St. Ambrose School for Girls by Jessica Ward an intense psychological thriller. It is a dark and twisty story filled with many devastating secrets. This author has so many sensitive subjects in this one but I loved the way they were handled. Filled with mystery, murder, bullying and mental illness. The characters are well developed with many flaws. You will love them or you won’t. Ms. Wards descriptions are captivating. There is a shocking turn of events that will blow your mind. This is a great summer read for those who love a great thriller!

Thank you NetGalley, Simon and Schuster and Jessica Ward for this suspenseful story to read and review.
#netgalley #simonandschuster. #jessicaward
#stambroseschoolforgirls. #arc

I’ve sat on my review for a few days, letting my thoughts about ST AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS settle in. I can say this: Sarah’s story will stay with you for a while.

Jessica Ward (aka JR Ward) has written a literary novel, so unlike anything else I’ve ever read from her-and I’ve read just about all of her books. It’s Sarah, the novel’s main character, and her experiences with bipolar disorder that lingers, much more than the plot (which is fantastic reading) or the other characters from the book (who are kind of one-dimensional, which serves a purpose). Instead, it’s Sarah’s inner monologue that tells a good portion of this story that’s left an imprint on my brain.

While touted as a Young Adult, “Heathers meets The Secret History in a thrilling coming-of-age novel” ST AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS is, at its heart, a story about a young woman navigating the choppy waters of bipolar disorder. When Sarah arrives at St. Ambrose we meet a young woman who lives in her head without any true connections, to include her mother. Ward slowly brings Sarah into focus, which at times was difficult to read as someone who suffers from bipolar, though not to the extent as Sarah.

Early on we meet a cast of characters that could exist in any high school: the mean girl and her entourage, the athlete who is brusque but tolerates Sarah, the handsome resident advisor, and the quirky English teacher. Ward uses these characters to bolster Sarah’s journey and she creates a list of suspects for something that hasn’t happened yet, but we know will happen. This kept me reading and looking over my shoulder.

The key to this literary thriller is Sarah’s unreliable narration. As she observes all these characters and slowly starts to interact with them, questions about validity run wild. Sarah even questions herself and this reader jumped on the bandwagon with enthusiasm. I loved how ST AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS made me question EVERYTHING.

But, I also read ST AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS with some concerns. First, despite most of the characters being high school age, I would not consider this a Young Adult novel. Sarah’s mental illness is not for the faint of heart. There are chapters about suicide, to include details on how one could take their own life. A good portion of the novel feels hopeless as Sarah feels her way through bullying and loneliness. Sarah’s crush on her resident advisor is familiar territory, my high school days spent with many a crush on someone way too old for me, yet the possibility of statutory rape is at least suggested in the pages of ST AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. Finally, I found the ending problematic and again, not appropriate for younger readers.

ST AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS is a book that I would recommend but with trigger warnings for suicide, hurting yourself, intense bullying, and statutory rape. It kept me on the edge of my seat and sympathetic to a troubled young woman who makes questionable decisions in her desire to fit in. 4 stars.

". . . there are only two types of girls here. The ones who play sports and the ones who dress like getting a date is their sport even though there are no boys around to compete over."

It's Sarah's first year at hoity-toity St. Ambrose, and she has a dark secret. Teen queen Greta lives just across the hall, and gets her kicks by tormenting other girls. Sarah is this year's target, and the pranks are nasty. Sarah's roommate had to deal with Greta the previous year, and offers this advice, "Just don't give 'em what they're looking for and they'll get bored. They only like chew toys with the squeakers still in 'em." But her roommate has her own secret to keep hidden.

How far can things go before something really awful happens?

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. I thought perhaps there might be something a bit more sinister going on than just a tale of mean girls, bullying, and perverts, but it turned out that was honestly enough to hold my interest. The author's characters and dialogue are both believable, and she throws in the occasional quip that made me snort, like - ."What is this, Clue, girls' school edition? Her main character, Sarah, goes off on some wild tangents, and delivers a few lengthy speculative soliloquies that I could have done without, but otherwise this was an engrossing and entertaining read.

Based on the description of the novel, I was very much "in". Dark academia with a murder? Sign me up.

However, it fell completely flat. There was so much exposition and detail in the first 70% of the book that I almost DNF'd it right before things got started. We spent a lot of time living in Sarah's manic episodes and getting every last detail that it felt like a chore to get through some sections of the book. By the time the actual murder and subsequent events happened I pretty much didn't care anymore.

Unfortunately, this was just a swing and a miss for me. Excellent setting and ambiance, no real follow through.

YA dark academia by best-selling author, J.R. Ward, writing under her new pseudonym? Sign me up!
Sarah was an unlikely candidate for the prestigious St. Ambrose School for Girls, but her mother submitted an essay of hers without her knowledge. Before she knew it, Sarah was an Ambrose girl. She doesn't fit the part due to her goth look and predilection for black. But what Sarah really wants to hide is her bi-polar diagnosis and her stints in mental hospitals. Fortunately, she makes friends with her tough-talking roommate and her RA. Unfortunately, Greta, the resident popular mean-girl, has Sarah in her crosshairs. And then there's a murder...

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this e-arc.*

While this book started off being one of my most anticipated this month, unfortunately I really did not like it. The descriptions were too much and I never had a chance to settle in with the main character or care about her.

I'm going to start by saying this is one of my all time favorite authors. I've read and loved everything she has written under both names. However, this was a disappointing book. I loved Sarah. She was a complex character and the mental health aspect was well written. The pacing is incredibly slow. The mean girls plot was something I've read too many times to care about it. There were no surprises as it felt very predictable. I enjoyed the ending but that's about it.

Ultimately I ended up being pretty disappointed by this one when I finished. The mental health representation made me really uncomfortable, and was our MC's only character trait. It was pretty slow paced with a non explosive ending, and for a mean girl thriller that results in murder (on the synopsis, not a spoiler), the stakes seemed so low. I think if you don’t mind a slower pace, and if you like campus novels in general, you may enjoy this one.

While the cover and premise of this book seemed promising I unfortunately had to choose to not finish it at around 36%. This book felt disjointed and confusing to me, and once I got multiple chapters of a teenager planning their suicide in a way that didn’t feel like it was handled well, I just had to call it quits.

For being over 130 pages in, I felt like very little had happened and the momentum just wasn’t built in an impactful way either.

Truly hope that this lands for some people, but it just was not for me.

The St Ambrose School for Girls was a miss for me. Parts of it dragged on longer than necessary and I found myself skimming to keep myself interested. It was interesting to see the inner workings of Sarah’s mind and I did like how it ended.

This book was one big giant “who cares?” to me. This story felt overdone, unnecessarily long, and unoriginal. I didn’t like any of the characters - while I don’t know a ton about bipolar disorder, I’m not even sure if the descriptions were accurate. I wish I hadn’t wasted time on this.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I read in her author’s notes that this book was a departure from her normal genre. I did finish the book, but did not love it. Having said that, I did enjoy some of the characters. Sarah, struggling with bipolar disorder and starting at a new prestigious boarding school and Strots, her athletic lesbian roommate are interesting and complex. The other characters com fall flat, stereotypes of a boarding school, the mean girls clique, the hit RA, the frumpy, awkward RA, etc. the writing is over descriptive and heavy handed making for a slow read. I think that this could have been a great book, the story is there, but it needs polish.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the pacing was excellent. I felt like every character had something I didn't totally love about them and that made it interesting.

The Secret History mixed with the Heathers.

This thrilling, chilling mystery takes place in a dark academic world where secrets aren't just devastating, they're deadly.

Fast paced and on the edge of my seat.

This was a DNF for me, I’m afraid. I got about a third of the way in and found that I just couldn’t engage with the story or the characters. There was way too much description that didn’t advance the plot or provide anything of interest, and the characters felt too generic in their “types.” Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story is a study of mental illness, it seems. The author created a character who is severely bipolar and crafted a story around her illness; trying to live her life, and navigating through good days and bad.

Manic episodes are all-consuming. Blanking out. Losing track of time, obsessive thoughts, suicidal tendencies and actions, and so much more consumed our main character.

She’s brilliant, however, and finds herself at a new school trying to survive. The author creates a story that has you feeling deeply connected to Sarah through her depression, fears, and hatred by others.

She’s different and stands out. She has no people skills, and that blatantly shows as she attracts attention in different ways in the story. Negatively and positively.

It’s really hard to describe the feeling you are going to go through with the plot. There’s bullying to extreme degrees. Death and destruction of people. You’re not sure where the story is going and the author does keep you compelled to keep turning those pages.

Shocking turns of events left me speechless and saddened that the author chose to go this route. Especially with the ending. That’s where my conflict comes in.

On one hand, the author is brilliant and clearly crafts an interesting intricate depiction of a person with a mental imbalance. We feel her pain, her shame, and her introverted actions, yet is desperate to have even one friend.

But on the other hand, the story is heavy and can be depressing which could be a lot to take emotionally for some readers. So just be aware of that.

I’m vacillating on the rating because of the authors writing skills and Ward’s extraordinary storytelling ability. The St. Ambrose School for Girls is an intense psychologically complex story that leaves you feeling conflicted at the end.

I would definitely be interested in reading this author again. She’s wicked talented but this one just didn’t cut it for me as I need heavy, emotionally tolling, crime-filled stories to end with some sort of uplifting lightness as a balance.

The St. Ambrose School for Girls by Jessica Ward is a gripping and emotional coming-of-age story about a teenage girl navigating her way through a new school, mental illness, and bullies. The writing is raw, honest and realistic, exploring the real-life struggles of a teenager with bipolar disorder. I found myself completely immersed in the story, rooting for Sarah as she faced one challenge after another.

The characters are well-developed and memorable, especially Sarah who is a relatable and strong protagonist. I appreciated the way Ward portrayed mental illness and how she handled the stigma surrounding it. Her writing showed great sensitivity to the topic and I believe this book can help remove some of the stigma surrounding bipolar disorder.

The novel also tackled issues of bullying, privilege, and identity. Greta, the mean girl and Queen Bee is a villain you love to hate, but what I loved most about Ward's writing was how she showed that bullies are often dealing with their own issues and insecurities.

Overall, The St. Ambrose School for Girls is a powerful and thought-provoking book that tackles important topics with grace and honesty. I highly recommend it to fans of young adult fiction who appreciate books with an emotional punch.

I will always read all of the books about boarding school. It’s not too late for me to teach at one! That said, this book needs to come with ALL OF THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. The discussion of suicide was almost more than I could handle as a stable adult. I worry about putting this in the hands of a fragile high schooler. While the overarching message is firmly anti-suicide, there are moments that—especially if taken out of context as Moms for Liberty love to do—would be upsetting at best. Aside from all of that, this book has some of the most powerful writing that I’ve seen in YA so far this year. The descriptions are rich and powerful. The metaphors are unique and powerful. I was captivated by her writing. I also found that her presentation of BPD was carefully handled and respectful of people living with it. I was engaged until the last page & couldn’t put it down!

I enjoyed this book. I happen to really like this genre and I would give it 3.5 stars. I am a harsh critic for stories along these lines so this is a good rating. Fun twists and turns. Great summer read.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for the chance to read and review this novel :)
I couldn't finish this book. The beginning starts off too strong "I'm not like the other girls because they wear colors and I wear black clothes and steel toed boots!" I was highlighting how many times she brought that back up. It was a lot. There was also way too much fluff. The description of her dorm took up multiple pages. Talk of a curling iron went on for two pages. It was just way overdone and needs to be cut back.