Dark academia is an immediate yes in my book!

🏫 REVIEW: EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD 🏫

By Jenny Hollander

📖 SUMMARY: Charlie survived a traumatic night at her elite grad school that people call “Scarlet Christmas.” Nine years later, she is living her dream life, thoughts of Scarlet Christmas pushed solidly to the back of her mind. But when a former classmate announces she’s making a movie about that night, she realizes she will have to get back in contact with people from back then to make sure the movie — and her secrets — never come out.

💭 THOUGHTS: Anything dark academia and I’m sold. This was a solid read — the university setting, the nightmarish events that you slowly learn more about, and a main character with secrets of her own, aka a recipe for success. There were a few plot twists at the end, one of which I totally didn’t see coming! Definitely pick this up for a dark and fun (yes, those can go together) reading experience!

✨ MADE ME FEEL: suspicious 🤨

🥰 YOU’LL ENJOY IF: you liked IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE

What a fun dark academia thriller! For those plot-driven thriller lovers, this book is not for you. It is very character driven and literary.

Charlie Colbert can't remember much of what happened to her friends that died before Christmas break while they were in grad school at a top journalism school. She is now an Editor-in-Chief at a renowned magazine and neurotic to a fault. She is engaged to be married to a wealthy publishing magnate and has checked out from planning anything. She barely talks to her old classmates and keeps her family (who reside in the UK) from getting too close. She has blocked the memories of those deaths for so long and now that the "Scarlet Christmas" event will be made into a movie, everything about that time is coming back to haunt her.

She finally decides to try to remember by going to a psychiatrist that can hypnotize her into remembering more because she worries that everyone will find out that she lied about what happened. She thinks she lied about more than what happened and its aftermath. But as I read deeper into the story, I got more annoyed at why she isolated herself and all of her inactions to do much of anything.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of the novel and was surprised a little bit at the ending. But I thought that Charlie could have been a better character overall and her inactions over every part of her life was a bit grating.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for this eARC. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead is out now.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead centers around Charlie Colbert, an unreliable heroine with a distorted memory, who attempts to piece together the memories of a tragic event that occurred ten years earlier during her graduate school days. The narrative oscillates between the past and the present, revealing a complex web of friendship, trauma, and survival. Charlie, now having rebuilt her life, faces a new challenge when one of the other survivors decides to create a movie about the incident, threatening to unravel her carefully constructed reality.

Jenny Hollander's debut is a dark and dazzling psychological thriller that offers a deep dive into the human psyche. Its strengths lie in its well-crafted characters and the exploration of complex themes such as trauma and memory. While the pacing may be slow for some readers, the novel's emotional depth and intricate plot make it a worthwhile read for fans of psychological thrillers and dark academia.'

For those interested in a thought-provoking and suspenseful read, Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is a commendable choice.

Overwrought psychological drama.

Charlotte (Charlie) Colbert was a witness and a survivor of an event at graduate school more than 9 years ago. The public knows it as "Scarlet Christmas" -- when 2 students died on the Carroll University School of Journalism campus. Now Charlie is an editor-in-chief at a prestigious magazine and engaged to a wealthy publishing magnate. She's come a long way since those terrible traumatic days in the aftermath of the tragedy. Unfortunately, she's really not OK, and when a former classmate decides to produce a movie about those long-ago deaths, Charlie decides she can't let the truth come out. Because Charlie lied.

The narrative is told in a then and now format leaving so much out that the reader is easily annoyed by the lack of a real plot. The main character, Charlie, is written as a neurotic so it is hard to imagine her successful in her high-powered job. She can't remember what happened that night but is convinced that she's about to be outed. The author attempts a twist that falls flat as revelations occur that make the previous historical accounts moot. And it went on way too long. This could easily have been a short story. Not that interesting of one, but definitely most of the chronicle could have been cut and you'd still be left with the bare bones of banality.

I listened to the audiobook while following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The narrator did an adequate job but found it hard to pick and stick with an accent for the characters.
This isn't one I'd recommend.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have finished this book if I hadn’t received it from the publisher. The more I read, the less I cared about what happened on the fated night of the crime. There are much better thrillers out there, and this is a title that can be skipped.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC! Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead was unfortunately a miss for me but I know this book has potential for other readers.

I was given access to this book and once accepted, the SMP boycott was in full swing. I am standing with the boycott and not offering feedback at this time.

DNF. Will hopefully come back and try again at another time. I really wanted to enjoy this but I struggled to get into it.

I had a hard time getting into this one and just did not love the last third of the book. I was not engaged and it made me sad.

I wanted to like this book more but sadly it took forever for me to get to the end. I guess this genre is not for me.

I’m a huge fan of an unreliable narrator - it’s my favorite twist. Such an emotional rollercoaster as the author drags you through the highs and lows that the characters are going through. The twists and turns left you second guessing everything right up until the end.

I was given a copy of this story to read; but thoughts and opinions are all my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the chance to read this book!

This was a really fun debut novel! It was really twisty and the reveals were fun. I am such a sucker for unreliable narrators that keep you on the edge of your toes. Wealthy families and dark academia vibes in this atmospheric read!

I was able to read through this one quite quickly, with indicates that it was a compelling enough mystery - I just had to be in the right mood to pick it up. I felt myself wanting to know what happened to Charlotte, but I can’t say that I cared that much about her. Her relationship with her fiancé was very superficial (and much more one of convenience) and she kept people at a distance - even those she considered close.
Charlie can’t remember what happened on ‘Scarlet Christmas’ and lied to the police giving a full account of the events. The story takes place 10 years after the tragedy and the reader is taken from past to present while Charlie tries to piece together what happened.
The ending was a little anti-climactic, which made me a bit sad. I think it could have been more interesting if it actually held tru to the thriller vibe that the story had the potential to be. It felt that too much was based around miscommunication for my liking, but I did enjoy the story overall.
I would recommend this book to people that are looking for a light mystery read where a character pieces together their memories in order to get the truth behind a traumatic event.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an e-arc. The opinions expressed are honest and my own.

I really wanted to love this one, but it just missed the mark for me. I know so many others loved this book and I'm so glad!

I just found myself not connecting to the characters and I kept mixing up who was who because I couldn't tell the characters apart. I also felt like this read very childish and so I would zone out while reading it. I think the premise of this is great and is an easy bingeable read, it's kind of forgettable.

DNF @ 25%

I have been struggling lately with thrillers not holding my attention and this one fell victim to that. I just could not seem to care about any of the characters. I also tried listening to the audio versions and that didn’t help

I am withholding my review in solidarity with the boycott against St. Martin’s Press. #SpeakUpSMP Please address the concerns about your employee’s postings and the security of influencer information.

Wow. I was drawn in by the cover and especially the title instantly and I was absolutely not disappointed at all. The story was twisty and full of turns and I recommend it.

This book was frustrating but also I couldn't stop reading. There were a lot of twists and reveals but I wasn't expecting the outcome to feel as underwhelming as it did. Miscommunication is very heavy in this book which is a personal annoyance of mine so that could have contributed to my overall feelings.

I love the format of this book. It had so many things I LOVE in a thriller (unreliable narrators, wealthy families, dark academia). Nicely done! I very much enjoyed this.