A Darker Mischief

     Fam, I have just been reading the most delicious chiller and I have to share it with you. I now know that one of my favorite genres has a name: dark academy or something like that. They're those works in which the protagonist learns and must combat a usually secret group working their evil in a privileged elite educational institution. If you, like me, can't get enough of this put Derek Milman's A Darker Mischief on your must read list.

     "Boarding school isn't exactly what I expected. When I learned I'd be leaving my shabby public high school, I got consumed by fantasies about my new life."

     For Cal, Milman's protagonist, the boarding school reality falls far short of the fantasies. What hurts the most is the loneliness. A sophomore transfer, he doesn't fit in with any of the cliques that dominate Essex Academy social life. He feels like an outcast, a lone wolf. 

     One night, walking alone through campus, he sees a group of students dressed to the nines in tuxedoes and gowns and carnival marks. He follows them to an abandoned building...

     ...one of the things that makes the campus different is the sheer number of abandoned buildings it has accrued in its centuries long history...

     ...where these beautiful people are dancing and drinking champagne 🍾. He determines to become part of this group, seeing it as "a gilded path out of desolation."

     Cal begins hearing rumors of a possibly only mythical secret society that recruits freshmen and sophomores. He manages to get an invitation to rush the Society, a prestigious secret society dedicated to the unearthing of campus secrets. After passing some strange and difficult challenges he and Luke, the boy he has a serious crush on, are both accepted...

     ...So the fantasy comes to life?...

     ...Well not exactly. The Society has done some pretty awful things. Possibly even murder. They have ways of covering their misdeeds up. And they know enough of their dark secrets to keep the members in line. Shall we say membership has become a waking nightmare Cal and Luke may not be able to escape from?

On a purrrsonal note, Can you believe I've blown through my stash of library books before New Years Eve? Actually I can. Every Christmas vacation I get so much joy from cat 🐈 😻 🐈‍⬛️ snuggling and reading 📚 near the Christmas 🎄. Today I'm still in the mama 🐻 🐻‍❄ 🧸 Christmas pajamas Eugene surprised me with yesterday. Tobago is definitely feeling the love. Anyway Orono Public Library is holding a bunch of inter library loans for me. If I can't pick them up tomorrow the earliest is Thursday. But not to worry. I have my stash of books I've purchased or been given for occasions just like this. 

A great big shout out goes out to my best little cat in the world, precious ❤️ Tobago. 

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