Antonia Bernardin

My 33rd read of the year was For Whom the Bell Tolls by Jaysea Lynn, the first book in the Hell’s Belles series.

I have followed this author for years on Tiktok as See.Ya.Later, where she performed the Hell’s Belle’s skits – starting with the concept of a ‘Hellp desk’ in hell, which quickly became a fully fleshed out ensemble of characters with their own back stories and narratives. I was so excited when she announced the book, but slightly concerned because some skits for Tiktok definitely don’t translate well to the page but… spoiler alert: this is possibly one of my favourite books of the year!

Summary attempt

The story begins with our FMC getting the news that her cancer is terminal and that her short life that she had only just begun to live on her own terms is going to end. When Lilly arrives in the afterlife, she is filled with fear that everyone from her strict Christian upbringing was right and that she was destined for hell. Except… the afterlife doesn’t quite work like that, it’s not bound to one religion’s idea of morality and a person can choose whether to go through the gateway judged by the values of their religion or without.

To Lilly’s surprise, she isn’t sent to hell and while her paradise is… well paradise, she can’t let go of her anger at her upbringing or her fear of hell, a place she fully expected to end up, so she takes herself down there to see what it’s about. She discovers a place that about punishment, yes, but also a place that is about redemption; souls are sent to one of the nine levels depending on the acts they committed in their life and have the opportunity to move back up through them as they reform.

The demons that run hell however are overrun by complaining souls who believe they belong elsewhere and resist proceeding to their levels, so Lilly takes pity on them and uses some of her customer service experience, with extra sass and violence thrown in, to deal with some of the whinging souls. Thus, the ‘Hellp desk’ is born!

Lilly begins to makes friends in the afterlife and in the demon levels, accidentally bumping into deities in the line for coffee becomes a regular occurrence. Plus, there’s this guy she’s been flirting with over the afterlife equivalent of online gaming. Thanks to Lucifer’s scheming, her and the sultry voice finally get to meet and it turns out he ‘s a demon, a general for hell’s armies and a (reluctant) Prince of hell. Their connection is instant but Lilly is just a soul in the afterlife temporarily… right? Despite the looming prospect of her reincarnation or her choice to step into the void and not reincarnate, they can’t help but form a connection.

As a threat to their dimension causes Bel to be sent away time and again to fight to keep them safe and as Lilly becomes more settled in her life here in the afterlife, this place starts to feel more like home than she ever felt in life and this new love starts to feel more real than anything she’s ever experienced… Lilly finds she can’t ignore the fact of her eventual reincarnation any longer.

My review

I loved this book, the lore behind the afterlife is so well thought out, the back story’s of every character are so well done. I loved the relationships the FMC builds, platonic and romantic. I haven’t had many books that have hooked me from page 1 in a while, I didn’t expect a book based on tiktok sketches to make me laugh, cry, kick my feet with cute romance moments and everything in between. I think the world-building was so rich and none of the character’s felt weak or like they were an after-thought. I loved the whole storyline with Sharky and getting more of Bel’s story, plus learning that Lucifer is just an interfering Uncle figure in this world.

In conclusion, read this please and thank you.

*this is an Amazon affiliate link – if you accept cookies it’ll help me make a step towards being paid to write this blog but it won’t cost you any extra!