I didn't like this book because I didn't find it funny but instead I found it cringey and uninteresting. This book's description was good but the execution wasn't fully in the right direction.

The dead poets sorority
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

The title of this book was what originally drew me in as i am a massive fan of the dead poets society. I will however say it has nothing to do with the movie.
This book follows Emma, a journalist for her Universities newspaper. She is tasked to go undercover in a secret sorority that has been rumoured to resurrect dead poets. Emma summons the late Nathaniel Harker, a poet whose work was never read. This story follows them slowly falling for each other while trying to hide this from her sorority sisters.
I enjoyed this book but i did not love it. The relationship between Nate and Emma was very well written and developed. The banter they had was entertaining and made me root for them.
However, a lot of this book felt underexplained. I wish we learned more about Kimberly, as she was running this cult like sorority and we didn’t even know how she came about these resurrections.
Overall this was fun and campy for a gothic novel.

This one sounded pretty interesting. A dead poets sorority.
But it was just ok .
Nothing really to say but it just wasn’t hitting.

The perfect guy but he’s a ghost. It sounded really good and parts were good just it wasn’t for me.

The perfect paranormal spooky season read! I laughed so much morethan I expected to and loved the darker side. This rivals Lights Out and Butcher & Blackbird for humor and romance. I hate sorority/ frat vibes but this book was an absolute exception. Emma and Nathaniel had some great banter and tension as well.

Oh, god. Unalived…. I hate when authors use stupid TikTok words.

What in the world is a taco slap and why is it talked about 12 times?!

I saw a couple other people reference Bunny by Mona Awad. While I haven’t read Bunny, I have read her other novel, Rouge. In Rouge I liked the overall plot but the writing felt like speaking in cursive. Some sentences have WAY too much going on, and I had to go back a reread a few of them for them to click in my brain.

Around 16% I wanted to DNF but decided to keep going since me not liking the writing style didn’t mean it was gonna be a bad story.

The romance between Emma and Nate is so sweet. The ending is fairly predictable but I can forgive that. That epilogue though…. What was that? Why did we get a view from a random person whose head we had never been inside the entire book (and no it’s not even Nate cause would have been ok) Much like my feelings about Rouge, the overall plot was ok but this book just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

“Practical Magic” meets “Scream Queens” in a lite spooky supernatural romance novel where a group of sorority girls who are brining dead poets back from the dead. A student journalist named Emma goes in undercover to find out what the sorority is doing and accidental summons a 19th century poet named Nathaniel. Nathaniel falls for Emma and she must figure out if a love like that can really work. I loved the premise of this book it’s really intriguing and different. However the writing style made keeping track of what was happening a little difficult.

I wish I could read this again for the first time. I loved this whole book. This book is like if Wednesday Addams got a literary degree and joined a dark academia girl gang.

With gothic charm, swoony secrets, and create your own boyfriend moments, you seriously can’t put this story down.

If you’ve ever wanted to wear black lace, drink espresso at midnight, and recite Sylvia Plath while solving campus mysteries.. Congrats, this one’s your aesthetic soulmate.

Darkly delightful, hauntingly heartfelt, and full of BANTER, BANTER, BANTER!!!!!!!! AHHH.

10/10, 5/5, I DON’T CARE.. This was gold for my emo heart.

Unfortunately, another DNF. I had to bail within the first chapter because of the writing. Sentences went on far too long, needed to be better punctuated, and were difficult to parse as a result. I also just found it a bit exhausting that every sentence was filled with attempts at snark or humour, almost always at the expense of other people. Misuse of the term "spirit animal" was my last straw.

Not a good fit for me, sadly.

While overall I feel like this is a decent story, I, myself, did not like it.

There is good about the book: The Emma & Nate romance was sweet.

But I didn't like the book because, there were things that seemed not to belong. Some of the personality of the characters didn't match with how they were portrayed in the start. The humor fell flat for me.

You had me at Sorority! This book was totally - WTF weird and dialogue bout nothing but I liked it. If you liked Bunny which was also a book where after you read it, you're like - what did I just read, then you'll love this too. It's just different - let's leave it at that.

DNF... This one was too painful for me to continue. The humor fell flat for me and felt suuuper millennial (I cringed every time a "taco slap" was brought up... whatever that is) and felt jarring with the content. The characters acted inconsistently, especially around the inciting incident. So she hates sororities and everything to do with them but the moment her friend takes her side, she switches up? And her friend is a creepy, stony psych student but is occasionally girlypop? The editor is mean and intimidating but also her drinking buddy bestie? I couldn't predict how literally anyone acted.

I also felt like it wasn't clear how much of this was speculative vs. contemporary. There were so many sidebars that I couldn't get an idea of the world. The humor interspersed during the wrong times made it hard to understand and click with the writing style. Nothing was snappy and it took way too long for us to reach the point of each scene. At some point, I knew I couldn't continue. I feel like the description, title, and cover of this book make expectations for the book that then aren't fulfilled.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘. 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 ✮⋆˙

Debut author Sofia Shelley, published by Avon Books, delivered a gothic academy romance, pnr.
A fun and witty read that was nothing like I expected.
It took me a minute or two to get into her writing style, but the storyline is good and I was entertained by sorority girls, an undercover journalist student and Nate the poet/ghost, 3,75 stars.

dead Poets sorority was not exactly what i was expecting but i did enjoy the story it could have used a little more plot for me personally but the character development was good it could have been a bit more developed. thank you NetGalley for the ARC

Read for an unserious spooky read where the plot follows a group of sorority girls who use magic to bring their boyfriends to life.. enter paranormal romance. It’s cute it’s funny I enjoyed it!

I saw somebody recommending for fans of the book “Bunny” and I’d second that.

Please don’t go in expecting anything deep or serious, this book is unapologetically what it is and I enjoyed it for that.

If you like banter between love interests this book definitely offers plenty of that! There is a lot of chaos and weirdness at all times and that works for what it is (remember my previous note about expectations guys).

I’d recommend for a fun light read during spooky season 🧜🏼‍♀️

👻 Dark Academia
👻 Spooky season read
👻 Paranormal Romance
👻 Ghost boyfriend
👻 Dark humour
👻 Sorority sisters
👻 Gothic


Thank you to Avon publishing for the #netgalley #gifted copy!

Publishes: September 25th

3.5/5 stars

Unfortunately this one was not for me! I had a hard time meshing with the writing and getting into the first act (likely a me problem, because I’ve had a lot of stuff going on lately). However, if the description sounds like something you might enjoy, definitely give it a try!

I really wanted to love this book, and there were certainly elements that stood out—especially the relationship between the Emma and Nate. Their dynamic felt real and well-developed, and I found myself rooting for them as the story unfolded.

However, I did struggle with the overall plot. Some parts felt a bit disjointed or underexplained, which made it hard to stay fully invested. I often found myself questioning how certain events connected or what purpose certain scenes served. This made the pacing feel uneven at times.

Another challenge for me was that, apart from the central duo, the rest of the characters didn’t seem to have strong or memorable storylines. I would have loved to see more depth or purpose given to the supporting cast, as they sometimes felt more like background than part of the narrative.

That said, I know every reader brings their own perspective, and others might connect with the story differently. There’s definitely talent in the writing, and I’d be open to reading more from this author in the future.

This was a ton of fun with a mysterious vibe throughout the book. I really enjoyed the concept of a journalist going undercover to do an expose and then getting sucked in to the world they’re reporting on. There were a few characters that even after finishing the book, I don’t have a full idea of who they are and what their motivations were mostly Kimberly, Erin, and Emma‘s best friend. I loved the relationship that developed between Emma and Nate, especially the suspense that was built around Nate’s safety in regards to the sorority and him being a ghost. There were times I questioned every person‘s motives and while I figured out what the ending was probably going to be, it happened in a way I didn’t expect. The epilogue left me with so many questions and it was interesting that it was in a different character’s point of view.

This book was cute. Nathaniel seems adorable. Interesting ending, though. Wasn’t expecting that.
I would love to see more from this author.

Being a dark gothic romance novel, it will be the perfect autumn read. I flew through this book. I was hooked from the very first page and I kept reading until the end. The story was easy to follow, had a great cast of characters and good pacing. I highly recommend it and I look forward to reading more by the author.

What a fantastic four-star read, this could have been a five-star read, but I feel like I’m still wondering so, so much, as I have so many unanswered questions. There were so many storylines that just didn’t need to be there and left me with more questions, but I enjoyed the overall story. Emma and Nate did make me smile, even though you know that she isn’t taking care of herself, its still sweet, it doesn’t make sense until you read it.