Well, I get the hype! The Divines by Ellie Eaton is a coming-of-age with a slight undercurrent of mystery. The plot unfolds through the narration of both teenage and adult Josephine as she recounts, and then revisits, her time in an exclusive boarding school in the 1990s. This book would not typically be one of my favorites due to the lack of a big twist or culmination (at least the kind I had expected at the beginning.) Yet, it is one of the most relatable stories I've finished in a long time. To me, the conclusion made Josephine one of the most relatable characters I've found as an adult. Did the past really happen the way we remember it? Were others' perceptions of us as teenagers accurate? What happens when we take control of the narrative from those who were in power so long ago? I judge books by if they keep me engaged, if they make my jaw drop and if they make me want to discuss it immediately. This book definitely kept me engaged (Imogen Church's narration is excellent) and I'm so excited to discuss it! While my jaw didn't drop at any point, I think in this case, it's what makes the book so relatable and even slightly therapeutic.
Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow and Harper Audio for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

I listened to this as an audiobook and it was an easy listen. Jumping back and forth between past and present, it delves into a mystery at a prestigious girls' boarding school. I always enjoy stories told in the first person because I enjoy the mystery of the storytelling: Is this narrator unreliable? This book gets to the truth of the potential cruelty between teen girls. While an entertaining read, it didn't stand out to me among other "girls boarding school type" books.

A woman obsessed with her past at a all girls boarding school in England during the 1990s. While recounting the things that happened inside the school that lead to the clossure of the institution, she resignifies one of the most traumatic experiences she had in her life. These memories, at some point, threaten her present as a mother and wife.

Deeply humane with a lot of humor, all the characters and the odd situations that they find themselves in, are highly relatable.
I truly believe that this book is going to be a success. And I hope it does.
The writing is impecable and Josephine, the protagonist and narrator, cynicism is hysterical.

The book deals with universal themes such as female identity, sexual awakening, friendship and how we deal with trauma.

I liked the narrator a lot, although I'm not sure if I like how she does male characters voices. She makes them sound dumb and unappealing.
I think that is a book that I would highly recommend.

Thank you to Harper Audio and NetGalley for an advanced audiobook.

I greatly enjoyed "The Devines" and the narrator, Imogen Church, definitely added to the experience. I highly recommend the audiobook.

This is a story showing the dark side of coming of age in a prestigious all girls boarding school. It has undertones that remind me of "My Dark Vanessa" and "Mean Girls".

Although Jo was not a particularly likable character, I don't believe she is meant to be. By the end I think it highlighted how traumas /mistakes/moments in our past can really effect you even decades later, especially when we refuse to open up and work through them. I think the use of the duel time-line narrative really helped bring this story together.

I was surprised in some of the directions the book went. In the beginning I thought there would be more mystery / development regarding the photos the girls were finding. And though not critical to the plot, the resolution to that portion of the book felt like just a footnote and was hear say at that so you could not fully confirm if it was accurate.

Overall, it was a great read.

I didn’t have much expectations for this one. It was a good drama story. I kind of thought there’d be a huge twist. But i was not expecting the ending. I feel like this was a story expressing how stressful school and your peers can be and how hugely things in childhood can impact your life. I felt bad for the main character. She felt traumatized by what happened at her school and it largely impacted her & if the adults would have been more forthcoming with information her life may have been different. It shows how much privilege can effect a person. The people in this story were so self involved that they didn’t see outside of themselves. And cared too much what others thought. I feel like this was a coming of age story.

The audio narrator was great but i had a hard time with the audio. At times it sounded almost robotic or like something with the audio was messed up and after most chapters it would just stop playing. I’d have to restart.

The Divines is about Josephine who used to attend a boarding school for girls in England called St John the Divine. Even though Josephine hasn’t seen any of the Divines for 15 years, a visit to the area causes her to start obsessing about her time at the boarding school and the disturbing events leading up to its closure. The story alternates between the present-day and the 1990s.

I have been processing my thoughts about this book for a couple of days. I have mixed feelings about it. I feel that it was fairly well-written and had great character development but at the same time, I did not like the characters. I don't see that as a bad thing with this book. I knew the characters weren't going to be likable when I read the synopsis of the book. The fact that the author made the characters so unlikeable is one cue to me that they were well-developed. Their personalities were quite fleshed out and they weren’t pretty. The world-building in the past in this story was much more interesting than the present but I believe that's how it was supposed to be until towards the end of the book.

This is the ultimate mean girls’ story which I do not normally enjoy reading about, but this book was compelling enough to keep me listening all the way to the end. The narrator was wonderful and really added life to these characters. I did not love this story but it was intriguing enough to say I sort of liked it. The Divines is one of those books that are hard to appreciate unless you get to the end. The ending makes the book worthwhile and I can say that without feeling like I’m telling you whether you’ll be satisfied with it.

#TheDivines #NetGalley
ARC Audio copy from NetGalley in exchange for review

After a slow and wandering start, it got better, much better.
Lots of social issues all weaved into one book: a little mean girls, boarding school life, sex, eating disorders, marriage, and family drama....
All to tell us that memories shape us, we don't see ourselves as others do, and perspective is a wonderful thing.

The Divines is one of those books that somehow manages to be incredibly compelling without being the least bit likable.

Our anti-hero Josephine has a fascinating inner life, though the reader can’t hope to warm up to her even by the end of the novel, which I suppose is part of the point of the book.

If you’re a reader who needs your main character to Learn Something, you’ll be mostly out of luck here. Years into the future, Jo has learned little and understands even less about her past.

She mentions something called Boarding School Syndrome, which really might apply to anyone who was bullied in school (of the boarding variety or not). Josephine thinks herself a victim of this, which makes some sense, except that she was far from a true victim as a student. In a world of Have and Have Nots, she was firmly on the Have end of things.

Her misguided perceptions of herself—even years after the fact—make for a perfectly wrought portrait of a woman who still lacks self awareness and any ability to place herself in the proverbial shoes of another. She’s shocked to hear about the way others thought of her when she was a Divine.

Her own insecurities back then prevented her from realizing she actually had it pretty good. And those same insecurities—still present many years later because she never addressed them—leave her shocked by others’ perceptions of her past self and even more shocked at how her peers seem to have rewritten their own histories to cast a more favorable light on them.

Because of that, the book becomes more than just a boarding school novel, and ends up being an interesting meditation on truth. What’s more true than the stories we tell ourselves—real or invented—about the past? What happens when our truths conflict with others’?

It’s a fascinating exploration of how we self-protect, —even from afar—when it comes to our own histories.

Audiobook: I don’t particularly recommend going this route for this book. The format is fine for the subject matter, but the narrator seems to really struggle to differentiate the voices for different characters, compensating by making almost everyone who might be irritating or problematic for the protagonist sound like an unintelligent male. Fat Fran and Geri get this treatment nearly all the time, and Skipper, Rod, and Lauren all meander into it more often than not. It makes for a poor performance.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. 20% into the book and I could no longer get past the unnecessary crassness, vulgar language, and graphic descriptions of body parts that did not move the story forward. It also is full of fat-shaming and generally was not worth my time. For me, this book was a no go and a huge disappointment.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing house for the opportunity to read this book.

I liked this one but didn’t love it.

We’ve reached the day where coming of age stories move to the 90s. Here we have a story focused on a group of boarding school girls. Entitled girls who think they’re tougher than they really are. The book bounces back and forth from their teenage days and their modern lives.

There was little to nothing to like about the characters. Usually I like more character driven stories, but this one failed to draw me in. A fun read but nothing truly memorable.

The narrator was the best part for me. No complaints there.

Imogen Church is a fantastic narrator, she can take any story and bring it to life in a way that feels like you are watching a movie in your head.  I have listened to several of her audios over the past year and she never disappoints.  She brings to life The Divines, a coming-of-age tale about a group of young women at a boarding school that terrorize their peers and most anyone around them. The story was fast paced with a satisfying twist at the end.  I would recommend this book for anyone that is drawn to the synopsis and enjoy character driven stories. Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to review an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review

I enjoyed this as a Netgalley audiobook and wasn't disappointed! I enjoyed the story from one pov but different timelines.
The reason I didn't give more stars is bc I was left wanting more with some of the story at the end. Without giving any spoilers, I felt it was a little rushed and could have given some more detail about the main character's realizations about her younger self.
I recommend this to anyone who likes boarding school novels especially with a little added mystery.

I received this ARC via NetGalley and was torn about what rating to give it. The storyline was fast paced and compelling, drawing the reader in right from the beginning, but the ending felt abrupt. The story realistically details themes of privilege, sexuality, and class struggles.

Synopsis: Set in England, there is a group of young women known as the divines, for the posh boarding school they attend. Chain smoking in between classes, drinking, and making out with boys, these girls pretty much terrorize the little town their school is set in, and each other. As Josephine gets older, she finds herself struggling to reconcile with the cruel actions of herself and her peers while at school.

This is the story of Josephine's (Jo) life while at an elite boarding school and her life now. The Divines are rich, snotty and pretentious and mean.

I have listened to many other books with Imogen Church as narrator. I enjoyed them all. Through no fault of the narrator this book, however, dragged for me. For starters I strongly disliked the character Jo. She just wasn't a likeable person. Being told through a then and now perspective was fine, however there were no way to discern this at least in the audio book. I wonder if I would have enjoyed this particular book more if I had read the book instead of listening to it. Some books are better read and some are better listened to.

There were some moments and situations that made me think. Do any of us really remember accurately the things that happened as teenagers? Is the way we see ourselves even close to the way others see us? How did our younger years change what happens as adults?

Overall a decent book, just a little longer than it needed to be.

This was a fast paced, very well done audiobook. I highly recommend. The story of an adult woman revisiting her teen years at an upperclass boarding school is addictive. This would be a great book club read, as many people will have conflicting feelings about this book. The ending is a genuine shocker I did not see coming. It’s a study of the haves and the have nots.

I have so many mixed feelings about this book.

For the first 90% of the novel I was convinced this just wasn’t for me. I was struggling to connect to the story or invest in the characters. I felt frustrated and angry at Jo for her cowardice and pettiness. Her lack of empathy and depth. Until the very end. The ending, while perhaps a bit vague for my taste, was intriguing enough to change my perception of all of the chapters proceeding it.

First of all, I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator, Imogen Church, is just wonderful. Even through the earlier portion of the book, as I struggled to find the purpose of what I was reading, I loved her narration.

Secondly, our protagonist in this tale, Jo, is a bully. There’s no way around it. She’s a bully as a teen in an all girls boarding school, and she’s a bully as an adult who seems to hate her child and her life. Jo is unlikeable in every way. And at first, I thought this was a failing of the book. Until the ending made me wonder if that was the point all along.

I struggled to get through the present day portions of the book, which felt meandering and bitter. The way older Jo talked about her body and sex was a bit odd and (in my opinion) unnecessarily descriptive for a non-romance novel.

Jo’s time as a divine was far more interesting, though no less off putting. It is told from modern-day-Jo’s perspective, and is tainted by her own bias and victim mentality.

Jo remembers herself as an innocent bystander to her life, but we all know innocent bystanders don’t exist.

In the end, The Divines morphed into a fascinating exploration of the stories we tell about ourselves, the mythologies of our past, the foggy mirror we use for self reflection, our warped self image built on fairytales based on memories.

How even the villain is the hero of their own story.

I recommend The Divines to anyone who has ever fudged their history to erase their guilt over a misstep or a misdeed. To anyone who lives life as a hero while the darker parts of themselves cling to the corners of their life in their blind spot, out of sight but not forgotten.

Trigger Warning: fatphobia, ageism, homophobia, bullying, severe injury

Divine, simply divine. The book itself as a whole is cool, sharp and intelligently written. Ellie Eaton has a voice that transcends the audio book in a lovely manner. I enjoy a coming of age story and the settling of a boarding school was an effective backdrop to explore toxic friendships and the dynamics of girls. A divine debut indeed.

The Divines is a glorious debut from Ellie Eaton, reminiscent, for me, of The Guineveres (Sarah Domet) and If We Were Villains (M.L. Rio). There's the enclave boarding school with its weird, elitist culture; the mysterious crime our narrator hints at, and toward which the retrospective timeline marches; the dual narrative that reveals who our narrator became, and how the retrospective timeline shaped who she is; and compelling, complex characters who are painfully, perfectly human. Can you tell I loved it?

If The Divines is about one thing above all others, it is memory. How do we recall our pasts, and how do our recollections stack up against reality? Who decides what really happened, and how do the stories we tell ourselves shape the futures we inhabit? Josephine's experience at St John the Divine shaped her in ways big and small, not to mention the shape it lends to her marriage, motherhood, daughterhood, and friendship. As time marches inexorably forward, guilt and obsession anchor Jo in the past. Her reflections seem crystal-clear... but how well can any of us see ourselves through the foggy lens of time?

Imogen Church's narration here is exquisite -- far and away, one of the best narrations I've ever heard (and I listened to 100+ audiobooks this year alone). Her facility with accent and nuance is astonishing -- a master class in oral storytelling.

I can't wait to see what's next from Ellie Eaton, and sincerely hope she teams up with Church again in the future.

The Divines
By Ellie Eaton
Publishes: January 19, 2021
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What its like to be “divine”
Elitism
Toxic relationships
Exploring sexual roles

What I liked:
Imogen Church as narrator

What I disliked:
Obscenity for shock with no intrinsic value or addition to story line.
I’m not sure I can tell you what this story is about.

Perfect for:
⭐️ Fans of Pretty Little Things (tv show)
⭐️ Boarding school dropouts
⭐️ Fans of The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

Thank you Netgalley for the complimentary audiobook in exchange for my review!

Before getting into reviewing the story, everyone needs to know that Imogen Church is amazing and can make any story thrilling and suspenseful. I will listen to any audiobook read by her.

As for this book itself, it's about a woman recalling her time at an all-girls boarding school. I enjoyed the dual timelines - the main character in her 30's in Los Angeles vs. a teenager in 1990's England. The story was quite eerie and thrilling at times, but I struggled to stay engaged in the middle. The ending of the boarding school timeline left me feeling unfulfilled, but the ending of the modern timeline was quite a bit better. I really liked the focus on recollections, and how our memories of events are often misshapen over time.

Overall, this one didn't live up to the description for me.