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My Dearest Darkest

by Kayla Cottingham

Desire and danger at Ulalume Academy

Regular price $13.17 USD
Regular price $21.95 USD Sale price $13.17 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Editorial selection

    Bustle Best Book of March 2022

    Named a Bustle Best Book of March 2022.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Desire and danger at Ulalume Academy

A transfer student arrives at Ulalume Academy carrying the mystery of a near-fatal accident and a connection to the island she cannot explain. There, Finch becomes linked to Selena St. Clair, whose suspicions meet an equally strong pull toward her new classmate. When the girls summon a creature that offers their hidden desires at a gruesome cost, the story brings supernatural horror into an intensely competitive school setting. Its central tension ties the wish for beauty, power, and adoration to the consequences of pursuing them, while Finch and Selena’s uneasy connection becomes crucial to confronting what they have unleashed.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Young adult readers interested in supernatural horror and monsters
  • Readers seeking a sapphic story set in a competitive academy
  • Fans of dark-academia settings and stories about dangerous desires

Themes

Desire and its costsMonsters and supernatural dangerSapphic connectionCompetition and insecurity

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

*Bustle Best Book of March 2022

*Buzzfeed Highly Anticipated YA Novel

*Lambda Literary Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+

*BookRiot Best New Dark Academia YA Book

Wilder Girls meets The Craft in this Sapphic horror debut that asks: what price would you be willing to pay to achieve your deepest desires?

Finch Chamberlin is the newest transfer student to the ultra-competitive Ulalume Academy... but she's also not what she seems. Months before school started, Finch and her parents got into an accident that should have left her dead at the bottom of the river. But something monstrous, and ancient, and terrifying, wouldn't let her drown. Finch doesn't know why she woke up after her heart stopped, but since dying she's felt a constant pull from the school and the surrounding town of Rainwater, like something on the island is calling to her.

Selena St. Clair sees right through Finch, and she knows something is seriously wrong with her. But despite Selena's suspicion, she feels drawn to Finch and has a sinking feeling that from now on the two will be inexplicably linked to one another.

One night Finch, Selena, and her friends accidentally summon a carnivorous creature of immense power in the depths of the school. It promises to grant every desire the girls have kept locked away in their insecure hearts--beauty, power, adoration--in exchange for a price: human body parts. But as the cost of their wanting becomes more deadly, Finch and Selena must learn to work together to stop the horror they unleashed, before it consumes the entire island.

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Customer reviews

M
AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

T
AlbakiReads
Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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AlbakiReads
Olivia

Smooth.