Sidekick Short Review: When We Were Monsters (2025) Jennifer Niven

cover image of When We Were Monsters by Jennifer Niven, published by Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2025.

The Basics

Page Length: 400

Audiobook Length: ~11 hours

Grade Reading Level: 9+

Target Audience Age: 14+

Goodreads Score: 3.49 out of 5

Buy it HERE

Setting: Contemporary New England, The Moss (a manor located on the grounds of Brighton and Hove Preparatory Academy, a private elite boarding school)

Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Dark Academia

Topics: Dark Academia, Writing, Grief, Family Secrets, Survival, Romance, Fear

Plot: When a group of six senior students from Brighton and Hove Preparatory Academy is invited to attend an elite writing workshop led by world-famous author Meredith Graffam, they all jump at the opportunity. The course is held in an old manor deep in the forest on the school grounds—the perfect setting for dark, gothic creativity to flourish.

Meredith Graffam is an alum of Brighton and Hove as well. She first gained fame after her best friend was murdered in the forest during her time as a student. She later wrote a book about the tragedy, The Hunt, which launched her into stardom. Her book and testimony helped put the killer behind bars. Since then, Meredith has gone on to write bestselling novels, produce films, and even star in some of them herself. Being taught by her feels like a dream come true.

But once the students finally meet Meredith, they begin to realize her teaching methods are far from ordinary—slightly dangerous, unhinged, and completely bizarre. She pits the students against one another, promising the last student standing a grand prize: a large sum of cash and the chance to have their work turned into a film through her powerful Hollywood connections.

As the assignments she gives them, the stories she shares, and the “tests” she forces them to complete grow increasingly twisted, the students start to question everything. Are her stories really true? What is she actually trying to teach them? And will they be able to escape the special semester writing course alive—and unscathed?

You might like this book if you like:

• Creative writing/writing clubs

• Theater/Acting

• Solving puzzles/escape rooms

• Books like: A Lesson in Vengeance, Wilder Girls, Ninth House, Summer Sons

• Shows like: Wednesday, School Spirits, Red Rose, Shining Girls

• Movies like: The Skulls, Heathers, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, Knives Out

• Books/shows/movies like: One of Us is Lying, Dead Poets Society

  
  

Other books written by this author: All the Bright Places, Holding Up the Universe, Breathless,

Content

• Language: mature language throughout

• Sex/Romance: The alternating protagonists are involved in a sexual relationship. It's a closed-door romance, but there are scenes with descriptions of passionate kissing. Sex is mentioned throughout the book.

• Violence/Scariness: The book begins with a death and then backtracks to the scenes leading up to it. One character poisons/drugs others. Teens are left to fend for themselves in the woods. A character attacks another with a rock. A violent end resulting in a murder.

• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs: Adults and teenagers consume alcohol in this book. One character drugs many people without their knowledge.

  
  

Book Talk Read Aloud Section

*What is a book talk? (Watch a how to video here. Read my blog post here)

If you have the physical book, read pages 1-3.

If you don't, read the same pages in the Kindle reading sample here.