Firstly, I would like to thank MacMillan Children's Publishing group for providing a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley as part of the Fierce Reads Recommends: W21 Sneak Peek sweepstakes from the Latinx KidLit Book Festival. Rachel Chavez is optimistic about overcoming past trauma and getting a fresh start after earning a scholarship to a prestigious high school in Manhattan, NY. As a huge fan of horror movies, she becomes intrigued by the very mysterious Mary Shelley Club. Members of this club watch and dissect horror films together and well as take part in a pranking game based on the fears of others. As members try to outdo each other with each prank, the stakes are raised, leaving Rachel questioning what she's gotten herself into. She soon discovers the lengths people will go through to follow the rules of the game and keep its secrets from being discovered. The author does an excellent job of building tension throughout the story with each deviation from the planned pranks. Rachel must figure out what is going on before she or someone she loves gets hurt. There are some great dives into horror films throughout the novel. There are also some great examinations of horror movie tropes. The Mary Shelly Club is an engrossing read about the lengths people can go to to escape their realities.

This was a great book! If you're a fan of horror movies and thrillers, you will love the homage "The Mary Shelley Club" pays to both print and film classics. Goldy Moldavsky is becoming one of my favorite YA authors because she's just so inventive with her storytelling. Highly recommend.

Seventeen-year-old Rachel and her mom are new to the Manchester area after moving from Long Island because of a traumatic home invasion that took place a year earlier. Masked men broke into their house when Rachel was alone and attacked her, but she defended herself and lived to see another day, though the experience left its mark; she suffers from nightmares, anxiety and anxiety, has trouble making new friends at her new school, and just can't seem to shake the past. But then, things begin to look up as she meets and joins in with the Mary Shelley Club, a small, eclectic group of fellow students and horror fans who take their love of fear to the next level, staging their own "Fear Tests" as part of a game. Come up with a plan, scare the victim until they scream, and the person with best Fear Test when it's all said and done wins. But things start taking a dark turn the more Rachel gets caught up in the group and their game, and it seems like her past, and a masked intruder, isn't as far away as she once hoped.

This one got off to a sort of slow start, but by maybe a fourth of the way in, things started picking up and the storyline turned a bit more macabre, which I ate up, in one 4 and a half hour sitting! I really appreciated all the references to the cult classics of the horror genre, both film and text (as a former English teacher and current librarian, all the asides related to horror literature were a hit for me!). The storyline really focuses most on this traumatic incident that occurs at the very beginning, and then everything builds from there. We don't ever find out much about Rachel and her mom's story really; we only know them through the lens of this bad moment a year ago. While this might not work for some, I think it worked fine here, especially as a Young Adult novel that really carries itself well as a "slasher" type of story (it'd make a great older teen horror movie!). I didn't fully see the twist at the end when all was revealed, so it wasn't super predictable, which was great as well.

What I loved: the (mostly) fast pace, all the references to classic horror novels, authors, and films, the build up to the somewhat surprising ending, the 'slasher film' feeling of the story overall (5-stars for entertainment value!)

What I didn't love: the end-end of the ending (it felt like it ended quite abruptly rather than smoothly tapering off and letting us go - there were some loose ends that would've been nice to have wrapped up), not a lot of love for the main character (she was a bit abrasive, but then if this had been a horror film, we wouldn't need to have lovable characters to still get caught up in the scary of it all), the more mature content (in regards to language, casual underage drinking, drug use, and sexual commentary ... as a junior high librarian I was hoping this would be a great addition to my library shelves but it's much to 'new' young adult rather than just middle grade-YA).

I would definitely recommend this to older young adults who enjoy a good horror/thriller with a plot twist (as well as adults who can appreciate a pretty decent YA slasher novel when they see one). As a librarian, I would recommend this to general public libraries where young adult horror has a readership.

This book was such a fun read! I enjoyed the storyline and Rachel’s character because I could relate to her. I also liked that we got the POVs of the targets during the fear tests. I wasn’t a fan of the ending as I felt it could’ve been wrapped up better; however, I had an amazing time reading it.

Rachel has moved from the suburbs' quiet stillness to a small New York City apartment with her mother. The constant noise, the bustle of people, and the city's general busyness are reasons enough to turn off most. But for her, it’s a solace. The quiet almost killed her at her old house. Now, she’s starting at a prestigious Manhattan school where her mom is teaching, and she’s just trying to get by without any incident. She’s more comfortable at home watching horror movies than at a party, but when she’s dragged to one by her new friend, she can’t say no. What she wasn’t expecting was a group of rich kids drinking -okay, yes, she expected that- but not at an abandoned house and definitely wasn’t expecting a seance to be on the agenda. What happens in the aftermath sets the stage for a very interesting school year—a really scary one.

Through circumstances, Rachel is invited to the mysterious Mary Shelley Club, where she and fellow horror movie enthusiasts watch movies, play games, and plan their ultimate Fear Test. She’s finally feeling like her old self again with this new group of kids, but when an old face comes to haunt her during another’s Fear Test, Rachel’s reality is shattered. And that’s all I can share!!

Definitely going to be an easy one to recommend to students. I got major Scream vibes when I read it. At 480 pages, it may be a tad long for some, but once the game is afoot, it’s an absolute page-turner. Maybe even room for a sequel??


A copy of this was provided by NetGalley and comes out in April 2021.

While I'm not typically a horror reader, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read The Mary Shelley Club. Although it took me a while to get into - especially since the initial texts in the prologue really threw me off (most teens really don't text like that), I found myself hanging on the edge of my seat and desperate to find out what came next. I loved the call back to other horror movies, and finding out more and more about the club, the incident, and who the masked men were in relation to the "pranks". I wish I could say that I saw the twist coming, but I really couldn't, and for that, I loved it! The ending left me really unsettled, and I'm sure I'll be on edge for the next couple of days. I'm still really confused about who the second masked man was in the incident, but aside from that I really enjoyed this read! I'd highly recommend it to any horror fans!

Just finished reading THE MARY SHELLY CLUB by Goldy Moldavsky. I received this ARC from macmillanusa via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Official publication date is April 13th, 2021.

I couldn't help myself, I needed a change from all the holiday books. This one was calling my name, so glad I picked it up. Finished reading this book in 24hrs.

BookReview 📚
So the first rule you need to know about the Mary Shelly Club is, you don't talk about it! But that's all Rachel Chavez our main character and new girl in town wants to do, once she discovers this secret club. She is eager to make a fresh start and new friends at Manchester Prep, but members of the club want to keep their friendship a secret... Cause it's supposed to be a secret society 🤫.

The objective of the club is to come up with scary horror troupe pranks, to orchestrate real fear on their classmates. But as the pranks escalate, the competition turns deadly and takes on a life of its own. Will Rachel have what it takes to track down and confront her past trama, so she can stop the real monster within their midst?

This is a page turning thriller that will keep you wondering till the last page. A secret society, with all the drama and cute boys from Gossip Girl, and a deadly game that will leave you on a hunt to figure out whodunit. Definitely a must read for all my YA & Thriller fans, I would definitely recommend.

This book was really good! It was a super haunting thriller but had an interesting plot line. There were so many plot twists I lost count! All the characters were very developed. This was one of the best thrillers I've read in a long time and I would definitely recommend it! There are some dark elements though, so be wary of that.

*I received this book from the publisher in an exchange for a review. All thoughtfuland opinionsare my own*

This book was just ok for me. Very typical YA "girl makes new friends who turn bad." We never get very deep into the characters' motives. But, it was a page-turner, and it kept me mostly interested till then end. Still, it is forgettable.

This was a good YA take on Scream and I enjoyed it. Parts of it has my heart racing and I really felt connected to the main character. I love horror movies so I enjoyed all of the references in this book.

The first rule of the Mary Shelley Club seems to be that you don't talk about the club,. Okay, that sounded familiar. In this story, new kid at school Rachel, falls in with a group of kids who have a secret club: The Mary Shelley Club, who all seem to be horror movie enthusiasts just like she is. But strange things happen at their schiool and some of them make Rachel a bit jumpy and remind her of "the incident" which is why she and her mom left Long Island. All will be revealed in the pages of this page-turner.

This is one of my favorite books that I’ve read in a long time. It’s so good! I’m a huge horror movie buff, and I’ll definitely be recommending this one to other horror movie buffs. In fact, I’ve already started to tell folks about this book coming out next April.

Most of the movies that are mentioned in the book are real movies, which was an extra fun treat. It makes me wonder if Gut Stab 6 was a nod to the Stab movies in Scream.

It’s great for older teens as well as adults. Do you like teen slasher movies? If so, you won’t be disappointed in this book.

This was SO good.
After having a traumatic experience, Rachel throws herself into horror movies hoping to become numb to fear. When she discovers a secret club that sets up pranks to the tune of horror tropes, she thinks she's found her people. But, of course, that's when things go awry.
This book was a page turner that kept me on the edge of my seat and guessing whodunit?
Just scary enough for a quiet October evening at home 😉
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC