Elite boarding school, secret society & a murder? Yes please!

The plot was great and the characters were well written. The twists and turns in this book were so good. This book was so much more fun than I expected. It's not scary, but it got intense at times. I can see this book being a perfect book for the YA demographic. A strong thriller for this age group. It was an enjoyable read all around.

This book was an awesome murder mystery that takes place at a boarding school. The plot was great and the characters were well written. The twists and turns in this book were so good.

This book was soo much more fun than I expected. It's not scary, so don't read this if that's what you're looking for - it's set in a school, which is like a star already from me. I didn't love the FMC, but the plotline and twists made up for it.

Elite boarding school, secret society & a murder? Yes please!

I had no clue who the murderer was for the first half of the book, I think it became more obvious in the latter half due to the intentional framing of certain dialogue and actions. When the reveal happened at the end, I found it a little harder to be surprised.

I can see this book being a perfect book for the YA demographic. A strong thriller for this age group. It was an enjoyable read all around.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this book prior to publication in exchange for an honest review.

This Book Kills
Ravena Guron

Jess Choudhry knows she is lucky to be at Heybuckle, an impossibly posh and prestigious British boarding school. Jess isn't posh. She is a scholarship kid whose mom has sacrificed everything to get her there. It's little wonder that Jess feels she doesn't fit in. Luckily, the pressure of keeping her scholarship means she doesn't have a lot of time to worry about her social status. When the most popular boy in the school is murdered and Jess is implicated, more than her scholarship is at stake. Jess has to navigate the shady underworld of the powerful elite to solve the murder before she is next.

This Book Kills is the rare mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. I began the book with somewhat low expectations. It seemed a little cliche with the sad outsider protagonist and for some reason the names annoyed me. I puttered through the first few chapters slowly. It took almost a month before I resolved to give it a real chance. I finally made it to the murder after what felt like a slow start and the book transformed into a labyrinthine page-turner full of secret societies, corruption, and cover-ups. Beyond being a thoroughly entertaining murder mystery, This Book Kills also had a surprisingly insightful take on the ways money can be used to control and coerce the world around us.

An academic setting nearly always means I’m going to want to read it. This is especially true if it takes place in a boarding school. I couldn’t even tell you why. I have never been disappointed by a book in this genre and this one is no different. I enjoyed the writing style and the pacing. The reveals were well spaced out and perfectly executed (good timing too).
Jess has always had trouble making friends and has one good friend at the beginning of the story. When the murder happens and she somehow ends up at the centre of it, she becomes friends with more people as she tries to unravel the mystery. These side scharacters bring a lot to the story without taking over. Each of them added to the plot perfectly, from a closer relationship to classmate, roommate and potential love interest. The main character, Jess, is relatable.
This is a well executed YA thriller. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys books with a good mystery in an academic setting where everyone is a suspect and several red herrings throughout. As for the younger reader, I would say mid to upper YA due to some of the more violent content.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the digital arc. The opinions expressed are honest and my own.

This book was everything that I look for in a YA Thriller. It was so much fun and I absolutely ate it up. I really enjoyed the writing style and how the story was told through Jess’s perspective. I really enjoyed how the supporting characters all added to the story in a useful way and didn’t feel like they bogged things down. They added value. Jess was very well rounded and easy to relate to. The concept of the book was lots of fun. I thought it was unique and well thought out and exceptionally done. The writing was easy to follow and completely bingeable. I ended up reading this book over the course of an afternoon, and it was so engaging that I didn’t want to put it down. So the pacing was perfect.


I think that this book is great for mid to older YA readers. It isn’t too graphic, but it does deal with some mature themes and might be disturbing for say a young YA or middle grade reader. I would recommend it for those who enjoyed a GGGTM and I will be sending it to my niece who loved that series.

This book gave me A good girls' guide to murder vibes. It was darker and I loved every minute of it. It was jam-packed with twists and turns. it was the perfect murder mystery. I loved everything about this book. I love the author's writing style. Il be checking out more from here for sure.

This is a YA mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end. The story centers around Jess, a minority student who gets accepted into an elite boarding school on a scholarship. Despite her efforts to fit in, Jess struggles to find her place among the privileged and popular students. But things take a dark turn when people start dying, and cryptic notes and clues begin to surface, hinting at a sinister underground society tied to the school. To Jess’s shock, she finds herself at the center of this deadly game, whether she likes it or not. With time running out, she has to piece together the clues before she becomes the next victim.

This book was an enjoyable read, although I felt like a more fitting title might have been *Red Herring*. The plot essentially revolves around taking turns accusing different suspects, with each new piece of evidence pointing the finger at them, only to be dismissed and shift suspicion onto another character. This cycle continues for most of the book, keeping you on your toes until the real culprit is revealed.

I will say that I never saw the twist coming—it was definitely imaginative and creative, giving me major *Pretty Little Liars* vibes. If you’re someone who loves peeling apart layers of a mystery and diving into an intricate investigation, this book will be right up your alley. It’s a well-crafted mystery with a diverse cast of characters and enough twists and turns to keep even seasoned YA mystery readers engaged. Despite the repetitive nature of the suspect-swapping, the story delivers a satisfying and unexpected conclusion that makes the journey worth it.

This was a lot of who done it and trying to sort through characters with great twists that keep you going and wanting to figure it out. I feel like the reader will be surprised for sure.

This book seems like it borrowed the plot of other YA books and tried to freshen the details but it still winds up being the same story. And I cannot get past a prestigious school in the English countryside being called Heybuckle. It sounds like a country band with banjos.

This is a typical teen murder mystery with plenty of suspects. The golden boy of Heybuckle is murdered, with the plot being stolen from the main character's short story she turns in, then she gets an anonymous text from the killer thanking her for the inspiration. Said protagonist then proceeds to spend at least half the book thinking she can be arrested based on this flimsy evidence alone. The whole thing struck me as extremely far-fetched. The fact that the author is a lawyer (which I learned AFTER finishing the book) makes it all the more screwy.

There are no likeable characters in this book. All the rich kids seem to be versions of version of Draco Malfoy and the secret society nonsense was similar to the DeathEaters.

This book was a dud for me, I'm only giving it three stars because I wanted to know who the killer was.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

3.5/5 ⭐️
When a boy at her school gets murdered, Jess is creeped out to find the method was taken from a short story she wrote. She is even more creeped out when she gets an anonymous text thanking her for the inspiration. As tensions rise, she investigates to clear her name.

Overall, I liked this one. As far as YA mysteries go, I do think it was a little slower. It’s not even that things weren’t happening- the writing just felt slow. I also definitely saw the whodunit coming although maybe not the motive. Still a good read, but not something I’d rush to recommend someone read right away.

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

Ravena Guron’s This Book Kills is a gripping and clever mystery that keeps readers on edge from start to finish. Jess Choudhary, a scholarship student at an elite school, just wants to stay under the radar. But when one of the school's wealthiest and most popular students is murdered in the same way as a character from a story Jess wrote, she suddenly becomes the center of unwanted attention. Guron weaves a thrilling narrative as Jess races against time to clear her name and solve the mystery before she becomes the next target.

With sharp twists and a smart, relatable protagonist, Guron delivers a suspenseful tale filled with tension and intrigue. The social dynamics of a prestigious school, combined with the threat hanging over Jess’s head, make for an engaging and fast-paced read. This Book Kills is a well-crafted mystery that keeps readers guessing until the very end, blending humor, danger, and the pressure of high school life in a thoroughly satisfying way.

Absolutely loved this book! The drama, the lies, the suspense, the MYSTERY! Yes! This was everything I needed and then some!

I loved EVERYTHING about this book and I'm not even exaggerating because this book was really good. It kept me guessing till the end. I would really recommend this to anyone who loves reading a good murder mystery in an academic setting.

I think that if you're a YA reader that's on the younger side, this would appeal to you. The writing and characters come off pretty juvenile which made this sort of feel like an R.L Stine middle grade story. That isn't a crime or anything, but from the synopsis and the marketing, it was just...disappointing to read. There was a lot going on in this book, too, so I feel like everything got too little screen time/explanation because we were just trying to fit so much in. Overall, not horrible but done a bit of disservice by the marketing and description of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourebooks Fire for the eARC.

This YA novel was just that, young. I struggled to fully involve myself in the plot and found the characters too juvenile to related to. Granted I am not YA, but just found this one to be geared younger than I anticipated.

Fans of YA thrillers geared towards a younger audience will enjoy this book. It didn't entirely fulfill all my personal wants and needs in a YA thriller.

It felt a little too juvenile for my liking and more like an R.L. Stine book that should have been shorter. It was a little on the too long side, yet failed to give us details about the things we really needed. I also felt it had a few too many side plot lines that were thrown in as red herrings, but really didn't go anywhere.

Despite it's length, it was a pretty quick read,

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. These opinions are completely my own.

I would not pick for myself, but I'm 22 years above the targeted audience. I do however believe YA will eat it up, although the emphasis of the names is a little eccentric. I would recommend for students who enjoyed a thriller mixed with a bit of humour

This book was entertaining but it felt a little too close to A Good Girls Guide To Murder, which I love! I think that's why this book kept my attention through out most of the time. I could also see why some may have an issue with it because it's a little too close to that. I love a good mystery and really couldn't figure it out until the very end, then I had a lightbulb moment.