The Whispering Dark is strange and beautiful and haunting. It gripped me from the first page and still won’t let me go after finishing. It was a perfect paranormal thriller with dark academia vibes that made me yearn for thick jumpers and cold autumn days. If you love gorgeous prose and books that make you feel smarter after reading them, you’ll love this. Also the romance that unfurled within this story is now one of my favourites. Delaney and Colton are characters who are so complicated and real and they will stay with me for a long time.

Whatever Kelly Andrew writes, I will be sure to read.

Dark, creepy, fast paced and full of tension. It was well written with a gripping story and well developed characters. I think it could have gone darker but I still enjoyed it,

I did enjoy The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew. Although it wasn't quite as deep in the horror genre as I had hoped. I still recommend it though

More deaf MCs, PLEASE!!!

I've never had such a physical reaction (in a good way) to written horror like I had with this book. The tension, the dread, the writing, all just formed some wonderful horror moments.

Unfortunatly it kind of drops off with that horror and tension around halfway through, at least that's what it felt like to me. The romance and non-horror mystery ramps up a ton in the second half, which while isn't bad, it did leave me a tad dissapointed just due to the fantastic horror in the first half. There are still some great horror moments in the second half however!

I loved the general vibes though, a really neat take on magic mixed with horror honestly! I would love to see this expanded upon more as this book, unfortunatly, mainly focused on the main 2 characters and the "conspiracy" and didn't really go into what the school actually gets up to fully.

I guess in general, I kinda just really want more of this. I really want to know more about Mackenzie and Adya and their stories and more about what they get up to because it felt like they where really underused, They where awesome characters, so much personality and charm honestly! I looked forward to every scene with them!

Overall I did love this book, I ended up reading the entire first half of the book in a single setting as I just couldn't put it down until sleep overcame me aha! I do reccomend this despite my issues with it as I feel the overall plot worked well.

Thank you to Orión Publishing Group U.K. and NetGalley for the arc of The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The Whispering Dark introduces us to Delaney (Lane,) a young girl whose hearing was impaired in an accident whilst young, and for whom ever since the shadows have equally entranced and scared her. Having spent her life to date being protectively home schooled by her parents, she applies for a university scholarship and begins her scholarly life at a school that specialises in unusual studies.

It is here that Lane meets Colton, a teaching assistant who has his own dark and unique past, who has skills in these dark arts and unknowingly to Lane has been warned to keep his distance from her.

This book doesn’t quite meet the full on horror nor gothic genre, but it does deliver a taste of chilling darkness that lurks in the corner of your eye. It’s definitely not obvious, but I was intrigued and enjoyed the darkness of the story.

If you’re looking for a less obvious, more subtle but well delivered dark story, then I wholly recommend picking this up.

From the description when asking to read this book I was expecting it to be a darker/ more horror based novel - my fault, and most definitely not that of the author. The only reason I say this is that this is not my genre of choice and my appreciation and understanding of it are therefore more likely the reason for my not giving the book a higher rating than I have done. My familiarity is limited to the likes of Harry Potter and, many moons ago, books like Peter Straub's Shadowland.
In The Whispering Dark, a young girl with impaired hearing starts attending a school specialising in 'unusual' studies. There is a boy 'who did not die' - who is, we are told from the off, of extreme power and despite having an acquaintance with the protagonist from a key point in their early lives, is told not to interact with her.
Perhaps it is a trope of the genre, but I found myself impatient to get to some explanation or at least understanding of some/ any of the 'things being insinuated/ hinted at.
Ultimately, and again - I fully recognise this may be my unfamiliarity with this genre, I wasn't clear whether this was a young adult book or a 'full adult' one. For me, who does love horror, it just didn't have the 'chilling darkness' described in the advertising.
I'm sure many others will enjoy it very much.
Thank you for the opportunity to read.

I will update the review with a link to our blog closer to publication date.
I'd like to thank the publisher Orion Publishing Group, Gollancz and Netgalley for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.