Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for giving me the opportunity to review this arc. In this story we follow 8 students who are invited on an exclusive writing retreat where they will partake in extreme assignments in order to gain advantages above other students to be the writer to walk out with a life-changing opportunity. It seems throughout our main focus is on Effy and Arlo who are no strangers. We learn about their pasts and what brought them to this writing retreat, and we get to see how they overcome their feelings for one another. There isn’t much focus on the other 6 students but we are made aware of the odd details we need to know about. The main relationship throughout this story is Effy and Arlo. We learn about how they have previously met and how now they must be civil and get along with each other and not let their animosity affect their comrades or themselves. Ness and Effy have a very close friendship that is slowly tested throughout the book and we watch as they try to remain friends even when others try to separate them. Relationships between all 8 students at the start of the book isn’t prominent and this is shown in their fights to prove themselves to Meredith but as the story unfolds we see this relationship grow as the students work together which was nice to see. For me the writing style was quite simple and easy to read. I did struggle with the location due to names as I kept thinking this was based in the UK, even now I cannot confirm if it is or isn’t! I did love the setting of the old manor that was in the middle of a forest and this was amazing to picture, I loved finding out where Niven found her inspiration for the Manor! I did enjoy reading this book, again an easy read and I would massively recommend to anyone interested in mystery & thrillers. I look forward to buying this when it comes out!