To start this review I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger Warning: sexual assault and animal death, drug use

This is going to be another short one.

I didn’t like this book. I DNF’d at 48%

This book is long and when it comes to long books you need good pacing. This book did not have that. I was bored reading it. Incredibly bored. The character’s weren’t interesting to me. Also, I really didn’t like one of them. Alice? I think her name was.

This portion of the review will talk about sexual assault, drug use, and animal death. Please proceed carefully.

She has a little birthday celebration with two girls from the theater department from this school. And she got her roommate to come with her. These two got off on the wrong foot immediately. One has a very abrasive personality, the other is meant to be “pure sunshine.”

First off, that pure sunshine isn’t there. That girl isn’t super bright and happy. She’s just the average girl. I didn’t get any idea of her being that bright and happy of a person.

Anyway, she has a birthday thing with these three girls, two from the theater department.

Her roommate is on the dance floor when a guy grabs her arm and kisses her. No talking, no asking for names or consent. Just does it.

So she punches him in the face. And I was super happy for that! Like yes, show sexual assault being punished! It’s absolutely unacceptable.

Tell me how her roommate, little miss bright and shiny, got mad at her for it?????

“You punched someone on my birthday!” Girl, she was assaulted, punching is the least of what this dude deserved! That didn’t sit right with me.

Next, she’s mad at this girl for defending herself. The two theater girls go to the bathroom and come back high. She literally says one girl’s voice sounds like a cocaine fueled air raid siren. But she only gets mad at the girl who defended herself.

Make it make sense. Sure, she’s annoyed by them. But the fact that she’s so cruel to her roommate? No. Absolutely not.

Now, later in the book, a cat dies. And it’s described. I would have appreciated a warning so I could have avoided that. It was triggering and left me uncomfortable.

End of triggering content.

I will say that books need trigger warnings. They are not spoilers, they allow readers to keep themselves safe and avoid things that could be painful.

Now, as for the story itself. I stopped caring. The girls were boring. The events were boring. Nothing I read gave me any sense of urgency or fear or that “just one more page” Feeling.

Also, this is supposed to be sapphic? The way this romance was building made no sense to me. If I got treated this way by my roommate, I wouldn’t start to have feelings for her. And if a friend told me about a situation like this, and then said she liked the girl I’d talk her out of it. She didn’t help you. Defend you. She judged you. She ignored you.

Nah.

I also didn’t like how little diversity there was. Like, come on now.

Look, I didn’t finish the book. And I won’t be recommending it. But since I have to give it a star number, it gets 2 for competent enough writing ability.

I absolutely LOVED The Society for Soulless Girls.

Biggest Takeaway
My biggest takeaway from this book is how important communication is. Lottie and Alice are roommates, and the book is told from both of their points of view. Because of this, I would read a part of the story from Lottie’s POV, and something will happen with Alice, which Lottie will totally misconstrue, causing more tension between them, but then when I read about the same situation from Alice’s POV, it wasn’t even close to the correct assumption. I spent most of the book screaming at them internally, “WHY DON’T YOU JUST ACTUALLY TALK TO EACH OTHER!!?” because they always seemed to miscommunicate, and had so many problems because of it. The conflict it raised was interesting, but it was also frustrating.

My Least Favorite Part
Lottie ends up “inheriting” some rubies from someone in the story, but the rubies aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Lottie ends up almost possessed by the spirit of an old nun who helped run Carvell before it was a school, and when Lottie tries to leave the school site, the rubies almost choke the life out of her. While I understood the need for the additional intrigue, I couldn’t understand why the author needed to add a ghostly aspect, and why it had to be added in the way it was. Yes, I’m being deliberately vague, because if I say too much, it could be a huge spoiler. I just didn’t like the addition of the rubies, and honestly think the author could have left them out and the book probably would have been better for it.

The Author’s Writing Style
Laura Steven is amazing. I’ve never read a Jekell & Hyde retelling before, and the gender-swap was perfect. I honestly didn’t even realize it was a retelling until I read the blurb as I was preparing for this review. Other than the small bits that irritated me, I thought the story was perfect, and most of that has to do with Laura’s writing style. She was able to put together two girls, seamlessly fit in past and present, as well as avoid continuity errors. At least I didn’t notice any. If any of you do, feel free to let me know in the comments.

Recommendation
Highly, HIGHLY recommend The Society for Soulless Girls! I did have a couple irritations about the book, but it was wholly entertaining and I look forward to more books by Laura Steven. I would even love more books in this world, in case she decides to make this a series (hint, hint). If you like retellings, especially sapphic, gender-swap retellings, definitely check out The Society for Soulless Girls. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

This is a tough one. There are so many great YA thrillers on the market right now that the competition is just so dang stiff. I am usually happy with the fantastic blending with reality, but I found the marriage of the two fell a little flat for me. I think some tighter editing make have made it have better flow. It’s a great premise & I feel certain that TikTok will help it find the right readers!

I tried to get through this book countless times and ultimately gave up. The characters lacked development and the story just dragged. It was so slow to get anywhere and I couldn’t connect with a single person or thing going on.

I generally don’t read dark academia books. Usually, I don’t gravitate them. I just don’t know why. But I was intrigued by this book, especially with the book cover. And unfortunately, this book wasn’t it. I’m just not a dark academia girl. if you love, dark academia, then this book is for you.

This book just wasn’t for me. I felt like the pacing was a little too slow and I never found myself eager to pick the book back up. It wasn’t the writing that I didn’t care for but the development of the story.

This book was everything I hoped for!! Hilarious, creepy and fun. I loved the twists and was everything I hoped for! I went in not knowing a lot and that was perfect!

i felt so disconnected with the characters. everything just fell so out of place. The premise had me excited for this book but it was such a huge let down.

I am so so sad this didn't work for me. Everytime I thought about it I ended up knocking more stars so I had to put it out of my mind.

An elite school that has been closed for years due to the sudden and mysterious deaths of four students is now reopened and our incoming freshman find themselves wrapped up in the ten year old mystery.

We have a sapphic dark academia book with plenty of mystery, the story was enrapturing enough to forget that it's a retelling.

The Society for Soulless Girls was a dark and twisty tale that kept me up all night reading. I love dark academia--it's my favorite genre, and this is a welcome addition to the canon. I really enjoyed getting to know the two main characters, Lottie and Alice, and I was so pleased about how they constantly surprised me. They were well-written and complex multilayered characters who were dealing with some really tough stuff. There was some dark magic at play here, and the Jekyll/Hyde aspect was fascinating. I loved watching these girls interact with their world and with each other.

The world building was also really well done. I could vividly picture Carvall, and wanted to attend classes there. There were definitely some Truly Devious vibes in the world building, which I loved, as that's one of my favorite series. It was marvelous.

I took it down one star because I really cannot deal with animal death, and the cat death in the book felt unnecessary and terrible, especially after having just lost my own sweet girl. I could really have done without that. That might have been a "me" problem and not a "book" problem, but that really bothered me, and I am usually rather difficult to bother. Otherwise, great characters, great writing, loved the mystery and the worldbuilding.

This really had the potential to be a very good book. Maybe I couldn't get into it because I picked it up when I was in between other books, never reading it consistently. Maybe it was just too drawn out. Maybe it just wasn't the book for me.

I do think the storyline is intriguing and that someone out there will love it.

Thank you NetGalley for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

While I enjoyed the writing, I feel like I've read this story before. It was entertaining enough, but friends acting like Jekyll and Hyde is pretty redundant for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. It played with the classics and intertwined them with a story of rage, love and finding yourself. I fell for Alice and Lottie and their journey. I think this would be a great story for high school or college literature class, it was so wonderfully written and relevant.

Rating: 3.5 stars

I felt the book progressively got better as time as passed. The school that was previously closed due to mysterious deaths is now open up again, and then a string of mysterious deaths occur again at that same school. Honestly, I didn't have any expectations for the book, but it was worth a read. The character development could use some improvement, and the beginning of the book could've been better executed.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I am starting to enjoy thrillers a lot more than I did before. This was a bit of a crazy read. The college closed do to some students lost their lives, but now the school is reopening and there is a chance it could happen all over again. The girls relationship was enjoyable and they were really opposites was amazing. I need to look into more books by this author.

Fun enough as a YA thriller, but fails to live up to the advertised description. This story had a lot of potential and I wish it would've been fleshed out to the MAX, however it fell quite short for me.

I absolutely loved this book and setting. A little Jekyll & Hyde, with enemies to lovers teaming up to solve a decades old crime. If you love books, mystery, elite private schools and a LGBTQ love twist, this book is for you!

TW: death, body horror, discussion of suicide/murder, blood letting, blood consumption
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This book was lowkey terrifying and disturbing and I definitely had to put it down a few times to calm down.

But.

This book was amazing, well-written, full of badass females taking back their power and owning their pain. The Society exists not because it wanted to be, but because it is a need. Women are always taught to be small and control ourselves and the like…what is one to do when so many injustices have been wrought against one? Take it? No. We fight back.

‘Power is only vouchsafed to the man who dares to stoop and pick it up.’ (Quote from Crime & Punishment by Dostoevsky).
Let’s stoop, bitches.
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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This is a sapphic, modern gothic retelling of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
I'm not sure if it wad the share name of Lottie combined with the sapphic grumpy x sunshine, but it at first had a wholesome likness to The Rosewood Chronicles. It also reminded me of Claire and Elise from The Coldest Touch.