ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was hooked from the beginning of Killing November. I love YA private school book trope and I wasn't disappointed.

I loved Adriana Mather's other books: How to Hang a Witch and Haunting the Deep, so when I saw she had a new series coming out I had to read it. For some reason I just love young adult books that take place in schools for spys/assassins/etc. This particular school is a lot darker than some of the other series I read. A little more gritty. Our character November is unexpectedly sent to a boarding school because her father says it's not safe at home. Academy Absconditi is secluded and has no internet or phone access. Students are taught things like Poison, Deception and various combat skills. There is so much manipulation and trickery going on in this story. I love it. I cannot wait for the next book.

"From heartfelt conversation to sparring in one beat. I step back with my right leg, put up my fists, and tuck my chin."

So that essentially sums up everything you need to know about this book. November Adley is thrown into a secret school for her safety. Except, since this particular school is less boarding and more assassin training, nothing about it screams safe.

We first meet November as she finds herself transported from her flight to the school. She has no memory of this because apparently when flying to a secret society school you never knew existed, they make sure you continue to not know it exists. Even if you're attending. Welcome to November's life.

This introduction means we spend the first part of the book completely off-balance with November. We know as much as she does, which isn't much. And honestly, it makes for such an intriguing read. A million questions race are presented from the very first pages and the mystery only builds from there. November's told by the head of the school to never, under any circumstances, reveal anything about herself to any of her peers. Her roommate has zero desire to be friends and thinks her questions are all some sort of game or ruse or attempt to play her. In fact, no one seems to be interested in being friends except her roommates brother. And he screams nothing but trouble.

"I've never met anyone with all the awkwardness of a debate club nerd and yet the physical appearance of an attractive pirate."

Layla and Ash––the roommate and the brother––are opposites in every way they are the same. Where Layla is cold and cryptic, Ash is a smoldering pile of mischief. And in a place where everyone is either indifferent or curious in the way predators scent interesting new prey, this adorable exuberance immediately lets us know he's absolutely up to no good. November knows it. We know it. And yet neither of us seems to stop from liking him anyway.

Outside of the twins, the rest of the students are mysterious, unwelcoming, and in a few cases, downright violent. Which makes the teachers sharper, deadlier versions of these teenage killers. It may appear that these classes are simply ways to give dimension to this school, but remember, nothing in this book is what it seems. Memories. Conversations. Clues. Classes. It's all this intertwining mystery, making it delicious to read. Not so delicious for November, who unfortunately, is surrounded by people trained to kill in incredibly creative ways. Oh, and at least one of them is actively trying to kill her.

Takes killer first day to a whole new level.

"I've never seen anyone so delighted by poison before and I really don't know what to make of it. She's like a Tim Burton version of my kindergarten teacher."

Let's talk things I loved. I love how gender stereotypes are flipped on their head, because here, brute strength doesn't count for much. It's about strategy and skill. In fact, I think the girls in this school are far more deadly than a lot of the boys. Speaking of girls who incite violence with flair, Aarya is for sure one of my favorites. She's snarky, always up for causing trouble, and thoroughly enjoys every moment of mayhem she can. Basically, exactly my favorite.

Aarya may be my favorite, but that's not meant to take away from November. She's not your typical YA heroine. Yes, she's thrown into this insane world. But she isn't waiting to be saved. Which is probably good, because no one is going to do that here. She is smart, trained in cryptic ways all throughout her life, and she isn't going down without a fight. She's optimistic and feisty and isn't for one second going to be pushed around by anyone. Including secret society machinations. In other words, she's a cheerful badass.

And because we're thrown into this mystery with incredibly high stakes from the very beginning, Killing November screams binge read. Every time I had to put it down because life, I itched to get back into this world and figure out what was happening. It's fast-paced and complex, where the layers of betrayal and intrigue are matched by the multi-faceted cast of characters.

In other words, there's a lot to love in this book. Betrayal. Lies. Stabby girls and murder boys. Poison. Weapons. Revenge. Secret organizations and power plots and insane action fight scenes while swinging from vines in trees. No one is who they seem to be and yet, delightfully, they're exactly who they are. If these things also make you flail with grabby hands, you'll have a stabby good time reading this book!

I'm a huge fan of books that take place in boarding school, so I knew I had to read this one. Im also a lover of books with a secret killer.. Luckily I was not disappointed, both were done so well. The whole school atmosphere was creepy yet amazing, and all the twists and turns were great.

November was a really great character who played into the whole plot of this book really well. It took me a bit to figure out who was who at the beginning, but I thought each character was pretty dynamic. I liked how their relationships to November were unraveled.

If you are looking for a great mystery and some awesome characters at boarding school, look no further. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat waiting for thee next twist to pop up. I can't wait to continue this series!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. I already have an obsession with private school books but when you add murder, mystery and a possibly love interest... well, count me in! I have read all of this authors books and have adored all of them. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

Killing November by Adriana Mather is a teenage illuminati book that is so suspenseful and quite a mystery. I cannot wait to read book 2!

I was unsure about this at the beginning, but the further I read, the better it got. The mystery and the rules of the school added to the story. The story moved along at a quite nice pace.

What took me so long to read this book after being approved to review it??? This book was SO much fun and nervous moments as well. I don't like to recap books in my reviews because you can read the description yourself. Instead, let me tell you that this book will appeal to anyone who likes books set in boarding schools, who likes mystery and intrigue, who likes books set in our own world but also having their own culture and history to learn about. There is mild romance but I didn't find it to be distracting, instead it emphasized a major point in the main character because November's biggest difference from the students she meets at Academy Absconti is her human connections and because of this it only seems natural that she would acknowledge her feelings. I loved learning about the Strategia alongside November and watching her piece together things she had heard and seen in her childhood along with the new world she was learning about. My biggest proof of how much I enjoyed this read was that I instantly bought the sequel without even reading the description because I NEED to know what happens next. However, if you are hesitant to start a new series I will say that you could read this book and it wraps up in a non-cliff hanger way so no matter which kind of reader you are it is worth your time. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy to review.

Killing November features a super-secret boarding school for the children of super-secret assassins who super-secretly run the world, and so it seems wrong to say this book was boring — but it was. November’s dad sends her to the heavily guarded boarding school (so guarded that they drug you in transit so you don’t know where you’re going) to protect her from some shady happenings at home, but it’s hard to imagine what could be more dangerous than a boarding school full of kids training to take over the world with a killer on the loose.
I mean, there are problems: November is, of course, in the tradition of fish-out-water heroines everywhere, THE BEST at every complicated competition the school throws at her, even though the other kids have been training at these activities for years. Her dad has also chosen to tell her absolutely nothing about the place she’s going, leaving her to figure things out for herself in a way that ends up feeling ridiculous. (Like, if he’s made up his mind to send her there and spent her entire life “training” her for this situation, wouldn’t he give her A LITTLE backstory?) By the time November figures out what the deal with her family and the school is, I’d pretty much stopped caring — which was kind of how it worked with the action sequences, too (and there are a lot of them): By the time all the set-up was finished, I’d kind of forgotten what I was supposed to be paying attention to. It may just be that I have a very high standard for boarding school stories, but this one was a miss for me.

I read this last year (not sure why I got sent it again!) and I really enjoyed it! I love assassin stories and boarding schools, so this was very fun. I can't remember too many details, but I'm excited to read Hunting November!

There are some books that just feel cinematic. When you’re reading them, you see it all playing out in front of you at a theater. The characters on-page delivering snappy dialogue, pulse-pounding stunts, an effortless feeling of sitting back and watching it all unfold. Killing November, and its sequel, Hunting November are two of those cinematic books.

My favorite Young Adult books increasingly have this cinematic quality to them. There’s an ease in how they glide along, lending themselves to clear mental pictures. Hunting November reminds me a lot of two of my other favorite, cinematic YA series: the Embassy Row books by Ally Carter, and The Fixer and Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

Each series depicts this secret world that coexists with ours, where political intrigue reigns and influential families have been pulling the strings to cause, or avert, major historical events. Each focuses on extraordinary teens, with hyper-developed skills, functioning as investigators and crime-fighters. Each series is magnificently plotted, paced, and executed.

Killing November followed the main character, November, as she started classes in a mysterious boarding school for elite, mafia-type families (each family is named after an animal and is known for particular characteristics, think Harry Potter with knives.) While she learns deception, poisons, and knife-fighting skills, she also tries to solve the murder of a fellow student, learn about her family’s past, and keep herself alive in a school full of assassins.

Hunting November picks up right where Killing November left off – November and her friend/love-interest Ash have just survived an attack at their school for children of elite families. November has discovered a dangerous plot involving her father’s disappearance and leaves school with Ash to track him down. The rest of the novel follows November from scavenger-hunt type clue to clue across the globe tracking down her missing father.

I loved being back in this unique, immersive world that Adriana Mather created. There’s a combination of mystery and old family lore gradually revealed throughout the books that makes the atmosphere intriguing without it ever feeling frustrating. I enjoyed every page of the first book. Unfortunately, the sequel felt a little rushed in comparison.

It still had the same gritty, snappy, hilarious dialogue, and the wonderfully-sharp antagonists-turned-allies from the original, but the storyline and character choices felt a little erratic. In particular, November’s relationship with Ash could have been fleshed out more, and I found November’s naïveté to be a little unrealistic after the events of the first book. The behavior of her enemies-turned-allies, and November’s trust of those allies, seemed too convenient.

Also, the ending felt haphazard. It packed together a whole bunch of new details and rationale behind the family intrigue and fell victim to a kind of monologue explanation of ‘here’s how it all happened.’ The end of Hunting November fell victim to ‘telling’ and not ‘showing.’ It didn’t give the reader the information they needed to connect the dots, and it revealed a whole host of information that was new to both the reader and characters. Overall, it just didn’t fit with the tone of the rest of the novels. It was one of the only false notes in an otherwise symphonic series.

Those issues aside, go pick up this series! It’s one of my most-anticipated releases of the year and favorite series – it’s so beautifully unique, wonderfully mysterious, action-packed, fun to read, and I have no doubt that someone will pick it up for a silver-screen adaptation.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher and netgalley. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Killing November

Author: Adriana Mather

Book Series: Killing November Book 1

Rating: 4/5

Publication Date: March 26, 2019

Genre: YA Thriller

Recommended Age: 16+ (secret socities, violence, murder)

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Pages: 368

Amazon Link

Synopsis: It’s a school completely off the grid, hidden by dense forest and surrounded by traps. There’s no electricity, no internet, and an eye-for-an-eye punishment system. Classes include everything from Knife-Throwing and Poisons to the Art of Deception and Historical Analysis. And all of the students are children of the world’s most elite strategists—training to become assassins, counselors, spies, and master impersonators. Into this world walks November Adley, who quickly discovers that friends are few in a school where personal revelations are discouraged and competition is everything. When another student is murdered, all eyes turn to November, who must figure out exactly how she fits into the school’s bizarre strategy games before she is found guilty of the crime…or becomes the killer’s next victim.

Review: I thought this book was really good! The book did well in the world building and the character development. The book is also a fast paced read.

However, I felt like the book didn’t do well showing us what was happening, but rather told us what was going on. The book also felt a bit too out of the realm of realism for my liking.

Verdict: It was good!

This was a super fun book! I really enjoyed the secret school. It felt like going to Hogwarts for an assassin and I LOVED that! I enjoyed the entire storyline! November is a great main character. I like her attitude and personality.
I would recommend this book to readers that enjoy action-based stories with strong female heroines!

I was provided a gifted copy of this book. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

First sentence: My name is November Adley and I was born in August. The way my dad tells it, the Connecticut nights were unusually cool that summer, and the day I arrived our maple burst with color reminiscent of late fall—hence my name. He claims the leaves shone so brightly in the morning sun that it looked like our front lawn was on fire. Dad also says that’s part of the reason I’m obsessed with the woods.

Premise/plot: November Adley finds herself in a new and spooky environment. It turns out her father has sent her to boarding school--but not just any boarding school. This one specializes in secrets, mayhem, and perhaps a little murder. Will November live long enough to discover all the secrets?!

My thoughts: I definitely enjoyed this action-packed YA thriller. November, our heroine, is naive but super-skilled. She teams up with her roommate, Layla, and Ash (Layla's brother). There are many mysteries to solve, but not much time to piece everything together. Every day is packed with dangers and intrigues.

I did enjoy the world-building. I thought that worked nicely. It definitely has a YA feel to it. It's fun.

Mather's idea of a school for the children of assassins, mafiosas and crime lords is a sort of twisted Harry Potter. There's plenty of intrigue, action and murder in this entertaining YA read.

Yes, I know I am well behind with this review. This happens when I fall in love with a cover and book blurb and then work interferes. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I did receive a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and Killing November definitely goes in my, Yes!, category. I already love books that have the boarding school backdrop. Take a student who doesn't want to be there, who knows nothing about why she is really there, or for that matter, who knows nothing about who she really is or who her family really is and the reader gets a great experience.

When I read the title, I wondered if November is killing people or if she is being killed. Finding out is something I will leave to other readers. There are so many things to love about Killing November so I will just list out my favorite things. The bad guys were truly terrible and the reader and even November do not really know who really is a bad guy and who might be a good guy that turns bad and vice versa. The character development is top-notch. Every character stood out and if you were meant to hate them you really do hate them. I have to admit that there were times I just wished that November would develop some sort of supernatural power and wipe the floor with a whole lot of people. Now, I was raised that guys just did not hit girls and if the girl hit them first they should just walk away. Apparently, these guys did not have the same home training. Of course, these girls could hold their own and were just as skilled at wiping the floor with a guy many times their size.

You should have guessed by now that this is not a normal boarding school. It trains students in things nowhere near what we usually learn, like grammar, writing, mathematics, and other scholastic topics. Learning a foreign language is even different at Academy Absconditi. Even the name sounds ominous. November really has some surprises in store and she also will be doing some of the surprising. I cannot wait for Hunting November. This review can also be seen at Lady Techie's Book Musings HTTP://LadyTechiesbookmusings.blogspot.com

This was actually a really intense book. I enjoyed it immensely and can't wait for the sequel. it was well worth the wait.

**For more reviews visit me at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

I actually finished Killing November almost a month ago but had no idea how I could sum up my feelings for this fantastic book into a concise review. Well, after a long time stewing about it, I realize I can't. So instead, I will just write a very short review and get to the point which is almost impossible in my head full of long winded, tangenty words. So anyway, I loved Killing November. It fits into my current academy obsession that seems to be trending in the book world recently, where a girl is sent to a school she never knew about for skills she doesn't understand and is part of a bigger world that nobody ever told her about. Basically, the perfect ingredients for an engaging, moderately unrealistic mystery read that I devoured.

Yes this is the first in a series of who knows how many books, so be aware that the story does not end here. Every minute was jammed with interesting tidbits, be it conspiracy, murder attempts, family secrets, fighting, poisoning, loyalties tested, sneaking around and a touch of romance. I am so on board for finding out more about this world November was just thrust into and I will try to patiently wait for the next book. This story is perfect for others who like the academy style of books, murder mysteries with a ton of conspiracy and spies in training.

As a 40 something year old woman, I can take or leave this book...however I could see the appeal to the YA audience.

Killing November is Gallagher Girls meets The Secret Place: creepy, off the grid boarding school-check. Classes on killing techniques-you bet! A murder-absolutely. The prime suspect: the new girl. Ruthless, fast-paced, and suspenseful, Killing November is a killer series opener.