I could not get past or identify with the two main characters. I made it a quarter of the way through but just couldn’t do it. Life is too short to struggle and so many other choices right now.

This was a dark, chilling and addictive read. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.
"Social horror" is quickly becoming one of my favorite genres!
The story started off a little slowly, and the characters were a bit frustrating, but I'm so glad I stuck with the story because quickly I couldn't put it down.

I didn't love the characters in this one, so it made it a bit difficult for me to connect with the story. I did like the plot, and I found the overall story to be interesting. I found some areas of the story to be a bit slow, but it had some shocking twists and turns that moved it along!

At first, I really couldn’t get into this book as the narrative seemed somewhat convoluted. The friendship seemed off, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was going on. However, I am glad I stuck it out because the author was building layers and character dynamics, all of which led to a crazy culmination.

This is a slow burn thriller. One you need to invest in but will be rewarded in time.

Thank you Netgalley and Dutton Books for allowing me this to review this arc.

Thought by the plot i would enjoy this but It was rough to get through. Couldn't relate to characters and plot. Definitely more of a young adult thriller. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

I wish I liked this more than I did, but found it very hard to get into as it felt like YA fiction that dragged and dragged. I didn't like any of the characters and found the ending just weird.

Bull Twinkies! 😳😯

Well that was intriguing, dark, twisted glorious young adult book ride I did NOT see coming! I will say this was a bit of a slow burn, but 1/3 of the way through things started to really get intriguing and interesting. Farrah and Cherish are the only Black African American teenage girls in a high end community and private school, who are best friends; more like sisters. Cherish has been adopted by a white, wealthy family., the Whitmans. Farrah decides to ascend control and use this to her advantage as her own life is crumbling apart with her parents' wealth, or lack there of, now. However, the longer Farrah stays with and getting to know the Whitmans, her own parents see strange things happening with them - and the closer Farrah is pulled in, perhaps she's not as in control as she believed she was. Their relationship gets weirder and weirder as the story progresses and while I did enjoy the uniqueness of the novel, I didn't absolutely love it. It has some major dark notes and I will say it kept me intrigued. The ending was a definite shocker I will admit. My jaw is still sore! Flippin' frackers!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this #ARC!
Release date: February 7, 2022

I give this 3.5 / 5 snowflakes! ❄️

Behold the genre of Social Horror! Cherish and Farrah are best friends and the only two black girls in their country club community. When Farrah's black parents are foreclosed on, Farrah moves in with Cherish and her white adoptive parents. Brianne and Jerry Whitman open their arms and their home to Farrah but not everything is as it seems.
This started a little slow and I found Farrah infuriating. She comes across as entitled but you
realize she wants these things because Cherish has them and Cherish has them effortlessly, never having to worry or to work for anything. Cherish has no idea how the real world works for young black women. She has never had to struggle or to claw her way to the top like so many others do. Farrah wants to bring reality home for Cherish but the Whitmans aren't having that and soon a back and forth game of brutality plays out for the reader to witness.

*Special thanks to Netgalley and Dutton Books for the e-arc of this novel.*

Boring and convoluted beginning with a manipulative protagonist. Way too much inner monologue. I felt no connection or tolerance for Farrah, and the writing went in circles. After loving both this author’s YA titles, I was disappointed in the execution of this book.

Wow really have no idea what I just read, did not know what to expect. This had sort of a Get Out feel and had me not wanting to put the book down to see what happens. The first half of the book is pretty slow and I do wish we got to hear Farrah’s thoughts. I was hooked on the last 2 chapters especially and wish the author had more of that for us readers. While I did not enjoy the ending I can appreciate what the author was trying to do. I’d recommend to friends who enjoy a little horror. Also side note while the main characters are 17, this is not a young adult book.

I just could not finish this book. I did not feel very invested in the plot and it did not feel very believable at all. I was not able to suspend my disbelief to enjoy the book.

What a book. There were a few moments where I almost quit this one, but I just kept wanting to know where Cherish and Farrah were going to end up. This book was a weird combo of YA with psychological thriller, but neither quite worked with the other in this one.

While I don't read a ton of YA and while the book isn't truly YA with main characters that are seventeen it feels like it is sort of in that space. BUT these characters for me didn't act seventeen and I don't think the author did a great job of having these characters stay in their age range.

And this book was just weird. I couldn't understand what was going on and felt as though the book moved from sort of stream of consciousness to action scenes and bounced all around.

I did finish this one, but couldn't review on my blog because I couldn't recommend this to any sort of reader.

Social horror is quickly gaining speed as one of the more popular genres as of late. While not one of my favorites that I’ve recently read in the genre, Bethany C. Morrow’s latest “Cherish Farrah” is certainly an excellent example of one. Packed with themes of race, society and toxic relationships—especially friendship—it was a unique read through the eyes of a teenage girl struggling for control in her chaotic life.

There’s so much to unpack with this one and there are multiple layers to the plot other than what meets the eye. Farrah and Cherish are both black girls in a privileged white school but Farrah is being raised by her black parents and Cherish is the adopted daughter of wealthier white parents. The book examines that dichotomy relating to race, privilege and society despite the friendship between the two. The friendship itself is terrifying and it’s unsettling to read as a parent and see throughout the book both sets of parents do nothing other than encourage what is clearly unhealthy behavior. The book is painfully slow and Farrah, who narrates the entire book, has an almost unbelievable voice for a teenage girl. I also found her unreliable and even by the end wasn’t sure if it was reality or figments of her imagination (there’s a lot of that). I flat out didn’t like the end and found it terribly abrupt ending right when things picked up. If you’re looking for a fright, this isn’t horror in the traditional sense, with Morrow using suspense to horrify us about the struggles black girls (and women) face in today’s society. 2.5 stars

Pitched as a "Get Out" meets "My Sister the Serial Killer", Cherish Farrah by Bethany C Morrow is the story of two best friends, Cherish and Farrah. Both are young black girls, the only black girls at an expensive academy full of rich white kids. They've been best friends since third grade.

Cherish has everything, including two adoptive white parents. Farrah used to have everything, until her parents lost their house to foreclosure. Now, she is staying with Cherish and her family while her parents sort things out. Farrah's inner monologue is dark....very, very dark. To be perfectly honest, she's kind of an asshole. Her jealousy is apparent from the beginning and she's controlling and just straight up mean. BUT....as she tries to bring reality to Cherish...Cherish's parents recognize what she's doing....and...my GOD.

Just....this book. Look. I read this book in two nights because it was insane. Yes, I did have some issues withe the how slow the beginning was. And yes, I had issues with Farrah's inner monologue and the language she was using because was 16/17 year old talks like that. BUT STILL.

This is a book about social horror. About society. About race. About toxic friendship. About society. About wanting more. About wanting to be seen. About the modern way of life.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Dark, nerve-wracking, terrifying. A social thriller for the social media age.

This is about a toxic friendship that is more sinister underneath - even at the end it was hard to believe. The ending didn't make sense and it wasn't explained well why the characters would act the way they did. The narrator was twisted and made for a not very enjoyable reading experience. Likely would have DNF'd if this wasn't an ARC.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyable for the fact that we need more books with complicated, prickly girl protagonists, but the pacing in this book felt way off. Somehow the pages were moving quickly but hardly anything happened plotwise until the last 20% of the book, instead it was a lot of Farrah repeating herself in her head.

This novel is dark. Very dark. And awesome. I loved Farrah's voice. Social horror as social commentary is powerful. As her mother tells her, "Whatever else you are, you're still a Black girl. One day you'll know how impossible it is to tell the difference between personalized terror aimed straight at you, and good ole run-of-the-mill systemic prejudice."

From the publisher: ". . . a new adult social horror novel . . . about Farrah, a young, calculating Black girl who manipulates her way into the lives of her Black best friend's white, wealthy, adoptive family but soon suspects she may not be the only one with ulterior motives. . . .

Seventeen-year-old Farrah Turner is one of two Black girls in her country club community, and the only one with Black parents. Her best friend, Cherish Whitman, adopted by a white, wealthy family, is something Farrah likes to call WGS--White Girl Spoiled. With Brianne and Jerry Whitman as parents, Cherish is given the kind of adoration and coddling that even upper-class Black parents can't seem to afford--and it creates a dissonance in her best friend that Farrah can exploit. When her own family is unexpectedly confronted with foreclosure, the calculating Farrah is determined to reassert the control she's convinced she's always had over her life by staying with Cherish, the only person she loves--even when she hates her.

As troubled Farrah manipulates her way further into the Whitman family, the longer she stays, the more her own parents suggest that something is wrong in the Whitman house. She might trust them--if they didn't think something was wrong with Farrah, too. When strange things start happening at the Whitman household--debilitating illnesses, upsetting fever dreams, an inexplicable tension with Cherish's hotheaded boyfriend, and a mysterious journal that seems to keep track of what is happening to Farrah--it's nothing she can't handle. But soon everything begins to unravel when the Whitmans invite Farrah closer, and it's anyone's guess who is really in control."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Morrow's latest novel is marketed as a social thriller. It's a tale of two Black girls, Cherish and Farrah, who are best friends but told from Farrah's eyes. Cherish is known for being White Girl Spoiled growing up with two adoptive white parents. It was slow to start but half way through the plot picked up the book turned dark and addictive. This was a complicated story about intense friendships, toxic relationships and dysfunctional families. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this story as much I had hoped. Maybe it will be one for another time.