I wanted to love this book so soo badly. I love the cover and the title drew me in so well. It reminded me of a story I gave 5 stars to last year. Sadly though I feel like I just had too high of expectations that made it feel a little disappointing. The writing and atmosphere were amazing, and the story was intriguing. ​Yet I had some issues with the pacing and although I love flowery writing that contributed to the pacing being off. I also understand this is my bad but I went into the story thinking it had romance, which thats not really what this is meant to be like.
I do think that if I re read this book I may like it more but for now it feels a good middle of the road story for me.

In Boys with Sharp Teeth Marin's cousin Sam was found dead in after a party with three students from the nearby boarding school and she knows that one of them was responsible. She takes on a new identity - Jamie Vane - and tries to get in with the trio to find out what really happened on that night.

I was skeptical at the beginning of the book. Marin was able to get into this very expensive, exclusive school only 4 days after her cousin passed based on her friend's Mom having worked there over the summer and still having an active password. She is then able to pass herself off as a high test-scoring student while discussing Descartes, Kant, and memorizing Shakespeare with only a southern small town high school education. It seemed a bit far fetched to me that everything was just accepted at face value by the school administration.

Once you are able to get past that, however, the story begins to suck you in. The trio are charming and make her question her theories on what happened to Sam. She needs to ingrain herself further and further into their circle, but therein lies the danger. How far is too far? As she gets tangled deeper and deeper into their lives she begins to get glimpses of Sam's ghost and it gets harder to figure out what is r.eal and what actually happened.

The characters are engaging, although I admit that of the four I probably like Marin/Jamie the least. I love the deep interactions that she has with her mystery writer in the philosophy book and how the quotes they find work their ways into the story. At 2/3 of the way through I was still a bit confused that this book was listed as a romance and I'm not sure I every fully felt that shine through like the author wanted us to. Even so this was a great read with a very creative ending.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC
~
Unfortunately a DNF @ 37%. This book comes across as incredibly full of itself. All of the characters go on these introspective philosophical monologues that feel so out of place because they’re.. literally teenagers. Nothing has happened so far by the time I finally gave up on this, and looking at other reviews, it looks like nothing really ever happens. I’m confused about who her cousin, Sam, even really is? I thought he was a student at this academy because he’s friends with these three kids, but then turns out he was a security guard?? How old was he?? Why was he going to teenage parties?? Im so lost.

I dislike DNFing ARCs but life is too short to read bad books.

5 stars ☆
⤿ spoiler-free review
thank you to net galley for this amazing arc!!

ೃ⁀➷“Cry, or laugh. Fall apart, or go insane. I feed that laugh with my anger, stoking it's heat until all the grief is ashes and I'm alone, in the middle of the current, laughing.”

plot: "I am Jamie Vane. At least until I find the three students who murdered my cousin--and make them pay." Seventeen-year-old Marin James has spent her entire life living in the shadow of the exclusive Huntsworth Academy. And when her cousin’s dead body is found in a creek on school property, Marin knows exactly who’s to blame: Adrian Hargraves and Henry Wu, the enigmatic yet dangerously alluring leaders of the school's social elite. To exact her revenge, Marin enrolls as a new student at Huntsworth, with no money for tuition and a fake identity at tow. Little does she know, the elites play more dirty than she could have ever imagined.

characters: Baz was the only character I liked and I feel like that was on purpose. The rest of the characters were unlikeable, but in the best way possible, where you wanted to understand all of their actions and why they were doing what they were doing. Henry and Adrian felt like the same but completely opposite at so many times, and I feel like we explored that idea really well. Jamie/Marin was so intricate, and just so interesting to read, I could not get enough of her.

pacing: This book was a bit slow for the first part but once we entered part two, the book TOOK OFF. I was so engrossed in the prose, and found myself highlighting plenty of quotes. The description was delicipus, but not too much, and I was eating it up.

other thoughts: That ending HELLO!? The epilogue - are you joking me!? Part four - WHAT?

✧.* Boys With Sharp Teeth, A YA dark academia mystery that feels so much more sophisticated than any other book of this genre I have read, is one of the few five star reads so far this year, and I am so honored to have read this!!

What are you capable of when consumed with grief ?

A haunting journey as our MFC seeks answers for her beloved cousins death , and how far she will go for them. To put yourself in a mind set lost & yet consumed with so much- grief, rage, obsession, hate, desire & love. How those around us can influence us even when we believe we are in control. Through out it is brought to attention- what is real & what is not?

I personally devoured every moment of this story. it is one that will continue to sit with me.

This is NOT a romance- there is some delicious tension, some kisses- but its important to note this. As well as a reminder this is YA & they are HS Seniors.

Instead this is more dark academia & philosophical , with some paranormal aspects.

April 7 posted to TikTok
Boys With Sharp Teeth is a truly dark take on Dark Academia with an an unusual and gutsy female main character. Although it uses the familiar dynamic of an economically disadvantaged newcomer striving to adapt among wealthy students, it diverges from the usual patterns in appealing ways.

After her cousin's mysteriuos death, Marin enters an elite boarding school under a false name and a confident, monied persona. Getting close to the privileged boys she suspects of killing her cousin is her best hope for learning the truth about the neglected case.

Seductively written, Boys With Sharp Teeth performs a striptease, revealing glimpses of the suspects, the school’s mysteries, and the Marin’s past. Vivid, disturbing scenes flash through the mundane academic surface. The gothic vibes and creepy horror imagery create tension and dread.

I could relate to the push-pull of wanting acceptance and not trusting people. I liked that Marin isn’t fluffy, ‘nice,’ and likable in the ways girls and women are often expected/pressured to be. Her alter ego gives her freedom to be bold, tough, and biting toward the kinds of people who look down on her.

The flirting banter and teasing--complete with all the gestures, feelings, uncertainties, glances, and skin contact that's so fraught in undefined passion--work well. Nearly everyone is keeping secrets and playing games. These are largely selfish people, and at times Marin is naive about herself and her motivations.

There are toxic dynamics and high-risk, dangerous behaviour and drug use for kicks. I have mixed feelings about some of it.

The novel wasn't as compelling as I’d hoped. The MC going into rhapsodies over each of the guys, vacillating about her feeling, and then resolving to focus on solving the murder becomes repetitive.

The glimmers of a dark undertow driving the events kept me interested. Fortunately, the novel pays off in the final third. It's a promising debut. I enjoyed it enough to get the ebook after finishing the audiobook. Boys With Sharp Teeth has a magnetic complexity and unsettling moral slippages that live up to the cover's tagline.

I gave this 3.5 stars. I’d read more book books from Jenni Howell. Recommended for emotionally-stable YA readers and adults patient with slow-burn books–who are comfortable with detailed disturbing material.

Thank you, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Roaring Brook Press, for the eARC for consideration. These are solely my own opinions.

A gorgeously written, suspenseful mystery that kept me hooked! I don't often reach for YA these days, but I thought this was a very successful and impressive debut. Absolutely worth checking out if you are a dark academia fan !

I was really intrigued by the idea of this story. The overall mystery and build up are really what got me through this book. I will give the story additional credit for the characters. They are diverse and intriguing sort of encapsulate a lot of modern dark academia vibes.

However, I have to admit that I really struggled with this book. Even from the beginning, I found the writing and narration repetitive and, at times, clunky. And, sadly, so much of the plot was way too contrived and unrealistic. How quickly "Jamie" is introduced to the trio and immediately given intimate access to each of them completely stole the story of any urgency and depth. The plot points sort of all fall into place and right into our characters lap; so much so that Jamie frequently seems to neglect her entire motivation and spends more time than necessary getting caught up in personal affairs. Which I normally wouldn't mind, but nothing is authentically developed or built upon, but rather just spoon fed without any characterization or growth. Throughout the entire story, I felt like no one behaved in a believable way (even the headmistress). And the entire lie that Jamie concocts (and the entire foundation for the story) is so unrealistic and easily debunked that it was hard to buy into this story from the beginning.
And so much of what we see and are told ends up being in almost direct contrast to the ultimate reveal and supernatural element at play. There is no real build up or development; instead we are met with a sort of blunt 180 that could have been a lot more interesting than it actually was.

And, rare for me (as I am often quite forgiving and understanding of added narrative fluff and build up), I have to admit that this story was far too long. I think it could nearly be cut in half. There are definitely parts of the story that drag on and make it even harder to read. For a YA mystery/ thriller, the length and pacing really made this a challenge to get through.

I was really excited about this book, and while the cover is stunning and the story sounds promising, this just was not executed in a way that I enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and Roaring Brook Press for providing me with a digital review copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

4/5 stars

I love a twisted, fantastical dark academia book, so I was very intrigued to see how this book would live up to my expectations. Overall, I think it succeeded!

Characters:
At its core, this book is very character-driven. There is, of course, the through-line of the mystery of Sam's death, but I think of this story as more of a character study exploring the grief, hatred, love, and friendship that these characters experience. If you need lovable main characters though, this book probably won't be for you. All of our MCs - Jamie/Marin, Adrian "Graves", Henry, and Baz - are incredibly flawed and, frankly, toxic people. I personally think that complex, flawed characters are so much more compelling than "good" ones, so I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the shitty things they got up to in this book. The dynamic between Graves and Henry was especially interesting, and I loved learning more about it as Jamie did. However, I don't think I particularly connected with any of the characters, at least outside of Jamie (who I at least sympathized with, being in her head). We don't get to know Henry, Graves, or Baz very well beyond the surface level, which left me not feeling particularly invested in what happens to them in the end. Although, I acknowledge that this might've been an intentional choice of the author's, showing that Jamie/Marin really didn't know them at all.

Dark Academia Setting:
I was cautious going into this book knowing that it was being marketed/labeled as "dark academia", since recently the genre has lost a lot of its purpose in critiquing racism and classism in academia. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this book appropriately discussed themes of privilege, wealth, and power - especially considering the main character is a "townie" outsider entering this world of rich, entitled kids. I particularly appreciated the discussion of her cousin, Sam's, worth and role as a guard at the school before he died. These themes are definitely more prevalent in the first half of the book and start to peter out as we get deeper into the mystery and supernatural elements, so I do wish that they had continued as more of a central part of the narrative throughout the whole book.

The Paranormal Element:
For some reason, this book is tagged on Goodreads as having vampires, so I want to clear this up now - there are no vampires in this book. At first, I was a little bit confused (and maybe disappointed), but in the end, I think that the supernatural elements of this story are super interesting and unique! There's not much to say that doesn't include spoilers, but the "magic" in this book is dark and creepy and perfectly accompanies the intense emotional themes of this book. Nevertheless, as much as I enjoyed these fantasy elements, I have a couple of issues. First, I wish that it was introduced earlier on in the book. The fantasy element honestly feels more like a subplot in this book, especially for the first 50-70%. It was very slow to become a central part of the story, and then suddenly was incredibly important in the last quarter, which can be jarring for some readers. Second, there is very little explanation about the way the "magic" works in this story, and I was left wanting to know a lot more.

The Ending:
I have a feeling that a lot of readers might not like the ending of this book, but it really worked for me. If you want a "happy" ending, this probably isn't the story for you. Without spoiling too much, I love the justice of the "awful" characters getting what they deserve, and the tragedy of the "innocent" characters getting caught in the crossfire. I also appreciated that the ending wasn't too vague or a cliffhanger, but still had an open-endedness that leaves the reader thinking about what might be next for these characters. It's an ending that will probably stick with me for a while.

Overall, I had a great time reading this book. It hooked me from the beginning, and I finished the second half in an evening because I was so interested to find out what was happening! I would definitely recommend it for readers who enjoy dark academia and slow-paced, dark paranormal stories!

Honestly I could not get into this book and tried really hard. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters and DNF’d at chapter 7. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Overall I loved this paranormal dark academia YA thriller. It follows Marin James as she tries to uncover the truth behind her cousin Sam’s alleged murder by going undercover at Huntsworth Academy.

Featuring heavy doses of philosophy and theology sprinkled with poetry, Marin’s alter-ego Jamie is forced to navigate between pages of half truths and white lies to the point where even I had to reread several pages to comb through what I might have missed. All the while Howell crafted the most morbidly entertaining hateful love story, both platonically and romantically.

Overall I rated this between 3.75 and 4.5 stars, because while the book as a whole definitely had me clinging to my kindle eager to read more I also found myself lost in translation the same way Marin was for most of the book. Not to mention the heavy subject matter (including alcoholism, drug abuse, self harm, suicide, and murder) which I would definitely recommend for *older* YA audiences and may honestly be better suited for the new adult demographic!

All this to say I can’t wait to read more of Howell’s writing and I will definitely be snagging a physical copy to annotate 😍🥰

A lush, gorgeously written exploration of the darkest parts of a soul. A spine-tingling mystery of a young girl with a hidden identity that kept me guessing at every turn. I was desperate to know what happened and what each clue meant, and at no point did I predict what was going to happen next. Jenni Howell has written a marvelous debut.

I was initially drawn in to reading this because of the cover, and the first half of the story I was hooked. I loved the characters and the story line. In the second half was not what I expected and was thrown off a bit.

This book has good bones, but the execution is lacking.

Deeply creepy vibes? Check. Violence? Check. Academic setting? Check. Unhinged students with rich boy complexes? Check. A girl who is worse than the killers of her cousin? Also check. And yet...

This book has two major flaws that should have been improved in the editorial process to refine it and make it superb. The first is the pacing. Readers are rushed through the quagmire of academic life AND the heartpounding experiences alike. The torturous exploration of daily life and the precipice of death is, at least to my understanding, a requirement of a solid dark academia novel. Second is the magic/spiritual/mystic system at play. Howell nods to it throughout the book, but when poked and proded, there is no support system to justify WHY this power exists in the world- for all that she spends much of the book exploring metacognition and sense of self. When the climax arrived, I was left reeling, not from emotional wind up but from "WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?" because honestly, where?

Thank you as always to NetGalley and the galley gods for providing me this e-ARC.

Much more like a 3.5! Overall, an intriguing premise and set-up unfortunately fell a bit flat for me. I was intrigued by the description and cover and thought the beginning was interesting, but unfortunately it dragged a bit in the middle and, while it definitely picked up again at the end, I'm not 100% sure how I felt about the paranormal twist. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it focused more on unveiling the corruption in the school itself (like covering up three deaths in a semester?) rather than adding these elements.

Ultimately a very atmospheric debut with a lot of twists and turns, even when I had only half a clue what was going on at any given point (the raven boys comparison is very apt in this regard)!

Thank you for the gifted copy!

I wanted to love this more than I actually did. The cover drew me in. The premise had me hooked. But the writing felt disjointed and the pacing was off. Still, solid effort and vision!

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t quite for me. The premise sounded interesting, and I love a good dark academia mystery but it couldn’t deliver.
I felt like the plot got lost in the middle in order to give us moody, dark academia vibes. Where were the rest of the students and how was a poor public school girl keeping up with elite private school kids. Also how the school not more suspicious about her in general? So while the atmosphere was there, the setting didn’t fully deliver.
And I get that our characters are morally gray if not straight up dark. I get they aren’t supposed to be likable but I found them not very interesting either. Like I truly didn’t get them or really care. I think the personal dynamics could have been explored more rather than waxing poetic about philosophy.
I can see people would like the mirror element, but it was a bit too surreal for my taste. I wasn’t expecting that element and cannot say I loved it. The ending was an interesting take and I did like that.
So not quite my cup of tea but would try another of the author’s.

boys with sharp teeth is a book that has an interesting premise filled with mystery and vengeance but falls short with its extremely messy execution that made the book a struggle to get through and that i considered dnfing at multiple points throughout.

for starters, the writing left a lot to be desired. this book relies heavily on the idea of it being a dark academia with a dark and haunting atmosphere despite that fact that the setting is very rarely described. this book could take place at any school and it would not affect the story in the slightest. this book is 400 pages long and i still don’t have a clear idea of any of the places in this academy. considering this is a campus novel you’d think that more effort would be put into where it’s actually set. the writing does have some really poetic and descriptive lines but they are sprinkled in so haphazardly that is feels like whiplash to read certain chapters that are more steeped in metaphor and then you go to the next chapter and the writing is basic and juvenile.

the chapters in this book are also just really poorly paced and rely too much on intentionally ending the scene early just so that the reader is left on a cliffhanger with no resolution. characters will seem to just randomly pop up out of nowhere, they say the most insane thing that should (in theory) completely change the direction the book is going in but then the chapter will end there and move on to a completely unrelated scene where the mc never thinks about what she was told at the end of the last chapter ever again. it makes the book feel really disjointed and incomplete as if it’s more so a collection of scenes that the reader is supposed to string together rather than a cohesive mystery novel that the audience can follow along with. it’s like the author didn’t know how to write the end of the scene so she ended it there and moved on, which made for very lazy writing.

the mystery aspect of this book is extremely underdeveloped to the point where i forget we were even supposed to be solving the mystery of jamie/marin’s cousins murder because she spent so much time NOT doing what she’s at this academy to be doing. within the first couple chapters jamie/marin is practically handed the easiest clues to finding the murderer, which is extremely unfortunate considering she’s TERRIBLE at solving this mystery. instead of using these clues and the very limited time she has at this school to avenge her cousins death, she spends her time writing in books and then immediately trusting people just because they write back to her in said book even though all signs point to that they’re not trustworthy. oh, but he’s hot too, so he MUST be trustworthy. she knows from the beginning three people that are most likely to be involved in her cousins murder (adrian, henry, and baz) and yet she immediately starts to make blind assumptions about them rather than actually collecting evidence to prove her theory.

onto the characters, which are all both extremely tropey and extremely underdeveloped. jamie/marin is the most insufferable fmc ever. adrian/graves is typical ronan lynch knockoff who seems mean but is actually ~ really deep ~ once you get to know him (honestly that’s the only similarity this book even has with the raven boys). henry is a character who is meant to come off as the over-the-top guy but his characterization is so all over the place that he was always really forgettable to me and also really unlikeable when it seemed like you were supposed to be rooting for him. the most unfortunate part about all of this is that baz, the only likeable character who had any sense of characterization that wasn’t based on being sexy and alluring, is not even mentioned in the synopsis or on the cover despite supposedly being in the trio of people that jamie/marin believes was involved in her cousin’s murder. this book puts so much of the focus on the male characters and their relationships with the fmc and completely throughs the other female character to the wayside.

and don’t get me started on the love triangle, because what in the instalove/lust was that. jamie/marin has absolutely no reason to be falling for these boys considering how both of them use her and treat her like shit. she acknowledges the fact that she believes they murdered her cousin while kissing them!!! she puts aside all of her morals and her friendships just to get attention from these boys that she constantly complains about and who have proven over and over to be untrustworthy. everything about the romantic undertones of this book made me extremely uncomfortable, not to mention the fact that the romance is so poorly written that it just seems to randomly spawn on page with no build up.

the logistics of this book also make absolutely no sense. yes i realize this is a paranormal mystery but that doesn’t explain the fact that a 17 year old was somehow able to manage to forge her way into this prestigious academy under a false name and a fake check. and does no one in her home town care that she just randomly went missing? not to mention the fact that she makes it so incredibly obvious to everyone she encounters that she knows the person who was murdered and is trying to find his killer. for how bad she is at this you’d think she’d get caught by now.

this book had all the individual pieces for being a story that is meant for me, but in the end it became so messy and frustrating that i had to power myself through to even finish it.

*also a quick note: i see this book being put on queer book lists (probably because of the cover?) but it is NOT a queer book. maybe you could say that jamie and baz had some subtly queer undertones but nothing in this book was explicitly queer*

thank you to netgalley and macmillan for providing an earc in exchange for an honest review ♡

Sharp and interesting, I really did enjoy this. Had a larger than expected philosophical aspect which I really did enjoy. Perfect dark academic novel!

3.5 rounded up to 4

This book was absolutely not what I was expecting. Every time I thought I knew where it was heading it went in a completely different direction. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this story I'm honestly a riot of conflicting emotions right now.

The pros:
This was definitely something fresh for me. I don't usually read horror or horror adjacent so I'm not sure how unique this would feel to someone deeper in that genre but it was very fresh for me.
The writing was beautiful. The prose was varied and elicited strong reactions and vivid imagery

Cons:
The prose could be a little over flowery at times, making parts of the story drag. It took me til about 50% of the book to actually care about the story
I didn't honestly like any of the characters which I think was sort of the point? I expected to like them more as the story went on but I just. They were all awful, even in their growth and reveal.
There were some significant plot holes and some places where things just happen magically easily because plot magic propels it so

Overall, for a debut book I'm very impressed. I'll be keeping an eye on this author for future works and am excited to see how her style develops.

Thanks to netgalley for the arc