Where sleeping girls lie

- [ ] Beginning reminds me a little of mean girls - a homeschooled girl suddenly arrives at a high school, gets befriended by a couple of the students and they explain to her all the “groups” in the lunchroom. Including a group of three “popular” girls - except they are called the unholy trinity rather than the plastics!
- [ ] Even down to the “leader” being the ex best friend!
- [ ] Unsure of the age of characters? If this correlates to UK schools ( which it should being set in the UK) that would mean the characters are around 13/14? If US ages maybe 17/18? Doesn’t explicitly say. *ok later says that the missing girl is 17. So that definitely doesn’t track with her being in an English school. She would have left school in England by that age. Certainly wouldn’t be only a 3rd year in secondary school - ie year 9? 17 is university age! Not really sure why there’s this discrepancy because according to an online bio, the author is British?!
- [ ] Another example of an Americanism comes towards the end - that the murder charges were “settled out of court.” Erm, no. That might frequently happen in America but in the UK justice system that is not a thing!
- [ ] Also - wtf is Pi Day?! Not a thing in UK because we put the day first. So 03/14 is not a date in the UK calendar!! I had never even heard of this before
- [ ] Also - if Sade is only 17, why is there no mention of any sort of legal guardian for her? Both her parents are dead, right? She is underage, still a minor, and yet she’s been allowed to just enrol at a school with no adult to give consent to where she is or what she’s doing?! Why?! I understand this is fiction but come on!!! - this is a massive plot hole! No wonder the school administrator was so shocked when she turned up! If she had no family then someone from social services should be around?! Or a trustee at least? Her father apparently was extremely wealthy so surely he would have made some sort of plan for his daughter?!
- [ ] MC is quite unintelligent! Morse code thing and then later - I wonder how they got into my room? Eerrrr probably because you lost your room key somewhere and didn’t report it, and then left the “spare” key under the mat in front of your door?! How frickin stupid can you be - that’s the most obvious place!!!
- [ ] Does the author have a limited amount of adjectives? The phrase “he had an expressionless expression” was used. What?!? WIDEN YOUR VOCABULARY!!!
- [ ] Was surprised the direction this took. There are definite similarities to 13 Reasons Why.
- [ ] Also - the “twin” sister thing kinda came out of nowhere? And also why?! Like it obviously explains some of Sade’s motivations and the ghosts but the bit that threw me was the father only sending the sister to school because she was “older.” Erm….. hello they are TWINS?! They’re the same fricking age?! Didn’t understand that logic at all
- [ ] Overall I liked that this kept me guessing but the ending was a little underwhelming and also quite “neat.” I think it would have been better if Sade had just been expelled. Not everything requires a “happy” ending and this just seemed a little too convenient.
There were obviously many flaws that I picked up on when reading this - these annoyed me but might not annoy others. If you are inclined to solving word puzzles and codes, you may find this one interesting, and the little puzzles - ie anagrams and codes may highlight the ending much more obviously.

They say don't judge a book by its cover but I absolutely judged this book by its gorgeous cover. What can I say? I'm only human after all!

This is definitely a slow-burn and I'm usually not a big fan but I liked the plot enough to keep going. The writing was also beautiful and managed to paint a solid setting for the story to unfold.

If you don't mind slow-paced stories and I mean really slow, the kind where nothing really happens till the last quarter of the book, then you'll enjoy this one way more than I did.

Rating:3.5/5

While Sleeping Girls Lie is my first book by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and I don’t think it will be my last.

When you first start this book, you think it is centred around a missing person, but that’s just one of the many threads that unravel. Elizabeth disappearing feels like the catalyst for this mystery, but the further in you get, you realise that this story has been in the making for quite some time.

I definitely would have rated this higher if the pacing was just a little faster. Parts of this book feel like walking through sludge, I would spend hours reading and feel like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I personally feel like too much time was spent on mundane school days. It also didn’t help that Goodreads has it listed as having over 100 pages less than it does. If I knew while reading that this is over 550 pages, I would have understood the slower pace.

There are also a few minor plot points that don’t come to satisfying conclusions. I’m not going to mention anything specifically as there are huge spoilers, but it would have been nice to have these mentioned.

As someone who has had guinea pigs for almost eight years, every time the guinea pig was mentioned made me so sad. Firstly, it’s kept in a science lab at the school - why?! Secondly, I know Baz liberated it for a good reason but it’s treated so badly. If you read this book, please never feed a guinea pig muffins or keep one on its own in a tiny travel cage. This is a very nit-picky thing to complain about but it made me a little angry as a guinea pig owner.

Other than his mistreatment of said guinea pig, Baz was my favourite character. He’s there for comic relief and I adored his relationship with Sade. This was pretty much the only light part of this book, but these moments were very much needed to break up the intensity.

There were so many characters that I enjoyed, even if some of them were bad people. Pretty much every character in this book is lying about who they are and their involvement in the mystery. It was so fun trying to figure out who was telling the truth.

I also really enjoyed the back-and-forth with Sade and Persephone, but the romantic element of this felt very empty. You could definitely tell that this was where their relationship was going, but even by the end, nothing was concrete. Most of their interactions were very business-like. You could sense the chemistry between them, but I wish more happened with them.

Overall, Where Sleeping Girls Lie was a great mystery but it definitely has pacing issues. I think I would have enjoyed this even more if it had been shorter and had a greater sense of urgency. The cast of characters was complex and interesting and it handled some dark topics very well.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s addictive play on the traditional, boarding-school mystery is set in a highly-regarded, British public school. Its palatial grounds and gracious buildings cradle the elite’s offspring: children of international business figures and famous designers rub shoulders with the sons and daughters of politicians and the aristocracy. Recently-orphaned Sade Hussein is the newest pupil at the Alfred Nobel Academy, haunted by past tragedies she seems ready for a fresh start. But Sade is rapidly tangled up in the disappearance of her room-mate Elizabeth Wang. When the school leadership refuses to follow up on Elizabeth’s case, Sade teams up with Baz, Elizabeth’s best friend, in a desperate effort to uncover the truth.

Àbíké-Íyímídé’s deftly combines genre conventions and influences here: from Mean Girls to 13 Reasons Why to Christie-style detective fiction. The early part of her story feels like cosy crime served up with a dash of dark academia but as the plot progresses there are a series of deeply disturbing twists. Alfred Nobel increasingly reminded me of those sleepy English villages in vintage murder mysteries, outwardly picturesque but actually concealing deep-seated resentments and terrible crimes. Similarly, the charming, public schoolboys surrounding Sade are revealed to be Jekyll-and-Hyde figures, their polished exteriors merely masking their malicious, predatory desires.

Àbíké-Íyímídé’s narrative constructed a fascinating portrait of the dangerous consequences of unbridled privilege, the entitled boys/men who consider themselves untouchable and the systems that enable them. Àbíké-Íyímídé explicitly connects her story to Oluwatoyin Salau’s case - one that deserves to be remembered. But the English setting with its old boys’ networks and exclusive societies made me think of recent UK scandals. In particular Soma Sara’s exploration of links between numerous, exclusive, British independent schools and a widespread culture of rape, exposed through survivor accounts posted on her everyonesinvited site. Like Soma Sara, Àbíké-Íyímídé’s wants to empower girls, something she highlights. But she also makes it clear that the rot can’t easily be rooted out, it requires an ongoing process of resistance, support, and accountability.

The novel’s not flawless: the sapphic elements seemed understated; the diary entries and transcripts felt like unnecessary embellishments; some developments weren’t totally convincing or read like the remnants of abandoned storylines – especially the relationship between Sade and her father, and her treatment by her family. Although I really liked the bond between Baz and Sade and the detail of life at the school. For the most part I found this intensely gripping, and the underlying political and cultural messages powerful and undeniably relevant.

An interesting twist on the school thriller run of YA books released in recent years. There's plenty of intrigue and romance with an attack on the privileged elite. Cliques, secret societies and unlikely friendships abound.

Believable characters and a fast paced story with an interesting last minute twist. Well worth a read

I absolutely adored Ace Of Spades so when I heard about Where Sleeping Girls Lie I was beyond excited!

This was brilliant. It kept me on my toes and took me in a completely different direction to where I thought it was going to go (I purposefully didn’t read a full synopsis because I wanted to go in mostly without knowing too much). This book discusses so many important themes especially around private and elite educational institutions and their roots in “tradition” and what that particularly means for girls. Boys will be boys? I think not. I really loved this! Set in an elite boarding school, laced with mystery and secrets. Also the friendships! A lil shoutout to Basil and Muffin! Also Persephone!! I want to be Persephone! I loved the Mean Girls vibe that it was giving in the cafeteria scene.

Sade is kickass and an absolutely fabulously written character. I will leave it at that for now because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. GO READ THIS BOOK!

As a sidenote can we please acknowledge Faridah’s bio being iconic, because examining deeper meanings in DCOMs is a MOOD!! (Also collecting strange mugs because yes!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Usborne publishing for the advance reader copy.

This felt like a very promising read and I was excited to delve in but found that it was very slow.

I got to around 30% and felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere in the story; and it kept feeling this way for a while.

There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book, so I would check them before going I to this story.

I ended up finishing the book mainly to see where the story was going and how it would be rounded off.

I’m assuming this is a new adult or older young adult book due to the themes.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

A touching, brilliant and sad story (the trigger warnings are not for nothing). I really enjoyed the characters and the mystery. Furthermore, the plot twists made me gasp! Admitedly, I had a hard time getting into the story at first - it felt like the first half was just build up. But it's important to remember that the teenagers in this story are not true crime fanatics, and such have no idea what they're doing - they only want to find their friend and discover the lies.

An intriguing take on the unreliable narrator trope, 'Where Sleeping Girls Lie' follows Sade as she finally leaves home to attend an expensive boarding school, following the death of her wealthy father. Her mother died when Sade was ten, and we very quickly learn that the teenager is haunted by visions and flashbacks of an unnamed girl she couldn't save from drowning.

The formerly homeschooled Sade is shown round the sprawling school grounds by her roommate, Elizabeth, who helps her through the culture shock of the world of uniforms, timetables, and sneaking into places you shouldn't have access to. But when Elizabeth disappears less than twenty-four hours after Sade's arrival, the plot twists begin to pile up, and Sade discovers that there is more to her new school than lessons, sport, and clubs.

The key word in the title is 'lie'. Everyone in the story lies, misrepresents themselves, and disobeys the rules – including Sade. As the story progresses, and the reader finds out more about Sade's background and her reasons for coming to this school, the extent of the lies and omissions start to come into focus. In time all the pieces come together – what happened to Elizabeth, why Sade blames herself for the death of the girl who haunts her, and which of her friends are lying to protect a disturbing secret. It's an interesting read, because figuring out the truth is almost impossible until Sade uncovers the secrets and puts the connections together.

Touching on sensitive subjects, including sexual assault, suicide and grief, 'Where Sleeping Girls Lie' is a cathartic story – and an uncomfortable one. The constant lies, threats, and physical danger enhance the feeling of being lost in a new environment, and ignored by the people in authority who should be offering protection. There are some lighter moments – Sade's friendship with Baz, Elizabeth's best friend before her disappearance, is lovely, as is the growing affection between Sade and Persephone – but these elements of the story act as a contrast to emphasise the secrets and lies.

I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to recommend this book (my star rating is rounded up from a 3.5), but I'm still thinking about the story – and that's probably as good a recommendation as any.

Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, and Misogyny
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Animal death
Animal death is not of a pet, but it does feel slightly out of place and feels like it's just used to shock.

Representations: https://trello.com/c/rfNSpnhX/98-where-sleeping-girls-lie-by-faridah-%C3%A0b%C3%ADk%C3%A9-%C3%ADy%C3%ADm%C3%ADd%C3%A9

Thank you to Netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I did also buy myself a physical copy of the book a couple chapters in as it was up for a bookclub I go to and they had copies already and I prefer to read physical where I can.

This book was astonishing. I loved it, but it's not a book you have a lot of fun with. I've yet to read Ace of Spades, it's on my physical TBR and I've just not gotten around to it yet, but reading this has made me really want to read AoS sooner!!

This book is exactly like pulling on a loose thread and suddenly the whole sweater unravels. It starts with a missing person mystery and quickly devolves into pulling mystery threads across the entire school. The tension is done delightfully, I think it's supposed to be slow paced but it absolutely read like it was fast paced. I was completely hooked from the first page onwards.
The way the book messes directly with the reader is wonderful, the codes and subtle misdirections are wonderful. I'd have loved code breaking to have more of a focus as it seemed like it was going to at first, but it feels pretty underutilized by the end. Also not entirely sure the author knows what an anagram is haha.

I loved the characters, they were complex and each got the right amount of attention I think. I did get confused a few times on who people were because there's so many characters but by the end I think I had a decent grasp of who was who (except some of the girls 😅). The ones that are meant to be disliked often had a lot more with them than just "hate this character for this reason", even including some ambiguous characters too which made quite a nice mix of a cast.

I honestly can't think of many actual core flaws with this, the only major point is I'm not entirely sure what happened with one of the main plot lines. There was a theory proposed about how it went, but I don't think in the end it was actually confirmed or not. Unless the proposed theory is what happened, pretty believable series of events that fits in well but does feel like we didn't get the full picture of what happened.

Just a note for anyone reading the physical UK copy (at least the first edition out) there's a few major typos especially towards the end. It doesn't make it incomprehensible but it is very noticeable.

BRILLIANT ya read - i read ace of spades and liked it (particularly the ending), but this one blew my mind<3

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book as I have never read anything by this author before and outside of my “ normal “ genres etc.

Tells the story of Sade who after years of being home schooled is sent by her father to the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy .

On her first night her room made Elizabeth is found dead , which draws attention to Sade . The presence of an elite girls “ The unholy trinity “ a strong male presence in the higherarchy.
I got white super vibed and quiet black voices doing everything they could to be heard - brilliant!!
Hidden messages through character choices I thought which were very clever .

Many underlaying topics were addressed in this book and at times it was incredibly dark . I don’t want to say too much as it is a definite give it a go !

Enjoyed it as I said very different to what I normally read but well done !

So, I have loved books in boarding schools, since the Mallory Towers days, this was a little less happy and wholesome, but was a fantastic read and I was hooked.

The characters were addictive, Sadie was so endearing and I really felt for her after the losses she experienced. I couldnt tell who was trustworthy or not and was instantly suspicious of April.

I did find that the book dragged in the middle for me, but towards the end it really built up its pace, I loved how it came together (especially Elizabeth and the real JamJamTaiHu08) and that there was finally a sense of justice .

I enjoyed reading this book. Thank you to the writer, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read it

An interesting read, highlighting the sexual abuse that takes place within a private school with the school not taking it seriously and students not being heard.

I found the storyline quite slow up until Elizabeth went missing, then trying to find out what happened to her was also slow. The outcome was ok but for a book promising twist and turns was a disappointment for me.

Strong message and story but not for me.

This book simply may have not been for me. I know it's targeted at the YA audience and I'm way beyond that but I find a lot of YA literature brilliant and Where Sleeping Girls Lie certainly started out that way with the sudden disappearance of Elizabeth Wang.

Sade Hussein is new to Alfred Nobel Academy after finding herself alone following the deaths of her mother, then twin sister and father. A lifetime of home schooling and a strict upbringing hasn't given her any grounding for boarding school so she's delighted to make friends with Elizabeth and Basil (Baz) as soon as she arrives.

After Elizabeth's strange midnight disappearance the story then rambles on for a few hundred pages, occasionally giving the reader little hints about various goings on at the school.

It is here where the book lost me. I trudged through wondering when anything was going to happen but instead all there was, was general school stuff. The action barely picks up until the final few chapters. Even then the denouement manages to drag on for several chapters.

I know it's an overused saying that a book needs a good edit and if I'd written a novel I'd not be happy about a reviewer saying that. So I will only say that, for me, the action was too sporadic, the conclusion of an actual crime was ridiculous and despite this book bringing up some very serious issues it felt as though the author was simply saying that things take time to change and we have to be patient. Not a great thing for any young woman to hear.

Thanks to Netgalley and Usborne Publishing for the advance review copy.

A story of how wealth and power still rule over what’s right and decent and one girl’s quest to expose this.

New girl Sade is worried when her ‘house sister’ disappears just a couple of days after she arrives at her new boarding school. Sade hooks up with Elizabeth’s best friend Basil or Baz, but as they try to work out what’s happened to Elizabeth, they get caught up in the cliques and politics of this expensive and prestigious school. Sade attracts the eye of and gets pulled into the uber chic Unholy Trinity set of which Sade is very much captivated by Persephone, a studious, ultra cool girl who takes no nonsense from others. Navigating friendships, keeping up with the heavy study load and fighting with her own demons and guilt that she is a magnet for bad things that happen, it would be easy for Sade to forget Elizabeth’s mysterious disappearance. But Baz won’t let that happen and together they set about piecing together her last moves in an effort to find her or at least her body.

Set in a boarding school, the novel depicts that despite all the calls for values and equality; wealth and power still trample on decency and doing what’s right regardless of the consequences. Abuse by the boys of the girls in terms of evaluating their looks, illicit sharing of intimate images and forcing them into unwanted situations are rife, showing how it’s going to be a lot of work and a long time before those attitudes and behaviours changes. Meanwhile, the same sex relationships are far more respectful and balanced.

I loved the twist towards the end. There were a few clues along the way, but not easily possible to pre-empt.

Note: I hadn’t read Ace of Spades, but now I plan to.

I was desperate to fall in love with this book. In theory, this is everything I should of loved: a thriller set in a boarding school with dark academia tones and this book looking at issues such as trauma, toxic masculinity, female rage, queerness as well as trigger warnings that the author reference in her foreword and on her website (https://www.faridahabikeiyimide.com/wsgl-content-warnings). This includes death of family member, murder, sexual assault & rape culture, suicide, anxiety & emotional abuse and misogyny.

You see, this book is a heavy hitter and I had such high hopes for this.

And this just didn’t work for me. The pacing is so slow and I lost interest over the mystery given to us. There was no urgency and I stopped caring. I don’t mind a slow burn of a mystery thriller, but there has to be hook, a whether that be the storyline, the pacing or a character, that keeps me coming back. And it wasn’t here for me.

I sense this is a me issue as I have seen reviews from other readers who love this. And I might try this again at a later date. But, not for me, sadly.

Wow wow wow. I LOVED this book. I absolutely adored Ace of Spades and this was even better. I was gripped right from the start and thought the mystery aspects were so well done. I didn't see any of the twists coming and was gripped throughout. The pacing was fab, even though this book is almost 600 pages, it didn't drag once so I think that's a real testament to Faridah's talent to make a book that long so engaging. I loved the characters, the setting, the plot, everything, ugh I just adored this. Overall, this book was absolutely incredible, I will be recommending to everyone. Thanks so much to the publisher for the early copy.

This was great. Full of twists and turns. Thought the characters were compelling and the story kept me gripped. The story was harrowing at times. Definitely will be recommending to everyone!