A boarding school for college where you are separated from your friends, family, tv, and movies. An intense curriculum and stressful classes. A boring story that let me wishing I picked something else up. Skip this one unless you enjoy a gothic book full of teenage rebellion with storylines that don't really go anywhere. Thank you to Harper's Collins and Net galley for my advance copy. All opinions are my own.

This book had me at dark academia. I was so excited to have the opportunity to read it, and while I did enjoy Catherine House, it was a weird reading experience. Weird because I felt very disconnected while reading it.

I love boarding school, gothic-style books, and Catherine House delivered beautifully on that front. The school is dark, neglected, and unsettling, and the students accepted to the school soon find out that Catherine House does not quite live up to the elite lore surrounding it. The instructors are strange, and the rules of the house are even stranger. It read more like a cult to me than a school, and I never quite understood the new materials concentration or how a school got away with performing experiments on students.

Elisabeth Thomas’s writing style is atmospheric and eerie, almost dreamlike. Her descriptions were lush and vivid, I wanted to explore more of the house, its staff, and its history. The opening was fantastic and drew me in, even though I could not relate to any of the characters. For me, Ines was a lackluster main character, she came off as apathetic. I had trouble figuring out her motivation for doing anything. Maybe it would've helped to learn more about her background.

In the end, I was disappointed with the ending, I wanted something more from Ines and Catherine House. Still not entirely sure what was happening in the labs at Catherine. But overall, the writing was wonderful, the setting and atmosphere were perfection, but the characters and ending just fell a little flat for me.

I read a lot and finding a book that is very different from the usual popular novels is not always easy. This one is definitely different and it definitely stood out, mostly in a good way.

Catherine House is a private 3-year college. Students who attend Catherine House enjoy the benefit of free tuition, free room and board, and the promise of graduating as part of a prestigious and successful group of alumni that includes famous authors and Supreme Court Justices. Catherine House is especially known for its secret "plasm" experimentation, something that can somehow repair and heal broken things, even as only a select few actually know what it might be capable of. However, once you enter the gates, unless you flunk out, you do not get to leave at all for the three years. You don't get to have any contact with the outside world -- no phone calls, letters, photographs, memories of home. If you misbehave, you are sent to the Tower for reconditioning. And students don't always return from the Tower.

Ines is one of the students who is accepted into Catherine House, although she's not 100% sure why. By her junior year of high school, she had run away from home after being caught up in some not to savory incidents. She abuses alcohol to a degree where it's sometimes hard to understand how she is still alive through this book. And she is in danger of flunking out -- and having no where to go but, she fears, jail -- after ditching class and studying so much during her first semester. But Ines is desperate to stay at Catherine House, and she's desperate to learn more about plasm and the school's secrets.

I liked the Gothic-elements in this book. The old school., traditions, elements of secrecy. The author is extremely descriptive in pretty much the entire book. While other authors are sometimes not very successful in writing with this kind of descriptive detail without causing the reader to start skimming, this author did it in such a way where it just added to the ambiance of the setting and drew out the characters in a way where I wanted even more. While none of the characters are particularly likable, I don't think you necessarily have to love all the characters of a book to enjoy the book. The characters fit this book, and sweet and sassy characters just wouldn't have worked here.

Without giving much away, my biggest problem was the ending. I was with the author until the last 30 pages of so. There was a lot of build up to that point, but the actual conclusion left me wanting something even bigger to happen and was a bit of a letdown. Even so, I enjoyed the rest of the book so much, it was still worth reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.

3 1/2 stars

This is a dark, ominous Gothic suspense that at times verges on horror. It held no real surprises, other than the premise of an institution of higher learning that students cannot leave for three years. They get no summer vacation, no winter break, no family visits, and they can have no connection with the outside world, no cell phones, no music, no movies, no thinking about their lives before they came to Catherine.. They are completely isolated, never allowed off the premises during those three years.. While I thought it unusual that families would allow their kids to go to such a school, I did understand that the school was highly regarded. Catherine house is a college that offers its supremely vetted students free everything (tuition, board, clothing, wine, food) while they engage in completing their degrees. They can study a variety of subjects, but the plum school is beyond all but a few. Many of the students who attended seemed to be castoffs and fragile beings.

Ines is the focus of the story. While those accepted into Catherine House are supposed to be very smart and accomplished, Ines never struck me as either of those. She was one of the damaged students, on her own with nowhere else to go. I could never quite understand her. It might have helped if the book clarified what, exactly, had happened to Ines before she arrived at Catherine House. The event is hinted at several times, but we never find out the specifics, and I think it would have been helpful. Also, we never learn about her family, or what happened to them.

The book is well written, but at a languid pace that didn’t seem to suit what was happening in the story. Honestly, the three years Ines spent at the school seemed like ten to me. I know kids on campuses drink and party, but at Catherine, that aspect seemed over the top. While it was an okay read, I likely won’t recommend it to my friends.

I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from Netgalley. I thank them, the publisher, and the author for sharing the book with me. All opinions in this review express my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

A dark, quirky story. The writing is compelling, and while most if not all of the characters could be considered unlikable I'm still glad I read this. Thank you, Netgalley, for this arc.

A real split-decision kind of book. On the one hand, the college-life stuff is absolutely fantastic. I loved the idea of Catherine House, and adored the ways Thomas depicts student life in these slightly strange conditions. I could read a whole book of Ines and Yaya and Theo and all these kids who remind me so much of my friends wandering around this Gothic campus for three years.
What ~didn't~ work for me was the central 'mystery' and all this plasm stuff. It all felt undercooked and thin, and I didn't really care. There was quite a bit of gesturing towards a thing (and many of these gestures were straight out of the Gothic Trope Playbook) as opposed to actually seeing it and giving it the same breadth of reality as the college-life stuff -- and as the book careens towards its shrug of a conclusion, it's hard not to feel like there were two books in this book and the lesser one won out.
Still, it's a fast read and I'd recommend at least taking a look, for the magnificent life depictions.

Thomas is a talented writer -- her descriptions are so physical that they made me squirm. Her main character, Ines, is not at all appealing, which I didn't mind. She reminded me of Eileen in the eponymous novel by Ottessa Moshfegh. I enjoyed how unwashed and drunk Ines was much of the time. I also admire Thomas' intense descriptions of odors, both good and bad. It was hard, however, to stay engaged in the story, as the pacing is slow. I hoped that Thomas would use that slowness to the book's advantage; to investigate the inner workings of the characters, but her probing remained superficial. What I liked was the creepiness that permeates the novel, the visceral nature of Thomas' prose, and the setting. I look forward to more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for allowing me to review it.

Catherine House is a unique and quirky story that unfortunately will not be to everyone’s taste. As much as I enjoy boarding school setting, including all the young adult drama, this book had a science fiction theme that I just did not get. As much as I tried to understand the author’s exploration and symbolization of this part of the plot, I could not wrap my head around it. I quickly became disengaged from the story and even though I was interested in all the characters’ comings and goings, I couldn’t care less for the “experimentations” described in this book.

I loved this book's synopsis and I had high hopes for it, unfortunately I was just not the right audience for this book.

Thank you NetGalley, Custom House publishing and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

**Thank you Net Galley and HarperCollins Publishers for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review**

First surprise: Catherine House is not the name of the main character. "Catherine" is the name of the house Ines will spend the next three years of her life in.

The book is divided into three parts: year 1, year 2, and year3.
- Year 1: Ines is a lost soul who, somehow someway, got accepted at the Catherine House, an exceptional school where only a few number of "chosen ones" get accepted. Ines keeps wondering how she made it to Catherine, and so do the readers. It takes her a full year to accept her presence at Catherine. That's when things get interesting: she learns to "feel" this house, to be part of the house, to "be" the house, to love it, to not see herself living anywhere else but in this house. Mysteries unfold, people reveal they true selves, and decisions need to be made.
-Year 2 and 3: can't say anything without spoiling.

I liked that the characters were simply who they were; Elisabeth Thomas did not make an effort to make any of them loveable. Their flaws were predominantly pushed forward, and that made them all more interesting and intricate.

A pleasant read, though I do not recommend it to readers who cannot appreciate slow-paced stories. I particularly enjoyed the gothic feel throughout, despite the fact that the story is set in the late 90s. Intriguing combination; loved it!

A cosy weekend read.

Someone told me if I loved The Secret History I would love Catherine House, and they were not wrong. This book was definitely not totally what I expected, but also somehow better? Plus,it was short-ish--320ish pages--and I love brevity! Wow, this book blew me away. A lot of the blurbs bill it as Secret History meets Never Let Me Go, and that definitely fits!

Catherine House isn't your normal college. Instead of four years of fun and learning, you give the House your all for three years. No outside contact. None of your old clothes or books. A fresh start, a new learning environment where you will be tested and pushed and come out on the other side brilliant and spectacular. And Ines, our protagonist, is ripe for something new, after running away from a past she has no intention of returning to. But things at Catherine are...intense. Her roommate, Baby, is obsessed with getting into the concentration for a new material, plasm, and Ines has no idea how to help her as Baby slowly spirals.But when tragedy strikes, Ines will learn what it means to give yourself to Catherine, and she'll have to decide how far she is willing to go for a home. 

There's a lot I love about this book, and I'll talk about that more, but I just want to point out that I was about 15% of the way into this book, knowing nothing about the author or the ending, and I thought to myself "This author went to Yale." I just knew it.I could feel it in the timbre of the story, somehow. And guess what? I was right. We a cult, okay? 

Anyway, I loved this book! The idea of Catherine House is legit perfect for people like me who are aging up from YA but still love a good boarding school book. Catherine House feels like a rich world, like better than some fantasy novels I've read honestly. And yes, it's short, but you get all three years in it, and it's well done! You don't have to see every moment of Ines life there to understand it, to feel it come to life. The pacing really worked for me.

I also loved just like her unstated but obvious bisexuality and raw sexuality in general--she likes having sex and being touched and that's fine and helps the book feel real and I enjoyed that aspect of building Ines up, if that makes sense? This is like Alex Stern without the ghosts and shit, ya know?

The plasm thing was a little weird to me--and I don't get it--but that's fine, I still enjoyed it and those aspects just kept me guessing.  Also, Theo...wow. Theo. Love me a good Theo, honestly, and his course over the novel was fascinating to follow. Should I fancast this book? I think I should, LOL. 

Overall, I liked this book a lot! A five star read for me, and I cannot wait to recommend this to people all around!

To be honest, this book sounded like a beautiful nightmare to me. Not to mention, it was compared to NEVER LET ME GO, one of my absolute favorite novels. I definitely give it props for the premise, which was amazing, and the suspense, which did keep me intrigued for a time. The whole concept of Catherine House and its secrets really drew me in.

On the flip side, the main character --Ines--did little for me. I struggled to connect with her. The dialogue was a bit clunky, the style a bit sparse, and the flow just didn't exist for me. It was actually hard for me to follow, which is odd because I love complicated plots! I live for them and have read them for years, but from page one, I found myself wondering what was going on. The story felt...disjointed. This made it hard to keep my interest, to be honest. I think this book would be GREAT for readers who enjoy a slower pace and have the time to get lost while waiting for loose ends to tie. Unfortunately, I am not one of those readers.

I honestly have no idea what I read for 10 days. I have a very hard time DNFing books, but this one got dangerously close. I never get like the story ever let kept momentum. At points I was like, okay, and then nothing. It was not my kind of story. It didn’t feel gothic, it felt like someone was trying too hard. I wish the author would have explained at least one part clearly! Such a bummer!

ARC provided by Net Galley and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

I really struggled with reading this book. There was nothing about the characters that I could connect to and the plot moved incredibly slowly. Something finally happened at about 90% but it was too little too late for me.

This book had such potential. The idea of it grabbed me, and I was so excited. Unfortunately, the premise of this book fell flat for me. I found myself confused and wondering what type of book I was reading. The whole plot line didn't make much sense to me, and it felt as if I was reading more of a general fiction book instead of a suspenseful horror-type read that I assumed was what the book was trying to go for. This is a tough book to rate and review for me because I didn't hate it. I liked the book in general, but it didn't seem to fulfill the expectations the summary gave for it.

This was a very moody, dark, edgy read for me. It felt part “Logan’s Run,” part mind control -plotted, part gothic prep school-fantasy. At moments I was sort of overcome by the descriptions of the food, the smells, the dream-cloaked wanton sex, and the chronic drunkenness at Catherine House. It felt dark and grungy and sordid. Who were these teachers and facilitators? Were they scholars or robots? Were they there willingly, or had they been altered in some way? While I didn’t always like this story, I also found that I couldn’t put it down. It was creepy, and I wanted to know what the hell was going on! So it was a yes, for me. “Catherine House” was a freaky, cool ride.

Going into this book I had such excitement. I had recently finished Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and loved it. It invoked memories of The Rook by Daniel O'Malley and I had hoped this book would be somewhat an amalgamation of my favorite parts of each. Maybe a bit less fantasy but still equally as mysterious and suspicious. I do not relish in writing this review, but I felt the book was remiss. It needed more. More of everything really.

One big thing for me was the pace and the length. It took far too long to actually get to anything mysterious. Which made me continuously find myself losing interest and putting the book down. I should never have to WANT to take a break from reading because of the book itself. Tired eyes, potty break, need some sleep, need to eat or take the dog out: yes. But because I am frustrated the book is taking too long to actually have anything happen? No. Absolutely not.

To be quite honest, I only finished the book because I simply HAD TO KNOW what the big mystery was surrounding Catherine House. Once it was over I found myself saying aloud, "Wait, that was it? Really?"

This book takes patience, and I wish I could say the reader will be rewarded in the end. For me, I did not feel rewarded. It wasn't completely terrible, but it also wasn't good either. It just missed the mark.

This line.. in the early pages:
"A small brown face peeked in." Sorry as the owner of a small brown face, I was really frustrated by this... Why doesn't the face have a name? The narrator already knew the face belonged to her roommate... My roommate TKTK peeked in. She was short... tired... fancy... anything more than a small brown face.

I have given this book this rating because, despite the fact that I decided to stop reading it, I admire the writing. Whilst understanding that this was not a match for me, I can appreciate how it is a great novel for so many others. I will be getting my hands on the physical edition to gift to my friends who I know will love it.

Thomas is a very descriptive writer, especially when it comes to visualisation. I'm not a very visual thinker so the reading experience didn't impact me in the way that I'm sure it will many others. For me, this style strained my energy. I say all this just to explain my subjective experience of what I can understand is an incredible book.

I managed to reach the half-way point of this book before putting it down. The main thing that kept me reading was the tone. Thomas establishes discomfort in the reader in a very smart way. I also loved the setting and how the house was characterised. I am interested to hear my friend's thoughts on this quirky and original debut.

I have mixed feelings about this book. At times I had a hard time getting through this book. It maybe, because it seemed to lean more towards science fiction. I'm usually not a fan of science fiction. I did get pulled in at the very end, wanting to know the outcome. For sci-fi fans, I can see the book being more enjoyable than it was for me.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.