At Glennmare, each bed is filled with a teenage girl who wears ribbons in her hair, a nod to innocence we lost long ago. When we were sent out into the world, away from home, to fend to for ourselves.

I'm a sucker for a YA mystery set at a boarding school. I had high hopes for this one and it was fine, but a little disappointing. I still enjoyed it, though.

A mystery involving a girls school, tarot cards, legends, a young teacher involved with his students, missing persons, death and amnesia. The answer was surprising.

<i></b>No quotes because ARC, 3.5 stars because this was a tricky read for me.</b></i>

<b>One Line Review:</b> A group of girls, shrouded away from society on a small island and a teacher with hidden secrets. When one of the girls goes missing, no one seems to want to talk. Will detectives be able to figure out where she is before the worst of everyone’s fears becomes reality?

<b>Synopsis:</b> Kitty and her friends have a bond unbroken, in a world that seems to exist for only them. Glennmare Academy and their teacher Wells Halifax has changed them for the better, or so they believe, and the girls develop what most would call an unhealthy attachment to him. When Kitty goes missing, and Wells is found on the shoreline with no memories, detective on the island are on a race against the clock to try and figure out who is telling the truth, and why too many seem to be covering something up. The truths that emerge are darker than they could’ve imagined…

<b>My Thoughts:</b> Oh man, there are some <b>warnings to be stated</b> regarding topics in this book (i.e. animal abuse, inappropriate relationships, self-harm etc.) To say I was caught off guard in discovering what two large parts of this plot were an understatement. Heed the warning, if you have any issues about descriptive animal abuse/ritualistic slaughter, reconsider reading this. That warning aside, this book does a great job of pulling you in to the point where you feel as though you cannot be pulled away. I am not completely in love with the writing style, because you must be able to recollect about a dozen characters, as the author switches back and forth between each chapter. I will say, that as the book progressed, it does get a lot easier to read!

Located on an island close to Seattle, Glennmare Academy is a strange place for unruly young women of affluent East Coast families that is stringent with its no-technology teaching.

The young women who attend are isolated. They immerse themselves in their studies and friendships to a toxic degree.

One of the most popular among the cohort is Kitty Calloway. She’s a girl who leaves a lasting impression on everyone she meets – but she’s now missing.

On the same night, her literature teacher, Wells Halifax, is found on the remote boarding school’s beach unconscious. Once awoken, he has no recollection of the last six months and his close friends are quick to travel to his aid.

Everyone at Glennmare Academy is shocked by the turn of events and detectives and staff are left suspicious of the night’s happenings.

Surely her tight-knit friendship group knows more than they are letting on and just how close was Mr Halifiax to his students?

Told cleverly in multiple narratives, The Glennmare Girls by Anya Mora slowly builds suspense with many different points of view. Its short and snappy chapters ensure a great pacing.

The main characters are well-developed and complex. However, more insight into some secondary characters and their interesting backstories would have been appreciated.

Despite this, there’s lots of clever detail throughout alongside twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.

Please note, difficult themes include: sexual assault self-harm, eating disorders, mental health, grooming and animal abuse.

Thank you netgalley for an advanced ARC of this book

Unfortunately I was not able to finish this book and I could not get into the multiple povs

The twists are so good! Multiple POVs, social hierarchy and etiquette in play and it makes such a wonderful page turner. It reads like The Testimony by Anita Shrieve: you don't truly understand why certain parts are included until the very end. Great novel, I would definitely recommend it!

Unfortunately, this one was not for me and I did DNF it around 15% in, so you may take this review with a grain of salt. I was interested in the mystery and enjoyed how the parts I did read felt very faced paced, but sadly that wasn't enough to keep me interested enough to finish the book. I personally didn't enjoy the writing style, and felt that there was a lot of telling instead of showing, which made the book feel clunky at times and overall made it unenjoyable for me.

A new author to me, Anya Mora has written several books before The Glennmare Girls. And yet, to me, it reads like a debut novel. The cover and the setting will draw you in, but the largely one-dimensional characters may no hold your attention. And there are MANY characters, each telling little bits of information to ?? the reader? in alternating short chapters. The book would profit from much more showing and less telling. To me, the narratives taken together read like the outline or rough draft of the novel, not the finished product. 2.5 stars rounded up.

I read this book within 24 hours, because I was dying to know how it ended. About 75% of the way through, I figured out whodunit, and I have to say, I was disappointed. It seemed a bit unappealing to me, especially the reasoning. I was hoping for a big surprise that would have shocked me. I also found the chapters for The Girls to be really strange.
I'm glad everything was all wrapped up, and there were no loose ends. I always hate when thrillers leave you with questions. This book left me with none!

Would recommend

4 stars

3.25/5 stars! It is always disappointing when the cover is the best part of a story. I couldn't quite figure out if this book was supposed to be YA or Dark Academia. The themes seemed to wash together and it was confusing to follow at times. Overall, it felt too dark to be YA, so I guess it would be a dark academia mystery. It was ok and I didn't hate it, but it could have been so much better with editing to make the concept more clear.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

This was a very engaging read. The characters are all fun to dislike and the chapters are very short, keeping it very engaging. I liked how the different POVs helped to unfold the story. It gives culty, dark academia and there's nothing wrong with that!

The Glennmare Girls will sadly be shelved to my DNF. For me there was a missing hook in the first few chapters, which left me uninspired and uninterested. Perhaps it was how the multiple pov played out or the style of writing, I’m not entirely sure….
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The cover was so pretty and the summary was intriguing enough that I was excited to read this book. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it as much as expected. Each chapter changed POV, but felt disjointed. The writing was quite simplistic. I couldn’t connect with the characters, not enough depth.The storyline was interesting but didn’t deliver.

Was drawn to this one by the beautiful cover, but actual story doesn't quite live up to expectations. The premise and setting are appealing and this one will definitely find some eager readers, but I found the pacing and plotting to be a bit uneven, unfortunately.

I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this book. But frequently I felt confused by the multiple povs. I just don’t think it was written the best it could have been.

The mystery element is what saved this book. I thought the pacing was a bit slow in parts and there were several scenes I felt Mora could've really expanded on in order to create more substance to the story, but she didn't. Still an intriguing read, just the storytelling aspect could've been a little more compelling.

Thank you Netgalley for the digital ARC!

More people seem to be impressed by the book cover than by the book itself but it's definitely a very attractive cover. The story is told from multiple points of view including the girls, the cook, the detectives, the professor and his friends but I actually didn't have too much trouble keeping everybody straight. The story was a little on the slow side but I enjoyed reading it, made easier by the nice short chapters. For once I'm wishing that the book was a little longer as I would've liked some of the characters expanded upon. I'm interested in reading other works by this author. I'd rate this a 3.5 but I'm rounding up since I liked it more than some 3-star books I've read.

TW: Stepsibling relationship, possible grooming (but who's grooming whom?!), mentions of self-harm and suicide.

Thanks to Joffe Books via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: December 18, 2023

The Glennmare Girls has a beautiful cover, and that alone teased me in to wanting this book.

The premise alone was interesting. Girls sent away to an all girl school that is completely off the grid in the PNW (the location also was a reason I requested this). The beginning grabbed me, then a majority of the book just seems to drag. A girl missing, a young male instructor who has lost his memory, but the events just seemed to drag on with no movement. Until the last 20% of this book. And that’s when things get really weird.
There are a lot of different twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, but feel like the end of the book was trying to make up for the rest.

Overall, I’ll give it 3⭐️, because I did finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in return for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub date: 18 Dec 2033

Love the cover of this book and the story was really good. With plot twists and different POVs from the characters in the story bringing all viewpoints to one conclusive ending. I would recommend this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Anya Mora for the ARC of Glennmare Girls.

First of Mora's books and I don't think it will be the last. Glennmare is a dark twisty tale of love, obsession with a little bit of folklore mixed in, It is a slow burn, starting with the strange disappearance of an 18 yr old girl from Glennmare school. To a Teacher, Wells, coming around in hospital with amnesia . A cook, who seems to know everyones secrets and a love triangle. There are some dark moments in this book, especially as the detectives who are investigating the case start to unravel what's going on.

The pace of the book is slow but gathers momentum as the story unfolds and it does grab you and make you want to read until the end. Glennmare Girls is a nice whodunit book, that isn't quite a cosy mystery but leans towards some darker elements.

3.5 stars