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The Sisters of Dorley #1
Welcome to Dorley Hall
What if the only way to fix toxic masculinity were to erase it entirely?
Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan never had, but one day he disappears without a trace. A year later, after encountering a woman who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He finds that dozens of young men have disappeared over the years, many of them students at the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, and most of them troubled or unruly. Why are students going missing? Who are these women who bear striking resemblances to them? And what is their connection to the selective student accommodation on the edge of campus, Dorley Hall?
Stefan starts studying at Saint Almsworth for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.
An electrifying début by Alyson Greaves, Welcome to Dorley Hall is an intense exploration of gender and society that will appeal to readers of Torrey Peters, Imogen Binnie and Gretchen Felker-Martin.
Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan never had, but one day he disappears without a trace. A year later, after encountering a woman who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He finds that dozens of young men have disappeared over the years, many of them students at the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, and most of them troubled or unruly. Why are students going missing? Who are these women who bear striking resemblances to them? And what is their connection to the selective student accommodation on the edge of campus, Dorley Hall?
Stefan starts studying at Saint Almsworth for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.
An electrifying début by Alyson Greaves, Welcome to Dorley Hall is an intense exploration of gender and society that will appeal to readers of Torrey Peters, Imogen Binnie and Gretchen Felker-Martin.
391 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2022
121 people are currently reading
2700 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews
April 2, 2023
the fact that this only has 38 ratings is atrocious. i need you all to drop the mediocre books you are reading right now and pick up this instead.
not only is the plot insane and insanely unique, it's also honestly concerning how well written this is. the word choices, the detailed characterisations of every character no matter how secondary or even tertiary they are to the plot, the JOKES???
this book's only flaw are the insanely long chapters but we can excuse that because of its sheer unputdownable-ness.
TL;DR: 4.5 stars. read it, this is a threat 🔪
read as part of 202-Queer 🌈✨
april reading: 2/26
not only is the plot insane and insanely unique, it's also honestly concerning how well written this is. the word choices, the detailed characterisations of every character no matter how secondary or even tertiary they are to the plot, the JOKES???
this book's only flaw are the insanely long chapters but we can excuse that because of its sheer unputdownable-ness.
TL;DR: 4.5 stars. read it, this is a threat 🔪
read as part of 202-Queer 🌈✨
april reading: 2/26
July 21, 2024
Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves
2.5/5 stars
Good heavens, this book is one wild rollercoaster. And my thoughts and feelings went all over the place. I am not even sure how to rate this book. It completely drained me. I hated it at some point so much that I wanted to quit. Because I thought the author condoned what was happening in the book. But then the plot twist came. And I was like ahhhh! That explained so much. But it doesn't take away how draining it was to read this book.
The book starts with the story of Stefan. He is best friends with Russell but is also close with Russell's brother Mark. Their birthdays are on September 2 and 3. And for years they celebrated it back to back. Until Mark starts to change. He is becoming closed off and pushes people away. He goes to college. But then he suddenly disappears. And Stefan is broken by it and he goes to investigate his disappearance. He quickly finds out he went to Dorley Hall and that every year 2 to 6 boys vanish from Dorley Hall. It was a bit of a plot hole that the police didn't investigate Dorley Hall. Later on in the book it's also mentioned that Mark is declared dead so quickly and that was very unrealistic as well.
One day Stefan goes shopping and he sees a woman who is the spitting image of Mark. It could have been his twin sister. He sees how strange the woman reacts to the name Mark and she flees away.
He instantly wonders if it was Mark, and that Mark transitioned into a woman.
Stefan investigates but gets taken and wakes up in a room. He is imprisoned in Dorley Hall together with other young men. Most of them committed a crime. And the women of Dorley Hallo took them. They quickly find out they are there so they can transition into women. They get testosterone blockers and slowly but surely they will fully turn into women.
And that is the part I hated so much. Because at first I thought the author condoned it. Because those women are tyrants. Especially Aunt Bea. Basic human needs aren't allowed. Only when aunt Bea allows them. Even the transitioned women get brainwashed. Everytime they think something that doesn't fit with the program it instantly gets nibbed in the bud. You are a woman and women are superior to men so this program is good and the only way forward.
Men and masculinity are depicted as bad and wrong. As pure evil. They are vile creatures not meant for this earth. They even hurt the new victims in order for them to fall in line.
This book felt like such a bad mental health representation. But that is because for the most part I didn't understand this book. The plot twist happens really at the end and that puts everything in perspective.
I do want to read the second one. Just purely to see where the story goes. And if it redeems itself. Or the victims, perpetrators in it.
And I do like a good plot twist. I didn't see it coming.
But like I mentioned before. The way this book is written is so draining. It felt all over the place. It was hard to connect with the characters. Even as Stefan turns out to be a true transgender girl, I just couldn't connect with him or his feelings. Yes I did feel the negativity. And the forcing of a belief on a whole group of humans. But it was all over the place. The characters missed depth and the tethers from the characters to us readers just weren't there.
I wish I could crawl into those insane minds. I wish I felt like I was the bad guy. If I was able to do that, this book could have been epic. But I just couldn't. I think the premise was dragged out too long before we got the extra information that pushes the story forwards.
I wonder if the book was edited differently, that I could immerse myself more into it.
So yeah, maybe not a book for me. But I do admire the intricacies in it. And that especially made the ending shine.
So... uhm. How many stars am I gonna give it. Maybe just straight to the middle. 2.5 out of 5 stars. It is a really hard book to rate. So I might edit the rating in the future once all my thoughts settle in my mind.
2.5/5 stars
Good heavens, this book is one wild rollercoaster. And my thoughts and feelings went all over the place. I am not even sure how to rate this book. It completely drained me. I hated it at some point so much that I wanted to quit. Because I thought the author condoned what was happening in the book. But then the plot twist came. And I was like ahhhh! That explained so much. But it doesn't take away how draining it was to read this book.
The book starts with the story of Stefan. He is best friends with Russell but is also close with Russell's brother Mark. Their birthdays are on September 2 and 3. And for years they celebrated it back to back. Until Mark starts to change. He is becoming closed off and pushes people away. He goes to college. But then he suddenly disappears. And Stefan is broken by it and he goes to investigate his disappearance. He quickly finds out he went to Dorley Hall and that every year 2 to 6 boys vanish from Dorley Hall. It was a bit of a plot hole that the police didn't investigate Dorley Hall. Later on in the book it's also mentioned that Mark is declared dead so quickly and that was very unrealistic as well.
One day Stefan goes shopping and he sees a woman who is the spitting image of Mark. It could have been his twin sister. He sees how strange the woman reacts to the name Mark and she flees away.
He instantly wonders if it was Mark, and that Mark transitioned into a woman.
Stefan investigates but gets taken and wakes up in a room. He is imprisoned in Dorley Hall together with other young men. Most of them committed a crime. And the women of Dorley Hallo took them. They quickly find out they are there so they can transition into women. They get testosterone blockers and slowly but surely they will fully turn into women.
And that is the part I hated so much. Because at first I thought the author condoned it. Because those women are tyrants. Especially Aunt Bea. Basic human needs aren't allowed. Only when aunt Bea allows them. Even the transitioned women get brainwashed. Everytime they think something that doesn't fit with the program it instantly gets nibbed in the bud. You are a woman and women are superior to men so this program is good and the only way forward.
Men and masculinity are depicted as bad and wrong. As pure evil. They are vile creatures not meant for this earth. They even hurt the new victims in order for them to fall in line.
This book felt like such a bad mental health representation. But that is because for the most part I didn't understand this book. The plot twist happens really at the end and that puts everything in perspective.
I do want to read the second one. Just purely to see where the story goes. And if it redeems itself. Or the victims, perpetrators in it.
And I do like a good plot twist. I didn't see it coming.
But like I mentioned before. The way this book is written is so draining. It felt all over the place. It was hard to connect with the characters. Even as Stefan turns out to be a true transgender girl, I just couldn't connect with him or his feelings. Yes I did feel the negativity. And the forcing of a belief on a whole group of humans. But it was all over the place. The characters missed depth and the tethers from the characters to us readers just weren't there.
I wish I could crawl into those insane minds. I wish I felt like I was the bad guy. If I was able to do that, this book could have been epic. But I just couldn't. I think the premise was dragged out too long before we got the extra information that pushes the story forwards.
I wonder if the book was edited differently, that I could immerse myself more into it.
So yeah, maybe not a book for me. But I do admire the intricacies in it. And that especially made the ending shine.
So... uhm. How many stars am I gonna give it. Maybe just straight to the middle. 2.5 out of 5 stars. It is a really hard book to rate. So I might edit the rating in the future once all my thoughts settle in my mind.
October 13, 2022
Dark academia but the main characters are kind, actually? Pretty Little Liars but the girls are all trans(ish)? However you want to describe it this book was exactly exactly my vibe.
First I want to talk about this book as dark academia… because I love the concept of dark academia. But usually when I read it I’m disappointed - the premise is strong (spooky happenings in an academic setting with a dark dark secret) but the twists rarely live up to that potential. Cult murder? Sex murder? Regular old murder? These are boring and obvious at this point, at least the way most dark academia authors write them. The mood might be set well, but it’s hard to come up with something dramatic and surprising enough to be a good payoff. Even with The Secret History, I LOVED the beginning… and then DNFed because it got so boring. I had to go back and force myself to eventually finish the last 75 pages and then I immediately forgot what happened anyway.
I think that’s where this book really outclasses those. Problematic male members (lol no pun intended) of the academic community are being kidnapped, imprisoned in cells beneath a girls’ dorm, tortured, and forced to become women? Yep, that adds a little bit of variety to the formula haha. Maybe it’s that dark academia feels so esoteric, so simple twists seem like a let down. This book’s “twist,” by comparison, is complicated enough in concept and execution that it balances out the setup really well.
And this book’s whole concept? Chef’s kiss, incredible, I love it. Look, Pretty Little Liars is a foundational text for me. If you were to tell me this is a story about panopticon-level surveillance, extreme psychological manipulation, the insidious violence of the patriarchy, a scary sorority mother, being trapped in an underground bunker for mysterious reasons, plus, you know, all the other struggles of being a girl - can I pull off this outfit? Should I go clubbing with my friends or stay home and be insecure? … I love this shit!! After starting this book I was like, “hmm, I should rewatch PLL again”… so of course scene two of the random episode I started watching had this:
Emily: You know what I think? I think you’re lucky we aren’t beating the crap out of you.
Mona: And I believe you could, Emily. You really were the weakest link. Look how strong I made you.
I don’t think PLL was at all a perfect show (see Exhibit A, Ezra “Statutory Rapist” Fitz; I also love Cece as a character but we will never speak of what happened after the cursed time jump) but it wasn’t afraid to embrace character nuance. All the girls who were victims were also monsters; all the girls who were monsters were also victims. And they were all wondering - how should you live in a world that has hurt you AND helped you, in both cases often against your will, especially when you know you’ve already been complicit in passing on that treatment to others? The patriarchy… what a bitch.
Basically I’m a sucker for these themes, and this book had them in spades. Although there is apparently a sequel coming out so anything could happen, I was really impressed with how the author has pulled off this story so far - there was never a sense we were getting lost in the lore, and each character’s complex feelings about their experiences are treated with deep respect and compassion.
And of course, grounding it all - Stef. Stef! An incredible main character, vulnerable and brave and kind and persistent. And surrounded by so many other great characters - Caroline, Pippa, Aunt Bea… I mean, Aunt Bea! The last sections of this book took it to another level - in terms of both character and plot. It gets even darker, even more mysterious… and even more joyful? I can’t wait to read what happens next!
ETA I’ve thought about this book even more and I have even more to say haha. I am not a trans woman but I have been reading a lot of books about trans women recently and one of the things I’ve liked about several of them (yes this is a very broad generalization with many exceptions) that I’ve really related to is the idea of having a very complex relationship with your own femininity and your own “womanhood” (the scare quotes are for me lol, not trans women).
Yes of course I also read for enjoyment but reading about characters you relate to can help you think through things as they do, and reading books like this has been really great in that regard. Because this book is ALL about asking what makes you a woman, what is it to be a woman, do you want to be a woman, and how can you make that decision when you’re not starting from zero, you’re part of some huge, often terrible system that has very strong preferences for you one way or the other. It was so great to be able to read a book like this which looks those questions head on and isn’t afraid to grapple with them.
First I want to talk about this book as dark academia… because I love the concept of dark academia. But usually when I read it I’m disappointed - the premise is strong (spooky happenings in an academic setting with a dark dark secret) but the twists rarely live up to that potential. Cult murder? Sex murder? Regular old murder? These are boring and obvious at this point, at least the way most dark academia authors write them. The mood might be set well, but it’s hard to come up with something dramatic and surprising enough to be a good payoff. Even with The Secret History, I LOVED the beginning… and then DNFed because it got so boring. I had to go back and force myself to eventually finish the last 75 pages and then I immediately forgot what happened anyway.
I think that’s where this book really outclasses those. Problematic male members (lol no pun intended) of the academic community are being kidnapped, imprisoned in cells beneath a girls’ dorm, tortured, and forced to become women? Yep, that adds a little bit of variety to the formula haha. Maybe it’s that dark academia feels so esoteric, so simple twists seem like a let down. This book’s “twist,” by comparison, is complicated enough in concept and execution that it balances out the setup really well.
And this book’s whole concept? Chef’s kiss, incredible, I love it. Look, Pretty Little Liars is a foundational text for me. If you were to tell me this is a story about panopticon-level surveillance, extreme psychological manipulation, the insidious violence of the patriarchy, a scary sorority mother, being trapped in an underground bunker for mysterious reasons, plus, you know, all the other struggles of being a girl - can I pull off this outfit? Should I go clubbing with my friends or stay home and be insecure? … I love this shit!! After starting this book I was like, “hmm, I should rewatch PLL again”… so of course scene two of the random episode I started watching had this:
Emily: You know what I think? I think you’re lucky we aren’t beating the crap out of you.
Mona: And I believe you could, Emily. You really were the weakest link. Look how strong I made you.
I don’t think PLL was at all a perfect show (see Exhibit A, Ezra “Statutory Rapist” Fitz; I also love Cece as a character but we will never speak of what happened after the cursed time jump) but it wasn’t afraid to embrace character nuance. All the girls who were victims were also monsters; all the girls who were monsters were also victims. And they were all wondering - how should you live in a world that has hurt you AND helped you, in both cases often against your will, especially when you know you’ve already been complicit in passing on that treatment to others? The patriarchy… what a bitch.
Basically I’m a sucker for these themes, and this book had them in spades. Although there is apparently a sequel coming out so anything could happen, I was really impressed with how the author has pulled off this story so far - there was never a sense we were getting lost in the lore, and each character’s complex feelings about their experiences are treated with deep respect and compassion.
And of course, grounding it all - Stef. Stef! An incredible main character, vulnerable and brave and kind and persistent. And surrounded by so many other great characters - Caroline, Pippa, Aunt Bea… I mean, Aunt Bea! The last sections of this book took it to another level - in terms of both character and plot. It gets even darker, even more mysterious… and even more joyful? I can’t wait to read what happens next!
ETA I’ve thought about this book even more and I have even more to say haha. I am not a trans woman but I have been reading a lot of books about trans women recently and one of the things I’ve liked about several of them (yes this is a very broad generalization with many exceptions) that I’ve really related to is the idea of having a very complex relationship with your own femininity and your own “womanhood” (the scare quotes are for me lol, not trans women).
Yes of course I also read for enjoyment but reading about characters you relate to can help you think through things as they do, and reading books like this has been really great in that regard. Because this book is ALL about asking what makes you a woman, what is it to be a woman, do you want to be a woman, and how can you make that decision when you’re not starting from zero, you’re part of some huge, often terrible system that has very strong preferences for you one way or the other. It was so great to be able to read a book like this which looks those questions head on and isn’t afraid to grapple with them.
April 6, 2023
"Changing a man into a woman is about saving him?"
She looks at him like he just questioned the colour of the sky.
"Well, yeah. Saved me."
i'm overjoyed to have stumbled upon such a wonderful story that breaks the "either good plot or good characters" curse; this book has it all and is utterly one of the best books i've ever read, masterfully written by a trans woman.
i thoroughly enjoyed sitting through 500+ pages of "welcome to dorley hall," and i would've happily gone through another 100,000 pages if they existed. i finished reading at 2:30am and wanted to revisit some pages and scenes throughout the day before writing a review. now i can wholeheartedly say that this book was made for me. i could talk about it for hours, cause it has so much depth and is so thought-provoking.
each character speaks to me in a certain way, but deep down i know i relate to christine the most. i thoroughly enjoyed reading about christine's mind and the unique way it works; her fears regarding being around cis girls and how other people's opinions affect her so deeply. the book provided a fascinating insight into her worldview, which kept me hooked from the very beginning. understanding how she sees the world was one of the highlights of the book for me. she is our amazing main character, alongside stefan riley, a teenager investigating the disappearance of his old friend, mark.
stefan is a transgender boy, and up to the point where i read (which is the end of the first book), he likes to be treated as he/him. stef's story is a deeply personal one, and it's difficult to articulate. despite beginning the transitioning process, stef doesn't really feel like he yet deserves to be treated as a girl. the turmoil in stef's mind is complex and poignant, and the author does an excellent job of bringing us into his thoughts and emotions. as we read, it feels as though we're stef's closest friend, wanting nothing more than to protect him and make him feel like he deserves love and respect; like he, first and foremost, deserves to be treated as a girl.
i'm filled with a sense of emotion whenever i talk about him, and even just thinking about his story can bring my eyes to watering. he's an amazing soul, and i believe he has the potential to blossom like a flower once he fully transitions. i want to see him happy and thriving, living his life to the fullest as his true self very soon. i'm especially excited to see how stef's story continues to unfold in the second book. it's clear that this will be a tough journey, but i'm eager to witness his growth and progression as he works through his struggles.
i've heard that the second book features more of the other characters besides christine and stef, so i'm eagerly anticipating this, as every character in the first book is worth exploring. the side characters include abby — my favorite, vicky, paige, indira, maria and others. faye is another character who was recently introduced, and i am eager to learn more about her potential. there's also aunt bea, who is in command of darley hall; by the end of the book, we start to see her character develop, including a potential love interest. with such a diverse and intriguing cast of characters, i cannot wait to see how their stories unfold in the sequel. the next book is 850 pages long, and with the inclusion of multiple povs i'm eagerly anticipating it and excited to meet new characters and learn more about the ones we already know.
— ps: this duology is singlehandedly taking away my fear of big books.
i highly recommend putting down any mediocre books y'all have been reading lately and picking up this masterpiece. it's unbelievable this only has 40ish reviews on goodreads! the story is expertly crafted and incredibly unique, making it a must-read for anyone. while it may be complex and a total mindfuck, that's part of what makes it so awesome, and the well-developed characters only add to its brilliance.
i beg you to go read this book. it's compelling, interesting, and will leave a lasting impression. i'm confident that once some of you read it, you'll love it and recommend it to others, ultimately prompting this book the attention and praise it deserves.
— ps: although this book is already one of my favorites of 2023, i'm not jumping into the sequel right away because i don't want to say goodbye to these characters just yet 🫠 this is how good it actually is
She looks at him like he just questioned the colour of the sky.
"Well, yeah. Saved me."
i'm overjoyed to have stumbled upon such a wonderful story that breaks the "either good plot or good characters" curse; this book has it all and is utterly one of the best books i've ever read, masterfully written by a trans woman.
i thoroughly enjoyed sitting through 500+ pages of "welcome to dorley hall," and i would've happily gone through another 100,000 pages if they existed. i finished reading at 2:30am and wanted to revisit some pages and scenes throughout the day before writing a review. now i can wholeheartedly say that this book was made for me. i could talk about it for hours, cause it has so much depth and is so thought-provoking.
each character speaks to me in a certain way, but deep down i know i relate to christine the most. i thoroughly enjoyed reading about christine's mind and the unique way it works; her fears regarding being around cis girls and how other people's opinions affect her so deeply. the book provided a fascinating insight into her worldview, which kept me hooked from the very beginning. understanding how she sees the world was one of the highlights of the book for me. she is our amazing main character, alongside stefan riley, a teenager investigating the disappearance of his old friend, mark.
stefan is a transgender boy, and up to the point where i read (which is the end of the first book), he likes to be treated as he/him. stef's story is a deeply personal one, and it's difficult to articulate. despite beginning the transitioning process, stef doesn't really feel like he yet deserves to be treated as a girl. the turmoil in stef's mind is complex and poignant, and the author does an excellent job of bringing us into his thoughts and emotions. as we read, it feels as though we're stef's closest friend, wanting nothing more than to protect him and make him feel like he deserves love and respect; like he, first and foremost, deserves to be treated as a girl.
i'm filled with a sense of emotion whenever i talk about him, and even just thinking about his story can bring my eyes to watering. he's an amazing soul, and i believe he has the potential to blossom like a flower once he fully transitions. i want to see him happy and thriving, living his life to the fullest as his true self very soon. i'm especially excited to see how stef's story continues to unfold in the second book. it's clear that this will be a tough journey, but i'm eager to witness his growth and progression as he works through his struggles.
i've heard that the second book features more of the other characters besides christine and stef, so i'm eagerly anticipating this, as every character in the first book is worth exploring. the side characters include abby — my favorite, vicky, paige, indira, maria and others. faye is another character who was recently introduced, and i am eager to learn more about her potential. there's also aunt bea, who is in command of darley hall; by the end of the book, we start to see her character develop, including a potential love interest. with such a diverse and intriguing cast of characters, i cannot wait to see how their stories unfold in the sequel. the next book is 850 pages long, and with the inclusion of multiple povs i'm eagerly anticipating it and excited to meet new characters and learn more about the ones we already know.
— ps: this duology is singlehandedly taking away my fear of big books.
i highly recommend putting down any mediocre books y'all have been reading lately and picking up this masterpiece. it's unbelievable this only has 40ish reviews on goodreads! the story is expertly crafted and incredibly unique, making it a must-read for anyone. while it may be complex and a total mindfuck, that's part of what makes it so awesome, and the well-developed characters only add to its brilliance.
i beg you to go read this book. it's compelling, interesting, and will leave a lasting impression. i'm confident that once some of you read it, you'll love it and recommend it to others, ultimately prompting this book the attention and praise it deserves.
— ps: although this book is already one of my favorites of 2023, i'm not jumping into the sequel right away because i don't want to say goodbye to these characters just yet 🫠 this is how good it actually is
Read
August 27, 2024Alyson Graves' debut novel Welcome to Dorley Hall is the first book in The Sisters of Dorley trilogy, and it follows a lonely boy named Stefan whose older friend Mark one day disappears while attending university. A year later, Stefan meets a girl named Melissa at a supermarket, and she bears a striking resemblance to Mark. She awkwardly flees and this leads Stefan on a journey to uncovering the truth of what happened to Mark/Melissa.
My full thoughts: https://booksandbao.com/transgender-s...
My full thoughts: https://booksandbao.com/transgender-s...
January 11, 2025
DNF @ 50%, with a skip forward to the "twist" ending.
As a science fiction horror concept, this had potential. If it were written as a satire or as an experimental horror à la "Under the Skin", it may have come out as something of worth.
As it stands, it is poorly written (wish-fulfillment?) fan fiction that tries to be wholesome but just ends up off-flavour. The comedy moments, slice-of-life detours, and childish dialogue leave an unsettling taste when taken together with the disturbing content.
It feels like the author has written a coming-of-age trans novel within the Saw universe. The results are utterly bizarre, and without any coherent message to put forward. The plot is meandering, the tension nil, the prose bad.
My conclusion is it would take a large dose of alienation with a dash of misanthropy to take any positives away from this strange creation that has clawed its way out of AO3 and into my recommendations.
It's a yikes from me.
As a science fiction horror concept, this had potential. If it were written as a satire or as an experimental horror à la "Under the Skin", it may have come out as something of worth.
As it stands, it is poorly written (wish-fulfillment?) fan fiction that tries to be wholesome but just ends up off-flavour. The comedy moments, slice-of-life detours, and childish dialogue leave an unsettling taste when taken together with the disturbing content.
It feels like the author has written a coming-of-age trans novel within the Saw universe. The results are utterly bizarre, and without any coherent message to put forward. The plot is meandering, the tension nil, the prose bad.
My conclusion is it would take a large dose of alienation with a dash of misanthropy to take any positives away from this strange creation that has clawed its way out of AO3 and into my recommendations.
It's a yikes from me.
September 1, 2022
I have no idea what genre Welcome to Dorley Hall falls into – it’s definitely nothing like the SFF I usually read – but I devoured all 500+ pages in 24 hours, and despite it being a proper mindfuck, I bloody loved it.
A chance encounter in his childhood leads Stefan to the conclusion that an amazing, top-secret transition program for trans women is being run out of a nearby college. It’s pretty out-there, but he can’t figure out how else to reconcile the gorgeous women he’s glimpsed with the young men who keep going missing from the area – given that the women bear a striking resemblance to those same men.
They could be sisters, or cousins, or something. But as a closeted trans woman himself, Stefan can’t help hoping that his wild theory is correct.
Then he gets to find out for himself.
Under less-than-ideal circumstances.
See, the ‘forced feminization’ mentioned in the blurb? I wasn’t sure what it meant at first: turns out, it’s exactly what it sounds like – forcing (cis) men to be women. The program running in the basements of Dorley Hall? There’s an…organisation, let’s call it…that is pulling men off the streets and transforming them into women. With drugs and brainwashing and drastic, hardcore surgery. Extremely non-consensually.
UM?!
It would be so easy for this premise to devolve into a confusing mess, but Greaves wields her pen like a scalpel; every stroke is considered, deliberate, and masterfully controlled. It’s clear an enormous amount of thought has gone into this book, and it absolutely pays off, because, weird as the premise is? Welcome to Dorley Hall is simply incredible.
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
A chance encounter in his childhood leads Stefan to the conclusion that an amazing, top-secret transition program for trans women is being run out of a nearby college. It’s pretty out-there, but he can’t figure out how else to reconcile the gorgeous women he’s glimpsed with the young men who keep going missing from the area – given that the women bear a striking resemblance to those same men.
They could be sisters, or cousins, or something. But as a closeted trans woman himself, Stefan can’t help hoping that his wild theory is correct.
Then he gets to find out for himself.
Under less-than-ideal circumstances.
See, the ‘forced feminization’ mentioned in the blurb? I wasn’t sure what it meant at first: turns out, it’s exactly what it sounds like – forcing (cis) men to be women. The program running in the basements of Dorley Hall? There’s an…organisation, let’s call it…that is pulling men off the streets and transforming them into women. With drugs and brainwashing and drastic, hardcore surgery. Extremely non-consensually.
UM?!
It would be so easy for this premise to devolve into a confusing mess, but Greaves wields her pen like a scalpel; every stroke is considered, deliberate, and masterfully controlled. It’s clear an enormous amount of thought has gone into this book, and it absolutely pays off, because, weird as the premise is? Welcome to Dorley Hall is simply incredible.
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
Read
May 2, 2024assigned female at basement lol
April 2, 2024
updating this review because it got deleted anyway. most definitely a goodreads glitch. oh, this app.
this book and i don't jive. when i started it i thought it was going to be a big hit but as time passes i dislike it more and more. it is ambitious though.
the prose is manageable and occasionally very funny but the dialogue feels extremely clumsy to me, a jumbled reconfiguration of human speech. i mean, i get it, its not easy to make dialogue sound natural when the things the characters are discussing are so so weird, but i've seen it done before and this... really disconnected me from the story. the book for most part has the unplanned aimless air of someone playing around with their OCs (let's go shopping! lets go to the club! lets hold hands) which does not great tension make, but whatever. i should also mention that this book has a tell-dont-show problem where the characters will just therapy-speak their way through nuance and it is both uncreative and boring as hell.
brief congratulations to the author for a book where literally everyone is sort of trans. i get the urge and i respect it.
what really bothered me was the fact that the tone of this book is jarringly wholesome compared to the premise. you see forced feminization camp and think you know where this is going and then you get the book and its all asking-permission-to-hug, kisskiss, call me later, i wish you knew how beautiful you were, when are you and X getting back together? and its weird okay its off-putting. why are they all so coy, so self-aware? what is going on? how do none of them have serious trauma regarding authority and bodily autonomy? who taught them about consent anyway?
honestly i found the premise very intriguing but it is so poorly executed. this comes down in large part to this sickly sweet millennial fluff stuffed bizarrely into what is inherently, inescapably science fiction horror. i am not equipped to unpack this book as a commentary and maybe in that regard its fantastic but me, personally? i think i hate it.
this book and i don't jive. when i started it i thought it was going to be a big hit but as time passes i dislike it more and more. it is ambitious though.
the prose is manageable and occasionally very funny but the dialogue feels extremely clumsy to me, a jumbled reconfiguration of human speech. i mean, i get it, its not easy to make dialogue sound natural when the things the characters are discussing are so so weird, but i've seen it done before and this... really disconnected me from the story. the book for most part has the unplanned aimless air of someone playing around with their OCs (let's go shopping! lets go to the club! lets hold hands) which does not great tension make, but whatever. i should also mention that this book has a tell-dont-show problem where the characters will just therapy-speak their way through nuance and it is both uncreative and boring as hell.
brief congratulations to the author for a book where literally everyone is sort of trans. i get the urge and i respect it.
what really bothered me was the fact that the tone of this book is jarringly wholesome compared to the premise. you see forced feminization camp and think you know where this is going and then you get the book and its all asking-permission-to-hug, kisskiss, call me later, i wish you knew how beautiful you were, when are you and X getting back together? and its weird okay its off-putting. why are they all so coy, so self-aware? what is going on? how do none of them have serious trauma regarding authority and bodily autonomy? who taught them about consent anyway?
honestly i found the premise very intriguing but it is so poorly executed. this comes down in large part to this sickly sweet millennial fluff stuffed bizarrely into what is inherently, inescapably science fiction horror. i am not equipped to unpack this book as a commentary and maybe in that regard its fantastic but me, personally? i think i hate it.
May 15, 2023
I can't believe I forgot to mark this as finished, Pride and Prejudice is only allowed to stay on there for the bit at this point
Anyways loved it, this is a concept that would never in this lifetime be traditionally published but with a few exceptions hit everything I need for a book to be to become a favorite. I have my thoughts on the second book but I will not be rating that one bc this is a trans indie author who is literally giving her work away for free on AO3 if you want to taste-test it and I genuinely do care for these characters sosososo much and I cannot wait for her to release the third one which I will ALSO make my reason for existing for 48 hours straight
(also if you've read this far I wasn't kidding when I said I'd get everyone a copy, if you feel comfortable sharing an email address message me and I will absolutely gift you an Epub off her itch.io bc I literally cannot imagine a better use of 5 bucks than to directly support this author!)
Anyways loved it, this is a concept that would never in this lifetime be traditionally published but with a few exceptions hit everything I need for a book to be to become a favorite. I have my thoughts on the second book but I will not be rating that one bc this is a trans indie author who is literally giving her work away for free on AO3 if you want to taste-test it and I genuinely do care for these characters sosososo much and I cannot wait for her to release the third one which I will ALSO make my reason for existing for 48 hours straight
(also if you've read this far I wasn't kidding when I said I'd get everyone a copy, if you feel comfortable sharing an email address message me and I will absolutely gift you an Epub off her itch.io bc I literally cannot imagine a better use of 5 bucks than to directly support this author!)
October 17, 2024
Reading some of the other reviews, I just want to say that works of fiction are not polemics from an author! Greaves is hardly putting forward a case for forced feminisation. This book is not transphobic, it's the epitome of trans dark humour. Sigh!
Anyway, I absolutely loved this. The premise is completely barmy and how it was executed totally took me by surprise. A really interesting discussion of human nature, what transness means, what gender means, and ends justifying means! I appreciated how it managed to speak to trans trauma and the struggles of trans healthcare in the UK without feeling exploitative, giving trauma porn, or excessive detail about surgeries and genitals (particularly tactfully done in sex scenes). This is just such a trans book and I'm so stoked to discuss with my queer book club!!
Anyway, I absolutely loved this. The premise is completely barmy and how it was executed totally took me by surprise. A really interesting discussion of human nature, what transness means, what gender means, and ends justifying means! I appreciated how it managed to speak to trans trauma and the struggles of trans healthcare in the UK without feeling exploitative, giving trauma porn, or excessive detail about surgeries and genitals (particularly tactfully done in sex scenes). This is just such a trans book and I'm so stoked to discuss with my queer book club!!
April 30, 2025
Spent the first third really confused. The plot was great but I felt like it was so rushed and condensed into a few pages I thought I'd missed a previous book and it was just the author summarising what had happened!
July 19, 2024
I was a bit unsure what to expect from this book. I chose to review it for this tour as I am trying to read at least one book a month outside of my usual genres.
What I found was a well written character driven narrative set in dark academia. The content however was not for me. There is definitely an audience out there for Dorley Hall, but it does not include me.
The biggest issue I had was the juxtaposition of the forced feminisation programme being run in Dorley Hall, against the much softer, often humorous, wholesomely frivolous post programme lives of those who have passed through the programme.
The biggest question I was left with was does the end justify the means?
I am not sure it does in this case.
Thank you as always to Neem Tree Press and @The_WriteReads for an ARC to review for this blog tour.
What I found was a well written character driven narrative set in dark academia. The content however was not for me. There is definitely an audience out there for Dorley Hall, but it does not include me.
The biggest issue I had was the juxtaposition of the forced feminisation programme being run in Dorley Hall, against the much softer, often humorous, wholesomely frivolous post programme lives of those who have passed through the programme.
The biggest question I was left with was does the end justify the means?
I am not sure it does in this case.
Thank you as always to Neem Tree Press and @The_WriteReads for an ARC to review for this blog tour.
October 24, 2024
AHHHHH I CANT BELIEVE IT BUT I WOULD DIE FOR ALL OF THEM!! By the end!! Even aunt bea!!!’
God this is fantastic. I cannot waiiiit for the next two to be trad published but I am diving RIGHT into the sequel I’ve got via epub. Bc gosh I love all these girls!!! Which from the beginning of the book, I was fully not prepared to love anyone beyond stef!
What a fucking ride. Absolutely rec.AND THE FUCKING COVER!!! I’m gonna look at it on my shelf everyday. It’s so pretty.
God this is fantastic. I cannot waiiiit for the next two to be trad published but I am diving RIGHT into the sequel I’ve got via epub. Bc gosh I love all these girls!!! Which from the beginning of the book, I was fully not prepared to love anyone beyond stef!
What a fucking ride. Absolutely rec.AND THE FUCKING COVER!!! I’m gonna look at it on my shelf everyday. It’s so pretty.
June 10, 2025
This, and I cannot stress this enough, fucks hards
December 24, 2024
Niet voor iedereen weggelegd, veel triggerende topics en waarschijnlijk leuker als je trans bent. Verder heb ik wel mijn vraagtekens bij de praktijken in dit boek en hoe zeer deze in de werkelijkheid stand zouden houden. Toch heeft dit boek een speciaal plekje in mijn hart weten te veroveren.
Ookal zijn veel delen fictie, kon ik me goed herkennen in sommige karakters en momenten. Het boek is enorm goed geschreven en je merkt dat de schrijfster zelf trans is, door de manier waarop ze deze thematiek aanpakt en gevoelens rond gender en dysforie op papier weet te zetten.
Ik kan niet wachten op het volgende deel!
(P.s. Ik ben verliefd op de cover art van deze serie)
Ookal zijn veel delen fictie, kon ik me goed herkennen in sommige karakters en momenten. Het boek is enorm goed geschreven en je merkt dat de schrijfster zelf trans is, door de manier waarop ze deze thematiek aanpakt en gevoelens rond gender en dysforie op papier weet te zetten.
Ik kan niet wachten op het volgende deel!
(P.s. Ik ben verliefd op de cover art van deze serie)
Read
February 5, 2025Good! A touch claustrophobic!
The kind of book I appreciated more once I was done than as I was reading it, if that makes sense. The final chapter really gives everything a shape and weight that makes some of the rougher patches earlier in the book cohere. I'm in for book two.
(And, no, I won't read this on SCRIBBLEHUB.)
The kind of book I appreciated more once I was done than as I was reading it, if that makes sense. The final chapter really gives everything a shape and weight that makes some of the rougher patches earlier in the book cohere. I'm in for book two.
(And, no, I won't read this on SCRIBBLEHUB.)
January 21, 2025
Wow, that was, uh, bad. Which is a shame, because the central idea (deeply closeted trans girl stumbles into a sketchy forced fem cult and decides to take advantage of them to get her transition paid for) is an absolutely delightful one, ripe for either horror, pitch-black comedy, interesting commentary, or a mix of all three. Instead, the book is so tonally uneven it gave me whiplash as it lurched between forced fem basement cult conditioning, wholesome bonding between the Sisters, and lines like ‘diversity win! Kidnapper respects your pronouns!’ (Yes, that is an actual quote). It’s also about 200 pages too long, and I almost want to compare it to the original AO3 release (which still is up for some reason?) to see how much editing was actually done on it. Because goddamn was a stronger editorial hand needed, and this could have been something really fun with that kind of help.
As an aside, the concept alone probably makes this more of a 2 star read, but Greaves is, unfortunately, buddy-buddy with Benjanun Sriduangkaew. Sriduangkaew did the covers for these books, is the first person thanked in the acknowledgements, and, under the names Winterfox and RequiresHate, is an infamously vicious troll who, despite some past apologies, has shown absolutely no desire to change her behaviour or to stop harassing people (coincidentally, I’m sure, these people tend to be fellow queer writers of colour. Please read that ‘coincidentally’ with heavy sarcasm). She also tends to sic her friends on the targets of her ire, and though her erstwhile friends often become her victims, it makes me deeply uninclined to be charitable towards people who associate with her on this level. So one star it is. The book isn’t well enough written to just give it an extra star without second thought anyway.
So, in short, Greaves needs a better editor and better friends, and as it stands, I’ve no desire to read the sequels.
(God, where is all the good contemporary queer horror hiding. So much of the recent stuff I’ve read has been total busts.)
As an aside, the concept alone probably makes this more of a 2 star read, but Greaves is, unfortunately, buddy-buddy with Benjanun Sriduangkaew. Sriduangkaew did the covers for these books, is the first person thanked in the acknowledgements, and, under the names Winterfox and RequiresHate, is an infamously vicious troll who, despite some past apologies, has shown absolutely no desire to change her behaviour or to stop harassing people (coincidentally, I’m sure, these people tend to be fellow queer writers of colour. Please read that ‘coincidentally’ with heavy sarcasm). She also tends to sic her friends on the targets of her ire, and though her erstwhile friends often become her victims, it makes me deeply uninclined to be charitable towards people who associate with her on this level. So one star it is. The book isn’t well enough written to just give it an extra star without second thought anyway.
So, in short, Greaves needs a better editor and better friends, and as it stands, I’ve no desire to read the sequels.
(God, where is all the good contemporary queer horror hiding. So much of the recent stuff I’ve read has been total busts.)
November 18, 2024
First things first, I'm a cis lady and I can tell you that this book has layers. I absolutely loved my read of it, and I know that trans women are going to get a hell of a lot more out of it than I did. There are clearly a lot of cultural touchpoints that I don't get, but at no point did that detract from my enjoyment of the story.
The novel is very character and introspection-centered, and there are many moments where a scene exists for the character interaction, the gender lesson, the slice-of-life interaction. Not all readers love that, and I absolutely think they should stick it out anyway. There's so much depth to the book and a reason for every scene, and the author might frankly be a genius.
Reviews aren't my strong point, but I loved the depth and beauty of this book. Some places were funny, some were dark, some were emotional. The book riffs off the the forced feminization fetish, but it also brought so much clarity of experience to me that I'm eagerly waiting for the sequel to be re-released.
The novel is very character and introspection-centered, and there are many moments where a scene exists for the character interaction, the gender lesson, the slice-of-life interaction. Not all readers love that, and I absolutely think they should stick it out anyway. There's so much depth to the book and a reason for every scene, and the author might frankly be a genius.
Reviews aren't my strong point, but I loved the depth and beauty of this book. Some places were funny, some were dark, some were emotional. The book riffs off the the forced feminization fetish, but it also brought so much clarity of experience to me that I'm eagerly waiting for the sequel to be re-released.
June 7, 2024
(This is an ARC review)
This is truly one of the more original and interesting treatments of the trans experience I have ever read. I genuinely couldn't say if it would have found a home with a traditional publisher due to the premise alone, which may scare some off. To balance that, let me say that this is one of the most immersive and thorough examinations of transness (mostly MTF) that I have ever encountered and for a book about forced transitions, it's remarkably cozy and sweet.
The characters are the real strength of this book. They are truly brimming with empathy, deeply attached to each other as they have gone through "the program" and seek a depth of connection they have never found outside the relative safety of this one place that knows their secrets and transforms them completely.
Stefan idolizes his across-the-street neighbour, Mark. When Mark disappears, Stefan is sad and lost, desperately seeking answers, until he meets a young woman in the market who looks almost exactly like Mark and learns her name. In between discarding various explanations, he arrives at the least likely one that he secretly hopes for: that Mark was part of a secret program that helps trans women transition and gain new identities in the world. Through unfortunate circumstances, Stefan finds himself trapped in a basement under Dorley Hall and assigned a "sponsor" who thinks he did wicked deeds and thrust into a group of other young men who have been deeply toxic and hurtful to others for mysterious reasons.
Christine is a deeply insecure but empathetic young trans woman who was the cause of Stefan being trapped in "the program" and when she discovers that Stefan is a trans woman and would love to embrace the (free, top-class) transition forced upon the young men trapped in the basement, she's faced with some tricky decisions.
The most interesting part of this whole book is how Stef remains deeply uncomfortable and traumatized by the outside world, which rewards toxic masculinity, and also inside Dorley Hall, which punishes toxic masculinity and seeks to strip these young men of masculinity altogether. The proof that the program works? Christine and so many other beautiful, empathetic, and well-adjusted young women in Dorley Hall and outside of it, including Melissa (formerly Mark) are leading happy lives and adjusting well in society and have formed bonds that will last them all their lives with their sisters (and sometimes girlfriends). However, will the process designed to break down a person altogether to build them back up again in a different mould be more harmful than helpful to an actual trans girl caught accidentally in its web?
The relationships between all the characters are so deeply moving and sweet, that it genuinely makes me tear up. These women are the best people they can be and happier as their new selves, but they must constantly question if the program is really the only way to rehabilitate these men before they manage to irreparably harm someone.
Each of the many main characters has their own insecurities about their transition, their femininity, their performance of cisgender femininity for the outside world, and abandoning all their friends and family from their past life while embracing their new sisters through the trauma of forced transition. The book never shies away from debating whether the approach can work and whether it should have been used at all and showing us the results. This is a skillfully done back-and-forth with very human and sympathetic characters in the centre.
This is an absolutely incredible book and I can't wait to read the subsequent installments in this story.
This is truly one of the more original and interesting treatments of the trans experience I have ever read. I genuinely couldn't say if it would have found a home with a traditional publisher due to the premise alone, which may scare some off. To balance that, let me say that this is one of the most immersive and thorough examinations of transness (mostly MTF) that I have ever encountered and for a book about forced transitions, it's remarkably cozy and sweet.
The characters are the real strength of this book. They are truly brimming with empathy, deeply attached to each other as they have gone through "the program" and seek a depth of connection they have never found outside the relative safety of this one place that knows their secrets and transforms them completely.
Stefan idolizes his across-the-street neighbour, Mark. When Mark disappears, Stefan is sad and lost, desperately seeking answers, until he meets a young woman in the market who looks almost exactly like Mark and learns her name. In between discarding various explanations, he arrives at the least likely one that he secretly hopes for: that Mark was part of a secret program that helps trans women transition and gain new identities in the world. Through unfortunate circumstances, Stefan finds himself trapped in a basement under Dorley Hall and assigned a "sponsor" who thinks he did wicked deeds and thrust into a group of other young men who have been deeply toxic and hurtful to others for mysterious reasons.
Christine is a deeply insecure but empathetic young trans woman who was the cause of Stefan being trapped in "the program" and when she discovers that Stefan is a trans woman and would love to embrace the (free, top-class) transition forced upon the young men trapped in the basement, she's faced with some tricky decisions.
The most interesting part of this whole book is how Stef remains deeply uncomfortable and traumatized by the outside world, which rewards toxic masculinity, and also inside Dorley Hall, which punishes toxic masculinity and seeks to strip these young men of masculinity altogether. The proof that the program works? Christine and so many other beautiful, empathetic, and well-adjusted young women in Dorley Hall and outside of it, including Melissa (formerly Mark) are leading happy lives and adjusting well in society and have formed bonds that will last them all their lives with their sisters (and sometimes girlfriends). However, will the process designed to break down a person altogether to build them back up again in a different mould be more harmful than helpful to an actual trans girl caught accidentally in its web?
The relationships between all the characters are so deeply moving and sweet, that it genuinely makes me tear up. These women are the best people they can be and happier as their new selves, but they must constantly question if the program is really the only way to rehabilitate these men before they manage to irreparably harm someone.
Each of the many main characters has their own insecurities about their transition, their femininity, their performance of cisgender femininity for the outside world, and abandoning all their friends and family from their past life while embracing their new sisters through the trauma of forced transition. The book never shies away from debating whether the approach can work and whether it should have been used at all and showing us the results. This is a skillfully done back-and-forth with very human and sympathetic characters in the centre.
This is an absolutely incredible book and I can't wait to read the subsequent installments in this story.
October 7, 2024
A DNF. The ways trans issues are presented just didn't sit right with me. I know of others who enjoyed it, but reading this title just felt like action against some of the people who are most dear to me.
July 24, 2024
Wow this cover is absolutely gorgeous. If I had seen this book in the shop I would have bought it purely for the beauty of this cover, and after reading what the story is about. Well all I can safely say without revealing too much, a lot happens in Welcome To Dorley Hall with the sisters of Dorley. Every reader will love it all. I think most readers may have a favourite part in this adult romance novel. My favourite lines were…
Mark hadn’t originally intended to live on campus. The Royal College of Saint Almsworth isn’t far out of town, and for a fraction of the money required to rent a room, Mark could have bought a crappy car and commuted. But Mark wanted a fresh start – new friends. Russ doesn’t know what happened with Mark’s old friends, but they stopped visiting or texting a long time ago.
Mark went off to live in dorms and reportedly had an uneventful first month at Saints. But it wasn’t long before his professors started to find him “disruptive” and “disrespectful”; he was asked to leave a lecture for the first time about a week before his disappearance, and by Friday had stopped even showing up.
Then on Saturday he didn’t return home to his dorm. According to the police, Mark entered Legend – popularly considered the worst nightclub in Almsworth, also the cheapest at 19.24 on Saturday, November 3rd, and left at 01.44 after collecting his coat. The attendant was the last person to see him…….
This is a brilliant novel, that has a lot to offer, and is for fans of Queer, Transgender, LGBT and enjoys a mystery fiction. I hope you all enjoy reading This story as much as I have.
Mark hadn’t originally intended to live on campus. The Royal College of Saint Almsworth isn’t far out of town, and for a fraction of the money required to rent a room, Mark could have bought a crappy car and commuted. But Mark wanted a fresh start – new friends. Russ doesn’t know what happened with Mark’s old friends, but they stopped visiting or texting a long time ago.
Mark went off to live in dorms and reportedly had an uneventful first month at Saints. But it wasn’t long before his professors started to find him “disruptive” and “disrespectful”; he was asked to leave a lecture for the first time about a week before his disappearance, and by Friday had stopped even showing up.
Then on Saturday he didn’t return home to his dorm. According to the police, Mark entered Legend – popularly considered the worst nightclub in Almsworth, also the cheapest at 19.24 on Saturday, November 3rd, and left at 01.44 after collecting his coat. The attendant was the last person to see him…….
This is a brilliant novel, that has a lot to offer, and is for fans of Queer, Transgender, LGBT and enjoys a mystery fiction. I hope you all enjoy reading This story as much as I have.
September 17, 2024
⭐⭐/5
🔥.5/5 (a couple kinda explicit scenes)
[Thanks Neem Tree Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.] Ugh. I really thought I would love this, which makes this rating even more sad.
This book is ambitious, and I could maybe see the vision the author was trying to go for. But for me, it really didn't feel like the execution was there at all. I know this story was originally from AO3; but I still expected it to be tightened up more and less rambling and confused (and, oftentimes, unserious) with its narrative and characters than it was.
The best aspect, in my opinion, was Stefan's character and POV. The complexity of emotion, the inner turmoil, the navigation of masculinity and femininity as an actual trans woman were all a lot more impactful and emotional and eye-opening for me than pretty much every other part or character.
I'm not sure how we're supposed to feel about Christine's POV and the other characters (maybe the author purposely tried to leave that for the audience to decide), but I personally could not really stand them. I could see some bits shining through as they worked through their struggles and trauma together and tried to find their identity and confidence again... But as a whole, I found most of the people in this book beside Stef either completely terrible, not of sound mind, woefully abused, selfish and self righteous, and/or disturbing perpetuators of psychological abuse and trauma.
But wait! It's ok because they have funny dialogue and wholesome ladies' nights out and are happy, shallow girls now. JK. This did not work for me. I guess the author might have been going for positivity and comic relief to balance out the horrors and brainwashing being inflicted on these people. I did find some of the dialogue and interactions mildly humorous, but I mostly found myself skimming through long, vapid conversations and meaningless banter, mixed with repetitive thoughts and character details. The character backstories and times they actually grappled with identity were sometimes engaging and effective. But a lot just felt unnecessary or strangely cutesy.
It also feels wrong to me for the author to paint pretty much every Dorley grad as generally happy, healthy, and improved. You're telling me people who were forcibly mutilated and brainwashed are better off; better versions of themselves; better contributors to the world? That people who are not actually trans women are so much happier now that the female gender has been forced upon them? Is this not just a reverse version of things like conditioning camps to "turn" gay people heterosexual? We know THAT'S horror, and scars people for life, often leading to mental health problems, but you're telling me in Dorley's case we can make light of it and show how much "better" everyone is?
I'm still confused if this book was meant to condone the actions of Dorley or not, or maybe to convince us this was the only solution. Whatever the author's motive was, I ended up finding MEN least at fault and most abused in this story, which was NOT something I was expecting or desiring out of this. What goes on in these halls is straight horror, but the author makes it convoluted and confused and not as serious or deep as it warrants in many cases.
I've seen people talking about a "twist" at the end that makes things better. What twist? [SPOILER INCOMING] All I saw towards the end was that Bea rebranded Grandmother's abuse and psychological torture as "healing." She's still perpetuating it, but just treating people a little more gently and pretending it's a better mission and organization. This feels even more manipulative to me than it was before, to be quite honest. I suppose trauma and abuse begets trauma and abuse, but I thought this book would be more about breaking that cycle. About how trans women actually deserve the happiness and rights to a full gender transition; and non-trans people who are forced to undergo the same = the abuse trans people often endure, in reverse, and as a result they are scarred and traumatized and unhealthy. That's not what I got. (I'm honestly still not sure what I got.)
Idk y'all. I think it's great to have trans representation in media, and I know this author is trans and likely intimately familiar with a lot of Stef's troubles and thoughts (and that's why THOSE parts worked so well). But the rest was just not it, and the writing was a bit all over the place.
🔥.5/5 (a couple kinda explicit scenes)
[Thanks Neem Tree Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.] Ugh. I really thought I would love this, which makes this rating even more sad.
This book is ambitious, and I could maybe see the vision the author was trying to go for. But for me, it really didn't feel like the execution was there at all. I know this story was originally from AO3; but I still expected it to be tightened up more and less rambling and confused (and, oftentimes, unserious) with its narrative and characters than it was.
The best aspect, in my opinion, was Stefan's character and POV. The complexity of emotion, the inner turmoil, the navigation of masculinity and femininity as an actual trans woman were all a lot more impactful and emotional and eye-opening for me than pretty much every other part or character.
I'm not sure how we're supposed to feel about Christine's POV and the other characters (maybe the author purposely tried to leave that for the audience to decide), but I personally could not really stand them. I could see some bits shining through as they worked through their struggles and trauma together and tried to find their identity and confidence again... But as a whole, I found most of the people in this book beside Stef either completely terrible, not of sound mind, woefully abused, selfish and self righteous, and/or disturbing perpetuators of psychological abuse and trauma.
But wait! It's ok because they have funny dialogue and wholesome ladies' nights out and are happy, shallow girls now. JK. This did not work for me. I guess the author might have been going for positivity and comic relief to balance out the horrors and brainwashing being inflicted on these people. I did find some of the dialogue and interactions mildly humorous, but I mostly found myself skimming through long, vapid conversations and meaningless banter, mixed with repetitive thoughts and character details. The character backstories and times they actually grappled with identity were sometimes engaging and effective. But a lot just felt unnecessary or strangely cutesy.
It also feels wrong to me for the author to paint pretty much every Dorley grad as generally happy, healthy, and improved. You're telling me people who were forcibly mutilated and brainwashed are better off; better versions of themselves; better contributors to the world? That people who are not actually trans women are so much happier now that the female gender has been forced upon them? Is this not just a reverse version of things like conditioning camps to "turn" gay people heterosexual? We know THAT'S horror, and scars people for life, often leading to mental health problems, but you're telling me in Dorley's case we can make light of it and show how much "better" everyone is?
I'm still confused if this book was meant to condone the actions of Dorley or not, or maybe to convince us this was the only solution. Whatever the author's motive was, I ended up finding MEN least at fault and most abused in this story, which was NOT something I was expecting or desiring out of this. What goes on in these halls is straight horror, but the author makes it convoluted and confused and not as serious or deep as it warrants in many cases.
I've seen people talking about a "twist" at the end that makes things better. What twist? [SPOILER INCOMING] All I saw towards the end was that Bea rebranded Grandmother's abuse and psychological torture as "healing." She's still perpetuating it, but just treating people a little more gently and pretending it's a better mission and organization. This feels even more manipulative to me than it was before, to be quite honest. I suppose trauma and abuse begets trauma and abuse, but I thought this book would be more about breaking that cycle. About how trans women actually deserve the happiness and rights to a full gender transition; and non-trans people who are forced to undergo the same = the abuse trans people often endure, in reverse, and as a result they are scarred and traumatized and unhealthy. That's not what I got. (I'm honestly still not sure what I got.)
Idk y'all. I think it's great to have trans representation in media, and I know this author is trans and likely intimately familiar with a lot of Stef's troubles and thoughts (and that's why THOSE parts worked so well). But the rest was just not it, and the writing was a bit all over the place.
January 11, 2025
This book pinged into my bubble a lot these past few months, so I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, while it seems a lot of people love it, it fell quite flat for me. So if you don't want to read criticism about this book, let us part in peace.
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Still here? All right. This is called a thriller and horror, which makes sense, given the premise: a young man whose older friend disappears, finds out a place under a local college dorm is force-transing 'bad' young men into beautiful, nice women--going as far as to brain-wash, force hormones and life-altering surgeries on them. There could be a lot of interesting exploration here of the trope of violent young guys being pissed and resentful that they can't be hot women (and while that sounds flip, we can see that people's physical and sexual insecurities cause a disproportionate amount of social strife), but the book read to me like someone had written a first draft of this interesting idea, without returning to flesh out how this might be logistically viable. So there was an incredible amount of hand-waving that made it impossible to suspend my disbelief, thus destroying any thriller vibe or tension. The premise ended up feeling purely goofy. I believe this could have worked more if it was either more absurd or distorted from our reality, but it seemed (other than the utter implausibilities) modeled very much on our recognizable mid-2020s world. I also wasn't in love with how every person who was force-transed became beautiful (making me think, what about the ppl who couldn't be beautiful? Did they just get fkn killed? >.>) and that the main character (who is an ACTUAL trans woman), seemed to only ever talk about physical attributes as reasons for dysphoria/wanting to transition.
Does every trans femme book owe the reader a deep exploration of gender, full of complexly gendered characters? Absolutely not. But the description as a thriller did make me think this would be something less shallow and more satirical than what, ultimately, seemed an earnest slice-of-life fantasy about a place transing us into beautiful gals, for free.
All that said, a lot of people seemed to really love this book, so take this review with ten grains of salt.
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Still here? All right. This is called a thriller and horror, which makes sense, given the premise: a young man whose older friend disappears, finds out a place under a local college dorm is force-transing 'bad' young men into beautiful, nice women--going as far as to brain-wash, force hormones and life-altering surgeries on them. There could be a lot of interesting exploration here of the trope of violent young guys being pissed and resentful that they can't be hot women (and while that sounds flip, we can see that people's physical and sexual insecurities cause a disproportionate amount of social strife), but the book read to me like someone had written a first draft of this interesting idea, without returning to flesh out how this might be logistically viable. So there was an incredible amount of hand-waving that made it impossible to suspend my disbelief, thus destroying any thriller vibe or tension. The premise ended up feeling purely goofy. I believe this could have worked more if it was either more absurd or distorted from our reality, but it seemed (other than the utter implausibilities) modeled very much on our recognizable mid-2020s world. I also wasn't in love with how every person who was force-transed became beautiful (making me think, what about the ppl who couldn't be beautiful? Did they just get fkn killed? >.>) and that the main character (who is an ACTUAL trans woman), seemed to only ever talk about physical attributes as reasons for dysphoria/wanting to transition.
Does every trans femme book owe the reader a deep exploration of gender, full of complexly gendered characters? Absolutely not. But the description as a thriller did make me think this would be something less shallow and more satirical than what, ultimately, seemed an earnest slice-of-life fantasy about a place transing us into beautiful gals, for free.
All that said, a lot of people seemed to really love this book, so take this review with ten grains of salt.
May 23, 2025
I stumbled across this series thanks to a random tumblr post, looked it up out of curiosity, and to my surprise suddenly found myself seven chapters in. I finished the free copy I'd found and immediately bought a copy for my kindle, as well as the next book in the series. I don't know what this book is like for cis readers - or even for more well-adjusted trans readers - but if you're the type of transgirl who, thanks to your own personal damage or whatever, enjoys smutty forced feminization stories and have long hungered for something "more" along those lines with some actual heft and polish, some real thought and intent, you will probably find this book irresistible, as I did.
But don't go in expecting erotica, in fact, maybe don't go in expecting anything - Alyson Greaves has taken some of the most well-worn tropes of this ignoble genre and turned them inside-out in ways that surprise and enthrall. Yes, young men are kidnapped and turned into girls against their will by a shadowy organization and the intimidating matron who runs it, but this basic setup is all just scaffolding to hang more interesting action on. Greaves quickly zooms out from Stef's story, revealing the cast of women who run the lower floors of Dorley Hall, each of them human: flawed, fallible, and driven by their own desires, anxieties, and conflicting feelings as co-dependent products of the same ethically dubious program they're currently putting Stef and the boys through. The cast expands quickly but we are shown their personal backstories slowly, and Greaves masterfully spools out details in tantalizing glimpses and glimmers. Meanwhile, she zooms out further again, revealing a larger plot of intrigue and truly sinister characters.
In the end, it was the deeply felt characters, their loving found family dynamic, and the incisive way Greaves writes about the trans experience that made me devour this book. I was practically giddy reading it, sneaking in pages at work and during meals, thinking about it when I wasn't reading it. I rarely say this, and maybe it's a little strange in this case, but: I truly felt seen. So many lines resonated so strongly with my own experience as an extremely online millennial trans woman, many delivered in ways that left me reeling from the pinpoint accuracy of it all. And as a long-time reader of the base material, it's a delight to see the most common tropes of the genre re-employed in clever and critical ways.
I ultimately found it to be a cathartic and compelling read, but more sensitive readers should definitely take care: Greaves does not shy away from the cruelties and indignities suffered by the residents of Dorley Hall on their way to womanhood. Every character is strongly informed by their own trauma in ways that are vividly described and often hyper-specific to the trans experience, but that's not to say it's lurid or exploitative. Greaves is careful to write her characters with compassion and respect as she plumbs the depths of their souls.
But don't go in expecting erotica, in fact, maybe don't go in expecting anything - Alyson Greaves has taken some of the most well-worn tropes of this ignoble genre and turned them inside-out in ways that surprise and enthrall. Yes, young men are kidnapped and turned into girls against their will by a shadowy organization and the intimidating matron who runs it, but this basic setup is all just scaffolding to hang more interesting action on. Greaves quickly zooms out from Stef's story, revealing the cast of women who run the lower floors of Dorley Hall, each of them human: flawed, fallible, and driven by their own desires, anxieties, and conflicting feelings as co-dependent products of the same ethically dubious program they're currently putting Stef and the boys through. The cast expands quickly but we are shown their personal backstories slowly, and Greaves masterfully spools out details in tantalizing glimpses and glimmers. Meanwhile, she zooms out further again, revealing a larger plot of intrigue and truly sinister characters.
In the end, it was the deeply felt characters, their loving found family dynamic, and the incisive way Greaves writes about the trans experience that made me devour this book. I was practically giddy reading it, sneaking in pages at work and during meals, thinking about it when I wasn't reading it. I rarely say this, and maybe it's a little strange in this case, but: I truly felt seen. So many lines resonated so strongly with my own experience as an extremely online millennial trans woman, many delivered in ways that left me reeling from the pinpoint accuracy of it all. And as a long-time reader of the base material, it's a delight to see the most common tropes of the genre re-employed in clever and critical ways.
I ultimately found it to be a cathartic and compelling read, but more sensitive readers should definitely take care: Greaves does not shy away from the cruelties and indignities suffered by the residents of Dorley Hall on their way to womanhood. Every character is strongly informed by their own trauma in ways that are vividly described and often hyper-specific to the trans experience, but that's not to say it's lurid or exploitative. Greaves is careful to write her characters with compassion and respect as she plumbs the depths of their souls.
Read
October 23, 2023not particularly story-shaped, and I don't do great with this kind of endlessly serialized media (the author is a homestuck, right? and there's another one into which I never dipped my toes), but there's still some interesting stuff in here on which to chew
February 24, 2025
what started as an okayish book that was bringing up interesting questions about gender absolutely down-spiraled to an i’m-so-bored-i’m-angry 1 star book. more detailed review to come.
March 1, 2025
absolute dogshit. sub-first draft prose in bad need of an editor and, ahem, a point. trans literature deserves better than this tripe
June 5, 2025
Finished book 1 + skimmed book 2. There are interesting ideas here. Two thirds through book one it hits a stride where it's following Stef go through all this torture, and you think she's going to save herself. And in that hope I felt like the themes became clearer to me, about the cycle of abuse between trans women and how it can be better, how you don't have to stand for it.
It felt like a look into how trans women mistreat each other, and how uniquely that hurts, and how people use transition as a way to forgive themselves without really changing and continue to hurt other trans women because they have no power over anyone else. I really saw myself in Stef at points, because I have also been through the "humiliation from other trans women" wringer and it was cathartic watching her assert herself and prove that self-respect and dignity aren't just lies we tell ourselves.
It's sort of surpirising (if you forget it's forever-serialized) that this book doesn't end with some sort of liberation for everyone involved. It's sort of bleak that everyone steps into line to vouch for forced fem (read: assault and transmisogynistic humilation) because it helped them. I thought Stef could have been the cure, but she's coerced to live by their rules and forgives everyone so easily, over and over. How can anyone be forgiven in this environment? She just comes across like a kicked puppy. If you take the metaphor of Dorley Hall seriously, it feels like it's saying that trans women are doomed to hurt each other forever, only lessening the cruelty ever so slightly every generation, and the ones who don't want to hurt others, who see a way out of the cycle, will be forced to solemnly participate anyway because they need to in order to survive.
That is an incredibly pessimistic view of community. In that way, it could have been a really dark depiction of the failed promise of community in a cruel world, or the horrors of isolated trans communities on college campuses full of young people, or a critique of the supposed upsides of separatism, or a depiction of being stealth while hating yourself, or just a horror story about abuse where everyone is trans and fucked up. But the book spends so much time reminding you how good the whole setup is for everyone involved that it can't establish itself as a dark critique, and in its positivity it all just feels numbly depressing, like cruelty is inevitable.
Not to mention the forced transition, which I can't help feeling is a much better metaphor for being a trans guy forced to be a girl than anything to do with trans women. I understand that it's making parallels to the medicalization of transition and how humiliating that was and still is, but I don't know, it's literally being coercively assigned female. A genderswapped version of this book would come across like conversion therapy for trans girls.
There's an ideology about gender inherent to the plot, some idea that being forced to be a woman is better than being forced to be a man, and that being forced to be a woman turns you into a better person, and it's hard to stomach for me (if assigned sex is bad (which it is) then why is assigned sex part 2 not also unequivocally bad... etc etc). All of the contradictions get shoved onto the hateable characters, everyone who's truly reformable is also coincidentally truly (enough of) a woman, I guess. Feels like you're supposed to read every character as an ultra repressed trans woman, but that's flimsy ground for 1000+ pages to stand on. There are hints of these ideas being challenged in book 2 but way way more of the same thing it seems.
I think if the book had an ending, these contradictions would've had to have been answered for, and it could have really worked. But as it is, it's a story about fighting for (and celebrating) miniature reforms of a hazing ritual that is deemed a necessary evil, which just depresses me. "It's easier to imagine the end of the world than trans women escaping the cycle of abuse." - new novelty mug for Dorley dropouts maybe.
I'm leaving this review to clear my mind of it a bit. I think this book deserves some thought. I have a huge respect for any massive self-published piece of trans art like this. It goes places nothing has really gone before, and I guess I'm glad to see my early 20s "everyone should be forced femmed" 2am thoughts brought to their ugly conclusion, if only to see how harmful they really are. Despite that, part of Stef's story hit me really hard, and in that sense the book is a messy positive for me. Maybe it sets the stage for a future trans writer to do something better, kind of like how the girls torture their first-years a little less than their sponsors did them.
PS: This story did not pass the "Show Girl" test for me, which I just made up. Here is the test: Does this narrative say something more compelling about being trans than "transitioning is sexy and fun"? I would say Dorley almost does at times, but unfortunately collapsed under its own contradictions for me.
It felt like a look into how trans women mistreat each other, and how uniquely that hurts, and how people use transition as a way to forgive themselves without really changing and continue to hurt other trans women because they have no power over anyone else. I really saw myself in Stef at points, because I have also been through the "humiliation from other trans women" wringer and it was cathartic watching her assert herself and prove that self-respect and dignity aren't just lies we tell ourselves.
It's sort of surpirising (if you forget it's forever-serialized) that this book doesn't end with some sort of liberation for everyone involved. It's sort of bleak that everyone steps into line to vouch for forced fem (read: assault and transmisogynistic humilation) because it helped them. I thought Stef could have been the cure, but she's coerced to live by their rules and forgives everyone so easily, over and over. How can anyone be forgiven in this environment? She just comes across like a kicked puppy. If you take the metaphor of Dorley Hall seriously, it feels like it's saying that trans women are doomed to hurt each other forever, only lessening the cruelty ever so slightly every generation, and the ones who don't want to hurt others, who see a way out of the cycle, will be forced to solemnly participate anyway because they need to in order to survive.
That is an incredibly pessimistic view of community. In that way, it could have been a really dark depiction of the failed promise of community in a cruel world, or the horrors of isolated trans communities on college campuses full of young people, or a critique of the supposed upsides of separatism, or a depiction of being stealth while hating yourself, or just a horror story about abuse where everyone is trans and fucked up. But the book spends so much time reminding you how good the whole setup is for everyone involved that it can't establish itself as a dark critique, and in its positivity it all just feels numbly depressing, like cruelty is inevitable.
Not to mention the forced transition, which I can't help feeling is a much better metaphor for being a trans guy forced to be a girl than anything to do with trans women. I understand that it's making parallels to the medicalization of transition and how humiliating that was and still is, but I don't know, it's literally being coercively assigned female. A genderswapped version of this book would come across like conversion therapy for trans girls.
There's an ideology about gender inherent to the plot, some idea that being forced to be a woman is better than being forced to be a man, and that being forced to be a woman turns you into a better person, and it's hard to stomach for me (if assigned sex is bad (which it is) then why is assigned sex part 2 not also unequivocally bad... etc etc). All of the contradictions get shoved onto the hateable characters, everyone who's truly reformable is also coincidentally truly (enough of) a woman, I guess. Feels like you're supposed to read every character as an ultra repressed trans woman, but that's flimsy ground for 1000+ pages to stand on. There are hints of these ideas being challenged in book 2 but way way more of the same thing it seems.
I think if the book had an ending, these contradictions would've had to have been answered for, and it could have really worked. But as it is, it's a story about fighting for (and celebrating) miniature reforms of a hazing ritual that is deemed a necessary evil, which just depresses me. "It's easier to imagine the end of the world than trans women escaping the cycle of abuse." - new novelty mug for Dorley dropouts maybe.
I'm leaving this review to clear my mind of it a bit. I think this book deserves some thought. I have a huge respect for any massive self-published piece of trans art like this. It goes places nothing has really gone before, and I guess I'm glad to see my early 20s "everyone should be forced femmed" 2am thoughts brought to their ugly conclusion, if only to see how harmful they really are. Despite that, part of Stef's story hit me really hard, and in that sense the book is a messy positive for me. Maybe it sets the stage for a future trans writer to do something better, kind of like how the girls torture their first-years a little less than their sponsors did them.
PS: This story did not pass the "Show Girl" test for me, which I just made up. Here is the test: Does this narrative say something more compelling about being trans than "transitioning is sexy and fun"? I would say Dorley almost does at times, but unfortunately collapsed under its own contradictions for me.
April 21, 2023
(4.25 rounded up bc this book should be way more popular) A few of my mutuals who have very good taste have hyped up this book and I can confirm that it did not disappoint. A clever and honestly unsettling take on the forced feminisation trope, this book is hard to put down and I’m going to have to acquire the next in the series asap.
I wouldn’t call this book horror per se, but it did a great job of making me incredibly uncomfortable throughout, and I’m really looking forward to how this is developed in book two more explicitly. It’s also left me with a bunch of thoughts about gender and how gender identity is or isn’t formed - I feel like the book sort of stands on the premise that for a lot of cis people, gender identity is something incidental, that for example most men are only men because they were born amab and they feel comfortable enough existing in this world in that way, but don’t really give much thought to their gender otherwise. Because otherwise I don’t think any of the dorley women would ever be able to lead happy lives, which they are mostly depicted as having. Which is interesting - reminder to ask my cis friends about their thoughts on gender. On a similar vein, one thing that I’m curious whether the author will do in book two is show us a dorley graduate who (de)transitioned back to being a man.
Rambly thoughts aside, very good book.
I wouldn’t call this book horror per se, but it did a great job of making me incredibly uncomfortable throughout, and I’m really looking forward to how this is developed in book two more explicitly. It’s also left me with a bunch of thoughts about gender and how gender identity is or isn’t formed - I feel like the book sort of stands on the premise that for a lot of cis people, gender identity is something incidental, that for example most men are only men because they were born amab and they feel comfortable enough existing in this world in that way, but don’t really give much thought to their gender otherwise. Because otherwise I don’t think any of the dorley women would ever be able to lead happy lives, which they are mostly depicted as having. Which is interesting - reminder to ask my cis friends about their thoughts on gender. On a similar vein, one thing that I’m curious whether the author will do in book two is show us a dorley graduate who (de)transitioned back to being a man.
Rambly thoughts aside, very good book.
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