Cover Image: The Brittanys

The Brittanys

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Member Reviews

I'll admit, I really was only attracted to this book because my name is Brittany. However, this book is a fun read! Super nostalgic, having taken place in the 90s. It has awkward teen stories. It has pop culture references. It has cliques, boys, homework, parents. What an interesting trip down memory lane!

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The Brittany’s is a coming of age book about 5 teen girls named Brittany. They form a group/clique in their high school called the Brittany’s. These girls are like any other group of young teens who are trying to find their way in life and fit in with each other. I didn’t love this book, but I didn’t dislike it either. I feel the author included real life issues so it was relatable.

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The Brittanys is a slice of life story about a group of 5 Brittanys in their freshman year at a South Florida high school in 2004, told from the POV of just one. They deal with cliques, school, crushes, peer pressure, and family stuff.

As someone who graduated HS in FL in 2005, the time and place in this book felt accurate. The Brittanys was an easy read with YA vibes and I kept reading, but not a lot actually happened.

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My reader students did not care for it. Most returned it unread, they just could not get into the story and the characters. Will not be ordering at this time.

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A funny, poignant, perfectly voiced debut about growing up and figuring yourself out. A funny, poignant, perfectly voiced debut about growing up and figuring yourself out.

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A pop-culture indulgence from the early 2000s, with five girls named Brittany coming of age in their high school years. It's strength is in the nostalgia, rather than the plot or character development. That said, anyone who is looking for a trip down memory lane is likely to find this an engaging read.

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This book is about a group of five girls named Brittany and their lives. The story is told from the point of view of only one brittany. The story follows the girls as they navigate their way in life as freshmen win Flotida.


This book was okay but not my favorite but I pushed through. I'm just not a huge fan of these types of stories.

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This book was nostalgic as it was set in the Y2K period of my youth. It read rather contemporary despite its setting. I enjoyed this splash back in time.

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I loved reading The Brittanys. It was everything you could want. It was nostalgic and voicy and really encapsulates perfectly the awkwardness and sweetness that comes with being a teenager. Looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

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The Brittanys is a nostalgic journey into the 90s perfect for those that like to read about teenage friendships. Readers who enjoy coming of age novels set in the 90s will be thrilled to pick The Brittanys up.

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I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. I enjoyed Jensen's character in this book. The world building is good. The description of Florida is done well. Would I recommend reading this book to anyone and everyone, yes I would. The authors writing style is very good. This is a fast paced new adult novel. This book is in stores for $16.00 (USD).

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I started reading this book and was bored fairly quickly it seemed to take forever for the plot ot thicken and for me that happened too close to the end of the book. Typical teenage drama perhaps i was the wrong target audience for this one.

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From debut novelist Brittany Ackerman comes THE BRITTANYS, a bittersweet, funny and totally nostalgic foray into the minds of teenage girls and their secrets, betrayals and dreams.

In every school, there is a popular group. Without a doubt, the girls in that group will look shockingly similar, wear the same brands, coordinate the colors of their accessories, and kiss the same boys secretly at school dances and parties. In Brittany’s prep school, she and her friends aren’t these girls, but they are something: the Brittanys. Five girls named Brittany, all from similar privileged homes, forced into friendship by their names, parents and classrooms. Brittany Rosenberg is gorgeous and wealthy; Brittany Gottlieb is a know-it-all; Brittany Tomassi is effortlessly cool; Brittany Jensen is an unapologetic tomboy; and our narrator, the fifth Brittany, is Jensen’s best friend, a twosome within their fivesome.

When we meet the Brittanys, they are freshmen at their prep school --- practically grown-ups, if you ask them --- and they’re ready to buy matching push-up bras, slide on glossy ChapStick, try weed and lose their virginities. After all, they’re young women now! Right from the start, Ackerman drops readers into the dynamics of the group --- the way that Rosenberg and Jensen don’t really like each other, the unbreakable bond between Jensen and our narrator, and even the pushes and pulls of their fringe, non-Brittany friends. Whether they’re comparing how far they’ve gotten with boys or talking about whose parents are most likely to let them get McDonald’s for breakfast, the girls are quippy, bright and eager to please and show off. Although their dialogue can be cringeworthy, Ackerman nails it all. If you have ever been a teenage girl, you will instantly find yourself quaking in your imaginary Nikes, your fictional wrong-color JanSport weighing you down like an anvil.

As freshman year goes on and the girls grow more and more competitive with one another --- the competitions all basically moot since they are “good” girls by most standards --- our narrator starts to fall away from the group. Despite her teenage insecurities and being a little too boy-crazy, we learn from Jensen that the narrator is actually one of the more popular Brittanys --- smart but pretty, skinny but able to wear all the skin-tight clothes of a 15-year-old girl well. With our protagonist coming into her own, her friendship with Jensen implodes and Brittany finds herself alone, forced to navigate the ins and outs of teenage life --- waiting for her period, thinking about sex and wondering what her parents are like on their own --- by herself, with only minor appearances from the other Brittanys and their other friends. Ackerman walks us through lingerie-themed parties, disastrous dates and PSATs with the grace and good humor of Cecily von Ziegesar and Candace Bushnell.

If you love teenage dramas and reminiscing about ’90s and early aughts fashion and music, you’ll find much to enjoy here. Ackerman has a knack for immersion, and she weaves in her music references, fashion choices (including the tiny designer purses I once coveted in high school!) and lingo seamlessly. Brittany and her fellow Brittanys read like perfect teenage girls, never stereotypical or overdrawn, and their betrayals, alliances and dissolutions of friendship will tug at your heart like any breakup scene.

I love young adult books and the immediacy of a teen narrator, but for all its terrific dialogue and descriptions, THE BRITTANYS often suffered from an overabundance of “showing, not telling.” I said already that Ackerman excels at immersion, but occasionally she can take this attention to detail too far, dwelling too long on the minutiae of the girls’ lives rather than digging deeper and highlighting the effects of their privilege, competitiveness and journeys to womanhood. A select few passages were written in the voice of an adult Brittany looking back on her and her classmates’ wilder moments, commenting on who became a drug addict, who left to travel the world and who suffered a string of painful divorces. These passages were some of the strongest in the book, and I loved seeing what Ackerman could do with a bit more freedom to explore the lives of her characters.

Funny, heartwarming, and full of nostalgia and vivid descriptions, THE BRITTANYS is a solid read. If you’ve run out of episodes of “Pen15” or can’t stand another binge-watch of “Gossip Girl,” this is a perfect palate cleanser. But be warned that you might long for something a bit more emotionally complex when it's over.

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The Brittany’s is a novel about five young “friends” better known as the Brittany’s. We see a lot of drama, swapping of friends as well as a strong relationship between two of the Brittany’s, Brittany Jensen and our narrator Brittany (who’s last name we don’t know). It’s a very relatable book and it makes you laugh because this was totally me when I was a teenager. A heaping hot mess, who had some of the same friends but a carousel of others. The drama, getting your period late and getting upset over dumb stuff. This was literally the definition of teenage girls and I loved that @suboatmilk brought that to life because it truly took me back. 🤣 
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I was definitely a Brittany Jensen back in my day- a tomboy, impulsive and an ultimate firecracker (I may or may not still be these things 🙃). I loved reading about the different Brittany’s and reliving my teenage angst. It was a light read that I felt like I needed at the time! 💕

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Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC copy.

I started reading this book and kept waiting and waiting on the plot to thicken and it never did. It was like reading a diary about people I didn't know and didn't care about. I felt no relationship to them except when they wanted to experiment with boys and drugs and alcohol. Refreshing to know that lots of girls felt the way I did. I just couldn't get over the fact it went nowhere. I couldn't finish. I got to 43% and really wanted to finish, but to many books to read.

I did however like her writing style. You can tell she is an accomplished writer. This story just didn't do it for me.

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I loved how nostalgic this felt to read - I finished it in a sitting. I loved the writing style and the voice, but the story itself was a little lacking for me. To be totally honest, though, I didn't really care - I enjoyed the writing style so much it was enough to carry the book for me. I can see how this isn't for everyone, but I found it fun.

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WOW. Okay, this book is very good. It was nostalgic and a very quick read! This is a good coming of age story, and I thought that it definitely isn't getting the recognition that it deserves online! Sometimes I forget what it's like growing up, now that I'm in my dirty thirties, but I thought this brought me right back!

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Unfortunately, I didn’t finish this book. While the narrative voice drew me in at first because of how brutally honest it was, eventually I realized that there wasn’t much of a plot here. It read like a girl’s diary, meandering and giving us every trivial thought. All the tiny details were interesting to me, but ultimately I wanted something more to happen with the story. This just wasn’t what I was expecting.

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Give me a book reminiscent of my middle and high school days, and I'm in! This meandering (in a good way) story follows a group of girls in their Florida school. It's nostalgic and cringy and hits the desperation and female friendship tropes. At some points, it slogs, but it kept me going. It's a simple read that doesn't require much concentration or predictions about what's to come.

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If you opened up a teenage girl’s journal and read the most embarrassing and private thoughts and minute details of upper-class South Florida HS teen life. Boys, push-up bras, purses, parties. When to initiate in various teen rites of passage, when you and your friends will get their periods, when to stop speaking or finally make up with your friends. It’s all there, in painstaking detail, but what was the point? I kept waiting for a big moment, a realization, anything significant, and besides the “flash-forward” parts about what became of everyone, I just couldn’t figure out where the story was. Who would I hand this book to? It’s an honest look at teen girl culture and all the weird obsessions and wishes to be “grown-up”, and while it’s an easy read, it’s a bit painful as well.

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