Cover Image: The Chandler Legacies

The Chandler Legacies

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Member Reviews

“Chandler is a place with endless secrets and no secrets at the same time.”

It took me a while to write this review, to truly put into words the joy I felt reading this book. And even now as I type this I find myself wondering if I am truly doing it justice. This book truly was a masterpiece and a story that needed to be told. I’ve always said that sometimes we find books at just the right time and I think that was the case for me. I was going through yet another one of my phases where I only wanted to read a certain type of book and the week I picked up this one it happened to be boarding school books.

We follow five different characters, each with their own point of view as they navigate Chandler Academy. Some of the point of views I ended up loving right off the back and others it took me awhile to get into. But let me tell you once you get into it this book became quite the page turner.

These five teens are all brought together when they get the coveted initiation to The Circle, a writing group on campus. While each has their own reason for wanting into The Circle soon these five teens become some of the best friends I’ve seen in books. Through sharing their writing and time with each other to sharing the truths that happens in the dorms and their experiences because what happens in The Circle stays with them, which is the only thing they know they can count on. But all is not perfect in the group. They must learn to get past feuds from the past and accept their differences to survive their time at Chandler.

Pros: A group of teens brought together by love for writing who become amazing friends, addresses important topics

Cons: None, this book was amazing!

Recommended for: anyone who loves boarding school books and tight knit friend groups

I received an arc from the publisher and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Abdi Nazemian’s Like A Love Story is one of my all time favorite books; it completely blew me away and I’ve reread it several times, always finding new depths to the story and getting my heart broken for the characters. So The Chandler Legacies has been one of my most anticipated releases since I first heard of it and I was so happy and grateful for the chance to read an eARC of it. And while it’s a very different story from Like A Love Story, The Chandler Legacies and its wonderful characters definitely stole my heart too.

This is a beautiful, gripping and heartbreaking story following five students at a privileged elite boarding school. It’s both a dark tale revealing how they experience the toxic and abusive culture in different ways, as well as a hopeful and warm story about their dreams and hopes and friendships.

All of the five students get their own chapters to tell the story from different POVs: Beth who is a “townie” and doesn’t feel like she belongs neither in her new elite environment or at home in her old one, Sarah who desperately wants to succeed and build a new future for herself, Spence who is the privileged daughter of NYC elites but who wants to achieve things on her own, Freddy who has worked so hard to become an elite athlete, but who starts to doubt his life choices, and Ramin who has transferred to Chandler to escape the danger of being gay in Iran, only to find himself the victim of brutal hazing under the guise of tradition in the boys’ dorm. I really appreciated the diverse cast and the complexity of issues they all dealt with. Ramin resembles the author himself very much, and Abdi Nazemian has explained that the story is based on true events from his own youth, which makes these events even harder to read about.

Overall, this was quite a dark story (much darker than I had first expected), but Abdi Nazemian handled the story and the tough topics in such a delicate and realistic way. A lot of times there was a sense of hopelessness about how everything got silenced and how toxic behavior was even encouraged as part of the tradition, but with the Circle, a coveted writing group lead by Professor Douglas, as the light in the darkness. It was so beautiful and wonderful to see how the writing sessions brought the five characters together and empowered them to be brave and true to themselves. This book is something of an ode to the power of the written word and how important friendship and to have a safe place in life is.

I immediately rooted for Ramin, Freddy and Spence, but Sarah took a little longer to warm up to. And sadly I never really felt like I got to know Beth. As a character she felt bland and didn’t add so much to the story. I think the story could have benefited from fewer POVs, where each character could have gotten more time and been more fleshed out. I would have loved to learn even more about the backgrounds of especially Ramin and Freddy, and Professor Douglas.

But all in all, this was such a gripping and poignant story that held me captivated all the way through and made me root for many of the characters. Even though it was so dark and showed all toxic sides of a culture build on silence, fear and nepotism, it also gave me so much hope and warm fuzzy feelings for the wonderful friendship and how the Circle members had each others’ backs. It was also a wonderful coming-of-age story and the character growths were absolutely amazing! The way they all, and especially Ramin, eventually dared to be true to themselves and stand up for their believes was such a hopeful and wonderful message.

4.5 gripping stars rounding up to 5.

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Thank you NetGalley for sending this arc for an honest review!

Have you ever watched elite? Or perhaps any movie or tv show that entitled in it “boarding school”. Well this book has exactly that, a group of privleaged kids set their life in a boarding school, of love, drama, and adventure.

It was so enticing and captivating reading a book in multiple povs and truly understanding each individuals motives and feelings.

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It was a though read and I wished I liked it more. Too many points of view and even though the characters are relatable I got easily lost between them all. I didn't like the lesbian representation and what happened to this character.

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I received a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

For the most part I enjoyed this book and appreciated the attempt at diversity. However, I'm not sure what the point of having so many multiple points of view is because I felt like I received no resolution. The ending seemed a bit lackluster and there are no parts of the book that really stand out to me. It wasn't a bad book, I just found it hard to invest myself in the characters.

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I enjoyed this story and definitely found myself rooting for the characters to succeed and find happiness. I thought the setup of a writing group was an interesting way to bring 5 characters together who otherwise would not have been friends. I did find myself wishing the characters were a tad more developed as they all had interesting backgrounds and a lot of growth potential. Overall, a solid and quick read that my students are sure to enjoy!

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I appreciated the diversity of characters and the complex issues they all brought to the story. While I did not prefer the writing style and believe the ending felt rushed, I would recommend this for young people to read.

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A heartbreaking true comparison to boarding school experiences and the toxic environment it grows. I enjoyed reading this as it opened my eyes and let me see into this world. It’s not my typical read and so didn’t keep my attention entirely but this is a book that needs to be read.

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I received a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

There's nothing really wrong with this novel. That doesn't sound like a promising way to begin a review, but it's true. There's nothing wrong with it. The characters are relatable, although I felt that they were a little too generalized; it would be the work of just a minute to put each of them into a stereotype. But they are a diverse group, which I appreciate, and their differences were things that both created problems and fostered friendships. I guess that's really my complaint about the entire book -- it just felt too generalized, from the setting to the characters to the plot.

There's an author's note that implies that much of what happened in this story came from true life experiences. I wonder if, by trying not to write specifically about his own experiences, the author leaned too much in the other direction and ended up making this story too general.

Like I said, it was okay, but I didn't feel emotionally invested in these characters or their struggles. This story felt too much like other stories I've read.

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i enjoyed this but it wasn’t my favorite but i think people who liked the inheritance games will really enjoy this!

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This book was a bit darker than I was anticipating based on the cover of the story and delved into a variety of dark issues. Overall the story was interesting but it wasn't quite what I was expecting.

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I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

I was expecting this to be a little different but I'm glad that I decided to read it and it definitely changed my mind.

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This book was a tough read because it was so deep. I was not expecting it to be soo dark, but i thought the author really approached some tough topics with the grace necessary for teenagers. It was realistic and thought provoking and overall tackled a lot of tough issues!

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There were things that I really enjoyed about this book. I thought the relationships between the students, and even Douglas times, were gorgeous. The description of a New England prep school campus in Fall were perfection. I thought that this was a low-key love letter to the art of writing, and that was really done beautifully. While I found it to be accurate that teens jump from eager to unsure to completely lost in high school, sometimes the characters felt like they were drawn with too heavy of a hand, or handled too preciously. Overall, I really enjoyed the book, but I would have loved a little more subtlety to the story, which, in its essence, was always going to feel a bit heavy in the end.

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I struggled with being able to get into this book. I thought all the characters were relatable and I like the way they all came from different backgrounds. it was a lot of POVs so could be hard to follow and because of that, I struggled to connect deeply with any of the characters. I did really like the setting and some aspects of the plot, though!

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Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!!

I really wanted to like this one more than I did. My two main gripes were the writing style and how I wasn’t able to connect to any of the characters. I thought there were too many POVs and that was probably the reason I disliked it a bit.

I love boarding school stories because I always wanted to attend one myself, so I think that was the saving grace for me!!

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I got this off of Netgalley and these opinions are my own. I struggled with being able to get into this book. I thought all the characters were relatable and I like the way they all came from different backgrounds and formed a bond. I liked that they were there for each other, but overall I just struggled with the story.

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