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!

I loved this book! A girl starts boarding school and her room mate goes missing on the first night. I loved the dark academia theme and it was quite aq creepy story full of unfolding secrets. I loved it!

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé's first novel blew my socks off, so my expectations of Where Sleeping Girls Lie was somewhere in the stratosphere. I can only imagine the pressure on the writer to deliver something equally powerful! In some ways WSGL is a very different beastie to Ace of Spades but although it lacks the shock-factor of AoS in many ways it's even stronger.

I love thrillers, and I love good characters with a well-drawn arc and it's sometimes hard to juggle those two factors in YA crime, but Àbíké-Íyímídé has worked hard to create funny, sympathetic characters who learn and grow while they are finding out who killed who and why. It makes the book a bit longer than the average YA thriller, but you need space to get to know everyone.

Sade Hussein is the new girl at Alfred Nobel academy. She arrives already loaded down with trauma and secrets, then on day one her room-mate vanishes without a trace. She teams up with the sweet, eminently huggable Basil Dos Santos (and his guinea pig sidekick) to find out what happened to her - and the trail leads her to a horrifying confrontation with her own past. But amid the horror there's also found family, in-jokes, a dash of romance and a fresh take on dark academia school tropes.

I can also really relate to people constantly mispronouncing Sade's name.

Thanks Netgalley for giving me a chance to read this book before publication.

Where Sleeping Girls Lie" is a novel about Sade, a girl who starts attending a new boarding school. On her first night, her roommate disappears and Sade discovers herself surrounded by dark secrets. The book is written exceptionally well and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was a fan of the author's first book and this one did not disappoint me either. It is definitely a page-turner and a must-read for those who enjoy dark academia, boarding schools, and stories filled with dark secrets.

This beast of a book had me hooked. Such a creepy story which kept me guessing all the way through. I thought it was brilliant

This was a phenomenal read.

I love a boarding school book and this one, with a disappearance and mystery to solve was right up my street. I loved the characters, especially Basil who made me laugh, was caring, determined and a little clueless. Him "liberating" a guinea pig and trying to hide it in his room was one of my favourite bits of the book.

Sade is a brilliant character and I really loved how her story progressed. There were some real shocks for me and moments that had my jaw on the floor.

A brilliant read. I'll definitely be recommending this one to everyone!