Review: When All the Girls are Sleeping by Emily Arsenault

Author: Emily Arsenault

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publication Date: July 2021

Windham-Farnswood Academy is beautiful, prestigious, historic--the perfect place for girls to prep for college. But every student knows all is not as it seems. Each January, the Winter Girl comes knocking. She's the spirit who haunts the old senior dorm, and this year is no exception.

For Haley, the timing couldn't be worse. This month marks the one-year anniversary of the death of her ex-best friend, Taylor. When a disturbing video of Taylor surfaces, new questions about her death emerge. And it actually looks like Taylor was murdered.

Now, as Haley digs into what really happened last year, her search keeps bringing her back to the Winter Girl. Haley wants to believe ghosts aren't real, but the clues--and the dark school history she begins to undercover--say otherwise. Now it's up to her to solve the mystery before history has a chance to repeat itself and another life is taken.

When All the Girls are Sleeping is another recent YA thriller that I really enjoyed.  There is a tale of a resident ghost, known as The Winter Girl.  She appears every winter ion a certain date in Haley's dorm.  Sometimes in white and sometimes in black.  Last year, Haley's former friend Taylor fell out of a window.  Did she jump or was there something more paranormal at play?  Now that Haley is a senior, she begins to believe that maybe Taylor didn't really jump.

As I said, I ended up really enjoying this one. The boarding school dorm setting made for a creepy atmosphere.  Not knowing if it was a paranormal event or something more going on made me want to keep reading to the end.  I didn't call the reveal at all. I definitely thought it was going in a different direction. There were some places that were kind of info dumps, but it didn't slow down the pacing.

 I liked the characters, especially Haley.  She was smart and methodical in her approach to figuring out what happened to Taylor.  I also liked that she was a scholarship kid  and not the stereotypical right boarding school student. The other characters were interesting and enhanced the story.  I definitely recommend this one!