I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Killing November by Adriana Mather
Series: Killing November #1
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on 3/26/19
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 416
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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November is trapped.

At the mysterious Academy Absconditi, a school that's completely off the grid, there's no electricity, no internet, and a brutal eye-for-an-eye punishment system. Classes include everything from knife-throwing and poisons to the art of deception. And the other students? All children of the world's most elite strategists, in training to become assassins, spies, and master manipulators. November Adley doesn't know why she's been sent to this place, or the secrets that make up its legacy, but she'll quickly discover that allies are few in a school where competition is everything. When another student is murdered, all eyes turn to November, who must figure out exactly how she fits in before she is found guilty of the crime...or becomes the killer's next victim.

Short and Sweet

November is trapped at  Academy Absconditi, a school that is completely off the grid and doesn’t even offer normal classes but classes such as; poisons, deception, and knife-throwing. November has no way of getting or contacting home her only choice is to adapt fast in a school full of strategists, and manipulators. When a student is murdered all eyes are on November and now she has to find out what actually happened in a school where allies are few and everyone has a reason to attack her.

Characters

November: Our main character. November has no idea what she’s doing at the academy and she thinks her stay is going to be short, but thats not the case at all. I liked November but sometimes she did things that annoyed me like when Layla would advise her not to do certain things she would still do them. I did like that November had a different way of thinking about how to solve problems than the other students did.

Layla: Layla is November’s roommate and Ash’s sister. She’s smart but she was looked at as an outcast and I think it was mainly because she liked to keep her distance from the other students. Layla is good at history and she likes to do her research. Layla isn’t very welcoming to November at first, but in the end she learns to trust her and accept her as a friend.

Ash: Ash is Layla’s brother they’re actually twins. I would say Ash is more social and he has a special relationship with his sister. I liked Ash he was willing to help November and ends up being a suspect along with her in murder so they both have to work together to clear their names.

Romance

November and Ash: This was an interesting relationship, these two grew closer the more they spent time together and I actually think that they’d be better as friends then as a couple. I don’t think there was much chemistry at least for me.

My Thoughts

~ I liked the mystery aspect of the book and I was never sure who actually committed it or what was actually going on at the school. Everyone basically had a motive and it was hard to determine who would have actually done it. When the murder is solved there’s still some weird things going on at the school so its basically a two in one kind of murder.

~ The school was interesting considering it wasn’t like a normal school, they taught poisons, deception, and knife throwing classes. Most of the students have been at the academy for a while so when November got in as an upperclassmen it made her a target.

~ The students were all skilled at certain things some in deception some at accents, so it was interesting to see how November navigated the students and how she got through the classes.

~ November’s father taught her how to think about problems differently which is shown while she’s in class with the other students.

~ One of November’s skills is knowing what a word means so if she hears a students name she can tell you the history and meaning of the name.

~ There’s also a lot of politics going on in this book. There are different families and some of those families don’t get along which means that there are sides that are being chosen.

~ November has been kept in the dark about this other life, which kind of leaves her at a disadvantage when it comes to understanding the politics and why certain students are aligned with each other.

Overall

I really liked this book, theres a few twists and it makes you think. I plan on reading the sequel when it’s released to see how things unfold. I like how November, Layla, and Ash eventually joined forces to solve what was going on in the academy. Check out this book if you like mysteries that will keep you on the edge of your seat!