Admission by author Julie Buxbaum is a look into what parents will do for their children to make it into a preferred college! Told through the view of the teenager, which is a different account for me, but it did not disappoint! At all! Loved Admission!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love everything Julie Buxbaum writes, and this was no exception. I flew through it in an evening and was then sad it was over. Terrific writing, amazing character development, and a relatable plot (even for those of us who did not grow up rich). I cannot wait to booktalk this to my HS students, and I will be ordering multiple copies!

Julie Buxbaum has authored another fantastic novel! "Admission" is based on the college admissions scandal, and takes you into the life of a teenage girl who finds out what her parents have done to help her be accepted into her preferred college. This scandal has fascinated me, and I really enjoyed reading a fictional account of how the teenagers involved must be feeling.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book relates directly to the current college admissions scandal that is always in the news. The book reads as an insider fictionalized telling of what it is like to be involved in the scandal. The main character Chloe wakes up one day with the FBI on her doorstep looking for her famous mother for charges having to do with "the scandal." Chloe has never fully excelled in school like her sister and her friends do but she had accepted that. Chloe's parents were unable to except that Chloe might not get into the best most well known schools and only wanted to push their daughter to be the best and they wanted the best for her. In order to achieve these goals, Chloe's parents hired someone to make Chloe look like the ideal candidate. The novel is split up into alternating chapters of then and now to explain how the scandal came to be and the aftermath of it. Throughout the course of the novel, Chloe wrestles with the idea that something isn't right with her admissions journey. Chloe grows as a person from the beginning to the end as does the rest of her family. It seems that in the face of this tribulation Chloe's family is able to become a family again. There are a mix of emotions that the reader is able to feel while reading this that helps to keep it interesting and all the characters to read as humans. The alternating timelines gave a good perspective into just how much Chloe changes as she processes what has happened. Overall, if you're interested in the colleges admission scandal this is a great book to get a taste as to what it might be like for the families going through it and how it also affects the people around them.

I would have been interested to have seen even more of the secondary characters like Cesar, Shola, and Aunt Candy. They all had interesting parts to play in Chloe's life and I wish there was more of them.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of ADMISSION by Julie Buxbaum in exchange for my honest review.***

5 HUMUNGOUS STARS achieved without any felonious cheating or bribery

What if you were an average high school senior among the elite? What if your younger sister, best friend and your not-so-secret crush were brainiacs who barely had to study? What if you knew you weren’t good enough?

Chloe believes her low self-esteem is warranted. After her actress mom is arrested for fixing her SAT results and college admission, now the world knows too. Chloe blames herself for her mom needing to go to such extreme and illegal measures. If she were smarter, her mom wouldn’t have felt the need.

Julie Buxbaum’s ripped-from-the-headlines fictional story ADMISSION, aside from being compulsively readable, gave me an entirely different perspective on the real life scandal playing out in the news. Initially, I saw the true story as one of privilege and entitlement, spoiled kids who never had to work for anything. ADMISSION is not that story.

Chloe’s privileged life is not her fault. While not the best student, she’s not a slacker. She loves her volunteer work because unlike school, reading to kids comes easier to her and she excels. Loving school isn’t difficult when learning comes easy with the added perks of constant external validation. Those kudos are not Chloe’s experience.

Her mom may seem like the villain, for cheating on Chloe’s behalf, especially when we see poor minority mothers sentenced to years in prison for enrolling their children in better public school districts by falsifying residency. Beneath both of these crimes, love of children motivated poor decision making.

Before reading ADMISSION, I judged Felicity Huffman harshly. I didn’t consider a wide variety of possible reasons. I didn’t know one of her daughters had a learning difference, which affected her standardized test taking and grades. I didn’t know Felicity’s daughter’s level of suffering from her mother’s lack of faith in her, self-blame and the possible lifelong damage to their relationship. Federal prosecutors better ask jurors if they’ve read ADMISSION during voir dire or else acquittal will be guaranteed at trial.

Through complex characters and beautiful storytelling Buxbaum caused me to open my mind, google and develop empathy and a broader perspective. I never felt as if Buxbaum was lesson teaching or spoon feeding me opinions. I was fully immersed in Chloe’s journey, experiencing her feelings and going through her trials and triumphs.

Buxbaum’s books get better and better. She’s a must-preorder writer for me.

My strongest recommendations for ADMISSION.