Heavensent & Hellbent

by Sara Jafari

In this riveting contemporary fantasy, a teen uncovers a life-altering family secret while discovering that the boy haunting her nightmares is not only an angel—sworn enemy of jinn—but her fated mate.

When Roxy moves from her small town in England to Denver, she expects her summer to be uneventful. All she has to do is not piss off her dad, continue healing from the loss of her mom, and conquer her sleep paralysis before going to university in the fall. Easy.

But as fate would have it, she bumps into the beautiful boy, Zain, who's been in her recurring nightmare. Each time, they're burning at the stake. In real life, she witnesses him snapping the neck of a man and quickly learns that not only do jinn—demons—exist, but angels, too.

Meeting Zain triggers new nightmares, ones that come with a warning: If Roxy and Zain don't ignore the attraction between them, there will be hell to pay. And upon learning that their souls have been entwined for centuries, they must decide whether their connection in this lifetime is worth fighting for, especially against the divine forces that forbid them from being together.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Young Adult Fantasy, Paranormal, Mythology

416 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication August 11, 2026

About the author

Sara Jafari is a British-Iranian author and editor. She is the author of The Mismatch and People Change (Penguin Random House, 2021 and 2023).

People Change will be published as Things Left Unsaid by St. Martin’s Press in Spring 2025.

Longlisted for Spread the Word's Life Writing Prize, her writing has also been published in gal-dem and The Good Journal, among other publications. She is also a contributor of the essay collection "I Will Not Be Erased": Our stories about growing up as people of colour (Walker Books, 2019), and Who’s Loving You (Trapeze, 2021).

Reviews

[Jess Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGallery and Brown Book Group UK for this ARC
And of course Sara Jafari!
This review contains NO spoilers! And all that is said is my honest and non-biased opinion.

I am not going to give spoilers or massive details of what happens in this book. That would be silly and counterproductive!

Release date for this book is 6th August 2026

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall this YA book was a really good read, the plot idea was great and writing structure was good.
However, I do think the following need more work:

- world building
- character building and personality
- unpredictable twists

I really wanted to feel and see the places in my mind but I really struggled. If you have a really slow beginning, make it informative, descriptive, build the world around you.
I wanted more for the characters, I had no connection with them unfortunately.
All the twists I forsaw well before they were coming.

I do believe this is the first of its kind from Sara Jafari and it was done really well, just needed that extra sprinkle and it would be an amazing book.

Thank you so much again to NetGallery, Brown Book Group UK and Sara Jafari

[taras.tome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK, NetGalley and Sara Jafari for the opportunity to review this e-ARC.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. Roxy has her life uprooted while having to deal with re-occurring obstacles. A strange, but familiar boy named Zain enters her life and suddenly things begin to unravel and she has to face facts head on.

I enjoyed learning about Iranian culture through Roxy and her family. My favourite thing about this book was actually Roxy and her family’s dynamics. Especially with her younger brother, that was so easy to relate to!

I did not enjoy the world-building, as frankly, I needed much more of it. It was minimal, when it had the potential to be soo much more! Places were constantly mentioned but not built upon. I wasn’t able to transport myself. Additionally, I would have really appreciated more in-depth lore in aiding my understanding of the elements relating to the Angels and Jinns. I didn’t really get any glimpse into the Angel society at all. That would have been fantastic if dived into.

Character wise, they too needed built upon a bit more. I enjoyed every characters inclusion in the story, although I felt no real connection to them. Roxy and Zains connection felt very surface level at the beginning-mid sections of the book. I felt they were scared to voice their raw emotions on anything. Through both words and actions. On top of that, with Cleo and Nic, I would have loved for real feminine love and friendship to have been explored more. It felt they were sidelined for most of the story. Each character’s personality needed to be built more. I feel I don’t really know them and they don’t stand out individually.

Plot wise, I liked learning about certain beings and I loved the portrayal of memories and dreams. The dreams especially were so vivid! I looked forward to reading about those moments in the book.

The writing style and chapter structures were really easy to follow and I believe the pacing was a wonderful fit for the YA genre.

Overall, as a debut YA standalone it was good. It just needs a bit more flavour and layering and it would be super.

[Aureliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly, thanks to Netgalley, atom publishers and Sara Jafari for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I’ll be honest. I don’t like this book. I dont like the emphasis on the modern aspect of it. And i especially dont think that Palestine should be brought up. Especially in the modern context. I don’t think that kind of thing should be in a book. I also think this is a bad choice in a marketing point of view. I get that the Sara Jafari is trying to educate the reader about the Iranian world, but I also think that it’s just unnecessary. That being said, the plot of this book was actually surprisingly enjoyable so I think I would recommend this book as i felt that it was a quick read.

HOWEVER I didn’t like the how slow the beginning was. The first few chapters really took a while to build up. It was also SOOO predictable, like there needs to be more twists and turns and things. I always knew that the Penny was a div

The plot follows a girl named Roxana who is plagued by nightmares and meets the boy from his nightmares named Zain as Roxana discovers and navigates a world full of good and bad, angels and Jinn.

The characters didn’t really have any development, and there was a typo on page 399 btw. It said Castile instead of Castiel. I really love the names of the characters and

[Julia Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heavensent and Hellbent by Sara Jafari was sent to me through Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This is a YA book that piqued my interest when I read the synopsis. Paranormal? check. Angels and Demons? double check. Our FMC Roxy has just moved from across the pond and lost her mom, so she is dealing with a lot. She also has debilitating night terrors. Ones that cause physical marks to show up. That's totally normal, right? We have a forbidden love trope with Roxy and Jain, who is an angel. Even tho their souls are intertwined, they can't be together. I'm giving this book 3.5 stars, rounded up. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys paranormal elements such as jinn, angels , demons, and romance!
This book is due to come out Aug. 1, 2026.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read and pretty fun, but the beginning was very slow and took awhile to get into it. The world building could've been better and the characters needed more depth, but overall, not a bad read. Wish the author wove the twists better into the story like Fletcher Delancey as an example.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kiri Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately I could not finish this book, the writing style was not for me, the story itself seems good in concept but I just could not get around the writing style.

Also the formatting for kindle needs to be changed to have separate chapters and not just one long chapter with bold numbers where a new chapter starts.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun and entertaining standalone YA contemporary fantasy. Some of the twists seem pretty obvious and it did drag a bit at the beginning but overall, a fun read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my EARC!

[Gemma F.]

Jan 8, 2026
First NetGalley e-ARC approval of 2026!! 😍😍😍

[Kristie Kieffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is quiet but powerful. Sara Jafari dives into identity, faith, desire, and the pressure of expectations with such raw honesty. It’s all about that internal tug-of-war — wanting to belong while also wanting to break free.

The main character is messy and real, and you feel every doubt and conflicted choice alongside her. The writing is thoughtful, restrained, and deeply emotional without ever being overdramatic.

A reflective, character-driven story that lingers long after the last page