Ryan La Sala

**eARC received by the publisher and NetGalley**
(I was so excited when my request to read it was approved, I can't even!)

I love love loved this book! A true love letter to creativity, crafts, and self-love.

The story follows Rafael (or Crafty Raffy, as he's known online), a passionate cosplayer, as he attends Controverse and competes alongside his friend, May. Impressing at Controverse could lead Raffy to the glittery future he's always dreamed of and all seems to be going well.
Then his show more ex-boyfriend, Luca, shows up in a fabulous cosplay—how can he compete alongside Luca and their many memories? On top of that, Raffy's mother doesn't know about Controverse and it has to stay that way.

I absolutely loved La Sala's voice in this book. His way of telling the story was so fun and captivating. The story is told in dual-timelines, which worked very well, and moved the story along at a fast pace. Through the 'then' chapters we see how the boys' relationship started out and how they ended up at the complicated place they're at in the present. Also, the way the story and the competition developed...*chef's kiss*!

The characters were also great! Raffy is very focused on crafting and building cosplays, often to the point of distancing himself from the rest of the world. Then there's Luca, the kind jock who's very interested in Raffy and cosplays. His chaotic energy in Raffy's structured creative process was so stressful, but fun to read about.

It was wonderful to hear so much about crafts and building a cosplay. I love to sew and be crafty, though nowhere near Raffy's level, so every time I understood the sewing terms he used I was like, aHA. And the details! La Sala described everything so well. There are too few YA-books with crafting at the center of the plot.

Cosplay, cons, and crafts...what's not to love!

Overall, BE DAZZELED was a celebration of creativity perfect for all of us geeks and fan-people out there. Its exploration of friendship and queer relationships warmed my heart. The mix of hilarious adventures and seriousness weaved through the story was perfect. And, truly, it was a story about standing up for who you are.
5/5 stars! I highly recommend it! show less

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: From Ryan La Sala, author of the tantalizingly twisted The Honeys and riotously imaginative Reverie, comes a chilling new contemporary fable about art, aesthetic obsession, and the gaze that peers back at us from behind our reflections.
Athanasios “Athan” Bakirtzis hasn’t had an easy life. Orphaned by a fire at a young age, he’s had to rely on his charm, his under-the-table job as an art handler, and the generosity of family friends to care for show more his ailing Yiayia, his grandmother.

But Athan also has a secret: a hereditary power that allows him to rewind the reflection in any mirror, peering into its recent past. Superstitious Yiayia calls the family ability a curse, and has long warned him never to use it. For Athan, who’s survived this long by keeping to the realm of the real, this is a perfectly agreeable arrangement.

Until the night of the party. After being invited to a penthouse soiree for New York’s art elite, Athan breaks his grandmother’s rule during a trip to the bathroom, turning back his reflection for just a moment. Then he hears a slam against the bathroom door, followed by a scream. Athan peers outside, only to be pushed back in by a boy his age. The boy gravely tells him not to open the door, then closes Athan in.

Before Athan can process what’s happening, more screams follow, and the party descends into chaos. When he finally emerges, he discovers a massacre where the victims appear to have arranged themselves into a disturbingly elegant sculpture—and Athan's mysterious savior is nowhere to be found.

Something evil is compelling people to destructive acts, a presence that’s been hiding behind Athan’s reflection his whole life, watching and biding its time. Soon, he’s swept up in a supernatural conspiracy that spans New York, of occult high societies and deadly eldritch designs. If beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, what can it do to us once it’s inside?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Fast-paced, fascinating tale of how mundane things, usually noticed in passing at best, can become deeply threatening when their shape and pretty shine is manipulated against the eye of the beholder. I think the fundamental need of the PoV, Athan, is one we ought to pay better attention to: Seeing underneath the surfaces of shiny, pretty things is a curse indeed, as his grandmother says; it's not because it's inherently dangerous, though. Because it means the adept is now dangerous to those who hide behind distractions and reflections.

Well-written, deftly plotted, and unputdownable. Why not more stars, especially since it's also low gore? "Eldritch" supernatural stuff automatically feels silly to me. Also I do not think I'd give this to anyone under seventeen and then only if I knew them well enough to know their level-headedness would keep nightmares at bay.

PUSH (an imprint of Scholastic) wants $11.99 for a Kindle copy. Reasonable to my eyes. show less

Ryan La Sala's YA horror is fascinating. I'm still not sure I fully understand the events of either of his novels I've read, but man, the creepy, unsettling vibes are impeccable. Beholder was frightening, weird, tragic, and very gay. In addition to the psychological horror of being exposed to like, a LOT of artistic death tableaux, Athan is clearly one of those action horror protagonists who can roll with the punches, because the number of times he was brutally beaten or burned or concussed show more or sliced up (and we, as readers, were subjected to descriptions of the same) in like a 3 day period was just unreal. I think I will forever have an eerie feeling about honey, and now, mirrors—I really hope La Sala keeps on keeping on in the horror genre, as I can't wait to see which item I literally use every day he'll get to forever subtly freak me out next! show less

The chokehold that this book had on me from the first chapter. What an absolutely beautiful tale of suspense, mourning, and breaking through your own insecurities while shattering outdated gender norms. I saw so much of myself in this book and was delighted at every turn I never saw coming. I may just start reading this one over again this weekend after I have a few days to let it all sink in.

I will definitely be watching out for other work by the brilliant Ryan La Sala. I’ll also be show more looking to get a little non binary canoe floating between shores as a tattoo because those lines spoke right to my heart show less