I read about 45% of this and had to give up unfortunately. This book is WEIRD. In a good way, mostly. I like the characters and the author did a very good job at making the school another main character. However the body horror was too much for me. I would recommend for other people who like a dark academia horror book though.

Thought provoking and creepy. Carvell College was closed for ten years after a spate of mysterious student deaths. It has just reopened, and Lottie and Alice are two members of the new class. Lottie is there with the goal of solving the case, but is soon in over her head. Alice just wants to study philosophy, but her constant anger is getting in the way. When she stumbles upon a book which describes an arcane ritual to subdue your anger, she of course has to try it. Not the best plan... Can Lottie and Alice discover the truth behind the deaths and their connection to this strange soul-splitting ritual? Pick up The Society for Soulless Girls and find out.

First off, I loved the eerie dark academia atmosphere. The creepy supernatural elements really amped up the story. I also enjoyed following along with the mystery. I didn't really connect with the romance though. It felt kind of shoehorned in. I had no idea about the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde connection prior to reading, but I can totally see it now. The "angry girls" messaging is timely, and something that I do tend to enjoy. The levels of violence here are a bit much for me, though. Overall, I did enjoy the read

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Society for Soulless Girls captivates readers with its great writing style and a compelling main character whose depth and relatability draw you into her world. The author skillfully unveils the protagonist's inner thoughts and emotions, allowing readers to truly understand and empathize with her journey. While the narrative maintains a strong grip throughout, the ending feels somewhat rushed, leaving a sense of disappointment as loose ends are hastily tied up. Despite this, the overall experience of the novel is enjoyable, thanks to the author's storytelling prowess and the engaging exploration of the main character's unique perspective.

This book was unputdownable - and quite honestly, Laura Steven led me by my nose through the book, because I had NO idea where it was leading or who was responsible. Cleverly crafted with some complex characters.

I liked the premise and the plot was interesting But I felt like the characters needed a little more shaping because sometimes I didn't understand their motivations.

This book was a little different than what I was expecting, but honestly the story was still really good.

Carvell College has been closed for ten years after four students lost their lives in the North Tower murders. Now it’s reopening with rules regarding the tower and no one is to go near it.

Roommates, Lottie and Alice, couldn’t be more different or have more different reasons for coming to Carvell.

Lottie’s family knew one of the victims of the North Tower murders and is hell bent on figuring out is going on.

Alice is at Carvell because it’s close to home but still an escape.

After finding a weird ritual she thinks will help curb her anger issues that turns out to be a soul splitting ritual, Alice feels great, at least for a while. The rage returns only 100 times worse and she must enlist Lottie in helping her figure out how to fix it.

In all the story is really intriguing and if you like retellings and sapphic romance this book is for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, I liked the school setting, the relationships and friendships made. I liked the bit about the book in this, I think the book be an interesting read. I totally recommend this. I liked the sapphic representation in this. I liked how the author didn’t make the whole book about their sexuality.

I had such a good time with this! I heard it's a Jekyll and Hyde retelling, and I didn't get the biggest vibes but still some! I loved the slow burn in the romance and the FF representation was immaculate! I can't wait to read more from this author because wow, I love their writing style.

This was a great spooky read with some funny moments. It kept me guessing. I read the book in one setting! Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

#NetGalleyARC This was the perfect spooky fall afternoon read. It was thrilling, there were funny moments and it kept me one the edge of my seat. Definitely worth the read.

What a good book! I love the spin on the classic story and the fact that they let Alice be angry. I feel like it’s still rare to find a book that portrays female rage. Now unfortunately there were things I did not like. For starters, the romance between Alice & Lottie felt (and I can’t believe I’m going to say this) out of nowhere. I also didn’t like how most of the book was a slow burn & then the last 25% came at you fast while still leaving things hanging.

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

I'm a sucker for dark academia, occult rituals, and sapphic romance, so this book really checked all the boxes for me on paper. And the story itself was quite good. There were some parts that slowed me down a little, and some questions that were left unanswered (all of which are lampshaded at the end), but I liked the idea behind it and the execution was decently engaging. The adults, especially the male professors, kind of ran together for me, and I found myself on a couple occasions having to go back and figure out which one was which, but that's the only major thing that threw me off. And the fact that this book was ultimately about female rage? Damn, I love that. A wonderful book for autumn spooky season reading.

Solid book for a younger demographic. Really enjoyed reading it, but didn't feel overwhelmingly strong about it.

This week’s headline? Remember Salem
Why this book? Supposed dark academia vibes
Which book format? ARC
Primary reading environment? Bed
Any preconceived notions? Not really
Identify most with? n/a
Three little words? “a supernatural pulse”
Goes well with? Philosophy texts, field hockey
Recommend this to? People who love YA gothic Jekyll/Hyde retellings and angry girls
Other cultural accompaniments: https://www.unitedbypop.com/young-adult-books/laura-steven-chats-researching-gothic-for-the-society-for-soulless-girls/
I leave you with this: “Every kid has a moment in their childhood when they realize just how terrifying the world can be.”
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Well. I was actually getting into this (I think around the halfway mark - my ARC only shows location instead of page numbers), when something horrible happened which made it difficult for me to even want to finish. I mean, I’ve read more visceral writing and was able to stomach it. Barring that scene, it’s a decent novel. I was enjoying how female anger was represented.

The Society for Soulless Girls is available now.

The Society for Soulless Girls is incredibly creepy with imperfect characters and danger looming from the very first page. Alice is so grumpy and borderline evil, unable to control the violent impulses that enter her brain. She threatens people and snaps, unable to get close to anyone until a shared secret draw her and Lottie together. Lottie is much more gregarious, making friends and playing field hockey. Aside from the fact that they both chose to enroll in a school that had been closed due to multiple deaths, they share a love of dark literature. They also share a fascination over the mysterious deaths of years before. Pretty much everyone does, considering the fact that they enrolled at the school to begin with.

Weeks and months pass too fast after the first half of the book. They felt like they passed too fast, with not enough small moments between to show growing relationships and realistic passage of time. They’re at a school, but they don’t talk about classes or grades. They’re going through all this horrific stuff like possession and murderous thoughts but we don’t get an outsider’s perspective on how Alice, Lottie, and Hafsah are being perceived. Alice and Lottie are roommates but Hafsah conveniently lives in a single. The mystery of Salem the black cat is never fully explained.

Alice and Lottie are well developed, though their development falls short over time as the plot further expands. But the plot is too weak to support their growth as characters and they kind of fall apart. A few nice moments and realizations aren’t enough to make up for that, though I remained intrigued until the end, so that’s something. Perhaps that has something to do with how fast paced the ending was, too. Lottie makes a wild assumption and apparently guesses correctly. Her role in all of this would have been better as just a helpful outsider. In the end, her possession doesn’t seem all that useful and just disappears as though it never happened in the first place. The entire possession plotline was inconsistent and wasn’t really useful.

Hafsah was my favorite character. Self described as autistic and potentially aromantic, she’s fun and aligns with many of the actions and behaviors I have, aside from the murderous rage, of course. She’s confident and comfortable in herself, for the most part. I wish she didn’t feel like so much of a too late addition to the story.

I enjoyed the book well enough. It was a compelling read for about half of the book and then the rest just sped by. I would recommend this for fans of the Haunting of Sunshine Girl and other creepy teen novels. Though the characters are in college, it doesn’t feel like they are based on their actions, so while this book wouldn’t be appropriate for middle grade, it feels comfortable enough for YA.

Carvell Academy of the Arts may have a sinister history of mysterious deaths, but Lottie Fitzwilliam is thrilled when she gets her acceptance letter. Not only is going to Carvell her dream, but so is uncovering the truth about the school’s sinister past. And it’s not until her roommate, Alice Wolfe, begins to act strangely that Lottie feels the need to start investigating.

How can Alice go from angry and violent to passive and docile so quickly? And why does it happen after Lottie catches her with an ancient looking book? And could it have anything to do with Lottie’s sleepwalking or the stones suddenly embedded in her throat? In order to find out, Lottie needs to brave getting close to Alice—even if it means possibly getting killed in the process.
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I’m sad to say this one missed the mark for me. While I was super intrigued with the mystery of Carvell and all the dark spooky shit going on, I found myself getting less and less compelled as the “truths” started coming out. The plot was really convoluted - just a lot of directions it tried to go in and the one it ended up in fell really short for me.

I also feel the relationship between Lottie & Alice felt really forced and I also really hate when the L word gets dropped so early. I don’t think is a bad book—I just think i had different expectations and that’s no fault of the author’s. I’d still recommend ppl to give it a try. It’s worth reading once, at least.

The premise of this book - a Jekyll and Hyde retelling involving a haunted school - was a huge draw for me. And while I did enjoy the read overall, it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for.

What I Liked:
The writing. I enjoyed Laura Steven’s writing throughout this book. I found the characters and their thoughts and dialogue to be believable and I quite enjoyed several metaphors and other quotes throughout the book.

”Time heals all wounds, but not the ones you leave infected.”

The anger. The anger that this book centers on really resonated with me. From main character, Alice’s, internal, impulsive anger, to a Jekyll and Hide-esque personality split involving evil alter egos, to the underlying feminine rage reviewed throughout the plot’s unveiling. This read spent a lot of time delving into the anger women carry, but are expected not reveal cast alongside an intertwined Jekyll and Hyde story of supernaturally caused alter egos.

”The real reason they encourage little girls not to fight. So that we won’t know how.”

Things That Didn’t Work For Me:

The romance. I love a good sapphic romance in my reads, especially in the sunshine/grumpy (or in this case more sunshine/rageful) variety. However, I found this one to not work for me. The flirting never felt too realistic to me and the characters spent so much time convincing themselves that they weren’t flirting, so by the time the decided they were interested, it felt to rushed since the book was coming to a close by then.

”Being a woman attracted to another woman was confusing; a constant game of comparison and lust. You never quite knew whether you were jealous of their body or just jealous of the person who got to touch it.”

The ending. The ending cape together all to quickly and left me unsatisfied. The plot for majority of the book moved at a slower pace, as there was a lot of inner thoughts and reflections from the characters that guided the story. And I can get behind a slow burn thriller. However, the ending felt like it was rushing to pull together all the loose ends (of which some were never answered) and the manner in which the plot ended was unexpected - in a manner that left me saying <i>huh?</i> rather than gasping in shock.

Overall, I did enjoy this read, especially the many quotes that resonated with me (I could fill this entire review with more quotes I loved.)

Thanks NetGalley and Random House Children’s, Delacorte Press for the ARC of this book

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for providing me with an eARC of The Society for Soulless Girls in exchange for my honest review!

The dark academia and supernatural mystery atmosphere is thriving in this book, which took a bit of time to pull me in at first, but then I became gripped by the twists and turns of the plot and Lottie and Alice's dynamic. Their slow-burn chemistry is compelling to follow, and I like the ins and outs of the morally gray facets they explore of themselves and the world around them. Hafsah is also interesting as a side character, providing some darkly comedic relief to lighten things up. Thematically, I appreciate how this becomes a cautionary tale about the ways in which our patriarchal society forces women to bottle up their anger, their upset feelings, any emotions that break them out of the submissive roles created for them by traditional gender norms. The ending does feel a bit too rapid for my taste, and I'm not sure how satisfied I am with the purposeful choice to leave some questions unanswered, but these complaints are fairly small at the end of the day.

Overall, I'm officially rating The Society for Soulless Girls 3.75 out of 5 stars, which I'll round up to 4 stars. I'll keep an eye out for more of Laura Steven's work in the future.

I was very excited to receive an advanced copy of this novel—Jekyll and Hyde, gothic vibes, and dark academia speak to my soul. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher—opinions are my own.

The characters in this story were great. I loved the pacing, the dynamic between Alice and Lottie and their views on the school, and people in general. I loved the way the author showed similar situations from each of the POV character viewpoints and the contrast there.

Setting was also stellar. Every description felt touchable, and I loved the addition of Salem.

The one thing that left me feeling let down was the execution of the mystery. There were leaps in logic, especially by Lottie, where I lost the thread. I wish the ending would’ve been a little more exciting…it almost felt like we were plodding to the end when it should’ve been fast-paced and thrilling.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read!

Carvell is an elite College of the Arts that was closed down ten years ago after a string of unsolved murders took place. Now ten years later Carvell is reopening and Lottie can’t wait to attend, hoping to get to the bottom of what happened all those years ago. Lottie and and her roommate, Alice, couldn’t be more different, but when they both stumble upon the sinister goings on at Carvell they forge a bond through their shared experiences.

The Society for Soulless Girls is a YA thriller full of the supernatural with a. Fair amount of horror. I enjoyed the premise and the characters, but the horror element of this book wasn’t for me. I am not a horror fan, but I enjoy fantasy so I thought I’d check this book out. It was well written and I enjoyed the book overall, but the horror was too much for me to fully enjoy this book in a way that a true horror fan could. The author did a good job of creating the world surrounding Carvell and the intrigue of the school. This was a good book, just not my cup of read. It was a good October read! I think this would be a good book for fans of horror and the supernatural.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book!