Oh boy the way I couldn’t put this one down at all! It’s the type of read you just grab and as you start reading, you can’t stop because it grabs you and doesn’t let you go until you finished.

What I loved was how fast paced it was, there was no moment of hesitation in the writing and the plot, it just kept going and it made me go with it! I loved that. The writing was simple but engaging and Eva was such a joy to read about. Her mind was ticking fast, she was grieving, hurt, angry, and most of all she was determined to find who the murderer was. And all this while she was trying to pass her Oxford interviews for a university she was dreaming of being in.

I’d say I’d loved if we have a little more information on the relationship between her and George but honestly, with or without it, the story worked amazingly. I have to say, I kind of loved the hidden information and the things that kept showing up pretty much until the end, it made it so much more intriguing.

The dark academia setting and murder mystery, and the kept secrets! I ate it up. As a reader, I could feel how Eva shouldn’t trust anybody even if she desperately wanted to. People she thought she could trust, could not in fact be trusted at all. Ah, it was so much fun!

Thank you NetGalley and Walker Books for the ARC! I appreciate it!

I really did like the concept of the book, However the writing really didn't click with me and wasn't able to fully enjoy the books potential.

3.75 Stars

It was a decent story but I expected more from a book marketed as the YA thriller of the year. I found worked out the murderer pretty quickly (like maybe 30%) of the way in so the big reveal fell short

Your best friend dies in mysterious circumstances, you uncover a secret society which has prejudice, racism and misogyny at its heart oh and by the way your dream of being interviewed for a much sought after place at one of Oxford's leading colleges is the next day! Such is the plot behind this gripping new YA thriller. It's fast moving, full of twists and ultimately very dark. I loved it.
Eva has longed to read English at Oxford, not least because it was a dying wish of her mothers and the chances of her best friend George also being interviewed for a place sees all her wishes come true. Sadly, George dies soon after arrival ( no spoilers) and despite her police inspector father trying to persuade her to return home Eva remains to discover what really happened to George.
There is much for YA readers to relate to here: themes of prejudice, identity and class are explored alongside the conflicting feelings of grief that Eva battles with.
This is a very powerful novel with much that could be discussed within it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

Oxford Blood is a really interesting murder-mystery - an exciting whodunnit with an academic twist. It's well-paced and expertly couples high-stakes tension with moments of reflection and emotion. The main character, Eva, is intelligent and multifaceted. Her detective skills are second-to-none, and it's also interesting to see the world through her lens as a person of colour. Alongside the main murder mystery plot, the book poses important questions around racism, classism, and whether traditional academic settings are the inclusive spaces they claim to be. Filled with intrigue, excitement, and plenty of problem-solving, Oxford Blood is a great read.

This was a very fun read, and really solid for a debut novel!
The characters and writing style were really the strong point here. The writing was really sharp and on point, really easy to read without being too juvenile. It made it feel very fast paced even when the pace actually was fairly slow in terms of development of the mystery and I inhaled the book really quickly. This somewhat slow development isn't a negative though: I actually really enjoyed the extended build up and rising tensions throughout the book as it felt like things reached higher and higher stakes.
I think Eva was also a great protagonist. She was smart and capable, but without feeling unrealistically so. She was still clearly a teenager and had flaws, but that made her all the more relatable. We also don't get enough poc main characters in these types of book and the representation as really refreshing. I do think that because Eva was so great, some of the side characters paled in comparison and felt a bit one dimensional which was unfortunate but perhaps inevitable in a book with a limited page count.
I think the social commentary was also sprinkled in really well. Oxford has improved a lot in the past decade or so but it is true that it's still lacking in some areas (I particularly liked the discussion of how some affirmative action strategies, while very important, are flawed in terms of looking at only one trait and not looking at the person in context). The fact that a lot of the commentary took from actual scenarios (just look at this article about Oriel College https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-58885181) made it all the more effective.
I do think that you'll need to suspend your disbelief for this one. It's not at all realstic that Eva would have been able to continue investigating in the way that she did and interview week would be postponed by much more than a day after a murder! The book also got a little bit caught up in its own melodrama sometimes and perhaps leant a little bit more into the silly territory than I would have liked. I also think, compared to the relatively slow unravelling of the mystery, the final resolution happened very fast and felt a little bit unearned because of that, I think I would've liked a bit more of a drawn out conclusion to get more satisfaction. I also don't believe it's true anymore that students can pay their way directly to get accepted into the university (the university has issues including an overrepresentation of private school students, but this is for slightly more nuanced reasons than simply bribery).
Though this is more personal preference rather than any actual problem with the book, I also would have liked a bit more time spent on exploring Oxf0rd itself. Sure the Radcliffe Camera is nice, but the city has a lot more to it and it would've been nice to see that reflected.
In conclusion, I think any fans of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder will enjoy this. It has the same snappy prose, determined main character and high stakes! Plus a bonus exploration of class and privilege and an atmospheric setting. Definitely pick this up if you love ya mystery stories.

A dark and dangerous mystery set amongst Oxford's dreamy spires, that will keep you guessing to the very end. Full of twists and turns, we follow Eva's race against time as she tries to uncover the identity of the person who murdered her best friend George. But with Eva being a prime suspect and also having the weight of her families expectations bearing down on her, it feels she might crack under the pressure. Can she navigate the power and privilege of Oxford and discover the secrets the college is so desperate to hide? A thrilling and page-turning read, perfect for fans of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and Catch Your Death. Rachael is one to watch out for in the YA world. I'm already recommending this book to students at my school.

A fan of both A Good Girl's Guide To Murder and dark academia, the premise of Oxford Blood appealed to me immediately.

Set in the prestigious Oxford University - albeit a fictional division of it - we follow Eva as she embarks on an interview week like no other. Though competition and underhand tactics are expected as the interviewees vie for a place, not to mention membership of an elite secret society, Eva's week takes a very Unexpected turn when she finds the body of her best friend.

Suddenly the interviews and her place at Oxford, which had been so important to her, take a backseat as she works to prove to police that George's death was no accident.

I absolutely loved Eva as a main character. Confident and sure of herself, she is never afraid to use her voice especially when it comes to matters of inequality, which feel rife in the tradition-steeped Beecham College. At the same time however she is flawed, with her confidence sometimes verging into dangerous territory and her grief often causing her to act without thinking. She is layered and complex, and feels very real.

While the murder mystery of course takes center stage, there is a definite subplot regarding racism, and colonial history. A sensitive issue, and one I have to commend Davis-Featherstone for handling so sensitively. She does not shy away from it, but neither does it come across as forced or preachy. It all plays into the main narrative, and gives real food for thought in an otherwise fictional story.

For those who love their murder mystery thrillers, I would definitely recommend picking this up. An easy, gripping read that, had time permitted, I could have easily consumed in one sitting, with plenty of twists and turns from start to finish.

Oxford Blood was absolutely fantastic!

Eva & her (more than) best friend George are attending interview week at Beecham College. All they should be worrying about the stress of their interviews and exploring what could become their new home, unfortunately things aren’t quite so simple…

Eva is immediately struck by the racist history of the college when she sees a huge statue of a plantation owner who donated heavily to his alma mater. Troubling though this history is, as a mixed race female she hopes to be part of the change and future of Oxford university. Unfortunately when she finds one of her fellow interviewees dead underneath the statue interview week becomes a nightmare.

I loved the mystery and tension in this book. Good on Eva for fighting for her spot in a world that is often so exclusionary. Secret societies that cover up the ills of their members, nepotism, class division, racism and staff looking out for their reputations over student welfare made for a rollercoaster book. If you are thinking of applying to Oxford, maybe read this book after your first year. Otherwise I recommend to YA mystery fans, you will love it.

I really enjoyed this dark academia: it was quite light for a DA book but I loved the mystery, the secret society inclusion and the setting of Oxford. Eva is a great protagonist and I loved her relationship with her Dad.

This is an assured and well-written debut that kickstarts a lot of important conversations. The mystery is engaging and has some great twists and turns. I just wanted Eva to feel more active in the investigation and the ending was a little underwhelming for me.

Set within Oxford University, Oxford Blood is a gripping YA dark academia story with a murder to solve, a ticking clock, and layer upon layer of mystery. Exploring themes of privilege, secret societies, family, friendship and ambition, it's a proper page-turner that will have readers hooked.

Oxford Blood is about Eva and George who are going to interview week at Oxford University, however this all unravels when George turns up dead. The novel takes place entirely over this one week and follows Eva as she attempts to solve the mystery of her best friends murder, work out who to trust in a town full of strangers, and still make it through her 3 interviews to follow her dream.

This book was very atmospheric and I read the entire second half in 1 sitting, so it was very engaging and I was interested. I think this would be a good book for you if you are looking for a mostly light mystery with some more thrilling aspects near the end.

The pacing was a bit off for me nothing really happened during the first half and I would have also appreciated some more clues as to who the killer was and why they were doing this.

I really like the cover and the chapter art. Overall I did enjoy this book and would recommend if you are looking for a something fast to read.

Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish - this murder mystery set in the grounds of Oxford University kept me guessing until the end with its well thought-out plot. The setting was atmospheric and steeped in detail and history, while there were just the right amount of characters to contend with without feeling overwhelmed. What I loved most, however, were the themes of the novel - from the archaic and sickening elitism and fraternity network to the racism to the big question of whether Oxford was truly capable of change. Written by an Oxford graduate, the detail and themes felt authentic and created an intriguing backdrop for the murder. The plot moved at a great pace and there was raw emotion and real danger. With literary references thrown in for good measure, this is dark academia at its best.

Teen/YA murder mystery set amongst the halls of the Oxford Uni populace. The murder mystery is at the right level for the intended reader age. There are many themes covered around privileged and prejudice in a thought provoking way as the murderer twists their spiteful revenge. I liked the sassy lead female character, and her dad. Thank you to Walker Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Oxford Blood is a book with murder mystery, university dark academia and a secret society.

The book followed a college student Eva Dawkins, a mixed-race student from a state school, who had been invited to University of Oxford for interview week. Also invited with her was George, her best friend who shared romantic feelings with her. They agreed to put their romance on pause until after both were accepted into Oxford. However, George soon turned up dead.

The police stated his death as an accident, but Eva knew it wasn't. To add on to this, Eva found herself to be accused of his murder. During one of the most important weeks of her life, turned into a week of attempting to prove her innocence and still having to ace her interviews.

It was a fast pace mystery thriller. The chapters were short, and I found it hard to put down. I was intrigued by the Oxford setting, and the University of Oxford. It was interesting that this book took place during interview week, because we non-Oxford people, can get an insight as to how interview week in real life actually could be like.

I'll be honest, when George's death happened so early on, I just thought it kind of dull the story a little bit. But then other characters got hurt. I was shocked that there was more than one deadly incidents that took place in the book. I liked that it happened unexpectedly. For me at least.

There were no likable characters in this book. I hated the main character, Eva. I understand that she was grieving, and people grieve in different ways. On top of that, she was stress about the interviews. Yet Eva just annoyed me, and even got me angry at some points. She had this slight air of arrogance to her, and kind of self-absorbed at times. Eva was academically smart, but she made some stupid decisions. I just felt that she would have been better off studying crime and law, or something similar, instead of English.

I would recommend this to readers who loved Holly Jackson books, especially A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Walker Books for sending me an e-ARC copy, in exchange for my honest review.

A pacy YA thriller set in the world of Oxford University. Literally incredible, but a story that will satisfy fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
Our main character, Evie, has the opportunity to attend Oxford for an interview to read English at the prestigious Beecham College. Along with her best friend/sort of boyfriend George, Evie longs to study amongst some of the finest minds in academia. Unfortunately, the interview week exposes some of the most unpleasant elements of this fabled institution and the people who have gone through its doors.
When George is found dead everyone seems shocked. For Evie, who finds his body, this is the start of a dangerous quest…the journey to find out who killed George and why.
With some caricature villains in the guise of the posh boys and the racist professor determined to keep his old boys’ network safe, there’s moments in this that really don’t hold up to scrutiny. Regardless of the fact that her father is a famous Inspector there’s no way Evie would be given as much licence as she is to investigate this murder. So, suspend disbelief and just enjoy the story.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this before publication.

It's interview week at Beecham College and no one is quite as they seem. Eva is so close to her lifelong dream of studying English at Oxford, but things start to unravel as death and deceit abound.

Told through prose, notes, messages and social media posts, the story zips along and Davis-Featherstone deftly weaves the multiple threads of the story while raising important questions about the true impact of access schemes and how accountable colleges should be for the, often horrific, sources of their wealth. The characters are human and fallible and all the better for it. The author captures the mood of interview week beautifully (although mine was, thankfully, significantly less murdery...) and it's a fantastic setting for the mysteries that follow.

I'll be buying a copy for the school library on publication and (given how small our budget is) there can be no higher praise!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for approving me to read this book, I’m rating it 4.25-4.5 stars.

This had a real Good Girls Guide to Murder vibe and I loved that. With an academic setting providing us the environment for tense and cutthroat competition, the characters have arrived at oxford to see who will be offered a place to study. Oxford is a lot of peoples dreams, but some people are literally dying to study here.

I want to say that the person behind it all really surprised me and the twists surrounding the why were just as surprising. There’s a lot of characters to be suspicious of and maybe another reader will be better at guessing the villain.

I like the use of the past, history, and literature to create this YA murder mystery. I like how it highlights that universities can be a minefield of prejudice and elitism, this book takes the time to tackle difficult subjects very well. Please be mindful it does glaze over other tough subjects like racism and assault, but again this is tactfully done in my opinion.

I highly recommend this for a dose of murder mystery with diverse characters.

OXFORD BLOOD is a tale of power, influence, and ambition, set around an Oxford interview week.

This is a twisty mystery full of red herrings - and characters you want to hate so much you're not sure you can trust them to be the killer because that would be too neat (despite really, really wanting it to be them.) The author does a good job of making you have a strong reaction (positive or negative) to the cast which makes them memorable - useful for a murder mystery where several of the suspects are all rich boys from an elite boarding school.

This book explores institutional systems that keep certain people in power - rich, white men - from private schools to university and beyond. But it also looks at the schemes created to give underrepresented groups a leg up to more equal footing and isn't shy about critiquing how schemes designed with the best intentions can fall short.

Across the book, Eva is forced to ask how much she knows about her best friend George and if we are responsible for our parents and ancestors. How much of their crimes are we complicit in? With some, the answer is very clear cut in the book but for others, the book leaves it up to us to decide.

However, I did keep getting pulled out of the book by the inaccuracy of the set up. Oxford interview weeks are not residential weeks but weeks in which (pre-pandemic) students would arrive for a day of interview, with the entire cohort spread across the weeks. (The book at least does explain why this college is back in person rather than online.) The book wouldn't work without it being a residential over several days, but it stretched plausibility too far for me several times.