✧ Dark Academia
✧ Paranormal
✧ Ghosts/phantoms
✧ Love/hate triangle


They are wicked. She is worse.
Welcome to Huntsworth Academy.

It was akin to a fevered reverie, a phantasm woven from delirium.

When I first saw any information about this book I was delighted, primarily because it falls into the genre of "dark academy", and there are not so many such books, in fact.

The main character, blinded by the idea of ​​revenge for her cousin who tragically died. Or… was he murdered? This book reminded me of The Secret History, in the best possible way.

In addition to the murder mystery that the main character is trying to solve, we encounter thoughts and reflections on the concept of death and life, as well as small references to classic, mostly philosophy as a subject. As someone who is studied Greek and Latin, seeing small phrases was very lovely. But despite this, the book is diluted with hilarious dialogues, so it never felt boring.

Morally gray characters

"All of us deserve to burn"

"Liars, every one of us"

Each hero is dark in his own way, but each of them does not have a typical "right morality" and in a modern setting this is revealed completely differently than in fantasy or other genres.
Both love interests are wicked (in different ways) and wild choices, and I don't even want to choose a side, because their love triangle of obsession is so weird, it is almost perfect.
Somewhere very deep down I hope for a possible polyamorous line between them, which would be very interesting to read about (for me).

The story theme develops correctly slowly, consistently absorbing and dragging on to know what is hidden behind the mask of each character, what is wrong with the ghosts that should not exist and how will this whole story end?

Speaking about the ending… Thanks for putting me through the meat grinder. I liked it.

I can't wrap my head around the fact that this is the author's debut.

The writing was SPECTACULAR, both dark and living for the drama, so detailed, so twisted. Absolutely amazing.
I think the story is perfect for those YA readers who love the dark academia ambience with morally grey characters and some mystery.

Although the author's writing pulls you right into the story, the plot feels somewhat slow and predictable if you've read more books of this genre. But if you enjoy stories that draw from *The Secret History* and are filled with lies and games, it's a good book to spend the afternoon with.

Unfortunately this book didn’t work for me. It took me longer than usual to finish the book due to the slow plot. The dark academia vibes were good, but could’ve been better. Furthermore, I found it strange at how such a renowned school accepted a cheque and a letter just like that?

It took some time for me to get into it and I felt that the MC’s POV might’ve been more interesting if other characters such as Henry or Graves’s POV was added aside from the prologue.

Thanks for the eARC! Hope fully this book works better for other readers.

Boys With Sharp Teeth is a fever dream of a book, and a reading experience I find hard to review, or even to articulate. I've never read anything quite like it. The prose is - there's no other word for it - feverish, the dialogue elegant and subtext laden, the character work rich and layered. It definitely won't be for everyone, but I loved it - and especially loved how clear it was that Howell is comfortable taking creative risks, and is trying to create ART with her writing rather than simply a commercial product. If this is her debut I can only anticipate the heights she'll fly to over the course of her career. I can't wait for her next book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars rounded up

Boys with Sharp Teeth is a vividly atmospheric story with a central murder mystery plot and speculative fiction elements. Using gorgeous prose and razor-sharp characterisation, Jenni Howell is an author to watch.

The first 40% of the book made me feel incredibly nostalgic. The main trio's interpersonal relationships and discussions of philosophy reminded me of my time reading John Green novels as a teenager (even though this story was of a totally different genre!). The setting of the boarding school only added to this, with lush descriptions allowing me to picture Huntsworth while I read.

After the halfway mark, I felt that the plot started to slow down and drag slightly. I can't pinpoint exactly why, but I felt less compelled to continue reading after such a strong start. However, the central mystery was interesting enough to pull me through to the explosive finale, which I enjoyed. Overall, this was a good read and a worthy addition to the dark academia genre.

DNF @26%

This book and my current mood and mental health situation don't go together. It's mostly because of the writing. It's hard to keep track of everything that's going on. It's hard to understand what is happening. These characters have discussions at an interesting intellectual level, but my mind is currently not healthy enough to keep up with it. Reading this book goes slow and I notice that my mind wanders and isn't focussed on the book. For now, which is fair towards the author and the publisher who granted me a review copy through Netgalley, and myself, it's better to not finish this book. I won't be able to experience it as it should be experienced, which means I won't be able to enjoy it. Maybe I will come back to this book in the future, maybe I won't. We will see if there's a moment my curiosity gets stronger than myself!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

When I saw the blurb say “When We Were Liars” meets “The Raven Boys” I knew I was cooked. Girl dinner for the romantasy/dark academia soul. I devoured this!!

Howell really said… here’s some beautiful, sad boys, now watch them burn. Twisty, delusional, and full of tension that you can taste. I was loving and loathing every character all at once—wanting a happy ending, wanting revenge, wanting Marin to burn it all down and walk away smiling.

The setting? GORGEOUS. Huntsworth Academy and that surrounding forest felt like a living, breathing thing. Isolated and eerie, like the real world just… stopped existing. Just vibes and consequences and plenty of broken mirrors 🪞.

Also—philosophy? She really gave us the existential dread we deserve. What is a dark academia book if it’s not flirting with death and questioning everything?

If you like your stories sharp, strange, and dripping in atmosphere and you are a huge fan like myself of The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater … Boys With Sharp Teeth is ready for you to sink in to.

This was a dark and compelling read, it had me hooked right away with the gothic feel. I felt invested to find out the truth.

The writing was so atmospheric that I was completely sucked into the story. I had no idea what was going to happen next which kept me hooked. Described as a gothic/horror/dark academia, themes I don’t typically read, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

The story begins with ‘Jamie’ who arrives at Huntsworth, a boarding school for the rich, after her cousin Sam dies. She is determined to make those responsible for Sam’s demise pay. After carefully orchestrating herself in the lives of Baz, Henry and Graves, Jamie tries to figure out what happened the night of Sam’s death and why he was killed.

Initially, it was the cover which drew me to this book, it is stunning. The writing was so atmospheric that I was completely sucked into the story. I had no idea what was going to happen next which kept me hooked. Described as a gothic/horror/dark academia, themes I don’t typically read, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

Gorgeous writing with a Raven Boys esk story. This is less of a whodunnit and more of a whydunnit (very topical with the recent release of Adolescence).

I liked the setting, the characters and the general vibe. To be honest I can find dark academia A LOT. I am not a philosophy girly so I did appreciate the Tempest references because I knew what was going on but generally the vibes were good.

The main issue I had was with plot, I thought a lot was predictable and the bits that weren't made little sense and weren't explained well 🫣

I did have fun with this though so thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

Thank you to Scholastic UK for providing an eARC via NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Buzzwords: dark academia, secrets, revenge, hidden identity, boarding school setting, secret notes, outcast main character, dark (surprise) ending, friendship group, flirts with the paranormal (not vampires)


Boys With Sharp Teeth is advertised as a dark academia mystery about a girl who secretly enters a boarding school to prove who killed her cousin, but she begins to be seduced by the killers as her lines for right and wrong blur. This is all true. It is a story of a girl who shouldn’t be at Huntsworth Academy. Part danger, part thrill to her. Yet, these feelings are ultimately clouded over by her grief. But something was underwhelming about this book as a whole. Whilst I admired the author’s natural skill with words and characters, providing a unique dark tone to the story, I’m not sure the lines ever got under my skin the way they should have.

Before we discuss my feelings in more depth, I need to start with a warning, if you will. This book features no vampires. I have seen it labelled as such under Goodreads. People saw a gothic mention of sharp teeth and their minds went straight to Edward Cullen. Alas, this is not this book. There is a paranormal aspect, but it is only tiny. I would describe it as paranormal vibes to bring forth morality vibes. Nothing deeper than a peck
on the cheek. No teeth; you’ve been warned.

“Only shame, the poisonous tip to grief’s arrow, sinking deep in my centre.”

This book is about a normal girl, Marin James, aka Jamie. She grew up in a small town, feeling distant from most people. She was an outsider. Her cousin was the only one who brought her out of herself. The one who wanted to know her and be known by her. When he dies and the justice system fails to hold the killers accountable, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

As with many YA mystery stories, people question how teenagers get roped into crime scenes and murderers. Boys With Sharp Teeth provides a girl in deep grief with an air of hopelessness that leads her straight into becoming roomies with the murderer. This terrible decision is one that I could potentially believe a teen would make. After all, the confidence of not being wrong is likely to be found in youth, and her careless attitude towards her own life and future can excuse the foolhardiness of this decision. However, I did find it hard to relate to her calm demeanour in these situations. Any risk to her life was merely a passing thought, and Marin never seemed to doubt what could happen next. For the main character, she almost felt dead inside with little emotional impact. This is ultimately the biggest downside to this novel. If she felt more present, whether in anger, bitterness or sadness, I think it would have strengthened my reading experience.

Marin James fulfills her outsider identity by being the newbie (and impersonator) to the other students. The Huntsworth Academy students, specifically three of them. With the love of eat-the-rich* stories and Pinterest’s resounding devotion to the Dead Poets’ Society aesthetic, this group held the power. Both for the story and the audience.
*eat-the-rich: specifically, the new version. To dine luxuriously on their lives before taking everything they have. Breath, soul, wealth. Admire and devour. Love-to-Hate. Hate-to-Love.

Henry Wu – the one with the extravagant leader-type personality, is free from the shackles of societal constraint. He finds true feeling in the outrageous.
Adrian Hargraves – the moody biker boy with a shaved head and leather jacket. All emotions are hidden but real, aka depth. Arguably a version of “Ronan Lynch” but with a missing backstory. If found, please return.
Baz Hallward – the people pleaser. She goes with the flow for ease, potentially the most genuine of them all? Not a boy with sharp teeth, but a girl with kind eyes? Unfortunately, it did not get her a place on the cover.

It was clear the novel’s purpose was not a mystery to solve but to experience the dangerous game Marin (aka Jamie) has entered with these characters and the seduction of the academy itself. Through her, we experience these characters, fed by her biased opinion of believing them to be murderers.

The lure of the story is the emotional tension from her investigation of each character. Rather than the investigation itself or the fear for her life (clearly too basic), the palpable feeling of the tension draws readers in. It is a living thing that circles the characters, bringing, no, forcing, them closer. The intimacy of a lover paired with the hate of an ex, all to be found in the eyes of a stranger. It is this energy that the book truly celebrates. This proximity to danger provided the thrill and rewrote the tone of darkness for a YA mystery. Marin James was not letting them go. The pages were dipping with lines that showcased this specific kind of tension.

“I hate how not a single inch of him escapes my notice.”

I thought the author had a knack for crafting this atmosphere, but I’m still waiting for the substance to back it up. Many lines would catch my eye on social media and make me want to know more, but this feeling of wanting lasted until the very last page.

The characters feel real in how they handle themselves and react, but the backstories and depth were missing. The person behind the mask was never really shown, as if the book was too in love with their shroud of mystery to ever uncover it. The same can be said for the main character, to an extent. As mentioned earlier, her emotional presence was lacklustre. However, as the book went on, we got more from her. Glimmers into her past and her desires. How she viewed herself and what she wanted from other people. These parts were slowly uncovered and proved that Howell has the potential to write rich characters, but this book didn’t cross the line for me.

“I thought I wanted a dissertation, enough words to match mine one for one, to prove their worth by striving to outdo them, but it turns out all I really needed was to be seen, and wanted.”

Boys With Sharp Teeth is a change of pace for YA mystery stories and sticks to its own path. It created intimate tension with ease (but it is not a romance story (for that I personally say “thank you, thank you)) and began to delve into a darker main character (it’s not always about doing what is right, but making the justice she wants). These highlights are exciting in their own way, but they don’t make up for some crucial elements needed for a strong execution. The missing character aspects, an all-too-obvious surprise reveal, and the failure to create sufficient ebbs and flows in the story made this book forgettable.

Ok this is a tough one to review.
If you like dark academia with a twist, go for it!
Please do check trigger warnings if you need them cause... There are some dark things happening for a YA book.

I loved the interactions between the 4 main characters, how they are attracted to each others and at the same time trying to keep distances.
Jamie made me a bit insane with how easily she trusts people when she KNOWS she shouldn't... But hey... It's YA so I'll let it pass.
Basically I loved the push and pull that happened in their group and the atmosphere.

Be ready for the last 25% which are NOT going the direction I was expecting it to go... And the ending left me damaged.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic UK for access to the ebook against an honest review.*

Nope. Sorry, this just wasn't for me. It really dragged on, I found it boring and I did not like the romance or plot AT ALL. Had to dnf it early. It was weird but interesting premise, just wasn't executed well imo.

Boys with Sharp Teeth is a YA take on dark academia. The writing is poetic and haunting creating a great narrative for philosophical exploration. I most enjoyed the murder mystery, which had a paranormal element making this more interesting. In terms of the characters, they are all complex and full of reflections. At times the feelings were a bit intense for me as I felt there wasn’t enough time or space for them to have reached that point. But I also did enjoy the drama of it all. The highlight of this book is the beautiful prose and I certainly would recommend to dark academia readers. This is a book of revenge, reality and romance. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

This book is both nonsensical and boring.
Lacking in plot and character development (and also coherent dialogue), Howell has written Boys with Sharp Teeth on vibes alone.

This was one of my most highly anticipated releases of the year - because a mix of gothic horror and dark academia with a murder mystery and morally grey MMCs and FMC sounded like a bit of me. So I cannot describe just how disappointed I am that this was a huge miss for me.

In this we see all the normal themes and tropes of an elite boarding school dark academia / gothic / horror novel but the frenzied writing of madness and reality was just too fractured and slow to keep me me both interested and understanding what was happening. They’d be doing or talking about one thing and then skip to another which left me wondering if my copy was missing pages.

I saw a video the author posted where she talked about how many rounds of edits and rewrites this book has had over the course of many years, and unfortunately it really shows. It’s a mix-mash of a few different books, sliced and spliced together that makes it so difficult to read and follow.

I spent the vast majority of reading this book internally screaming “what are you talking about”, “what are you doing” and “what do you mean” because it’s so overly written to the point of making no sense. After 20% I was bored and picking this up to continue felt like a slog.

Again, this deeply saddens me because the idea and the premise is excellent but the execution is not there.

Thank you to NetGalley, Scholastic UK and Jenni Howell for the e-arc and the opportunity to read Boys with sharp teeth.
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As many others I was drawn to the cover which is simply beautiful and gives a bit of hindsight into the characters.
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This book is fully YA and has a hint of romance, but it’s more like interest due to finding who the real culprit is. I see that the author tried to make it somewhat of an obsession but it felt more like a sudden thing than a really developed romance. It might also be due to the fact that the story spans for just 2 weeks and not a whole semester.
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The next few paragraphs might have spoilers so please read carefully

[TL;DR] 3,5/5 too many pages which felt useless instead of explaining more about the world building. Nice atmosphere with likeable characters.
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I really enjoyed the fake identity part and Jamie/Marin always being on edge about being discovered by the school staff. However, about the school, nothing is really explained as to why it was founded, who gives off money, who are the other students than the 3 others ? Why is Victoria mentioned and then we forget her ?
Also why are we having philosophy classes in a greenhouse and detention is free to get in and out.
Marin leaves her place but her dad does nothing, neither her friends ? No one looks for her ?
I felt like the world building was a tiny bit lacking and it would’ve needed around 50 pages more of it.
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Now for the whole relationship parts, idk why but I expected it to be a bit queer.
There was a moment between Graves (Adrian) and Henry (when Marin gets out of the shower) where I fully expected Henry to kiss him. However nothing happens. It’s just like : oh yeah remember in middle school I felt so alone I decided to burn my family home with everyone inside but then I remembered my best friend that I saved. But now I’m going to guilt trip him into doing everything I want?
What about Graves parents ? Where are they ? Wdym it’s your 3 bike you crash in the semester ?
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How did Henry figure out it was the mirror and everything around it ? Was he seeing ghosts before just like Marin and her mom.
Marin’s mom is mentionned very briefly every time, she died of substance (and physical) abuse but we have no idea about how close Marin and her were.
Why us Marin still living at her dads ? Shouldn’t she have moved to her friends place or with Sam and her aunt ?
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Now Baz (Basile) pretty much neglected by her mom who seems to care about her, she’s also president of the student council ? Feels a bit random. Why is she afraid of mirrors? Why did she really get into tarot ?
The part I really liked about her friendship with Marin is that she just opened up little by little and really cared about her. Marin kept feeling guilty about lying and felt like this was a stolen friendship.
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Now Graves, he seemed to be pretending to be cool having girls around etc but always running and working out ? Do the kids have 2h of school per day ?
Why is he cutting his body with the mirror ? Just to feed Henry who guilts trip him ? but when we had the first page of every chapter it felts a bit more deep than that and it was never mentioned again.
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I fully expected this book to NOT have any paranormal/supernatural moment, like yes it was just mentioned at the start with the whole Sam’s dying mystery (which was forgotten pretty easily) and then you think about something else. This part just felt rushed and added just to spice things up.
I totally forgot about Sam for like 200 pages, the grief was replaced by curiosity never hate like Jamie/Marin seems to be talking about.
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At the end, Marin is not accused of anything, no one can find her but she’s literally down the hill, Adrian recognized her immediately but how did Henry find out ? Why did none of the adult did the same ? Especially the sheriff ?
So she gets half into the mirror and is half alive, decides to let her go BUT sends a letter to Henry who is in jail like : I’m bored let’s make a second book ?
This just got me to sigh very loudly.
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Why is Henry paying for the school by himself ? Like he’s the biggest contributor and it’s not the older alumni students ?
So many quotes by French authors and Latin sentences, if you have never read the books or did Latin it seems a bit too much.
Who sent the memento mori text ? What’s up with the somewhat cult like party they did ? Was it just in memoriam of Sam ?
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I have a LOT to yap about around this book however my final thoughts is that it was 150 pages too long. The book was more tell than show. The characters could’ve been more complex. The paranormal bit was not made correctly and then tragedy part was very quick. Especially with grief.
Also no one actually has sharp teeth more like a sharp tongue…
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Thanks again for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank-you to NetGalley and Scholastic UK for the opportunity to read an eArc of this book.

the cover is nothing short of perfect, it fits the vibe the book was going for and it draws you in.

The story has amazing potential, there was things that pulled me out of the immersion but for me it wasn't enough to drop my rating.

I was intrigued when I heard this described as We Were Liars meets The Raven Boys. I wondered how that would work, but I think that comparison was very fair.

The story was intriguing, and I found myself questioning what was going on although occasionally that descended into the plot being outright confusing or a little slow.

The ending made sense with the rest of the story, but perhaps demonstrated this was not quite the right book for me, but I think there will be plenty of readers who will love it.

I have found this a tricky book to rate. I enjoyed it enough that I will definitely be looking out for further books by this author. I think it’s 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank-you to NetGalley and Scholastic UK for the opportunity to read an eArc of this book.

Before I dive into this book, a round of applause for this cover because DAMN!

I might have gone into this story with unrealistic expectations. I was ready for a queer, sexy, haunting, dark-academia kind of story with a sprinkle of romance and a messy love triangle. I did get some of those parts, just in a pretty muted fashion and felt a bit let down by that.

The prose was gorgeous and Jenni Howell has a real talent when it comes to crafting beautiful sentences that immediately suck you into the story and build a compelling atmosphere.
The characters were also really interesting and all really fleshed out, but I could not get behind the obsession and romance part of it all. A lot of it felt forced and unnatural to me.

There was also some confusion on my part when it came to the sheer easiness with which Marin infiltrated a literal ELITE boarding school and how no one batted an eye at that. Some things just weren't adding up and yes, even though this is fiction and anything is technically possible, it still needs to make sense for the reader and for me a lot of it didn't make sense.
It felt like the author focused more on the prose and the vibes, than the whole architecture of the story and plot itself, which led to these confusing elements and the lack of establishing a compelling story.