Oh boy, I absolutely LOVED this book! From the way girls feel like they have to change who they are to fit in, to the dynamic between girls in a dorm/college setting, to the revenge loved ones will take in order to get justice, this book had it all! It even took me back to my own college years--whew! It was fast-paced, intriguing, and there was no way I was putting that book down until I had finished reading every last word! I absolutely cannot WAIT to hand sell this book at the indie bookstore I work at, and I cannot WAIT to read more by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn!

This book was just not my cup of tea because of the crude language and the descriptive sex scenes. These were probably meant to add to the general atmosphere and the plot, but they did nothing for me. This could have been a good book to encourage young people to make wise choices. Instead, in the quest to become a psychological thriller, this novel was more like a smutty script for a late night soap opera. Ambrosia (Amb) Wellington and Sloane (Sully) Sullivan did something unimaginable together during their freshman year in college, and now at their ten-year reunion, their past has caught up with them. Both are receiving threatening notes that stop just short of physical harm. Again, the plot was okay, the characters were well-developed, but the story fell flat for me because of the crudeness of the story. There are two time frames presented, Amb’s freshman year and the ten-year reunion for both young women. With themes of destructive friendships and ambition that leads in the wrong way, this book had the possibility of being really good. It just wasn’t.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

⭐⭐. 3
There is no doubt this title caught my attention. As a high school guidance counselor working with high school students for over 30 years; I had to search my brain if I could remember that statement.

The story grabbed me but I soon thought … hmmm this seems like so many of the YA mean girl stories I have read.
I am a big fan of psychological thrillers. I am okay with dark and creepy.
I believe I started off with the wrong expectation as this didn’t work for me.

I am sure this story will find readers who will enjoy this.

On another note: I was disappointed that this early eGalley didn’t include Author’s Note or Acknowledgements. I do hope in the final publication will list of resources that offer help with toxic relationships and bullying.
I always enjoy reading the Author’s note as it gives an insight as to what inspired the author to write their story.
.
Want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this early release granted to me in exchange for an honest professional review. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for March 9, 2021

This book was so good. Read it in one sitting because I just had to know! Dark, twisty, thriller, female relationships, everything you could want out of a book!

If you are like me and love books with unlikeable protagonists, have I got a doozy for you! The Girls Are All So Nice Here is like Heathers meets Mean Girls on steroids, and I am HERE FOR IT! I haven’t read a thriller like this in a long time. This book kept me on my toes until the last page.

Ambrosia “Amb” Wellington graduated from Wesleyan University 10 years ago, but when she gets an invitation to her class reunion, attending isn’t even something she considers. Along with the invitation is a note saying “We need to talk about what we did that night.” Something happened during her freshman year with her former best friend Sloane “Sully” Sullivan, a friendship that was toxic and manipulative. After Amb’s husband, who knows nothing of her dark secret, finds out about the reunion and encourages her to go, Amb has no choice but to face her fear and make the trek to Connecticut. But some things can’t so easily be left in the past, and the life Amb created for herself postgrad begins to fall apart right in front of her. With the demons of her college days reappearing, she will have to figure out who she really is to finally move on.

Alright, so I have a lot of thoughts, and I’m going to do my very best to avoid spoilers. There was a lot going on in this story. First of all, Sully and Amb are some of most unlikeable characters I’ve ever read about. They are extremely wild and out of control mean girls. These girls found entertainment in sleeping with other girls’ boyfriends, stealing guys’ phones and texting incriminating things to their girlfriends, doing tons of cocaine, and partying instead of going to class. Some of it felt just a little too over the top for me to find believable. I also could never get a clear picture on who Sully was. While it was frequently stated that she was “craved” by so many people and everyone wanted to be near her, she didn’t seem to have any friends besides Amb. In fact, all the other girls in the dorm seemed to detest her. I found it strange that after the events in their freshman year, it was made to seem that Sully and Amb had no contact until the reunion. While I suppose this is possible, at a school as small as Wesleyan, I find it unlikely that they wouldn’t have run into each other at some point.

I always enjoy books that switch viewpoints, whether its different people or different periods of time, and this one was no exception. The story unfolded slowly, as we saw what happened back during the girls’ freshman year, and we saw how it effected who Amb turned into as an adult. The middle of the book did get a little slow to me, but the ending was absolutely worth the wait! Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and if you are someone who enjoys a slow burn thriller with some serious backstabbing and next level drama, you won’t want to miss this book!

CW: Suicide

College is always tough. Cliques form and, if you are just not part of one, it can hurt. When one member of such a clique decides that she wants one sweet girl's boyfriend, she and her mean friends destroy their relationship but bring about a chain of events that ultimately destroys them.

2.5, but rounding down.

I need to pay more attention. I do believe, in some part, that one can judge a book by it's cover, Here--true. I should have known better. And perhaps, read the blurb more carefully! I decided this book made my brain hurt. And I could tell from the start I was not going to rave about this book as many have done. Maybe the wrong demographic.

The setting: "Two former best friends return to their college reunion to find that they’re being circled by someone who wants revenge for what they did ten years before... It seems that the secrets of Ambrosia’s past—and the people she thought she’d left there—aren’t as buried as she’d believed. Amb can’t stop fixating on what she did or who she did it with: larger-than-life Sloane “Sully” Sullivan, Amb’s former best friend, who could make anyone do anything."

The chapters rotate between then [freshman year at Weslyan] and now [10 years later at the reunion].

The book is mean girls at college on steroids.

Despite my not caring about this book, it was, nonetheless, a fast read--which is on the plus side. I kept on going because I wanted to see how it turned out. And, the writing was ok--no real cringeworthy moments. Save for Flora [Amb's freshman roommate], the protoganists: "Amb," "Sully", and Kevin {Flora's boyfriend at Dartmouth and...], all were despicable characters.

And, no spoiler from me, but the clincher often is the ending on how I feel about a book. Here, WTF! Totally ridiculous IMHO.

But, if you want to go along with the majority of reviewers and need a fast, diverting read--be my guest!

A giant self-centered dummy returns for her college reunion and has to face her past self. That's basically it, although there are some surprises along the way. This was a fairly quick read, but I found the college scenes hard to buy. Maybe I just went to a different kind of school, but we didn't care that much about what everyone else was doing. The behavior seemed more appropriate for high schoolers than college gals, especially ones who got into Wesleyan. Also, Ambrosia's feelings toward Flora never really gelled for me.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing this copy for review.

Clear you schedule when you start this book. It's so dark and twisty. The main character Amb does some really tough things, but you're so in her mind and in her life that you are just totally along for the ride. Flynn holds onto key pieces of info and you know she's just gonna drop bomb after bomb, and she doesn't disappoint. :D

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what makes this so engaging, because at face value, this is just another fancy-insular-school-murder-thriller (why do stories about fancy schools for perfect people always seem to involve murder?). Maybe I'm just a sucker for media that examines the dynamics between girls/women, because that's exactly what this book does. Everyone has that desperate longing to be accepted by their peers. In most cases, this is healthy and normal. In some cases, especially during the teenage years, this longing manifests as a desire not to be friends with, but to be admired and envied by, one's peers. From the start, we see that Ambrosia Wellington, the narrator and main character of The Girls Are All So Nice Here, could have friends if she wanted them. But in Groucho Marx fashion, she doesn't want to be part of any club that would accept her as a member. The only people Amb wants to impress are those resistant to impression, those who drive her to ever more desperate acts. It's fascinating to read the descriptions of her complex, multifaceted feelings towards "the girls," along with her perceptions of how "the girls" feel towards her in return. This factor and the character development are the book's best qualities that made it hard to put down and made a somewhat old storyline feel worth reading again.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here is going to take you on a wild and twisty ride and it is well worth it! The story sucked me in right away and I had a hard time putting it down because I needed to know what really happened and the roles that Amb and Sully played. For her debut adult novel Laurie Elizabeth Flynn wrote an incredible story that will leave you guessing along the way and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

The story alternates between Amb's present day journey in her life 10 years after college and at the reunion and her freshman year of college, and it flows very easy with moving the story along. Amb isn't a likable character because you know right off the bat that she has done something that someone is seeking revenge for, but at the same point, you want to root for her a little that she will find out what is going on. One thing I really liked about this book is when I thought I knew what was going on, Flynn changed directions and had me guessing all over again. Here and there small things were easy to figure out, but the biggest mysteries left me shocked when they were revealed and the ending was worth it!

This was incredibly dark and depressing but also unputdownable for me. The college setting, especially it being in CT, captured my attention immediately. Although I absolutely detested these characters, I was drawn into their lives and couldn’t wait to see what they would do next. This plot will not be for everyone with the very explicit subject matter of bullying and it’s horrific consequences but I found it to be extremely well-written and it definitely gave me a lot to think about.

DNF @ 40%. This novel felt more like a high school drama than a thriller set at a university. The characters were pretty one-dimensional and seemed to have no motivation other than being petty, privileged, horny, and bored.

The pacing didn't lend itself to excitement, either. In any novel, there should be moments of rest, then tension, then false security, then another surprise. Instead it was a constant "DUN DUN DUNNN!" at the end of every. single. scene. "What would have happened if I hadn't blah blah blah? I would never know!!!" "The phone rang and I heard the voice I most dreaded, Gasp!!!" "I decided to fuck her boyfriend! DUN DUN DUNNN."

I was a bit worried going into this one but wow I ended up absolutely loving it! The dark vibes were chilling and everything I was hoping for.

A dark, fast paced thriller with shades of Mean Girls and Girl, Interrupted. The main character is intentionally unlikeable, which makes it hard to empathize or root for her and made it tough to want to keep reading, but makes the story more fascinating. The twists are fairly predictable and at times, I had to double check that the setting is in college and not a boarding school because the characters and drama felt elementary.

Regardless, it's an engrossing read. I didn't like it too much, but I can see the appeal and would definitely recommend it to friends interested in books like this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me an ARC to review!

What a chilling book about the evil teenage girls can do to eachother! It should also be noted that this book requires a trigger warning for almost every disturbing issue a woman can experience.

“Mean girls” who did bad things in their teenage years (and are forced to reckon with them as adults) have been a common trope in popular thrillers all year, so at first I thought this book would underwhelm me (especially after reading the great “Girl Gone Mad” on a similar theme). The book starts a little slow and appears at first to be more of a college girl romance drama than it is thriller. But the main character of Ambrosia, who is also the first-person narrator, soon gives new meaning to the phrase “unlikable narrator.” The things she and college pal Sully did to others in their college years were so horrible I felt viscerally uncomfortable and sometimes almost physically unable to read them.

I agree with my Goodreads friend Ceecee that the characterizations here are exceptionally strong. The book builds and builds, making you more and more uncomfortable. Thought the book was a good and scary 3.5 until the ending, which was fantastically executed with a final twist that brought this reading experience to a sold 4 for me. (I do looooove a good, twisted ending.)

This book and author are recommended. Laurie Flynn has a great writing style and really kept me turning the pages with her characterizations, and the story was thought-provoking and scary even when it was uncomfortable.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, and NetGalley for the ARC. Laurie Elizabeth Flynn is a dark and unique new voice in the thriller genre and I look forward to seeing what else she has to offer.

Ambrosia Wellington and Sully Sullivan were once college best friend's but a long ago buried secret tore the friendship apart. Their 10 year college reunion is approaching and when Ambrosia receives a note slipped into her invitation she if left with no choice but to attend the reunion.

She's scared, nervous and reluctant to go and would like nothing more than to put it all behind her however the threatening notes keep coming and her husband is insisting they attend.
Her husband is clueless about her mean girl days in college and she will be forced to juggle what who he thinks she was in college vs. who she was.

At the reunion the notes continue to pile up. Ambrosia and Sully quickly discover that they did not send the notes to one another and are the target of someone who wants to harm them for the destruction the heaved in their formative years.

The story is told in alternating chapters flipping from past to present and between characters. The characterization is distinct and pulls you into who the characters are and how they behave. The characters are vulnerable, insecure and sometimes downright ugly in personality, making them truer to life. Characters will fault and "unlikable" characters add depth to a book, making this a wickedly delicious read you will want at the top of your TBR pile.

You are going to want to pick up something not so dark after this read to rewind from the drama and mystic.


* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mean girls as a thriller? Yes, please! The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a page-turner from start to finish. The timeline works perfectly as the narrator alternates between college flashbacks and a college 10-year reunion in the present day.

Ambrosia Wellington (Amb) receives an invitation for her ten-year college reunion along with a hand-written note that reads, “We need to talk about what we did that night.”

Soon, Amb finds herself leaving her squeaky clean and carefully-constructed present to attend the reunion and revisit a past she’s tried to not only move beyond but shove deep down into the dark places no one else will ever see.

Amb’s attempts to navigate the present-day reunion are nearly as harrowing as her attempts to survive her freshman year. Back then, her desperate need to be liked drew her in like a dysfunctional tractor beam to the worst influence possible -- a beautiful, free-spirited and wild classmate named Sully.

While Amb explored her dark side with Sully, she did something terrible that had deadly consequences. And it becomes clear - at the reunion - that someone is seeking to both out her and seek revenge.

She realizes that the games she played back in college, under Sully’s watchful eye, may soon become matters of life and death.
----------------------------------------------
This book shocked me a lot, shook me a bit and had me thinking about it long after I was done reading it. It is a psychological thriller, mixed with a dash of psychological horror and a painful pinch of social commentary.

The story is told through the alternating timelines of Amb’s freshman year of college (then) and her current life and attendance at the reunion (now). It’s impossible not to relate, at least to some extent, to the late-teenage angst, insecurities and difficult social dynamics that these female characters endure. The desperation and power jockeying may be heightened for dramatic effect in the book, but those exaggerations are grounded in some painful truths.

For a gender that -- for centuries -- has suffered the terrible pressure of always being polite and sweet and not too ambitious (*eye roll* and *gag*), sometimes it’s cathartic to experience girls being the very opposite of that. And personally, I LOVE stories that explore the darker side of human nature, so that we can recognize it within ourselves. As Carl Jung wrote, the more you become familiar with your own shadow side, the less you project it onto others. Look, Jung said it way better than this, but you get the gist.

If you liked Mean Girls or Heathers or Girl, Interrupted (my favorite!!!) or anything else that is dark and wicked fun, you NEED to get this and read it when it comes out March 9, 2021.

If you don’t like any of those titles, then ‘f*** me gently with a chainsaw,’ I give up.
(Bonus points to whoever knows what that quote is from!!)

Thank you #netgalley and #simonandschuster for the ARC of #thegirlsareallsonicehere!!
------
This will be posted on blog and social about three weeks in advance of the book's publication, unless the publisher requests a different timeline.

"The Girls Are All So Nice Here" is definitely a page turner! A great cat and mouse story that kept me guessing until the end. Flynn perfectly captures what can often be a complex dynamic between female friends, especially during the formative college years.