Reflecting on "A Darker Mischief," I find myself teetering on the fence much like the protagonist, Cal. While the writing and world-building merit praise, the story failed to resonate with me personally.

The narrative delves into Cal's internal struggles as he navigates Essex, grappling with love, familial concerns, and the ever-present pressure to conform. The weight of secrecy and obedience hangs heavy, leading Cal to make choices that conflict with his desires and morals.

Although the storytelling unfolds at a steady pace, the ending felt somewhat abrupt, leaving loose ends untied. While Cal maintains a strong narrative voice, his occasional bouts of whininess detracted from my immersion in the story.

"A Darker Mischief" firmly establishes itself within the realm of dark academia, reminiscent of beloved classics like "Curious Tides" and "My Dearest Darkest." The atmospheric setting, complete with a clandestine society and eerie occurrences, captivates from the outset. Cal's journey, intertwined with enigmatic figures like Luke, offers a rollercoaster of emotions and revelations.

However, the narrative falters at times, with certain elements feeling implausible and disrupting the flow of the story. Additionally, readers should approach with caution, as the book explores themes of trauma with unflinching realism.

In conclusion, "A Darker Mischief" presents a compelling exploration of adolescence, blending fantasy, first love, and mystery. While it may not appeal to every reader, its strengths in storytelling and world-building make it a worthwhile read for fans of the genre.

When this title says "Darker", pay attention. This is definitely dark academia. It reminds me a lot of Curious Tides and My Dearest Darkest (with a generous nod to Phantom).

And not in a way I dislike! They share several tropes of the genre. A boarding school with dark history. A secret society that *might* be the good guys. Mysterious appearances, apparitions, and ghastly ghoulies. Is there a hero?!

The opening salvo hit me with a secret mysterious library in a tower and fog/smoke imagery. How could I not get dragged into this?

"When we choose to go is key."

I grew to love Cal. Luke, though? Y'all, this book is a lot. You cannot be prepared for where it's going to take you.

"What're you haunted by?" Luke asks.

Please be aware of content warnings. Trauma abounds.

This book was incredible. I was hooked from the first page. It was well written in that you felt like you were inside their heads and could feel their emotions and struggles. The secret society aspect was SO FUN AND INTERESTING! I loved everything about it! The setting was absolutely immersive and stunning. The ending!!! Go read this book! It deserves more than 5 stars!

I think this book was good. I requested it because it sounded interesting, and it was. The cast of characters was interesting and all so different from one another. I love the setting and environment this book created it really helped to create well rounded and dynamic characters

Perfect for fans of LGBT+ inclusive dark academia! 'A Darker Mischief' has an intriguing premise and lots of twists and turns to keep readers on their toes.

This book is about a kid who goes to a boarding school and learns about a secret society dedicated to the school's history. Nothing out of the ordinary, until he gets roped into a plot to kidnap the daughter of the VP.

This book was so good and built so many layers of lore. I truly enjoyed every twist and turn that Cal and Luke took me on. 10/10 would read again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my review!

Expected publication: July 2, 2024

At its core, A Darker Mischief is about a young, gay kid from the deep south trying to fit in. An incident has occurred in his past that led his parents to send him to an elite boarding school in Connecticut. Here, he meets Luke Kim, and together they join the school's secret society, which has a lot more to it than meets the eye.

The cover of this book immediately drew me in. Queer characters? Check. Asian supporting character? Check. I am new-ish to the dark academia genre, and was at first caught off-guard by how unrealistic and dark some of the story elements were. But I also noticed I couldn't seem to put the book down. MC was very relatable, and the way the elements of his past meshed with his present worked really well for me.

I wanted to love Luke, but I freaking hated that guy (which I think was the point?). He was elitist, entitled, privileged, and a bit narcissistic. He took advantage of MC, who was one of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people at the entire school. Feels bad. I really wanted to know more about MC's parents, I know we got a bit at the end there, but I felt like even though they didn't interact too much in the story, their relationship with their son was still a huge part of the overall story.

I liked how there was a vibe of taking down the capitalists and the extremely wealthy, and that in the end, justice was served to those that deserved it (iykyk). Queer dark academia reigns supreme.

a thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read the eARC.

although i enjoyed this read and wished i liked it more, there was a lot regarding the story that bothered me.

the dialogue and the relationships were so awkward at the beginning and i often wasn’t sure who was speaking. it did get better as the book progressed, but there was still that awkwardness from time to time.

the transitions between scenes were done poorly in my opinion. it often jumped from one scene to another then to another very quickly to the point where i was wondering when the scene even changed and when i went back, it had changed three times.

there were many instances of info dumps which i’m not a fan of especially when it’s going to be significant within the next few sentences.

the ending was definitely something. i wish i liked this book more. the premise was so intriguing to me, but it didn’t land the way i wish it did.

This book was AMAZING. It was such a page turner, I could not put it down! The plot twist was crazy, it really threw me off. I loved seeing how the main character was able to stand up for what he believed in, and how he was able to help Gretchen. I also really liked the story, a secret society at a boarding school is such an interesting idea!

DNF at 22%
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!
At first, the premise of the book seemed great. The author does a great job at capturing teen emotions at a new school (really, just spot on)! However, the book didn't really draw me in as much as I thought it would, and many situations seemed just too implausible, such as when Cal figured out the riddle almost instantly.

This has an interesting premise and I'm sure it will be popular since it is queer dark academia, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. I struggled to care about any of the characters since they were all so unlikable, I thought the twist of who Cal was talking to wasn't very interesting or surprising since that twist is overdone these days, and I felt that the climax of the story was rushed. I also really don't care for books ending with a "here's what happened to everyone in the future!" chapter, and this has a very lengthy one with almost every character accounted for. I just don't feel that, especially in YA, we need to know what the characters get up to as adults - it doesn't add anything to the story, and feels indulgent on the author's part.

I requested and received an eARC of A Dark Mischief by Derek Mimann via NetGalley. I like a good dark academia story, especially with a queer twist, so I definitely wanted to give this a try. The story is centered around Cal(ixte) Ware, a teenager from Mississippi who is awarded a scholarship to an elite boarding school somewhere in New England. He struggles to make friends and feels like an outsider among the wealthy, well-bred students of Essex Academy. Things begin to turn around, however, once Cal becomes aware of the underground Society of Seven Eyes and the edgy soft jock, Luke Kim. As he becomes more deeply involved with the society, little trickles of his past begin to emerge and it is clear there is more going on than meets the eye.

I wasn’t totally sold at first. Look, I’m not saying this kid needed to have the full Carrie-experience, but I think the sort of bullying in the beginning of the novel was a bit underwhelming. A firmer establishment between Cal and the kinds who were mocking him on Instagram may have delivered a bit more impact. The author does an excellent job, however, of capturing the reader’s attention from the first page with an eerie and tense opening. While my interest admittedly dissipated to some degree during the first half of the novel after the very promising start, it was definitely revived in the second half when Cal’s paranoia began to infect me.

Cal is a super conflicting character! His actions in the first half of the novel made me nervous, so I was fully prepared to dislike him throughout, but as more of his background made its way to the page I developed a much stronger sympathy for the character. Big props for an imaginative background for Cal. There were twists that I didn’t seem coming and it definitely made this story an enjoyable read.

First of all, thank you to Scholastic for an EARC of this book. This is one that I would love to add to my bookshelf. The cover is perfection. Literal perfection.

I listened to this with a dark academia playlist on Spotify that made this even better.

Dark academia is my vibe, add queer and I am all in. It is a YA book which I think dulls some of the darkness to it, though it’s still plenty dark.

It starts with a prologue that takes place in the future and draws you in with some intrigue. Throughout the book I was trying to piece together how we ended up at the prologue and where we would possibly go from there.

The world-building was well done, especially the way this secret society is integrated into the real world. The buildings and history within this novel were truly intriguing. I would have loved a map of the school.

Throughout the story, you’re left questioning who should be trusted, even questioning if you should be trusting the narrator himself. I think this added to the overall feeling of darkness in the novel.

I will say that the biggest downfall for me was the dialogue. Some of it was hard to follow, and at other times it was completely unbelievable, especially with the amount of all caps that was happening.

Another downfall was the fact that things seemed to simply be happening to the main character, rather than him taking action. I think this made the pacing a bit jumpy sometimes as his primary motivation was to be included, to belong (which at 16, who didn’t have this feeling), which left him being very passive. Also, everything seemed sort of easy for him. I expected much more tension and hoops to jump through while rushing the society. I think higher stakes could have easily remedied this problem, especially because by the time we get the high stakes it’s so late in the book.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this book, and it was a quick a read.

That was... a whirlwind. A dark, messy, winding twisting path of lies, deceit, but ultimately a tale of survival; of doing what it takes to protect those you love, and realizing that not all those who love you are actually telling the truth. Maybe they're protecting themselves, too. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the way it was written. It was gritty but witty, made me snort in some places at how cheesy Luke was, and ball my hands into fists at Pinky's entire character. I wept happily for Gretchen, and was shocked at Luke. This book took me for a joyride, but also shocked me straight to my core and kept me on the edge of my seat at every page turn. Once I picked it up, I could not put it down.

A twisty story that definitely delivered on the premise of a YA The Secret History x The Honeys. I was captivated and love each and every new twist.

The premise of this appealed to me immediately, but unfortunately I didn’t end up liking it. A lot of the plot felt super contrived, like even super early on, how did Cal just magically figure out the riddles on the website?? So many things just happened so ~easily and I didn’t find them believable. Idk if it’s on purpose or not, but I found the main character pretty unlikable and just…annoying. Luke too. And the writing style, especially using all caps unironically so many times? Not a fan. Also not a fan of the epilogue. It felt very pat and I kind of laughed incredulously at what happened to [redacted].

I don’t actually think I’ve read very many ~dark academia books before though, so the genre might just not be for me. People being so desperate to fit in and belong to something that they’ll do anything to achieve their goals is just something I’ll fundamentally never understand or relate to lol. I did love the absolutely gorgeous cover though, and the sort of world-building aspects of it were interesting to me, as well as the fact that the main character is gay and he gets a romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is an intricate book, with romantic and gritty elements that made it fascinating; it's about many things: ways of seeing, power, influence, morality. It is smartly written and written for smart people.

I was enthralled by Cal and his many mysterious revelations regarding Essex and the Secret Society he rushed. One of the few books I could not put down.

I was bored a lot of the time and the main character felt very passive. It felt like most things were happening to him not because of him. He walked through difficulties with little to no friction. There were so many things that were just too convenient it removed any interest from what was happening.
The first part of the book was just a series of macguffins to which the only consequence was that he was assigned another macguffin.
I really did not appreciate that in the year of our lord 2024 he used the flamboyant gay stereotype to other himself from the other gay guys at the school. It’s literally 2024 also no gay person in 2024 cares about Shawn Mendes.
By the time I got to part two with the secret society I simply did not care what they were about. They could have just been a silly little club or they could have sold their literal souls to the devil, there was no hint at what the stakes were or what they did for a full 40% of the book.

My favorite part was at 37% with the keys and the tongs that was fun. I would have liked more of that, things that actually built stakes and tension.

Unfortunately, “A Darker Mischief” has been a DNF for me. I think I have just grown out of YA. I wanted so badly to love this book. However, this book was just not meant for me. My biggest issue was with the dialogue. A lot of it did feel too juvenile for me. The constant pop culture references took me out of the immersion. I want to reiterate, my issues are with aspects of the story that would not be an issue for the intended audience of this story. I try my hardest to never DNF, especially an ARC, but I knew after all that I read, that my position would likely not change.

In the future, I will keep this experience in mind for future ARC requesting!

Thank you so much for the ARC Scholastic!