Fair warning- there are what some might consider triggers in this darkly devious novel (bullying, suicide and rape).

This mean girl thriller (that's putting it mildly)is worth the read.

The use of past and present story telling from Amb is highly effective. And to be honest I can't tell if I loved to hate her or hated to love her... Seriously one of the more intriguing (and yes villainous)characters I've read recently.

I do admit that it was a tad slow moving but stick with it!

While there weren't any real surprises for me, it didn't make the ending any less chilling (fitting and brilliant).

I had nothing against this book, but it also didn't blow me away in the way that mysteries/thrillers often do.

The writing was good, I enjoyed the characters (they were immensely unlikable but I don’t have an issue with not liking the main character’s personality!), the plot twists were unexpected but believable, but I just didn’t connect with this book the way I wanted to. I read it quickly, and it was definitely hard to put down once the plot really picked up, and I really cannot pinpoint why this book didn’t leave me more satisfied - it just didn’t.

I would still recommend this book though, Flynn’s writing style was great, and I enjoyed the chapters alternating between past and present.

Major trigger warnings for suicide and sexual assault.

* I received this ARC from Simon & Schuster and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review *

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me"

Yeah right, if only that were true.

This is a Mean Girls story on steroids, with life changing consequences. We follow Ambrosia, AKA Amb, and her BFF Sully in their first year of college where they live to mess with and torment others. Many years after graduating, they are called back to the university for a reunion.

The story alternates between now and freshmen year. It was a hard read because this takes bullying to the next level. Ambrosia didn't seem to evolve emotionally and she remains pretty unlikable throughout the whole story.

This is a fast paced read, with short chapters, my favorite. At times it felt a bit Young Adult.

3.5 stars rounded down

Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3 stars
Recommend? If you love thrillers like "You Are Not Alone" I think you will enjoy this

<i>The Girls Are All So Nice Here</i> follows Ambrosia, a 31-year-old woman who has received mysterious, persistent invites to her 10-year college reunion, hinting at a past misdeed. Flashbacks slowly reveal what happened at her Georgetown dorm her freshman year.

I was disappointed by this. This was compared to <i>Luckiest Girl Alive</i>, but it didn't stand up to the storytelling of that book for me.

Dark look at the friendships we form as young adults, and how they can impact us as adults. Well developed characters and a plot that keeps you guessing. A great read!

THE GIRLS ARE ALL SO NICE HERE by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn tells the story of Ambrosia and the hold ‘mean girl’ and best friend, Sully, has over her during their freshman year of college. 10 years later, their past will come back to haunt them when they return to their university for a reunion.

I LOVE UNLIKEABLE CHARACTERS! And this book is full of them. Flynn crafts a story that not only centers on the mean girls and all of the trouble they cause, but also crafts a mystery that is both heartbreaking and conflicting.

While reading, I felt myself very unsure on who I was rooting for because I honestly hated everyone, past and present (including the goodie two-shoes). I think that was this book’s biggest downfall. While the story was fun, dangerous, and wild, I didn’t develop any sort of attachment to any of the characters to elicit an emotional response.

With all of that being said, this was a fast-paced read, and I can’t wait to see what Flynn comes up with next!

Publication Date: March 09, 2021

*** special thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review ***

Posted to Goodreads and The StoryGraph: 03/05/21
Posted to Instagram (Bookstagram): 03/09/21

Love, love, loved this story! I wasn't sure how I would feel about it because of the YA storyline, but I absolutely adored it. So fast paced and entertaining!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this title before its publication date.

I thought this was a well-paced mean girl thriller/mystery that a lot of people will enjoy. This tells the story of Ambrosia, who graduated from Wesleyan ten years before and now must attend her reunion and face what she did while she was there with former friend, Sully. There are essentially no redeemable characters in this one, so don't go looking for any. I thought the mystery itself was okay but the way it was laid out kept me wanting to pick it up. I always love a mystery or thriller set in the academic world *and* a "ten years later" type of story. I gave this 3/5 stars because I thought it was a solid book but it didn't do anything particularly special or blow me away.

Content warning for suicide, suicidal thoughts, bullying, infidelity, murder

Full of twist and turns, The Girls Are All So Nice Here dives into the consequences of when girls really aren’t so nice. This is a gripping, dark, and suspenseful story and Laurie Elizabeth Flynn’s prose is sharp and witty. She brings her characters to life.... and death.

I'm a sucker for anything set on a college campus so I knew I was going to like this. Man, what complete assholes these characters are. LOVED IT.

I'm starting to give thrillers a try, and this one sold me when I heard the words "ambition" and "toxic friendship" in the pitch. Stories about destructive female friendships are my absolute favorites, and I was NOT disappointed by THE GIRLS ARE ALL SO NICE HERE.

Thanks to a then/now timeline structure, we jump back and forth between Ambrosia's ("Amb") freshman year of college and her ten-year college reunion. Amb decidedly does not want to attend her reunion because something happened in college that she's still running from. Something that involves her toxic friendship with Sloane "Sully" Sullivan.

I think it's best to go into this story as blind as possible, so I'm keeping my plot summary vague. But I will warn you: the girls in this book are (obviously) NOT nice. Amb is a fantastic antiheroine, and while I didn't agree with many of her behaviors, Flynn wrote her so well that I understood her. She doesn't fit perfectly in her skin and feels inferior around her new college acquaintances, so she finds herself gravitating toward Sully, a girl who is unapologetically herself and plays with people like they are pieces in her game. These girls are often not likeable, and that's okay. Not every character needs to be likeable in order for me to invest in her story.

The note from the editor at the beginning of my ARC said that this is a story about "female desire and longing and the dangers of living in a society that pits girls against each other." We see the ugliest parts of these girls, and they are ferociously complex.

There are multiple possibly triggering subjects in this book that are plot spoilers, so please contact me if you would like details.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

3.5 Stars. This is a very dark version of mean girls. In this book we learn about two college best friends and the secrets they carry.

It was definitely a page turner because I was eager to see how the story ended but I felt the book was a slow buildup. It started to pick up and get more interesting at the half-way point.

Well, anyone who reads suspense/thrillers knows one thing, that the girls are not so nice here, right? And, yup, that's definitely the case. More than that though, the story line about college freshman girls is more than about mean girls. It's also about what lengths girls will go to when they need to be liked and fit in. The author draws you into this story right away because, what the heck happened and when am I going to find out? There are a lot of moments where you want to scream at these girls and shake some sense into them for sure. It's a winner.

This book was a really interesting read. There were so many twists and turns of what I thought was true turned out not to be. I highly recommend this book to fans of Tarryn Fishers “The Wives”.

Ready for a book that you will stay up late reading? Glance at the clock and in the back of your mind think "60% done, I should put it down and get some sleep," and then ignore your own advice and turn another page and another until you've put the story to rest. If this is the kind of read you're in the mood for, one that takes over your day, then you've found the right one.

This book follows Ambrosia, Amb for short, in two timelines. The present, as she's invited to the 10-year college reunion she doesn't want to attend but can't seem to run away from. And the past, Amb's freshman year at school. You can't be too sure about who Ambrosia is, she's built a tower of lies and the view from the top is starting to get a bit unsteady. Her husband knows absolutely nothing about her sordid collegiate past and she's worked hard to keep it that way. This reunion is exactly the thing she wants to keep him out of. But like a moth to a flame, Ambrosia is drawn back.

Speaking of her alma mater, Ambrosia is still running from everything that went wrong her freshman year there. She came in to the year feeling insecure in her own skin. She didn't have the right clothes, hair, personality, but Sully did. Sully was something you couldn't look away from. She was fiery, rash, more than outgoing. She had everyone eating out of the palm of her hand. The line between powerful and manipulative was blurred. Ambrosia couldn't tell her no. Ambrosia didn't want to tell her know. Sully's power made Ambrosia feel powerful too, but never quite enough.

This is a story about a snowball of bad decisions and reckless actions growing larger and larger until it takes out everyone in it's path, maybe even the people who started it.

Something happened in Dorm Doom Ambrosia's freshman year. No one knows exactly what that was, but someone out there is finally piecing the puzzle together. and playing a game of their own.

I could not put this book down. It was a train wreck. It was gruesome and without apology or mercy and I'm still a little bit shuddering over the conclusion.

Mean girls, but meaner.

This was a dark, twisted story which I usually like. However, it just felt deliberately mean, and as if it used terrible events to shock you, not because they were necessary in the story. It was if the author said " lt's see what else this horrible person can do". I also didn't like Amb, the main character. Usually the writer finds a way to make you sympathize with the main character, even if they are the villian.

The writing was well done and the world building was very good. I just didn't like the story. That being said - I did keep reading it until the end.

I do want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC. This was a well written book - just not my cup of tea.

This one was dark and disturbing. Just the way I like my thrillers!
When Ambrosia arrives at college she is paired with roommate Flora, who seems a little pathetic to her. Then "cool girl" Sloane (Sully) befriends Amb and pushes her to be edgy and take risks that she never would have on her own. Then Amb meets Flora’s “amazing” boyfriend, and things escalate.
The story is told in alternating chapters between past and present: the college years and the reunion. Also that ending - what?!
Be prepared for a healthy dose of bullying that is cringe-worthy!

3.5 stars rounded up. While at times predictable, this book was highly addicting to read. Enjoyed, and will recommend.

I really enjoyed The Girls Are All So Nice Here! I have been thinking about the twist at the end for weeks.

Amb sees college as a way to reinvent herself from her not so popular days at her high school in New Jersey. She is willing to do whatever it takes to fit in.

When she arrives and meets her new roommate, Flora, she is blown away on how effortlessly cool AND nice her new roommate is.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and Amb meets Sully and instantly wants to be Sully’s friend more than anything. Sully and Flora could not be more polar opposites. While Flora is a girls girl, Sully is grittier and has the I don’t care attitude that Amb is craving.

Amb befriends Sully and will do anything to impress her, but at what cost to Flora?

The secrets all start coming back to haunt them at their 10 year college reunion.

THE GIRLS ARE ALL SO NICE HERE is about a truly horrible person named Amb who goes away to college and befriends Sully, another truly horrible person. The story follows Amb & Sully as they navigate their freshman year and then again when they reunite at their 10 year college reunion. The reader knows from the beginning that the two main characters did something bad, but we don’t know what.

I’ll start with the pros. The author did a great job of setting the scene in the past. I could relate to those early college days when everyone is just trying to fit in. The author also did a great job of creating unlikeable characters. As the story went on, I began to dislike Amb more and more. The first half of this book was great.

🚨 SPOILERS AHEAD 🚨

However, the story started to fall apart for me in the end. There are multiple triggering subjects in this novel, including sexual assault and depictions of suicide. I didn’t like how these topics were used as plot points. I feel as though they did nothing to drive or add to the story and were only used for shock value. I also was unsure of the character’s motivation. They did horrible things, but why? What drove them to do these things? I feel like I needed more background in order to better understand Amb and Sully.

I did enjoy reading this at first, but I expected more. If you’re looking for a page turning, “just one more chapter,” slightly disturbing thriller, this one is for you. I would recommend this to those who loved Pretty Little Liars.