You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One day I’ll learn not to immediately fall in love with titles that are dark and amazing. Because the actual book is ALWAYS a let down. And as a side note I need to pay attention to books labeled thriller, I hate thrillers. But that’s not why I didn’t like this book, I didn’t like it because it was confusing and a waste of my time to read.
When the story starts with a student returning to school and moving in early for her senior year, of course I assume the main character is in college. But then there’s talk of fake IDs, famous 17 year old authors, and other vapid issues that can only be relegated to the problems of high schoolers.
I found the main character whiny and unrelateable. She complains often about feeling jaded and out of place from having taken TWO SEMESTERS off from school. But she comes back and “everyone’s gone” and “she doesn’t recognize anyone.” Which goes to show Felicity is a self absorbed asshole. She looks at a picture from herself at 16 and remarks on how young she looked, as if she’s a decrepit crone. She’s 18!
I thought the magic allusions and ghost sightings were too shallow and insubstantial to be interesting. For that matter, I don’t even know when the book asked me to suspend my disbelief about magic being present. All I know is that after a stupid realization that she probably didn’t kill her girlfriend, the idea that magic is real and all consuming was mercilessly shoved down my throat. And for the rest of the book, I was roughly tossed around as the character flip flopped her own beliefs. She’s not just an unreliable narrator, she’s an indecisive one and I had to suffer for it.
It got to the point where I wished Alex’s ghost was real and would come in and put us all out of our misery.
My biggest grievance is the fact that this book smacks of white feminism. In a way that is just self aware enough to be disrespectful in it’s all execution. I tried to ignore it in favor of the POC (side) characters and LGBTQ+ representation. But when the main characters wished to go back to a wilder and more confusing time, I could not stop myself from rolling my eyes and disengaging. That was the moment I decided to give this book one star and made myself suffer through the rest of it so that my review would be both scathing and accurate.
This poor WASP-y white girl who was born with too much privilege and not enough attention. She resents her race and class privilege but not enough not to hide behind it when she needs to. In the end, she gets everything she thinks she wants. And because she’s bored she plots to implode her own life for fun...again. I’m glad I won’t be there to see it. There’s nothing worse than a redundant performance.
When the story starts with a student returning to school and moving in early for her senior year, of course I assume the main character is in college. But then there’s talk of fake IDs, famous 17 year old authors, and other vapid issues that can only be relegated to the problems of high schoolers.
I found the main character whiny and unrelateable. She complains often about feeling jaded and out of place from having taken TWO SEMESTERS off from school. But she comes back and “everyone’s gone” and “she doesn’t recognize anyone.” Which goes to show Felicity is a self absorbed asshole. She looks at a picture from herself at 16 and remarks on how young she looked, as if she’s a decrepit crone. She’s 18!
I thought the magic allusions and ghost sightings were too shallow and insubstantial to be interesting. For that matter, I don’t even know when the book asked me to suspend my disbelief about magic being present. All I know is that after a stupid realization that she probably didn’t kill her girlfriend, the idea that magic is real and all consuming was mercilessly shoved down my throat. And for the rest of the book, I was roughly tossed around as the character flip flopped her own beliefs. She’s not just an unreliable narrator, she’s an indecisive one and I had to suffer for it.
It got to the point where I wished Alex’s ghost was real and would come in and put us all out of our misery.
My biggest grievance is the fact that this book smacks of white feminism. In a way that is just self aware enough to be disrespectful in it’s all execution. I tried to ignore it in favor of the POC (side) characters and LGBTQ+ representation. But when the main characters wished to go back to a wilder and more confusing time, I could not stop myself from rolling my eyes and disengaging. That was the moment I decided to give this book one star and made myself suffer through the rest of it so that my review would be both scathing and accurate.
This poor WASP-y white girl who was born with too much privilege and not enough attention. She resents her race and class privilege but not enough not to hide behind it when she needs to. In the end, she gets everything she thinks she wants. And because she’s bored she plots to implode her own life for fun...again. I’m glad I won’t be there to see it. There’s nothing worse than a redundant performance.
rip ellis you would’ve loved villanelle from killing eve
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
it would be like Dead Poets Society if the Dead Poets Society were messy lesbians and their rituals. That is the most I have to say about this book, it was messy and it had lesbians
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship
Moderate: Stalking, Murder, Classism
Absolutely loved the dark academia, witchy vibes that this book gave me! I feel like the beginning was a little slow, but once the plot picked up, I was totally hooked. I really enjoy reading from the perspective of unreliable narrators, so having the story unfold through Felicity’s eyes was super interesting and had me questioning everything that was happening. Overall, this book gave me all the spooky boarding school aesthetics I was looking for and I’m so happy I picked it up!