Howell does an amazing job of crafting an atmospheric tale! The prose in this book was just gorgeous. If you like dark academia with a bit of horror dashed on top, this is for you.

*Thanks to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for audiobook for review*

The narrator did a good job maintaining the atmosphere of this twisty dark story of revenge. Our main girl goes into the Academy with a new name for vengeance for her cousin and the beginning of this had me on the edge of my seat. The middle felt like a fever dream that the narrator guided me through. The end, however, was underwhelming. What should have felt like an explosion lacked the dramatic atmosphere that happened during an earlier car scene. I would still recommend for fans of darker teen shows, but as someone who loves The Raven Boys the dynamic of relationships does not compare.

There seems to always be a fascination mixed with hatred for the rich prep boys who think they are above everything. That is true for this book as well. Marin/Jamie is on the hunt for the killer who murdered her cousin Sam. This book did not go as I expected. Which I am glad for. I was worried that it would be typical, girl falls for bad boy (two in this book, Henry and Adrian) and dives into the darkness, becoming unraveled and losing herself in her search for justice. It took that and twisted it much farther and while I got a bit bored and confused in the middle with Marin jumping from one boy to the next, it got really dark and really fulfilled the title, but not in the way I expected. Very morally grey characters (except maybe Baz) and a nice touch of the paranormal but also tragedy.

The narrator did a good job of voicing Marin and really brought her character and this academy world to life. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to listen to this audiobook.

Jenni Howell writes such delicious atmosphere. There's something very sharp about her prose. On a sentence level, this had me on the edge of my seat. The plot and character arcs were muddy, but the writing alone kept me going. I can't wait to see what she does next!

“They’re wicked. She’s worse.” The only thing wicked about her is how wickedly bad she is at being a detective and playing Jamie Vane. Every move she made I wanted to scream because she was so miserably awful at being a prep school girl.

To start, I’d like to mention that I don’t know what was going on for most of this book. We spend SO much time inside Marin’s head that the plot is a backdrop to her endless, repetitive monologue. Sam, sam, sam, sam, I GET IT. What I don’t get is the motivations for literally anything the other characters do.
Everything is told & not shown. It tries to be so edgy but it really says nothing.

She keeps saying things like “if i was still human” as if she’s not the most bland, boring ass character that is even bad at PRETENDING to be evil.

I feel like the best parts are stolen directly from Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo & some sprinkling of direct Raven Cycle plotlines.

Now, I did enjoy the end. I thought it was cool and interesting. However, by 11 hours of an utterly insufferable main character, I was literally praying for it to end.

Boys With Sharp Teeth is a YA supernatural dark academia thriller/horror that got 4 🌟🌟🌟🌟 from me! I listened to the audio and I really enjoyed this book! It reminded me of a couple of other paranormal dark academia novels that I’ve read and enjoyed. (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.) 👻🏫🩸

Synopsis:
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.

Swapping her ripped jeans for a crisp prep school skirt, Marin infiltrates Huntsworth to seek justice. But her quest is quickly muddied by a confusing attraction to her new life, and to the two dysfunctional and depraved boys who somehow understand her better than anyone ever has.

When Marin uncovers an otherworldly secret the boys are hiding within Huntsworth’s ivied gates.l, the lines between right and wrong, love and hate, and nightmare and reality begin to crumble — and nothing is as it seems.

Welcome to Huntsworth Academy.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for proving an ALC! 🖤

Okay, so this book was supposed to be like We Were Liars meets The Raven Boys, which sounds amazing, right? Elite boarding school, dark secrets, revenge... But it didn't really work for me. The whole thing felt messy. I got the revenge part, but then there was this weird "otherworldly" thing that felt totally out of place. The characters were all over the shop, I couldn't grasp who I was supposed to care about. Honestly, it felt like the author couldn't decide what kind of book it wanted to be. Maybe I'm just too old for this one! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC – it just wasn't my thing.

When Marin James's cousin is found dead in a creek at Huntsworth Academy, she knows exactly who to blame and decides to take matters into her own hands. She infiltrates the school under an alias in order to get close to those she holds responsible, Adrian Hargraves and Henry Wu, the leader's of the school's social elite. But the closer she gets, the more confused Marin becomes as she starts to fall for her new life and the two boys she initially set out to destroy.

I'll be honest - this has been one of the hardest reviews I've written in a while. I absolutely loved the vibe of this book. It's dark and gritty, and the obsession that surrounds Marin's every action feels so tangible. It was 100% not at all what I was expecting...but not in a bad way.

Does a lot actually happen in this book? Not really. And the reveal at the end remains a bit mysterious. But honestly, for me, this book was more about the emotions and the blinding obsession that takes place within this little group Marin becomes a part of than the everyday actions of the characters.

I listened to this one on audio, narrated by Jennifer Pickens, and she does such a credit to the vibe of this book. The entire book (minus one chapter) is told from Marin's POV, and the way she speaks makes you feel like you're really there in Marin's head.

Read if you like:
YA dark academia
Love triangle
Obsession
Fake identity
Paranormal

Hello Dark Academia Fans! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book, but I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere throughout the novel was great (definitely dark academia vibes). Also anything relating an academy, dark secrets, and mystery - sign me up! I will say this was a bit predictable and long winded. The premise was great and writing wonderful, but didn't fall in love with this one.

This one had a beautiful writing style, and the audiobook was well done. The beginning hooked me, the ending was interesting, but the parts in the middle lost me a bit. This is also definitely not about vampires (sad). It's also the case of 'I have no idea what's going on' but in a bad way? Not in the 'my mind is blown' kind of way, but more of a frustrating 'why is this happening.' There were also many points where you really had to ignore how certain things were playing out because they just weren't realistic at all, including the ending.

Extremely well written dark academia, YA murder mystery. I love the inner monologues, the mysterious characters, the dark feels. Following the FMC undercover in a dark feeling academy seeking answers to solve a murder is a read that feels interactive. I wanted to solve the murder with her. I highly recommend this read.

Oh man I was so excited to read this but the narrator actually drove me up the wall. Her voice is the most depressing thing I've ever heard - any intrigue in the prose itself was actually decimated by her delivery. I would consider picking the book up to read on page because I actually found the subject intriguing and I love dark academia!

I greatly enjoyed this. I found the story to be engaging and I liked the way the narrator was. I love dark academia-style books, and I think this book is a great addition to the collection of dark academia books out there. I liked the layers of each character and the story that we learn as the story continued.

I thought the audio was well done on this book. The narrator had an accent that fit with the character and their narration kept with the pacing of the story. It definitely helped immerse me and I could see it actually being the voice of the MC!

I’m not super big on audio books but i was so excited for this title that i thought i’d give it a go. the story was reminiscent of summer sons and the raven boys, which i adore, and i enjoyed the supernatural suspense as well. i think i’d definitely rate the physical book higher, but 3 stars for the audio!

I felt like the voice actor fit the macabre story very well. normally it is like pulling teeth to listen to an audiobook at normal speed, but it wasn't too bad, and it fit well with the whole vibe of the story. It was not what I was expecting, but in a good way. I enjoyed the story and the stream of consciousness.

3.5 stars. A good book, would recommend it to those I think may like it, but would not necessarily recommend broadly to everyone. Trigger warnings for death, violence, blood, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.

Some books invite you to solve a mystery. Others drag you into the mind of someone who thinks they already have. Boys with Sharp Teeth does both. I find this to be an incredible effort for a debut work. The atmosphere is thick with tension all. the. time. and the prose is hauntingly vivid. I found the way Jenni Howell described things as simple as seeing your breath in the cold poetic and nearly palpable. But I also had to suspend a lot of belief throughout the book and, even then, was left incredulous at the haphazard way our main character, Marin, develops her beliefs and makes decisions. The plot rolls steadily along until the last 25%, where there's a rush of activity and revelations and twist after twist after twist - a good number of which I did not predict, which was nicely surprising. The prose beautifully but I was so frustrated with Marin for so long that this work doesn't quite reach 4 stars.

We follow Marin, racked with grief from the very recent (think 3 days ago) passing of her cousin Sam, deceiving her way into a private school as one Jamie Vane. She somehow manages to procure the fake paperwork she needed, submit it to the school, have them admit her, dye her hair, and get to the school by that third day immediately after finding the body of her best friend/cousin. Ok, I can go along with that. She's convinced Sam's death was orchestrated by one or some members of a trio at the school Sam had mentioned befriending: Adrian, Henry, and Baz. When she gets there, she is assigned to a suite she shares with Adrian, while Henry and Baz share a suite on the same floor. I will admit it took a lot to get over the fact that this fancy private school allows for mixed gender suites with shared in-suite bathrooms. But this access is what allows Marin to integrate herself into this friend group and push towards finding out what really happened to Sam.

Let's talk about Marin. Marin is so sure of her ability to read people, to "discern truth." The problem is that she is absolutely terrible at it. Without getting into spoilers, Marin essentially believes what she wants to believe, sees the evidence that prop up her beliefs, and explains away the evidence that suggest otherwise. This seeps into everything - from her investigation to who she chooses to trust. She is constantly in denial and she doesn't start questioning herself until the very last part of the book. She jumps to conclusions and makes bizarre choices. She is a terrible detective, and I did want to yell at her to ask more questions, look into more things. But she was focused in on one theory of the crime, had her horse blinders on, and we have no choice but to go along with her on this ride.

As for the trio, Henry is a complete maniac (and you'll find out why), Adrian is basically a punching bag, and Baz is the sweetest person but comes across as more one-dimensional compared to the others (and she's not even on the cover or in the book blurb, justice for Baz!!). The relationships between each of the characters, Marin included, is definitely toxic, obsessive, possessive.

In terms of the supernatural aspect, I do wish it was a bit more clearly explained or just had more time to play out. It lingers throughout the book, but really comes to a head at the very end. I was still left quite confused by the end on how exactly the supernatural aspect worked.

Overall, I was left not quite grasping what the themes of this book were. What Howell wanted us to get out of it. A book definitely doesn't need themes - you can certainly just want to write a good story. But I kept feeling like the book was trying to get something across that I didn't quite get.

I did consume this book in both audio and written form. I preferred the written form. It was a bit tough for me as an audio listener because there tends to be a lot of other prose in between pieces of dialogue. A character asked a question, prose, prose, prose, and then another character answered. But by the time they answered, I would forget what the question was, or what the character was initially saying. Sometimes it's not even clear who is speaking without going back. This is fine when reading, since you can always just flit your eyes back up the page if you lose the context, little to no time is lost, you can proceed smoothly with the story. But it is infinitely harder in audiobook form when you have to go back 30+ seconds and then listen to the prose all over again, which sometimes made me forget again. I found this book is better experienced in print. I found the narrator's voice to be very well suited for the this type of darker, grittier story. And I liked how there were different tones of voice for different characters! But it did feel monotone at times, sometimes making it difficult to tell when characters switched speaking or when new sentences began.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the audiobook and eARC for this title. My opinions are my own and 100% honest.

I really did like the concept of this book, just not the way it was executed. I believe if I hadn’t read the book in audio form, I probably would’ve enjoyed it more than I did.

The writing is somehow both show don’t tell Ms Stella don’t show at the same time. While I feel like I couldn’t follow the story at moments, there were also plenty of times I felt like the storyline could’ve delved so much deeper, especially into some of the character arcs.

I did like Bas, but unfortunately, even though she is what holds this story together, she isn’t on the front cover. I also don’t think it’s appropriate to label this book as queer, as even though there are some tense moments between the two male characters, it’s never majorly developed other than stating that they “loved each other.”

The audiobook narration was pleasant. I liked the way the narrator could equally portray all of Jamie’s moods differently and well.

This book gave me the same vibe of reading "If We Were Villains," but with a YA vampire twist. At times I was really invested and at others I felt like the story jumped around and was somewhat confusing. The premise was really good but it fell just a bit short for me. Overall I did like the story and I thought the narrator was really good! I never really connected with the FMC or any of the other characters. This book just may have not been a book for me. Again, it was not horrible, but I wanted more.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC!

This cover is amazing! It gives the exact vibe the book gave… dark academia. Boys with Sharp Teeth is eerie, obsessive, cut throat, and unexpected. I was bouncing between characters and not knowing how I got there. There are so many elements in this book that caught me off guard. The relationships, the setting, and the twists! I enjoyed Jenni Howell’s writing style and Jennifer Pickens as the narrator. Steady pacing with a ton of drama. You won’t have any choice but to take your time with this one.