Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Girls Are All So Nice Here.

The premise isn't original as it features mean girls who did a terrible act in their youth and years later, at a college reunion, they realize someone knows the truth and is about to deliver a comeuppance.

It was hard to be drawn into the narrative; it became tedious very quickly; girls sowing their oats on campus, being wild and free, being their vicious, insidious selves, mostly enacted by the main characters, Amb and Sully.

I don't mind unlikable characters, but even I would like an unlikable character to have an interesting quality; smart, diabolical, clever, but Ambrosia and Sully are none of these.

As one reviewer noted, there are no explanations as to why the girls act the way they do: I understand Amb suffers from low self-esteem and is attracted to a free spirit like Sully, like how girls are attracted to bad boys.

But, why does Sloan act the way she does? Did she come from an abusive, negligent childhood? Why does Amb suffer from poor self esteem? Because her high school boyfriend cheated on her? Because she's embarrassed by her modest upbringing and wants to belong?

I understand and relate to all those reasons but the context was never fleshed out.

Ambrosia was a poorly developed caricature of a character, easily influenced by a more dominant personality, not very bright, not street smart or kind or understanding.

Her marriage to her husband, Adrian, was also unbelievable. Naturally, he's hot (because in books everyone is super gorgeous) but I didn't feel the rapport or chemistry.

I believe his character was added just so he could leave her in the end, adding to the ongoing Lifetime-y drama.

I knew whodunnit way before the meat of the story was revealed.

The writing was good, but the narrative became tedious with the constant bed hopping, party hopping, and mean girl drama and despicable behavior. The pacing of the story was sluggish and there was not much suspense/excitement overall.

If you love mean girls and their backstabbing antics, you will enjoy this. This wasn't for me.

Love love loved this book. Reminds me of college days and all the drama that comes with it, not the murdering part though lol. Anyways this was right up my alley, and it built so much suspense I had to know how it was going to turn out. Loved the mean girls take and where your morals go. Loved the twist at the end. Thanks for my copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book will haunt me forever ! Trigger warnings abound, this is an amazing look at toxic relationships, how we value “niceness” especially in women. The author takes the idea of “reinventing yourself for college “ comes to a head in this psychological thriller.

What college girl hasn't felt a bit uncertain about where she fits in or yearns for more attention? I went back 30 years and found a little bit of each of these characters in my college self. The main difference was... I was never involved in a crime, and I never knew a villain as bad as some of these girls! This was a book that kept me turning pages all night until I found out who was leaving mystery notes for Amb and Sully. Wow, what a twist!

I saw The Girls Are All So Nice Here on @netgalley and had to have it. The description sounded right up my alley. Mean girls in a college setting. A suspicious death. A love triangle. Sign me up!

Ambrosia has done everything in her power to forget her Freshman year of college. The year she roomed with Flora, who was so sweet and annoyingly innocent. Also the year she became friends with Sully, the popular, manipulative girl who Amb would do anything to impress. That year she also experienced the most traumatic event of her life and has been running from the guilt since. Amb and Sully go to their 10 year reunion and while there, they receive menacing emails from an unknown source alluding that they know what they did that year.

This is the first book I've read by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn and I am so impressed. I legit hated most of the characters (which was supposed to happen, I think 🤣) but was so caught up in the drama and wanted to know the ending. This one is jam packed with girls making terrible choices and basically sacrificing their morals for the approval of others. There is an underlying message in this book about the dangers that come with losing yourself and I appreciated it. College is hard. Girls can be brutally evil. This story is raw and at times hard to read, but so good. I can't wait to read more from Laurie!
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Thanks to #netgalley and @simonandschuster for the early copy! It is out 3/9/21! Keep your eyes out for it. 👀

I did not know what to expect with this thriller, but it was so suspenseful and twisty. It was so well written and I never knew what was coming. I was very shocked at this ending.

The story goes back and forth between present day and the past. It follows Ambrosia going back to her college for her ten-year reunion. She gets a strange note saying that she needs to come back so she can discuss what happened “that night” with someone. Something big and traumatic happened her freshman year of college and she is about to walk right back into the past she thought she’d left behind long ago.

I thought that the way the story unfolded was really well done. Between what is uncovered in the past and what is shown of the present, we are able to slowly piece together what happened and why Ambrosia is so scared to go back.

For me, I had a hard time figuring out who to root for in this story. The main characters seemed manipulative and at times diabolical. I thought it was crazy that Ambrosia would always try to push the blame off of herself. I don’t want to spoil anything but she was very tangled in the web of all of the drama, but never wanted to own up to her part in it.

The suspense was very intense, especially towards the end. However, as the story went along, the more disturbed I was by it. The characters are awful and don’t have many redeeming qualities or any ownership for what they’ve done. It was hard to read in many places. Overall, I liked the writing style and the mystery around the story.

What do east coast college reunions, mean girls, and secrets have in common? Lots of things apparently but they currently set the stage for this psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat from the first chapter!

A ten year reunion brings Ambrosia Wellington and Sloane Sullivan back to their old stomping grounds. College best friends with a reputation for partying and breaking hearts, the past has a way of always catching up.
Ambrosia’s roommate, Flora, tragically kills herself during their freshman year but the events surrounding her death had people questioning if it was really a suicide. Ten years have passed and someone wants to finally uncover the truth- once and for all.

I could not read this book fast enough. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, the last two chapters completely spin in a new direction that truly blew my mind. I loved the characters in this book and the retelling using past and present alternating timelines. While the book centers around hard subjects, I felt that Laurie Elizabeth Flynn does an amazing job tackling them. Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC- it truly was one of my favorite fall reads so far. Add this one to the top of you TBR list- available March 9th, 2021!

Wow! Excellent, dark psychological novel about bullying and the horrific effects it can have. Ambrosia and Sully are both returning to college for their 10 year reunion and have some answering to do. Namely about a horrible event that occurred due to their toxic bullying of another student. What the girls don’t realize is that someone is at the reunion ready to seek revenge for what they caused. Impossible to put down, well written thriller that will stay with you. Highly recommended.

Wow. That is my review. Just wow.

Ambrosia Wellington, theatre student at Weslyan in one time line, wife & returning alumni in the other. The story weaving its way back and forth throughout to uncover what happened on a terrible night in Ambrosia's (Amb to her friends) freshman year. While in college, Amb is caught in her desire to be someone she is not. She is also caught between her roommate Flora, a sweet girl who see's Amb as her best, and Sully, a girl whose roommate believes she is crazy, and who does not like Flora one bit. Sully is pretty wild and Flora is tame. Sully parties and Flora stays home. Sully sleeps with every guy she sees and Flora only sleeps with her boyfriend. Amb wants to be adored by Sully and will do just about anything to remain in her good graces, even turning on the people Sully sees as beneath her. Before the year is over, terrible things happen, which haunt Amb until she eventually returns to Weslyan for her 10th reunion at the behest of someone who sends her a note stating that she needs to come to the reunion, as they needs to talk. She goes, even though she is fearful of what the talk will be about. She goes, even though she does not know who sent her the message. She goes, even though her husband knows nothing about what happened that year of college. She goes, even though she knows it might not be in her best interest. Truly... it might not be in her best interest at all.

This is one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time. It is truly one of those books that you cannot put down. I read it in two days. I was gripped by the college antics and the mystery of "who did it?" The character of Amb is both frustrating the read and also easy to understand - who did not want to be adored by the girl or girls they thought were cool in college. Hard not to feel for her, and understand some of the decisions that she made. Her roommate Flora is an extremely likable character, as well. She is the cheerleader of the floor, the psych student that everyone wants to talk to. Sully is the character you love to hate... you know she is up to no good, but you cannot help but want to see what she gets up to next. The story is one that you will not quickly forget, and one I highly recommend you pick up!

*Spoilers ahead* - This book started off promising - dark secrets emerging at a college reunion, the juxtaposition of chapters between past and present, a forbidden love.

But in the end it tried too hard - tried too hard to make certain characters all good and others all bad, practically screaming at the reader - hey, the main characters are mean girls! It lost some of it's luster along the way and I did not believe the obsession our main character, Amb, had with either the boy she was supposed to love - Kevin - or the girl she was supposed to emulate - Sully.

Also - are we really supposed to believe there are 2 serial killers at the same reunion for a smallish liberal arts college?

With some editing and less telling, more showing, this could be a more intriguing tale but as it stands - it was tough to get the motivation to finish.

Special thanks to @netgalley and @simonbooks for an advanced copy of this intense book!
The girls are not nice so don’t believe the title. I read this book so fast just so I could find out what happened. I’d love to say how likable and relatable the characters are but they just aren’t...but it made the book so much more interesting. This one played with my emotions.

I really enjoyed this book. The characterization was very detailed, and because of that I kept wondering why Ambrosia was so drawn to Sully. I was also surprised at the ending!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Ambrosia Wellington received an invite to her college 10 year reunion with a note indicating that someone wants to talk about a college roommates death ten years ago. Ambrosia put her college years behind her and is trying to move on. This book was well written and kept me interested from the very start.

This had everything I love about a good mean girl thriller--mind games, secrets, lies, insecurities making characters do the worst things, friendship manipulation, and so much more. I really enjoyed having the two different timelines between Amb's time in college and her current life where she is married living a quiet life. I still cannot decide if I like her or not...which is fine for me. I can always appreciate a well written anti-heroine. I would've LOVED Sully's point of view, I think that would've really set this book over the edge for me. There is so much more I want to say but I do not want to give anything away for anyone. I would definitely recommend this as a good campus mean girl suspense story, I bet it will be a fantastic audiobook as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC! So appreciated.

I loved this book. The college setting was a nice change from so many high school settings. This is definitely an adult book, with lots of adult themes and happenings, but I thought it more accurately reflected a college experience. The jumping between past and present worked well, as we really got to know these characters and see what they were going through. While I wouldn't call any of them particularly likeable, I did enjoy spending time with them. And the ending was a big surprise (and also worked super well!) Here's to more books like this!

This was a great psychological drama. As a freshman at Wesleyan University, Ambrosia (Amb) Wellington, trying to figure herself out and fit in, is drawn into the orbit of Sloane (Sully) Sullivan, who is wild, uninhibited, and able to persuade others to do what she wants. While she seems to be the "It" Girl, Sully is "lost" in her own way, using manipulation and cruelty to portray a sense of power and control. Among the targets of Sully's cruelty is Amb's roommate, Flora, who is the stereotypical "good girl." If she had allowed herself, Amb could have been good friends with Flora, who tried to be a good friend/roommate to Amb. However, Flora seemed to "perfect" and to "innocent/naïve", and ultimately, she had want Amb wanted, which Amb decided to try to take away from her. The cruelty of Amb and Sully had tragic consequences and irrevocably altered their friendship, such as it was, and their college experiences. Fourteen years later, it is the ten-year reunion of the graduating class. Amb has created a new life and is married to a good (but unambitious) guy. She has no interest in attending the reunion, but she keeps receiving e-mails and letters, including an invite with a message that "we" need to talk about what happened that night. The book alternates between the events of freshman year and events leading up to the reunion and the reunion itself. When Amb gets to the reunion and sees Sully, she learns that Sully did not send the note, having received an identical note, which she thought came from Amb.

The author does a masterful job of portraying the cruelty and manipulative behavior of Amb and Sully, as well as how actions or inaction by other students feed into Amb's insecurity and keep her under the influence of Sully and draw out her worst instincts. The revenge scheme, fourteen years in the making, is also masterfully done; a prime example of "gaslighting." Even when I figured out who was out for revenge, I was surprised at how far the person went to obtain revenge and "justice" for Flora.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

From beginning to end, this book was a wild ride. I could not put it down and just had to keep reading until the end. The plot drags you in with it's fast paced story telling. Mystery and suspense mixed with the characters that may not be what they seem will make it hard to not keep reading to see what happens next. Fantastic book that I highly recommend!

This book was absolutely incredible! I cannot say enough good things about it. I tore through it until the late hours of the night because I simply couldn't put it down. The writing is phenomenal and eloquent, and the plot is fast-paced and draws you in front the opening lines. The characters feel so real that you really feel like you're on that college campus with them. This is one of my new favorite books! Very well done!

I actually read this one in between meetings and stayed up late to finish it because I just had to know. For fans of Bad Mommy, Sometimes I Lie and Verity this is definitely a must read. Twisty, veering back between the past and present and unlikeable but magnetic characters. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC bc I'll get recommending this and looking for more books by this author.