Lisa Lutz is a marvel! THE SWALLOWS is an intimate look at the lives of students and teachers at Stonebridge, a mediocre boarding school. When the new teacher, Alex Witt, starts the school year, it doesn't take her long to realize that something is wrong at Stonebridge. there's the student's pink scarf hanging on the coat rack in the teachers' quarters, the overheard sounds of a boy trying to convince a girl to do something she clearly does not want to do and the repeated mentions of a mysterious place called "the Darkroom" in her student's anonymous biographies. As Witt dives deeper into the culture of Stonebridge, she learns some unsavory secrets - but not in time to prevent the violence and mayhem bubbling just below the surface. Highly recommended.

The Swallows was intense and so full of suspense. It was very enjoyable and kept me on the edge of my seat.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

The Swallows feels designed to be a great show on the CW, in a good way. It reads like a cross between Veronica Mars and Riverdale, set at a not-so-elite boarding school where popular kids rule the school, using a darkweb network to control the student body, faculty, and each other.

The premise is quite interesting – a new teacher is half-willingly recruited to join the faculty at a boarding school and quickly stumbles upon a misogynistic conspiracy within the student body. With her help, a small group forms and works to take down the conspirators from within.

Overall, the story had a ton of potential. I think I would have enjoyed this story more if the points of view did not shift so often. I would have happily followed this story through the eyes of Ms. Witt and Gemma, or even just one of them. As it was, it feels like a story waiting for an adaptation to enhance it.

As it is, this is a quick read – popcorn fiction. I didn’t dislike it and I’d definitely check out more from this author, but I don’t think this book will be among my favorites this year.

The Swallow, is as far from The Spellman Files, as you can get. Set in a 2009 solitary Vermont boarding school, the Swallows is told in different voices of the school, both teachers and students. , Given the job by family friend and headmaster, Miss Witt is the new creative writing teacher and she quickly discerns something is not right between the girl and boy students, that other teachers may be aware of, but have done nothing to correct. She helps empower the girls while they plan to put a stop to a secret website that rates them sexually, but the main boys involved wont go down without a nasty fight. Brilliantly written, you’re filled with tension and outrage at the lackadaisical teachers, and malicious students, and a plot that never falters, but delivers beautifully. Yet sad to read and think this could very well go on in schools today.

One word: Haunting. The themes and close ties this book has to real world schools make it a must read for everyone. Will be recommending to patrons that enjoy thrills and a healthy dose of the realities today's teens experience.

I kept checking to see if this was Young Adult fiction, because it read that way. I thought we were going to get into some thought provoking questions about gender- I was wrong.
This could have been a dull short story,

I was given an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge Lisa Lutz fan so I was so excited when my request to read this new one was granted. And I was not disappointed. While it took me a bit to get into the rhythm of the multiple narrators, once I was there it was a really enjoyable read. Although I sure hope that real life high-schoolers and boarding schools do not resemble some of the ones depicted here. One warning... if you are uncomfortable reading about teenagers with sex lives then this wouldn't be the read for you. Can't wait for her next one!

I found it just ok. Far too many people. Just had me backtracking too much. The plot was not realistic in school.

Thanks, NetGalley for the advance copy for review.

This is a new author for me to read and overall this book was an enjoyable read for me. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. I would be interested in reading more from this author in the future!

I didn't get very far in this before setting it aside. I really liked the teacher's voice, but the teen was insufferable--I couldn't imagine reading more.

Lisa Lutz has taken a timely topic and turned it into one hell of a ride. Truth be told, this is not, IMO, an unbelievable scenario.

This book was outside of my usual sphere, but an interesting, thought-provoking approach to a dark subject. Telling the tale from various points of view was an interesting approach in this fast-paced story.

Alex Witt is the newest member of faculty at Stonebridge Academy. During a routine writing assignment in her creative writing class, Alex gets a number of disturbing responses from her students. The resulting investigation leads her into something called the Darkness, and a frightening attitude towards female students who complain about sexually inappropriate treatment. Lutz takes readers on one hell of a ride in this scary indictment on private schools

An interesting novel about a boarding school with a somewhat secret history of boys scoring girls. Until these girls have had enough. Overall I found the story fast paced and while not realistic, it had good characters and flow.