My Dearest Darkest
Books | JUVENILE FICTION / General
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Kayla Cottingham
*Bustle Best Book of March 2022*Buzzfeed Highly Anticipated YA Novel*Lambda Literary Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+*BookRiot Best New Dark Academia YA BookWilder Girls meets The Craft in this Sapphic horror debut that asks: what price would you be willing to pay to achieve your deepest desires?Finch Chamberlin is the newest transfer student to the ultra-competitive Ulalume Academy... but she's also not what she seems. Months before school started, Finch and her parents got into an accident that should have left her dead at the bottom of the river. But something monstrous, and ancient, and terrifying, wouldn't let her drown. Finch doesn't know why she woke up after her heart stopped, but since dying she's felt a constant pull from the school and the surrounding town of Rainwater, like something on the island is calling to her.Selena St. Clair sees right through Finch, and she knows something is seriously wrong with her. But despite Selena's suspicion, she feels drawn to Finch and has a sinking feeling that from now on the two will be inexplicably linked to one another.One night Finch, Selena, and her friends accidentally summon a carnivorous creature of immense power in the depths of the school. It promises to grant every desire the girls have kept locked away in their insecure hearts--beauty, power, adoration--in exchange for a price: human body parts. But as the cost of their wanting becomes more deadly, Finch and Selena must learn to work together to stop the horror they unleashed, before it consumes the entire island.
Paranormal
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More Details:
Author
Kayla Cottingham
Pages
368
Publisher
Sourcebooks, Incorporated
Published Date
2022
ISBN
172823641X 9781728236414
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was spooky young adult queer book. I actually liked this book a lot. I couldn't put it down, I wanted to feed into the academy drama. I'd describe this as a deal with the devil, wanting to be perfect, learning how to embrace newness, teen drama type of book. This was a great book to start my Spooktober series."
Kaila-Marie McCullough
"SO SO GOOD!! The coming of age romance mixed into a horror/thriller story was awesome, I loved it. The concept for the horror is also so cool, it took a twist in the end that I wasn't expecting but I liked it a lot."
Claudia Larsen
"ITS SOO GOOD! This book does not get enough attention when it should! Its a good mystery and has an amazing plot line, along with an amazing romance. The writing is beautiful and so is the world building. Loved everything, definitely five stars."
Kidney
"Perfect fall mystery and romance.🎃🍂"
Haleigh
"one of the best books i’ve ever read! got me out of my reading slump, and i could barely put it down!"
Erica-Lynn Lilly
"More of a dark academia ish, and in a sense of bad first impressions, but they warm up to each other"
Vixen (He/they/She)
"This book was absolutely amazing. Had me captivated the entire time. I never wanted to put it down. The plot just draws you in and takes ahold of you. I was on the edge of my seat every step of the way. And I might’ve almost cried a few times. But I didn’t say that. The beginning, climax, and ending all had me feeling what the characters were feeling, and that’s some amazing writing right there!"
K J
Kara Jeffers
"A great read with so many wrenching plot twists, however a few times it got a tiny bit slow, overall an enjoyable read though."
Bloomingstxr
"As cliche as this book is regarding the plot, I surprisingly enjoyed it. It's as if Cottingham took your typical teen horror show or movie from Netflix and turned it into a book. Several shows and movies came to mind when reading this book, including Wednesday and I Am Not Okay With This."
Sniper 🖤
"The book got better as it progress --<br/><br/>This title does not start off strong. In fact, it starts out rather chaotic plunging the reader deep into the waters of the plot line and then having to fight their way back to the storyline. The cover combined with the description was a bit misleading for me as I thought it would be more gothic love story rather than "edgy" horror. The story was a bit hard to get into, but once I got into it, it was pretty hard to put down. By the end, the writing was so captivating is was reminiscent of a Lovecraft but for YA. As a debut and a less tapped into genre area for YA readers, I think this was a strong start. I'd recommend this to readers who enjoy horror and don't mind gore/gore adjacent,"
Tye Ayanna
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