Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
When We Were Monsters
When We Were Monsters | Jennifer Niven
3 posts | 3 read | 1 to read
A simmering psychological thriller about a dead teacher at an elite boarding school, the students who had every reason to want her gone, and the tangled web of rivalry and romance concealing the truth--from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places. At an elite New England boarding school, eight students are selected for an exclusive storytelling workshop with the one and only Meredith Graffam--an enigmatic writer, director, and actress. For sixteen days, they will live in the isolated estate of the school's founder, surrounded by snowy woods and a storm-tossed seas. Only one of the chosen will walk away with a lifechanging opportunity to realize their creative dreams. Everyone, including Graffam, has a compelling reason to be there--Effy, the orphan, Isaac, the legacy, Ness, the wallflower, Ramon, the outsider, and Arlo, whose unexpected arrival leaves Effy spiraling--but only the most ambitious will last the term. Graffam's unorthodox methods push the students past the breaking point, revealing their darkest secrets, taking unthinkable risks, and slowly starting to turn on one another. But Graffam never expected they would turn on her . . . From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places comes a psychological thriller about the monsters who walk among us--even in the glittering upper echelons of society--and the ways in which we seek redemption for the wrongs we've done. "A standout dark academia thriller." -- E. Lockhart, #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
totefairie
When We Were Monsters | Jennifer Niven
post image
review
OutsmartYourShelf
When We Were Monsters | Jennifer Niven
post image
Pickpick

Every year at Brighton & Hove academy, an elite boarding school in New England, eight students are chosen to take part in a two-week exclusive writers‘ retreat, but only one of them will walk out with a life-changing opportunity. This year's eight students include previous couple, Effy & Arlo , who haven't spoken for 3 years since Arlo ghosted Effy right after they hooked up. The mentor for this year's retreat is Meredith Graffam, (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf controversial writer, director & actor, & as the challenges she sets become more dangerous, the students start to realise that they're not just fighting for the prize on offer.

This is a well-written & entertaining slice of dark academia. The student characters are OK, although we don't get to know any of them really apart from Effy & Arlo (I had to smile when Arlo points out that their couple name would have been 'Arffy')
2w
OutsmartYourShelf & I think a few chapters from a different point of view might have helped ratchet the tension up a bit more. That said, it was a gripping read & I found myself flying through it once it got going. Overall it's an interesting storyline & I think that it will appeal to its target audience - I certainly would have loved it at that age. 4🌟

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Penguin Random House UK Children's, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
2w
DieAReader 💖💖💖 2w
38 likes1 stack add4 comments
blurb
BekaReid
When We Were Monsters | Jennifer Niven
post image

When you score 2 ARCs both inspired by Mary Shelley...