For Whom the Belle Tolls – Book Review

Hi, this is Hell. Welcome to the Hellp Desk, where the dad jokes are chronic, but that ass is iconic. How can I help you? Well, actually, this isn’t the Hellp Desk but we are going to be talking a lot about it because today’s topic of discussion is Jaysea Lynn’s new book, ‘For Whom the Belle Tolls’, and as someone who works in customer service I would very much love to have 24 hours on the Hellp Desk to vent some work related frustrations.

‘For Whom the Belle Tolls’ is actually based on a Tiktok series that Jaysea Lynn started in 2021 which tells the story of the staff of Hell’s Customer Service desk, otherwise known as the Hellp Desk. Spanning over 620 episodes and named after an AC/DC song, the series gained huge popularity, and ‘lo the prequel novel was born. The events of ‘For Whom the Belle Tolls’ actually occur before the Hell’s Belles TikTok series and the book was initially self published and digitally released on December 20th 2024 before physical copies became available at the start of this month. ‘For Whom the Belle Tolls’ is irreverently funny, emotionally gripping fantasy romance, and, of course, it’s laced with copious amounts of Dad jokes, as it should be. It is NOT a PG book and comes with its own warning before the story starts and touches on some sensitive topics, so read at your own risk. This is a story about a customer service desk in Hell where there is no limit to what can be said or done to complaining souls except the limit of your imagination, found family and supernatural romance; it’s bound to get violent, emotional and juuuust a little bit kinky. Oh, and yes, you will become emotional over socks, and no, I won’t be elaborating. So let’s sum up the story for you without any spoilers, shall we?

To put it simply, our main character, Lily, is dead at the ripe old age of 34. She finds herself in the afterlife and sans heartbeat, bored and looking for something to do. While roaming the Universal Hallway, Lily comes across Hell, a place more about justice than punishment when you look closely enough. And so, the idea forms: Why not set up a customer service desk at the gates of Hell to hellp people ‘find’ their way to the appropriate levels so they don’t have to verbally abuse the gate demons who really are just big softies under their scary facades. Making friends with the gate demons she works in proximity with, Lily joins the demons’ online game of Invaders which lead to her first encounter with Beleth, general of numerous legions of Hell and certified nerd, and, let’s be honest, who doesn’t want a hunky nerd hubby with a deep voice. I think we all know where this is going but Lily and Beleth’s story is enthralling with characters that exude personality and humour while treating deep and, in some cases, traumatic topics and events with grace and delicacy. We are introduced to a whole host of deities, demons, and souls as Lily provides stellar customer service with a smile and a baseball bat while living…existing(?) her best afterlife.

‘For Whom the Belle Tolls’ is a well written, well paced journey through emotional healing and growth, grief and death with probably the most emotionally healthy relationship I’ve seen from a romantasy novel in a very long time. For me, our main couple starting out as nothing more than friends grounds this relationship in reality (as weird as that may be in a fantasy book) rather than opting for the insta-love that can be somewhat typical of romantic fantasy. Nothing forces these characters together; Lily and Bel choose each other, and it works fantastically. The found family aspect of the plot also shows that blood doesn’t define family, and real family will always try to help you grow. Personally, I found it so amazingly easy to become immersed into Lily and Bel’s world and relationships. The real bonus of this book is that it doesn’t require any previous knowledge of Jaysea’s Tiktok series to really enjoy the story as a whole while those who have seen the series can see certain events coming and nods towards the series plotline. And just so you have been made aware, this book is NOT for a younger audience. There are some explicit scenes and strong language, so don’t say you weren’t warned ahead of time.

All in all, ‘For Whom the Belle Tolls’ is one hell of a book, and I had been dying to read it. Puns absolutely intended. I implore you to enjoy some spicy, romantic fantasy fiction this summer while reading this New York Times bestseller. We have a bit more of a wait until the next book in the ‘Hell’s Belles’ series, but we have been assured by the author herself. ‘For Whom the Belle Tolls’ is published by Simon and Schuster in the UK, but the dual narrated audiobook also comes highly recommended. All versions of the book are available now.