Where Sleeping Girls Lie - Faridah Abike-Iyimide

  “Sade was used to luxury, so she knew that wealth came with an abundance of secrets.”

This is my first book ever by this author and now I will be reading everything they have written and will ever write. This story was so engrossing and I constantly thought about it. Even when I wasn't reading, I wished I was reading it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Started: April 6th, 2024

Finished: April 12th, 2024

Synopsis:  Sade Hussein feels like her life is cursed. No matter who she is around, they usually end up dead. When Sade gets accepted into Alfred Nobel Academy, she thinks this could be her fresh start to make new friends and to escape the drowning girl that she sees her in her dreams. But when a student goes missing and another turns up dead, Sade feels like her curse has followed her and she doesn't know what is real and what isn't.

My Review (SPOILERS): As I said in my initial paragraph, this is my first book by this particular author. I know Abike-Iyimide has written books prior to this one and I will be definitely be reading them in the future. I thought this book would be your run of the mill murder mystery story in a rich school, but this book is so much more and I loved it for that. 

This book took the term unsettling and mysterious and completely ran off with it. Abike-Iyimide sets up our main character Sade to be this unreliable narrator straight from the beginning. She sees things, she has a few secrets about her past and she doesn't hide her distaste for her father. So as the reader, we are set up this expectation to not trust her. But as the story unfolds, we start to see more of Sade's ideas and motivations. But it isn't until the big party, that stuff goes down and it goes down hard. Iykyk. 

Turns out, Sade's sister was raped by the resident hearthrob of Alfred Nobel Academy. Jude Ripley is the captain of the boy's swim team and always gets his way. When we first meet him, we as readers KNOW that he is an asshole, but Sade agrees to go on dates with him and it made my want to shake the book and yell at her. But when it is revealed that Sade actually has a twin sister, Jamila, who dated Jude, that's when things get twisted. Sade's entire plan was to scare Jude or to get him into trouble for what he did to her sister. But in the end, Sade ends up unraveling the entire boy's swim team and the organization they have of rating girls, dating them, and abusing them. This entire plot twist had me screaming because it was done so well and I truly did not see it coming.

I also loved Sade's relationship with The Unholy Trinity, the trio of popular girls at the school. But they aren't untouchable like the Plastics were. Abike-Iyimide writes them as regular teenage girls who have their own problems and motivations. Sade's relationship with Persephone was stable, mutually helpful, and  a breath of fresh air in the YA space. Sometimes these mean girl types that cozy up to the main character can be seen as a power struggle but with Persephone and Sade, they are just equal and they work so well together. The same goes with Sade's friendship with Baz or Basil, the best friend of her roommate who initially goes missing. 

Final Thoughts: Add this book immediately to your Kindles, your shelves, or your audiobook accounts. It tells an important story of women and girls and what we have to do to stay safe. It tells a story about grief, about mental health, and about the importance of being with people who support you instead of just relying on more "normal" people who don't really have your back at all.