Cherish Farrah started off a bit slow, then all of a sudden took off like a rocket. A little different than what I usually read but it was so dang good! Great writing and such compelling and likeable characters! What an ending to boot! Definitely one to recommend!

Cherish Farrah is a bone-chilling social horror novel that kept me reading into the night. The comparisons to Get Out and My Sister, the Serial Killer, are entirely apt.

Farrah Turner is obsessed with control. She analyzes every word and action directed at her. Farrah calculates her every action to keep everyone under her thumb. Farrah lets her mask down for no one, including her best friend, Cherish Whitman, whom she loves as much as she hates.

When her parents fall into financial trouble, they decide it’s best that Farrah stay with the wealthy and white Whitman family. The Whitmans adopted Cherish when she was a baby. Farrah often calls Cherish White Girl Spoiled because her parents humour her to no end.

Being thrust into this position without consultation, Farrah feels the need to reassert her coveted control over the situation. She decides it would be better to become part of the Whitman household than join her family on their new trajectory. It’s not long before things start getting weird and terrifying, and Farrah has to wonder who is actually in control.

Note: I’d recommend not reading the book’s synopsis because it reveals most of what transpires.

This book examines the inequalities and intersectionality of race and class.

The first half is pretty slow and is very introspective. Farrah’s head is a dark and joyless place to be.

While most of the characters were unlikeable, they all had enough depth to make them thoroughly compelling. The way the author was able to up the threatening atmosphere while simultaneously keeping some characters oblivious to it was just excellent.

This book is not for the faint of heart. Everything gets wild and grisly around the midpoint, and the tension does not let up.

I look forward to reading more from the author. I see there is a nice backlist to explore.

Thank you to Dutton for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

We follow the friendship between 16-year-old Cherish and 17-year-old Farrah when Farrah's family is going through some difficult times and she has to stay with spoiled, happy-go-lucky Cherrish. Farrah yearns for control of her life and everyone around her but lately some strange things are starting to happen.

This book... I really get the comparison between it and Get Out, but whereas the movie even though had a "supernatural" concept, the world and the characters were still grounded on reality, having real emotions and reactions, this book does not.

First, Farrah didn't read as a 17-year-old, mainly because of the stilted way the author decided to write her inner monologue and we spend a lot of time in her head. It's extremely difficult to care about a character that keeps the reader at a distance. Her reactions to everything that is going on are extremely unbelievable and the assumptions she makes about all the adults around her are grounded on nothing. I couldn't understand why she had the kind of relationship she had with her parents and why she would latch on so fiercely to Cherrish's parents. Cherrish is simply forgetable, she is more a prop than an actual character. She needs to exist for the plot to move along, but she is nothing more than a plot point. And by the end, what she does is extremely unbelievable and unfounded. I hated the ending because it is just not believable enough especially for her character to do what she did.

For the actual plot, once again how everything is set up doesn't make sense. The whole motivation for the plot twist is simply not there, when the explanation comes it's completely bonkers because it's not followed through. It's just happening because it's happening but the author did try to explain it, but it doesn't make sense.

My problem with the book it's not that concept is absurd or far fetched, it's that how every single character acts and reacts is too unbelievable and unrealistic, preventing the story to make sense. And also I didn't like the writing, it's too stilted and it didn't flow.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

Farrah's best friend is Cherish, who she loves even when she hates her. Throughout their friendship, Farrah has become deeply entwined within Cherish's family to the point she starts considering them her own. Most of Farrah's life is about control, she's always reading people and understands their intentions and the meanings behind every sideways glance or stiffened shoulder. She is Cherish's and Cherish is hers. When she begins a longer stay at Cherish's home with her parents, the control Farrah thinks she has over them all begins to unwind, and leaves reader's questioning who is really in control?

Cherish Farrah a social horror, containing themes of racism, economic differences, and social injustice. Morrow's writing is beautiful, she has created a strong voice for her main character which goes beyond her words and actions, but into the deepest depths of her psychology. Farrah is a complicated character, one I'm still not sure I fully understand. There are so many layers to this book, it can feel dense at times as you sift through the social constructs to try to discover what is going on.

This is a book which is very different than what I usually read. I can't say I enjoyed this book, I think it is well written but it was not my thing. It is suited for readers who enjoy slow burning, psychological mind games and reading between the lines. I will say, once you start it you will feel obligated to finish it up to the completely shocking conclusion. It's a story you have to know what happens because it leads you with a trail of bread crumbs. If you are in the mood for getting the rug pulled out from under you, pick up this book.

I'm going to start this by saying...I...Was...Not...Ready! From beginning to end, this book was a mindfuck. I bit my nails from beginning to end, nodded at the points where Bethany was preaching, got angry when some tone-deaf or demeaning things were said and yelled at my amazon fire quite a few times in the last 25% of this book. It was so intense but I didn't want to put it down nor did attempt to skip moments that I normally would have in horror movies! This book was so much but worth every moment spent reading it! Bethany C. Morrow DID.THAT with this book!

I did not like this book at all and felt Farrah was mistreated the entire book. Although I felt some connection and empathy with Farrah, I did not like the overall characterization throughout this book. I liked the idea of this story but it moved too slowly and had too much of an inner dialogue. I really wanted to like this book and was actually rooting for Farrah to feel more comfortable in her own skin, but her story was not executed well.

Cannot recommend this. Did not like it.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bethany C Morrow, and Penguin Group Dutton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 2/8/22

I'm a huge fan of Bethany Morrow and the way that her books are all so different from each other. This is her adult debut and it's absolutely riveting.

This book is a slow burn but it's still so incredibly tense. I spent most of the book unsure of what exactly was going on and who, if anyone, could be trusted and when the reveal happened, I was absolutely stunned.

This is a must-read. Highly recommended.

I could not get past or identify with the two main characters. I made it a quarter of the way through but just couldn’t do it. Life is too short to struggle and so many other choices right now.

This was a dark, chilling and addictive read. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.
"Social horror" is quickly becoming one of my favorite genres!
The story started off a little slowly, and the characters were a bit frustrating, but I'm so glad I stuck with the story because quickly I couldn't put it down.

I didn't love the characters in this one, so it made it a bit difficult for me to connect with the story. I did like the plot, and I found the overall story to be interesting. I found some areas of the story to be a bit slow, but it had some shocking twists and turns that moved it along!

At first, I really couldn’t get into this book as the narrative seemed somewhat convoluted. The friendship seemed off, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was going on. However, I am glad I stuck it out because the author was building layers and character dynamics, all of which led to a crazy culmination.

This is a slow burn thriller. One you need to invest in but will be rewarded in time.

Thank you Netgalley and Dutton Books for allowing me this to review this arc.

Thought by the plot i would enjoy this but It was rough to get through. Couldn't relate to characters and plot. Definitely more of a young adult thriller. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

I wish I liked this more than I did, but found it very hard to get into as it felt like YA fiction that dragged and dragged. I didn't like any of the characters and found the ending just weird.

Bull Twinkies! 😳😯

Well that was intriguing, dark, twisted glorious young adult book ride I did NOT see coming! I will say this was a bit of a slow burn, but 1/3 of the way through things started to really get intriguing and interesting. Farrah and Cherish are the only Black African American teenage girls in a high end community and private school, who are best friends; more like sisters. Cherish has been adopted by a white, wealthy family., the Whitmans. Farrah decides to ascend control and use this to her advantage as her own life is crumbling apart with her parents' wealth, or lack there of, now. However, the longer Farrah stays with and getting to know the Whitmans, her own parents see strange things happening with them - and the closer Farrah is pulled in, perhaps she's not as in control as she believed she was. Their relationship gets weirder and weirder as the story progresses and while I did enjoy the uniqueness of the novel, I didn't absolutely love it. It has some major dark notes and I will say it kept me intrigued. The ending was a definite shocker I will admit. My jaw is still sore! Flippin' frackers!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this #ARC!
Release date: February 7, 2022

I give this 3.5 / 5 snowflakes! ❄️

Behold the genre of Social Horror! Cherish and Farrah are best friends and the only two black girls in their country club community. When Farrah's black parents are foreclosed on, Farrah moves in with Cherish and her white adoptive parents. Brianne and Jerry Whitman open their arms and their home to Farrah but not everything is as it seems.
This started a little slow and I found Farrah infuriating. She comes across as entitled but you
realize she wants these things because Cherish has them and Cherish has them effortlessly, never having to worry or to work for anything. Cherish has no idea how the real world works for young black women. She has never had to struggle or to claw her way to the top like so many others do. Farrah wants to bring reality home for Cherish but the Whitmans aren't having that and soon a back and forth game of brutality plays out for the reader to witness.

*Special thanks to Netgalley and Dutton Books for the e-arc of this novel.*

Boring and convoluted beginning with a manipulative protagonist. Way too much inner monologue. I felt no connection or tolerance for Farrah, and the writing went in circles. After loving both this author’s YA titles, I was disappointed in the execution of this book.

Wow really have no idea what I just read, did not know what to expect. This had sort of a Get Out feel and had me not wanting to put the book down to see what happens. The first half of the book is pretty slow and I do wish we got to hear Farrah’s thoughts. I was hooked on the last 2 chapters especially and wish the author had more of that for us readers. While I did not enjoy the ending I can appreciate what the author was trying to do. I’d recommend to friends who enjoy a little horror. Also side note while the main characters are 17, this is not a young adult book.

I just could not finish this book. I did not feel very invested in the plot and it did not feel very believable at all. I was not able to suspend my disbelief to enjoy the book.

What a book. There were a few moments where I almost quit this one, but I just kept wanting to know where Cherish and Farrah were going to end up. This book was a weird combo of YA with psychological thriller, but neither quite worked with the other in this one.

While I don't read a ton of YA and while the book isn't truly YA with main characters that are seventeen it feels like it is sort of in that space. BUT these characters for me didn't act seventeen and I don't think the author did a great job of having these characters stay in their age range.

And this book was just weird. I couldn't understand what was going on and felt as though the book moved from sort of stream of consciousness to action scenes and bounced all around.

I did finish this one, but couldn't review on my blog because I couldn't recommend this to any sort of reader.

Social horror is quickly gaining speed as one of the more popular genres as of late. While not one of my favorites that I’ve recently read in the genre, Bethany C. Morrow’s latest “Cherish Farrah” is certainly an excellent example of one. Packed with themes of race, society and toxic relationships—especially friendship—it was a unique read through the eyes of a teenage girl struggling for control in her chaotic life.

There’s so much to unpack with this one and there are multiple layers to the plot other than what meets the eye. Farrah and Cherish are both black girls in a privileged white school but Farrah is being raised by her black parents and Cherish is the adopted daughter of wealthier white parents. The book examines that dichotomy relating to race, privilege and society despite the friendship between the two. The friendship itself is terrifying and it’s unsettling to read as a parent and see throughout the book both sets of parents do nothing other than encourage what is clearly unhealthy behavior. The book is painfully slow and Farrah, who narrates the entire book, has an almost unbelievable voice for a teenage girl. I also found her unreliable and even by the end wasn’t sure if it was reality or figments of her imagination (there’s a lot of that). I flat out didn’t like the end and found it terribly abrupt ending right when things picked up. If you’re looking for a fright, this isn’t horror in the traditional sense, with Morrow using suspense to horrify us about the struggles black girls (and women) face in today’s society. 2.5 stars