I really enjoyed this book! It did feel a bit YA due to the setting, but I didn’t see the twists coming and enjoyed reading it.

Honestly? I thought it was kind of predictable and boring. The writing was mediocre, and that's how I'd describe the whole book. Mediocre.

I loved this book! MicheleCampbell did an amazing job of knitting together the story of Rose and Bel. The twists and turns the story took kept me enthralled until the end! Heath was an interesting character and at first I didn’t know where he was going to fit into the story... whether he would wind up good or evil so to speak.

I will read more by this author!

St. Martin's Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of She Was The Quiet One. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Enrolling at a prestigious New England boarding school may open opportunities for their future, but twin sisters Rose and Bel Enright first have to navigate the catty and sometimes backstabbing waters of their present. Instead of providing a support system for each other, Bel gets involved in a crowd that bullies Rose. Will what happens next shatter the sisters' relationship forever?

She Was The Quiet One was completely predictable, with a plot line that was foreshadowed almost from the beginning. The premise was good, but the book itself was not all that realistic. The issues of bullying, using privilege to advance oneself, and strained family relationships did give the novel a real world legitimacy, but I found it hard to believe that the situations could have occurred undetected in such a small environment. There were a lot of secrets that would be difficult to keep, given the living arrangements. People seemed to run headlong into significant danger, giving the book a B horror movie feel. For these reasons, I would be hesitant to recommend She Was The Quiet One to other readers.

Rose and Bel are twins. They have recently lost their parents and their grandmother has come into their lives. She moves them to a boarding school, an exclusive and expensive boarding school in New Hampshire. Soon after they arrive, their rivalry begins.

I am really not a fan of either twin. They work way too hard to fit in, especially surrounded by all these rich brats. Then, there is Sarah and Heath. They are in charge of the students living in their dorm. Scandal follows theses two all through this story. It reaches beyond a fever pitch. Then….you guessed it…someone is murdered.

I enjoyed this story. The anticipation of who did it and why really keeps you coming back for more. I just really disliked these characters. The girls were whiney and don’t get me started on Heath! This read more like a young adult read. But, it does grab you and keep you!

I received this novel from St. Martin’s press for a honest review!

I definitely enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. It's an entertaining and well written story. It's definitely worth the read.

She Was the Quiet One was an interesting teen read. It was a little predictable, but overall a fun, fast paced mystery to try and figure out. For the most part, the characters were not very like able (even the good ones!) but they were still very interesting to read about. A fun, back to school teen read.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me this title in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the first novel that I read by Michele Campbell and it won't be my last. It was a page turner that I found very hard to put down. If I had it my way, I would have read the book from start to finish in one sitting. The novel takes place at a prestigious private high school with unforgettable characters. The book touches on many issues including, bullying, major crime, relationship dynamics and professional aspirations .

The author did an exceptional job of bringing all the details together at the end of the book.

I will be pre-ordering her next novel and I cannot wait to read her debut novel.

I strongly encourage everyone to go buy this novel!!!

She Was the Quiet One by Michelle Campbell

Brief Summary: Bell and Rose are twins sent to a prestigious boarding school after the death of their mother and seem to have opposite experiences in trying to fit in their new environment. The third narrator is Sarah Donovan, the new head of Moreland Dorm, and wife of attractive teacher Heath Donovan. One night one of the girls ends up dead and the other alive. You don’t know who is dead or alive or who knows what actually happened. This was my first read by this author.

Highlights: This novel draws you in from the beginning and reads like a dramatic mystery. As a longtime fan of the multiple Sweet Valley twins’ series, I was easily engrossed by the relationship between the sisters. I liked the diverse cast of characters and the police transcripts were riveting. It’s also very inspiring when you see a teacher dedicated to her students like Sarah Donovan. I also enjoyed her as a strong heroine who wasn’t in denial about things she did not want to accept in the end.

Explanation of Rating: 4/5: This book was engaging and enjoyable but ultimately predictable.

Psychology Factors: developmental stage of being in high school, peer pressure, relationships between students and teachers gone wrong. Many aspects of this plot were “ripped from the headlines” so to say. Also, Bell engages in chemical coping the night of the slipper attack; I wish her punishment of counseling had been portrayed more positively, though the negative perception of therapy is realistic.

This is a great read for parents of teenagers, book clubs, and high school teachers. I am looking forward to Campbell’s future work and definitely plan to pick up “It’s Always the Husband” next time I’m at the bookstore.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

After reading her first book, It's Always The Husband, I was super excited to jump into this one. I was a bit worried at first that this was geared more towards YA since it was a story about twin sisters that attend a boarding school, but this story had so much more ! I loved the different POV's in the story and it held me captive until the very end.. Great plot twists !

The Quiet One by Michele Campbell is a page turner. What an exciting plot line, this is one of those books that avid readers will find themselves unable to put the book down. This was my first book readthat i read by Author Michele Campbell, but now she’s on my favorite author list. I recommended The Quiet One to my local library for purchase recommendation in both versions, e-book and audio book as well they purchased it for those avid readers that continue to enjoy holding a regular book in their hands. Read the book, you will not be disappointed.

I struggled rating this. There were times I felt like it was slow and times I felt that it was rushed. I also found times that were under-detailed such as character relationships. Even with these issues, 

We know from the beginning that one of the Enright twins was murdered but the book leaves out which and takes to almost the end to get into that portion of the book. I went back and forth for a little which twin it was. The murderer was predictable for me and I was hoping for more of a twist in this particular area but there is a twist that ties everything together  that I really did not see coming so that was a definite plus.

Although definitely a thriller, this also read like a Young Adult for me. The setting of the boarding school could have led to this feeling but some of the topics are definitely for adults. I found the topic highly disturbing and a little hard for me to be drawn to as a teacher myself. With all thrillers, it is super hard to give more detail than that without spoiling the read.  I recommend this as a quick twisty read.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of this book.
This is my first book by this author. I own a copy of her first book, It’s Always The Husband but I haven’t read it yet.
I had really hard time connecting to these characters. I felt most sympathetic for Rose. I really didn’t care about the Donovan’s and I really hated Tracy.
I think the mystery aspect wasn’t very strong, Around chapter 11 it’s when I figured out who killed Bel. I read to about 41% then skimmed through the next 40% and then read the last 20%.
It just didn’t keep my interest, I was a bit bored and annoyed by how everyone mistreated and blamed Rose.
I wish I liked it more but it just didn’t work for me. I wish the POVs were separated in a way of each chapter was someone’s point of view and it was titled that way. The epilogue was unnecessary. I don’t really understand why it was written.

I thought the book was quite a good read. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the end was somewhat predictable. I felt like Bel's character could have been developed a little more since they were twins. Would I recommend it? Definitely. It was nice to sit back and discover the intracacies of the twin's relationship

From the author of It’s Always the Husband comes a riveting new suspense audiobook about privilege, power, and what happens when we let ambition take control.

For Rose Enright, enrolling in a prestigious New England boarding school is the opportunity of a lifetime. But for Rose’s vulnerable twin sister Bel, Odell Academy is a place of temptation and danger. When Bel falls in with a crowd of wild rich kids who pressure her into hazing Rose, the sisters’ relationship is shattered. Rose turns to her dorm mother, Sarah Donovan, for advice. But Bel turns to Sarah’s husband Heath, a charismatic and ambitious teacher. Is Heath trying to help Bel or take advantage of her? In a world of privilege, seduction, and manipulation, only one sister will live to tell the truth.

In a book full of twists, turns, and dark secrets, Michele Campbell once again proves her skill at crafting intricately spun and completely compelling plots.

I love love loved the mystery and suspense of She Was the Quiet One from the very start! Michele Campbell is a phenomenal writer who can weave intricate details and backstory into an intriguing, psychological mystery.

Bel and Rose - and their twin relationship - are so real I could picture them as actual people and almost hear their conversations while reading this book. The fact that the book opens with Rose already being held and blamed for her sister's murder set the tone for the entire novel, with me frantically reading, devouring every word to piece together what really did happen to Bel - and how and why? SO MANY QUESTIONS! Michele Campbell did a great job of heightening the suspense even after the murder is "solved," to keep the action going through the last few chapters. Couple that with the various point-of-views each chapter is written from, and you have a recipe for a can't-put-it-down thriller that is good to the very last drop.

When their mother dies, twins Rose and Bel move in with their grandmother who they barely know. They are sent to The Odell Academy, a boarding school for the rich kids, where the academic Rose fits right in, but the wilder Bel becomes friends with the popular kids, but the friendship comes with a price. Bel has a crush on Heath Donovan, an ambitious teacher, which sets her against the older popular kids.

The book has some Gossip Girl vibes and I have to say that I hated all the characters. I wanted to know what happens but didn’t feel much sympathy for any of the people.

The book starts with a murder, but we don’t know who died or who did it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too difficult to guess who it was, but it takes the cops waay to much time to get it or understand at all what goes on in the school. So much eye-rolling here…

It was a solid read, but I had higher hopes for this one.

She Was the Quiet One is a riveting, twisty, and suspenseful read from beginning to end and I highly recommend it! Michele Campbell keeps the reader enthralled with this complicated cast of characters. She slowly doles out clues as the story line plays out. There are so many possibilities and so many people with a motive, I changed my mind about the ending at least three times.

Rose and Bel, fraternal twins with virtually nothing in common are thrust into the world of an exclusive boarding school after the death of their mother. Both are seeking to make a place for themselves in their new environment. Rose is studious, excited for the opportunity her grandmother has made possible and leery that her sister will start hanging out with the wrong crowd again. Bel on the other hand, is a risk taker and will do whatever is necessary to fit in and to get what she wants.

And it just gets escalates from there.

Rose and Bel Enright are fraternal twin sisters. They are the offspring of a privileged New England college student and a Mexican scholarship student. Now they are fifteen years old and orphaned. Sent to live with their wealthy grandmother in Connecticut, they have been enrolled in Odell, a prestigious boarding school, the one where their parents met.

Rose is the 'good girl'. Smart, studious and active in school activities. Bel is the prettier of the two girls but she has poorer judgment and struggles academically. She immediately falls in with the 'wrong' crowd. A bevy of 'mean girls' with little moral compass. The girls couldn't be more different. After moving to Odell, the twins are separated by a rift - seemingly insurmountable.

Then Bel's new friends begin a contest - a test to see who can first seduce the handsome new teacher/dorm head, Heath Donovan.

Heath and Sarah Donovan are academics who have been hired by Odell to clean up the unsavory reputation of Moreland Hall, one of the dorms. They are the dorm's resident supervisors. They have two young children.

The task is daunting because the students at Moreland are spoiled, rich, over-privileged teens who spend a lot of their time socializing and tormenting the other students. Sarah and Heath also serve in an advisory capacity to some of the students.

Events at Odell escalate. A hazing ritual turns ultra nasty. Students are expelled. Other students are ostracized. Lawyers get involved. The social dynamic within the school gets turned on its head.

Then, one of the twins is brutally stabbed and killed.

Sarah and Heath Donovan's marriage is in jeopardy. Who can Sarah believe? She is faced with a difficult moral choice.

MY THOUGHTS

When I was a teenager, I thought it would be wonderful to attend a boarding school. The nerd in me feels resentful that luscious, historical boarding schools always have to be sullied with social conflict. I would have approached the whole boarding school experience in much the same way as Rose did in this novel. The reader in me realizes that without the conflict there would be no story.

This thriller will be loved by many, though it didn't resonate with me as much as I had hoped. It is a novel with themes of jealousy, infidelity, betrayal, cliques, intimidation, love triangles, lost trust, and blinding ambition. It was plotted in a clever way - in that you weren't sure who the murder victim was until near the end of the book.

From a literary standpoint, this novel has great pacing, an atmospheric setting and is very well written. From a content standpoint, just not my cup of tea. If you like 'mean girl' stories then you would probably love this one. I don't think this was a bad book, but it wasn't a personal favourite.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for NetGalley

3.5 stars!

Bel and Rose Enright are twins, but they could not be more different. Rose loves academics and following the rules. Bel is a rebel and makes her own rules. After some changes in their family, the girls end up at the prestigious Odell Academy in New England. Bel falls in with an unsavory crowd and is pitted against her sister. Bel starts toto obsess overHeath, her advisor/teacher and the husband of Sarah, who Rose adores. As the story continues you begin to wonder who could have committed the crime, and better yet, can any of them really be trusted? I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved that the chapters were told in different POV and even pulled the investigation into parts of its own. The plot was pretty original and unpredictable, which I always appreciate!

After the death of their mother, twins Rose and Bel Enright wind up at Odell Academy in New Hampshire. They are sent by their wealthy grandmother, who has no idea what to do with the teenagers now foisted upon her. Rose is the good twin--good grades, good friends, good behavior. Bel, on the other hand, is known for going a bit wild. But it was Bel their mother favored--much to Rose's consternation. Floundering after the loss of their mother, Bel winds up with the wrong crowd at school and then turns on Rose when she calls her out on it. Meanwhile, Heath and Sarah Donovan have been brought in to clean up Moreland Hall, the dormitory where the twins are staying. It has developed a reputation for trouble. It's a daunting task, especially since so many of the girls come from storied, rich Odell families. Both Sarah and Heath are Moreland alums--they met at the school--and not all of their memories are pleasant. As for Heath, his dreams extend far beyond teaching high school English. But something in his past holds him back; he's hoping to parlay their time at Moreland into something more. But soon things at Moreland--and Odell--are out of control, with the Enright twins and the Donovans right in the middle of all the trouble.

From the beginning of the novel, we immediately know that an Enright sister is dead, but not which one. The narration from Bel, Rose, and Sarah is interspersed with snippets from police interviews, as we try to piece together exactly what happened to lead to murder. This was perhaps my favorite part of the story--trying to figure out who had been killed--and why the other sister is the prime suspect. The format of the novel is very well-done and extremely compelling.

In the beginning, some of the dialogue seemed stilted: I couldn't imagine the sisters really talking to each other in particular ways, for instance. Rose and Bel's instant fighting seemed rash, and it was hard to take. In fact, the entire boarding school drama seemed a little too much, at times. I understand the fact that girls can quickly turn on each other--especially when they all live together--but the twins threatening to kill each other over a sweater? It was tough and it was a lot of drama, so fast, so often. Rose was incredibly prissy and tough to like for a lot of the novel. And then poor Sarah, who was such a doormat, with an incredible lack of judgement--she was a hard character to find sympathy for as well.

The novel also seemed to march toward a fairly inevitable conclusion. I kept waiting for a big twist or surprise to throw me off and while the epilogue offered a little bit of that, there really wasn't much. The book focuses more on the unraveling of the families than twists and turns, and that was a little disappointing for me. I like to be thrown off the trail a few times.

Still, I really enjoyed the format of this one: wondering and waiting to find out who was dead, along with the pieces from the interviews. I liked the boarding school setting and how it added to the story. While I didn't always enjoy all the characters, I really came to feel for for Bel Enright, and I did sympathize with Rose, as well. Even if things were fairly predictable, Campbell kept me reading and interested the entire time. 3+ stars.