This book was... fine, I think? I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but I've read enough YA romantic horror that a lot of this didn't feel new or special. However, it also didn't do anything particularly badly. Anastasia's ghost was fun, I always love a good ghostie, and I enjoyed the slowburn between Violet and Calvin, but I just didn't find anything to sink my teeth into. Together We Rot, the author's debut, had that aspect of cult and religion to add an extra layer to the story- this one felt a bit more surface level than I would have liked. The characters fell into the unfortunate pitfall of stereotypical teenage protag- and deuteragonist tropes, and there was a classic sad-boy who was Damaged but only the FMC can see the real him.

I think I'm just being cynical here, and maybe this just genuinely isn't my genre anymore! But I tend to really enjoy the works of AJW, Logan-Ashley Kisner, CJ Drews, Courtney Gould, etc. and this one just... didn't feel like it stood up to their books. But also, those are all queer and this one is notably not, which also could have affected my view of it. I did like it! It just won't stick with me overall.

Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group/ Viking Books for Young Readers for an ARC of this book!

🌟3.5🌟

I have a really weird habit of critiquing a book more when I actually really love it.

And I do usually always state this is the case beforehand so there's no confusion.

This is going to be one of those books.

I absolutely LOVED this book and it's an absolutely PERFECT spooky season read for those who love a Dark Academia, a good ole fashioned ghost story, love triangles, Friendship strong enough to carry through to the afterlife, and curses that expand generations. This scratches all those itches.

The atmosphere is gothic, lush, and absolutely beautiful.

Now her comes my whining 🤸🏼‍♀️🤸🏼‍♀️🤸🏼‍♀️. I just wanted MORE in certain places.. like picture Augustus Gloop in the chocolate river, THAT level of "more"....To put it simply as much as I love a good YA book I wish this wasn't one. 🫣 I would have LOVED more pining, yearning, chasing,and depth between the MMC & FMC. Because I really felt like they were a good match for one another. So personally I would have loved to see what that great connection looked like on deeper levels.

I also really loved the curse aspect. It fit really well to the story and the setting. I maybe wish there was more of a conspiracy to it tho or it took them longer to piece everything together. maybe with some red herrings, but again, only because I loved it so much.

I also wish it took longer to convince out FMC that ghost could be playing a role. Why again? You guessed it, because I loved those parts so much. It just seemed like one minute she didn't believe and then bippity boppity boo she just did. And those scenes were written SO well! Very creepy, very descriptive, definitely a big part of what made this book great. So, yes, obviously my glutinous self wanted moreeee

And again I really think it's worth noting just how beautiful a lot of the scenes are in this book! The ball room scene!? 😮🫢 I'm OBSESSED!! absolutely GORGEOUS! 😭

This is definitely a book I loved, definitely one I would recommend, and one I will be buying.. I just wish it was like.. 800 pages 😅🫠🫶🏼


This is my review which as of today can be found on the following platforms,
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4 stars ⭐️ i actually enjoyed this so so much! So much so, i finished it in a day LOL this is a YA Thriller/Horror paranormal dark academia novel and it absolutely served spooky season vibes! 🦇 🍁
We loveeee a little murder mystery set in a rich dark academy!
The banter was here and there and enough to make me giggle, it’s sarcastic girl x quick wit boy and it’s refreshing from the typical golden retriever x black cat trope!

Violet is there to figure out the murder of friend, even tho it was deemed a suicide, bc she knows her girl and she wouldn’t do that!! Cue Violet starting at the same academy to unravel secrets and boooom comes the younger brother of the guy she believes has killed her best friend.

There’s murder, romance, mystery, secret society ⚔️
Fast paced and easy to read!

Thank you to Penguin Young Reader’s Group and NetGalley for an ARC of this book! All opinions are my own!

4.5 stars
im finding my niche in horror books and it is so fun

my first thing I have to say about this book is that it was the perfect length in my opinion, it would have been so easy for the author to string this book along to reach the average 300 pages but this story didn't need that. I love when a story is told exactly as it was meant to-- aka not every book needs to be 400 pages.

house of hearts is set in an elite boarding school that carries a dark curse that can't be broken. the gothic story telling was strong and the want to learn more was what made me want to read this book asap. we are following violet who is trying to figure out what happened to her best friend and as readers we are along with her to try and figure it out. the story could be slightly predictable but that is what you expect with a YA horror. the atmosphere was great for the beginning of fall.

thank you to netgalley, skyla arndt, and penguin young readers group for the arc.

I received this ARC from NetGalley.

2.5 stars

This was a YA paranormal mystery with a sprinkle of instalove.
I feel like this story had so much potential but ultimately fell flat. The writing was a bit juvenile, the story was rushed, and the plot twists were predictable. I found myself powering through just to finish it. I would not read this again.

I enjoyed this Ya novel about the bounds of friendship and what a teenage girl is willing to do for her friend. It did give me slight Wednesday vibes,.

violet harper knows her best friend was murdered, even if everyone else has been calling her death a freak accident. there’s only so much violet can do with the cryptic messages about the boarding school, her whirlwind romance, and a mysterious secret society, so vi decides to go to the school herself to investigate. what she’s not expecting is to be drawn to calvin lockwell, brother of the prime suspect and descendant of the school’s founder.

i really enjoyed skyla arndt’s debut, together we rot, so i was really excited to read this one! there’s just something about boarding schools that make them one of the most perfect horror settings. maybe it’s the long and hidden history, maybe it’s the fact that if you put that many teenagers in that close of proximity for such a long time they start to lose their minds, maybe a good mix of both. this story was also balanced with diary entries from a character who lived in the past, and it was really interesting seeing how this connected with the plot in the present. the romance was also pretty nice, and played into the overall mystery/horror plot very well. i can’t wait for more from skyla arndt!

This one was a potent book honestly. I wasn't expecting so much to be squeezed into such a small book but it worked really well and I enjoyed it! I thought it was a great quick read that got it done and she did a great job of not adding too much to the plot. Nicely focused, developed and finished.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc of this book.

I hate to DNF a book. I hate to DNF an arc even more but by 50% I just wasn't invested in this story. The characters fell flat and the gothic vibes felt a little forced. I loved the concept of this book but the delivery just wasn't there for me.

DNF. This is book was not for me. The premise and setting was intriguing but the dialogue fell flat for me unlike Arndt’s debut novel.

Honestly, I picked this up for the Veronica Mars meets gothic vibes, and it totally delivered. Plus, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. Creepy boarding school, secret society drama, a vengeful ghost, and a forbidden romance… this book checked all my boxes.

Violet refuses to believe her best friend’s death was an accident, so she transfers to the same elite school to uncover the truth. What she finds is a dark history, a deadly curse, and Calvin Lockwell, the boy she absolutely should not fall for but cannot resist. Their tension had me hooked, and I liked how the romance added to the eerie atmosphere instead of pulling away from it.

Tropes:
🏫 boarding school drama
👻 ghostly haunts
🔮 secret societies
💔 forbidden love
🌑 dark academia vibes

Twisty, spooky, and fun in all the best ways.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the early copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Absolutely unputdownable. This is YA dark academia at its finest eerie, atmospheric, and completely addictive. I flew through the pages, desperate to see what would happen next. The writing is gorgeously haunting, with a lyrical quality that lingers long after you finish. It creates this beautifully dark vibe that had me totally captivated.


Thank you so much @penguinteen & @netgalley for my ARC

Thank you NetGalley and Viking Books for Young Readers for this ARC Copy!

I love this cover so much and if you do too then you will love the book as much as I did because it is literally perfect. I love a good YA book in a boarding school, especially when there is revenge involved, and this one was probably the most unique that I have read yet. I really did not expect anything that happened throughout the entire story. The ending was explosive, violent, and beautiful, and I loved watching the characters grow together and solve the mystery.

This book had me hooked from the very first chapter. The mix of dark academia, gothic mystery, and haunting romance was everything I wanted. Violet is such a fierce and determined main character—I loved how her grief and loyalty fueled her every choice. And Calvin? Complicated, frustrating, but impossible not to get drawn into.

The atmosphere was incredible—creepy boarding school halls, secret societies, and whispers of curses that kept me turning the pages late into the night. Skyla Arndt balances horror and romance so well, giving me chills one moment and butterflies the next.

House of Hearts is eerie, emotional, and beautifully written. I’m still thinking about it days later.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

House of Hearts was a fun and dark read that definitely gave me Wednesday vibes. There was a secret society, ghosts, a mystery and lots of sleuthing. I think readers of paranormal mysteries will very much enjoy this one.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I really liked this one, but I must say it didn't grab me like I wanted it to. It didn't really feel as immersive as I was expecting, and while it was a fast and easy read, I feel like I might forget this one sooner than I would have liked. Unfortunately just middle of the road with the potential for so much more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC! All thoughts are my own.

Dark and gothic and utterly romantic. This was beautifully written and gave me such perfect autumnal vibes. Everyone should pick this book up this fall season. You won't regret it.

So much fun! Ghosts, secret societies, a masquerade and a haunted hedge maze! Had a great time and think that teens who are fans of Wednesday would eat this up!

This book was so much fun! Hedge maze shenanigans, secret societies with bigger plans than you think, lovable side characters AND ghosts! I had a great time!

Thank you Viking Books for Young Readers for the ARC!

I tried really hard several times to get into this book, but I just couldn't. There isn't anything wrong with this book, I just think it wasn't for me. The sitting was intersting and I liked the premise, I just felt it didn't live up to my expectations.