Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Where Sleeping Girls Lie

Dear Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

You have just become one of my new auto buy authors.

This book is full of suspense, mystery and a true look at what dark academia means in young adult fiction. To critique and comment on educational institutions and the system and structure.
The audiobook was amazing as well, I love when extra production is put into an audiobook to make them more engaging.

If you love a story that keeps you guessing, full of puzzles and anagrams and unreliable narrators then this is the perfect book to recommend. This is so much more than a YA mystery thriller and I hope that anyone picking this title up can see that once they're done.

Also there is a cute animal sidekick so, bonus points.

Content Warnings

mariecaat02's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

minimicropup's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I miss these characters (well, some of them). The length of this intimidated me initially, but once I got into it, I enjoyed it.

Energy: Suspicious. Resilient. Perceptive.

Scene: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Fictional village and prestigious boarding school in England

Perspective: We’re following a Year 3 high school student on their first day at boarding school after years of home-schooling. Not long after they arrive, their roommate goes missing.

🐩 Tail Wags: The writing style. Gradually getting to know the characters. Sade. Friendship dynamics. Balance of clues and reveals. The portrayal of dark academia (the irl kind) and handling of heavy themes.

🤔 Random Thoughts:

There were moments in the middle where I thought this book would feel too long, but just as I started having those thoughts, something would happen, and I wouldn’t feel that way anymore. That said, it’s a mystery story that takes time, with some breaks, for the characters to chill and get to know each other, so I see how this could feel long.

This had just the right amount of heavy, high-stakes scenes near the end (~70% mark) for me. But I don’t like it when high stakes dominate, so if you’re the opposite, it may feel like nothing much happens until 70%.

Sade (pronounced ‘Sha-day’) is a relatable and likeable character. I loved the portrayal of anxiety, especially in social situations. Her entire backstory isn’t revealed all at once, but it doesn't feel like it is kept secret from the audience as suspense bait. There’s no overreliance on that "if only they knew..." stuff.

----

🎬 Tale-Telling: YA style in a good way. Descriptive, clear, but still nuanced and with depth.

🤓 Reader Role: Getting to know Sade, following her around and hearing her current thoughts on things while learning more about her and her family life growing up.

🗺️ World-Building: Immersive, atmospheric, and descriptive. I easily imagined the boarding school facilities, halls, and layout. The unease was built gradually. Sometimes, the school felt like a safe place, but then little things would happen to make it seem shady.

🔥 Fuel: Most of the fuel requires caring for what happens to the characters. Of the love interests and budding friendships, who can Sade trust? Who has ulterior motives? Is something sketchy going on with the faculty and staff? What happened in Sade’s past with her parents and sister? Where is Sade’s roommate, and is she in danger? How far will Sade go to protect herself and her friends?

📖 Cred: Mostly realistic to hyper-realistic

🚙 Journey: Cozied up streaming a high school drama series that transports you back (or forward) to high school days.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Chlorine water. Light rain. Wind ratting windows. Water splashing. Crisp breeze. Cafeterias. Scraping chairs. Locker doors.
Dark academia and missing person mystery
Heart-warming (and heart-wrenching) friendship and relationship dynamics

Content Heads-Up: Parental neglect/estrangement. Anxiety, panic. Sleepwalking, dissociation. Loss of parent (as teen). Loss of a sibling. Suicide (descriptive, recall). Missing person. Alcohol and drug use (partying, recreational). Drugging. Sexual assault and rape. Death. Injury. Corruption (institutional).

Rep: Cisgender. Gay. Lesbian. Bisexual. Heterosexual. Diverse skin colours. Black, White, Irish, Sri Lankan, Brazilian, American, and British characters.

📚 Format: Hardcover

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

Content Warnings

bookishkellyn's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Newly orphaned, Sade arrives at ANA and is sorted into a dorm house (kind of like Harry Potter), but the shenanigans that follow feel like HBO’s Euphoria at a boarding school in England. Just like the author’s previous book, the plot started out amazing but got confuddled after the ⅔ mark. The ending felt a little anticlimactic, and I was disappointed about the omission of the fate of some background characters. Overall, the characters and plot twists didn’t seem too far-fetched. The only truly unrealistic scene was when Sade got waist-length faux locs installed for only £80!

Content Warnings

pm_me_book_recs's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Yes. This is finally an urban YA with realistic dialogue, believable teens, chilling horror, anxiety inducing mystery, all wrapped up in social commentary. We get Muslim representation, Queer representation, Neurodivergence, Black representation, without focusing on those identities being othered or the target of bullying. Rather, the dynamic focused on is the rift between class and gender, and the predatory actions of "frat" boys and systemic symptoms of racism and misogyny. As a survivor, this also felt like a rare accurate showing of how that trauma of having your autonomy denied you can be so silent and internalized. The different portrayals of PTSD were also great, not everyone processes and shows trauma the same way and I find authors tend to only show one or two sides instead of a spectrum.

I loved the characters, I loved their dynamic stories and moral greyness (i.e. realistic people), I loved the claustrophobic setting, I loved how Àbíké-Íyímídé spun tropes and then completely swiveled away from them, and the subplots and understory were so wonderfully intertwined and unpredictable. And a resolved ending showing healing. I love a solid resolution.

CW: Descriptions of experiencing "roofies", mentions of rape, descriptions of stalking, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, instances of death, threats, sexual harassment, violence, and blood.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warnings

More...