WIN LOSE KILL DIE started out strong, with a really intriguing premise, and immediately vaulted into action. However, it suffered during the middle portion and started dragging, but ultimately redeemed itself with one shock of an ending.

Enjoyed it but not sure I’ll seek out others from this author - the YA element was a bit too apparent and took away from the enjoyment.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read and review WIN LOSE KILL DIE.

This is a fairly quick read that keeps you guessing throughout. The author leads little clues throughout that will keep you guessing and working out who the killer is.

Thank you to netgalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for allowing me read this book. This was a good ya thriller.

I loved the idea of the book, but for some reason I just couldn’t really get into the story. The characters didn’t feel real to me and the narrator was supposed to be this really smart girl but for some reason acted and reasoned like any regular teen. To me, the ending felt far fetched and I had a hard time understanding the motives of everyone involved.
However, I would still read more of this author. She seems to be creative and I really want to read her next idea :)

I really enjoyed this YA thriller. The mystery was a roller coaster of twists and turns and I couldn’t get enough of it. This book kept me intrigued from the very first page.

The head girls at a prestigious boarding school start dying in mysterious ways. What is going on behind the scenes at Morton Academy? If you like slasher films, this is the book for you!

Was initially attracted to this book because of the setting and in being a dark academia type read. It also is compulsive and reads very fast! This is the perfect book if you like reading about the cutthroat environment and going-ons of a prestigious school and the students there.

Morton academy is a school for top achievers and everyone of them want to be the head girl. And get all the perks and success that comes with that title. But when the head girls start getting murder thing really change.
If you like secrets societies and private school and murders this is for you. See if you can figure it out

A murderer is targeting head girls from the secret Jewel and Bone society at the elite Morton Academy. Liz watches as all her best friends are savagely taken out around her. Will she solve the mystery before she’s next?

This was just okay for me. It was so far fetched that I just couldn’t really get into it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This story was incredibly choppy — it felt like it was written by multiple different authors. I had high hopes in the first few chapters with the murderer's point of view, but then we lost that POV for almost half the book only for it to come back in the end in the most random way. The whodunnit aspect is a good head-turner, but the way the book is written, the lagging chapters, and the whole chapters that are basically irrelevant made me not want to finish this book at all. As someone who's a fan of Holly Jackson, that call out made me want to read this book, but if you like Holly Jackson, you probably won't like this story as it's not as well-written or developed as a Jackson novel.

This book was a fun quick thriller but it was a little too full for the length so thing were really surface level. I think it's a great read if you want a quick mystery. I wasn't really trying to figure it out before the end, but I think you reasonably could.

I tried to read this but couldn’t get past the writing style. I thought maybe listening might make it better for me but this had the worst choice for narrator – she’s good but not the right voice for this book. I couldn’t get into it. It’s overly dramatic where it doesn’t need to be and the story wasn’t very intriguing. I found my mind wandering way too much for me to give this more than 2 stars. It just wasn’t for me.

3.5/5 ★

Students at an exclusive boarding school keep ending up dead. Liz and her friends must figure out what is going on before they are next.

I really enjoyed the parts where they were investigating and there was suspense. I do think some parts could have been condensed or reworked so that there was less of what felt like filler. I will say the twist at the very end was unexpected! It seems like it will be obvious but then there is a big twist!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good lethal academic thrilller. This one had great pacing, interesting characters and plot development and a storyline that kept me hooked the whole way through. I had been anticipating reading this and I was not let down.

The narrative drive is compelling, so I was intrigued enough to read to the end…but, without getting into spoilers, the ending itself is rushed and doesn’t have enough context to make sense. While I admire the amount of red herrings Cynthia Murphy is able to integrate, I don’t think any of the events of the book connect the perpetrator to the crime before that abrupt ending.

Win Lose K*lll Die dives into the dark academia subgenre with cults, secret societies, a questionable headmistress, a creepy groundskeeper, and Morton Academy's sinister past for a fun YA thriller.

Morton Academy’s student body is ruled by Head Girl and Head Boy. But since Head Girl equals dead girl, the body count rises with unlimited suspects. I did guess the villain early on. But a few red herrings, a couple of twists, and the short chapters create a bingeable story that I think fans of Riverdale or Gossip Girl, and Holly Jackson or Karen McManus will enjoy!

Wow this was everything I wanted it to be! This is a firsr from this author and definitely won't be the last

The beginning of the school year starts that only selects students with academic excellence. It is a school that boards all it students. Liz and her best friend are at a memorial assembly. Morgan was the head student who died last summer when a boat capsized. Liz was with her in the boat and received a bad head injury. The head injury caused Liz to spend most of her summer going in and out of the hospital. Morgan’s death was declare an accident. A new head girl is chosen — Jameela. When Jameela gets a note passed to her in class, she screams. What was in the note that made her scream? At Jameela’s party, she has an asthma attack. When she gets her rescue medicine (an inhaler), she seems better but then falls to the floor dead. What caused her to die? Every girl that becomes a head girl dies. Is it murder? Or something else? Will they find out who was killing them?

This dark mystery is told through the eyes of Liz. Occasionally, between chapters, the person who is bdhind the killings tells their perspective besides how they did it. The characters were believable due to the descriptive writing of the author. I could not believe the twists and turns in the plot. It made the book an excellent read for me.

Win Lose Kill Die by Cynthia Murphy
Release Date: November 28th
Thank you to Delacourte Press and Cynthia Murphy for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was drawn to this book because, when I was a teenager, I was obsessed with the movies Cruel Intentions and The Skulls (aging myself, I know) and this book had similar vibes to both of those. I knew I had to read it.

Liz has just returned to Morton, an elite and connected boarding school, after a summer recovering from a serious accident. She’s ready to start the year fresh with her friends and as a member of the secret society, Jewel and Bones. Everything is starting off right, until her classmates start dying one by one. Now, it is up to Liz and her friends to find the killer before they are next.

Oh man, this one was everything I wanted it to be. I was drawn into the mystery quickly and I enjoyed the author’s writing style very much; she gave each of the characters a strong voice and sense of self. I didn’t see the ending coming at all! However, I will note that I didn’t fully see how it was all connected in the end, but that really didn’t bother me too much. I was here for the ride! If you liked the movies I mentioned at the beginning, then you will definitely like this book!

The high school years are a time for learning and building relationships and preparing for the future—for junk food and late-night chats with friends. But at the high school students in Win Lose Kill Die by Cynthia Murphy, it’s a time for tracking down a killer.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery