The Magpie Society: One for Sorrow

The Magpie Society Is a great read especially for this time of year it makes the perfect Halloween read while snug indoors especially if you are a fan of pretty little liars etc . The main characters Audrey and Ivy grab your attention well and offer enough to make you want to keep turning the page .I read this book in full within two days and it kept my interest with my suspicions of the story pulling me more and more into the world . Overall I give this a 4 stars and look forward to seeing if anything more comes from Amy and Zoe in the future

A thrilling first instalment from a new partnership of Zoe Sugg and Amy McCulloch

The Magpie Society is a secret. In fact very few students at Illumen Hall have heard of it but after the mysterious death of Lola, one of the most popular students, Ivy and Audrey start to investigate and suddenly everything starts to point towards this sinister group.

With a podcast at the very heart of this story, the book is reminiscent of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder with a touch of Mallory Towers thrown in.

My students will absolutely love this book and I can’t wait to introduce them to it.

“I KNOW WHO KILLED LOLA … AND ONE OF YOU IS NEXT”

Audrey is the new girl at Illumen Hall, a prestigious boarding school a world away from her old life and the memories that haunt her. She’s sharing a room with Ivy, who doesn’t seem to want anything to do with her. It isn’t long before Audrey learns that Lola, one of Illumen Hall’s most popular girls, died recently.

The police have closed their case but there may be more to the story than meets the eye. While the students and staff are still coming to terms with their loss, a new podcast raises the question of whether Lola’s death was an accident, suicide, or something more sinister. It turns out that Audrey isn’t the only one at Illumen Hall that’s keeping a secret.

I probably would have been slightly obsessed with this book if I’d read it when I was 13. I’ve always loved stories set in boarding schools and the mystery of the death of a student, combined with a school that has such a rich history and a potential secret society, would have been all I needed. Even as an adult I found this book easy to get into, but I found myself questioning things that wouldn’t have even registered on my radar as a kid.

The podcast transcripts were an interesting way of building the mystery and introducing theories, although none of them had enough content to last more than a couple of minutes. I had a lot of trouble believing a Detective would discuss any details of a case, no matter how briefly, with an anonymous caller.

A time stamp on a photo is believed to be accurate by the people who see it, with no questions raised about its authenticity. Although there’s nothing in this book to indicate that the time stamp had been fudged, it seemed strange that it wasn’t even a consideration. The resolution in this book that related to the person concerned was too easy for me.

I liked the idea of Ivy and Audrey’s points of view being written by different authors but if I didn’t already know this book was written by two people I never would have picked it. Usually I would think that this was a good thing, as the transitions between chapters felt fairly seamless. However, in this instance, I thought there should have been something obvious about the writing styles to differentiate the girls’ voices.

After the initial mystery was introduced the investigation didn’t move quickly enough for me for much of the book. I didn’t feel the urgency of the investigation. Towards the end of the book the pace picked up and I was really starting to look forward to getting some answers, but then the book just ended. Right in the middle of a scene.

There is a planned sequel, ‘Two for Joy’, currently scheduled for release in 2021. I knew ahead of time that this was the first in a series so I suspected I wouldn’t learn the answers to all of my questions here but I don’t feel like I got any of the answers I was seeking. Unfortunately, while I expected to be excited about the answers that will hopefully be revealed in the second book, I’m left frustrated by the lack of resolution.

There’s a website mentioned in the book that I obviously had to look up. The website doesn’t currently exist but perhaps it will by the publication date. Likewise, I tested out an email address but it was undeliverable.

‘I won’t cross the magpies, and the magpies won’t cross me.’

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Children’s UK for granting my wish to read this book. I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.

I was so excited when my wish on netgalley was granted for this book. I was looking forward to reading Zoe's new book in collaboration with Amy after enjoying reading the girl online series. Murder mysteries aren't my normal go-to books, but I do enjoy a murder mystery tv show so I thought I'd give it a go. I really enjoyed reading the book and at points I was gripped and couldn't put the book down. Even though the chapters alternate between characters, and as a result writers, you can't tell that they are written by different authors and it flows really well because of this. But you can tell that they are about different characters.

I recieved this book in exchange of an honest review.

I was first intrigued by the title and the fact that it's set in a school. I was not disappointed. This book is full of intrigue, mystery and, of course, lots of secrets around some deaths. If you read this book, you will not be disappointed! 4 stars

Amy Alward (also known as Amy McCulloch) is an already established author of books such as Jinxed and The Potion Diaries series. Looking in the 'readers also enjoyed' section these look to be more middle grade reads, but I wouldn't pigeon hole (no pun intended) Amy into the MG category. Together, Zoe and Amy have written a solid YA read that would have a place in any bookcase - and I hope, in any Secondary School library.

The book is told in split point of view and the way it's done is really interesting and honestly is something that I as the reader found innovative. It could have been done before, but it's the first time I've come across this way of doing split POV. The chapters are separate, but in parts of the book slide almost seamless into one another, sharing a scene or a sentence. It was a great way to push a reader right into the different narratives, and whilst I found myself confused in chapter 2 when the end sentence of chapter 1 suddenly continued and I couldn't quite figure out who was speaking my brain re-wired to it rapidly and it caused no confusion after that moment.

I'd be truly interested in who wrote which sections, and how much of the writing Zoe Sugg did. Not in a gatekeeping way, purely because if Zoe Sugg herself wrote quite a bit of the book I'm truly excited to see what she does after this series. I'm curious in the same way I found myself wondering how much of Good Omens was written by Terry and how much was Neil. The writing is good - poetic and descriptive and I found myself instantly drawn into the mystery of the podcast, the death of Lola and the mysterious tragedy from Audrey's past.
There were reveals in this book that surprised me, and reveals that...didn't, being completely honest. I like to see what others think after I've finished a book and saw some reviews claiming the entire book was obvious; and would disagree with that. Some of the twists in this book had me both shocked and a little confused. They made sense after, but in the moment I was pleasantly surprised.

That being said though there were revelations that certainly didn't shock me. I think this book was in great need of a. More red herrings and b. More Nancy Drew sleuthing. Sneaking out at night to tiptoe into the library and get into the yearbooks, instead of just doing it in the day. The bits where they worked together to sneak around and figure stuff out were my absolute favourite chapters.


I think some more red herrings would have really amped up the drama though - wrong turns here and there. I can't say which bit I'm thinking of as it will spoil everything but there was a certain bit where I wish evidence had been planted rather than just true. It was too convenient and I rolled my eyes and how something like that could ever accidentally happen.


Audrey and Ivy are a great team, have a wonderful dynamic, and the way the book is constructed with quick chapters had me constantly thinking "oh, just one more then". I really enjoyed it, and look forward to seeing the next one!

This review will be posted to my blog on the 29th September 2020

Audrey has moved to England from Georgia in the USA to start again and get away from things in her past, things she doesn’t want to think about.
She starts at Illumen Hall, a boarding school in England where she shares a room with Ivy, something that Ivy isn’t too happy about after the promise of having a room to herself this year.
Things don’t start too well Audrey and Ivy don’t get on and Audrey is wishing she’d never come to England, especially when she finds out about the girl who used to sleep in her room, Lola and what happened to her last before the summer.

If I’m honest it took me a while to get into this book. What didn’t help was the fact that as an ARC and not being perfectly edited, all words that contained if or fl in them had those letters missing making it difficult to read it. That being said, I pushed through trying to ignore it and found I actually enjoyed the book.

The book is definitely written for a young adult audience and I think there will be a lot of teenagers out there that will really be pulled into this and future books. It takes you on a journey to try and find out if there’s a magpie society or if it’s just a story that’s been sent down through the generations of Illumen Hall students and teachers. Annoyingly it leaves you on a cliff hanger so now I’ll have to wait to find out what happened.
To round up slow burner but quite enjoyable.

I read One for Sorrow in a day, I couldn’t put it down. It’s your classic YA murder mystery book, similar in style to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. I found this book really entertaining, and I love how it switched between the perspectives of international student, Audrey, and boarding school roommate, Ivy, so effortlessly. Showing their struggles but also such a strong bond of friendship really helps bring the characters and story to life.

One of the only criticisms I have for this book if the way in which it ends – I felt like it didn’t conclude properly but sets the world up perfectly for what I can only imagine will be an incredibly intriguing series.

The Magpie Society is the perfect YA book to curl up with on a stormy, autumn day. McCulloch and Sugg take you on a journey to a prestigious boarding school full of secrets, as their main characters Ivy and Audrey become unlikely sidekicks in trying to solve the mysterious death of pupil Lola.

After setting the backstory and context, the pace of the story really kicks up a gear in the final third of the book. As The Magpie Society is part of a series I didn't expect all of the loose ends to be tied up, but I was left hoping that more pages would suddenly appear so I could find out what happens next. I really hope the second book keeps up this pace with more twists and turns.

YA Fans of Riverdale, Nancy Drew and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder will really enjoy The Magpie Society.

I'm always on the lookout for some really good new YA fiction, both as someone who likes a slightly lighter read from time to time and as a parent of a male bookworm who seems to be stuck in a dystopian rut when it comes to books but really enjoys a good old-fashioned story when well presented. There are so many YA books that just end up being too "girly".

Set in a private boarding school and narrated by the two main characters, one a stereotypical wannabe head girl (but not quite stereotypical private school pupil) who's come through the system, the other a fish-out-of-water American thrown in at the deep end. Roll on Nancy Drew style capers brought well and truly up to date.

This was a jolly good read. The characterisation of the two girls, Ivy and Audrey, was very good although at times I found it hard to follow the change in voicing, often having to turn back a page or two to remind myself who was speaking. Perhaps something more obvious about each character's style would have helped. The minor characters, Araminta and Henry, in particular, could, I think, have been developed more. In common with many "series" books (and indeed TV drama series), the book ends somewhat abruptly and with questions unanswered. I find this really annoying often unable to decide whether it is just an author's cop-out. My son, in comparison, is not bothered and spurred on to the next instalment. In this sense, I think the authors have judged their audience well.

With themes of suicide, death and bullying this is a book that could open conversations and I like the addition of the "help" section at the end to point readers towards assistance should they need it. What I really liked was the fact that this wasn't a "girly-girl" book - my son really enjoyed it too. We're both looking forward to the next instalment!

Readers of "One of Us is Lying", "The Truth About Lies" or "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" will enjoy.

With thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for granting my wish to read this ARC in return for an honest review.

PS: I can really see this televised!

So Audrey Wagner is from Georgia, USA, and moves to the UK coast with her rich but rather unloving family. You get the impression that this is her last chance to get a good education before her dad gives up on her. To start with Audrey feels rather unwelcome at Illumen Hall. This is mostly due to her new room mate, Ivy Moore-Zhang. Ivy was expecting for this to be her first year at Illumen Hall where she didn't have to share a room, so she is less than thrilled when Audrey arrives. Things are very frosty between them, partly due to each girl having some serious baggage that they're trying to deal with as well as each other. For Ivy, it is the loss of Lola Radcliffe at the end of the previous school year. She washed up on the beach during their end of year party, and the entire school is still in mourning about this event as she was loved by all. The tragic death of Lola was ruled 'death by misadventure' by the police, but there is someone out there who doesn't believe this to be true. This is why a podcast called 'Who Killed Lola?' is released by a mystery person, and is listened to by all of the students and staff at Illumen Hall.
Audrey has her own issues from back home that she can't shake off, but these are not so clear-cut as Ivy's.
The girls are forced to join forces when they keep hearing mentions of the legendary 'Magpie Society'. What is this elusive club, and is it a blessing or a curse upon their school? How does it link to Lola's death?



I REALLY loved this book. I found Audrey and Ivy likeable for different reasons, and there is a well-written supporting cast too.
The chapters alternate between the main characters of Audrey and Ivy. Audrey is written by @amy and Ivy is written by @zoella, with the plot and podcast episodes being jointly written. You'd think this would be noticeable and lead to feeling a bit jarred between chapters, but I often forgot they had been written separately as they flowed so well. I think it actually added to experiencing the feelings of each character on a deeper level.
The story kept me hooked and I wanted to read on and find out more about Illumen Hall and the secrets it was keeping. I'm SO glad this is going to be a series!
Since finishing this book, I have read an interview that zoella and Amy did where they say that they wanted this story to be able to stand alone, but also have minor plotlines hidden throughout that will become important in the subsequent books. I am so on board with this kind of storytelling! Who doesn't love reading a series and being able to look back and see how it all eventually knits together!
I found some parts of the story predictable (it is YA after all) but there were also some pretty good plot twists that had me finishing chapters thinking 'WHAAAAT?!' The book also ends on a cliffhanger, and a great one at that. I've found myself thinking about this a lot in the days since finishing this book, which is always a good sign.

This is the first ebook I had approved on Net Galley, and I'm so glad it was.
I've always enjoyed YA fiction, even many years after leaving my teenage years behind (as many of us bookstagrammers do!) so I was really keen to give this a go.
It did not disappoint. I may actually buy myself a copy as I feel this will be a series I will be collecting over the next few years!

“I won’t cross the Magpies and the Magpies wont cross me”

Calling all Riverdale and Pretty Little Liar fans – This is a must read for you!

I had seen the synopsis for this title on Waterstones under their signed/special edition section and it instantly grabbed my attention. I quickly pre-ordered the signed copy and have been waiting for publication day to read it. Then something magical happened…I saw the title on NetGalley and was granted my wish! Now I really can’t wait for my signed copy to arrive!!

This title is about a prestigious boarding school – Illumen Hall – and two current pupils: Audrey (the new girl from America) and Ivy (the hard-working prefect). Before the end of the previous school year, Illumen Hall experiences tragedy when future head girl Lola’s body is found. Declared as suicide, the police are not interested in any other theories, but someone within the school doesn’t believe that Lola’s death was that clean cut.

With a potential murder mystery, hidden school knowledge and secret societies on their hands, Ivy and Audrey find themselves forming a formidable friendship as they aim to unravel some of the hidden mysteries within their boarding school.

I for one am fully invested in this series already and I cannot wait to read the next instalment!

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin and Penguin Random House Children’s UK for granting me my wish to read this title.

Audrey has moved to England to board at Ilumen Hall, being put in a room with Ivy is the last thing Ivy wants, she was hoping for a room if her own this year and is not happy she has to share with the new girl. The school is alright with rumours of what happened to Lola a girl that was found dead at last years end of term party when a podcast starts looking into Lola’s death.

A fast paced book that I really enjoyed I can’t wait to read the next instalment.

I read this book in one day, I just couldn’t put it down. It is a YA mystery and it is definitely that.
Audrey is coming to Illumen Hall boarding school from America. Something happened to her in America and this is a new start for her. She is sharing a room with Ivy, who is supposed to be a very good student and who will help Audrey settle in. However, Ivy is none too chuffed to be sharing the room she worked so hard to get to herself. As Audrey tried to settle in, she learns that a girl was murdered the semester before. Not only that but she was friends with Ivy and she used to have the room that Audrey and Ivy share.
The story revolves around Audrey and a mysterious podcast that is going to reveal who killed the girl. As we learn more, Audrey and Ivy become closer and work together to reveal the identity of the podcaster and maybe they might work out who the murder was. But as they delve deeper, they discover more secrets held within Illumen Hall.
I really enjoyed this book and hope that there will be more to come.

A great find for school book club. Set up as a modern gothic with whodunnit aspects it was a great start to a new series. i'm sure even some of my most reluctant readers will love it.

This is the first book in a modern gothic thriller series and I, for one, was very impressed. Set in Illumen Hall, where only the gifted and the talented (and mainly rich) attend, new student Audrey feels very far away from her American high school. Not that she’s not pleased to be away from what happened at home, but a new country and a new school mean new ways of understanding the protocol. She is sharing a room with Ivy, whose former roommate was discovered on a beach just months before. Lola had everything going for her and when a podcast airs announcing the murderer, and that someone listening will be next, it gets everyone’s attention. Ivy and Audrey have to team up to make headway in this novel which throws a lot of information at the reader. I’d be interested to see how the second novel advances the story.

I knew taking on book 1 of a series would leave me with a frustrating ending but gggrrr. My heart was racing so hard at the end just for it to end.

It's a great book though, I'd say for fans of Gossip Girl or A Good Girls Guide To Murder. You have a creepy boarding school with unlikeable likeable characters and a great whodunnit mystery. Some really good red herrings and it's a book that you can't stop once you've picked it up, just be aware that there is no conclusion at the end of this book.

Im definitely going to pick up book 2 as soon as it is available, lets all keep our fingers crossed that its out very soon!!

This books reminded me a lot of the Murder most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens. It has two main female characters and is set in a boarding school which is steeped and tradition and history.

I did feel that some of the characters were stereotypical and not fully developed (Teddy, Araminta); however, the two main characters definitely develop throughout the novel and I though they had authentic, individual voices which came through. Given that each was written by a different author, I thought the technique worked well.

There are plenty of red herrings in the book, as you would expect of a murder/mystery story. I did get a little irritated at the amount of secret hidden passages that Audrey and Ivy kept conveniently discovering. For a school with such a significant amount of history, and an unexplained death, it felt a little unbelievable that no-one had uncovered the leads earlier!

The book ends on a huge hook. You will have to read book two to have many of the issues resolved... I hope!

Wicked things come to the dark panelled halls of Illumen Hall, an independent school somewhere on the bleak Kent coast. After the end-of-term party, a girl's tangled body washes ashore: the popular and practically angelic (by all accounts) Lola Radcliffe. Deemed a likely suicide, the police call off their investigations. When a mysterious crime podcast stirs speculation that Lola was murdered, the School goes into meltdown and frenemies Ivy and Audrey feel a need to root out the truth from their own cursed room.

Ivy Moore-Zhang is a British scholarship student, born on the 'wrong side of the tracks' with a will to succeed. She is top of everything: music, maths and marathons (to name a few). She claims the affections of cyber-whizz and prankster Teddy and is crushing like mad on the fit history teacher Mr Willis. She and Lola were roommates -- and on track to be a prefect -- Ivy was relishing the prospect of lots of associated perks, like having a room to herself. When brash and naive Audrey Wagner (of the enviously wealthy Savannah, Georgia Wagners) shows up with her dry cleaning and baby pink manicured nails, Ivy works an attitude. The girls agree to disagree for some time until mystery throws them together, Teddy tears them asunder, and, like all good teens, they eventually bond over a 'bum' joke.

Will they uncover the identity of the podcaster and the truth about Lola and who sharpie-ed a magpie tattoo on her back? Let's say they give it the old school try. Their path hindered by a tangle of McGuffins and red herrings and the menacing eponymous magpies, this is definitely an old-school style mystery and indulgently 85% dark chocolate gothic. Did Audrey's failure to gift the magpies seal her fate? Are the feathers the key to the Magpie Society? Is the creepy Mrs Abbott involved deeper than her sensible shoes? Is hot Mr Willis seducing half the student population? And what about the furtive gardener? And what's up with Audrey's disturbing backstory? There's a lot to keep you up reading and wondering, and never fear, a sequel is afoot.

I loved the design of the book, its standout black-and-white cover and chapter headings feature the black-winged birds so well-described in the book 'wings with huge, oily black feathers that shimmer purple, green and blue.' Written by both authors, it's easy to hear two distinct voices and they play each other off well. I visited the accompanying social media takeaways and loved them. They really added to the enjoyment of the book as an 'event.' I am certain there will be lots of readers queueing for the copies to be returned so they can join Illumen Hall and its nefarious goings-on. If you liked Sophie McKenzie's All my secrets, One of us is lying by Karen McManus or even The truth about lies by Tracy Darnton, then you will love The Magpie Society.

While the plotting and characters are bang-on and totally lifelike, the writing is at times oddly literary and indulgent. I asked myself if Audrey was really a 30 year-old English graduate? But perhaps this is an element which will be explained later on. There is information at the end about helplines because of issues like suicide, bullying and bereavement that appear within. There is a lot on hold with this book's plot and I for one will be hanging on for the next instalment.

Like the charm of magpies appearing in the book, criticism aside, I was truly charmed by 'One for Sorrow'.