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!

I was super excited to get a chance to read this early as everything about it seemed to hit my niche, but unfortunately it didn’t land for me as well as I wanted it to.

I love the frame of the story. I’m never going to turn down a spooky old boarding school, and when you throw in a secret society and a healthy dose of gay? I’m in. The Skulls is one of my favorite guilty pleasure early 2000s movies and this seemed to be along those lines.

Ultimately though, some of the pieces of the book just didn’t come together for me. I wasn’t a fan of some of the characters or the dialogue, and was mostly let down by the ending.

I did really enjoy the main character though, and the cover is swoon worthy. The atmosphere of the book is amazing, along with the world building.

A lot of the things I didn’t enough just come down to my preference though, and there is a good story in the book so my suggestion is to read it for yourself and see if you enjoy it.

A lot of people do seem to love it from their early reviews, which I’m so happy about!

I remember joining a live quite a few years back when Derek Milman was talking about a new book idea about a secret society at a school.

As soon as I saw Derek’s post saying that A Darker Mischief was on NetGalley, I immediately scooped it up. I will read anything he writes!

I haven’t read too many books like this and wow, this one really took you on a ride. I always forgot how old these characters were because of Society. There was crime, lavish parties, meetings, sleepless nights and secrets.

I really enjoyed this read. Every time I had a minute to read, I’d pick it up. Half the time I couldn’t trust anyone except for Cal. Still unsure how trustworthy everyone is though.

How far would you go to get a chance at joining Society? Out July 2, 2024!

A perfect read. This book has a classic feel in the very best way. It reminds me of some of my favorite books, including The Secret History, but it also is completely original in its plotting and deep characterizations. Without giving too much away, I'll just say that A Darker Mischief will make you flip pages late into the night, wondering so many things about what might happen to Cal Ware, the lovable but damaged main character. There's a secret society that at first seems to be all fun and games, and that it might hold the solution to Cal's problems adjusting to a new school. There's Luke Kim, a golden boy who Cal finds himself falling for, and there's danger at every turn. Once you allow yourself to go on this journey, you'll find yourself walking a dark, twisted path that leads you through conspiracy, romance, and tragedy.

DNF at 22% (after skim reading 10% or so). I liked the prologue …

Ughhh! I hate myself! Throwing the towel in the ring again (I’m sorry authors, I don’t know what’s the matter with me lately). Love the cover and the blurb, but like the execution way less …

Another DNF for one of my most anticipated reads. There are hardly any dialogues and I found the story childish, the bullying (a bin with water when Cal entered his room), and solving the puzzles and the clues (I didn’t even understand how Cal found the solutions time and again). But let’s face it, this is my third DNF this year of a story I thought I’d love. So it’s probably me. I’m the problem. It’s me. Therefore, please check out other reviews!