Dark academia, dark thoughts, propulsive plot, 90s references? What is there not to love--especially when there is a depth and deftness deployed that is recently lacking in recent suspense novels. Truly a special tome for us 90s girls!

DOLL PARTS by Penny Zang took me right back to my high school years. My angsty days in my combat boots and babydoll dresses, writing poetry, song lyrics, listening to grunge music—specifically the riot grrrl bands like Hole, Bikini Kill, and Babes in Toyland. Ahhh, yes. I was so complicated and misunderstood. Ha! Zang captures the essence of girlhood, along with the difficult teenage and college years SO wonderfully in this novel.

QUICK SYNOPSIS:
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘐 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘸, 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.”

If I had to describe this debut using just one word, it would be unique. Yes, it’s also dark, twisty, creepy, and gritty, but it’s truly one of a kind. It blends themes of female friendship, motherhood, and marriage with mysterious and supernatural elements in an academic setting perfectly. I found Zang’s writing style absolutely mesmerizing. It’s very atmospheric and even melancholic at times—it pulls you in and does not let go.

READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:

- Female friendship
- Motherhood and marriage
- Dark academia
- #sadgirl stories
- Murder mysteries
- Alternating timelines and POVs
- Girlhood and teenage years
- Sylvia Plath and Courtney Love

If you’re feeling dark and moody, and/or looking for something a little different that also has a bit of an edge, please keep this one in mind. It’s a super solid debut that I highly recommend. It would be great for the fall! 4/5 stars for DOLL PARTS! It releases on August 26th!

3.75, rounded up.

Nostalgic, angsty, sad girl friends with a crazy past & a roller coaster of the present. I truly enjoyed the dual timelines/dual POVs in this book. It was like reading two thrillers at the same time. The “tea” was piping hawt with this one! I do love me some Plath & it was this that initially drew me to the book. I think just I wanted more of the horror. I know this will be perfect for the right people 🖤

Thank you NetGalley, publishers & author for this eARC!

Wow, so much was happening in this debut novel, but was a very enjoyable read. The summary intrigued me very much but I felt it was hard at times to read because of how poetic and descriptive it was. Even so, the book did hold my attention as I wanted to figure out what happened. Give it a try, it could be for you if you want to delve into a suspenseful mystery dueling two best friends and a death.

Thank you NetGalley and Penny Zang for the opportunity to read this ARC!

What an incredible debut! Normally I don't care for dual timeline, but Zang navigated this so deftly, giving excellent drive and characterization in both, by putting each in a different character's POV. Zang is a master of suspense as well as building characters that feel so real. I can't wait to read anything and everything she writes!

I knew I had to read this book when it was mentioned that it had The Virgin Suicides Vibes, SIGN ME UP! A big Sylvia Plath fan myself, as well as a thriller fan, this was the perfect book for me! It had an eerie sense, mixed a little bit of horror or magical thinking, but overall I really enjoyed it. At the end everything clicked, and the twists were so good! I kind of had a feeling what was happening, but all the extra twists were a nice touch! I can't wait to read what else this author comes out with.

An enjoyable read exploring the complicated dynamic of female friendship and messy romance. I really enjoyed the dual timeline. Beginning the book in the present and sprinkling in snippets from the past let me, as a reader, appreciate the significance of objects and themes that the characters themselves are ignorant of. I would recommend this for fans of Sylvia Plath, dark academic girlhood, and romantic drama and suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC!

Let me start by saying I’m a huge Sylvia Plath fan so this book was right up my alley. I loved all the references to her life and her works. I also enjoyed The Virgin Suicides and there are definitely a lot of similarities in this story.

Overall this was a great read and the story flowed so perfectly. I’d recommend this book to fans of Sylvia Plath or The Bell Jar!

Whoa! I am broken! Well, bent, not broken. Much like the women in Doll Parts. Rich, powerful, yet vulnerable female characters drive this tale of friendship, pain and survival. I really didn’t know what to expect, but this book hit a nerve. A must read for any Sylvia Plath “sad girl”. Can you hear the keening? I can and it resonates.

This book was captivating—beautiful, nostalgic, and layered with depth. The 90’s setting pulled me right in, making the darker themes all the more striking. It’s unsettling at times, but I couldn’t put it down.

Two best friends start college together and quickly learn their campus hides a dark legacy of student deaths, grimly nicknamed The Sylvia Club. As they dig into the mystery, they cross paths with a professor obsessed with the deaths of women—and particularly Sylvia Plath—whose presence is just as unnerving as the rumors.

Told in dual timelines and POVs, we follow Nikki in the past and Sadie in the present—two very different perspectives that slowly reveal the bigger picture. The flashbacks of Nikki and her best friend navigating college life felt so vivid they made me miss my own best friend.

At its core, Doll Parts is a story about friendship, overcoming trauma, and fighting for justice for young women whose lives were cut short. With its raw emotion, literary nods, and haunting themes, it sits perfectly in the realm of sad girl literature—dark, disturbing, and unforgettable.

💫 Huge thank you to the talented Penny Zang, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Penny Zang, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Netgalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review (unpaid).

A truly haunting and beautiful story of what it means to be a misunderstood teenage girl.

4.25 This book has a great atmosphere - 90s grunge, ouija boards, a gothic private college. A whole student body is obsessed with sad girls, poetry, and Sylvia Plath. One particular class focuses on dead female celebrities, and there are pop questions throughout the book. Did I know all the answers? Pretty much. Why? Because our culture is fascinated with pretty, dead girls whether by murder or suicide.

Told through dual perspectives and dual timelines, I really wanted to know the truth behind the string of suicides at the college, why Nikki and Sadie stopped being in contact, and what the big night was that changed everything. It was a little bit of a wait, and very twisted, but told in an eerie and beautiful way. Enjoyable thriller with definite gothic vibes.

“For the hungry, wild-eyed poet in all of us.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for access to the eARC of this book!

An astonishing debut novel that perfectly captures the razor edge feeling of girlhood - how all encompassing it is to be so young, so completely yourself, so unwaveringly sure of everything...and yet, once you leave (and you always must), you can never return.

I was blown away by the writing in here. The melancholy tone, which never felt overblown or dramatic. The finely tuned mysteries, which absorbed me to the end. All of it was perfect.

I was equal parts unable to stop reading and devastated that I had finished. Thank god I can just start it all over again.

Dark, atmospheric, haunting, and melancholic.
Doll Parts by Penny Zang is a dark academic thriller about life, love, motherhood, and the bonds of friendship—those deep, soul-tied connections that linger across years and loss.

For best friends Nikki and Sadie, college was supposed to be a fresh start. But their campus holds a disturbing legacy: the Sylvia Club, a rumored cult-like circle of girls obsessed with Sylvia Plath—and a trail of mysterious deaths linked to them.

Grieving a personal loss, Nikki becomes entangled in the darkness surrounding the club.
Flash forward twenty years: Nikki is gone. Sadie, now pregnant by Nikki’s grieving husband (yes, you read that right), finds herself living in Nikki’s old home. And soon, the house begins to speak. Clues emerge. Secrets unravel. Is Nikki reaching out from beyond?

Told in a dual timeline through the voices of Nikki and Sadie, this story is layered with tension, emotional weight, and a lingering sense of dread.

Penny Zang CAN TELL A STORY.
I was completely captivated—this book made me reflect on the friendships that shape us, the ones that leave a mark. Not the convenient kind, but the kind that knows your soul. The aching beauty of that.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Penny Zang for the ARC. I can’t wait to read whatever you write next.

4 stars This book was weird in a way I really liked. The writing is raw and beautiful, and some of the stories hit me hard. It’s emotional without being dramatic, and there’s something fragile and fierce about it at the same time.

Not every piece landed perfectly, but the ones that did—wow. It stayed with me. Definitely worth reading if you like stories that feel a little broken, but still full of heart.

I haven’t been entranced by a book like this in so long! It was so gripping and mysterious and I was dying to uncover what really happened that very fateful night and what was going to ultimately come of Nikki, Sadie, and their friendship.

The dual POV and dual timeline really worked here (sometimes that can get a little convoluted) and that really kept me interested while reading.

Def recommend!

For a book about friendship, there was very little of it in here.
And that’s the biggest disappointment of all.

I'll start by saying that the narration and its clear intent of being “edgy” and kinda poetic didn't do for me.
The biggest problem of all: the dual POV, of which dual has very little. Sadie and Nikki are supposed to feel like the same person to underline how much alike they are, but since they are also supposed to draw a line between the before and after, in more points than I could count it felt more like a long, single narration.

Purposely or not, that's also upheld by how little we see of Nikki and Sadie’s friendship, which should be the core of the whole story but, for me, just wasn't.
There’s a plot twist now and before — both of which aren't really twists — and the most prominent character, aka Nikki, is always one step behind (of the reader, too).

As a mystery, being so obvious and lacking any aspect I could have expected, turned out flat.
As a whatever-the-author-wanted-to-tell, I'm disappointed in saying that the only part the two were really friends was when they down-talked one another and explained how well they knew their best friend’s worst traits — I knew I wasn't reading a comedy, but what a friendship.

Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

This book grabbed me from page one — I was immediately curious about these characters and how they ended up in this situation. I love books that explore the complicated nature of female friendships specifically female friendships that grow from a young age to adulthood. And this book definitely did that, with plenty of twists.

This was part dark academia (in the past timeline) and part new mom domestic thriller (in the modern timeline). I actually think the author did a great job merging the two, and I enjoyed the multiple POVs. It was difficult to know who to root for — Nikki, Sadie, both or neither — which made for an even more interesting reading experience.

This is a very well-written and creative debut novel, which focuses on a pretty unbelievable and weird event that forms the basis for much of the novel: Sadie, whose good friend Nikki dies (and Sadie had not spoken to Nikki in the 20 years preceding Nikki’s death) ends up having a baby with Nikki’s husband, Harrison. Talk about the willing suspension of disbelief! Yet, this was an intriguing story, told in dual timelines (I found the contemporary timeline story to be much better than the past timeline story, which seemed to drag quite a bit), and overall a good read. I do look forward to the author’s next work.

thank you #NetGalley for this ARC!!! honestly, loved it. gave weird Vassar vibes (probably bc liberal arts college obsessed with Sylvia Plath). but the friendship between Sadie & Nikki was disturbingly beautiful.