I've enjoyed previous books by Armstrong and was looking forward to her latest release. This is a psychological mystery that involves strange events that start happening and hazy memories that leave the characters confused. When things start to fall apart at the school this group of friends start to work together to piece together the clues of what's happening to them.

This started out strong and held my interest, but by halfway through the pacing slowed and I found myself losing interest, the end also felt a little rushed. There were a lot of character perspectives to keep track of and you are constantly jumping between each character.

Overall, I didn't enjoy this as much as I was hoping to. This was just an okay read.

this is gonna be a short review, not because i found the book lackluster, the opposite honestly, but because i feel it’s better to go into this book with no idea what’s going to happen, the synopsis already gives too much away.

🥼🔬: i’ll say, i really did enjoy the plot. there was a lot going on and you figure it out pretty quickly, but i think it was written really nicely, and the personal character dynamics never outshone the plot, which i appreciate.
my one main complaint is the ending, it felt too rushed & anticlimactic and i guess i just expected more. maybe the whole point of the ending was the fact that there really isn’t no bad guy, just good people doing bad things thinking they’re helping. idk. i just wish there was more, i hate when a good story is wrapped up too quickly. it just feels so incomplete?

on another note though

📋: i really did enjoy the characters. there was some plot twists with certain characters, though a tad bit predictable , done certainly well. i’ll definitely say our sibling duo, tanya & tucker are the MVPS of this book. i really wish we got to see more of the group pre-mystery & all that bc i really enjoyed their dynamics and the ending especially leaves me feeling bittersweet.

have i mentioned how much i hate parents sometimes?

also lesbians! ace rep! we love to see it!

4 stars!
★ ★ ★ ★☆

thank you netgalley, penguin random house canada, & tundra books for granting me access to this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

**A more in-depth review has been posted to Goodreads that does contain spoilers. This review was edited for brevity prior to posting. **

I have never read a book by Kelley Armstrong, I’ll be honest. It isn’t due to the fact that I haven’t wanted to, but due to the fact that her works have never come across my radar up until learning about NetGalley. I would also like to preface this by saying I wrote this review in two stages whilst reading, so some initial opinions *did* change towards the end. I want to be clear on that so as to avoid any confusion going forward with this review, but I wanted to include my first impressions and how they changed throughout the reading journey.

The first 75-80% of the book was written very well in my opinion, as well as being decently paced. I don’t feel like the plot line was dragging, and the thriller/suspense aspects didn’t feel convoluted (or conversely, watered down). What I initially liked most about the book was that Blythe felt very relatable, which is always something that I like to look for in a book. The relatability translates directly into readability, for me personally. A fair amount of people have had falling outs with friends and getting to learn about the causes of Blythe’s was pretty interesting and didn’t feel predictable in my opinion, which was extremely refreshing when it comes to the suspense aspect of the plot. I don’t want to be able to sniff out what’s going to happen by the time I get to the fourth chapter. Thankfully, this book did not do that.

The sinking feeling that I felt when certain characters were brought into the mix made me feel like I was watching a series or a movie for this book. That anticipation made me want to keep going, and it kept me well hooked.

Up through chapter 18, I feel like the reader was given enough information to continue to make inferences but not definitively come to a conclusion about any one person. and once the cat was well and truly out of the bag, I was left with almost an ache in my chest.

Despite the feeling of repetition and a sense of being rushed in the remaining 20-25%, the story did maintain enough of a mystery to keep me hooked until the last word. At a certain point, I thought the adults had more to do with everything than what we were being given. I thought Tucker and Tanya's dad had something to do with it. I felt like I couldn't trust anyone, and I relate that back to the feeling of relatability with Blythe. I appreciate Armstrong's ability to write the MC in such a way that the reader feels like they're there, in the moment.

I think I would have given this a 5-star rating had there been more at the end... I can appreciate the young love addition, but it felt a wee bit unnecessary at the end given the base plot of murder and suspense. I would have liked a look at what exactly happened on the back end after everything is revealed to the reader and the 'resolution' is provided. I do also agree with the disappointment of Andre’s involvement, or lack thereof. I would have liked to see his character developed a little bit more instead of him being mentioned a scant handful of times. Same with Cassidy. I think they both had amazing potential to be fully developed characters.

TL;DR: The first 75% of this book was written pretty well. The twists weren’t predictable to me, and when I thought I had it figured out I was proven wrong. The last 25% felt a bit repetitive and lackluster in terms of the wrap-up. I closed the document wanting more. Even just an epilogue would have sufficed. Some of the aspects feel a bit Pretty Little Liars adjacent, but if you liked the PLL show or the books, I think this would be something you would enjoy.

With everything considered, I’m looking forward to picking up more books by Armstrong, and I’m very pleased that Someone Is Always Watching was my introduction into her catalog. I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to read this ahead of publication, so thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to do so.

**As mentioned in the beginning of this review: a longer review has been posted to Goodreads, containing minor spoilers. **

I have been a fan of Kelley Armstrong for a long time, and this latest book was every bit as enjoyable and easy to read/fall into as any I've read before. She has an innate ability to write YA in a way that is accessible and entertaining across age groups. Her stories have complex plots and characters, with motivations and thought processes that are age appropriate but also still feel relatable even to someone WELL beyond the genre's typical demographic. I found the premise engaging and all too plausible, as well as the (disastrous) results that followed. It was a quick read that grabbed my attention early on and held it throughout. I did feel that the resolution came fairly quickly, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - I didn't read this for education or edification, but for entertainment. And entertain it did!

I liked this book but didn't love it. It was an okay read and I overall really love reading thrillers but this book wasn't for me. I felt like it was too slow for me. It was an easy read which I enjoyed, but the storyline could've been more thrilling in my opinion.

Overall, the premise of the book is really good and I enjoyed the twists and endings. I liked the fast pace and the characters were all unique and interesting. However I didn't really like the writing style, it felt like it would have worked for a younger audience, and I also felt that the story dragged and/or was repetitive which I understand works with the plot but I found myself losing interest and being bored.

Do you wanna do something bad?

Someone Is Always Watching by Kelly Armstrong is a fun, YA mystery/thriller with a tad of romance. We follow Blythe and her friends who discover that their memories are not to be trusted because in the past certain memories have been erased or altered with.

TW: this book has mentions of rape. No mention in my review of it.

I overall enjoyed this book and I gave it a whopping 3 stars. It’s a fast paced book written in multiple point of view. The characters are likeable and we have an actual asexual character. The story is something I haven’t read before and was therefore holding my attention.

But there were definitely things I enjoyed less.

Like I said, the story is fast paced but sometimes this leaded into brushing over the story. Especially in the middle-end, we go from point being made to another one being made and not really a moment to grasp onto it. There were also some gaps. Moments that happened, that could’ve benefitted the suspense of the story, were skipped and just plainly given as information.

This book has multiple point of views (4) and they all follow the same mystery. They all have their own individual ‘main’ focus which actually provides into the main story. I really liked this.

The story itself was entertaining but definitely a bit of a reach. The memories erasing storyline was something I’ve never read before and therefore very interesting but could’ve done better. It lacked background information and I feel like some things are still not answered; as in why did they erased memories, how did they do it etc, and even in the last chapter it’s clear that there are some things unanswered.

This book has an asexual character named Tanya. I enjoyed reading about her and from her POV. There were passages that referred to her asexual/possibly being aromantic. But it isn’t until later in the story that it’s confirmed she’s actually ace. A thing that bugged me a little was that she was written as an ‘ice cold bitch’ and referred to in that way. People could see this as a stereotype.

I want to thanks NetGalley, Tundra books and Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own :)

This novel I had very mixed feelings on. I really liked the writing style and found that quite enjoyable, as well as easy to read. I also liked the little clues you notice along the way, or think back on as the story unfolds. However, I do prefer a faster paced story, don’t get me wrong it wasn’t slow slow, but just not what I personally was looking for.

The story begins with a groups of teens and the sudden murder of their teacher - at the hands of one of their friends. However they have no memory of it actually happening and this is where their investigation begins. Throughout the novel you also begin questioning ideas around memory, and whether you can really trust yourself.

Overall, I really enjoyed the idea of the plot, but think it could’ve been executed a bit better. I think also the synopsis did ruin it a little bit for me and maybe had they held back some information then it would’ve been more surprising to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for a honest. Publication due for 11 April 2023!

A true quick paced and creepy book that strives on paranoia. A strong YA book if you like YA. Personally, I am into more adult and darker reads but this was a fun book!

This book hooked me in at the beginning. There was a lot of mystery surrounding the characters and what was happening. I was really curious and found myself trying to guess. It just started to feel like it was dragging the story until the big mind control info dump at the ed. The story was easy to read for the most part, the characters just lacked any real depth to themselves.

This had a very high plot for a thriller. The setting and environment is very specific but once you've figured out the situation that our main characters are living in, it is a very interesting mystery. The ending did feel a little anticlimactic for me but it was overall very well told and a very interesting read! I really enjoyed the complicated dynamic between the main friends and how they worked together (and against each other) to solve the mystery of their friend's disappearance. I'm very excited to see what the author does next!

(this book was provided to me as an Advanced Reader's Copy by the publisher through netgalley)

I didn't expect this to be a YA sci-fi thriller/mystery/romance. It was a little bit of everything and moved quickly. After Blythe watches her best friend Gabi melt down at school, and their vice principal is found dead by apparent suicide, Blythe starts to question everything she knows. She suspects that people are keeping secrets. All of her friends, and her sister Sydney, have dreams and 'memories' of horrific things... but their parents tell them it's just their imagination. What is happening at their private school?

I liked the fast pace of this book, and it keeps you guessing, not knowing who to trust or who might be in danger. The ending is a little far-fetched, but if you count it as sci-fi it makes sense. Overall, it was an entertaining read.

thank you to netgalley for this arc! this was my first arc to read from netgalley, so I was excited! the plot was intriguing to me and it didn't disappoint. definitely unique and kept you wanting to read more! overall happy with how things unfolded but did want a little more information on the why behind CMT's actions. I really enjoyed how these characters were written and developed. they were easy to connect to!

Someone Is Always Watching was a fun, fast paced YA thriller. I did find it to be a bit slow in the beginning -- I kept putting it down and picking it back up another day. However, by the half way mark, it significantly picked up and I read the rest in one sitting. I found the concept of the book to be interesting. It was nice to pick up a science fiction thriller book (even if some of the science didn't always make sense).
I didn't think the different POVs were entirely necessary but they were well done. Each character was well-developed with their own voice. I also think there was a bit too much going on. There were so many things happening to each of the characters that I didn't feel were entirely resolved by the ending.
Overall, I would recommend this to my followers if they are looking for a quick weekend read with a little murder mixed in.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!!

It’s been a while since I read a YA book and this one makes me want to keep requesting them. Great story about a group of friends who have to solve the puzzle that is their lives. Premise is good and I like that it’s not too much romance, not too much science fiction, just the right amount of imagination. Characters are all believable. Now to find others from this author… 😊

Gritty and disturbing. Premise is that a study group takes in children with violent behaviors, erases the memories of those behaviors and replaces them with new memories and modifications to the behaviors and then "follows" them in a made up town and home setting to see how the new situation is working. This study is to see if it would work on a larger scale in the real world to correct others and change criminal behavior and lower crime rates. The problem is that the memories aren't holding, the old memories are breaking through and causing issues in the friend group. The adults that are monitoring this group don't all have the same Intel and so there are breaks in the infrastructure for these kids. They take matters into their own hands to learn what is going on and when things break down, tragedy strikes. Very disturbing and sad. A first rate read, just hard with such scary real world connotations. Could it be done? Is it being done? Would it work? Would we want it to work? And what are the ramifications if it did break down? Would they have to pay for the original crime as well as the new one? Guilty of both? Such questions raised.

I'm sad I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would.

I loved Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers series and had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it didn't meet my expectations.

The story follows Blythe a girl used to following the rules. Her friends start having mental break downs and Blythe starts seeing weird things after she has a concussion. Her friends and her start investigating when their friend Gabi goes missing after acting irrational and lashing out.

I didn't connect with any of the characters and thought that there was no chemistry between them. The mystery was very engaging at first but by the end I wasn't interested.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

The premise of this was good, the beginning was good. I was very interested to see why these students were having headaches, memory lapses, the mystery behind what was going on with Gabi, etc.

Soon after, the too many character perspectives lost me, along with the story.

Book Title: Someone is Always Watching
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada- Tundra Books
Genre: Teen/YA, Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: April 11, 2023
My Rating: 3 Stars

This YA Mystery starts when one teen snaps and kills their teacher. Our protagonist Blythe is a witness but doesn't remember it happening.
Blythe is ambitious, a math whiz, who attends a STEM high School that is for children of the researchers and employees of CMT, a neurological research lab.
She is someone who follows the rules but when she and her friends start to investigate, it seems no one is fully trustworthy.
How can Blythe and her friends trust each other when they can’t even trust their own memories?
This makes Blythe think it just might be okay to break a few rules.

Want to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House- Tundra Books for granting me this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date is April 11, 2023

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The story seemed promising to me. We follow Blythe, a teenage girl that loves following the rules. She witnesses her friend have a mental breakdown and attack a teacher. The next day, she can't remember what happened but has "invasive thoughts" about events she thinks she is hallucinating. She and her friends investigate, and it seems everyone has a hidden truth, something that was concealed from them.

While I enjoyed the story at first, it was intriguing, and though it started slowly, the pace picked up after the first third of the book. It is well written, but the author insists on some elements for no apparent reason (so many recurring headaches/migraines at the beginning that are never mentioned afterward). It could have tied to the story, but no. It was just a random characteristic repeated over and over.

At first, I was interested in seeing where the story was going and how the characters evolve, but I stopped caring for them at one point. They felt unidimensional, like puppets serving the author, and weren't allowed any character development.

Still, I kept wanting to know what would happen next. Overall, it is a good story, sometimes rushed a little, but it kept my attention. It is nothing groundbreaking, but it was a good read.