YA suspense seems to be a popular theme in my reading choices lately and I find I am really enjoying the trend. I’ll be honest, any time I read the synopsis of a book and see that boarding school and murder is involved, I immediately add it to my ‘to-read’ list. So, when I was perusing upcoming releases and saw that When All the Girls Are Sleeping met that description, I knew that I wanted to read it.

When we first meet Haley, a student at a large prep school for girls, she is still mourning the loss of her best friend, Taylor, who died suddenly almost exactly a year ago. Haley has always felt that the academy has a strange feel to it, but she and her friends can’t quite put their finger on what exactly feels off. Taylor’s death was considered an accident or possibly suicide; however, the more Haley becomes aware of, the more she wonders if there is something everyone is missing.

Haley begins to look further into Taylor’s death and uncovers more than she had bargained for. Strange sightings in the halls of the academy and stories of visitations of ghostly entities seem to be rumors at first, but the more Haley searches for answers, the weirder her experiences get. Then, new evidence surfaces surrounding the death of her deceased friend, and she and several other girls are convinced that Taylor was murdered.

When All the Girls Are Sleeping isn’t the most believable book I have read recently, but it is a creepy and entertaining book for readers that enjoy letting their imagination loose for a while. If you’re looking for something a little different than your typical YA suspense, than be sure to check this book out!

Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Random House Children’s Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  4 religious exclamations; 9 mild obscenities; 3 derogatory names; 11 scatological words; 14 F-Word derivatives.

Violence/Gore:  A minor is reported to have fallen to her death from a window and suicide or drug use (or both) are speculated; a mention is made of an incident that happened many years ago where a minor hung herself at a boarding school; a mention is made of a minor committing suicide; a brief description is given several times by different individual about their paranormal experience where a girl is seen in school halls at night staring at students in their beds or speaking to them; a mention is made in a report about a student jumping or falling from a window to her death; a girl mentions a time when her brother locked her outside of her house all night long; a minor is referred to as having a mental breakdown; a story is told about a ghost strangling students to turn them into a ghost; a student reports seeing a face staring at her through her window at night; a mention is made of a ghost following a student and eventually killing them; a girl recalls a night when she heard knocks on her door and thought it was a ghost; two girls have a small fight and scratch at each other in a brief scene.

Sex/Nudity:  A girl talks negatively about her breasts and how they are big; a mention is made of a boy being caught touching himself; a story about a girl being jilted by her boyfriend and possibly being pregnant is told; making out is referred to in two instances; a boy is mentioned to be gay; flirting is mentioned to occur in one brief scene; a girl is mentioned to have secretly filmed a boy asking a girl up to his bedroom and locking the door so he can kiss her and take off her shirt, sex is implied and the boy mentions that he likes a part of the girl’s body especially, the girl replies that no one has ever touched that part of her before; hickeys are referenced; sexuality is brought up in one brief scene.

Mature Subject Matter:

Suicide; death; divorce; paranormal and ghostly activity.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

A minor is reported to have consumed potent marijuana brownies; minors are reported to sneak a bottle of vodka; a minor is mentioned to have had a possible drug problem; a minor is reported to smoke on school grounds; a minor is reported to smoke in he bathroom and it is mentioned to smell like weed; women are mentioned to drink heavily; sleeping pills are reportedly given to girls without their knowledge; minor mentioned to be very drunk at a party; a girl refers to a video she viewed of a girl being very drunk.