What would you be willing to do to earn a full-ride scholarship? Study harder? Join another club? Volunteer for one more extracurricular activity? How about summoning a demon?
In Demonology for Overachievers by Lily Anderson, academic competition gets a paranormal—and very deadly—twist. Published by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), this YA paranormal novel combines dark academia, demons, academic rivalry, and plenty of dark humor. I read this book as part of a book tour with Toppling Stacks Tours, and it turned out to be a fun and entertaining read, even if I didn’t always understand the lengths its characters were willing to go to in the name of achievement.
Merritt Maldonado has spent her high school career doing everything she possibly can to stand out. She has joined clubs, taken on activities, worked hard, and built the kind of résumé that should make her an obvious choice for a prestigious full-ride scholarship.
There’s just one problem: Linus Lexington.
No matter what Merritt does, Linus seems to be right there competing with her. With the scholarship on the line and Merritt desperate to finally get an advantage, she makes what is probably the worst extracurricular decision imaginable—she strikes a bargain with a demon.
As you might expect, things do not go according to plan.
When the other scholarship applicants begin dying, Merritt realizes that her demonic deal has consequences she never anticipated. Then she discovers that Linus has somehow gotten mixed up with the same demon. Suddenly, the two rivals are forced to work together to figure out how to escape their bargain before even more people die.
What I Thought 💭
One of my favorite parts of this book was definitely the paranormal aspect. I went into this wanting demons and supernatural chaos, and Lily Anderson delivered. I especially liked the demons themselves and the way the bargains worked. There is something very entertaining about watching characters think they have found a clever shortcut only to discover that dealing with a demon comes with a very large amount of fine print.
The consequences of Merritt and Linus making these deals were probably the most interesting part of the story for me. Their decisions aren’t treated like harmless mistakes. There are genuine repercussions, and watching those consequences escalate added both tension and humor to the story.
I also really enjoyed the dark humor throughout the book. Demonology for Overachievers deals with death, demons, pressure, and some gruesome situations, but it never becomes overwhelmingly heavy. There is a playful darkness to the story that made it easy to keep reading.
The descriptions were another strong point. Anderson does a great job creating vivid scenes, particularly when the supernatural elements start creeping into Merritt’s otherwise achievement-obsessed world. The paranormal moments were easy to picture, and those scenes were some of the most memorable parts of the book for me.
Overall, this was also a very easy read. The story moves quickly; there is always something happening, and I never felt like I had to push myself through it. If you enjoy paranormal YA that doesn’t take itself too seriously, there is a lot here to have fun with.
My biggest struggle, however, was connecting with the characters and their motivation.
I could not completely wrap my head around teenagers going to such extreme lengths for a scholarship. I understand that this is deliberately a story about overachievers and the enormous amount of pressure young people can put on themselves, but I kept thinking, “You summoned a demon...for a scholarship?”
Then again, I was never an overachiever.
I actually have a niece who is much more ambitious and achievement-focused, and I could absolutely imagine her understanding Merritt’s mindset far better than I did. So maybe part of my disconnect comes down to personality. For someone whose entire future feels tied to getting into the right school, winning the right scholarship, or building the perfect résumé, Merritt’s desperation may feel much more relatable.
For me, though, that disconnect also made it harder to become emotionally invested in the characters themselves.
I didn’t particularly care for Merritt or Linus, and I never became as attached to them as I would have liked. I think a lot of that stems from the same problem: their relentless overachiever energy was difficult for me to identify with. I understood what the book was doing with academic pressure and competition, but understanding it intellectually wasn’t quite the same as connecting with the characters emotionally.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to love the characters to enjoy the story.
The demonology, dark humor, supernatural consequences, and increasingly messy situation were enough to keep me entertained. In fact, I think that is where Demonology for Overachievers works best. It takes something very familiar—the pressure to succeed in high school—and pushes it into absurd, sinister territory by asking what happens when the desire to get ahead literally becomes a deal with the devil.
Despite my issues connecting with the characters, I had a good time reading this one. It was entertaining, creative, wonderfully paranormal, and filled with the kind of darkly funny consequences that make you want to keep turning the pages just to see how much worse things can possibly get.
If you enjoy YA paranormal stories, dark academia, academic rivals, supernatural bargains, demons, and a healthy dose of dark humor, Demonology for Overachievers is definitely worth checking out.
Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ — 4/5 Stars
Thank you to author Lily Anderson and publisher Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for providing a copy of Demonology for Overachievers in exchange for my honest review. This review is part of the Demonology for Overachievers book tour hosted by Toppling Stacks Tours. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
About the book:
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication Date: September 22, 2026
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Synopsis:
Dark academia takes a fresh twist in this YA novel, where a determined high school senior strikes a bargain with a demon to win a coveted scholarship—only to discover her rival has made the same deal.
Merritt Maldonado has done everything right. But for every club she’s founded, tree she’s planted, and sport she’s played, her academic nemesis Linus Lexington has been right there. By her side. Copying her every move.
And now they’re neck and neck for a coveted full ride scholarship. Desperate to gain an edge, Merritt finds herself making a deal with a demon. But when other applicants start dying in gruesome ways, Merritt realizes the demon is killing off her competition. And to make matters worse, she finds the demon’s mark on Linus.
Now Merritt and Linus’ souls are tied to the same deadly demon. With bodies piling up, they have to work together to break the pact, stop the killings, and maybe admit that the bond they share isn’t just supernatural…
Meet the author:
LILY ANDERSON is the Printz-Honor winning author of several novels, including SCOUT’S HONOR, UNDEAD GIRL GANG, and THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN ME IS YOU. A former school librarian, she is deeply devoted to Shakespeare, fairy tales, and podcasts. Somewhere in Northern California, she is expressing strong opinions on musical theater.