This book does a wonderful job delving deep into the realistic complication of teenage girls' lives.. Flynn wrote a page-turning thriller about very real societal problems young women inevitably face, ranging from late teens to late twenties. The "now" and 'then" timelines were handled with a deft touch.

3.5 stars - rounded up! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not a bad debut!

One thing I can say, the characters in this book would give Regina George a run for her money!

The girls are definitely NOT all so nice here!

This is a very dark tale with lots of revenge, secrets, and manipulative characters. Ambrosia Wellington gets an email inviting her to her college reunion. Attached to this email is an interesting little nugget: a note that says “We need to talk about what we did that night”. Hell yes! I’m in!

I’m usually not a fan of slow burns, but I found this to be entertaining enough where I found it hard to put down at times. This might be one of the handful of books that I’ve read in my life where every single character was just vile, but it works and you find yourself liking them - maybe a little.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Laurie Elizabeth Flynn for my advanced copy to read and review.

This book was a slow burn for me. The beginning few chapters were captivating and then I felt the story line dragged on for far too long. I really wanted to like this book but it wasn’t my favorite.

Ten years after college graduation, Ambrosia gets her invitation to her reunion as well as an ominous note saying "We need to talk about what we did that night." Turns out, her best friend got the same note. And the book continues from there with alternating between "then" and "now" timelines that slowly lead the reader to actually learn what they did that night.
This book is full of secrets and mean girl drama and there aren't many characters you are rooting for, especially not the main characters. The ending makes you question your definition of justice.
I wasn't really a fan of this book. I didn't really like any of the characters and the story line seemed predictable and drawn out. Sadly, I will probably not recommend this book and forget about it quickly.

The girls are all so nice here.  But really, are they?  That's the crux of this story.  Nice Girls versus Not Nice Girls.  Ambrosia Wellington is a college freshman and must decide - who does she want to be?  And what will she do to achieve it?

I loved the pacing of this book, reeling you in detail by detail, and the furious back and forth in time.  I was absolutely hooked and I could not put this book down.  This ending was unexpected, but actually quite fitting.  Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Spoiler: the girls are not nice at all. If there was ever a time to use the phrase 'intricately plotted' to describe a book, this is it. The pacing was great and I never wanted to put this book down. The ending came together so well but I never anticipated how it was going to go down.

The girls are definitely NOT nice here.

Twists and turns around every corner. College drama resurfacing. Mean girls. Dumb boys.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this book, but by the end I was begging for more. The ending was so unexpected; my jaw hit the floor.

Some parts definitely dragged on for a bit too long, and I wish we had gotten into the juicy stuff earlier, but overall this was a great read.

Trigger warning: sexual assault plays a role, so be aware.

Shout out to NetGalley and Simon&Schuster for the advanced copy!!

This book was a really fast read once I was able to focus on it. I read over half of the book in just a few hours. I liked how it went back and forth between ‘then’ and ‘now’. Ambrosia and Sully were so unlikeable. I wanted to shake them or something. Ask them wtf is wrong with them?!?! How could they be such horrible people?! And poor Flora. Omg. My heart broke for her. At first, she just seemed so perfect and had it all together. But things progressed very quickly. Most of it happened in less than one semester. Seems like it should have taken longer to play out.
I wasn’t a fan of the ending. I’m not sure what I had expected but it wasn’t that. I’m not sure if justice had been served or not.

Ahh this was such a devious, wickedly fun thriller! Think Mean Girls with a sharper, darker edge and that’s what you have here. Secrets, lies and girls behaving appallingly make up this tale of horribly toxic relationships, backstabbing and revenge.

Told from alternating timelines from back when Amb was in college and then ten years later as she’s getting ready to go to her reunion, this style almost always keeps my attention. I usually prefer one timeline over the other but here I was equally invested in both. It starts out a little slow but then about halfway through things ramp up and I was totally hooked. I kinda predicted a few of the twists, but seriously didn’t even care because this was so dark and shocking that I was just too swept up in the story I couldn’t be bothered enough to be mad about guessing. This one was pretty disturbing and hits basically every trigger around, but if that doesn’t bother you definitely check this one out!

Mean Girls on steroids! Fast paced, dark, twisty and pretty enjoyable read! There is a content warning, heads up. But man, reading this takes you down a path of just how some relationships can be. It’s tough to read in some of the areas as you know there are the bully’s out there. But the author did a fantastic job with the writing and keeping you interested. Well done!

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn is the kind of book I love to read over a weekend. The description made it sound like a grown-up Pretty Little Liars, a dark but enjoyable twisty read. The book was far darker than I was anticipating. The intense sexual content made each page laborious to read, and because of that, I don't see myself recommending it to anyone I know.

One of my favorite books I have read. Definitely fast pace book. Kept me wanting to read more. I liked the style writing of the book made it alot enjoyable to read. Definitely 10 out of 10 for me.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn is a well-crafted, salacious entry in the mystery/thriller genre. The story is told in two time periods, in the perspective of Ambrosia “Amb” Wellington. The current time period is at her 10 year college reunion at Wesleyan and her time there as a college freshman. She alludes to something tragic that happened in the past and it’s slowly unveiled by the events that led up to it and the role she played. An ominous letter encourages her to attend the reunion with her husband when she’s in her early 30s. I found the college timeline fascinating and supercharged. Ambrosia and her best friend, Sully, constantly play with power through manipulation of classmates and sexual desirability. The reader understands what leads up to their escalating manipulative behavior. You’re trapped in Ambrosia’s perspective. She can be incredibly unlikable and completely out of touch at times. This really added to the mystery. The book comes to a satisfying conclusion, with ends tied up. I listened to the audiobook, which was well narrated and kept me riveted.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

This is a story that follows the “mean girls” from college to their 10 year reunion. The author does a wonderful job alternating between their time at college and the current reunion. I enjoyed the story line, however, I was not a fan of either main character. Amb and Sloan both were not like able for their own reasons. I found myself so annoyed at times with some of the things they did, but I’m sure that was the point. I do want to mention there may be some triggers for people. There is talk about suicide and some descriptive parts. I believe there were some parts that lacked details I would like to have seen and the last chapter skips to one year later to tie up all the loose ends. This book did a great job of keeping my attention and kept me wanting to read more.

For me, this book was a bit disturbing. Two college girls go back to their college reunion to determine who is threatening to expose them for what they did during their freshman year. The story is told from one of their viewpoints. There are two different time zones: during college and at the reunion.
Ambrosia Wellington is excited to be away at college and hopes to become an actress. She meets up with Sloane "Sully" Sullivan and tries desperately to fit in with her group. She becomes a different person than she was before while trying to befriend Sully. Ambrosia's roommate Flora is a good girl who believes that they can become best friends. Together, Sully and Amb become the mean girls on campus. They drink to excess, do drugs and are just plain mean. This leads to the tragic death of someone they both know. What did they have to do with it? Will the death of this student lead back to them? Going back to the college reunion has all the makings of a huge mystery.
While this is an engrossing read, that you may have difficulty putting down, the topic of the book was unsettling to me.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of THE GIRLS ARE ALL SO NICE HERE by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn in exchange for my honest review.

With dual timelines, the main character is Ambrosia Francesca Wellington - or Amb. The book opens when she receive an invitation to her tenth college reunion - but the invitation carries with it a thinly veiled threat. As much as she doesn't want to attend - or to revisit her past even in memory - the invitation also carries with it the memories of her tumultuous freshman year - her roommate, friend, and frenemies in her Wesleyan dorm. The book alternates between the present (well, 2017) and the events of of freshman year with Amb, her roommate Flora and Sully, along with the other girls from their dorm.

The characters do come to life - but I expected to feel a stronger connection to Amb - especially since we would have been freshmen around the same time. But her odd desperation for belonging combined with her own destructive behavior makes it hard to even feel sympathetic toward her at times. Plus, the plot's twist feels a little overly manipulative....

But it is an engaging read, just without likable characters and so much lying that it's hard to root for anything at all to actually happen to these characters. While the ending may satisfy some (there is a certain amount of justice, I suppose), the shift in narration just makes the whole thing feel overly manufactured for that moment. It's not a bad book by any means - it's certainly fast-paced, but I never found myself loving it. It also wasn't as original as I wanted it to be... plus, the ending message sort of contradicts the whole book... I just wish that there had been a few more likable characters...

It’s been ten years since Ambrosia Wellington graduated from Wesleyan University and left the harrowing events of freshman year behind her. Ten years, she has been running from her past. Hiding it under carefully constructed lies and omissions from her husband, Adrian. So what will happen now that she is returning to campus for her college reunion? Will she be able to keep Dorm Doom a secret and save her marriage? Laurie Elizabeth Flynn introduces readers to the twisted world of teenage girls in her newest suspense novel, The Girls Are All So Nice Here.

This was my first novel by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn and I have to say that I enjoyed it very much. The plot is fast paced and engaging. It’s not hard for the reader to find themselves immersed in the setting and maybe even relating to some of the girls in the story. I enjoyed the dual timelines as the layers of the story are peeled back bit by bit making the reader to want to keep reading. I was able to place my finger on how it would end, but I didn’t completely figure it out completely. I also appreciated how the author didn’t feel the need to wrap it up in a pretty little bow at the end like so many feel like they need to do. There is no “hero” in this novel and that makes it so much more realistic. There were multiple times throughout the novel that it felt as though the story was ripped from the headlines.

This novel was dark. It may not be for everyone, but if you like gritty suspense novels that leave you feeling a little uncomfortable, this one is for you. I will definitely be checking out the author’s other works and recommending this novel to my fellow suspense readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read an advanced copy for free in exchange for an honest review.

A college reunion brings back shocking memories that have troubled Ambrosia since she left decades ago.

I'll admit this one took me a little while to get into, but once I did I couldn't put it down! Lots of snark, backstabbing and more twists than a pretzel! Characters I'd never want to be friends with lol

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Shuster for allowing me to read and review this copy

Boy, this book was a wild ride and I loved every second of it! It was full of twists and turns and really shows you that you never know who you can trust. This was a well-written psychological thriller and I definitely did not expect the ending. It shows you how mean girls can be especially college girls. This was really dark and twisted and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I finished reading this book in less than 24 hours, I did not want to put it down at all I had to find out what happened. If you are looking for a dark psychological thriller that is fast-paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat this one for you.

Amb is your typical college freshmen girl, she wants to use college as a way to be someone different from who she was in high school. When she meets Sully, a girl in the room next to her she wants to be just like her, having all of the boys falling all over her. And for a while the act of having boys wanting her makes her feel better. Until one day she meets a boy and becomes obsessed with him and does everything in her power to make sure she has him.

What happens when mean girls grow up? Do they mature and move on from their mean girl ways, or does their past finally catch up with them?

This book is explosive. From the very beginning I was so intrigued. Told from two point of views, Ambrosia as a college freshman and Ambrosia as an adult ten years later, you really get thrown into a world of college kids trying to find their way, make new friends, and figure out where they belong.

Ambrosia is a freshman at Wesleyan just trying to find where she belongs and who she wants to be in the world. What she finds, or rather who, is Sloan Sullivan, aka Sully. Sully turns Amb’s world upside down. Yes, she feels included, valued, even loved, but there is nothing nice about what these two girls do to their peers. Then one night, it all comes crashing down around them.

Ten years later, Amb finds herself back at Wesleyan for their class reunion. Only, the reason Amb has agreed to come is not to see old friends and relive her glory days. It’s to find out who has been sending her notes saying they need to “talk about that night.”

This whole book is full of twists and turns. The story is very well told and the characters are vicious. The tale left me speechless at times. I found that there were plenty of moments when I felt bad for Amb, and then immediately hated her for what she was doing. The highs and lows in this book just keep on giving!!

Definitely a great choice for anyone who loves psychological thrillers or someone looking for a dark, twisty, sinister book that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the digital arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.