What can I say about this book without spoiling it? Well, I’m not used to read horror, I think this is my first or second one but OMG WHAT A GOOD ONE TO KICK OFF ME IN THIS GENRE! I enjoyed this book since the beginning, as you could see in the reading blog, and how the author wrote it was really well thought and I might guess the author grew up watching horror movies, even horror comedy ones. I got stressed, anxious, sad and even laughed at SO MANY points in the story. I enjoyed the characters, maybe some of them more than others, but at least the ones that have “spotlight” on made an impact on me and I know they are going to stay with me for a long time. I had a great time with this book and I think I won’t be able to pick something up that would grip me like this for a good time.

I’m sorry, I know this review is a mess but so are my thoughts and feelings on this book, and not in a bad way I just enjoyed it too much that I don’t know how to put my thoughts and feeling in order. One thing I enjoyed was that the cast of characters were diverse. I thought the only Latine or diverse character was going to be Rachel but I was wrong, with almost every character the author gave a hint of being Latine or had a family member who was (mostly with last names) but there were other characters who were from other cultures. I don’t know what else to say besides the fact that the impactful scenes were so well crafted that I felt I was there running with them or away from them. I really want to pick this authors older titles and I can’t wait to see what’s next for Goldy Moldavsky.

Thank you to the author Goldy Moldavsky, to the publisher Henry Holt & Company, NetGalley and OBVIOUSLY Colored Pages Blog Tour for the opportunity to read this book and to be part of this tour.

The Mary Shelley Club follows the new girl Rachel as she navigates her new school and the elusive Mary Shelley Club. The only problem is that Rachel has a past, and it is coming for her.
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This dark, twisted, thriller was incredible! I was left guessing till the very end. The atmosphere was creepy in the best way, and I had chills reading it.
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I loved the characters, and I felt like they had good depth. Sometimes with thrillers an aspect of characterization is lost, but this book was an exception to that! I cared about the characters and what was happening.
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I am not going to say much else, because this is a book that you want to go into knowing only the barest bit of information.
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I recommend this book to fans of horror movies and plot twists!
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TW- stalking, murder, death, sexual assault, violence, blood
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I flew through this!

The first thing I loved was all the references. A lot of 80's references, but the horror references were right up my alley. They were scattered throughout the book and made me laugh, and sometimes cringe depending on the reference, every time.

I really liked Rachel Chavez as the main character and the side characters brought out her personality more and more. Saundra was a bright spot as well, and although the scenes with her were fewer and fewer as the book progresses, I loved all the scenes with her.

Rachel's past continues to haunt her as she tries to navigate a new apartment and a new school. Of course her secret gets out, although the questions she asks herself didn't really sit with me. The things that happened to her made her question who she was, that I get completely, but for some reason Rachel takes things a step further. She goes down the death morbid rabbit hole, and the further she sinks down, the more depressed she gets. Understandably. The particular questions she asks is what didn't work for me. It's a curiosity that I have about why she's asking this. It doesn't take away from the plot, but it also doesn't completely fit. Although everything made sense and came together at the end of the book. Full circle moment which felt great!

She also has a great wealth of horror knowledge for only having been watching horror movies for a year. Her mother says that she normally watches when she's had a bad day, but to really be able to have a horror vocabulary like she does, it would suggest some work. That didn't throw me off though. As I said, the references were fantastic, and this is just me wondering after the fact. None of this disengaged me from Rachel and the story line.

The plot was engaging and fun. Every time I thought I knew what was happening, something else would happen. I figured there would be a few red herrings, and there are, but the pieces wouldn't quite fit together for me. I was trying to figure it out just as hard as Rachel was. Her past just won't leave her alone, and it makes for an exciting YA thriller that I can't wait to share with my niece. Although when she's a bit older. There are a few scenes that are definitely for the YA audience, and maybe not early teens.

In short, love, love, loved every page. I had to shoooo my husband away so I could keep glued to the book.

Most of the things I have to say about this book fall on extreme ends of the spectrum. I either really liked this thing or really hated that thing. I decided to even out everything and ended up with a neutral rating of 3 stars. Take that as you will.

First thing I liked: Rachel's past was a bit of a mystery. This whole book has a lot to do with an incident that happened to Rachel a year before this story happens and most of what happened to her stays hidden for a little while. She eventually tells most of the story of what happened, but there are still a couple of here and there that aren't revealed until later in the story. I love that Rachel's past was an added mystery to this book.

Second thing I liked: Getting to experience each fear test through the eyes of the person being scared. The Mary Shelley Club picks targets and scares them. Since Rachel is apart of this club, we don't experience these scares through her POV like the rest of the book. Instead, we read about the scaring in 3rd POV which follows the person being scared. Not only did this assist in keeping some things secret for the mystery reveal at the end, but it also helped me, as the reader, to be able to feel that fear and anxiety that the scaree was feeling.

Third: the plot twist/big reveal at the end. The 'why' of it all was pretty shocking. Plus, it connected a lot of dots that had been bugging me or staring me right in the face. And, maybe the best part of this big reveal, was that it made me want to reexamine everything that had happened previously in the book. I love when I am forced to question the things that have already happened and this book definitely did that to me.

Some things I did not like are as follows.

First: the weird love triangle. Rachel is in a sorta love triangle, but it's very vague. Like, she basically just goes to whichever boy shows her more attention. She also never really addresses the way she feels about either one so it's all very ambiguous. The whole thing in general is strange and weird.

Second: This book was advertised as Gossip Girl meets Scream, but I didn't feel like the Scream portion of this book started until about halfway through. No one really started being attacked or hurt in any way for a while. I kinda expected things to get intense pretty fast, as is typical with slasher movies and murder mysteries, but this one took a while. I didn't love that.

Third: the plot twist/big reveal at the end. I have both negative and positive things to say about this. The negative side of this is that the book should not have relied so heavily on this end shock. The whole book felt like it was mediocre until the end. Almost like it was written just so it could have this big reveal at the end. While it was a great reveal and plot twist, the book relied way too much on it to move forward and connect the dots. Like, there were lots of things throughout the book that I felt confused about or that didn't quite make sense until the plot twist. Also, it was pretty easy to guess some of the big pieces of the twist. The 'who' was easy. It was just the 'why' that I wasn't completely clear on. Even that, though, I had partially figured out.

Overall, this book was very mediocre. I don't think I'll be recommending it to many people, although it did have some enjoyable parts. I'm definitely interested in seeing if there will be any kind of sequel or companion book to go along with this one.

This book felt like a love letter to the horror genre in both its numerous references but also its execution in its own thrilling mystery. I absolutely loved this book with all of its twists and turns. The Mary Shelley Club was the perfect balance of teenage hijinks and sinister events. I loved getting to know the characters and their motives, however I warn, that like all horror movies, don’t grow too attached to any characters in this book. Rachel, is a Latina lead that’s recovering from her past trauma and finds solace in a new club and friends, however things take a turn to the worse when their pranks get out of hand. My favorite part of the book is where each target gets their own pov centric chapter when experiencing the prank as it heightened the suspense.

The Mary Shelley Club revolves around a teenage girl named Rachel and the members of a secret horror/prank club, the members of which are students at her new high school. Rachel has transferred to said elite high school with rich kids after going through a traumatic experience and has found comfort in watching horror movies. She struggles to fit in or find things in common with these kids and has gotten on the wrong side of the school's mean girl, Lux. Rachel eventually finds a boy named Freddie who is also interested in horror movies and the friendship seems to blossom. She finds out he is in a secret club revolved around these horror movies, or so she thinks, but there is more than meets the eye to this club. She soon discovers she isn't sure who she can really trust and what is actually going on within this club and what the real motives of the club are.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It has really good character development and can make you go from hating a character to liking a character and vice versa the more you learn about them. The club was full of fun twists and had a unique theme with the horror movie aspect.

A thrill ride of a book for the fans of horror. This book is about a club created basically to celebrate horror that runs amuck. It was fascinating, thrilling and I couldn’t wait to find out what happen next. I highly recommend this one

OH MY GOD
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I have no words.
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Just...please. Read THE MARY SHELLEY CLUB. You will not regret it.

I received a free e-ARC of this book from the publisher through Colored Pages Tours in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! I have read very, very few thrillers because I don't often like the genre. However, I'd say THE MARY SHELLEY CLUB has blown me away and made me look at the genre differently! It was just absolutely incredible and completely un-put-down-able. I love any Young Adult novel featuring spoiled rich kids causing trouble, and this novel did not disappoint. I also enjoyed the exploration of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic divides throughout.

Additionally, I appreciated Moldavsky's work in handling trauma and grief in the main character, Rachel. Overall, I do wish there were some more answers regarding the revelation of the Mary Shelley Club at the end, but I also think the ending was perfect. Enough to wrap up the story well but leave you wanting more (a sequel perhaps!?)

I confidently recommend this novel to fans of thrillers and those new to the genre. After reading THE MARY SHELLEY CLUB, I fully intend on picking up more of Moldavsky's books!

I love a story with angsty teens in it and this one was quite clever -- a group of teens who love horror movies get together and prank scare others in their trendy Manhattan high school. Of course things start to go horribly wrong as it looks like the main characters past has followed her to her new life.
I have to say, I did not love the ending. However, this was a fun YA read that I'll be buying for my 17 year old's birthday this summer!

A delicious throw back to some of my all time favorite horror films with so many twists, the pages flew by. I LOVED this book!

Rachel is a horror movie buff. Alone at a new school, she finds solace in these films, their rules, their worlds. Then she becomes part of The Mary Shelley Club, where each member must complete a fear test and face what scares them the most. The book is a good introduction to the thriller genre for new fans, and the character of Rachel gives great commentary on the role of the final girl in the genre. Overall I would give it a 4/5.

Okay, NetGalley apparently knows what I want to read better than I know what I want to read because I wasn't sure about this one. It suggested to me, and I thought "that sounds interesting, but I don't know if I want to read it." But I requested it anyway because I wanted to read more galleys this month than I have been. When it came in, it took me a few weeks to get into it (I had other books to read), but once I started it, I just couldn't stop. I read it during my break at lunch. The only reason I didn't read it on the way home from work is because I had to drive. The plot is just non-stop. And the ending? Oh my god. I should have seen it coming because, looking back, the pieces were there. But I didn't, and I'm so glad I didn't because then it was like a sucker-punch. I was left reeling. (Okay, but also, what's up with NetGalley giving me books with sucker-punch endings that are also frustratingly ambiguous? I want sequels, people!) And the characters -- oh my god. I loved them; I hated them; I wanted to stab them with scissors in the art supply closet. And the horror movie references! I wish I watched more horror movies so that I could appreciate more of them at a higher-level, and maybe pick up on some I missed. (I now have another like 30 horror movies on my Letterboxd watchlist. Some because they were mentioned in the book, and some because I stumbled across them while looking up the others and went "hm. I'll watch that.") Just, if you like horror movies, or horror books, or horror in general, you're gonna love this book. When it hits shelves in April, make sure it also hits your hands.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! It had some of my favorite things: boarding school, secret girls' club, mystery. I enjoyed watching as everything unraveled and solved itself. I would definitely suggest this title to my students.

A year ago Rachel was attacked in her home, and now her whole life is turned upside down. She is attending a new school, where she knows no one and is a total outcast. Until one night Rachel attends a party and once again, her whole life is turned upside down. Only this time, she thinks it's for the better. You see, a prank was pulled at this party and only one person laughed, Rachel. No one else laughed because it was pulled on the most popular girl at school. So although she is now an even bigger outsider with her peers, she has officially gotten the attention of The Mary Shelley Club...
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Holy macaroni and cheese. I've never wanted to be apart of a club more, than when I heard about this one. This is one book you aren't going to want to put down until you're finished. I'm not even going to lie, I had a nightmare about this and it creeped me right out. I absolutely love how much horror movies were referenced in this. It was just a well rounded amazing read. It was creepy, yet sooo much fun. Each member of the group has to do a "fear test" and all members must participate in these tests. Damn guys, these tests were HARSH but also, sounded like fun. Things definitely went too far in the end, but I'm still waiting for my invitation.

After being the victim of a home invasion, Rachel Chavez turns to horror movies for comfort and as a way to manage her fear. Starting in a new school, Rachel is an outcast and quickly gets on the bad side of the popular kids once she gets accused of pulling a horror film inspired prank on the school's Queen Bee. Rachel figures out those responsible for the prank and is recruited into the Mary Shelley Club, a group of horror cinephiles who organize elaborate horror trope inspired pranks known as Fear Tests. Thinking she has found her "people," Rachel ends up fearing for her life as the Fear Tests escalate to deadly proportions and dredge up the very fears she was trying to suppress.

I would give this book a 4.5 stars if this rating system allowed me to! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have already recommended it to several friends in the time between finishing this book and writing this review.

It seems oxymoronic to say that a novel is cinematic, but "The Mary Shelley Club" is just that! It flows so well and is structured in such a way that you can easily see all the action play out in your head, as if you were watching a movie on screen. Author Goldy Moldavsky is an excellent writer! Her characters are well fleshed out, three dimensional and all have distinct voices and personalities. She expertly weaves in horror and urban legend references that elevate the storyline making it feel authentic and fresh. The story itself is very original, and what could've just been a story about a bunch of kids pulling pranks, ends up being a YA thriller that could rival any classic horror movie.

I was especially a big fan of the diversity and representation of the characters. The MC is a POC as are several of the lead characters. It felt like natural inclusion, and I was grateful for it. As a film nerd, I also really enjoyed all the film references. Like I mentioned earlier, Moldavsky effortlessly weaves them in but I don't think the reader has to know the reference in order to get it's significance. I am usually pretty good at solving the mysteries in books quite early, and this one kept throwing in so many twists and turns, that I was surprised at the end. I also loved how this was a story about horror film tropes, and this story was a horror film trope itself (I won't say which one, no spoilers!)

I don't really think there was anything about this book I didn't like. But, I will say that the final fear test did seem like we jumped right into it without any exposition. I would've liked to have the action breathe a little bit more instead of just being thrown a bunch of information super quickly. But honestly, that is such a minor issue in what was otherwise a excellently executed (no pun intended) book!

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for an advanced copy!

I really liked the beginning and middle of this book, I WANTED to love this book but the ending felt really rushed. I would definitely read a prequel though to better understand why and how everything happened. It’s a really interesting idea.

After a traumatic experience Rachel turns to horror movies for comfort, and as she's thrust into a new school, she becomes involved in a secret horror movie and prank group called the Mary Shelly Club and things start to get out of hand. I liked the commentary of turning to the genre as a trauma response and as something therapeutic. I wanted to like this a bit more than I did. For starters, I didn't quite get along with the writing style. Its a good intro for non-horror fans to some great hidden gems and cult classics (except I will not stand for that Sleepaway Camp and Jason Takes Manhattan slander, but that's another story). I don't know that I was the right reader for this. I saw most of the twists and reveals coming a mile away (except for one big one.) It felt a bit stilted for me, unfortunately.

Ok..... seriously I have been dreaming about a YA thriller like this!!

Goldy... you're my new favorite author and I absolutely LOVED this YA thriller.

BUCKLE up ladies and gentleman. OH my guacamole you're in for a serious wild ride with this one. I am SOO lucky to have gotten an early copy of this masterpiece.

Let's meet Rachel... she has been attacked early on by two masked men when she is home alone. She is terrifed and is trying to recover from this horrible event. She transfers to a new school and is trying to build a new life in high school. Rachel soon learns about a mysterious "Mary Shelley Club" and is very intrigued since she loves horror movies.

Luckily, Rachel finds herself as a new member of this Mary Shelley Club and finds out that the number one goal is to scare people. Simple right?

Each member has what's called a "fear test." They each have to identify a target and the rest of the group plays along with the scene that is played out for that target.

This is all about you're going to get from me. This was pure GENIUS. I loved this book. Goldy does an amazing job in this unique and addicting YA thriller. It reads more of an adult thriller but does have aspects of a YA thriller.

Oh my... and Goldy you pulled it off. You got me at the end there with that twist. Will we be lucky enough to get a sequel!? Squeals with anticipation.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you so much to Macmillian/Henry Holt and netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 4/13/21
Published to GR: 2/16/21

This is a mostly very fun YA thriller/slasher horror novel, though I thought the way the characters name-dropped horror novels and films wasn't integrated as naturalistically as it could've been (also, I felt like some of their references made more sense for my generation, and I'm 35...). I appreciated the opening 'teaser' attack that we don't fully get the backstory for until 25% of the way through, and I appreciated the way many of the characters were fairly well-developed (though still relied on archetypes that made it easy to distinguish between the wide cast very quickly). However, at times I felt like the main character's less-than-smart decisions defied belief, particularly for a horror-head like her. (I suppose that her PTSD and resultant self-sabotage could explain some of this, but it still felt jarring from time to time). The final twists of the novel were fun enough, and one [very minor spoiler] leaves open the possibility for a sequel (or so it seems to me).