They're Watching You - Chelsea Ichaso

This one has been in my TBR for ages, and when I finally grabbed a copy I was excited to get started. I love anything dark academia, with boarding schools, secret societies and all that jazz. This one had all of what I was looking for, with a Ninth House meets The Missing Sister vibes, but didn't give me the chills I was hoping for.
Overall, the characters were good. Maren has solid stakes in trying to find out what happened to her best friend Polly, and is the type of strong female character I like to read. But I didn't connect with her as much as I liked. She lacked depth, her entire world focused around the society and her mission. I would have liked to see more of her life outside the society, what SHE had to loose other than the answers she was seeking. The side characters were good, but much of the same. Not fleshed out enough to make you truly connect and root for them. Gavin and Jordan felt superfluous, just there to round things out. Especially Jordan...I felt like Maren only paid attention to her when she needed something which left a sour taste for me. 
The trials and the society were fun. Very culty, which is what I wanted. That crazy darkness that some elite schools are haunted by. But even here, it didn't reach a full five stars, as the trials felt unrealistic, too much happening in the catacombs in overly controlled situations. 
It was a fun read, for sure, but didn't live up to my hopes to earn a higher rating.

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