Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this book.
As soon as i received the arc, I had to stop everything and read this. Just based on the summary, I had a feeling I would enjoy. And I was right. This was so good. The past is incredibly fast as the story is taking place over less than a week. Eva is such a nice character. She’s smart, determined and focused on her goal. This is a murder mystery set during the interview week at Oxford. Eva and George are trying to get in Beecham college to study English and classics. Suddenly, George gets killed and Eva is trying to find the killer. Honestly, I had no idea who the killer was until the reveal. The investigation was really well done and engaging. It kept me on my toes all throughout the book.
If you loved a good girl’s guide to murder, I think you will love this book.

I was so excited when this became available on NetGalley! Despite it not coming out until 2026 I had to put it at the front of my list and ended up devouring it the day I started reading it. It was well worth it to put off some other books as I really enjoyed the experience.

This book has all of my favorite things: YA, dark academia, British location, thriller and secret societies! Those themes were masterfully weaved together into an engaging tale that had many twists and turns to keep the reader guessing.

I enjoyed the representation that took place and handling of racism and bigotry that can so often plague colleges that are typically old stage white institutions. While the college at Oxford that was in the book was fictional, it did have a lot of facets from colleges that exist and thrive today.

Another aspect that I enjoyed is while you have an older teen taking it upon herself to investigate a situation, she didn’t have a completely absent parent that allowed her to go off and do ridiculous things. He remained appropriately (for a YA thriller) present and also the skills he taught her set the groundwork for her actions in making them believable.

This book doesn’t come out until January 13, 2026 and I enjoyed it enough that I’ll be looking forward to acquiring the audiobook to see how it translates. So stay tuned for an update!
I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary eARC from St Martins Press through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC or eARC from through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.