**Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of Someone is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.

Someone is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong is a young adult mystery novel.  It features a group of young people who go to a private school run by the company their parents work for.  One girl begins acting very strangely and they quickly realize that something very strange is going on.  It is set to be published on January 3rd, 2023.  I rated it 3 stars on Goodreads.


Here's the summary on Goodreads:

Their lives are a lie. Their memories may not be their real memories. A new psychological thriller by #1 NYT bestselling author, Kelley Armstrong.
The experiment began with the best of intentions. Take a young child who is responsible for a traumatic death. Maybe their entire family perished in a fire they set. Maybe they shoved their sibling off a balcony during an argument. If the child is too deeply traumatized -- and stigmatized -- to ever lead a normal life, wouldn't it be better if they just . . . forgot?
It was a three-pronged approach: erase their memories, insert new ones, and return them to their parents or place them with a new family.
Blythe and her friends Tucker, Tanya, and Gabrielle, are now teenagers, attending a local high school, falling in and out of love with each other. But then a shocking event happens at school: Gabrielle is found covered in blood in front of their deceased principal, with no memory of what happened. It's becoming apparent that their pasts weren't erased -- they were just walled up, and now those walls are crumbling.

Kelley Armstrong is one of my favourite writers, so I was excited to check out a newer young adult novel by her.  When I was in high school I really loved this supernatural series that she wrote.  More recently, I fell in love with her A Stitch in Time series.  Unfortunately, this one was not as good in my opinion.  It was still a fun read, but I just didn't love it as much.

I will admit that I fully forgot the premise of this when I picked it up through NetGalley, which is good because the summary kind of spoils the entire twist of the novel and I really enjoyed that reveal.  It's a little disappointing that they would spill so many beans about the novel in the summary.  Sure it doesn't specifically tell you what they did/what happened to them, but it just kind of took the oomph out of that reveal.

I struggled a little bit with the writing style in this one.  Present tense can be a hard sell for me to read as I sometimes find it quite jarring, and this was definitely the case.  It wasn't badly written, but it's just not always my favourite style.  I also didn't always love the dialogue between the characters.

However, I did for the most part enjoy the characters.  The novel is mostly from Blythe's perspective, which was interesting.  She's a very prim and proper character seemingly, and I enjoyed that depiction.  You also occasionally get snippets from other characters to reveal certain key details, but I didn't always love these dips into other characters' perspectives.  I would have preferred more of the reveals to come through Blythe, because the inconsitency of these point of view changes were a little hard for me to read.

The overall plot was really interesting.  Since I forgot the summary, I found myself shocked by the reveal of the memory experiments.  I also liked the dynamic between Blythe and Tucker.  They were both really interesting characters, and. I appreciated Blythe's inner turmoil. 

Overall, it was an interesting story and while it didn't totally work for me, I can see where it would work for other people, so if you're intrigued then I highly suggest that. you check this book out when it comes out in January.

I feel like this book had so much more potential than what it actually had. That being said, I’d still recommend it.

This novel is set at a small private STEM school, a “perk” offered by Coeus Medical Technologies (CMT), the research lab employing the parents of the students. The story begins when Gabrielle, the best friend of the protagonist, Blythe (“Bliss”) Warren, has a nervous breakdown. Gabi’s friends, which include Blythe, her sister Syd, Tucker and Tanya Martel, Devon Sharpe, and Callum Kilpatrick, are all concerned, and want to investigate what happened to Gabi and why.

Pretty soon, the teens stumble upon a vast cover-up by CMT over an experiment being conducted on all the kids, an experiment that may be unraveling. It is clear from what is happening to all of them that it concerns not only their memories, but even their identities. But this group is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Evaluation: This book has an interesting premise that fits solidly in the sci-fi/corporate malfeascance genre mold, but I thought it vacillated between two obvious and too many red herrings. The teen interrelationships were well-drawn however, as were the interactions between each teen and his or her parents.

3.5 Stars rounded to 4.

Kelley Armstrong has the best ideas. I love her imaginations and the way she takes an idea that may seem farfetched, put it through a series of twists, turns, and manipulation, and then comes out with a book that makes you wonder if it is real.
Someone is Always Watching is a crazy ride from beginning to end. Some of the twist were easy to see, some of them came out of nowhere, and the rest, well, the rest were so sneaky, I didn't even realize they were there until the end.
Armstrong always writes characters with lots of dimensions, she gives them flaws and quirks, but she also gives them real reactions, which takes her character building to the next level and makes her plots even more authentic feeling.
If I have to have one complaint, it's that it takes a while for the book to get where it is going. There are a lot of characters, and I mentioned those twists, but about halfway through, some of the momentum stalls. Armstrong corrects that in the last part of the book, but there are some slow parts.
Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who likes psychological thrillers.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, my opinions are given freely.

I somewhat wish that I hadn't read the synopsis before reading the book because it felt like it spoiled the plot a bit for me. I wanted more out of the ending as well as it wrapped up really quickly and I still had questions. Maybe there will be a sequel? Overall though it was an interesting premise.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh man, this was such a fantastic read! I will say, right off the bat, that the synopsis is pretty revealing. We don't learn about the experiment until well into the book, and the various reasons why these kids are a part of it aren't revealed until near the end.

I'm so glad that we're getting another YA mystery from Kelley Armstrong, it's been a minute, and I really enjoy them. With this whole concept of taking kids who experienced a sever trauma, or caused one, getting their memories altered, I couldn't put it down!

Getting to know these characters was really great. Kelley Armstrong always writes such smart and capable characters, the opposite of the one that you'd yell at in a horror movie. And they are dealing with some highly stressful situations, that's always a good thing!

There were so many reveals, and a good number of twists! I couldn't put it down, and I loved where it ended up going, though it was a bit sad, since they've known each other for most of their lives. I do wish that we could've gotten a conclusion to her sister's story, since the last time we saw her, she was going to have a major talk, but alas. Otherwise I loved this book so much!

This was a fantastic read, and I can't wait for more from Kelley Armstrong!

So you like:
🧠🔪Psychological Thrillers?
❤️Romance?
😫Good girl x bad boy?
👯‍♀️Found Family?
😅What you thought you knew is not the truth?
☺️Multiple POVs?

This is the book just for you!

Plot:
When Gabrielle kills the Vice Principal, she has no recollection of what happened and nor does her best friend Blythe. Blythe and her friends start to realise that what their memories are may not be real. They need to find out the truth because more harm could arouse… and it will get deadly.

First of all thank you to NetGalley for giving me this E-ARC. I found this book sooo interesting like no joke. I have not heard a single thing about this book but I can say one thing: it kept me hooked. A book rarely does that, but Someone Is Always Watching had me on my toes. Everything that happened in the book was in a chronological order, even if there were multiple POVs. I loved the ending and I think it all summed up pretty well. The friendship and relationships in this book were real and nothing was in the least bit confusing.

If you like all like all the things stated above you will absolutely enjoy Someone Is Always Watching.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Someone is always watching. I have read all of Kelley Armstrong’s paranormal books and they are amazing. This was the first YA thriller I’ve read by her and it didn’t disappoint. The book is told in Multi POV, which I enjoyed. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I did, it drew me in. The story kept me guessing until the end and I really enjoyed how the story played out.

This book was so interesting! It was like a whole psychological thriller movie. They took young kids who had different kinds of trauma and wiped their memories in an experiment, but the kids slowly begin to remember what happened to them. One of the characters is sapphic and another is ace! There's also neurodivergent rep. This book tackled some very important topics and I'd be interested in further researching a lot of it.

This book went above and beyond all expectations. I wasn’t familiar with Kelley Armstrong and I had not heard of this book prior to receiving the ARC. This ended up being one of the most riveting and original stories that I have read in a very long time.

The story was paced perfectly with the genuine characters and character development only adding to my overall enjoyment. The story as a whole felt new. It stayed away from many of the tropes that seem to be guaranteed in YA fiction and instead had a completely fresh feel to it. Count down the days people. This is one you do not want to miss!

This book will keep you guessing until the last few pages. What would you do if you found out most of your friends had killed someone but they don’t remember doing it?
Does that make them like a new person or are they still a murderer in sheeps clothing?