I like a secret society type novel and this one was perfect for just that. I enjoyed this one and would recommend that you give it a try.

I’m not sure if I knew this book was tagged as Young Adult Fiction when I requested it. I just knew it was suspense set at a posh boarding school. It does feel YA in some way I can’t quite describe. Or at least not without seeming to be dissing it. I guess what it comes down to is though the subject matter could be viewed as dark and there are some “adult themes” (not the sexy kind; more the murdery, vast-conspiracy kind), there is something kind of unsophisticated and simple about the story and the narrative voice. To be fair, I guess that could be seen as a diss, since a lot of YA fiction, especially these days, rises above those stereotypes.

When the story opens, Maren Montgomery (whom I keep wanting to call Maren Morris because of the country singer) is in chemistry class with her new lab partner, the goofy, charming screw-up Gavin. Maren has been recently paired with Gavin because her former lab partner, roommate and best friend, Polly, disappeared from prestigious Torrey-Wells Academy several weeks before. Maren thinks Polly’s disappearance is suspicious, though she left a note and everyone else thinks Polly simply ran away. Maren and Polly, formerly inseparable, had grown apart in the weeks before Polly went missing; Polly was spending all her time with Annabelle, a snooty, rich ballet dancer straight out of mean-girl central casting. But the last time Maren saw Polly, she was distraught and wanted Maren to meet her later in the day, promising to disclose what was troubling her. Polly never showed, and Maren is now sure there is something more to Polly’s absence.

Searching Polly’s belongings, Maren finds an invitation to something called the Gamemaster’s Society. Maren is sure Annabelle is the gamemaster, and so she endeavors to get an invitation to the society through her. She is successful, and that night with much secret doings and fanfare and hooded black cloaks, Maren meets the other potential initiates, as well as member of the society. She’s surprised to find that Gavin is a member, but figures that he may be able to help her in her quest to find information on what happened to Polly.

Maren is also a bit discomfited to find that one of the other initiates is Remington Cruz, a classmate she had briefly had a crush on the previous year.

(A note here about the location of much of the Gamemasters Society action: it’s an abandoned, burned out “cathedral” on the school grounds. I double-checked my understanding of the word cathedral here, and Wikipedia agrees that it’s a church that serves as “the central church of a diocese, conference or episcopate.” So, unlikely to be on the grounds of a posh private school. Also not passing the smell test was the idea that a huge, partially burned building would be allowed to stand on those grounds – wouldn’t it have been demolished? It sounds like a safety hazard to me. Anyway, a book about a vast conspiracy involving a secret society at a private school can probably not be expected to be totally grounded in reality, but still – details matter.)

The rest of the book is basically Maren (and Remington, who also passes the initial tests to become a member of the Society) running around campus getting involved in increasingly sinister scenarios (in one, a fellow student is poisoned) while trying to find out where Polly is. Maren also discovers that the Society has members not just in the student body, but in the faculty. She faces many dilemmas about who she can trust, which usually having her ping-ponging between Gavin and Remington.

Maren is not a particularly compelling heroine; she’s fine but lacks a strong narrative voice or personality. In a way, she felt more like a real teenager to me, albeit one that proves to be smarter and more competent in facing off with the Gamemaster Society than one might expect.

Suspense is all about the twists (was it always that way? I haven’t been reading it for very long). Some smaller ones were kind of lame – it’s pretty obvious at a critical point in the story that going to an authority figure to expose the society isn’t going to work out as planned. One of the big ones was obvious from very early on (at least I expect that it was supposed to be a surprise though it wasn’t; I’m never sure though, with suspense).

There were two related twists near the end that I didn’t really see coming, and I appreciated that – they weren’t surprising just because they were out of left field; they made sense in the context of the story (I mean, as much as anything made sense in a story where there has to be a high suspension of disbelief).

They’re Watching You held my attention, but I ultimately think I would have liked it more if I read it when I was in high school (which was, um, a long time ago). Not specifically because it’s not very sophisticated and I imagine that teenage readers aren’t sophisticated readers; more because I know that at a certain age – probably starting in young adolescence, actually, I was THRILLED to read stories that had people around my age living lives that were so much more glamorous, exciting and thrilling than mine. My grade for this, at my current age, is a B-.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great thriller and it kept me on the edge of my seat.

#netgalleyarc Not my fave thriller written in the last year but not my least fave either. I like thrillers that are about secret societies and this book had the right theme but took me awhile to get into it. Overall I felt it had a slow start but at about the midpoint I started to enjoy it more. A most likely buy for my high school library.

Unfortunately, this one didn't quite land well for me. It was a little unbelievable and farfetched for me and I just couldn't connect. The characters didn't really draw me in at all and I was more annoyed by them than anything. I feel like the concept had potential but the execution just wasn't there.

This was an exciting thriller. I really enjoyed the dark academia setting and the secret society world. The characters were well developed and the mystery had enough turns to keep me guessing. I would definitely recommend this to others!

This was such a fun and unique read! I loved the story line and the characters. It was heart pounding suspense that I couldn't put down. Loved it!

They're watching you is a YA novel set in an elite school. Maren's roommate Polly goes missing and no one seems to care or think anything strange about it. Soon Maren comes to know that Polly was a part of a secret society on campus and inflitrates it to find out the reason for her disappearance.

This was a twisted plot and I loved the boarding school setting with a cult, underground crypts, puzzles and creepy games. This totally gave me The Truly Devious vibes and kept me engaged from the start. The twists were easy to see and the ending was predictable. Yet it was a fun and super quick read.

This is my second Chelsea Ichaso book and she managed to create well developed, fleshed out characters that were relatable as private high school teens that come from money and power.

Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for a digital ARC to read and review.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an e-ARC of They're Watching You!

3.5 rounded up!

I got so into this book at some point, I ended up going through it fairly quick; it's been awhile since I've been that invested in what I was reading. It wasn't necessarily the ~mystery~ that pulled me in, and it definitely wasn't the characters (I trusted absolutely nobody & didn't care about what happened to anyone), but the cult vibes and the idea of a secret society playing deadly games had me. I'm a very simple girl who just likes a silly creepy time.

First off, I LOVE anything set in the boarding-school-thriller scene, so this was already a match made for me. Throw in cults, secret societies, sadistic games and a missing girl and you've got yourself one twisted little mystery to unravel. I did pretty much predict the twits as well as the ending, however, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

As much as I wanted to like this, because I am a sucker for boarding school mysteries, I just found this so genuinely ridiculous. SO MUCH happens in this book. It is all over the place, and it felt like none of it really went together in a satisfying way. It just tried to do too many things at once, and I didn't really like any of the things that it did. I also thought the whole secret society was kind of insane, because I genuinely do not understand why any of them did what they did. It wasn't justified enough for me and I kept waiting for the story to tell me why these people were doing such bonkers shit.
Overall I think this is an interesting premise, and not a badly written book, but it just had waaaay too much going on.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of They're Watching You by Chelsea Ichaso. While I enjoyed the general premise of the story, and I was hooked from the beginning, I found it lagged a bit in the middle. I wasn't as invested in the mystery as I thought I would be. I also didn't feel much connection to the characters.

This was a good YA mystery/thriller novel, that I enjoyed reading!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

I am so thankful to have gotten an early copy of this book. As soon as I heard that there was a dark academic book about secret societies I was all in. This book got to me. I love the atmosphere of the secret society and the games. There was so many twists and turns, and it seems like everyone’s out to get you in this book. I loved it. Definitely going to start reading more from this author.

They’re Watching You is a fun, but often predictable YA dark academia story that is perfect for young readers just getting into the genre. It follows Maren, a scholarship boarding school student whose best friend mysteriously disappears. In order to find her, Maren infiltrates a centuries old secret society where she must participate in a series of deadly games. Oh! And there’s a love triangle.

This book was wildly entertaining. It was always intense and I was glad for the romantic drama. Still, it felt like a very basic dark academia/secret society story. It reminds me a lot of Kit Frick’s recent novel, Very Bad People. The difference is a total lack of explanation as to why the society members go as far as they do. It’s never fully explained. One character in particular has a mind-boggling arc that left me both disappointed and confused. The only character I did find interesting ended up having a predictable journey. So while I had fun, I also had questions.

That being said, this has all the marks of a compelling dark academia story. It’s a great starting point for the genre and I will be happy to recommend it to young readers. This books knows what it is and I respect that. It’s dark without being fully inappropriate, and all the violence/trauma serves a purpose and isn’t just there for shock value, which I find to be rare in the genre. I’m glad I read this, not because I adore it but because I believe the students I work with will.

DNF at 61%.

Maren’s best friend, Polly, disappeared without a trace after she got involved with one of the popular girls, Anabelle. Maren doesn’t believe that this is a coincidence, so she sets out to get herself invited to a secret society that Polly was a part of, sure that the reason Polly went messing lies within this secret society, and that Anabelle herself has something to hide.

I’m really sad to be dnfing this book because it had so much promise. When it comes to mysteries and secret societies, I can usually suspend my disbelief. But not with this one. It just got so ridiculous and melodramatic that I was constantly laughing at everything Maren did, cringing because of the way she jumps at clues and thinks the worst of people before she’s even had a chance to get to know them. I also couldn’t bring myself to believe that such a society had ever existed. There was just too much to it that could never have flown under the radar. Catacombs? Poison? Students going missing? Students going killed? It was just too much and I couldn’t take it anymore.

I wasn’t a huge fan of DEAD GIRLS CAN’T TELL SECRETS, so I had hoped to enjoy this one more. It seemed promising at first. Maren’s character seemed stronger and smarter than the mc of DEAD GIRLS, but then by the time she got into the secret society it all started to spiral, and she started to do the same thing that the mc of DEAD GIRLS did, which was follow leads with no evidence, take anything she’s told as fact, and jump to conclusions with no logical reason as to how she got to that conclusion in the first place.

I’m sad about this. Maybe next time I’ll like it?

Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This kept me on my toes! I loved it! Dark academia is one of my favorite genres, so when I saw this was about a secret society within a boarding school, I was sold. This delivered exactly what I wanted; flawed characters, juicy plot, and lots of action that wasn’t too confusing. I flew through this!

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

They're Watching You is a phenomenal YA thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out They're Watching You today.

Maren's former best friend Polly, who lived with her at a prestigious boarding school, has disappeared and Maren is convinced she hasn't just run away. Maren infiltrates the weird secret club Polly had joined in an attempt to find out what happened to her, but it goes darker and deeper than she could ever have realised...

This is a wildly outlandish YA thriller and if you don't mind that the plot is frankly preposterous, you will have a great time with this book, as I did. There are kind of dark academia vibes with the boarding school setting, mixed with a secret society that meets in underground catacombs and forces the MC into dangerous challenges to try to save her friend's life.

The plot moves steadily forward and this quickly became my main read as I was always eager to pick it back up again.

If you need your reads to be super realistic, then you might struggle, but as a fantasy reader, I'm always ready to suspend disbelief in the name of a fun and engaging story and I was totally hooked on this one.

I have to say, the ending was a little abrupt to me after all that build up, and some aftermath in the final chapter made no sense to me. Still, I had a really fun time reading this book, it was great for an easy, fast paced read.

Side note: I feel like the title is boringly generic for this book. I reckon "Victory or Dust" would have been a great name.