I haven’t read a Chelsea Ichaso novel before, but I must give her credit—she knows how to write a page turner. I blew through this novel at a breakneck speed and found myself torn about how to feel. On one hand, the tension was unbelievable, and I couldn’t trust a single character on the page. On the other hand, Ichaso skipped over the necessary character work to invest the reader in Maren, the point-of-view character. Overall, I found myself confused as I walk away from this novel as I both loved and disliked different parts of it.

Before jumping into my critiques, I want to compliment Ichaso on her pacing and tension. This plot rarely let up on its characters but, when it did, it made the quieter moments all the more worth it. When Maren wasn’t fighting for Polly’s life/her own life, we were given glimpses of life on campus and the type of peers Maren dealt with at the Academy. These glimpses gave Ichaso the opportunity to further build the tapestry of distrust—I was truly suspicious of every character; I even had no trust for Remington, even through the novel’s end—and showed the reader that not even the adults on campus could be trusted. All of the scenes built together (and built up) to support a delicious feeling of tension and stress.

However, this novel did have a fatal flaw: the lack of connection to Maren. Within the first handful of chapters, I noted that there was next to no set up done for our point-of-view character. But that’s the thing about mysteries and thrillers, right? They often don’t give the main character the page space to be their own person. Instead, their entire personality is about the missing person and/or mystery, and that’s not as interesting to read about. A reader needs that through line of who the character is and what their goals are to make them worth reading about. Sure, Maren had the goal of saving her friend Polly, but there wasn’t nearly enough why to support Maren’s goals. Alongside failing to establish Maren’s agency as the main character, the novel also failed to establish the friendship with Polly. Truly, some intermittent backstory could have launched this novel to the next level. An extra handful of scenes proving that Maren and Polly had a friendship to care about and a friendship to fight for could have elevated this novel. Instead, the missing character exposition truly knocked this novel down and prevented it from being something truly great.

As is often the case for young adult novels, I found the story resolution to be too short and unbelievable. Maren hurtled through 300+ pages of traumatic events, just to end up continuing to attend the academy that nurtured and covered up a cult on its campus? And she walked away in love with Remington, which was difficult to buy into to because that plot barely received page time (and don’t get me started on that half-hearted love triangle sprinkled throughout). All in all, I had to heavily suspend my disbelief to get the ending to work, which was disappointing in the face of the fast-paced plotting and tension driving the rest of the novel forward.

As far as young adult thrillers go, this novel was okay. I just found myself craving more from this novel. More character work, more backstory, more romance to make it believable. Was this story fun? Certainly. But it isn’t something that’d I seek out to reread in the future.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

It's been two weeks since Polly St. James went missing. The Police, the principal of the Torrey-Wells Academy, and her parents say she ran away. Except for Maren, her best friend and roommate. She knows that Polly had a secret that she was going to share with Maren before she disappeared. Her only clue is a letter from the Gamemaster Society.
I began reading the story with no expectations, knowing only that a girl would disappear from a prestigious school. The conclusion left me feeling angry and anxious, but I believe this was a good thing because it elicited a strong emotional response.

I enjoyed the author's writing style, but I believe she could have delved deeper into the relationships between the characters. Additionally, I felt that the subplot involving the game could have been more thoroughly explored.

Maren's unwavering determination to locate Polly stood out as her defining trait. I chose to disregard the subplot involving the love triangle as it does not appeal to my taste.

I highly recommend this reading as I found the ending to be quite intriguing with a clever plot.

More and more I feel like I am outgrowing YA books. This one didn't hold my attention like I thought it would, I couldn't even finish it.

this book seemed really good and i tried my best to like it but it just...wasn't for me, i couldn't pass the 40%, it didn't catch me and i didn't care for the characters either

I did it.

I have achieved what I set forth to do.

I wanted to read a book that would have me:

1. chew my fingernails down to the beds
2. hold my breath in angst
3. fear what lurks in the shadows.

I had to call my therapist after concluding They’re Watching You.

This is in no way shape or form a bad thing, the fact that this book had this much of an impact on me is still mind boggling BUT if anyone could do it, it was sure to be Chelsea Ichaso.

I read Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets, awhile back and right there I knew that Ichaso and I had formed a "book-ship" of sorts, that would eventually escalate and lead me down a path of unwavering obsession to her books both published, and yet to be published.

Does Chelsea Ichaso, have that effect on you too? Maybe we can start a support group.

All kidding aside, Theyre Watching You, has easily snuck on in to my number one slot of most favored books.... EVER.

Teaser:

When a secret society has you in their sights, it can lead to power, privilege… or death.

It's been two weeks since Polly St. James went missing. The police, the headmistress of Torrey-Wells Academy, and even her parents have ruled her a runaway. But not Maren, her best friend and roommate. She knows Polly had a secret that she was about to share with Maren before she disappeared― something to do with the elite, ultra-rich crowd at Torrey-Wells.

Then Maren finds an envelope hidden among Polly's things: an invitation to the Gamemaster's Society. Do not tell anyone, it says. Maren is certain her classmates in the Society know the truth about what happened to Polly, though it's no easy feat to join. Once Maren's made it through the treacherous initiation, she discovers a world she never knew existed within her school, where Society members compete in high-stakes games for unheard-of rewards―Ivy League connections, privileges, favors.

But Maren's been drawn into a different game: for every win, she'll receive a clue about Polly. And as Maren keeps winning, she begins to see just how powerful the Society's game is―bigger and deadlier than she ever imagined. They see, they know, they control. And they kill.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc! All opinions are my own

I really enjoyed this book, it was quick paced, edge of the seat intense and at parts- creepy.

I did however, find the ending a bit rushed and lack lustre, which really brought down my rating of the book, and my overall enjoyment as I wish more things had been tied up.

All in all ‘They’re watching you’ was a solid thriller that I would rate 6.5/10

I am in a YA thriller kick - and loving it! Unfortunately, They're Watching You was not my favorite read recently.

I was very intrigued by a plot that wove together a love for games and challenges, and a secret society/cult; however, it ultimately fell short for me - only because I felt it was entirely unrealistic, so I couldn't buy in to the story or characters.

After reading, I was grateful for the cult dynamic of the book - the mysterious rituals, hidden agendas, and the sense of danger added tension and spurred me on to tread more. I appreciated the paranoia and uncertainty woven throughout the story.

However, at the end of the day, the fact that this type of organization was left to run successfully for years - with hidden places to meet and by causing real harm to others at a school - I just felt I couldn't buy into it, as it was lacking some grounded to make it feel plausible for me.

I really wanted to like this one but I unfortunately didn't like a lot of the aspects. It had a very interesting premise as a dark academia young adult horror novel filled with secret societies but it didn't feel believable or full fleshed out. I ended up not enjoying this one.

I really liked the story but I didn’t care for the very end. I wish it ended differently. I would prefer a ending that was the opposite of what we got.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this.

This book was a lot better than I thought it would be. While not quite 4 stars, I would ultimately rate this 3.5 stars.

I found this engaging, and it did keep me guessing until one chapter, where for me it basically gave everything away, but despite this, I still enjoyed the story, as, throughout the journey, you are continuously guessing who you can trust and who you can't.

Private school, secret society, love triangle, trust issues, missing roommate, and a secret society/ cult. What else do you need for a twisting, turning mystery?
Maren is determined to figure out where her vanished roommate Polly has gone, but to do that, she will have to get to the bottom of all of the secrets she realizes Polly was keeping from her. In her quest to learn the truth, Maren stumbles into the clutches of the Gamemaster's Society, and she realizes that she will have to become a member and play their games if she is going to discover the truth about Polly.

Do I hate this book? No. Do I love it? Also, no.

The premise of the book sounds interesting. A girl joining a secret society to save her best friend. Who wouldn't be intrigued by that?

However, the execution was quite disappointing or was it the plot that's kind of frustrating?

I have to give it to the author that atmosphere of the story, especially the secret society set up, is really atmospheric. I could imagine myself being in that same place and it was scary. But the thing I didn't like about the book is the romance. The love triangle felt forced. The main character sounded stupid with her internal monologue of trusting and not trusting one of the guys but in the ended getting swept up by whatever they say. I also think I would have enjoyed the games better without the overpowering need to insert the romance that took me out of the story. In the end, I am just fed up with the book and just wanted to end as everything felt repetitive as the story goes on.

I will start out by saying that I wasn't a fan of the last Ichaso book I read, so this is me giving her a second shot. I thought the premise of this book was very interesting - what's not to like about a culty secret society and a missing girl in a boarding school setting? But I found it to be unfortunately predictable in most cases.

Many twists and turns, very entertaining. I enjoy mysteries, secret societies, gothic nature and puzzles. I really enjoyed this read.

I received a free arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This could have been a really good book. It had a pretty decent plot, good characters, and moved along pretty quickly. But, for a lot of the book I felt like it was written in a high school creative writing class and the author was trying to use too many metaphors and similes and went in heavy on the thesaurus. I don’t think teens will mind, but as an adult it just felt too forced.

2.5

This book took me by surprise a little bit. It was a little slow at first but it picked up pretty quick and it kept me interested. Maren is a scholarship student at a prestigious high school, Torrey-Wells Academy. Her best friend Polly is also a scholarship student and Maren's roommate. Up until Polly met Annabelle, her and Maren were practically inseparable. Polly started to act as if she had something to be afraid of and then Polly went missing. Maren would do anything to find Polly because she doesn't believe that she ran away like everyone else seems too. Maren needs to infiltrate the schools secret society so she can finally find some answers. What happened to Polly? How dangerous is this secret society? Will Maren be able to figure it out on her own?

Maren Montgomery is a student-athlete at Torrey-Wells Academy, an elite, and very expensive, private school. Maren is a scholarship student, so she doesn’t always fit in with the other students. Polly, her roommate, is one person she has felt close to during her time at Torrey-Wells, so when Polly goes missing Maren is determined to find out what happened to  her, especially because, right before she disappeared, Polly told Maren that she had a secret she had to tell her. Finding an envelope among Polly’s things, she peers inside and discovers an invitation to the Gamemaster’s Society, along with a message instructing her not to tell anyone. Could the Gamemaster’s Society hold the key to discovering what happened to Polly, or is something more sinister at work at Torrey-Wells Academy?

This novel was enjoyable, but it had way too many similarities to the movie The Skulls for my tastes, it almost made the novel extra predictable. I liked the character Maren. She is a tough girl with her heart in the right place. I also liked the connections to ancient mythology. At times it seemed like things happened just too perfectly, and in almost unrealistic ways, making this piece of fiction almost too fictitious. There were some random times in which I was surprised, and the climax was quite eventful. I also thought that the ending was very fitting to the story and the characters.

the premise is good and i liked the layout of the book, but it didn’t grab my attention at all, and i tried to read it like two times so my review will be fair.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

CWs: secret society, kidnapping, poisoning, death

I really enjoyed this one. It was exciting, mysterious, and incredibly tense. I was having fun trying to guess who the Gamemaster was, and I liked the constant back-and-forth of who to trust. It made the story more interesting for me because I was invested in Maren and trying to uncover the truth.
Maren was a good character. Her loyalty to her best friend, Polly, is amazing, and her desire to find answers in the secret society is unfaltering. She trusts too easily, but when she starts questioning everything it raises the tension between the characters. I liked Remington and Gavin even if I didn’t trust either of them. I liked their connections to Maren, and I thought both were good characters and allies.
The secret society in this novel was well written and totally creepy! I thought the author did a great job of developing the tense atmosphere. I’m a sucker for books with secret societies, and this one was really well done. It provides mystery and causes problems, and hides some big secrets.
This was an entertaining and fast-paced YA thriller, and I’d definitely recommend it!

As usual, Chelsea nailed it. I'm a huge fan of hers and have loved her previous books. This was no exception. It was so easy to read and highly addictive. I needed to know what will happen next and binge-read it! I enjoyed the romance in the story too and I felt like I was part of the mc's squad, tagging along to investigate this secret society with her.

Can't wait to see what's next!

*Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks fire for the e-arc*