As The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite books, and YA horror is one of my favourite genres, I definitely went into this book with very high expectations and I still managed to be absolutely blown away by it. I adored the themes of beauty and control, and especially how it managed to be a unique story that speaks to modern day issues while still taking inspiration from the classic. An incredibly layered narrative with characters who struggle in the search for identity.

Raw and unflinching, and everything I could've possibly hoped for in a sapphic feminist retelling of Dorian Gray. A new favourite for sure! 4.5 stars.

A sapphic retelling of the story of Dorian grey I have to say I liked this version better. This was an absolutely wild ride. Dark, twisted, sad and creepy right from the start. It’s one that you won’t want to put down.

Having started this,I realised I should read The Society for Soulless Girls first, to get the most out of this. Other reviews for this book are fabulous, so I'm going to give it 5 stars and update my review once I've read both books.

If you love enemies to lovers, Sapphic relationships, girls supporting girls, dark academia and spooky rituals then this is the book for you. Set in a Northumberland arts school newly reopened following years old tragedy Society For Soulless Girls will have you hooked from the very beginning. With a constant theme of women's identity and owning your power (and your anger) this is the perfect empowering read for anyone who has ever been made to feel that they must push down parts of themselves in order to please the world.

I actually really enjoyed this book! I went out as soon as I could and brought a copy for my own shelf!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

I loved this dark YA fantasy twist on the Dorian Grey concept. The main character is at a drama school where there's a dark secret hidden in the basement. Steven's books are captivating, imaginative and thoughtful- I loved every moment of this dark tale.

laura steven serves again!! this was unputdownable once again and i finished it in two settings.. i loved how it explored so many deeper themes and how emotional it was.. especially the romance and ending? perfection.

I much preferred this to Society of Soulless Girls. I wasn't going to read another Laura Steven's book after how the first one went, but the fact that it was a retelling of Dorian Gray swayed me. I'm really glad I picked this one up because a lot of the problems I had with Society, I didn't have with this one. The ending was satisfying and thrilling, the characters were interesting and intriguing and I really liked the romance.

I haven't read Dorian Gray, I only know the story from various retellings over the years, so I don't know how close to the original tale it was, but I really enjoyed the suspense over who the masked painter was and who was killing off the people in the paintings.

I also really liked the modern day twists with the alopecia and the eating disorders. It was a commentary on our society and what it's like the be a women living today with all the pressures put upon us. It was a really fitting theme to have in the book.

Overall I enjoyed it. Definitely try this one even if you hated Society of Soulless Girls because it's way better.

A bit of a slow starter but quickly picked up the pace when the shades and mirror world kicked in! I loved the mirror world aspect and loved how Laura integrated such a horrid aspect of the patriarchy into a novel fuelled by female rage and hope.

4.5 stars

EVERY EXQUISITE THING is a chilling, atmospheric gothic horror about the drive to have and hold beauty at any cost.

This book uses dark academia - the obsession to achieve an academic goal, here a drama school and all the fame that implies - to great effect while crafting the horror elements. A school that pushes students to the limit, forces them to break themselves down to nothing in the name of preparing them to make great art adds to the pressure pushing Penny forward.

There is also the physical setting with pictures that don't quite feel right and mirrors everywhere that helps add to the atmosphere. I really loved how the paintings and mirrored played into it, the surreal "everything is deeply wrong" sequence they were integral to.

There is the twist on the painting from Dorian Grey, immortalising beauty. It allows for a sharp, painful examination of society's pressures on people, particularly girls, to appear beautiful and thin - no matter what damage that might cause or the self-inflicted abuse it might trigger. The unreal horror elements only highlights the horror of the reality contained within. It is a perfect example of using horror to examine real societal issues.

I devoured this book, swept into the atmospheric setting and need to find out what happened next as the horror unfolded page by page.

This is a neat and clever update of the Picture of Dorian Gray. Penny is highly troubled, obssessed with her physical appearance and beauty, and in the grip of severely disordered eating. She lives in the shadow of her improbably youthful looking famous mother, and wants to achieve her own success and fame. She enrols in the elite Dorian Drama Academy to pursue acting. At the start of the novel she loses out on a lead role in the play to a rival, which leads to a disastrous course of action. When her new mentor at at the school offers her the chance to have her portrait painted by a mysterious artist, who promises immortal beauty to all his subjects. She becomes excited at the thought of being able to eat whatever she wants, and never age or get any fatter. Unfortunately when she starts to gorge on food, and remains cold all the time she realises the terrible fairy-tale logic curse of the powerful spell - she is immortalised in the exact moment she was feeling and looking when the portrait was painted - destined to be starving hungry and freezing cold no matter how much she eats. She then finds her mentor murdered, with dramatic slashes all over her body, and realises the Painter is now murdering those he has immortalised. The plot gets increasingly unhinged and unpleasant - and the story doesn't shy away from very dark and intense themes - for example as part of the portrait ritual Penny has to kill a live mouse with a hammer.

The story encompasses both dark fairy tale and crime mystery elements & engages with very pertinent themes about image and disordered eating and how how the perfect images we view of our famous and perfect looking icons and celebrities are unreal and unachievable. It reminded me a little of the film Black Swan with a troubled and disturbed heroine in a heightened, delusional state (brought on by paranoia, hunger and jealousy) where you aren't sure what's in her mind or is the horror real? It's a highly disturbing yet unputdownable read

This is an exquisite book (pun intended). I loved The Society for Soulless Girls, so I went into this with high hopes, and it didn’t disappoint.

It was a chilling read, one that slowly draws you into the dark heart of Dorian. It’s a haunting look into how society has tainted how we view ourselves and our worth, and it does deal with some heavy topics, but it does so very well. It’s also got a lot of beauty in this book, forgiveness of others and yourself and learning to love who you truly are.

The plot was intriguing, especially for anyone who loves the original Dorian book. It keeps you guessing and it’s surprisingly heartbreaking in parts.

Highly recommend.

Brilliant book! I love this author's writing.
She just has a way with words.. I would highly recommend
10/10

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one!! It wasnt a bad book by any means, I really was enjoying and know its going to be fantastic overall however, the MC has a pretty graphic eating disorder and it really triggered me

Penny Paxton, daughter of a world famous model and actress, had a lot to live up. Enrolled in the Dorian drama school her mother frequented herself, she is desperate to prove herself as worthy. But she’s also starving herself, playing games to control the food she eats, constantly plagued by the pressure to always be beautiful. When an offer to stay this beautiful forever comes by, she can’t let it pass, but she has no idea that life she’s giving up for the life she wants.

This is a glorious book. It’s very heavy and dark sometimes, particularly about eating disorders, self image, and emotionally abusive parents, but it’s so well written and crafted. In the authors note at the beginning, Laura Steven writes how this is the book she needed at 18. And, same, really. But it’s also the book I really need right now. So much of societies pressures and the constant pitfalls of being a woman are perfectly detailed in this book that I need to push it into so many young girls hands and tell them not to worry.

I love Penny as a character. Flawed in her ways, quick to judge and resistant to opening up, she is a perfect example of always striving to be more and always being told that she is not. I loved how the friendships were written and the budding romances. It’s a great retelling of Dorian Gray, but you don’t need to have read it to read this, a strong mystery, and a fun and vivid fantasy world brought to life by incredible writing and a topic that I think will touch all of us.

Laura has done it again!!! An amazing read, I am absolutely obsessed with this book just like I was with Society for Soulless Girls.
I was sold to this book as soon as I read that it was a sapphic retelling of Dorian Gray.
If you like mystery, drama and spooky reads this is for you.
I loved the characters and how Laura describes everything so vividly.
5 stars, would give more stars even if I could 🖤

Honestly, I was scared of this book before reading. I've had an up and down relationship with Laura Steven's work - I loved her debut trilogy, wasn't a huge fan of her sophomore YA contemporary and wasn't sure how I felt about her previous dark academia novel. Needless to say I had no idea what to expect from this but I'm so glad I picked it up because I thoroughly enjoyed it!
The concept of a gender-swapped and modern day Dorian Gray definitely lived up to expectations in how it addressed modern day beauty standards and the capitalism surrounding beauty. I thought Laura Steven did a really good job of exploring these themes but it not feeling like a lecture.
I also thought this had an incredible atmosphere with even better prose.
Can't recommend this book enough!

"Girls don't want beauty. Girls want power. And sometimes beauty is the closest substitute."

EVERY EXQUISITE THING is a sapphic, feminist retelling of Oscar Wilde's, The Picture of Dorian Gray. A dark and atmospheric read, it's the perfect book for a rainy, misty day. Penny is a complex and multi-layered protagonist, and you can feel her desperation as the events of the novel progress. Perfect for fans who enjoy sapphic romances, eerie settings, and peculiar happenings.

I really loved the plot of this story. I read another book of this author about a year prior to this one and loved it just as much as this one. I love that it's a sapphic retelling of Dorian Grey too. I cannot say enough good things about this book and I will be checking out other books by this author too!

Well, this book was not at all what I expected, it was. better. I loved Dorian Grey so was excited to see where this would go. This book gave me all the seasonal feels and got me ready for Autumn. The fact it was sapphic as well was amazing. If you want a dark, horror story with some excellent twists then this is for you. I cannot wait to see what Steven does next.