"Under all this lies the terrible quicksand of fear. What if they are right? What if it's true that we are terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad people? If I allow myself to dip my toes into that idea, that I am not actually the hero of my own story but a villain, I quickly find myself neck deep."

This YA novel imagines what it would be like to be a kid whose parents cheated and broke the law to get you into college. Told in the first person through 17-year-old Chloe's eyes, we bounce back and forth in the timeline: Then and Now.

Do Chloe's parents think she's too stupid to get into college without their actions? What were they thinking? What's the fallout of cheating on your SATs and pretending to be a champion pole vaulter?

We get that and some additional extremely privileged teen stress in this book as Chloe comes to realize just how ridiculously good she has it, even when her life hits rock bottom.

Fans of Buxbaum's other YA work will enjoy some cameo appearances from characters from Tell Me Three Things and some references to things from her other books.

Buxbaum realizes that it's going to be tough for the reader to like or care about Chloe and her family. She uses a teacher discussing Crime and Punishment to tell us, "...we know Raskolnikov's capable of monstrous things. We don't have to like him. People forget that about novels. It's not our job to like our main character. It's our job to try to understand them. Let's be honest, most people are deeply unlikable."

I didn't quite like Chloe, but I did come to understand her and her parents a bit more. I wish the book included more of her friend, Shola, and perhaps explored her perspective a bit more (Shloa comes from a different, far less privileged background and calls Chloe on her BS regularly).

If you're wanting to get in the head of a rich white girl and imagine what being at the center of the college admissions scandal might be like, you might enjoy this one. There was a bit of schadenfreude on my part, I'll...admit...to that. I read this while on vacation, and I think it makes a good beach read.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children's for providing me with an electronic review copy in exchange for my review.

Just finished Julie Buxbaum’s latest book Admission, and while it was not my favorite of JB’s books (Tell me Three things will always reign supreme,) it was still an enjoyable book.
Admission tells the story all of us who have been fascinated with the college admissions scandal want to hear, but from the inside. The book starts off at the beginning when Chloe Wynn Berringer gets an wakeup call with the arrest of her mother, who apparently has paid a lot of money to get Chloe into the college of her dreams…or at least the college Chloe thinks is her dream. The best part of this book is that Chloe is written like every other teenage girl in that she is ordinary. She doesn’t have some master skill or breathtaking beauty that makes all of her flaws seem ok. She is just like everyone else, she doesn’t know what the heck she wants to do with her life, she doesn’t even know what she should want to do, but she does know that she doesn’t want to disappoint her parents. Julie Buxbaum does a great job of helping you relate to a character that for most of us everyday people cannot relate to. She is spoiled, entitled (not intentionally so), and just coasting through life hoping that her future will just land in her lap. Chloe is generally a relatable and likeable character because she is kind, generous and a normal kid whose mother just happens to be famous. The book does a great job of walking you through Chloe’s feelings and thought processes through what has got to be one of the most world shaking moments of her life. She asks herself questions that, you dear reader, are asking yourself like. “How could you not know?” “Are you really that dumb to not figure it out?” “What are you going to do?” and the doozy “Can deliberate ignorance really be bliss?”
I always judge a book based on how much the desire to read the book pulls me from my everyday life. Is it so good that my family is fending for themselves and eating pizza for dinner? Well this book was good, very good, but it was more of an “I want to finish my book, but I will heat up some leftovers in the microwave for you, while I continue to read”. The writing was great, the book flowed really well, and at no point did I check my percentage read to see how much I had left to read. I give this book a 4 out of 5 and would recommend to anyone who loves Julie Buxbaum’s previous books or YA in general.

#admissions #JulieBuxbaum #reader #books #bibliophile

Is anyone else super fascinated by the Varsity Blues scandal that’s been in the news? If so, this book is for you. It’s got a dual timeline of the past and present as a college admissions scam begins and unfolds. The mother is a combination of both Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman - in fact there is a cheeky direct nod to Felicity which made me cackle. The main character has some Olivia Jade characteristics, but IMO is more likeable. You can tell that the author had a great time writing this book as it’s fun and unfolds in away that makes you want to keep reading.

ARC provided by #NetGalley in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review.

This story is based off the college admission that rocked Hollywood recently. Admission is based on Chloe, a high school senior, who is applying for colleges. The story is told in then, as she is taking the SATs and applying for college, and now, as her mother has been arrested and she faces the fallout of the scandal. I did like how this story focused on the high schooler and what she experienced throughout this process.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a copy of this text in exchange for an honest review.

One of the best things about this book is how real and honest it felt. Chloe felt like a real person who was dealing with college, parents, school, and not quite feeling like she was good enough. But my favorite character was Isla. She was no nonsense and was the little voice that tells you everything you did wrong. I so enjoyed reading this book and watching Chloe grow and understand her privilege and what it has given her.

I know so many people who would enjoy reading this for the scandal and honesty that it brings college admissions and those who work hard vs. those who have the right "look" or "wealth." It not only speaks to the people who are caught up in a scandal like this, but those who lived and shared alongside them. The friendship that Chloe has and struggles with really tells a story of how to lose something, but gain more. I so loved this book and can tell many others will as well.

Written so seamlessly and with an edge of perfection, Admission will skyrocket into the charts and most likely get a Netflix nod just like Missy!

The opening quote of the book from Seinfeld truly sets the tone for the book— “it’s not a lie if you believe it.” Brilliantly laid out in “then” and “now” segments, Admission starts when Chloes world dissolves around her as she finds herself and family at the center of a college admissions scandal. The then segments follow life before, as Chloe travels through her senior year struggling academically and wholly unaware of what she wants in life. Tied together with the future posts, she delves into what she might have truly know about her parents illegal activity but choose to look the other way or be unapologetically clueless.

In a nail biting, anxiety driven frenzy I binge read this book watching for the train crash that was inevitable and to see who the survivors would be that climbed out of the flames. Much like the real scandals of recent years, which Buxbaum admits to being quite obsessed over, the carnage of Admission is real, the emotions ugly and the necessity to not look away is astounding.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC

I must admit that I wasn't expecting too much from a ripped-from-the-headlines story that was written so close to the actual events happening. However, this book is great! The writing is truly top-notch, and the characters are excellently developed and explored. I highly recommend this novel!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, Delacorte Press and Julie Buxbaum for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

How far would you go for your kids? In this novel, Julie Buxbaum creates a fictional story based on the college admission scandal that hit the news recently. It's pretty obvious that it was inspired by Lori Loughlin and her family. It was interesting to see the fall out from the child's perspective and left me with a lot to think about. There's a lot to unpack in this story - white privileges, social classes, drug addiction, ethical dilemmas and legal consequences. I love Julie Buxbaum's writing but I think this plot is too close to what's already out there in the news.

Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance copy. Wow!! Such a fresh perspective on this scandal. I love the character of Chloe and how she lives in her "aggressively ignorant" world. Told in alternating time periods "Then" and "Now", made me want to keep reading. Highly recommend this book to the High School students I work with as a fictionalized true life example of this scandal. I also think this would fit into a coming of Age curriculum, considering how Chloe's eyes were opened to her own possible culpability.

A great book. describing a fictional twist on the current admissions scandal facing celebrities/colleges in the US. It was interesting take seeing it from the high school aged girl effected by the scandal. I highly recommend!

Based loosely off the real life public scandal, Admission offers a fun and deeply challenging YA retelling of the events through the eyes of average-in-every-way-except-privilege teen, Chloe. I enjoyed Buxbaum’s “Tell Me Three Things” for its quick and witty prose, a talent that is also evident in this novel.

I think the reason this book works so well is because even in the midst of a scandal only plausible by privilege, Chloe is still a teenager who experiences the universal feelings of first love and insecurities. The glam and almost cartoonish life of “Then” is only more crushing compared to the high tensions of “Now”. It is as if Buxbaum has painted the alternating chapters in shades of shades of gold and silver, only to be stripped away to a devastating gray.

I appreciate Buxbaum’s attempt at trying to capture all the ways Chloe is privileged compared to her peers, but think it fails in that it points out its “wokeness” in a way that’s almost unrealistic. It’s as if she feared that her readers would hate her main character if she was consumed by her privilege, but to have leaned into that ignorance would have been a more interesting (and I believe, logical, albeit risky) take.

Still, I enjoyed this for what it was: a well paced, thought provoking, “what if?” and “what’s right?” novel, that had me questioning my morals for days after reading. I look forward to reading the rest of Buxbaum’s works.

DNF at 20%. The main character was just not someone I connected to or cared about, especially as the reader is told multiple times on multiple pages how "dumb" and "not smart" she is. Also, I think the college admissions scandal is still so new and fresh that it is hard to create a fictional account of it at this point of time, especially one that is so obviously creating characters right from the headlines, that will make the reader invested in it more than the reality.

Julie Buxbaum does it again...she writes a YA book that is perfect for everyone!

Chloe Wynn Berringer has the seemingly perfect life...a famous mom, wealth, she attends the premier private school in LA, shes been accepted to the college of her dreams, she’s dating her longtime crush, and she has a best friend who is always there for her.

This all changes one morning, when the FBI show up at Chloe’s house and take her mom away in handcuffs because of her alleged involvement is a college admissions scandal.

Will life ever be the same for Chloe again?

In today’s day and age of high stakes testing, social media, etc. being a kid is not easy, no matter where you come from. Throw in some status obsessed parents and it’s bound to be a recipe for disaster. Buxbaum hits on this perfectly!

3 stars. While the writing was fine, the story was lacking for me. I guess I expected this to be more loosely based on the real-world scandal. Instead, it felt a little too similar to me in that I could just read the news. I guess I appreciated that the main character seemed less self centered than her real-world portrayal, but the ignorance was just frustrating. I understand it was likely intentional, but I felt it was shoved down the reader's throat too much.

I've liked this author and this won't necessarily stop me from reading her work, but this really felt like a cheap take at a story in the news; there was so many ways to make this story different, and I'm disappointed it wasn't.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I read a Julie Buxbaum YA book the feelings flow, whether the book’s related to losing a parent (the amazing Tell Me Three Things) or the recent college admissions scandal. The latter’s the topic of Admission and Buxbaum makes it hurt, overtly wrestling as the book does with themes like low self-esteem, uncertainty over the future, especially when one can no longer 100% trust one’s parents, and the deleterious nature and effects of white privilege, whether someone’s actively trying to sustain it or trying to ignore its very real existence in their own life—even as they benefit from it.

Chloe Berringer is the daughter of famous actress Joy Fields. It’s time to apply to college and Chloe realizes how difficult it’s going to be to get into the right school with average grades and an average SAT score she hasn’t been able to bring up. Her parents hire Dr. Wilson, a consultant who’s going to help her apply. With his help Chloe gets into her dream school...and then it all comes crashing down.

Admission's told from a Then and Now perspective and comparisons of Chloe and her family across that time-span give the reader a lot to chew on. I’ll be honest: I really like this book but I can see how the moments when Chloe’s painfully “oblivious,” short-sighted, or stubbornly forcing her head to remain in the sand, when she’s so soft and can’t even think of an application essay topic because she isn’t sure what bad life event or circumstance she can draw on—could easily frustrate, alienate, and/or anger a reader. Or the times when Shola, her Nigerian American friend, has to hold Chloe accountable for the things she says and the way she lives her life...like she “deserve[s] everything.” And then there’s the general premise that Chloe and her family are rich and her parents are so not satisfied with their already tremendous advantages that they’re willing to pay a humongous amount—and commit fraud—to orchestrate Chloe’s acceptance to a specific school.

Buxbaum gives us those moments.

She also gives us Chloe’s self-awareness and her general awareness of how her family did wrong. Chloe’s determination to be better and do better. Her secret pain—that she’s not enough—that pops up again and again in harsh ways, even in the book’s final chapters—no matter how much her parents love her. How she wrestles with the fact that she's "betrayed" people, too, even though her parents were the ones actively seeking Dr. Wilson's help.

It’s those aspects of Chloe’s story—coupled with my own past (and to some degree present) as a sheltered, protected, spoiled girl who benefited from white privilege (and still does) and who said (and to a much lesser degree, says) things that reveal my own complicity in white privilege that made me connect to her.

Chloe’s mother Joy seems loosely based on Lori Loughlin and her actions help drive the book. But her daughter Chloe is the focus here, the one arguably most affected. The one whose future is dashed on the rocks, who loses people and things, and who—like her guidance counselor suggests—has the most opportunity to grow. If she takes advantage of it.

I don’t think that this book will be loved by everyone. The topic, the main character, the family, are too polarizing for that. But I love how Buxbaum boldly tackles the topic of white privilege and the admissions scandal, how she shows the unattractive bits of Chloe and her family humanely, without writing them off for good, and how she portrays the consequences of it all. Some of those aren’t pleasant but like Chloe says, the view from the bottom can be pretty good.

4.5 ⭐️

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Netgalley but all opinions provided are my own.

I'll be the first to admit that I was enraptured by the college admission scandal that was Lori Laughlin and Felicity Hoffman. People who already have so much privilege and a leg up took it to another level just to brag about what college their kids go to. The lengths they went to in order to get into these top colleges was mind blowing. Faked learning disabilities, doctored pictures, fake sports profiles it would be funny if it weren't so serious.

Admission follows Chloe who is a very white and very privileged girl thanks to her mom being a top B-list actress. Think aunt Becky in Full House but hotter and a bit over the top. Chloe loves her family something fierce, but kind of takes her life for granted and just skates by never really having to work hard for anything. Her life is pretty great though until the FBI shows up at her door one morning, guns loaded, and arrests her mom. Turns out she didn't get into her dream college of a whim, but is part of a larger college scam that is happening nationwide. Chloe swears up and down that she had no idea, but is she telling the truth?

The main focus of the book is obviously the college scandal. Through flashbacks we get to see the events leading up to the acceptance to SSC while also getting to follow how the investigation is happening in real time. At first the flashbacks were a tad annoying because I wanted to know what was going on "now" instead, but they gave great insight not only to who Chloe was as a person and how she ended up in this situation in the first place.

Chloe's family is very much not the typical American family. Her mom is a super hot actress that is always doing somewhat odd publicity, her dad is also pretty yummy according to her best friend, and her younger sister Isla is smart and works hard in school. Chloe was just kind of aimless, unsure in what she wanted for her future so she didn't really try in school. She wasn't stupid, but she wasn't even middle of her class. College was still an option for her though maybe just not the college her parents wanted for her. It really felt like they were pushing her for it while Chloe would have been happy anywhere. Sometimes she seemed to realize how rich she was and what that meant, but other times she would contradict herself. I liked her as a character though, especially by the end of the book. There was a ton of growing up that had to happen for her during this situation and I think she came out a better person because of it.

One of Chloe's passions in the book was her volunteering in the buddy program at the Reading and Resource Center. Her little buddy Cesar was adorable and had his own story happening during all of the drama. The storyline of immigration was not one I expected to find here but it worked in well. I could see where Buxbaum might be taking that and I was glad when it all connected at the end of the book.

A story about over-privilege and a scandal that ensues because of it is not one where you plan on connected with or even liking the main character. I liked Chloe though and I loved her smart as a whip sister. Their relationship was one of my favorite parts of this book and really showed how through thick and thin your family has you back. Maybe they sometimes have it just a little too much though. I dislike the reasoning her parents gave at the end of the book though for why they did what they did. They weren't doing it because of how they had to fight to get to where they were and didn't want her to have to do the same, it was an image thing. They didn't want their daughter to not go to a top well known school and I wish they had owned up to it.

Definitely a top contender for this year. Loved this book!!!

Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave.

What does it mean to be complicit?

This is basically the story of Lori Loughlin and the admissions scandal - a B-list, Hallmark and sitcom actress, her successful husband, and their 2 daughters gearing up for college admissions. I do not know if I fully realized how competitive all college admissions - not just the Ivy Leagues - had become in recent years until the real admissions scandal mentioned USC more than once. USC here is very thinly veiled as UCC, right down to the colors of the school and the name of the athletic teams.

In the center we have Chloe, a high school senior at a very competitive private school where everyone has gone college crazy. Chloe cares about the typical teenage things - her boyfriend, her best friend, what she is going to wear to prom. She idles toward the bottom half of her class and academically, she coasts. She reads Spark Notes and not the book; she studies but not before taking a dip in the pool.

Chloe definitely does not start off as likable as Buxbaum's previous female protagonists (bonus points for having references to Hope and Jessie!). And while she does not quite end up as likable as them either, she does make strides - she tries harder, she starts to take responsibility.

The real heroine here is Isla, Chloe's younger sister who DOES read, who DOES study, and who DOES have the grades and scores to go to college on her own. Growing up in the same household, with the same parents - how could Chloe be quite so gullible - and quite so complicit?

I read this in a day and as usual, I love Buxbaum's writing style. It did not make me more sympathetic to the people embroiled in the admissions scandal. It did however make me wonder about Isla's story moving forward - I would love to read about what happens to her in the world moving forward.

Thank you Netgalley for this preview!

I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed this book! What a fun book to read, and very culturally timely at that! This book follows the college admissions scandal from the perspective of the daughter, who did not know what was going on. I devoured this book in a few hours and found all of the characters to be compelling and interesting. Just a phenomenal and fun book! Be sure to buy this one in May when it comes out!!

This timely young adult novel was inspired by the recent real life college admission scandal - narrator Chloe is the daughter of a (fictional) B list TV star, a middling student at a private school whose parents go to great lengths to try to get her into a better college than even she wants to go to. The book alternates between her mother's arrest and the months afterwards, and portions slowly revealing all the events that led up to it.

I have been a HUGE fan of Julie Buxbaum ever since I read her debut novel all the way back in 2009, so when I got an advanced copy of this book (which comes out in May), I couldn't resist reading it right away! It definitely has Buxbaum's usual knack for bringing characters to life - indeed, if when you heard about the college admission scandal you wondered what it was like for the kids of the parents charged and how much they knew, this book is definitely for you. My one quibble, which I know is kind of a strange one, is that this is the first Julie Buxbaum book that didn't make me cry. Still a great read, just not quite as emotionally transcendent for me as her others.