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

Four teens went into the manor, three came out.

In July, Georgia Perry and Jules Park—secret girlfriends, covert art thieves, and cohosts of a popular YouTube ghost hunting show—step into a haunted house to steal a priceless painting. A few short hours later, there’s a knife in Jules’s chest and Georgia is waking up in a pool of blood with no painting and no memory of how she got there.

Now it’s October, and Georgia is underwater. She hasn’t been to class in weeks, and she’s avoiding her old crew—and only friends—like the plague. But when the three remaining thieves get a call from the man who paid a hefty sum to keep them out of jail, demanding that they return to finish the job, Georgia has no choice but to return to her old life.

As the estranged friends scramble to steal the painting with no cover story and no leader, they quickly realize that something is very, very wrong, and it’s not just the suffocating memory of Jules or the prying eyes of their viewers. Between the strange shadows that begin to trail them and the nightmares plaguing Georgia’s sleep, only one thing is certain: something followed them home from De Lys manor, and it will do anything to keep them from going back.

Short and Sweet Review

We Were Never Here follows four teenagers who secretly fund their expensive private school education by breaking into supposedly haunted locations, stealing valuable artwork, and disguising it all as a popular ghost-hunting YouTube channel. But after a job at De Lys Manor ends in tragedy, with Jules dead and Georgia unable to remember what happened, the group falls apart. Months later, they’re forced back together for one final heist, only to discover that whatever haunted the manor may have followed them home.

This book had such a unique premise, and it immediately pulled me in. I loved the combination of paranormal investigation, haunted houses, art theft, and dark academia vibes. The multiple POVs worked really well, giving each of the remaining friends a chance to process Jules’s death differently while slowly piecing together what actually happened that night. I also appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation and thought the exploration of grief, friendship, and trauma was handled thoughtfully. The snippets from their YouTube videos and comment sections were a fun addition and made the story feel very current. I was expecting more ghost hunting and paranormal investigation than the book actually delivered. Much of the story focuses on the characters processing their grief and navigating complicated relationships, while the supernatural mystery takes a backseat for a large portion of the novel. The pacing also felt slow at times, with most of the real tension and major reveals packed into the final section of the book. I also struggled a little with the writing style. The prose leaned heavily into poetic, abstract descriptions, which sometimes made it difficult for me to stay immersed in the story. While I can appreciate lyrical writing, it occasionally felt like it got in the way of the plot for me. Once everything started coming together, I couldn’t put it down, but I wish that momentum had been spread more evenly throughout.

Overall, We Were Never Here is an emotional paranormal mystery that blends grief, friendship, queer romance, and ghostly horror into a compelling story. While I wanted more focus on the haunting itself and found the pacing uneven, I still enjoyed the atmosphere, the character dynamics, and the creepy final act. If you enjoy character-driven supernatural mysteries with dark academia vibes, this is definitely worth picking up.