Before I started reading it, I thought it was going to be a 'This Is Our Story' type of book, and that was mainly the reason why I was so interested in picking it up. And though they had a few things in common, they ended up being two completely different stories. And despite having a few issues with the story and the characters, I had overall a really good time reading it. 

One of my main problems was that the plot didn't begin until I reached the half mark. Before it was purely focusing on the boarding school and the life of our protagonist, and I was a bit bored, because I was expecting a mind blowing thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat and... it didn't. 

However, once you passed that half mark, it started to get so much better. I read it faster and I was more engrosed in the story, wanting to know what was going to happen. And though it was pretty predictable to me, I still was at the edge of my seat during some thrilling scenes. 

I wasn't the biggest fan of the cast of characters in the book. They were quite trope-y and underdeveloped, and I would have loved to know more about the side characters, and I didn't. It was purely focused on their feelings toward that weekend, and our main character was kind of frustrating, because she was contradicting herself throughout the entire novel. I also felt the little romance a bit unnecessary, because it didn't add much to the story. 

Something I really liked about this story was that it could be open to discussion. It was very thought provoking, and a morally grey story, in terms of religion, morallity and technology, which was something that I found really interesting, despite not agreeing with some of the things the characters said to excuse themselves. 

I was sometimes I bit unconfortable reading some scenes that involved hunting and killing animals, despite that I knew that was mostly what it was going to be about.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this so well plotted, and with such full characters. While still holding on to the emotional ups and downs that mark adolescence, the characters had deep backstories that were slowly revealed throughout the book. I was thinking about this book long after I turned the last page. The main character broke "the fourth wall" with not so subtle hints and foreshadowing - happily this was in keeping with her teen character, and there were layers of other hints and foreshadowing occurring. Overall, it was a clever read, and one I would return to again in the hopes of catching all the clues I missed the first time around.

4 stars

Scholarship student Greer MacDonald and her two friends, fellow outcasts, are invited to a weekend with the elites of their private school in England. Settling into sixth term has been hard, especially with the other privileged students, but this mysterious invitation might change everything for Greer and her friends.
Or maybe not.

At the ancient Longcross Hall, not everything is what it seems. Over the next three days, Greer and her friends participate in three bloodsports–huntin’, shootin’, and fishin’–but things get darker and more twisted as the weekend progresses. Greer learns that those being hunted are not just the wild game, but the outcasts that have been brought from school…

This book is dark and delicious and twisted–although you might not expect it at first.

In the beginning, I didn’t really dig it that much. It seemed like your usual “girl gets accepted into elite group & lives happily ever after.” But things get darker.

Way darker.

Greer is a good enough main character. I didn’t care for her that much because she felt kind of bland, but I really enjoyed her voice and how she narrates. She’s concise, but gives enough detail to the readers. There’s a lovely use of parentheses that I found very enjoyable in this occasion. She includes details and chats with the reader as most of the story is an account of what has happened to Greer.

I thought her narration and Bennett’s writing was very good, even though Greer wasn’t particularly interesting herself. She was good at narrating and I gladly accepted the fact.

The side characters were a little more interesting than scholarship student Greer.

Chanel comes from new money, her dad is a phone mogul, which is why she’s also invited to the weekend. She, like Greer, initially wants to be accepted by the rich elite, dubbed the Medievals.

Shafeen is a South Asian prince (although the princely part isn’t very much emphasized) and is singled out for his brown skin. Yet unlike Greer and Chanel, he’s much more aware of the darker goings at the large estate and has an inkling of what’s truly going on.

I liked both of them a little more than Greer because they were more interesting, but overall the characters were more there to tell the story than for you to become immensely connected with. This was the main reason my rating was dropped down a star.

But the plot was the star of the show.

I assumed this was either going to be like Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart where it tells the story of a villain and that’s that (because Greer talks to the reader at the beginning about how she’s a murderer) or a boarding school story where she gets accepted as one of the elite and lives happily ever after.

It was neither, and it’s darker qualities is what made this a much better book than either of the ones mentioned.
There’s this huge undercover plot and conspiracy that just grows and snowballs and doesn’t let you go even during the very last page where Bennett writes

THE END?

Oh god, I really hope there’s a sequel because this novel’s conspiracy was so captivating. Once I got into what was happening and the dark deeds going on, I was sucked right in.

The pacing starts out a little slow, but it definitely speeds up during Greer’s account of what happened at the estate. You get these hints along the way about what will happen, but piecing it all together was really fun for me.

I know seasoned mystery readers will probably expect everything that’s happening, but for me, this was such an exciting read.

The dark conspiracy doesn’t just stop at the students that are at the manor with Greer and her friends, nor does it stop at the school. It spreads far greater than that, which gave me such delightful chills.

I didn’t really like how much Greer the narrator emphasized her being a murderer because it wasn’t really true (can’t spoil!) and she was exaggerating, but I did think it worked well in hooking the reader.

There’s also some really great discussions which made this book so much better. The elite students talk about things like “weeding out the weak” and “keeping the population in check” and create all sorts of animalistic analogies that relate with the actions of humans. I found some really enjoyable parallels in this novel which made me so satisfied.

Although this novel felt superficial at first, it grew to be much, much more. It was luscious, it was dark and conspiratorial, and it left me wanting more. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a captivating, dark, boarding school read!

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I mostly enjoyed this book. It reminded me a little bit of Cruel Intentions mixed with Gilmore Girls. Which should automatically be a 5-star rating, you would think, but it didn't quite meet the mark in my opinion. It seemed like that's what the author was going for, but it fell short.
I kept going back and forth between whether I liked the writing style or not. I appreciate the fact that it was made to invite the reader to be a more active participant, as it was written at times as if addressing the reader. However, it seemed a bit disjointed at times and didn't always work.
The end was extremely abrupt. Not the ending, per say, but the actual last 2-3 lines of the book. Like, the author just decided to stop writing halfway through the paragraph.
I'm still not sure how I feel about the main character. At times she seemed fierce and determined, and at other times she was annoying and kind of ridiculous. But I do have to say that I didn't really find the love story(ies) believable. Some things seemed to kind of come out of nowhere and there wasn't really much of a basis for it (other than "we need to create a love plot here").
But, the story itself was entertaining, and I had a lot of fun reading it. I kind of guessed some things in the book accurately, but for many other things I was completely surprised. The author does a great job of building up suspense. I also learned a lot about hunting and shooting. (Perhaps more than I wanted to? But in a good way- like "OMG, they really do that, that's horrifying?!" kind of a way).
In short, despite my issues with the writing style and some of the characters /romance, I think it was still a fun read.

I struggled to like this as the concept seemed interesing. However I didn’t really enjoy the dialogue or the characters.

Too old for middle school, but a good read. I like the twisty plot and the detailed portrayals of the upper crust outing. A little confusing for this American reader though.

Thanks to the publisher for access to this title in return for a fair review.

Greer is a new student at the prestigious boarding school, and she just doesn't seem to fit in. She hasn't made any friends, and things aren't looking so great. That is until she receives THE invitation. She's been invited for a sporting weekend with the most popular kids in school, and she just knows this is her ticket to getting new friends.

This is a good psychological thriller, but I kind of felt like it read as a slightly more developed RL Stine Fear Street novel. Most of the characters were kind of flat and underdeveloped, and I while the writing was easy to read and follow, it just didn't grab me like I was hoping it would. The added twist with the STAGS gave it a little more depth, but by that point it was too late to make it a great story.

I guess I thought this would be a better story than I found it. I could not connect to any of the characters and I was not very interested in what happened to them. I wish there had been more suspense. But I know this will still have a big appeal to the YA audience. I did love the setting of the story!

I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

So the premise is this book is really cool. A group of students go to a mansion for a weekend and one by one they are killed off mysteriously. It seemed interesting.

The MC is Greer McDonald, a girl who is obsessed with movies. You know this because every other paragraph she is comparing what is happening to a scene from a movie. I have to be honest-- I'm not a big movie person. So everytime there was a movie reference where she would go into what happened in the movie and compare it to what was happening in the story, it ruined the immersiveness for me. I'd rather have descriptive writing showing me what I'd happening than constant pop culture references.

The villain in the book is also one dimensional, which was disappointing. No spoilers here, but the ending also seemed to be very rushed.

Overall, the premise was interesting, but the book fell flat for me.

I found S.T.A.G.S to be a good, solid read but it wasn't my favorite in the genre. Being a fan of YA thrillers I thought this book would hold a lot of mystery and edge of your seat moments but it didn't really do this. That's not to say other readers won't find it thrilling because they may. It just wasn't one of those reads for me. In addition to this, I found the characters names to be a bit too weird for me. I understand these kids come from elite backgrounds and have some older generation names but it detracted me from the story. I was too busy trying to pronounce them rather then enjoying the story in the moment.

2.5 stars
When I got approved for this book i was really excited because the cover art is gorgeous and the description sounded interesting however there were A LOT of problems with this book.

For starters there was little to no character development. Each character was introduced by name and a large block of text that followed rather than showing us through the interactions and mannerisms. I hate when authors do this in books because it seems like they are taking the easy way out. Not only that but the main character, Greer, was so poorly developed I left the book feeling like I barely knew her as the book gave no insight to her as a person, and it just left me feeling kind of annoyed at her.

Another thing that irked me in this book was the language used. There were run on sentences galore and it was just a mouthful to read at a time. The writing style was very basic and elementary which took away from the novel. I felt like the end of the book was really rushed as this book was about 200 pages.

Also the author kept on referencing different movies and books throughout the novel. I couldn’t go one chapter without at least one reference. This was really annoying because some of these movies I hadn’t watched so I would have to google the movie to kind of piece together what the author was going for. There is nothing wrong with references but I felt like the author used references as a crutch to provide detail in the novel, instead of explaining it themselves.

All that aside the end of the book was mind boggling and it leaves me scratching my head, because I did not see the twist coming and it was so good! If only this book had been better written and developed it’s rating could’ve gone up, but the essence of the book was really good, it was just that the execution just wasn't there.

I received this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely loved the premise of this book. Boarding school drama meets the Hunger Games in this tale of survival of the most cunning. You just won't see it coming. WOW!

Okay there is so much to discuss when it comes to this book and I’m going to do my best to give a review without spoiling anything even though I want nothing more than to force someone to read it right now so we can spend days going over it.

Let’s start at the beginning, I am always a fan of the reclusive school in the middle of nowhere where time seems to stand still and society leaves it alone thus allowing it to create its own sense of order. There are so many layers and foreshadowing in this book that I am probably going to read it again just to pick up all of the details I missed the first time around.

The entire concept and the weight of it is something so real in the sense that it might not happen play by play like in the book, but it undoubtably happens in the read world in one form or another and what makes this book so great and ultimately terrifying is that this isn’t a monster under your bed this is a group of people who have mastered the art of hiding their cruelty in order to keep what they believe is rightfully theirs.

My only critique and I’m a bit of a hypocrite in that my first thought reading this was the synopsis was wrong it’s nothing like Pretty Little Liars, instead it leans more towards ‘The Most Dangerous Game’, but there were a lot of references to movies in this book and some of them were useful in order to allude to the dark atmosphere and the final revelation, but the others were just too much. I almost feel like that took away from the impact of the important features because at the time it seems like just another shout out and you kind of gloss over it until the relevant ones show up again.

All in all this was everything I hoped it would be and I can’t wait for more people to read it and whatever comes next because after that ending I can’t wait for more!

**thank you to netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

I found "S.T.A.G.S" to be a very well plotted out book overall. The tension was built up at a slow pace, but there was always a sense of unease that could then lend itself to dread very easily. It takes some interesting themes about classism and privilege and lets loose, and I found it pretty neat that it was so thoughtful about these themes. Greer was a sympathetic and relatable main character that I enjoyed for the most part. Sometimes her movie obsessions and references kind of became monotonous, but I mostly enjoyed them and seeing what she would reference next. The cool evil of the Medievals was very disconcerting, and while I think that Henry was very well fleshed out and a well written villain I do think that we could have gotten to know at least a couple of them more than we did. It appears that there is going to be a sequel perhaps, at least the ending opens itself up for one, and I am pretty sure that I would continue in the series, and probably be pretty eager to get my hands on the next book should it come to fruition.

"S.T.A.G.S" was a very taut and engrossing thriller, and I think that fans of the genre will get a kick out of it.

Set in an English boarding school then a manor, this book has suspense, a good story line, but the ending needed a few more chapters to complete it. I enjoyed the book and wanted to keep reading until I finished it. on a positive note, there is so much out there that we don't want young teens to read, this does include forms of bullying, but the good guys are truly there for one another. I wouldn't mind having teens read this one.

So. When I started this book, I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. It was an egalley to read and review, and I was intrigued enough to keep going. And while the beginning was a little slow, once I got fully into the plot of the story, I couldn't put it down.

The plot reminded me a lot of a secret society (which is basically is), like Skulls. A school is run by "Medievals" -- a group of 6 kids that have sworn off technology. But they are mean (classically). Until they invite 3 "outcasts" away on a weekend of huntin' shootin' fishin'. The three (Greer, our narrator), Chanel, and Shafeen, all accept. But that's when the real trouble begins.

Greer is an interesting narrator. She tells the story from the future, going back to talk about what happened during that weekend. She does, at times, interject hindsight comments. It did take me a little getting used to for this, but eventually it worked out and didn't really bother me.

There are a lot of times I wanted to shake Greer and tell her to stop being stupid. But, I think this is a point to Bennett because it shows how realistic she was making these characters -- especially Greer. It's natural to waffle, especially when you have Henry the Awesome fawning over you.

The ending? Whoa. I did not see it coming -- though their reason for it doesn't make TOTAL sense, in the way they use the word. I'd still say it's a secret society rather than a cult. Though, after it's all explained, I do think it could have ended about 2 chapters sooner. The rest was just "Here's what happened After"...though it did lead to a possible sequel.

I'd say it was...horror movie-esque leaving an opening for a B-Level sequel.

I struggled to get into this book but I stuck it out and really did end up enjoying it, it just took me a while. I don't know if it was the setting or what caused the slow down, but once the action got rolling, I found myself intrigued by what was really going on and how things were going to turn out for the three "murderers". Thank you netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

*Spoiler* A YA "thriller" of the worst sort. It was not very thriller or scary as you would guess from the cover ~ "one deadly weekend". A group of over privileged rich kids who rule the school find entertainment in harassing the loners and outcasts (shocking!) and then invite 3 such students for a weekend of "sport hunting". Apparently these upper class snobs are part of some elite secret cult that hunts children for sport (ok, kind of interesting plot twist) however there are only two deaths cited due to the annual hunts going back decades and just a bunch of traumatized teenagers who never spill the beans on a handful of bullies. The story just never really fulfills any expectation of being scary, thrilling or, in the end, a satisfying tale of good over evil. Its just kind of, meh....

I was very excited for this. There was some fist-pumping action going on when I got the approval email. But I figured out quickly that this wasn't going to be for me. I made it about a third of the way in before I couldn't read any longer. The biggest problem I had was the voice, with the main character having a penchant for running off into tangents. I also thought the dialogue was laughable when it wasn't supposed to be. I'm sad because I like YA thrillers a lot, and I liked this concept, (and I loved the cover!), but this just didn't work for me at all.

Any story set in a British boarding school automatically grabs my interest, and has done since my childhood reading Enid Blyton and Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. So points for that, to start. And this one, in one of those old (centuries old) schools with incredibly outdated uniforms and traditions, coupled with a fish-out-of-water student's experiences? Ok, let's go!

That's all the good stuff: the descriptions of the school, the students, the traditions, the Heritage That Is England stuff. The plot, and the characters, however, don't quite live up to that. They're predictable and oh so stereotypical, right down to the "plot twist" at the end. Sigh.