Quick Synopsis

From Hell’s Belles BookTok sensation Jaysea Lynn comes a hotter-than hell-romantasy about a young woman who finds a different side of the Afterlife, for fans of Sarah A. Parker and Callie Hart.

Publisher’s Synopsis

They told her to go to Hell.
She went, but on her own terms.

Lily isn’t exactly thrilled with her arrival in the Afterlife, but what awaits her there is more fantastical than she ever could have imagined: Deities wait in line at the coffee shop. Fae flit between realms. Souls find ways to make death a beginning.

As she explores the many corners of the Afterlife, Lily finds herself surprisingly drawn to a place most people would avoid at all costs: Hell. Armed with years of customer service experience and pent-up sarcasm, Lily carves a job out for herself amongst Hell’s demons, sending souls to their rightful circles with more than a hint of sass.

Lily’s expectations are subverted every day in Hell—especially by Bel, a demon general with a distractingly sexy voice. The two meet by chance and form an immediate, deeply healing friendship, but the undeniable heat between them threatens to combust.

Meanwhile, something stirs beyond the boundaries of their world, threatening to destroy everything they’ve known and everything that could be…unless they fight like Hell to stop it.

This debut novel from BookTok sensation Jaysea Lynn invites you to lose yourself in a world where love ignites in the unlikeliest of places, magic defies the rules, and the Afterlife proves more thrilling than anyone could imagine.

Book Review

Without a doubt, For Whom the Belle Tolls was the most-out-of-my-comfort-zone book I read in 2025. I will be honest and say that I randomly picked up this book at New York Comicon, lured in by the special edition. Feeling adventurous and already out of my element, I decided to buy it on a whim because the premise sounded intriguing.

For Whom the Belle Tolls is the story of Lily’s Afterlife. Despite having her place in paradise, Lily is fascinated by the chaotic, rowdy gates of hell. She feels bad for the demons running the gates, who turn out to be a wonderfully nice group of people. So Lily puts the skills she gained as a retail worker on earth to use. Along the way, Lily finds what she felt her existence was always missing.

Jaysea Lynn’s worldbuilding in this novel is excellent. In fact, I would say it is the absolute best part of the book. Lynn’s Afterlife is a fascinating and complex world that somehow manages to address all religions’ beliefs and more. In addition to the good place, her Hell is an intricate place filled with a cast of characters and had is own history. I would have read this book solely for the captivating worldbuilding, but lucky enough for us readers, this story has so much more.

As I previously mentioned, For Whom the Belle Tolls is filled with an enchanting cast of characters. Lily is a well-developed protagonist with an intricate backstory and appealing personality. Her underworld love interest is almost as equally developed and charming.  But my favorite characters were those secondary to these two protagonists. It turns out that Lynn’s Hell is filled with captivating demons that will win you over.

While I quite enjoyed For Whom the Belle Tolls, what did not fully work for me was the romance. The plot overall was interesting enough, never dwelling on one place too long. But the relationship between Lily and Bel just felt like it was missing a little something.

Even though I very fondly remember the novel, I rated it about 3.5 starts after I initially completed it. However, writing this review I vacillated whether to bump it up higher. I decided to break it down in my usual manner and ended up rating it higher. Perhaps I am missing something since I trust there was some element I forget in hindsight. This is all to say, I definitely recommend For Whom the Belle Tolls and suggest you give it a try even if it is nothing like your usual reading.