Welcome to Mortem Academy: Two Stories, One Curse, Infinite Goosebumps!

Mortem Academy is the kind of school where the air smells faintly of secrets and something might actually be watching you from the portraits. It’s 1904 New York, but make it dark academia; corsets, candlelight, and curses included.

Much like Dead Girls Don’t Talk, this isn’t your standard thriller. It’s a flip-over book, which means you choose how the story begins. Start with Whispers of the Forgotten for the origin story, or flip it over to Shadows of the Unseen if you’d rather dive straight into love, loss, and the kind of legacy that probably comes with a ghost attached. Either way, both paths lead you to the same chilling truth at the center of Mortem Academy.

Leonora Saint-Clair has spent her life preparing to inherit her father’s legacy, until her mother dies under circumstances so horrifying that even Edgar Allan Poe himself might’ve said, “Okay, that’s enough.” On the other side of the story is Sebastian Gladstone, who witnesses that tragedy and decides silence is safer. Spoiler: it’s not. The shadows at Mortem Academy don’t forget.

Sandra J. Paul’s writing can only be described as deliciously immersive. The writing in this book is elegant yet eerie, poetic but punchy, the kind that crawls under your skin and refuses to leave. She doesn’t just tell you a story; she pulls you into it, locks the door, and whispers, “Good luck finding your way out.”

What I adore about her flip-over books is how she makes the format essential to the experience. It’s not a gimmick! It’s the storytelling equivalent of a mirror : both sides reflecting the same truth from a different, darker angle. And by the time the two stories meet in the middle? Goosebumps. Everywhere.

Expect haunting atmospheres, cursed bloodlines, and an ending you’ll never see coming (although, do I ever??). It's the perfect kind of story to read with a blanket, a candle, and your infinite TBR glaring at you from across the room. Whispers of the Forgotten / Shadows of the Unseen is haunting, heartbreaking, and hypnotically written, a perfect Spooktober read for anyone who loves their fiction beautifully tragic and maybe just a little bit possessed.

Huge thank you to HamleyBooks and Sandra J. Paul for providing me with an (e)ARC in exchange for my honest review!