The Swallows, by Lisa Lutz ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Boarding Schools, Satire, Sexual Harassment, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: August 13th, 2019

368 Pages

Synopsis: A new teacher at a New England prep school ignites a gender war—with deadly consequences—in a provocative novel from the bestselling author of The Passenger and The Spellman Files series.

What do you love? What do you hate? What do you want?

It starts with this simple writing prompt from Alex Witt, Stonebridge Academy’s new creative writing teacher. When the students’ answers raise disturbing questions of their own, Ms. Witt knows there’s more going on at the school than the faculty want to see. She soon learns about The Ten—the students at the top of the school’s social hierarchy—as well as their connection to something called The Darkroom.

Ms. Witt can’t remain a passive observer. She finds the few girls who’ve started to question the school’s “boys will be boys” attitude and incites a resistance that quickly becomes a movement. But just as it gains momentum, she also attracts the attention of an unknown enemy who knows a little too much about her—including what brought her to Stonebridge in the first place.

Meanwhile, Gemma, a defiant senior, has been plotting her attack for years, waiting for the right moment. Shy loner Norman hates his role in the Darkroom but can’t find the courage to fight back until he makes an unlikely alliance. And then there’s Finn Ford, an English teacher with a shady reputation who keeps one eye on his literary ambitions and one on Ms. Witt. 

As the school’s secrets begin to trickle out, a boys-versus-girls skirmish turns into an all-out war, with deeply personal—and potentially fatal—consequences for everyone involved.  Lisa Lutz’s blistering, timely tale shows us what can happen when silence wins out over decency for too long—and why the scariest threat of all might be the idea that sooner or later, girls will be girls. 

I’ve enjoyed all of Lisa Lutz’s books, so when I was approved for The Swallows , I was over the moon. I easily breezed through it in two sittings and while it’s not my favorite book by her I still liked it for the most part. 

While the whole “boys against girls” trope has been done many times, especially in the #MeToo” era, Lutz puts her own unique and darkly comedic spin on it. In a perverse way it’s nice seeing girls using dirty tactics. 

I do think the storyline needs some tightening up though. There are some extraneous characters and scenes which bogged down the story here and there, and they could have easily been done away with. However, these didn’t slow things down too much and the last few chapters in particular are quite exciting and the haunting ending will stay with you for a long time.

Overall, The Swallows is a successful satirical look at how frequently women and girls are sexually objectified by men, both intentionally and unintentionally. While some have classified this as a YA novel because of its boarding school setting, it’s really not (although I don’t see any reason why older teens couldn’t read this). It’s a character-driven story told from the perspectives of four participants that I think will have wide appeal, and I can easily see it being adapted into a movie.

 

 

 

 

The Furies, by Katie Lowe ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Boarding Schools, Mystery, Supernatural Fiction, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Release Date: October 8th, 2019

368 Pages

Synopsis: This page-turning, harrowing debut is the story of a girl trying to fit in, whose obsessive new friends and desperation to belong leads her to places she’d never imagined…dark, dangerous, and possibly even violent.

In 1998, a sixteen-year-old girl is found dead on her boarding school’s property, dressed in white, and posed on a swing, with no known cause of death. What happened to her? And what do her friends know? To find out is is necessary to go back to the beginning.

The school is Elm Hollow Academy, an all-girl’s boarding school, located in a sleepy coastal town with a long-buried grim history of  17 century witch trials. A new student, Violet, joins the school, and soon finds herself invited to become the fourth member of an advanced study group, led by the alluring and mysterious art teacher Annabel.

Annabel does her best to convince the girls that her classes aren’t related to ancient rites and rituals, and that they are just mythology. But the more she tries to warn the girls off topic, the more the girls start to believe magic is real and that they have the power to harness it.

Violet quickly finds herself wrapped up in this addictive new world. But when she comes to find out about the disappearance of a former member of the society, one with whom Violet shares an uncanny resemblance, she begins to wonder who she can trust, all the while becoming more deeply entangled in her newfound friendships.  

Was it suicide, or a foul play more sinister? How far will these young girls go to protect one another…or destroy one another?

You can probably tell from the synopsis that the plot isn’t the most original one out there, but I still found The Furies a fun, creepy read. For those of you who are fans of the 1996 movie The Craft, this is sort of a less campy version of that. Unsurprisingly there’s loads of angst and anger, and when you set that in all girl’s boarding school and mix in witchcraft, well, let’s just say there’s plenty of explosive supernatural shenanigans that ensue! My biggest issue was that I found the author’s writing a bit too florid, but it wasn’t really enough to spoil my enjoyment. I will definitely be on the lookout for any of Katie Lowe’s future books.

 

 

 

 

 

She Was the Quiet One, by Michele Campbell ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Boarding Schools, Hazing, Murder Mystery, Psychological Suspense, Statutory Rape, Twins

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now 

352 Pages

Synopsis: When twin sisters Rose and Bel Enright enroll in The Odell School, a prestigious New Hampshire boarding school, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. But the sisters could not be more different. The school brings out a rivalry between them that few ever knew existed. And the school itself has a dark underbelly: of privileged kids running unchecked and uninhibited; of rituals and traditions that are more sinister than they seem; of wealth and entitlement that can only lead  to disaster.

For Sarah Donovan, wife of an ambitious teacher who is determined to rise through the ranks, Odell seems like the best thing that could happen to their small family. But how well does she really know her husband? What lengths will he go to achieve his goals? And when one dark night ends in murder, who is guilty, who know the truth, and who has been in on it all along? SHE WAS THE QUIET ONE. Because murderers are almost never who you expect.

Have you ever finished a book and thought “I should have hated this!” but instead, reluctantly found yourself enjoying it immensely? That’s exactly how I felt during and after reading She Was the Quiet One.

There are plenty of books with the creepy New England boarding school setting, but I have a weakness for them, so that’s what first attracted me to this book. The chapters alternate between twin sisters Bel and Rose Enright, and Sarah Donovan, the wife of the charismatic and ambitious Heath Donovan, The Donovans are teachers, student advisors, and dorm heads of Moreland Hall, a dorm with a bad reputation and which has had to deal with a few scandals in its history. Interspersed are police interviews with various characters after the murder. In the beginning I was a little nervous because I didn’t like any of the characters except for Sarah. The twins are polar opposites of each other. Bel is the rebellious one who tends to always fall in with the wrong crowd. She’s a follower who will do anything in order to be accepted by the popular crowd. Rose is the quiet studious one but she comes across as judgemental and sanctimonious most of the time. Both girls annoyed me immensely in the beginning but I suspect that Michele Campbell intends that. As the story progresses, both sisters become a bit more empathetic. Sarah, I liked from the beginning and she is the character I connected with the most. When the book first starts it seems like this is the perfect couple with two adorable children, but it’s soon revealed that Heath, once a promising new novelist, was involved in a scandal himself, and these new positions at Odell Academy are a new beginning for the family. Sarah does everything to support her husband’s ambitions, but she’s not blind to his weaknesses either and I felt for her as she struggled. 

The story itself is not one of those twisty thrillers that keep you guessing, although there were a couple of surprises that I didn’t see coming. But even with its predictability, the story was still fun with its drama, secrets, betrayal, and murder. While I figured out who the murderer was before the second half of the book, I still enjoyed watching how events unfolded. And the epilogue was a clever addition that brings everything to a satisfying close.

She Was the Quiet One, is a fast-paced read that’s perfect for the beach or bringing on vacation. While it’s an adult fiction novel, older teens will also enjoy it. 

The Assassin Game ~ By Kirsty McKay – 3.0 Stars

Tags

Boarding Schools, Mystery, Wales, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Who will be left after lights out?

At Cate’s isolated boarding school, Killer is more than a game–it’s an elite secret society. Members must avoid being “Killed” during a series of thrilling pranks, and only the Game Master knows who the “Killer” is. When Cate’s finally invited to join the Assassins’ Guild, she knows it’s her ticket to finally feeling like she belongs.

But when the game becomes all too real, the school threatens to shut it down. Cate will do anything to keep playing and save the Guild. But can she find the real assassin before she’s the next target?

The premise of The Assassin’s Game intrigued me from the very beginning, mainly because this is definitely something I would have loved playing when I was in high school. I also loved the menacing cover, which gave me the creeps. Even though the action begins immediately, I struggled with being swept up in the story. Once the game started things got more interesting, although the way the game was played was a little disappointing. Since these kids are geniuses, I was expecting the pranks to be truly spectacular but instead found them a little ho-hum. I was also expecting much more in the way of murder and mayhem but there wasn’t anything that had my heart pounding and me anxiously chewing my fingernails. There was only one character I really got attached to, and it wasn’t Cate. I thought she was likable enough, but there wasn’t anything that made her stand out. Same with most of the others. I think more time should have been spent developing them. When the real “killer” was revealed it wasn’t a huge surprise, and I thought the ending was a bit of a cop out. The Assassin Game isn’t a bad book, but it left me yearning for more. That said, I  can see some teens liking this, but if you’re looking for lots of thrills and chills, I don’t think this will satisfy you.

Shades of Darkness (Ravenborn Book One) ~ By A. R. Kahler – 2.0 Stars

Tags

Boarding Schools, Norse Mythology, Rape, Suicide, YA Fiction

Thank you NetGalley and Simon Pulse for providing an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 3rd, 2016

Synopsis: Islington Arts Academy is not your average high school. Nestled in the forests of Michigan, surrounded by trees and nature and virtually no evidence of civilization, it’s an oasis for those looking to get away. Perfect for a student like Kaira Winters, who wants nothing more than to put her past behind her and focus on the present…and her looming graduation, just a few months away. But the past has a way of returning when least expected.

Kaira knows that what happened before, at her old school, wasn’t normal. She knows what happened to her ex-boyfriend wasn’t natural. But she refuses to believe that the recent death on campus, the one that has everyone on edge, has anything to do with her. She refuses to believe that she could be at fault again.  But just as the past always returns, the truth can never stay hidden for long. 

Even if Kaira didn’t cause the first death at Islington, or the second, or the third, she has the ability to find out who did. She has the obligation to stop whatever is coming to campus. To end the darkness that is falling with the same snow that once blanketed the woods in beauty.

But to embrace this power–to relinquish herself to the ancient entity that has been lurking in the corners of her mind–is to let go of her humanity…and Kaira doesn’t know how far she can go before she loses herself completely.

Shades of Darkness is one of those books that has so much potential but becomes mired in too much melodrama and confusion which makes for a frustrating read.

The first problem is how the book begins. I felt as though I was dropped in the middle of a story and it was difficult to get a grasp of what was going on. There’s multiple hints as to Kaira’s traumatic past, but nothing is really explained until the end of the book. All you know is that something terrible happened and Kaira has exiled herself as far away from her home as she can. She has so many issues and secrets she’s hiding that it makes it hard to relate to her at all. Even when the truth of what happened to her is revealed, I found myself not caring by that point. Further muddying the waters were the supernatural aspects. While from the beginning it’s obvious they have something to do with Norse mythology, it’s unclear for the majority of the book what they have to do with Kaira and the mysterious deaths that are suddenly occurring on campus. I will say the characters are diverse with Kaira describing herself as being an “unknown blend of Native American bloodlines”, but even this I felt was just dropped in there with no further explanation. Kaira’s best friend, Ethan is gay and the exchanges between him and his boyfriend Oliver, provide for the most enjoyable moments of the book. 

For being a relatively short book at 303 pages, the story dragged and I had to force myself to keep reading. While everything is explained in the end, for me it was too little, too late. This is going to be a series, but sadly I don’t think I’ll be giving it another try. It has received some good reviews though on Goodreads, so maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood. 

 

Akarnae: The Medoran Chronicles Begins ~ by Lynette Noni – 5 Stars

Tags

Boarding Schools, Fantasy, Friendship, Libraries, Parallel World, Science Fiction, YA Fiction

  I received this ebook from NetGalley and Pantera Press in exchange for an honest review.

When her archeologist parents get a dream trip to Siberia leaving them unreachable for the next 8 months, 16 year old Alexandra Jennings is sent to the International Exchange Academy. Since she is experienced at starting new schools because of her parent’s nomadic life, Alex isn’t looking forward to her first day. When it begins less than auspiciously, she isn’t surprised, but then things take a really strange turn. She finds herself propelled into a parallel world known as Medora, where technological marvels and danger go hand in hand. Stranded, Alex begins attending the Akarnae Academy for gifted teenagers until it’s headmaster, Professor Marcelle returns from his travels, for she is told he is the only one who can return her to her world. While she is surrounded by more friends than she’s ever had, and she enjoys “most” of her classes, Alex can’t help feeling there is something wrong, and that it has to do with her. Will her as yet unknown gift be enough to not only save herself, but Medora itself?

I absolutely LOVED this first novel in what the author says will be a 5 book series. While slightly reminiscent of Harry Potter, Akarnae combines technology and magical elements into something completely unique. Not only are there doorways that can take you to different worlds, but there are lollipops that test your potential, disappearing bookstores, and best of all, a sentient library! With innumerable doorways, paintings you can walk in and out of, moving carpet squares, secret levels, and hidden rooms, this is the coolest library ever! Then there’s the student’s gifts which can be anything from turning invisible, to being able to charm people. Alex is a wonderful character who I instantly fell in love with, and her friendship with Jordan and Bear is at turns, amusing and touching. No mere comedic sidekicks, both of these guys have interesting backstories which I’m sure will be explored more in subsequent books. You know how you can just tell when an author has poured their heart and soul into a book? Akarnae is one of those. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Anyone who enjoys fantasy and science fiction will fall in love with the world and characters that Lynette Noni has so lovingly created. My only disappointment is that the second book isn’t out yet.