I am no longer interested in reviewing this book - I can see this being a good book for those who will be more interested.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sylvie Perry and Crooked Lane Books for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

October is all about the spooky, dark and creepy novels for me and this one fit the bill quite nicely. Creepy old school turned into a new age type school with creepy, mostly nice teachers and headmistress pushing their homegrown "tea" with special herbs - count me in. I had my ideas on where this novel was going, but I was shocked by the many twists that I didn't see coming and the very unique characters. This novel was really well thought out in advance to allow for the very best, slow burn twists.

Eh - Good in theory - but left a lot to be desired.

Claudia is a single mom to a hyper Henry. He's a smart 4 year old who is too much for his current pre-school. She hears about The Hawthorn School and is intrigued when she can't find anything about it online. Driving up, she's amazed by the beautiful castle like building. The grounds are surrounded by a forest. They are greeted by Zelma, who immediately offers to accept Henry. Claudia is afraid she won't be able to afford it, however, she's able to work volunteer to supplement her portion of the tuition.

The more Claudia works, the deeper into the Hawthorne lifestyle both Claudia and Henry become. They love the 'little green' drinks and food. They love the grounds. They love the environment and the people....or at least, Henry does. Claudia has questions...but no one will answer them.

I really enjoyed about 80% of this book - it was building such a great plot and story - and then the last 20% was so rushed and ended so quickly. I wanted it to end more fire and spark and anger and something. Maybe I know too much about schools/leaders/cults/murder/Jim Jones/Manson, etc. I think that it was good but could have been better if some of the fluff about Henry being a little brat was cut out and the end was expanded.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Downright chilling and oh so creepy!! So many times I wanted to scream at this young mother to pull her head out of her butt and look at what was so obviously going on around her. Classic example of "if it's too good to be true, then it is" and "trust your intuition". Of course, I had the benefit of looking at it from the outside and knowing this poor girl is inside the pages of a thriller. She is so insecure and worried about what kind of mother she is and her son is more than a handful, so it just plays into her vulnerability. Most definitely a page turner that's tough to look away from.

While I did love the creepy setting of the Hawthorne School and thought the plot was intriguing, I had a hard time with the characters. Claudia is a young mother of a child with behavior issues but she seems so niave.. She did have some questions through out the story but didn't really seem to worried about anything until the issues were smacking her in the face.

I really liked the whole vibe of the Hawthorne school it was spooky and creepy and definitely seemed to good to be true. Especially when we start to notice that there are only a few parents around and they all seem to work for the school.. All the kids seem to be perfectly behaved, and there is no actual school learning.

I did like the way it ended even thought the resolution came pretty fast after Claudia finally realized there was something really wrong going on.

when I was far enough into this book to know it wasn't for me, I thought it wouldn't be because the concept was good but the execution was bad. that wasn't the case at all. the execution of this book was good. it had a good pace and didn't leave anything unexplained. I feel like I didn't enjoy it because of the premise. it simply didn't interest me.

additionally, I found the main character, Claudia, and her son, Henry, to be very two-dimensional and irritating. I couldn't get attached to either of them.

I found the main character unrelatable and so opposite to me; the way she thought and processed information was simply something I couldn't understand. her thoughts felt monotone, repetitive, and boring. which should be important in a genre that relies on the introspection of the main character.

if a mystery psychological thriller about a school that seems too good to be true is something that sounds like it would be up your alley, I say, give this your fair shot.

who knows? maybe you'll enjoy it.

Very interesting story that takes place in a fictional private school. Nice plot development. Hope to see more from this author.

I enjoyed the elements of psychological suspense, the atmosphere, and the general idea, but the characters did not grab me. I think there was TONS of potential here, but I read it just because I was curious about what would happen. The author writes well, though!

Good psychological read. Gripping how far a mother will go to protect and give her child a better chance. Can relate to mothers actions and thoughts. Disturbing as to how easy a family can be deceived. Overall good read.

I thought that the book was such a page turner. A really great read. I loved the book. The plot was very well written and I cannot wait to read another book by this author.

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This book was okay at best, I think it had great potential but just fell a tad flat overall. I loved the whole idea behind a dark and mysterious setting but didn’t feel any pull or interest in the characters unfortunately. Definitely eerie and chilling at times but was left wanting more.

The Hawthorne School was a great psychological thriller! A very unique story and it pulled me in. I didn’t see any of it coming! I love that. Very different characters and I enjoyed the overall concept of the story.
Thank you NetGalley!

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Hawthorne School by Sylvie Perry is about an old, gothic school. Claudia is a single mom and wants to get her 4 year old son Henry into this exclusive school. Henry has some behavioral issues that are becoming a problem. Henry gets in and Claudia is allowed to volunteer at the school in exchange for the high tuition rates. However, be careful what you wish for! Hawthorne is not what it seems and Claudia will find this out soon enough.
I enjoyed this book because I love books set in old, creepy buildings and books about schools. I pretty easily figured out what was going on but I still enjoyed the read.
Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

A single mother desperate to provide the best education and discipline for her child. A school that seems to be perfect for both her and her child. An opportunity that is hard to refuse. The Hawthorne School manipulates people who are going through hardships by offering them an incredible, private school experience for their children.

Inspired by Scandanavian Nature Schools, Claudia finds herself at her wits end in taking care of her child until she finds a school that seems to have a positive effect on her son, Henry. Dealing with grief of losing her only support system— her mother, Claudia is instantly comforted by the headmistress of the school and the teachers. This school emphasizes being in nature, music, and art, which Claudia loves and so does Henry.

However, little red flags start to pop up. Do the benefits of the school outweigh these flags or is there something more sinister going on?

What ensues is a cult of massive proportions. Is Claudia in too deep?

This novel does a great job at exploring the inner thoughts of someone who joins a cult. Through a host of fascinating characters, the author navigates the complex feelings that cults provide—such as comfort, a sense of belonging, and dependency, how someone finds themselves stuck in one, and the struggle to get out of one. As a reader there are a a few moments where I had to suspend reality with how the school achieves this with how some of the characters influence Claudia and the major “influencer” (I won’t say more to avoid spoilers). But this is a fiction novel, so it’s easy to do this.

Overall, I found the novel intriguing and I read it pretty quickly. Personally, cults can be difficult to read about despite how interesting they are because of the lives that are impacted so I liked reading it in this fictional setting.

Kind of fun, kind of obvious - the writing is a bit on the simplistic side, but the story moves quickly enough that I hardly noticed after a while. But the increasing ridiculousness (and obviousness) of what was going on got a little out of hand by the end.

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews on this book and I am about halfway done when writing this review due to the archive date approaching and I can honestly say I really like it so far. It is currently October and the spooky vibes of the school are great for this month! Also, there is so much mystery around everything it is keeping me defiantly involved in this story. As long as that all keeps up I fully expect this book to be 4-star review for myself.

This novel is highly entertaining and very twisty. I loved the titular school and the surrounding woods, how lovingly described they are. The characters are quirky and the story kept me intrigued. My problem was that I didn’t like the main character. Claudia is trying to raise her child as a single mother, and her son is unruly and a brat. When she is offered the opportunity to put him in a special school, she does everything to get him in. Claudia is young and innocent, so she doesn’t see big red flags that anyone else would notice. I liked the claustrophobic atmosphere and how the rest of the characters change as you learn more about the school. And that’s the other thing that nagged me about this story – and this is a mild spoiler – Claudia doesn’t really do anything. The story would have been the same whether she was there or not, so I couldn’t root for her at all. I’m still giving the novel 4 stars because it kept me interested and that’s all I ask from a book.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/# Crooked Lane Books!

trigger warning
<spoiler> grief, being drugged, withdrawal, gaslighting, kidnapping </spoiler>

Single mother Claudia is so glad when she finds the Hawthorne School and her four year old son Henry is accepted on a scholarship. It feels as if all their problems would go away now.

We have a lot of things going on here. I am not a parent, or have any experience in child rearing, but I have some suspicions that Henry might be neurodivergent and possibly on the autism spectrum. When we meet him first, he's shy and slow to warm up to other people. He doesn't follow commands if he sees no sense in them, which makes his experience in school settings not great, and he reacts to being overwhelmed with meltdowns.
As in the first day on the new school, Claudia collects her son from school and they go to do groceries, which in her mind makes sense as she won't have to leave home again and it wasn't possible to do groceries earlier because of her work. Henry reacts by screaming so loud Claudia can't her what the cashier in the supermarket says, and throws himself on the ground.
For me, it sounds like he is too overwhelmed and hasn't learned yet to do any kind of stimming or venting, because well, he's four.

I like that no labels are thrown in the beginning, and that we see Claudia's self-doubts - she's a new mother, Henry is her first child, and she has no one she can ask anything about childcare. Her mum just died, and Henry's teachers are very hostile towards her because he is a handfull.

Then we have this thing where I, a reader from Germany, was making fun at the book for thinking that children spending time outside is so new and innovative when here, it's the norm. I am living across the street from a kindergarden and can tell you that nothing seems to have changed from my own experience regarding going outside as much as possible. Since I have finished this around noon, while reading the last parts of the book I was able to hear children playing outsite simply by having a window open to air.

The indoctrination was not subtle at all. I don't read that many cult books, but you saw the gaslighting and the drugs being administred from the get-go. Every time Claudia gave them something, they reached out to take more than what was offered and then let it seem like it was her own idea.

You can see where a good thing got started and then corrupted as time passed - because as I said, children spending time outside to be calmer, relaxed, have fun and learn is the norm where I am. Sensible things got mixed with questionable spirituality and then corrupted in an extreme way.

The ending felt anticlimatic, though I can't put the finger at what was missing and what I would have added. We just had so much build-up and the solution got just a few pages.
This was not bad and maybe, if I think about it for a while, I might reach a conclusion to what I feel is lacking.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

The Story: Claudia, a struggling single mother is trying her best to raise her four year-old son, Henry who according to his preschool said to be handful. When Claudia finds out about The Hawthorne School, a forest school that centers outdoor learning and play, Claudia decides to check it out. Impressed with the school and the programs it offers, Claudia registers Henry there. At first Henry seems to be calmer and behaves better but when his attitude towards Claudia changes, she decides to find out why.

My thoughts: Ooh-wee. This was a wild one. I went into this book blind and oh boy, it was a suspense-filled read till the end! I flew through this book in one sitting! It was so addicting and the intense story buildup was so mysterious and creepy. The principal, Zelma Huxley and her staff absolutely freaked me out!

The atmospheric writing transported me to the school and to be honest, I would send my kids there! I like the programs and learning style that the school adopts and it is definitely what I would want for my kids. Forest schools is something new to me and I find the learning approach interesting!

Overall, this was a gripping psychological suspense that held my interest throughout. Although there were some parts I did see them coming, it has a pretty solid plot with the right mix of horror, tension and thrill!


Pub. Date: Dec 7th, 2021

***Thank you Crooked Lane Books, author Sylvie Perry and NetGalley for this gifted copy to read and review. All opinions expressed are my own.***