Spoiled Milk

by Avery Curran

The untimely death of a student at a girls’ boarding school turns out to be the first in a haunting series of escalating supernatural events. A thrilling debut novel about teenage repression, queer desire, and the everyday horror of coming of age.

In 1928, Emily Locke’s final year at the isolated Briarley School for Girls is derailed when Violet, the school’s brightest star (and a cunning beauty for whom Emily would do anything), falls to her death on her eighteenth birthday. Emily and her buttoned-up rival Evelyn are, for once, in agreement: Violet’s death was no accident. There’s an obvious culprit, the French schoolmistress with whom Violet was getting a little too close—they only need to prove it.

Desperate for answers, Emily and her classmates turn to spiritualism, hoping for a glimpse of wisdom from the great beyond. To their shock, Violet’s spirit appears, choosing pious Evelyn as her unlikely medium. And Violet has a warning for them: the danger has just begun.

Something deadly is infecting Briarley. It starts with rotten food and curdled milk, but quickly grows more threatening. As the body count rises and the students race to save themselves, Emily must confront the fatal forces poisoning the school. Emily’s fight for survival forces her to reevaluate everything she knows: about Violet, Evelyn, Briarley, and, ultimately, herself. Avery Curran channels the indelible ambience and intrigue of the classic boarding school novel while turning the beloved genre on its head in this visceral, exuberant debut.

Genres: Horror, Dark Academia, Queer, Fiction, Lesbian, Mystery, Historical Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 10, 2026

About the author

Avery Curran studied History at university, where she first became interested in spiritualism. She finished an MA in Victorian Studies in 2021, and is now midway through a PhD on spiritualism and queerness in the nineteenth century. She was born in New York City and currently lives in London with her girlfriend and their cat.

Reviews

[Sidney · Rating 3 out of 5]

on one hand I do think Spoiled Milk is a solid debut, on the other it did kind of end up missing the mark for me. there's a lot going on in this one that I usually love; supernatural horror, gothic atmosphere, seances, mysterious murders/deaths...

I liked the idea of an all girls boarding school but to be honest, most of the characters were just...annoying. it doesn't help that it's told in Emily's pov, who just so happens to be the most unlikeable character out of all of them.

I understand this is a gothic novel so I went into it anticipating a slower pace but this has to be one of the slowest gothic books I've read. the first half was well done, it kept my interest & I was excited to see where it was headed. the second half however, just gets repetitive at times, there's a lot of breaking away from the present to info dump on things that really don't matter or fully connect to what's going on in the story that really made it drag so a lot of the build up of tension was lost.

there were definitely some creepy moments here & there but we never really get an explanation as to why these things are happening & the open ending left me with too many questions.

like I said a solid debut, & I will definitely look out for what the author releases in the future, but this one just slightly missed the mark for me

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published March 10, 2026.

4 stars

Great book with a terrible title. I’m not sure if this is YA, but I don’t think so. It’s 1928 and we follow a group of girls at Briarley, a boarding school in England . These are the sixth formers, the oldest girls in the school and they are all 17 and 18. Chief among them is Emily Locke who is floored when her best friend and star of the school, Violet, dies on her 18th birthday. After that Emily, and her rival, Evelyn, believe that Violet’s death wasn’t natural and they and their friends set out to prove it as things at the school get worse and worse.

Such a lovely sense of menace here. There’s no escape for anyone and it feels so claustrophobic. The whole thing is deliciously dark, plus, boarding school! I really enjoyed this.

[eden]

everyday horror of coming of age and the fucked up ordeal of girls’ schools #seated

[eliza tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a beautifully written horror story following a series of suspicious deaths at a boarding school in the early 1900s. full of séances, a complicated haunting, and witty spirits, this book left me unsettled and looking over my shoulder and jumping at the little noises in my house.

there are quite a few characters, each well thought out, unique in her personality, bringing something essential to their little group. none of them truly felt like side characters, which i appreciated and am impressed by.

the enemies to lovers story is incredibly compelling, with bits and pieces you cling to while their world seems to be coming to a terrifying end. sapphics would love this one.

thank you NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Hester · Rating 5 out of 5]

You may think this is going to be very good, and if so I want you to prepare yourself; it's better than that.

[Azhar · Rating 3 out of 5]

unless i’m stupid but i don’t think we ever really get any answers to the hauntings?? also, the book takes its sweet time getting to the good part and just when it does, it ends?? the prose was great but not great enough to save the story :(


thanking netgalley & the publishers for the ARC.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delectable romp; a gothic banquet of rot and radiance, set within a 1928 English boarding school where order curdles into menace. The story opens with Violet— beloved, envied, impossible to look away from— plunging to her death on her eighteenth birthday. In this absence, her fellow classmates (some rivals by instinct, companions by necessity) are drawn into an uncanny undertow. Something festers within the school’s walls: spoiled food, creeping fevers, ghostly murmurs, and secrets that cannot remain contained.

What distinguishes this debut is not only the knife sharp atmosphere, though dread shimmers in every shadow, it is Curran’s ability to braid horror with longing, to render spiritualism and decay as mirrors of adolescence itself. Through Emily’s narration— selfish, dedicated, brimming with contradiction— what’s captured is the raw disorder of desire in a world obsessed with obedience and appearance. The supernatural is never an intrusion from elsewhere; it seeps into the minerals of the soil the school stands upon, until hunger, grief, and queerness feel as spectral as any haunting. Above all, is the intrinsic relatability, the timeless experience and dynamics of teenage girls.

Curran reclaims the well-worn trope of the boarding school novel and sets it on fire, transforming a cloistered institution into a crucible of repression, empire, and awakening. The effect is both chilling and tender: a book where beauty and grotesquerie sit at the same table, where terror is breaking bread with restlessness. Spoiled Milk endures not for the phantoms it conjures, but for its understanding that fear lives also in the ache of desire, the cruelty of authority, and the fragile dread of being young, alive, and filled with love to give (and consume).

Thank you, Netgalley & Double Day, for the advance reminder that horror and yearning, when done with a skillful touch, can be the most fun a girl can have.

[Celine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is tough for me to rate. It has absolutely everything that I want in a book: a girl's boarding school during the Victorian age, séances, teen girls behaving strangely, paranormal activity, mysterious deaths, queer coming of age - the list goes on.

And yet, the pacing was a drag. I really struggled to get into it, every single time I picked it up, which resulted in me skimming towards the end.

I would read more from this author, and I genuinely hope for the book's success. I was charmed by it, deeply, at the beginning. Maybe this is a me problem - a classic case of right book, wrong time.

Regardless, thank you to the publisher for an early copy, in exchange for a review!

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Step into the halls of Briarley, where nothing is to be trusted and the only thing more frightening than death is having to live long enough to grow up. Both darkly funny and genuinely harrowing, Spoiled Milk is the boarding school novel my spooky heart has been waiting for. Avery Curran has written an absolute knockout. Thank you to the publisher for an advance review copy!

[lav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Doubleday Books for the arc!

----

what a nasty little bite of a novel!

looove the firmly historically rooted take on spiritualism. all but clapped and cheered when i realized we were getting ectoplasm, especially with the period accurate descriptions of The Substance (cheese cloth! yes!!!) i see the author's field of study is 19th c spiritualism and queerness and i am sooo happy that her research was able to shine here

had a fever-dreamlike quality that worked really well, except for a couple points where it didn't—felt a bit of "and then this crazy thing happened! onto the next." found myself wishing for a few more answers at the end, but ultimately the unexplained felt somehow "period" lol, like the book assumes you are familiar with the rules (from another time) of the supernatural that it is operating on

would definitely recommend to lovers of horror, history, and toxic homoeroticism! major win for big enjoyers of all three (me, that's me, i am that)


+ love that emily is relentlessly awful, such a joy to read



4.5

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. I would describe it as an immersive, captivating queer coming-of-age story. From the beginning, I loved the setting -- all girls boarding school set in the Countryside, with classic strict headmistress and teachers. The dark parts of the story start early on, but Curran handles each topic delicately, with a soft hand. I loved the interpersonal dynamics between each girl in the close group of the girls (yes, friends, even though they may hesitate to call each other that at the start), who are the oldest at the school. As the dark points of the story progress and supernatural happenings become more common, the group of girls gets closer together in a way that felt very real. They are each other's found family, without realizing it. The scenery and setting was described very well -- everything from the chapel to the common room, from the dining hall to the Long Gallery. Scene wise, the orchard scene with Emily and Evelyn was one of my favorites. I was not sure how the ending would go, but I very much enjoyed how Curran tied up each string into a nice bow. I was left curious about what happened to Emily's family (and all of their families, truly), but frankly it is nice to imagine it on my own.

The description of Spoiled Milk includes the phrase "A thrilling gothic debut", and that rings very true.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

[sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran drops us into a 1920s girls’ boarding school, Briarley, where one untimely death snowballs into something much deadlier. Violet—the Regina George of Briarley—dies in a tragic accident, and her besties Emily and Evelyn are convinced the French teacher did it. Soon, séances and mediums are on the extracurricular schedule, but what starts as an attempt to solve their friend’s murder spirals into something far more sinister. Turns out, the school might be infected with something supernatural, and these girls have to survive the winter… or not.

It’s got all the hallmarks of a haunted-house bottle episode, but with an undercurrent of repression, desire, and the very real horrors of being a teenage girl. Violet, Emily, Evelyn, Dot, Alice, and Marion each bring their own quirks and charms, making it that much more brutal when horror-movie tropes start picking them off. Expect gore, lingering creepiness, and flashes of absurd humor—because even when you’re running from supernatural death, teenage girls will still find time to bicker over dumb stuff. Dark, eerie, a little funny, and thoroughly entertaining—this is one glass of milk I’d gladly drink.

[Maya]

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books | Riverrun for providing me with the ARC.
Pub Date 12 Mar 2026
Unfortunately, this is not a book for me. It’s hardly a horror and it’s most definitely a YA. It reads very immature and lacks details and set up. I read to the 25% and so far I can’t distinguish the main girls from one another, Violet’s death was poorly done, the séance scene was boring and it got no atmosphere or mystic. This is absolutely not what I’ve expected, it should be advertised as a YA, so a horror readers like me won’t read it and rate it low.

[CJ Alberts]

DNF for now input this down for too long but was enjoying it

[Vanessa (The Wolf & Her Books)]

I hope the Aardvark Book Club makes this a pick for March 2026.

[hannah ★ · Rating 5 out of 5]

as soon as i discovered this book i was absolutely desperate to get my hands on it and i am pleased to announce that it didn’t disappoint. the novel is a nostalgic malory towers esque coming of age story with a growing sinister undercurrent of death, decay, and destruction, which is slow to get started but absolutely worth the wait. emily’s unreliable narrative frustrated me at times, but as the novel progressed it only helped to establish her gradual acceptance of her pent up feelings. it’s a delightful story of rotting food, mysterious deaths, and repressed queerness which i thoroughly enjoyed. need another book like this asap to be honest…

thank you netgalley and doubleday books for the arc!

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great - atmospheric, tense, full of misunderstood yearning. I had a wonderfully spooky time reading it and will be reccing it around

[talia ♡]

i’ve been waiting for this book since like 2023 and it’s FINALLY coming out 😭😭

[Terra ⭐️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!

This was a very, very interesting book that hooked me in right away. The story takes place in 1920s England at a girls boarding school called Briarley. It's written from the perspective of Emily, one of the upper sixths at the school. The writing reminds me of Catcher in the Rye with how we are very limited to Emily's view, but we get her uninterrupted train of thoughts. We can make inferences of what is really happening by understanding the way Emily sees and interprets things. This book is what I wanted "Don't let the forest in" to be, and I am so happy I finally read something that hit the mark. And oh yes, this book is very much queer.

We begin with a murder. Of the tight knit group of upper sixths, Violet is undoubtably the center. She is almost god-like in the way the other girls view her (or how Emily views how the other girls view her). When she falls over the edge of the staircase and dies, it begins a spiral into the absurd.

Quick character break down (or how I thought of the characters):
Emily (our perspective) - angry, jealous, black-and-white
Evelyn - also jealous, anxious, on the outside looking in
Marion - very smart, stays out of drama, level-headed
Dot - sweet, sensitive
Alice - strong, protective, no-nonsense
Sophie - imaginative, dreamer

All of the girls are changed by the murdered, and their grief manifests in different ways. Emily is very, very angry. She can't see beyond that anger which colors our perspective. She immediately fixates on accusing Mademoiselle (the French teacher) as the murderer because Mme. was standing on the staircase with Violet when she died. Emily tries to loop as many as the other upper sixths into her murder accusation agenda as she can (with moderate success). The girls are desperate to make sense of the death of their friend, and without a person to blame besides the unresponsive Mme., Sophie suggests holding a seance to communicate with Violet herself.

Their very first seance is the point of no return. Things at Briarley don't seem to be getting better after communicating with a spirit, in fact everything is becoming slightly.... off. This is where the story really begins to pick up. Little things keep changing, small enough to be ignored but somehow by the end of the book we've found ourselves in a complete state of horror.

Emily's relationships with all the girls are explored, but her relationship Evelyn and Violet I find most interesting. Violet was the closest friend to Emily (and vice-versa) and Emily is always checking her position in relation to Violet. Emily is always vying for Violet's attention and affection, and can't see Violet's cruelty. Evelyn is also obsessed with Violet, but it comes across almost pathetic because Violet doesn't reciprocate her with even a fraction of Evelyn's desire for friendship. Because of Evelyn's competition for Violet's attention, Emily absolutely despises her. This whole dynamic playing out was what made this book so interesting. How do you deal with jealousy when you don't realize what you are jealous about? How do you compete over someone who is dead? How much influence do you allow a dead person to have over your living relationships? How can you acknowledge truths about yourself when you see them as terrifying?

Avery Curran does an amazing job exploring these topics and I am excited to read anything else she writes. Thank you so much NetGalley and Doubleday books for sending me an ARC in exchange for a fair review.

[Nicole Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley and Doubleday Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Avery Curran’s “Spoiled Milk” is a haunting, atmospheric gothic tale that explores supernatural horror, sapphic tension, and the suffocating constraints of a historical boarding school. Equal parts ghost story and psychological study, it explores how grief, jealousy, and repression can fester until they infect everyone.

Set at Briarley School for Girls, the story begins with the sudden and mysterious death of Violet, the school’s most beloved student. To Emily, our prickly, deeply flawed narrator, Violet was more than a friend; she was an obsession, almost a godlike figure. Her death leaves a vacuum in the school’s social order and in Emily’s sense of self. Convinced that something sinister is at play, Emily and her classmates turn to seances to contact Violet, a decision that pulls them into a dark spiral of spiritualism, suspicion, and death.

Curran captures the era’s fascination with the supernatural, weaving in seances, ghostly possessions, and a creeping “illness” that seems to rot both students and staff from the inside out. The metaphor is striking—the spiritual corruption spreads like a plague, and those who try to leave Briarley meet a fatal end. Even the teachers begin to feel changed, their morals warped, their kindness curdled. The cause of this haunting is left deliberately ambiguous, making the story feel all the more unsettling.

Emily is not an easy character to like. She’s selfish, small-minded, and often cruel, especially toward Evelyn, her eventual love interest. Their romance feels more like rivals-to-lovers (or even bully romance), sudden and messy, but also undeniably passionate. While this romance did feel a bit unnecessary and unhealthy, it reflects the tangled emotions and desperation of two girls trapped in a toxic, claustrophobic environment.

The supporting cast is sharply drawn, each girl distinct, and the strict, religious backdrop of the school adds both authenticity and a constant undercurrent of tension. Curran doesn’t shy away from depicting the homophobia of the period. Characters, including Emily herself, echo the prejudices of their time, though some attitudes shift by the end.

The mystery of Violet’s death intertwines with the supernatural thread, building momentum as more lives are lost and suspicion mounts. There’s no neat explanation for the events. There is no definitive origin for the spiritual illness, but the open-ended nature of the conclusion makes the final pages linger.

Overall, this is a chilling, slow-burn boarding school gothic steeped in death, desire, and decay. “Spoiled Milk” is perfect for those who love sapphic ghost stories, morally messy protagonists, and endings that refuse to hand you all the answers.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiled Milk is a 1920s-set queer boarding school gothic novel about a group of upper sixth girls whose friend falls to her death. Emily is in her final year at Briarley School for Girls, a sanctuary for her and her classmates from the outside world. But when Violet, their erstwhile leader, falls to her death, they want answers, but as they start to investigate, it seems that things are rotten at Briarley, and the school isn't going to let them go.

I'd heard quite a bit of hype about this novel so I was excited to read it, and it fits into the 'cursed vibes England' niche that I'd imagined it would, making you think of Julia Armfield and Alison Rumfitt. The story itself is gothic 1920s boarding school, not aimed at a YA audience even though the characters are seventeen and eighteen, and the horror starts slow and develops as the book goes on. It felt to me like it was about cycles of violence, both interpersonally in characters' relationships and in terms of the boarding school setting and the haunted element.

The latter two elements, the implications of the boarding school power structure and the actual malevolent force itself, are more subtext than text in the book, and I think the main thing I left the book wanting was more depth into the meaning(s) behind what happened beyond occasional allusions to the sugar trade past of the family who owned the house and gave the school its name. I think particularly because this book felt like a boarding school version of Tell Me I'm Worthless, which very much foregrounds how fascism is the haunting, I wanted a little more about how different themes in the book were part of the supernatural side.

The book is narrated by Emily, who is a biased narrator who changes opinion and doesn't give or know the full story, and this makes for classic gothic novel assumptions as well as a bit of an exploration of queer repression. This isn't the book for you if you're looking for uncomplicated queer characters/romance, but instead there's actually flawed teenagers suddenly thrown into a malevolent situation. A downside of the narrative POV is that you don't get to see as much of the other upper sixth girls' characters, but it suits the style of the novel and its atmosphere to have a singular perspective through which you interpret the narrative.

Overall, this is a gripping gothic novel that doesn't always offer answers, but instead has a malevolent atmosphere and a well-captured sense of being trapped somewhere that is decaying everything in it. It perhaps wasn't as dark as I expected—I would definitely see this as historical gothic rather than horror—but that's not necessarily a bad thing!

[Annelise · Rating 4 out of 5]

It all begins with the untimely death of Violet, Briarley School for Girls' beloved star student. Emily and Evelyn are bitter rivals for Violet's affection, but they find camaraderie in her death--Violet must've been murdered, and they think their youthful French teacher must be to blame. To prove their theories, they and their fellow final year students begin pursuing answers through mediums and seances, but as they continue to peek beyond the veil, life at Briarley becomes more and more suffocating.

'Spoiled Milk' is a wicked little read about early 20th century spiritualism, sapphic boarding school life, and children conspiring the downfall of adults. Emily as a perspective character is perfect for this--she's completely obsessed with Violet, spiteful towards anyone who could get between them, and most interestingly, has no attachment to her life away from Briarley. Her family is unsupportive and neglectful of her, and her classmates at school are her chosen family. This makes the rot that infects Briarley that much more of a personal attack on her, and something that she takes responsibility in fixing. Of course, a teenager who is having a difficult time grieving over her friend, idol, and crush is not one to make the best decisions.

Sometimes I think that dark academia as a genre is too concerned with aesthetics and not concerned enough with what makes for a good book. So often, authors try to ape 'The Secret History' with classmate dynamics and private schools, but 'Spoiled Milk' gets into what makes the genre compelling--a weird location, characters with their own agendas that often completely counter others, and characters who are too young to understand the consequences of their actions. Combine this with the Laura Palmer-esque Violet, a girl who is adored by all but whose time in the afterlife sharpens her edges, and 'Spoiled Milk' makes for a refreshing read in an overcrowded genre.

I do agree that the book drags a bit (though I think its length and pace help to reflect the bleak and starvation-driven madness of Briarley's final months) and that the end of the book, while refreshingly fast paced, does feel like a bit of a sharp turn from brooding paranormal mystery to a slasher. Even so, it doesn't feel like a contradiction from the book's themes, and altogether 'Spoiled Milk' is an excellent debut novel. I look forward to reading more of Avery Curran's work in the future.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the author and publisher for an early copy of this book! That has not influenced this review and all opinions are my own.

When I tell you I have not stopped thinking about this book I am genuine. I love gothic horror novels, especially those with academic settings, and this book delivered. We have spirits, seances, poison, and murder, all in one book.

One of my favourite things about this book is how eerie the setting was. The author did an incredible job of making you feel so incredibly immersed in the story, to the point where my cat jumped on me whilst I was reading and I almost had a heart attack because I was so deep into the book and I was so invested. I’ve always been pretty good at picturing scenes when I’m reading but this was so descriptive that I felt as though I was IN the book. The creepy atmosphere feels unlike any other horror book I’ve ever read. I have literally told my partner before that I don’t understand how people are scared of horror books cause they’re just words on a screen but I was literally twitching at any noise whilst I was reading!

The topic of sexuality is presented in a really interesting way. It’s woven quite deep to the story and plays an integral part in development of the characters and helps add dimension to the time that the book is written in. It’s an important part to the story but it also didn’t feel ‘gimmicky’ or just written in for the sake of meeting a quota. What I’m trying to say is that the representation feels accurate to the time period that the book takes place but it also feels relevant to today’s society too. And those parts made me, a bi woman, feel seen which I always appreciate!

I absolutely adored the writing style and the first person perspective from the FMC. We can kinda tell that she’s an unreliable narrator and that she lets her feelings cloud the story she’s trying to tell, and it just *works*. I found it so easy to read and it was so incredibly compelling.

This book has left a hole in my heart that probably won’t ever be filled. A gothic tale of friendship, heartbreak and spirituality which is bound to keep anyone entertained!
This book will make you cry, laugh, and probably visit a medium.
Disclaimer: once you’ve read this book you’ll always be chasing that spooky high it gives you!
Rating this book anything less than 5 stars is criminal and will probably cause Violet to come and haunt you 👀

Rating: 5/5 stars (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

[loan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiled Milk explores the aftermath of the violent death of popular it girl Violet at an all-girls' boarding school. It's an incredibly ambitious book with a captivating plot and a strong sense of place and identity. I loved the historic setting and the sapphic coming of age story. The horror elements are extremely cinematic and the stakes are surprisingly high.

While the plot is fast-paced and fun, the writing itself is bizarrely slow. There are a lot of narrative asides where world-building info is dumped on the reader in very strange moments. In one action-packed scene, a character runs past a painting within the school, and the book pauses to give the backstory of the person in the painting. There are lots of moments like this, where it feels like the history of the school and the present moment of the book don't ever line up correctly. I finished the book feeling like there was probably a lot more world building info that was cut out that would've better fleshed out the plot.

Though I appreciate the all-girl cast of characters, I also feel conflicted about them. Sometimes, the depth of their relationships surprised me. Other times, the girls felt very one-dimensional and sidekick-y. It didn't help that we saw them all through Emily's eyes, and Emily herself is so shallow and comes off quite a bit more unlikeable than I think she was supposed to.

Still, I think this book was well worth the read and I'm interested in seeing what the author might publish in the future.

Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the ARC.

[Marlo Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGallery for the eARC!! 4.25 ⭐️

I seem to be into the messy sapphic trope as of lately…

In terms of characters, I adored this read. The hate sex!!!! Oml it was timed perfectly. Caught me both of guard and had me extremely excited for the development. I really did enjoy Emily’s complexity within understanding queerness, the be very typical homophobia of this time period + the internal desires really added to her character and her motivations. Although it was unsurprising that Emily and Evelyn were the last two to survive, I did enjoy the ending note that their relationship was still as strained and complicated as previously.

The gore was also quite lovely. I enjoyed the freakiness that came with each death, and the sudden puppet-like manipulation at the end was terrifying. Added points for the suspense leading up to this, such as the changes in the teachers demeanors and the eerie funerals.

Now, I was upset with the lack of motivation from the ‘evil spirits.’ Posing this force as ‘it just is evil’ was simply boring. I wish there has been more motive for each death and their timing, but instead it was random. I could also predict which characters were next to go, especially when they started to get less “screen time” so to speak, in each chapter.

Overall, really enjoyed this read in terms of time period, characters, and horror; however, it did lack a coherent plot at times and seemed too focused on a lack of motive to keep going.

Would recommend!! As per usual, especially to those queer readers that enjoy horror.

[Destinie Vidrio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday for an early release of Spoiled Milk

Holy Shit that last 20%
This is a slow burn coming of age, dark, claustrophobic story of 6 teenage girls after the death of their classmate/ friend and the supernatural horror that follows

We follow Emily who is retelling the story of what happens at her isolated all girls private school after the death of her friend Violet who she is utterly obsessed with

We can tell pretty early that Emily isn’t a reliable narrator though as she grows in the book so does her narration. I loved how this story was told because we as the reader had a foreboding sense of unease as Emily continues her story with hints of what’s to happen. I enjoyed the spiritualism that was used. This book takes place in the 1920s so it’s old fashioned Victorian spiritualism that we are getting which I love so much. I loved all the characters and was able to see them as real teenage girls trying to navigate grief in the cusp of adulthood.

My main criticisms is that I wish there was more backstory on the school and more descriptions of the school and sceneries but that was all

This book comes out in March but this would be a perfect book to read during the fall and winter months

Can’t wait to see what else Avery Curran writes in the future

[Horror Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good creepy novel set in the past at an all girls school. One of those places where girls were taught to be prim proper ladies.

A girl named Violet is at the heart of the story although she dies horribly at the beginning which will set in motion the terrifying things to come. The rest of the girls are devastated by her death and decide to hold a seance to summon her. But things begin to go wrong and, over the course of this book, there will be many more deaths, each one brutal, and soon they find themselves unable to leave the school grounds. Something horrific is coming for them and anyone who leaves never comes back.

The relationship between this close knit group is one thing that makes this book so good. Jealousies, bickering, hurt feelings abound yet so does their obvious love for one another. A secret romantic entanglement in a time when that kind of thing wasn't accepted stretches their relationship amidst the dreadful dark things happening around them.

This book is a solid read with lots of creeps and some intense scenes of death. I highly recommend it. I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.

[suzanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I can quite give this 5 stars only for the pacing at the beginning and also some of the ignorance towards some of the dead in this novel (I don't think it's a spoiler that people die. It's a horror novel and the cast of characters is large). I know the pacing was quick, but it felt, almost, that some of the causes of death or quick forgetting of the dead frustrated me.

However. love the commitment to time-period appropriate language and setting, and I do love most of the characters. Emily is a pill but she's forgivable. Wish Alice got more page time! Everyone is such a ball I had a great time. Love the gore!

Boarding school is truly a perfect setting for horror and this doesn't disappoint—truly one of the best capturing of what it's like to live with people and have a certain surface-level care for your peers. There's a certain expectation that people will just be there, and their disappearance (death or otherwise lol) is quite jarring—to the extent that people have to actually lean into the relationships that are remaining. This book gets it!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for the arc

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started strong but... well, sorry, but it curdled. I liked the opening scene – instantly dramatic and captivating – and initially I enjoyed the voice Curran has crafted for her narrator Emily, a neat blend of archness and naivety. (Also, gorgeous cover.) After a while, though, I wanted something more than repetitive scenes of haunting and/or possession plus the predictable love-hate subplot involving two of the characters. The narrative is absolutely packed with anachronisms, and the denouement is just plain silly. There’s atmosphere and a solid setup here, just not enough depth or surprise to sustain it, and at a certain point I began to feel like I was reading YA. Yeah, I know, if I don’t want to feel like I’m reading YA I shouldn’t read a book about teenagers at a haunted boarding school – rounding my rating up to compensate for that.

If you’re interested in this book (or have already read and enjoyed it), I’d enthusiastically recommend The Moth Diaries, which has all the same ingredients (boarding school, supernatural threat, lust and envy) and makes something much more powerful out of them.

I received an advance review copy of Spoiled Milk from the publisher through Edelweiss.

[Jensen McCorkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

“An untimely death of a student at a girls' boarding school marks the first in a haunting series of escalating supernatural events” is the description from the publisher that had me intrigued. That one sentence told me everything I needed to know to decide this novel was a must read. You can literally feel the decay and dread weighing down from the first chapter of this story. There is so much atmosphere in this novel and the character development is spot on even for the lesser supporting characters. The author gives you everything you need to feel the isolation and fear that the students remaining feel. There is a slow burn sapphic relationship but it really felt unnecessary for the story to be honest. Also if you are a reader who needs resolution, this may not be for you. This ending is left a bit open-ended which I did not dislike. In fact it made the story linger and had me still pensive hours after having finished reading. Overall I enjoyed this read and would recommend to those who love a classic gothic feel.