Where Sleeping Girls Lie proves without a doubt that Faridah is one to watch. things I absolutely loved: it had me sucked in from the first page, the chapter headings *chef's kiss*, boarding school setting is perfect for dark mystery shenanigans (even though it was weird reading a book set in the UK with American English spellings, imho, but I was able to get over it, don't you worry), and the perfect amount of psychological thriller to string this reader along. skilled storytelling and tightly plotted, this is going to be a fave. I already have a spot for it on my dark academia display at work.

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé was creepy and unsettling. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé debut, Ace of Spades, was out of this world and her boarding school psychological thriller sophomore novel was just as good, if not even better. She takes the YA genre to a whole new level.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé you will always be famous!! Where Sleeping Girls Lie was the perfect follow up to Ace of Spades. It has everything I want in a book: a boarding school, a mystery, interesting characters, EVERYTHING. I will absolutely be recommending this book when it comes out.

Where do I even start. This story is sooooo good. It sucked me in and wouldn’t let me go. Between the topics covered, the twists, the revelations, and how the author crafted the story…I’m just in awe. Faridah was already an auto buy author after Ace of Spades and this book confirms that decision.

After being home schooled all her life, Sade starts her third year of high school at an elite boarding school. Her roommate Elizabeth gave her a campus tour and the next day, police inform Sade that Elizabeth is missing. Sade takes it upon herself to try to figure out what happened to her roommate. Her investigation unearths a major secret that has been haunting Alfred Noble Academy; a secret so dark…it has led to loss of life. How far are those involved willing to go in order to maintain their dirty secret?

The way this story played out was not at all what I was expecting. This story brings so many heavy topics front and center. Checking the trigger warnings before reading is an absolute must.

Early in the story, I had so many unanswered questions. Be patient though. Faridah will come full circle with the points that aren’t fully explained early on. She does a great job exposing just enough pieces to the puzzle as the story goes along to progress the mystery, but you’re still left without complete certainty of the full picture until the end. Some parts in the middle were a little slow for me, but overall. I enjoyed this story very much!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced eARC.

Sade is a recent orphan, her unfeeling, rich father just having passed. Now she's being sent off to Alfred Nobel Academy, an elite boarding school. Not only is she haunted by her past, but she's also immediately wrapped into the dark secrets of the school when her roommate goes missing on her first night.

I picked this book up because I read and ADORED the author's debut - Ace of Spades. It's really hard not to compare the two titles, not only because it's the same author, but because the plot structures/what it's about are so similar. Unfortunately, I didn't think this one pulled off that structure as well as AoS. The first half of this book felt like it was from a debut author - there were lots of cliches (that I don't feel like were all addressed/subverted), the characters didn't feel developed, the main character felt pretty naive when interacting with people who were obviously bad, and it didn't feel like a lot was going on. Then, the second half improved significantly from that point. The plot did pick up, and the pacing became better. The subject of the commentary was good and I thought it was covered alright, but I felt like it could've gone so much further, given what I've seen from this author and from stories like this. There were a few things that did surprise me, but a lot of the "who's bad" was apparent from the very first pages, which made me frustrated with the protagonists. The main thing that took away my enjoyment is that I didn't feel connected to the main character at all - I would die for the AoS main characters, but I think the author went so far into the unreliable narrator, don't-tell-the-audience-what-my-deal-is bit that I never actually felt like she was real. Sade was like a blank sheet for the reader to experience the story rather than an actual character. What resulted was a middle of the road book for me - it didn't keep me guessing with a mystery, it didn't keep me in suspense as a thriller, it didn't grab me with the characters as a literary fiction, but it didn't do anything really wrong.

Overall, this may be a book that young adult readers get something out of, especially if they've not read something like this before, but I don't think that it has the originality to cross reading boundaries like Ace of Spades did.

Where Sleeping Girls Lie reads like the first season of a Freeform tv show and I won’t be surprised when it becomes one lol.

As a YA mystery it was a little too slow for me with a lot of info-dumping at the end and I thought it was predictable. As a feminist novel though, I thought it was great and important and I hope it finds a wide audience.

Wow, I cannot believe FAI did it but I loved this even more than Ace of Spades. I also found out she is so young?! *cue existential crisis*

No, I’m kidding. We have another dark academia thriller / horror novel that delivers equal parts creepiness and suspense! Readers will not be disappointed.

A thriller with actual depth of character

The book sinks you into the boarding school experience. What feels like moments of student life become parts of a whole. There are no cheats, just a slow layering of character and mystery to a satisfying (as much as these things can be) conclusion.

Take the CN seriously. The closer this book skews to real life, the more upsetting it is. I remembered about 3/4 of the way in what the author had said about the book's real-life origins and thought "Oh nooo, should've left myself a note to skip it," but I pushed through and finished it because it's a great book.

TW: rape, sexual assault, suicide, grief, death of family members, murder, drowning, and more.

first of all, big ty to Faridah and the team for including TWs at the beginning of the book!

i went into this pretty blind and i think not having expectations helped my enjoyment. this is much more of a slow burn mystery than a full fledged "on the edge of your seat" thriller, but i still flew through it in 2 days. almost came back from my lunch break late because i didn't want to put it down!

my favorite aspect of this book is by far, the characters. Sade and the main cast of supporting characters are all fairly well rounded characters and they won't be easy to forget.

i feel like it's hard to talk about anymore without spoilers lol so i'll just leave it here and say i thoroughly enjoyed this and would highly recommend <3

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan for the advance Kindle copy of this book. It’s out 3.19.24! All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Boarding school and murder? Count me in. When her father dies, leaving her an orphan, Sade enrolls at Alfred Nobel Academy. A day in, her roommate disappears. Then, Sade’s past trauma starts creeping in. Weird things start happening. Safe is determined to get to the bottom of it, without letting on about her own past. This one keeps the reader guessing, and I highly recommend it for high school readers.

I really liked the character development in this one. The pace was a bit slow for some of my high school students (I am a teacher) but I would recommend to readers who are looking for this mood.

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

This book broke me out of a reading slump and for that, I am eternally grateful. It had most of the elements I love in a book: a mystery that I felt compelled to try to solve, a spooky atmosphere, a takedown of misogyny, a slow-burn romance, social commentary, and fun, fully realized characters. I also liked that in the end things weren't perfectly wrapped up with a bow, because that situation in real life wouldn't have been perfectly wrapped up, either, and that made the whole thing feel much more grounded and real. After this and Ace of Spades, consider me SEATED for this author's next book.

Bewarned. This isn't a fast paced thriller. This is a slow burn examination and heart rending story of an very scary real life experience that many people (mostly women) go through. It's a sad and heartbreaking story so I'd advise those looking for a more mainstream thriller to turn away.

That being said, I loved this story and the flawed yet still perfect in every way characters who I will now dedicate some time to.

First we have our MC Sade (not sadie) who is the "new girl" in school and not even two days pass before her roommate goes #missing so of course it's all her fault right? Sade is such a strong MC and person. Just the fact that she thinks she's bad luck because so many people around her die makes me wanna give her a hug but she'd probably not like that.

Oh Elizabeth who we get to know but yet 2 days however the ripped up tights and her being the only one who cared enough to water the plants in the nursery say so much about her personality.

Baz Dos Santos is every introverts worst nightmare. He's such a big bubble of personality and the way he just exuberates pep and sunshine is the cutest thing ever. He's also such a good friend and such a bad guinea pig parent.

There are so many other characters that are fantastic and not so fantastic but most of them are supporting characters and some deserve to not be talked about or named. But one other I wanna touch on is April. One word to really encompass April truly is Queen. I cannot imagine what is going on in that head of hers but I also have much respect for her.

There is a mystery throughout the book and while I understand why some other reviews say that it gets slow in middle I also feel like the story had just enough crumbs thrown in to keep me eating and I flew through it!

It is a longer book but it's so important and needed especially for the younger readers who might be thinking there is no one out there to listen to them.

Also, that endpiece with that one character who we were all supposed to be hating was just so beautiful because it really puts the outward appearance of someone into perspective. Like, not every person is gonna be bad just because they "fit the description"

Thank you so much to the author for the beautiful words and captivating story. And thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy, all words in this review are my own.

*Note this was more of a 4.5 star rating, due to some pacing issues, where it felt like some details weren't really necessary and dragged in some spots*

This book was a wild ride. I knew it would be twisty and turny because I loved "Ace of Spades" but this one was intense in a different way. I don't think I'll stop thinking about this one for awhile. SPOILER AHEAD: Honestly the biggest shock to me as a character was August. I was honestly rooting for him to be trying to bring down the Fishermen from the inside, but he ending up being almost worst than Jude in that he was complicit in the whole situation.

I really enjoyed the concept behind Where Sleeping Girls Lie, but I think the execution fell short for me. I think the pacing was just a little too slow for my liking, and I think the end felt a little too rushed.

Heartbreaking, in the best kind of way. Facing hard topics head on, while remaining respectful and letting good women get their vengeance. Gorgeous dark academia setting, with so much good dialogue and story. Absolutely a new favorite.

“Sade Hussein was used to being lied to.”
Here are reasons to read the YA Mystery book:

Boarding School - Sade was on her way to a boarding school, complete with buildings named after famous scientists
Orphan - after being recently Orphaned, she is not sure she will fit in here especially since she is a month late into the year
Mean Girls - and the beginning of this books starts out like Mean Girls, complete with a duo of friends who explains all the different social groups to Sade in the cafeteria at lunch
Roommate - but this story takes a turn when Sade’s roommate Elizabeth goes missing right after her arrival

After reading Ace of Spades by this author, I was very excited to see what new twisty goodness this book would have. First, check the triggers as the subject matter of this book is very sensitive, but I won’t discuss that because it could give the plot away. My issue with this book, as much as I devoured it, was that the main character is not observant and not a detective. She is put in this role but most of the time doesn’t ask the questions you would have in these situations. And since the book is over 400 pages, I really wanted it to move faster than it did, and for Sade to make smarter choices. Still, I did enjoy it.

I loved Ace of Spades and was excited to get to read Àbíke-Íyímídé’s latest. I think I expected more suspense, and that may have had to do with the pacing of the book, which moves quite slowly. This allows the reader time to get to know the Sade and her classmates much more thoroughly and really get invested in figuring out the answers to all the secrets that are being kept and who’s behind it all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this advance copy!

I loved Ace of Spades so I was of course very excited for this and it did not disappoint.

What starts as a delicious dark academia twist on Mean Girls (complete with an expertly crafted lunch room scene), spirals even darker as the first weeks at a new boarding school unravel for our main character Sade. She's only just arrived when her new roommate goes missing, the 'Unholy Trinity' takes her under their wing, and mysterious packages keep arriving in her dorm room.

As Faridah says on the first page, "this book is about survival.' Sade is my new favorite less-than-reliable narrator and the slow reveal of what's going on behind the scenes was beautifully done in a way that made my skin crawl with disgust and rage.

There is a simple yet lovely sapphic romantic subplot that is a very slow burn but felt throughout the book.

This was a very tough read emotionally! I was prepared but it was still hard. Take care of yourselves and read the content warnings (online or on the copyright page).

Thanks to Macmillan and Feiwel & Friends for the e-arc.

This was such a powerful coming of age story mixed with a mystery. Faridah wrote a great "letter" at the beginning of the book talking about how she wanted to blend contemporary fiction, coming of age and mystery/suspense in one story, and Where Sleeping Girls Lie totally hits all of those points.

Sade begins attending Alfred Nobel Academy, and shortly after arriving there, her roommate goes missing. This confirms her belief that everyone around her gets hurt, and as she tries to figure out what happened to her roommate, she is pulled toward other students at the school, including the Unholy Trinity, and almost Mean Girls style girl group with peak popularity at ANA. As her relationships deepen, the secrets behind her roommate's disappearance emerge, and Sade questions the beliefs about herself that she's created.

It's important to not expect thriller pacing with this book, but if you enjoy settling in with carefully curated characters, the coming of age journey that comes with being in high school, an insidious mystery and sapphic characters, you will absolutely adore Where Sleeping Girls Lie.