This thriller appealed to me as soon as I read the synopsis. I was pulled in from the beginning and couldn't put it down. It's told in two timelines, then and now and I enjoyed both of them. The mystery is written so well and you feel the need to keep reading to find out more and more about what happened when Ambrosia and Sloane were in college and who could know and be sending the messages to them in the now timeline. None of the girls are likeable but that added to the story for me. It made it feel more real - girls can be really mean, especially in school. I've seen people say this book is like Mean Girls in steroids and they're not wrong! It was a dark, unsettling at times, suspenseful and twisty thriller! And I didn't see the twist coming and didn't expect that final chapter! But I loved it. Definitely check this one out if you enjoy dark, suspenseful thrillers.
⚠️Trigger Warnings: bullying, rape, drug use, overdose, suicide, murder)

I requested this book for a couple of reasons: it had positive buzz, and the setting intrigued me. Ambrosia “Amb” Wellington is invited to her 10-year college reunion. She has no intention of going, but things change when she gets an ominous, anonymous note: “We need to talk about what we did that night.” From there the story shifts back and forth between the present day college reunion, and Amb’s first year at Wellesley. Amb is insecure and feels like a fish out of water among the wealthier and seemingly more sophisticated kids. She is drawn towards Sloane “Sully” Sullivan, who is the stereotypical DGAF cool girl who might as well have “trouble” tattooed on her forehead. Sully leads Amb into a series of bad decisions, some of which involve Amb’s almost too-sweet-to-be-real roommate, Flora. Amb becomes infatuated with Flora’s boyfriend Kevin, and events start to spiral out of control.

In the present Amb (and Sully, who hasn’t changed a bit) continue to get increasingly menacing messages at the reunion; Amb is also occupied trying to keep her husband Adrian from discovering some of the more unsavory truths about her years at Wellesley.

I figured out a couple of the twists before they were revealed, but there were still plenty of surprises that kept me engrossed in the story. That said, this is a hard book to grade, for a couple of reasons. From a readability perspective, it’d probably get an A- from me; I really was hooked and wanted to find out what would happen next.

But as the story went on, it became more and more unpleasant. I’m sure some readers don’t mind (or perhaps even like!) reading about unlikable people. I need a little balance, and I didn’t find it in Amb. I think I was predisposed to see her as sympathetic because she was the narrator and I did perceive her as being driven by insecurity and feelings of low self-worth. So it took me a while to realize that she was really a monster, and that the things that happened when she was in college weren’t just youthful mistakes. Sully was terrible as well, but she wasn’t as well-realized a character; I found her irritating and doubted Amb’s paeans to her magnetism.

The other thing that brings down the grade is the ending. This was a well-written book and I think I was expecting that it wouldn’t have the kind of batshit ending I see in so many mediocre suspense books. The batshit endings are sort of what makes some of these books worth reading, but I expected more sophistication from The Girls are All So Nice Here. And I didn’t get it – it had a ridiculous ending that wouldn’t bear up under scrutiny at all. So my grade for this a B.

Laurie Elizabeth Flynn has become a new absolute favorite. First off, I enjoy the whole dynamic of girls at college or school environment and the whole different timelines execution was perfect. The toxic relationships built with these characters was so well done that, I even listened to the audio book on top of reading the e-copy. Thank you for the opportunity to read early and I absolutely cannot wait to read her next book.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a fast-paced, twisted psychological thriller that explores toxic female friendship. This is the best kind of thriller. When two former college best friends return for their ten year college reunion after receiving menacing notes, they have no clue what is waiting for them. These are girls who deserve to be held accountable for the awful thing they did freshmen year. The story alternates between present day and freshmen year painting a portrait of toxic female friendship and how twisted it can get. If you enjoy twisted thrillers with devious teenage girls, this is the one for you!

Wow! This was twisty. I enjoyed the back and forth of the point of view. This dual timeline really kept me guessing, which is my favorite when reading suspense. Some of this was predictable but overall an enjoyable read!

This book about former college mean girls started off with promise. The characters were and storyline were interesting. But, then it just dragged on and all of the characters were extremely unlikeable. All of them.

This was my first Laurie Elizabeth Flynn novel and it did not disappoint. I liked how the book jumped back and forth between present day and back when the narrator was in college so you could try to figure out the mystery. Although I did figure out the mystery before it was revealed, it was still a worthwhile read and kept me interested. I kept wanting to find out what was going to happen next! There were definitely some twists I wasn't expecting too. I'll definitely be checking out other books by this author.

A twisty campus thriller that was hard to put down. Friendships at Wellesley Vollege that morph into jealousies and betrayals made this novel pulse with a frantic excitement.

Please, authors, please stop giving characters names that you wished you could name your kids when you were 14. Ambrosia is bad enough, but "Amb" or "Ambs" for short?? I don't know why these girls were so mean because the characters were not fleshed out at all. They were mean just to be mean but I don't know why. I guess the idea is just that some girls are really terrible?? It was awful to read about a girl who was so completely under the thumb of what was a truly awful person and not know why. Because she was cool?? Not the book for me.

Well written book, good character development and the ending is very good. Holds your interest from page one. Will recommend. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this this review.

I love high school drama and college drama is just as good. Hell i just love drama, not my own tho. This book is definitely college mean girls. This book goes between now, at the 10year reunion and freshman year at college. The drama caught me up in this book from the first page. I liked Ambrosia but Sully was an interesting mean girl. I like this book so much, i can relate to Ambrosia. Doing whatever the cool girl wants, she's no different that so many of us out there, as much as we hate to admit that. OMG this ending, are you fking kidding me.

I found it hard to like the characters. They all seemed to be very immature when they were in college and by the time of the college reunion.

I enjoyed the snarky comments towards the end of the book. I liked the way the ending ties everything together. The big reveal was very satisfying.

I received this Galley from NetGalley.

This was a fun book to read. As stated in the description you are alternating between the past and the present of Amb's life. Depending on the author this can get messy and confusing, but Ms. Flynn did a wonderful job of merging the two.

After getting through the entire story I half felt bad for Amb and half wanted to kick her ass. College not being what she expected it to be, Amb tries her hardest to find somewhere to fit in. Shirking her holier than though roommate, she strikes out to remake the girl from a small town in NJ.

Throughout the process of making herself she loses herself. Letting others influence her in ways that make her character crumble and replace it with a mean girl on steroids. A mean girl that will do anything if it means the approval of one person in particular, no matter what it will ultimately end up costing her.

Suspenseful, thought provoking and emotionally charged.

This book made me feel bad. But it was interesting. And it must have been well-written because by the end I had highly developed complex opinions about the relative awfulness of every one of these girls (not a one of whom was nice)

you know how terrible insecure, competitive girls can be with each other? yeah, this books takes that dynamic to the nth level.

very well paced with good characterization, this is a fantastic beach read.

Ambrosia Wellington receives an invitation to her ten-year college reunion, along with an anonymous note that reads “We need to talk about what we did that night.” Amb has tried to forget that night (and her friend Sully) for years and really did not want to be reminded. Unfortunately, her husband saw the invitation and wanted to go.

At the reunion, strange things start to happen. Mysterious and threatening notes are sent to Amb and Sully and they realize that someone wants revenge for what happened all those years ago.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here gives us an unflinching look at how far some will go to be considered popular. How willing some girls are to hurt others to get what they want. If you like dark thrillers, this book is for you!

I’m not even gonna lie, I looovveeed the all the drama in this book!! I thought it was very fast paced and kept me on my toes the whole time. I really enjoyed all the twists and turns & I loved how the story unfolded. Would definitely recommend this book to anybody who likes Mean Girls or Pretty Little Liars.

I’m going to be honest..this was a slow start for me. The book begins with Ambrosia(Amb) receiving an email to her 10 year college reunion. She is reluctant to go because something bad happened her freshman year. Something that takes a little too long to be exposed. But when it is, whoa it’s a shocker. Amb and her new college best friend Sully are the mean girls freshman year who party and sleep around. And they share many memories together, including one big (very bad) secret they don’t want anyone to know about. But someone knows, and they want them to pay for it at the reunion. Once you find out what they did, you’re going to lose sleep wanting to get to the bottom of this. And Sully makes Regina George look like America’s Sweetheart! I really hope this becomes a miniseries. Great debut! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here was a wild story about means girls in college.

The story is told by Ambrosia Wellington in an alternating timeline. We begin in the present with Amb getting an invitation to her college 10 year reunion. We also get to see what went on during her freshman year a decade earlier.

This is basically Mean Girls x10. Some of the stuff these girls did was unreal!
The characters are not like able but I get that is the point.

The book started off a bit too slow for me, it took a while to get interesting.
I should add that there are a lot of triggers in this story. Basically any you can think of, it’s in this book.

I did like the writing, it was pretty easy to read. Once the story picked up it was hard to put down. This was a darker read than I expected, at times I found myself uncomfortable with what the main characters would do/say.
I liked it enough but it didn’t wow me, it felt like many other thrillers.

I recommend it if you want a quick read that will keep you on your toes.

Dark, twisty, shock and awe! Mean girls are just so much fun to watch/read about. It's is what it is. So, The Girls are all So Nice Here is exactly what I was looking for in a guilty pleasure. Not only do I love a main character I can also hate, I love a disturbing and shocking thriller. Therefore, this novel was a hit for me!
Ambrosia and Sloane were living it up in college and making other girls' lives miserable. They aimed to shock and that they did. The story is told in dual timelines which worked for this story. We have the young version of the girls and then the grown up, decade later version. Ambrosia heads back to her old alma mater for a reunion. It's also a return to the spot where she did her worst. Someone invited her for a reason. And that someone wants to ruin her.
It's gripping storytelling. The chapters are riveting and with strong, well-rounded characters. I was blown away by the dark and trigger-worthy plot.
It's right up my alley. 4 stars!