“The Girls Are All So Nice Here!”

Spoiler alert – they aren’t!

So, I was a little bit of a mean girl in high school. We all were as the nuns at our school kind of fostered that behavior. When I graduated, I realized that I didn’t want to be that person and, happily, I wasn’t that way in college. And, oh my god, the girls in this book!

This is a well written, absolutely horrifying book – and it made me so grateful that I never, ever reached this point.

I’ll tell you straight out that this isn’t a feel good book. The mean girls just become…mean women. And, honestly, most of the guys in this book aren’t any better. There are times you’re going to want to maybe stop reading and look away for a bit. The author doesn’t flinch away from ugly.

An excellent read, but you may want to follow it up with something light and fluffy.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC. This book started out promising. The emails inviting Amb to the reunion are a little creepy but not so much so that they are scary. As the story goes on, the emails become increasingly creepy! Warning, there is a lot of drinking, drugs, and sex throughout the book. A LOT. That got tedious. And mean girls, really men girls. As the story went on it was like they got meaner and that was a turnoff. So much so that it started to feel over-the-top. Maybe less of all those things would have made the book more enjoyable. Even though I didn't like any of the characters, they were well written.The story was also good. It took a while to find out why someone was after Amb and Sully and when it was revealed it was shocking and sad. The ending was exciting, but I disliked the "One year later" chapter. It didn't ring true for me. I'm not sure I would recommend this book to a friend, but I would read another book by this author because I think she has potential to knock it out of the park!

College is a new beginning. A chance to learn, to grow,and have new adventures. Amb is devastated after being dumped by her boyfriend. Instead of spending time with the nice girls, she becomes taken in by wild Sully. She craves Sully's approval. Drugs, promiscuity and booze. Her thoughts of acting ignored.

Amb has a roommate , Flora. Flora is sweet, kind, and considers Amb her best friend. She has a perfect boyfriend, Kevin. Amb meets him and decided she wants him. She and Sully work to make it happen. The outcome is a suicide . Or is it murder?

10years pass and a 10th reunion brings all the players together. Karma must be dealt.

This book goes back and forth between last and present. Twists and turns keep you guessing. Thank you Netgalley! Finished it in a day!

Wow! What did I just read? I absolutely loved The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn. I was totally gripped by this book of toxic-female friendship. The book was creepy, chilling and mind blowing! I read it in one sitting and was sad when it was over. Not only was the story riveting, but the writing was incredible. The book has it all and lives up to all of it's hype. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGally and Simon and Schuster for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. It was a privilege!

"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—and will stop at nothing to get it—in this shocking psychological thriller about ambition, toxic friendship, and deadly desire. . . . .At the reunion, Amb and Sully receive increasingly menacing messages, and it becomes clear that they’re being pursued by someone who wants more than just the truth of what happened that first semester. This person wants revenge for what they did and the damage they caused—the extent of which Amb is only now fully understanding. And it was all because of the game they played to get a boy who belonged to someone else, and the girl who paid the price.

Alternating between the reunion and Amb’s freshman year, The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a shocking novel about the brutal lengths girls can go to get what they think they’re owed, and what happens when the games we play in college become matters of life and death."

Phew - does this novel accurately portray the insecurities and resulting toxicity of female friendships in the teens/college years. The alternating chapters between Then and Now keep the tension ratcheted up throughout the entire novel. And, of course, the Now chapters show just how mistaken we often are about the motivations of our "friends" during our teen/college years.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

🌻 REVIEW 🌻 The Girls Are All So Nice Here

So I finished this one and I have some thoughts. First a synopsis since I did not post it before...

From the Publisher:

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—and will stop at nothing to get it—in this shocking psychological thriller about ambition, toxic friendship, and deadly desire.

Alternating between the reunion and Amb’s freshman year, The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a shocking novel about the brutal lengths girls can go to get what they think they’re owed, and what happens when the games we play in college become matters of life and death.

Review:

This book is the ✨ Perfect thriller ✨ this book though is completely in a class of its own. I loved every second of it. It’s dark, unsettling, twisted, and full of suspense. It’s a great mystery, opening with Amb receiving a letter stating “We need to talk about what we did that night.”

Already a great set up. Told in alternating chapters between college and the present, the mystery of what really happened that night is revealed. It’s certainly a slow burn with everything told in the perfect timing. This book kept me guessing and turning the pages and kept me up at night itching to get to the truth.

This is Flynn’s first novel, and I will be anxiously waiting to see what other twisty thrillers she has up her sleeve! A very talented author with a unique voice and style all of her own.

✨ Pub Day: March 9, 2021! ✨ This is a MUST read for thriller lovers!

Thank you @netgalley and @simonbooks for this #ARC

5/5 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

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I read this book every for Netgalley reviews. The content was quite explicit and often harsh language. Bullying...jealousy...teenage angst...seems to be more for the young adult set...the story going back to present is somewhat confusing. This is a character driven nove with no redeeming characters. The surprise will shock!

I knew I was going to love this from the very first page.

''There were boys whose names I forgot, boys I might have passed by and not known were ever inside me. When I did pick out a king, the crown was too heavy for his head.'

Alright, Past Amanda said as she snuggled into her pillow. This is it. This is exactly what I came here for.

The rest of the book doesn't disappoint.

An invitation arrives and it's one Ambrosia wishes she could just tap and send away into the abyss of the junk folder. Instead though, her loving and well meaning husband sees and inquires it and that my babies is the beginning of the end,,,er well begins.

And although I absolutely LIIIVE for the dramatics I am absolutely not being dramatic. Not even a little

Ambrosia goes as reluctant as anybody who has a dark past would. At the reunion we meet her ex college best friend Sully Sullivan and as the time passes it becomes clear that both girls are being pursued by somebody who wants to harm them.
Somebody who knows what they did those formative years ago. Their lives are in danger the secrets that they have buried are threatening to be exhumed.

This book shocked me. It was better than I imagined and so well written I found myself re-reading certain passages again and again. The characters were so well fleshed out and animated that they practically floated out of my kindle and danced. I knew Ambrosia. I knew Sully. And I knew Flora. I've been all 3 girls before and I've encountered all 3 girls before. They were lifelike and relatable, the good and the bad.

There are a lot of tough issues to tackle in The Girls Are All So Nice Here. Please be mindful of yourself and your mental mindset and be warned that there is rape.

There's also talk of mental health which I really appreciated even when it was slyly thrown in by one character. That too felt all the more realistic. As somebody who goes through it that one comment meant everything to me. It's all too familiar.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Girls Are All So Nice Here. The writing is stunning, the plot while overused felt fresh and revitalized, I was shocked at the twists and turn, numb at the end.

It's wild to me that this is Laurie Elizabeth' Flynn's debut novel. It's just so good. I'm really looking forward to what comes from her next.

And now more than ever I'm so glad I never even considered going to my high school reunion.

Oh sweetie. We were the mean girls.

Thank you very much to the publisher and Netgalley for this copy of my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Stay rad <3

When I saw that this was about mean girls in college, I knew I had to read it. I just love mean girl books. Throw in a death investigation and I’m hooked. I always love cattiness and drama in books. This book had it all. I read that the author was a former model, so I figure she knows cattiness! It also showed the different personality types you’ll meet in the dorms and how one can succumb to peer pressure through their loneliness and insecurities. This book was a bit psychological as well, but not on a deep complex level. It was easy to follow and a fun ride throughout.

“People thought girls’ bodies were our deadliest weapons. They had no idea about the mountains our imaginations could move.”

“Our reign was short and bloody. What came after it was worse.”

The Girls Are All So Nice here comes out 3/9.

I loved this book!!! I love the first person perspective from Amb and I loved the “then” and “now” alternating chapters. Every chapter was a twisty shock of mean girls horror over and over again! I had heard such great things from other advanced readers that I was really afraid it wouldn’t live up to the hype so I was beyond blown away that it totally surpassed everything I was expecting! It was a crazy hot mess that I just couldn’t put down and never wanted to end!!! Definite 5 stars from me! I highly recommend GIRLS!!! I can’t wait to see what Laurie Elizabeth Flynn cooks up next!!!

Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for allowing me the incredible privilege of reading this one in advance!

A young woman is surprised to receive mysterious notes about her college reunion that link back to a traumatic event that took place her freshman year. As she returns with her husband hesitantly, she realizes her former best friend and other classmates have their own versions of what happened that night and someone is trying to bring it all back.

This book will appeal to a lot of women, especially the friendship-crime kind of genre but I didn't really know what to do with it. It reminds me of 'Social Creature' but that book made sense. It's not the writing or the plot but just the sheer cruelty of it all. It's just a bunch of sociopaths being moronic. Actually, I even have a hard time believing that this is something that could happen.

More importantly, It's paints young women as such horrible creatures but does nothing to explain any of it. No backstory or reasoning, just chaos and half-baked wisdom that would only work for a very small portion of white feminism. At some points in the story I thought ok, now all of this will begin to make sense but then it's just more craziness.

It's like ... a terrible lifetime movie, but one that someone actually put effort into and took seriously. I'm sure the lifetime people know their movies are ridiculous, that's the point right ? 🤷‍♀️

Spoilers*

Missing from the book and what I didn't understand:
•Why does Ambrosia find herself so attracted to Sloane's particular band of behaviors? What happened to make her feel this way?
•Why does Sloane do absolutely anything she does? What happened to her as a child/adolescent that makes her treat people this way?
•Why does Ambrosia's husband leave her so quickly? There was no lead up to him being that unhappy with her in the first place?
•Why does the police not even suspect Poppy? How can there be absolutely no forensic evidence to what happened?

Wowza, I absolutely loved this chilling, but realistic read! The ending made me angry, but I think that means it’s one heck of a book! Well written, intriguing, twisty as heck, chills to the bone, and thrilling! Very unique, realistic, with some real problems that many face as the major theme! Recommend to all! Make sure you clear your schedule and do not start before bedtime, as it’s one that’ll have your mind spinning, body in chills, and holding your breath! Can not wait for more by this author!

Will make sure to buzz it up and use low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE GIRLS ARE ALL SO NICE HERE by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn in exchange for my honest review.***

The title is a lie. The Girls Are All So OPPOSITE OF Nice Here.

Ambrosia begins freshman year at Wesleyan University determined to leave her insecurities behind. She ignores her roommate Flora and other nice girls in favor of the alluring Sloane “Sullie” Sullivan a mean girl on steroids. Sullie uses guys and young women to hurt and humiliate them, and Amb is only too eager to be Sullie’s follower.

Ten years later, Ambrosia does NOT want to attend her college reunion, despite her younger husband Adrian’s eagerness. No longer friends with Sullie, Ambrosia hasn’t completely left behind her mean girl ways. When threatening letters compel her attendance at the reunion and Adrian’s practically insistence on going, Ambrosia reluctantly agrees to attend.

Told in alternating Then and Now chapters, THE GIRLS ARE ALL SO NICE HERE is nonstop intrigue. Laurie Elizabeth Flynn’s poetic prose doesn’t contain a meaningless word. Reading her words feels like hearing a beautiful melody or watching an elegant ballet in their beauty. I could read Flynn’s words even if the story didn’t measure up.

I appreciate Flynn’s ability to create a loathsome character like Ambrosia that’s as sympathetic as she is devious. I need characters to root for, and I could both cringe at her actions and hope for her salvation. I’ve written plenty of reviews complaining about character without redeeming qualities that made books unreadable. Ambrosia’s insecurity showed her vulnerability. She didn’t think she could fit in with the popular girls yet wanted to social climb over the young women who were eager to befriend her. The draw of Sullie’s friendship has something that Ambrosia feels will improve her life. Oh how wrong she is.

THE GIRLS ARE ALL SO NICE HERE was one of my most anticipated 2021 books. After reading, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn is now an automatic preorder.

3.5/4 stars for this mean girls thriller. I really liked Amb and couldn't get enough of her. I enjoyed the current reunion timeline more than the before even though that's where the story took place. The twist at the end I never saw coming!
This was my first book by this author and I'd totally read more.

Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy.

The Girls Are All So Nice here was unputdownable and dark and complicated in all the best ways, with strong characterizations and compelling twists. I hope it's just the beginning of Laurie Elizabeth Flynn's work starting to get the recognition it deserves!

To be honest, I would pick up anything L. E. Flynn writes. Her tone and her style just calls to me. I absolutely adore her YA thrillers, so I couldn’t wait to pick up her first adult thriller. So, I I opened the e-book arc, and I see she will be doing a book tour, four stops, and one of them will be DC. I’m thinking “hey if the books any good I’d love to go out check it out, only about an hour from me, could be fun!”

Fast forward six hours. It is 3 AM, I have to be up in three hours, and I just finished the book. I literally could not put it down. There is something about the “mean girl” type books that I am crazy about. Give me all of the catty and bitchy high school and college girls doing terrible things, and I’ll always read it. And it’s a thriller on top of that? Totally my recipe for success. And this book was absolutely no exception.
This was my first 5/5 read of fall, and I’ve already recommended it to anyone who would listen. I totally foresee this on all the must read lists for 2021.
In conclusion, I’ll be the one totally fan Girling at the DC book date. It was that good.

I'm so glad I requested this! I'm super picky about my thrillers, but believe the blurbs--The Girls Are All So Nice Here was fantastic. It's like if Luckiest Girl Alive had actually been a good book. Laurie Elizabeth Flynn is an amazing writer and I can't believe this is the first time I'm hearing about her, and I'm going to look for her YA titles now (I do read a fair amount of YA but her other work wasn't on my radar, which is surprising because if it's half as good as this she should be much more well known).

Fast-paced, nuanced and terrifying. These are characters that will, for better or worse, stick with me for a long time. A must for thriller fans.

The transitions from when Amb was in college vs. the current reunion were smooth and well-done. Even though Amb and Sully are "mean girls" that you don't necessarily want to care about, you still get sucked into the drama and want to see how it will all play out. And ooh what an ending.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First, I have to say what an edge of the seat thriller and OMG that was a debut?! I love stories about things gone wrong at college and this did not disappoint in any way. This was such a good book you must read it!!