Saltburn vibes. Literally a page-turner. As in, even when nothing of note is happening in a chapter, the last line will make you turn to the next chapter.

I’m not proud of something things in my past, but they make me who I am now, so I don’t think I could be blackmailed with them. In this book, the main character allows something that happened in her past to allow her to be roped into something, not so nice.

This book is told from Clare’s point of view and is set in Scotland. Clare is a university student who finds herself drawn to an odd group of friends. After getting to know them, she finds herself participating in a dark and unscrupulous project. While she’s uncomfortable with it, she goes along because one of the members of the group is holding something from Clare’s past over her head. When Clare has had enough, will she be able to get out unscathed?

This book was so slowly paced. I really didn’t enjoy the writing style, it felt off to me and it seemed inconsistent – which I did not enjoy. Because of the writing and the pace, I got really bored really fast and because of this, and well what the characters did, I just didn’t enjoy, or care what happened to any of the. I also found the book overly vague – like sure I want to guess at some things, but not major plot details. I only finished this one because I wanted to find out what the characters were hiding in their past, but even that was an utter disappointment.

Thank you so much to @netgally and the publisher Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, @randomhouse, for my advanced copy. This one has reviews so please make sure to just take this into consideration – you may love this one. Not all books work for everyone

✨this was more like a 3.5/5 for me, but there were more things that i liked about than things that were just okay for me so i am rounding up to a 4!

✨this book is for the dark academia girlies, the psychological thriller girlies, etc. i don't want to compare this book to others too much, but i am sure if you enjoyed the secret history or if we were villains or in my dreams i hold a knife, then you will find something to enjoy in this book.

✨what initially drew me to this book was synopsis and the sense that this book was going to be about the most messed up, obsessive, toxic friendships one can have. and this book delivered! toxic friendships are hard to create with originality (in my opinion) because they tend to be based in jealousy and insecurity, and that plot can only go so far most of the time. i think the things we do to our friends had a great mix of insecurity in our protagonist Clare, who always desperately needed friends but tended to be a bit selective in her choices, and how once she was able to find Tabitha the need quickly turned into a bit of an obsession.

✨without spoilers, some things that i felt like this book lacked were mainly in the way that the chapters were formatted that affected the way that i read the book. there are chapters that are inserted from the present, as our main story takes place in the past, that threw me off and also spoiled the ending for me a bit. i think i would have rather not known what was going to happen in the end until i got to the end. i also wish that those chapters into the future were labeled as such because at times it was just jarring.

✨again, with no spoilers, i am also not a huge fan of the ending of this book. i think the idea surrounding the ending it one of my favorites in the dark academia/psych thriller sphere but the execution fell a bit flat. some bits felt underdeveloped, some felt disjointed, but there were pieces of the puzzle that were wrapped in a tiny bow that i did like.

✨i think the fact that i do have so much to say about it is an indicator for the fact that it made me think and feel something, which is why this is more of 3.5 than a solid 3. I liked the book, I'm interested to read more from this author, and I would definitely recommend this to any dark academia stan because this was really a great new spin on some of the more conventional story plots in those types of books.

✨thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group / Ballantine for allowing me to read this eARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this, I can’t hire decide whether it is a 3 or 4 star. I loved how the book was written in such a sinister way and that the female main character appeared so disturbing despite you not knowing too much about her. Even from the beginning I was wondering if she was some sort of stalker. The whole events of Perigeux were so disturbing and actually quite uncomfortable to read. I liked how even at the end when it appeared like she had regained control of herself she was considering the murder or her husband in the future in such a calm and composed way. I sort of wished I could have seen what would have happened if she had seen her parents again as I found her flashbacks about her and her family. I would definitely read another book by this author. Great book club choice Caitlin!!