I received this ARC from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

Sarah Merson is a foster kid, left a ward of the state after witnessing the brutal murder of her parents at the age of three.  A mixed-race foster kid from Ohio, so the whole charmed life story hasn’t ever applied to her.  That all changes when she gets accepted into Sanctuary Bay Academy, a school she never applied to and has never even heard of.

Sarah had tried to find information about the school online, a picture or something.  But she hadn’t found anything.  Maybe since Sanctuary Bay had such an amazing reputation they didn’t need a web site.  No need to advertise.  If they wanted you, they’d let you know.

Sarah is thrilled to attend this prestigious school that has been a breeding ground for some of the greatest politicians, rock stars, business moguls and scientists for several generations.  It’s a dream going to classes and making friends at SBA.  She falls in with a crowd a kid like her-moved from foster home to foster home-had never dreamed of.

Sanctuary Bay is who you are now.

Sarah is quickly caught up in the thrill of making friends, taking classes in state of the art labs and having luxuries she’d never imagined thrust upon her.  The only problem is, some things don’t add up.  Sarah has an Eidetic memory and she later discovers, Hyperthymesia.  She not only remembers everything she sees in extraordinary detail, but she can relive these memories as well.  Peer pressure doesn’t work, things that go bump in the night don’t jostle her much and she can’t push aside the things she notices.  Something is amiss on the island of Sanctuary Bay.

The world would never be normal again.

She needs to figure out what is going on beneath the perfect surface of the academy.  With the help of disillusioned rich kid Ethan and a kind teacher, she sets out to do just that.

They thought they could hide the truth but the truth doesn’t hide, the truth shines.

This was a good read, I went in with no knowledge aside from what was contained in the little blurb the publisher listed and it served me well.  I’m pretty sure this is the first in a series and I look forward to keeping up with it.

Four stars.

Publication Date: January 19, 2016