This was a very clever, entertaining, and perfectly addictive read. There are lots of things going on in this storyline, but the characters and writing are weaved so well together that it blends into a fascinating thriller.

This was an okay academic thriller. I found all the characters to be flat and all of them unlikeable. I guessed the "who dun it" pretty quickly but finished the book to confirm that I got it right.

I absolutely loved this book! Addictive writing, face paced and un-putdownable. I am a new Ashley Winstead fan! This one was equally as creepy as it was thrilling!

(3.5 stars rounded up)

I like dark academia and mysteries, so I thought this book would be right up my alley!

I loved the campus setting, and I was drawn into the story right away. I also liked the dual timelines, which I thought kept the story moving along at a brisk pace.

The thing I struggled with was getting a sense of what kept this group of friends together. Jessica was an interesting protagonist and I think she made this book as enjoyable as it was. She was complex and had a lot of insecurities about things like money and success, which were interesting to see explored. But the other characters didn’t reach me the same way, and I just didn’t understand what kept the group of friends together (which made it hard for me to be invested in the personal stakes for them).

As for the mystery, I thought it unwound well and the last few chapters had me frantically reading. But this book (and several others I’ve read) does that thing where it gives the reader what should be a great reveal or twist, and then right at the end does it again. It just felt predictable and not at all surprising.

I also couldn’t really handle how often, and how easily, characters wound up pointing fingers at each other and accusing each other of being the killer. It became almost comical.

But if you love dark academia, this is likely one you should check out!

So glad I finally got around to reading this book, it’s hard to believe this is a debut! Loved the academic setting and that we had an unreliable narrator in this one. This book absolutely gripped me, it was juicy and I loved the dual timeline - I felt it really added to the intrigue and helped slowly reveal all the cracks in the relationships between group members. The characters are not particularly likeable but the fact they all had flaws, kept secrets and made questionable decisions under the various pressures they were feeling while at college made it so relatable. This book twists and turns until the very end and while some twists were foreseeable, it didn’t take away from the reader’s experience. Can’t wait to see what this author writes in the future.

Rating: 4.25 stars/5
Content warnings: death, violence, alcohol/drug use, sexual assault (off page), eating disorders

Overall this is a pretty fun, twisty campus thriller, but it's hard to cheer for anyone in this cast of awful people. Absolutely blasted through it because I needed to know what happened. Maybe had one twist too many.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead was not what I expected. I had looked forward to enjoying this novel and was prepared to give it a glowing review. After finishing the book, I read many reviews and they were four and five stars for the most part. I felt like I had not read the same book. The characters were especially not well-drawn. The plot is divided between the college years of six friends and then ten years later around the time of their college reunion. The college-age people behaved like fourteen-year-olds. The thirty-somethings were like eighteen-year-olds. Their behaviour was puerile, nasty and immature. If I had not known better, I would have assumed this was a YA mystery. So much time was wasted on trivial passages that were totally unnecessary and certainly did not enhance the story. I understand that this is a work of fiction, but a semblance of reality would have helped. Please know that this is only my opinion and not all books appeal to everyone. I would very much like to read Ashley Winstead’s next book. Thank you to Harper Collins Canada, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You know those lovely stories about the happy, golden days of college where you meet friends who will become your lifelong companions and who will be godparents to your children, where you have a meet-cute and discover your future spouse? This is not that story. This group of friends have some very dark secrets. Whether they are privileged rich kids or low-income scholarship students they all have something nasty to hide. When one of them ends up brutally murdered, apparently by someone in their inner circle, any of them could be responsible, but which one of their secrets led to her death?

At some vicious pressure from the victim’s brother the reunion becomes the setting for all their secrets to be exposed and their lies to be unraveled. I will admit that I didn’t like most of the characters very much so witnessing their lives fall apart was a bit gratifying. It would be ghoulish to revel in their collective misery but there is something about watching the privileged and entitled eat each other alive that is so satisfying. If people didn’t find it entertaining there wouldn’t be nearly as much reality TV. Schadenfreude is a guilty pleasure, but it is truly a pleasure.

The fast pace and the constant reveals of mostly unpredictable secrets and twists kept me happily turning the pages. I am content with the super dramatic, over the top ending. It was worthy of a trashy TV show and that seems very apropos. I would expect no less! In the end I don’t feel proud about finding all these terrible people and terrible events enjoyable, but I am aware of my horribleness and I’m pretty sure I am not alone.

Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

Wow wow wow wow wow.
A good who-dun-it that left me guess to the end AND an added twist. What a group of characters. I really enjoyed the interview with the author at the end and she described how she creates the characters.

A thriller version of Gossip Girl? 🔪 Can I get a HELL YES?! 👏🏽

A group of friends are reunited at their university 10 years after graduation. Their circle of friends is incomplete because one of them, Heather Shelby, was murdered during their senior year. And her killer was never caught.

Of course, every single member of this group has a secret. The chapters alternate between the present time and the past to build up the tension and slowly reveal every single person’s secret. And this eventually leads to the big reveal of who killed Heather and why.

OMG this book was DELICIOUSLY ADDICTIVE. I was incredibly invested in these characters even though I didn’t really like them. I could not stop turning the pages. I even sacrificed sleep for it 😱 The university setting was simultaneously nostalgic and dark, which breathed life into the story and the characters.

Also, I’m not gonna lie: I thrived on the gossip girl type of drama 😂 The drama, the cheating, the lies, they all gave me life 😂 There was a couple that I was obsessed with, despite the messiness of their relationship. The romance reader in me was rooting for them until the very end. I can’t really control the romance reader when she comes out tbh 😂 She feels the chemistry and she ships it. It’s as simple as that 😂

I can’t believe this is a DEBUT 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 I will read anything this author writes. Can’t wait for her next release!!

P.S. What an ending!! 👏🏽

Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has been invited back to her college in North Carolina for a reunion and she is obsessed with dazzling everyone with her beauty and success, especially an old boyfriend she dated all through college and his wife who was her rival in those days. And of course there's the mystery surrounding the unsolved murder of her friend Heather 10 years ago.

Unfortunately I was less than impressed by this novel. I see now that the blurb states, in part, "In My Dreams I Hold a Knife is an addictive, propulsive millennial thriller you won’t be able to put down" and this may explain part of the problem since I'm a long way from being a millennial. I also didn't attend university or college so again, I couldn't relate to this group or their experiences at college. Some of the scenes and dialogue from the past were pretty cringe-worthy in my opinion. There were some parts of this book that I liked but for every part I liked there were 3 or 4 parts I didn't like. There were so many revelations in the last couple hundred pages it was getting beyond ridiculous and I could hardly wait for it to be over. By the end I didn't really care who killed Heather. Such an engaging title for such a disappointing novel but I'm in the minority here so you should check out some of the glowing reviews for this book.

My thanks to HarperCollins Canada via Netgalley for providing an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.

Publication Date: August 3, 2021

Jessica is a perfectionist and all she has ever wanted is to make her dad proud. When she gets into Duquette College she quickly makes friends with people in her dorm. The seven friends become inseparable until one tragic night when their friend, Heather is found murdered. This night changes their life forever. One of their friends, Jack, also Heathers boyfriend is accused of the crime but eventually is found not guilty.

Fast forward ten years and a lot has changed but the Duquette renuin is coming up and the seven are back. However, Heathers brother has different plans and intends to discover who killed his sister ten years ago.

Well this one certainly lived up to the hype. This was a fantastic read by this debut author. The suspense and intertwining timelines made for a terrific read. There was some many twists and turns which had me guessing the whole time. I also loved the ending which had a completely unexpected turn that was perfect. I highly recommend this read to all thriller lovers.

I absolutely devoured this book! College settings are one of my favourite storylines and this read was just so compelling and incredibly propulsive!

I relished in the dual timelines of the current day reunion and the college years of the East House Seven crew! I loved all the juicy and dark secrets that were continually being exposed and revealed and I throughly enjoyed learning about all the complex characters and their backgrounds.

This one will have you hooked immediately and leave you continually guessing until the very end!

Winstead is an American academic and author and this is her first novel. The book is a psychological suspense and with a plot somewhat reminiscent of "The Girls Are All So Nice Here". We meet Jessica who is super excited to be going back to her college for a ten year reunion. She is successful and looks even better than she did back then and has plans to make the best of that fact. In alternating chapters we flash back to her college days and meet her gang of friends. One of the group was murdered back then and now someone is determined to find the guilty party and thus the reunion is not at all what Jessica was hoping for. This is a very entertaining read and a great recommendation for fans of the genre. I really enjoyed it.

We’ve all felt pressure to succeed, to do well, to reach our goals. Perhaps we want the perfect relationship, the dream job, to make a team, to win awards. What are you willing to do to achieve those goals? What are you willing to sacrifice?

In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is a heart-racing, cerebral thriller that explores the dark side of wanting to impress, of wanting to be perfect. It follows six friends who are attending their university reunion. Ten years ago they were known as the East House Seven and were inseparable. But that was before one of them was brutally murdered. One of them was accused but never charged, and the case has gone unsolved. Little do they know, someone has brought them all together to coax out the real killer.

The novel is told in dual timelines between the group’s time at university and their meet-up at the ten year reunion. While I found the very beginning a bit slow, it was necessary for character building and quickly picked up speed. Ashley Winstead really did a fabulous job of creating multi-layered characters with solid backstories. While none of the characters were overly likeable themselves, I loved the intricacies of all their relationships. Since I wasn’t rooting for any of them in particular, and they all had reasons to commit the murder, it made it very difficult to guess the killer. And that twist at the end- I did not see that coming!

It was hard to believe this was Ashley Winstead’s debut novel. I can see a great career ahead of her, and can’t wait to read her future work.

Many thanks for NetGalley and HarperCollins Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up!

For a debut thriller, this author deserves a round of applause! This book was super entertaining and was a fast page turner for me. It instantly transported me back to my university days and the freedoms and friendships established during those years.

While all of the characters are flawed and have unsavory characteristics, I ended up rooting for many of them. I found it interesting that this book examines how the secrets we keep can alter the secrets that others hide too.

I appreciated the dual timelines and the occasional change of POV to tease out little tidbits of information from the individual characters. I thought this was a great unravelling of the plot.

And if you want a twist to make you audibly gasp, this one will do it! I certainly did!!

Thank you to @netgalley and @harpercollinsca for the advance e-copy!

Wow!! What a fantastic read that kept me on my toes the entire time!

This is a murder mystery story surrounding 7 friends from college… the East House Seven. One of them was brutally stabbed to death and her boyfriend was accused, but now it’s 10 years later at their college reunion… their secrets get exposed and the truth about that night unravel bit by bit. You’ll be on the edge of your seat through the whole book, switching from past and present, and reading from different perspectives of the members of the infamous East House Seven. What really happened all those years ago and who really was the killer?

I absolutely adored this story because of the wide cast of characters, the mystery, and the amount of deceit there was! Such a great thriller that really had me guessing up until the reveal! We do get an unreliable narrator here, which keeps you on your toes. But not only do we not trust the narrator, we also get to learn of all the secrets that each of them kept from each other in order to narrow it down.

I loved the college setting, it was the perfect place for all of this wild stuff to go down. Plus, I loved how the author gave us small tidbits of information here and there in order to unravel each secret. Having the POV switch from character to character and from past to present really kept me flipping pages and wanting to know more. I wasn’t bored or uninterested by any of the perspectives, which is something that happens to me sometimes with this style of writing. I’m glad this one did not disappoint!

I’m going with 4 stars because I thought it was a solid thriller, not revolutionary but very entertaining! I was in love with the elite college vibes and countless secrets that the characters hid from each other. I just adored how the book took me right into the story and had me reeling to find out more!

Thank you to Harper Collins Canada for this eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ashley Winstead and HarperCollins Canada for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I had heard a lot of rave reviews about this one, so I was concerned after reading the first few chapters that it wouldn't live up to all the hype. But luckily, my worries were unfounded and it gets much much more interesting the further you dive into this one. In the beginning, I was sure that I knew where this story was going, but it turns out to be much more complex than previously thought and I really really enjoyed all the mystery and action woven throughout this story. I definitely recommend.

4.25 amazing stars to this amazing debut novel.

Six friends reunite at a college reunion and are forced to encounter the secrets of their past to solve the murder of one of their best friends. Twenty years ago, Heather was stabbed 17 times with a pair of scissors and her murder went unsolved. But someone at the reunion is determined to find out who kills Heather, no matter how harrowing the truth might seem. Told in dual timelines, this is a novel about the dark side of love, friendships, secrets, ambition and obsession. That is all I will say.

I love books with an academia setting and this reminded me a lot of All The Girls Are So Nice Here. This book is one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and oh my word, it is so worth the hype. I cannot believe this is a debut novel. This book was nothing but sheer brilliance wrapped in a couple hundred pages. From its beautiful cover to the very last page. Winstead's writing is so captivating that all you can simply do is turn the pages. The storyline is one that isn't new, but the author puts their own stamp on it.

The characters in this book were the craziest characters I have read about. They're messy, dark, devious, liars and so much more. But most of all, they're fun. I loved unravelling the mystery of Heather's murder along with secrets from every single one of them. They're all far from perfect, no matter how hard they try to be. What struck me most about this novel was how real the characters were. I found myself being able to relate to almost every single one of them on many different levels. This novel isn't just a wonderful thriller, it's one with characters that I can say that many people will be able to see a bit of themselves in. And also their character development? Absolutely brilliant.

The twists. The secrets. The lies. Oh what fun it was to discover everything. I think it was one of the best dual timelines I had read - from past to present and switching between the different characters. I could tell that there was a ton of planning that went behind this one. It was perfectly plotted, with plot twists dropping almost every chapter at the perfect time. And the final plot twist? Quite a shocker.

Overall, this novel has easily made its way to my favourite reads of 2021. I think this is a title everyone needs to add to their tbr and I cannot wait for it to hit bookshelves in August and make the biggest splash everywhere! Congrats Ashley on an outstanding debut and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Canada for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

4.83 stars

Jessica, Jack, Heather, Caro, Mint, and Frankie were as close as possible during their four years at university. That bond was fractured when Heather was brutally murdered during their senior year, and her boyfriend, Jack, though never convicted, was the police's main suspect.

Ten years later, with the murder still unsolved, the rest of the group reunites at the place where it all happened. Jessica is counting the days to be the center of attention at the 10-year reunion of Duquette University's class of 2009. Jessica's carefully planned appearance might be put in the backburner when it becomes evident that someone else has plans of their own - to reveal everyone's dark secrets all and finally solve Heather's murder.

Holy ambiance! I loved how the tension crept up on you and then never left; every time a chapter ended, I just needed to keep going! Even though we have one main narrator, Jessica, Winstead used different POVs organically to better the plot. Her character work is what excited me the most. We have eight main characters, and each of them had their unique voice, distinguishable personalities, a great arc, not to mention clear motivation and consistent actions. Very early in the book, I felt like I knew them and could feel what it would be like to hang out with them.

I thought the plot was tight, well-paced, delivered to near perfection! If anything, I wish that one particular relationship had never happened because I desperately wanted one of those character's arcs to end differently, but that is just me being invested in them. I do feel that they deserved more, though. Had that person been given a better arc, this would have been a 5 star read for me.

A random thing that contributed to my enjoyment of the book was that there was a content warning for physical and sexual violence! I appreciate seeing this, these are significant triggers for many people, and it allows them to make an informed decision going into the book or prepare themselves for it! I know it can be considered a spoiler most times, but the care for the readers' wellbeing was deeply appreciated by yours truly.

Ashley Winstead managed to deliver what I love the most about two of my favourite authors. She wrote horrible people perfectly, like Lucy Foley, and evoked the most deliciously dark side of academia like Donna Tartt!

I feel that a lot of the book was true to real life, though my group of friends was way more likable than this one; I could relate to that experience of finding friends in an academic setting and walking around like the world belongs to you, because at that age you believe it does! The difference is that we were nice to other people. But being this close to others so different from you is an actual rite of passage into adulthood.

As a non-American, I also appreciated learning about a different college experience, though I was confused at parts. Still, Winstead did an excellent job of situating the reader into specific traditions without being preachy. I do wish I had understood better the difference between a sorority/frat house and student residency. I thought once you're in a sorority, that is where you sleep!

Even though half her characters were nauseatingly unlikeable, including her main character, and the other half had evident character flaws, Winstead made me care for each of them (except for Courtney, that is)! I spent the whole book either hoping someone was the killer or wishing they weren't! I was deeply invested in Jessica's wellbeing, and that says a lot because she had some pretty mean and nasty moments!

Winstead's prose is wonderful. I cannot believe this was her first novel, the care with which she treated each character's arc, the way she nailed both the dark side of academia but also that wonderful feeling of knowing these are some of the best years of the rest of your life, the way she ended each chapter with a hook that made it impossible for you to put the book down and the tightness of the plot are superb.

I cannot wait for her next novel!