I found the pacing to be a a problem for me at least in terms of connecting with the story. I also wish there was more of a backbone to this, a meaningful background to the creation of the school.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. Quite frankly this book was really bad, the kind that "I would give 0 stars if I could". The writing was poorly done and the plot did not make sense.

Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book! I really enjoyed this book, it was a super quick read. I would definitely recommend this book! I would love to read more by Teddy Baire!

"Every Student has a Secret" by Teddy Baire promises an intriguing premise with the protagonist Safia navigating the mysterious and secretive world of Apex Academy. Unfortunately, the execution of this concept falls flat, leaving readers with a one-dimensional narrative and a host of clichés that undermine the potential for a gripping story.

The novel opens with Safia, a seemingly ordinary waitress at her family's Cuban African-American diner, thrust into the world of Apex Academy, a secretive school grooming future world leaders. While the initial setup holds promise, the story quickly devolves into a predictable and uninspired plotline. The transition from a simple life to a high-stakes academy is handled with little nuance, lacking the depth needed to engage readers.

Safia's journey through the school is marred by a lack of originality, as the narrative leans heavily on overused tropes found in many young adult and fantasy novels. The concept of a secret school with its own rule system and mysterious students has been explored extensively in the genre, and "Every Student has a Secret" fails to bring anything fresh or innovative to the table.

The characters, including Safia, feel like mere caricatures rather than fully developed individuals. The relationships formed and the challenges faced by Safia lack authenticity, and the dynamics within the school are clichéd and uninspiring. The promise of friends and enemies in a world of limited trust is watered down by predictable plot twists and a lack of genuine suspense.

The writing style fails to elevate the material, often resorting to overly simplistic language and dialogue. The lack of depth in both character development and world-building results in a narrative that feels rushed and underdeveloped, leaving readers disconnected from the story.

In conclusion, "Every Student has a Secret" by Teddy Baire disappoints with its reliance on clichés and a failure to breathe new life into a familiar premise. The novel lacks the depth and originality needed to distinguish itself in a crowded genre, ultimately leaving readers with a forgettable and uninspiring reading experience.

I’ve tried so many times to get through this book and I just can’t I’m not sure why I think it might not be for me but I would definitely recommend that others try it as the saying goes one man’s dislikes is another man’s treasure

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I was very intrigued by this book because of the cover art and title. The description seemed to be interesting but this book was so hard to get into because of the pacing. I put the book down for a long time before finally decking to finish it to at least give a review. I think the plot is amazing but, unfortunately, the execution was not to my liking.

DNF at around 15%.

EVERY STUDENT HAS A SECRET follows Safia as she attends Apex Academy.

I will probably try to come back to this book at a later date but I’m on holiday right now and have no want or need to read any more of this.

The writing is awful. It could have done with many more passes before being published. There were so many errors in the first chapter alone. The characters were cringy and has nothing interesting about them. Safia was annoying and had absolutely no personality.

I find it hard to believe that a seventeen year old and an eighteen year old are ‘hired’ as people who transport drugs from one place to another. What is going on there? This just bored me from the very first sentence and it did not get better.

I might resume reading this when I’m not on holiday and have more of an urge to finish this book, but I have no idea when that will be.

** Thank you NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review."

When I requested for a copy of this book, I was extremely excited to start reading this as soon as I could. For the first 25-30% of the book, the writing had me hooked and had drawn me in from the moment the main character gets accepted to the school that he brother was supposed to attend but instead gave up his spot for his sister. Once we got to about 50% percent and there was absolutely no plot in the story, my attention slowly diminished but I was determined to finish. The ending of the book had absolutely zero impact, and to me, there was no real plot at all. There was also racist encounters that I should have just DNF'd the book right then and there but I wanted to give it a chance to make a comeback, which it did not. I gave it two starts because the beginning was promising but overall, it was not a good read for me.

No. Just no. This was hard to read, I didn't like a single thing about this book. The pacing, the writing style, the plot, the characters. This just wasn't something that I thought I would get from the description.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I was very intrigued by this book because of the cover art and title. The description seemed to be interesting but this book was so hard to get into because of the pacing. I put the book down for a long time before finally decking to finish it to at least give a review. I think the plot is amazing but, unfortunately, the execution was not to my liking.

Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I did not like this book as much as I thought: The beginning was just too slow for me and the writing was just not something I usually like. At some points I felt physical cringe and I think that the characters were undeveloped to the point where I did not know what was going on.

The ending was also too abrupt and not enough for me. I guess that some people can enjoy this type of books but it was not for me.

I could not finish this book. I DNF'ed it 75%, because I just couldn't keep reading it. I really disliked the writing, the pacing, and the plot as well. I had to force myself to continue reading. Also, the lak of consent and extremely graphic scenes were not something I expected.

I received an eARC of this book from GenZ publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed are mine alone and other than the free book, I was not compensated in any way.

Genre: New Adult (?)
Spice: 2 out of 5 (there are explicit sex scenes)
Trigger Warnings: cheating, non-consent, slavery, abuse, hypersexualization

I really wanted to like this book but I had to DNF at 26% and I'm not usually one to do that. The cover and the blurb seemed to be so interesting and for someone who was trying to write a dark-academia-themed book, this seemed ideal to learn from. However, it falls flat in many aspects,
The story is so slow, and the writing is subpar and reads like a Wattpad book. I especially didn't like the way the tags were used (said Safia, "...Iago?" said to Iago, wondered Safia). Even when there were only two characters in the room, tags were constantly used and it was unnecessary, I could tell who was talking even without their names being told to me every other line.
Another thing I didn't like was the way these children (yes, even though they're 18-22 they're still children in my eyes) were hyper-sexualized. Just disgusting, disgusting behaviors. Why are adults allowing the rampant sexualization of these teenagers? Do normal laws that affect American colleges not pertain to this school?

I don't recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to read the book because of the title and the description of the book. However, I, unfortunately, had the impression that the book didn't deliver on these promises. It was also sometimes difficult to follow the plot and I had to go back a few times to make sure I didn't miss anything. But some details seemed to be missing sometimes to understand the world/the story. The open ending didn't give me the satisfaction that I was expecting as well. Maybe some editing could make it better.

This was a new to me author. The premise of this book was what had me wanting to read it in the first place. The book blurb made it sound like it would be a good story.

This is slower paced and at times I felt like the story still had so much more to tell. The beginning sucked me in but by the middle, I felt like the pace and storyline got a little lost.

Academy stories are some of my favorite and this had such potential, but it fell a little flat.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc. Every Student has a Secret. It was something. Not a good something.

The trigger warnings that this book should have given were intense! As someone who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, I was very taken aback by the homophobia this book carried. Along with the abuse and extreme graphic sex scenes, Islamophobia and abuse among so much more. It took me a while to get through this book because of that. I was just uncomfortable the whole time. While the point system in the academy was something clever to work out, it just was basically a torture system and a way for slavery to others as well as the academy to go unnoticed. There isn’t a single person I would recommend this book to.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 50% because of all the wrong things.

Let's say that this book is kind of a Dark Academia that turned really wrong. It started with an interesting and intriguing plot line then I don't know where the author was doing and I came to believe that she has some issues with many things in real life that she wanted to transfer in her book because that's how I felt from this book. If you read all the other reviews which I did not before starting this book, you will see many trigger warnings (graphic sex scenes, Islamophobia,violence, slavery…) which are all true and I was relieved because I wasn't the only one seeing these things and being annoyed by them. I was really disappointed by this author because I loved the first book she wrote and I intended to read more from her but now, I'm kind of skeptical about her ideas and her writing. Let's be honest this book also needed some real editing.

Safia, the female MC of this story, is sent to this mysterious kind of college where all the future most important people that will, let's say, run the world will attend either them be future presidents or dictators, yep! And in this school you don't use money but points in order to survive and to gain these points you just gamble and the school encourage you to do so, even to bet your life. Again, yep!

I didn't like what was happening in this school and the messages that this story was sending, Safia annoyed me with her forgetness and her way of not standing for her Muslim friend Hashmi when she was insulted and just said to her "but you're used to this so why are you angry when they say these horrible things about you." One of the characters even called her a terrorist but just using different wording for it. The use of Sir and Miss between them when they are only 18 or 23 years old was so foolishly used.

I wasn't interested in knowing the end of this book or what was going to happen to Safia. I'm not happy about the themes or the writing in this book. This is not how we write about diversity or the best image to give of it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book, unfortunately after a few attempts to read this story I DNF'd this book. It just wasn't what I was looking to read but I am sure others may enjoy it.
I had issues with the type of relationships that were shown, mainly issues with consent. I also struggled with the writing style, but again thats a personal issue not the authors.

I thought this book had a really interesting premise, but I didn't even make it to the part where the students and their secrets--literally what the book is advertised as--were introduced. The opening chapters had no sense of urgency, no cohesion, no reason to keep me reading.

Add all that to an unpolished writing style, and you get a book that COULD be really captivating, but fails to follow through on that promise. Maybe it got good after the first 20%--but I won't know, because I couldn't bring myself to keep wasting my time trying to find reasons to keep reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an electronic copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.