Pretty Girls Make Graves by Steffanie Holmes Pages: 370
Published by Bacchanalia House on November 10, 2021
Series: Dark Academia #1
Genres: dark, New Adult, Romance
Source: eARC from Author
Don’t go outside on Devil’s Night.
I’m always the good girl. I never stand out. I follow the rules.
At Blackfriars University, there’s one whispered rule: Stay inside the night before Halloween. Hide under your blankets and hope the Orpheus Society isn’t the monster outside your window.
If they get you, you won’t just be humiliated. They’ll put you six feet under.
But I’ve screwed up.
I found bones in a shallow grave. Another good girl, just like me.
Now I’ll do whatever it takes to get to the truth.I’ll catch the eye of the cruel aristocrat with a haunted gaze. I’ll tempt the dark priest with forbidden tastes. I’ll be their shameful little secret. Their plaything. Their sacrifice.
Maybe I don’t want to be a good girl anymore.
Maybe it’s time to break all the rules.
Pretty Girls Make Graves is a dark romantic suspense and part one of the Dark Academia duet. If you enjoy tales of clever heroines, ancient rites, secret societies, cruel princes and wicked priests, dusty libraries and decadent parties, twisted relationships and buried secrets, then prepare to enter the halls of Blackfriars University. You may not return.
Please Note: There a many potential trigger warnings present in Pretty Girls Make Graves. Be sure to review the author’s list of them prior to reading.
Pretty Girls Make Graves is the first book in the Dark Academia series by Steffanie Holmes. I believe the Dark Academia is labeled as New Adult but a large portion of the first book would also work for upper young adult readers from a romance perspective, as long as they were ok with some of the themes and topics discussed. There are a few taboo themes in the book, so def check out the trigger warning list before starting. It does get a little spicier towards the end and I am thinking that the next book is going to earn every bit of that new adult age grouping. (And I can’t wait!) This book kept getting better and better as it went. I started out intrigued, and then I started to feel a bit meh about the story, but just after that I was completely pulled back into the story and was hooked from there on out. I ended up loving this book so much and I am completely desperate for book 2!
In Pretty Girls Make Graves, we meet our main character Georgina (who goes by George). George started a really popular true crime podcast, and because of it’s success, she was awarded a full scholarship to the prestigious religious college of Blackfriars University. So she leaves California and heads to Britain for school. There she finds a group of stuck up members of a not so secret society, known as the Orpheus Society. George soon becomes their prime target for bullying. But when George senses something foul afoot, she can’t help but dig around looking for answers (and for the next season of her podcast)
I loved George so much! She is strong, independent and really brave. I was desperate to uncover the secrets of the Orpheus Society , the murders and get to know all of the characters better, because this is the kind of book where you know everyone is carrying around secrets of their own. I loved the second half of this book so much! Like I mentioned earlier, this story kept building and building. I don’t want to give away any more of the plot because Pretty Girls Make Graves is best discovered in pieces as you are reading. There is a slow burn tug and pull romance between two different characters (one of whom is a priest!) Sebastian and William. I have very strong thoughts about these two characters, but I won’t get into them here bc spoilers, but I have to say I loved Steffanie Holmes writing and ability to make me feel such strong emotions towards the characters. Pretty Girls Make Graves was a fantastic read. I demand book two right this very second!
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