After experiencing a horrific trauma Rachel changes school and looks to make a fresh start. After attending a party with a new friend, Rachel gets caught up in a prank gone wrong. This bring on the attentions of a secret group called the Mary Shelley Club. The main objective of the club is to go out into the real world and pull pranks to solicit fear in their targets. Things eventually go way too far and Rachel must confront the trauma of her past in order to uncover who is targeting her in the present.

This book is bananas! I would recommend this book as a nice suspenseful book to read during October!

Thank you Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Waaaaaa – I don’t even know where to start with this one. Okay, let’s break it down.

A secret club at a fancy school – heck freaking yes. The Mary Shelley Club is a group of kids who watch horror movies and conduct Fear Tests to freak out their fellow students and seek revenge for past wrongs. Love it. Rachel moved to the school to try to recover from a traumatic event in her past – but it’s not going as well as it may seem.

Things escalate pretty quickly but I thought it was all paced really well. There wasn’t a good spot to set the book down for a break – it demanded to be continuously read and devoured. Rachel is the main narrator of the story but we do get little glimpses into other people’s perspectives. I actually liked the little switch overs and thought it added to the story.

We also got to see quite a bit of the difference in the worlds of these kids. Rachel is not one of the wealthy students, but tends to get wrapped up in their world of extravagance quite frequently. There is a scene at a party that gave serious bacchanal vibes. It all plays into explaining why they do the things they do, but it was utterly (and wonderfully) chaotic. Moldavsky did an excellent job of setting the tone of the story and creating an unsettling atmosphere.

There are plenty of twists along the way and one big one at the end that I (unfortunately) didn’t see coming. I mean, I kind of had a ~feeling~ about one of the characters, but I wasn’t sure how the author was going to make it all make sense. Moldavsky was able to tie it all together in the end – I shouldn’t have had any doubts. I’m still thinking about the last little bit of the story. I definitely didn’t feel put at ease!

I wish I could say more, but I don’t want to give anything away and ruin the fun for you. This book was everything I could want in a YA mystery/thriller.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. I was completely sucked into the world of The Mary Shelley Club, where not everything is as it seems, trying to guess the chilling twists and turns. I expected it to lean more horror-ish than it did, but it's very much a mystery/thriller (though very dark at times). However, as a fan of all things horror, I did love all the references to the genre -- movies, books, and pop culture. As good as the body of the book was, I felt like the ending came a little too abruptly. All the questions get answered, but a lot of things are left wide open. If this is a cliffhanger for a sequel, I'm honestly not too mad about that -- I'll definitely read it. There's a lot more to explore here. If it's not a set up for book two, it's a little sloppy. I'm grateful to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group/Henry Holt and Co. for the opportunity to read and review The Mary Shelley Club.

***I received an uncorrected proof of this ebook from netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

“I was either a regular teenager or I was a monster, and the one that I should’ve been—the normal, happy-go-lucky girl—felt like an imposter.”†

I’ve very recently discovered that I adore YA thrillers (thanks Holly Jackson), so I have been enthusiastically dipping my toes in different facets of the genre. The Scream-reminiscent concept of TMSC was very intriguing, and I really enjoyed Moldavsky’s delivery. While the story wasn’t necessarily as scary as I was expecting, I was paid in kind with a deeper psychological exploration. Rachel was an extremely interesting protagonist, even if she was a little oblivious at times. Her struggle with her trauma felt very visceral, very real. And don’t we all occasionally wonder if there’s something a little monstrous inside?

I did pretty much guess how this was going to play out from very early on. The planted seeds were fairly obvious (particularly with the Scream reference in the blurb, lol). I love a good open-ended closing scene, but I also wouldn’t say no to the sequel. There’s a ton of potential for Rachel to come back in a big way.

†must be checked against final text

I could not put down this book until I finished it. This author is quite skilled at sucking you into their world. Poor Rachel has been through so much. I guessed the culprit but could not have foreseen the extent of the madness. I was left with many questions but I suspect this was done to set up a potential sequel.

I devoured this book. It started in Rachel's past and the prologue leaves you hanging until almost the very end of the book. She has suffered a trauma and to deal with it has decided to watch horror movies. She confronts fear by watching the movies and it allows her to not feel so afraid in real life.

Starting a new school is tough for anyone, and since Rachel is only attending Manchester Prep since her mother is a teacher there, she really feels she doesn't belong. Fortunately, resident gossip Saundra takes her under her wing and gets her up to speed on all the kids and happenings at the school. It is because of Saundra though that lands her at a party where a prank has gone bad and brought attention to Rachel. This turns out to be both good and bad. Good - because she learns about The Mary Shelley Club and is invited to become a probationary member. Bad - because she has become the object of mean girl Lux's attention.

This book makes you wonder, along with Rachel, if you really know everything that is going on. The suspense builds and while I can't say that I knew exactly how it was going to end - you get a gradual idea of what is going on - you kind of learn as Rachel does. I thought it was a very good book and would highly recommend it. Especially if you are a fan of horror movies as there are a lot of shout outs to them in the book.

Thoroughly enjoyed the creepiness of this book! The vibes were immaculate and the prose was gorgeously eerie. This book was exceedingly addicting and I was hooked throughout. Despite being averse to all things horror and thriller, I could not stop reading.

This book hooks you from page one and doesn't let go until long after you have finished it. The writing is wonderful, and the constant references to classic horror movies, books, and tropes were especially enjoyable for a die-hard horror fan like me. There were some minor details or twists that I was able to guess, but even with those, I was still on the edge of my seat as I was reading, tense and anxiously waiting to see how everything would play out. I really thought I had the final big twist/reveal nailed down...and I was oh so wrong. I recommend reading this one when you have a lot of time on your hands because you won't want to put it down!

The Mary Shelley Club is so awesome! It's like Scream meets Gossip Girl. There are tons of pop culture references and nods to plenty of horror movies. The plot is filled with tension that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. If you are a horror buff, you cannot miss this gem of a novel! If you enjoy YA thrillers, this is an original one worth checking out! I truly cannot recommend The Mary Shelley Club enough!

I. Love. This. Author.

I was over the moon excited to read this and was not disappointed! This was such an original concept and I was hooked from the first page. I devoured this and could not get enough of it. I will continue to be one of the top members of Moldavsky's fan club. I love all of her books and feel she gets better with every story she writes. I cannot wait to recommend to every reader.

The Mary Shelley Club book is basically a mash-up between Gossip Girl and horror movies. The main character Rachel gets involved in a secret club that pulls fear pranks on each other. At first Rachel (a fan of horror movies) thinks this will be amazing, but when the pranks get out of hand and the fear (real this time) escalates, Rachel might be in for a fight for her life instead of a good time.

I thought <u>The Mary Shelley Club</u> would be a little more . . . scarier? than it actually was. It was anything but. However, I really liked it after all.

Once we get into the knitty-gritty of the Mary Shelley Club, it starts getting interesting seeing the pranks that the club are responsible for, why they do it, etc.

Nothing is what it seems, though, and our MC Rachel finds herself deep under water and has some mystery solving to do. Can her new friends really be trusted?

Apparently this is considered YA horror. I just didn’t see it, even though I loved that the synopsis boasted it as a <i>Scream</i> premise. Definitely a great read by an author I’ll consider again!

I received an e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a fast, fun read! I read this in a weekend and had a great time!

I will say that if you are looking at the title and the cover and expecting pure Dark Academia, black lacy dressed brooding characters in a foggy cemetery at night with candles, you should know it's not that. This book is more light LIGHT dark academia in that it takes place mostly at an elite school, with characters who act in the name of Mary Shelley but are more into What You Did Last Summer and Friday the 13th.

While, as I said, I enjoyed reading this, I did ask myself if everything made sense. Does it make sense that the characters who kept things a secret from the main character kept said secret for SO long, when they (especially Bram) liked her as much as they did. I get the concept that the club is "bigger than them," but we never get a sense of just how big, even at the end, or what the consequences are if rules are broken on that apparently big scale. Because we don't know what the risk is of going against the club, it makes all of the characters in the club seem like assholes for not looking out for Rachel.

That being said, I enjoyed reading about a girl with a dark side, one where we have to figure out just how dark it actually is.

The ending seemed to hint at a possible sequel, which I would probably read.

3.5/4 stars.

Loved this one!! It's been a while since I read a good horror book. And this was just what I needed to get me out of my reading slump.

Scheduled to post 5/11/21.

So I'll start with what I liked about the book: the concept of a horror club that plays horror trope pranks on their classmates. It's what got me interested in the book to begin with. Not too many people are into horror so to find something like that in high school would be killer. No pun intended.

I thought the writing was fine enough, and the strongest part of the book was that opening chapter. I'm not sure why it was in third person when the rest of the story was in first, but whatever. It set the tone.

Except the rest of the book wasn't in that tone. I think I was kind of expecting THERE'S SOMEONE IN YOUR HOUSE but two-thirds of the book was kind of . . . nothing. It's Rachel trying to fit in, then stumbling upon this club, and then trying to fit into the club. Like, you see behind the curtain from pretty early on and there's really not a lot of tension. It's a day in the life of, really.

The catalyst doesn't even happen until about 65% of the way in. It took so long for the "someone targets the club itself" to come into play that I was wondering if there was going to be any kind of plot at all other than Rachel existing in this club. Then it finally happened and it was a shotgun to the end, with the real meat of the story crammed into the last third of the book. It felt rushed, some of the explanations felt shoehorned, and it just wasn't satisfying.

As far as characters, the best we have here is Rachel, who's just okay. She's not really a stand-out character. She's not bad, but she's not great either. Kind of empty. Freddie was bland for most of it and Skeet Ulrich for the rest, but without the personality at the end. Felicity was just a psychopath who didn't feel consequences could touch her and Bram was a plank of wood with a straight-lined face drawn on it.

I thought the execution of the pranks had some serious style and I could totally appreciate the tropes they were using to do them, but they were done in very mean-spirited, vindictive, at times petty ways. Rich kids torturing people because they could, really. I know Freddie and Rachel were scholarship kids, but the access their privilege provided them gave them that blanket of invincibility. These were just people who really enjoyed scaring the crap out of people, but not in a fun way. 

THE MARY SHELLEY CLUB was okay, but that's about it. It had more going against it than it did for it, but the writing on the page was decent, and there was enough there to keep me reading until the end. But only just. It was the nostalgia the book tugged on that kept me reading, with all that old school horror. Without that I probably would have stopped.

2.5

Holy cow I loved this book so much! I’m usually very good at guessing twists but this one threw me for many loops.

This is a story about a girl looking for the monsters she belongs with.

I really enjoyed this! It was a fun evening read, with just an edge of suspense. I was surprised by how compelling I found the characters & I’m really hoping for a book 2, with more exploratory of the clubs outside of the chapter. One specific element didn’t fully come together for me, but overall it was so much fun.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

Thank you Netgalley & Macmillan for this e-Arc !

The Mary Shelley Book Club is a contemporary YA thriller saturated with a love of all things horror. I was honestly not expecting to love this book as much as I did, but my horror nerd heart was warmed by all the horror movie references, as well as all the horror easter eggs weaved into the plot.

This ownvoices novel features LatinX protagonist Rachel Chavez. In the first few pages of the book she is home alone when her home is the target of a home invasion. Consequently, she is transferred to a new school in the city where she meets and becomes a part of The Mary Shelley Club, a group of her peers obsessed with horror movies and scaring their fellow srudents.

I would love to sit down and a have a coffee with the author. Her love of horror and the role it can play in the world of it’s fans resonated deeply with me. As someone who turns.to horror for comfort and to help manage my own anxiety disorder, Rachel’s own infatuation with the genre was profoundly relateable. I lived for the movie nights with the Mary Shelley Club and even discovered some movies that I definitely need to watch.

At the heart of the story is a mystery that lurks in the shadows and goes bump in the night, even as Rachel and the club prey on the fears of their classmates, secrets lurk in the shadows that lead Rachel to believe that more than just their staged scenarios are playing out. While I guessed the twist at the end, it did not take away from my overall enjoyment of the book. I really appreciated the first person narrations from those targeted by the club as well. Honestly, those might have been my favorite chapters.

If you can’t tell, I adored this book and gave it five, edge of your seat, heart pounding stars. I would recommend it for those who love all things horror and readers who can’t get enough YA thrillers like those of Karen McManus and Courtney Summers.

3.5 stars

The Mary Shelley Club definitely caught my attention and I have to say the prologue had me on the edge of my seat. I loved the creepy feeling I got while reading that. From the start I was really curious about what had happened to our main character Rachel. The author's way of writing had me flying through this book.

I love the concept of a coming together as a group and sharing the love of something and in this case horror movies. I'm not a fan of horror myself, but I loved reading the discussions about the movies or what they loved about it. Loving something and having people who understand why you feel that way is the best in the world.


The fear tests this group had was interesting, but definitely extreme at times. If you didn't do as were told or participate in one or even wanted to leave the club your worst fear would be shared with everyone. I thought that was rather harsh as well as some of the pranks pulled. That being said I loved the chapters when these pranks were held. I definitely felt the tension and buildup and some were definitely scary. I loved the little details that eventually played a part in being near the end of the book.


That being said, I also had some issues with the story. Let's start with the side characters. I loved this amazing group and it was fun to get to know them. To me it felt like we didn't get to know them enough. They played a pretty big part in most of this story and it felt like they mostly stayed at the surface (with a few scenes being an exception with a couple of the characters). With how everything plays out I would've liked to have been just a bit more connected.


Also, the ending bothered me. I'm not going to spoil anything, but after everything that happens it just felt kind of easy to me. Halfway through the book I already had two suspects, but was hoping to be wrong. I still enjoyed the story, but the way it played out made the story fall a bit flat for me.


All in all, I thought The Mary Shelley Club was a fast read that definitely had some spooky moments. I definitely will have to check out the author's other books!