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Mather, Adriana

Killing November Paperback – Feb. 25 2020

by Adriana Mather (Author)

4.6 765 ratings

Book 1 of 2: Killing November

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From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Hang a Witch comes a thriller set at a secretive boarding school where students are trained to carry on family legacies that have built--and toppled--empires.

November is as good as dead. She just doesn't know it yet.

At the Academy Absconditi, there's no electricity, no internet, and an archaic eye-for-an-eye punishment system. Classes range from knife throwing and poisons to the art of deception. And the students? Silver-spoon descendants of the world's most elite strategists--all training to become asassins, spies, and master imporsonators.

One is a virtuoso of accents--and never to be trusted. Another is a vicious fighter determined to exploit November's weaknesses. And then there's the boy with the mesmerizing eyes and a secret agenda. November doesn't know how an ordinary girl like her fits into the school's complicated legacy. But when a student is murdered, she'll need to separate her enemies from her allies before the crime gets pinned or her...or she becomes the killer's next victim.

Book 1 of 2

Killing November
Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ember
Publication date

Feb. 25 2020
Reading age

13 - 17 years
Dimensions

13.97 x 2.16 x 20.96 cm
ISBN-10

0525579117
ISBN-13

978-0525579113
Lexile measure

800L
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Product description

Review

"Full of danger and intrigue, this series opener establishes a fascinating premise with an international cast of tenuous allies and ambiguous adversaries that will keep our heroine, and her readers, on a knife’s edge." --The Bulletin

"Anything is possible in this world of cloaks and daggers. A strong beginning that will leave readers hungry for more." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

In addition to her novels How to Hang a Witch and Haunting the Deep, Adriana Mather is also a full-time producer and actor. She owns a production company called Zombot Pictures, which has produced the award-winning Honeyglue, among other films. She lives in Massachusetts with her family. Follow her at @AdrianaMather or @adrianamatherauthor.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

My name is November Adley and I was born in August. The way my dad tells it, the Connecticut nights were unusually cool that summer, and the day I arrived our maple burst with color reminiscent of late fall—hence my name. He claims the leaves shone so brightly in the morning sun that it looked like our front lawn was on fire. Dad also says that’s part of the reason I’m obsessed with the woods. I’m not sure there’s any connection, but I enjoy the comfort of that story—a reminder of a time when the world was safe and so was my family.

The most disorienting thing about safety—my own in particular—is that it never crossed my mind before. My ex-CIA, now–financial manager dad often tells me I’m too trusting, all the while shaking his head like he’s shocked that we’re related. Which I, of course, remind him is one hundred percent his fault, since I’ve lived my entire life in the same small town with the same friendly people, who pose about as much threat as a basket of sleeping kittens. Dad argues that I want to believe people are good and that while that’s admirable, it’s also not realistic. To which I ask him how it helps anyone to believe that people are bad. He claims that having a healthy sense of suspicion prepares you for every possible danger. But until now, it was all just a theory. And if I’m being honest, even yesterday, with Dad insisting there was an imminent threat to our family, I still wasn’t convinced. Nope, there was absolutely nothing indicative of danger in my life until a few minutes ago, when I woke up in this medieval-looking . . . parlor?

I frown. A man I’m assuming is a guard stands against the wall next to me. He’s staring forward, blatantly ignoring me, as I consider the door. I push as hard as I can on the wrought-iron latch and even throw my shoulder into the dark wood, but it doesn’t budge. I let out a huff from the effort and scan the room. There’s a roaring fire in the fireplace and maroon velvet furniture that probably costs more than my entire house. But there are no windows and the door in front of me is the only exit.

“I know you hear me,” I say to the guard, who so far hasn’t answered a single one of my questions. He’s dressed all in black, with a leather belt and leather armbands that put to shame the Roman gladiator costume I wore last year for Halloween. I toy with the idea of snapping my fingers in front of his face, but he’s a good foot taller than me and his arms are more muscular than my legs.

He remains silent.

I try another angle. “You know I’m a minor, right? That you can’t keep me locked up in this . . . Well, I’m assuming this is my new boarding school. But what kind of a school locks up their students?” Dad told me this place would be different, but I have a hard time believing he meant I’d be trapped in a windowless room.

Just then I hear a key slide into the door and it swings outward. My shoulders drop and my hands unclench. Another guard, dressed identically to the first, gestures for me to follow him. I don’t waste a second. Unfortunately, the room guard comes, too, and walking between them, I feel almost as confined as I did in that room.

The guard in front pulls a lit torch off the gray stone wall and I take inventory of my surroundings—the lack of electricity, the arched ceilings, the heavy wooden doors that use latches instead of knobs. There’s no way I’m still in the United States. This place looks like something out of a documentary I once streamed about medieval Irish castles. However, I find it nearly impossible to believe Dad would send me all the way to Europe, not to mention be able to pay for it. We almost never leave Pembrook, much less the state of Connecticut.

As we continue to walk, I notice impressive hanging tapestries depicting knights, royal courts, and bloody battles. It’s also dead quiet, no sounds of people chatting or cars driving by.

The hall has a distinct chill, and I pull the sleeves of my sweater down over my fingers for warmth. I have no idea what happened to the coat, gloves, and scarf I wore onto the plane; they weren’t in the room with me when I woke up. We pass under an archway and ascend a staircase with worn, uneven stone steps. I count two landings and three flights before we come to a stop in front of a door patterned with iron rivets. The lead guard unlatches it and warm air billows out.

The antiquated office reminds me of a somber scene in a movie about Mary, Queen of Scots. The only light in the room comes from an abundance of candles set in silver candelabras and in sconces on the stone walls. The windows are covered with heavy curtains and a fire blazes inside the fireplace, filling the air with the scent of woodsmoke.

A tall, thin woman stands behind a seemingly ancient desk. Her brown hair is pulled into a high bun so tight that it gives me a headache just looking at it. She’s probably around Dad’s age, but her severity makes her seem older.

She does a poor impression of a smile. “Welcome to Academy Absconditi. I’m Headmaster Blackwood. I trust your trip was agreeable?” Her voice and demeanor command obedience.

“I don’t remember my trip,” I say, feeling uneasy under her gaze as I pull a piece of fuzz off my jeans. The rant I was working up downstairs feels inappropriate in this formal setting. “I passed out on the plane and woke up on a couch in the . . . To be honest, I’m confused how—”

“Teachers’ lounge,” she says, and gestures for me to sit in an armchair in front of her desk. The frills of a white blouse spill out from the edges of her black blazer. The contradiction makes me wonder which one she is—uptight and trying to appear approachable, or soft and trying to look stern. “You were out for some time.”

“I was locked up down there,” I say, expecting shock, but it doesn’t come. I turn and look behind me. Both guards are still with us, one on either side of the now-closed door. Whether they’re protecting her or preventing me from leaving is unclear. Maybe both.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ember; Reprint edition (Feb. 25 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525579117
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525579113
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 318 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 2.16 x 20.96 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #145,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9 in Historical Mysteries & Thrillers for Young Adults
- #99 in Mystery & Thriller Adventure Fiction for Young Adults
- #265 in Suspense for Young Adults

Customer Reviews:
4.6 765 ratings

About the author

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Mather, Adriana

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Adriana Mather is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Hang a Witch, with family roots that go back to Sleepy Hollow, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Titanic. She's also an actor and producer best known for her role in the award-winning Honeyglue. She co-owns Zombot Pictures, a production company that makes feature films.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

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Jill Jemmett

Great start to the series

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 19, 2019

This story was intense with a complicated list of characters, but I really enjoyed it.

A boarding school is a great setting for a thriller. This school was very isolated and hidden from the world. No one even knows where it was located.

The connections between the characters and their families was complex. It took a while to figure out who everyone was, and what side they were on. The main character, November, was thrown into the situation with as much information as the reader, so we learned along with her.

The only thing that disappointed me was that the story didn’t really start until halfway through the book. I was kind of lost up until then. The different families and their histories weren’t clearly laid out until that point and that was an important part to the story. I wish it was made clear closer to the beginning, so it wasn’t as confusing.

The ending was open to a sequel, so I hope the story will continue!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Holly McClain

Haven’t finished it yet

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 28, 2023

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From what I’ve read it’s really good

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JenacideByBibliophile

Indifference.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 24, 2019

Verified Purchase

You know those books you come across that sound AMAZING, like they will be an EXACT fit for you, and are already praised and LOVED by EVERYONE?

And then you start reading it, all giddy and excited for what’s to come…

…but then you get about 60 pages in and are just kind of like…

Meh.

…

Killing November.

November assumed she had a normal upbringing, that was until she arrived at Academy Absconditi. Here, the students aren’t animated with conversation, worried about calculus tests and pining over who will ask them to homecoming. Their movements are deliberate, and they are masters at mind games and killing. So why would November’s father leave her in a place like this? Where the teachers enact an “eye for an eye” punishment system, family secrets are to be kept hidden for one’s safety and students keep turning up dead? Surrounded by people who assume she is weaving a clever game of innocence and daftness, November is thrust into a world she can barely navigate, all the while trying to learn the secrets of her family and who she is.

Killing November is a YA Mystery dripping in deceit, manipulation, darkness and brutality.

I witnessed all these themes and more while reading.

But in the end, all I was REALLY left feeling,

was indifference.

It started out great. November describes being named after a maple tree, how her father describes her as “too trusting”, and having awakened in dungeon-like room with little idea how she arrived there. Who wouldn’t be intrigued? As I started reading more, I learned that November is just like most of us readers – not entirely proficient in the art of deceiving and killing people via poisons, a bow and arrow or a set of freshly sharpened knives.

Woe is us for our normalcy.

She knows nothing of Strategia – an ancient secret society of spies and assassins, has barely heard a whisper about the Families of the Strategia who are responsible for pulling the strings behind MAJOR historical events throughout history, and has no idea how she fits into any of it. So as the story started picking up and November was thrust into her new lessons, I started noticing a constant theme of wishy-washiness with this character.

For most of the story, November is running around like a confused goose saying and doing the wrong things. I don’t blame the poor girl either, this school sounds like a nuthouse. But when November is given a task in lessons to steal a scarf off another player in the dark, or throw knives at targets…she becomes arrogant and cocky and just magically knows what she is doing.

Look, I love a confident character who has witty comments and a snarky attitude.

I know that she had a little training in these areas as a child.

But when the main character acts like a deer in headlights for 80% of the book, and has a few random and brief moments of god-awful one-liners boasting her perfection, it’s a turn-off. After the first instance of this, and the multiple continuances of her silly demeanor and confusing personality after, I became increasingly checked out.
I almost DNF’d this book about 15 times, but kept at it because so many other readers were telling me how much they loved it. So I forced myself to keep reading…and reading…and…reading. In the end, they were right in some cases. It DID get better. But it wasn’t amazing and unforgettable.

It was just okay.

I really wish I could have fell in love with this story more, because the suspense was there. The mystery and grittiness were shouting through the pages, but I just couldn’t connect with November or any of the other characters for that matter. The romance element was lacking in that it felt shoved together rather than formed naturally, and the friendship between Layla and November felt stiff. I just wasn’t invested in this read at all, and for that I am truly dismayed.

9 people found this helpful

Beth

Will Keep You Craving More for the Characters and Answers!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

Adriana Mather is one of my favorite authors, and when Killing November came out, the hype was there for me! Let me just say, i was not disappointed at all! As someone who loves books or stories with enjoyable characters, well written setting descriptions, and a good mystery element involved, this was right up my alley.

Killing Novembers main story line is that November finds herself whisked away on a plane to a mysterious, hidden, castle like boarding school in the middle of only the author knows where. While this initially gave me some Harry Potter vibes, Adriana proves that there are still many ways to take an idea so popular like hidden castle schools and make it different. One thing I love is that the true location is left up to the readers imagination and never revealed.

November has a roommate named Layla that she ends up becoming closer with along with her roommates brother, Ash. Without Layla and Ash, November would be the dead one, but instead they all find themselves in a mess surrounding the deaths of others and trying to figure out what happened so that they don’t get mixed up in even more trouble. Little do they know, but November was sent to the school for a very specific reason that neither we or the characters find out until the end.

Adriana uses her book and characters to share little nuggets of history, as well as lines that are quite quote worthy. Every single chapter is filled with clever connections, subtle humor and sarcasm, and hidden messages and meanings. While it feels like it takes forever to finally get answers and understand the story, in the end it’s satisfying to finally find out along with November more about who she is and why she got sent to this school. Personally, I do feel like the very end of the book was cliche in some ways, but I was happy about where the characters ended up and I am excited that the ending leaves us with anticipation and expectation for a sequel.

Overall, I thought that this was another well written and enjoyable book that kept me turning pages. I hope that you will all pick this up and enjoy it as much as I did, and I’m sure as much as Adriana also enjoyed writing it!

Mina

A secret school, murder and mayhem - entertaining YA murder mystery

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on November 6, 2020

Verified Purchase

If you can accept the premises that there is a secret society that steers global events for centuries and that their kids are trained in some, equally secret, facility, you can enjoy this book a lot. I could and I did.
November „Nova“ Alden finds herself in just this school, where her father dropped her „for her security“. And boy are things different there from everything she knew before. She has actually a lot of problems accepting all the things she stumbles upon in said academy. People are scheming, personal information must never be shared and obviously everything is politics. And November is awfully unprepared for such a world, which is bad in the best of times, worse after she stumbles upon the body of a classmate and has to solve the murder mystery and unveil the secrets surrounding everything (even her own family). She also has to make alliances (which isn’t easy in a world where nothing should be taken at face value and betrayal is likely.

So, I love the books like J.L. Barnes‘ „Naturalists“ series that works under similarly unrealistic premises with talented kids essentially working as agents. And I love Hogwarts, so I was pretty sure that the story was for me. And I was right. There were moments when I wanted to shake November for not getting it or getting into too-stupid-to-live-territory. But when I thought about it, I had to admit that her reaction to things was actually pretty spot-on. So I could deal with those moments and overall, November does good, especially towards the end, when she starts to see the whole picture. The other characters aren’t too fleshed out, but still well enough. I liked the mystery, and even tough I had an idea about November’s family and was right, there are cool revelations. I will definitely read the sequel.

2 people found this helpful

Sophia

A Must read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 24, 2022

Verified Purchase

What can I say about this book? Genuinely what can I say! I loved every minute of it! I usually have a very high standard when it comes to ranking my books after I've finished reading them, and this book easily exceeded all my expectations of how skillfully a book should draw its readers in. I could NOT put this book down once I started it, literally. I stayed up until 10am just to finish it all in one session and don't have a single regret about it. I highly recommend this book if you're into mysteries with a sprinkle of romance and even if you're not I think you'll find something in it that you will enjoy.

Brad V.

Definitely recommend to anyone!!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

WOW! This book was something else. Adriana Mather really blew me away once again. I absolutely loved "How to Hang A Witch" and "Haunting The Deep", they were two books in a series about Samantha Mather and I 100% recommend reading those if you haven't already!! But "Killing November" gave me a totally new feeling while reading it, it was suspenseful and captivating while still keeping the elements of teenage life, family, and extraordinary storytelling by Adriana. It's every boy and girl's dream, perfect for all readers young and old. Each page keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting more.
I loved getting to know the character Ash, he's such an interesting character and I absolutely fell in love with him right away!
The main character November goes to an international academy that's far from the norm, and she has to find out how she fits into it all and why she's there. If you like drama, mystery and murder, this is the perfect book for you, and a little flirting and romance doesn't hurt either! November faces a constant struggle trying to figure out who's good and who's bad, and it's becoming life or death.
Adriana focuses on really letting her readers get to know the main character November in this book and in my opinion, I feel like we really do know her. I feel like I can relate to her as a reader, and that's what makes a book great. This is a book that you just want to read over and over again, and never put down! I definitely recommend this book to anyone.

45 people found this helpful

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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Product details

About the author

Mather, Adriana

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Ships from: Amazon.ca

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