sacrifice, a man named Killian Irons, she breaks the first demonic rule. The one rule so forbidding, nobody else in her family has ever dared to break it...she falls in love.

4 hrs. 33 min.

Genres: Audiobook, Fantasy, Fiction, Demons, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

5 pages, Audible Audio

Published June 22, 2023

About the author

Gwenda Bond is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the first official Stranger Things novel, Suspicious Minds, the Lois Lane YA series, and the romantic comedies Not Your Average Hot Guy, The Date from Hell, and Mr. & Mrs. Witch. She has a number of forthcoming projects, including a magical art heist book, The Frame-Up. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Locus Magazine, Salon, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications.

She co-founded and chairs the nonprofit Lexington Writer’s Room, and lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband, author Christopher Rowe, and a veritable zoo of adorable doggos and queenly cats. Visit her online at www.gwendabond.com or join her newsletter at www.gwendabond.substack.com.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Youngbloods: Family Demons
By Gwenda Bond
This is an entertaining demon story about a demon family dealing with strange unusual issues. Then, the head of the family disappears. Interesting characters.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good enough that I'm continuing on with the series. The narration is excellent as you would expect from Audible. The whole trilogy is free right now. I don't think I'd spend a credit on it but it's a fun little diversion.

[Teri B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I got the hang of the story, I blazed through this first novella.
It is entertaining, fast-paced and funny, as this family of demons exiled on planet earth are setting out to capture their next victim/sacrifice that they need in order to survive and not simply crumble away.
Loved the story and loved the performance of the multi-narrator audio production.

[Nina Šišovičová · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super entertaining for what it was! I just happened to scroll through the free books on Audible, came across this and it was short and free so I randomly decided to try it out. I’m glad I did! I feel like the best way to describe the feeling of listening to it would be a fantasy sitcom in audiobook form. It was funny, fast paced, and had an entertaining plot and cast of characters. Now, am I giving this 5 stars because it was a literary work of art and it was the most amazing thing I’ve read? No. However, it is absolutely 5 stars for what it is - a free fantasy/comedy/dark novella series.

[Jip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, not really what I was expecting. I liked that every member of the demon family had a perspective and they were all interesting in their own way. But plot-wise, it was predictable. It ends in a cliffhanger, but the next 2 books are already available, so I may keep going with the series in the future.

[Devon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This kind of story is usually my jam, but I was so bored and disinterested that I put it down halfway through.

[i read with my ears · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly just meh. Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. I think it would make a fun TV miniseries, but probably won't read more of the books.

[Dax · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole lot of meh with a side of incredulous. There are things I find intriguing but overall I'm too busy making "pfffff" noises to go further.

[J. McGrath · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a story about evil demons doing nefarious things... or that's what it wants to be. In actuality, it is a story about kind-of evil demons acting like they are doing nefarious things. That could be fun if it was treated like a joke, but it is played too straight. It could have worked straight if the demons were more of a chilling kind of evil or were clever, but that isn't the case either. The story tries to play it off like they are smart, but instead, makes everyone around them dumb. The last chance was the romance, but that is too shallow to get invested in. At the same time, it could have worked if it was purely physical and super spicy, but there was nothing beyond some slightly suggestive language.
All in all, it doesn't go very far in any direction and doesn't do anything well enough to be engaging or bad enough to be fascinating. Glad it is split up into parts so I can bail now.

[Princess Fiona Applebees · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m so conflicted. I can’t figure out if:

Option A:
I hated it for the shallow characters I really didn’t care about. Disliked the weird insta-like situation that never goes anywhere anyway. Loathed the too short story because I can’t really get into it. Thought it was also somehow too long since I bumped it up to 1.55x speed and still almost DNF’d it. Hate myself for falling for another audible freebie that makes me question all my life choices for the 3-4 hours I endure them.

Or

Option B:
Kinda got intrigued a bit at the end and could possibly, maybe, if I was super bored and stuck in traffic, be convinced to care enough to listen to book 2. Liked the cast of narrators and appreciated this had no weird sound effects to overwhelm the story.

Beh. 2.75 stars and my life’s too short to continue this story as is. In a longer format written book with a little more polish… maybe.

[Marty Solotki · Rating 3 out of 5]

…the Youngbloods appear to be an eccentric family of multi-millionaires, but they’re in fact a mafia-like family of demons that have been stuck on Earth for 1000 years…waiting for an invasion that seemingly is never coming. Every year, Grandma chooses one human for Petra (who has 3 siblings, including a twin brother), to hunt; said human is sacrificed to ensure another year of demon immortality.

But what happens if humanity had finally caught on to the Youngbloods’ true nature…and what if Petra falls for her next intended victim? This one has an interesting premise and a stellar voiced cast, but our demon family are insufferably whiny. This one ended on a solid cliffhanger, though, so I’ll give Part Two a shot.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick little read. The only thing this book did was introduce the characters and their plans to backstab each other. And then end on a cliffhanger to get you to listen to the next book. The plot, what little there was of it, was interesting enough. It's a family of demons that are tasked with preparing the Earth for total demonic takeover. Each member was cool enough on their own, except for Petra. I couldn't stand Petra. I'm bummed that this series revolves around her and this Romeo and Juliet-type romance with her and the demon hunter guy.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silly fantasy adventure with family drama and danger driving the action! This is a family of demons trapped on Earth who have followed the rules of the family (reluctantly) for centuries... but now the matriarch has disappaeared and all hell has broken loose...literally.
A novella triogy that I am now addicted to! Next please :)

[Dorothy Tomkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lucky find for free on Audible that actually turned out to be a witty and light hearted tale of a family of demons stranded on Earth. Despite their darker side they have the same family drama as us mere mortals. With multiple pov's from the family members this fast paced novella was enjoyable and one I will continue through the series.

[Nikos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but nothing to really commend.
I didnt particularly like any of the voices (except maybe the 1eyed man). The story is basically nothing, just a little world building and a prologue of whats to come, except its not remotely interesting to make me want to get the next book, it was just interesting enough to make me power through the end of this one. Not gonna be continuing.

[Michele Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will read the second installment to see if it gets better. This story is about a family of demons who have been stranded on earth for thousands of years - each year they sacrifice a human to extend their immortality- but now a series group of hunters is trying to wipe them out!

[Shella Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is ok, it is a short story that requires you to read the next book to know what is happening so it ends on a cliffhanger. It is some what entertaining. It is good if you are working on something and just need something to listen to in the background.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this. Initially I thought I wasn’t going to as I found the narrator to be quite harsh in delivery but I soon realised why that is and really enjoyed it. I loved the mystery aspect of it and the ending has me clicking straight onto the next book in the trilogy!

[Shah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this as an audiobook. I did not like the storyline. The performance by all the narrators was good.

I will continue with the series as I don't like to keep the storyline hanging in between but I'm not sure whether I'm going to like it though.

[Kristin Jensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the story boring, I couldn't bond with the characters and I didn't enjoy the use of the different POV which in this case made the story confusing instead of interesting. Not every story is made to be told from different POV, and it requires a certain mastery to pull it off.

[Pancha Rivz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d give this 3.75-4 stars. It was jovial, cute, funny, and intriguing. A short story that was a great pallet cleanser. It’s an easy listen on audible.

[Dev Bookdragonreviews · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.

[Hillary Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining and quick paced.
A very dysfunctional family of demons that make for a lot of interesting situations.
Quick and entertaining read.

[Brandi (Seagoat) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Ursula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3.5 read. Youngbloods was a fun and action packed unique story. I will continue on with the series. There was also a surprising amount of gore. This would make for a great spooky season read.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good story

[monet whitlock-bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not for me. DNF.

[Mandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not care for this one. Cringey and not well written