This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
So here’s the honest truth: The Heart Taker is your classic teenage dream creature feature—with just enough blood, longing, and awkward heartbreak to keep the pages turning and the pulse unsettled. If you grew up on Buffy, Supernatural, or the better bits of Stranger Things, this one’s got your name stitched into its bones.
Jack Berlin is your typical high school misfit: thoughtful, uncertain, and halfway in love before the first chapter ends. He’s surrounded by a familiar constellation—mean girls, school crushes, outsider besties, and that undeniable teenage cocktail of anxiety, curiosity, and yearning to be seen. Add to the mix that he's a jaded high school journalist that pens a gossip column, and you've got the setup for some interesting dynamics. But when a string of student deaths rattles the school, and a mysterious new girl named Delilah drifts in like smoke, the story swerves into darker territory.
Delilah isn’t what she seems—of course she isn’t—and that’s the point. She’s beautiful, strange, and a little too still. The kind of presence that makes people speak softer or louder, depending on what they fear.
But the real delight here isn’t just the mystery or the slow-burn romance—it’s the ragtag team of gamer-geek outsiders who use their fantasy wisdom to help take on the very real threat growing in the shadows. They’re weird in all the right ways. The book doesn’t mock their nerdery—it honors it. These kids know the value of a well-placed plan, and the power of naming the monster.
Nina, the queen bee antagonist, brings her own venom to the mix—less magical than Delilah, but no less dangerous. The social hierarchy feels lived-in and recognizable, and the emotional stakes are just as sharp as the supernatural ones.
What sets this apart isn’t just the plot (though it’s twisty and well-paced) but the emotional texture. The book understands what it feels like to be young and overwhelmed—to feel like the world is happening to you, and you’re barely holding on. Jack doesn’t always make the right choices, but he tries. And that’s what makes his story compelling. There’s no prophecy guiding his steps. Just fear, love, instinct, and a few loyal friends with character sheets.
The Heart Taker is messy and sincere in the way real adolescence is. There’s heartache, guilt, bad decisions, and a few gut-punch moments where someone says exactly what you didn’t want to hear.
It’s not perfect. But it is honest, and that’s more rare than you'd think. This one goes out to the quiet kids with dice in their backpacks, and anyone who ever felt that there was something off about the hot new girl in town.