Are you a fan of duel timelines? I really enjoy them as an interesting way to get the back story.

In The Damages, Ros is confronted with her past when a journalist calls her up wanted to interview her about the time her university roommate went missing in 1997. Ros is thrown back in time as she revisits those difficult years while navigating the repercussions of those events on her life today.

This was a very interesting take on #MeToo and how the actions of men can affect the lives of their loved ones. I absolutely loved the 90s timeline. It was so well written and authentic. The present day didn’t resonate with me quite the same way but I enjoyed it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This is what I liked about it:
💽 the 90s content
💽 dorm life and Ros’ drive to fit in
💽 the ice storm backdrop

Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrandomca for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me right back to the late 90's and reminded me of being an 18 year old, self absorbed and moody adolescent.

I have to say that I didn't particularly enjoy Ros, the main character. In the first half of the book she was very unlikable. If I knew her in college I would have dropped her as a friend too. The second part, 20 something years down the line, seemed like a bunch of unfinished thoughts. I didn't feel like any of the story was really wrapped up.

Overall, it was a fast, easy read but I'm still left scratching my head.

Great Book! A young woman travels through life trying to define herself. She wants to be liked for someone she is trying to be and in the process goes through quite a lot that she had not anticipated. In the end she will discover a lot about herself and others.
I really enjoyed this book. Got into it right away.
I definitely recommend this. Great read!

If you’re looking for a book that will generate a big discussion with your book club, then look no further than The Damages by Genevieve Scott. The novel begins with the 1998 ice storm, where our protagonist Ros is a first year college student. At some point during the storm, after an evening of drinking, Ros’ roommate disappears. The story then jumps to 2020, when in the midst of the pandemic the full story of what really happened that fateful evening comes to light. Ros is then forced to reconcile her past with her present.

Scott did a fantastic job at capturing the 90’s and the ice storm. Even though I was in high school at the time and not college, I still felt transported back to those days. I also loved the way she showcases the narcism of youth and that need to find your place and inner circle. When the book then jumps to the present time, Scott opens wide the blurred lines of the Me Too movement. This book will require a lot of deep breathing as she enters the muddy waters of the movement. I have no doubt that readers who were in high school or university during the 90’s will reflect back on their own experiences, or that of their friends. This is a propelling and thought provoking book that you just can’t put down.

The Damages is told in a dual timeline-- 1998 and 2020 by Rosalind ('Ros'). In 1998 Ros is in her first year of college. During that winter, the town experiences a devastating ice storm that cuts power to nearly the entire town. On one particular night in the aftermath of the storm, Ros's roommate Megan goes missing. Ros's actions (or lack of) following Megan's disappearance result in her fall from grace, and destroys the reputation she was so desperate to curate and maintain.

I had a visceral reaction to how her character is written during this first half of the story-- Ros is insecure, dishonest, jealous, self-absorbed, unsure of herself and desperate to be liked by the 'cool kids'. She's entirely unlikable, but I think it takes a real talent to write a protagonist with such obvious character flaws, generating such a negative reaction in the reader, while simultaneously captivating enough interest to want to keep reading about them.

In the second half of the book, more than twenty years later, COVID has just begun and Ros's ex partner and father of her child has recently been accused in a sexual assault case from decades before. On the heels of the #MeToo movement, Ros is now forced to confront her own uncomfortable past and the decisions she made. Unfortunately, Ros has not matured a great deal from her people pleasing college years, and her thoughts/decisions are still heavily influenced by how she may be perceived by others.

Ros was a complicated character, however, despite this, I still found myself rooting for her. The conclusion was satisfying-- our pasts do not have to define us, and it's never too late to discover oneself. I think Genevieve Scott wrote this novel with beautiful honesty, and proved that a brilliant novel doesn't need to be complicated in order to be good.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for this ARC. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

In the Winter of 1998, Megan an 18-year old university student disappears during a devastating and dangerous ice storm, after drinking more than she is used to during a dorm party. Ros her roommate sees this new start at the Regis University a time to re-invent herself and become part of the cool kids. She becomes friends with Dutch and Sue. Ros is successful in being part of the in-crown until she is blamed for the incident. Ros drops out of school and the novel moves to Summer 2020 amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Lukas (AKA Dutch) has an eleven-year-old son with Ros when he is accused of a sexual assault. The memories of the past are looked back on with respect to trauma, betrayal, guilt and responsibility.
I enjoyed the story line and resulting mystery of Megan’s disappearance very much in the first part of the book. In 2020 I got bogged down in the dark relationship between Ros and Lukas and how insecure she was throughout the years. Lukas’ lies upon lies and the denial of their meaning or importance by Ros was hard to read. With references to the #MeToo movement I am sadden by woman who faced sexual assault and struggled with defining it. Trigger warnings with this topic. The story was very realistic and I was satisfied with the end.
Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Genevieve Scott for providing me with an advanced digital copy of The Damages to review.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I expected a thriller from the description of this book and its cover. And it starts out as exactly that-- a university girl goes missing during an ice storm in Ontario after a night of partying. It's gripping and I couldn't stop reading.
And, really, Scott keeps us engaged until the very end. It is an excellent book and I highly recommend. And if you don't want further reasons why you should read this book, stop here because the rest of this review might contain some spoilers.

We get to it fairly quickly that the young woman is found. But then she leaves the university. Why? What has happened?
I've read other reviewers' takes on the narrator and she is often unlikeable. But I think Scott has done an excellent job of painting a young woman whose self-esteem is so low that craving others' approval is her motivating factor for so many of the things she does. Sound familiar? Sure, we've all been there to certain degrees.

What Scott gets into is the #metoo movement and examines it from a variety of angles-- and it's this that keeps the reader engaged right to the end. How Ros views her mother, and how her relationship with her, can be traced to this topic. What does Ros think about her ex-husband? How does the discussion around consent and what's considered assault reframe her own relationships?

And kudos for setting a book during the pandemic without exhausting the reader with all our memories about the time.

This is a great read and I look forward to seeing more from Genevieve Scott.

From the blurb, I would say that The Damages is thought provoking - but certainly not a page turner in my mind. This is the story of Ros, a social climber, and how her dedication to a cool facade endangered her first year university roommate.
It is an interesting look on how social mores have (or haven't) changed from 1997, however, I found Ros to be so stunted that it was hard to care at all for the main character in the book. I was looking forward to the scene with Megan's lawyer, and to have Ros revert back to the same hedging and secretive nonsense of her 18 year old self, 25 years on was brutal. So much is mentioned in the book about the difficulty of coming forward and to hold predators to account, but it is coupled with mothers telling their daughters to leave it alone and don't report assaults, victims saying they just got over it and that was male/female interaction at the time, etc. The most interesting part, to me, was that the author seemed dismissive of her own inciting incident - like it wasn't even a "full rape" so why was it such a problem for Megan/now blowing up Ros' life again.
There are worthwhile discussions to be had around stemming from this book, but nothing that couldn't be achieved with a news article from the #MeToo movement or probably any of the essays from Roxane Gay's "Not That Bad" (it has been a while since I read that collection of essays)
Thank you to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an arc for review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an electronic ARC of this title. This story starts out in 1997 where our main character Rosalind (Ros) Fisher is starting out her first year at Regis University. Then the book moves along and focuses on events leading up to the "great ice storm" of '98. Most of the book is spent building the scene of what Ros' university experience was like and her intense need to be "cool" and reinvent herself "at all costs". She's stuck with a very "uncool roommate" Megan, who is actually a very nice girl from New Brunswick (the settings and characters in the book are Canadian) who is pretty unappreciated by her new roommate Rosalind. Rosalind does everything she can to avoid Megan outside of their dorm, but definitely benefits (and takes advantage) of her kindness (and her shampoo) while in the room. Rosalind was a very immature and self-involved character. She's only just out of high school, so some of the angst and insecurity makes sense as does some of the selfishness. She's an only child (at least the only child at home - she has an older half-sister) and has never been out on her own. She wants to be part of the in-crowd at school, because she never was in high school. She befriends the cool girl (Sue) and eventually also a guy named Dutch and another male named Stefan. Trying to be cool and fun, Rosalind spends time making fun of everyone else to make Sue laugh and to make her look like a laid back, cool girl who doesn't care about anything. She is never her authentic self and is constantly trying to maintain Sue's approval and friendship. Eventually the "big event" happens with the ice storm and her roommate Megan disappearing after a drunken night at a bar with Ros, Sue, Dutch and Stefan. Ros basically kicks a drunk Megan out of their dorm room because she wants to hook up with her crush Adam. Ros is so self-involved and so worried about her "image" that she doesn't even really notice that Megan never comes back. She starts making excuses and trying to justify it in her own mind. Ultimately, those events bring an abrupt end to her university life. We then fast forward to the COVID-era where Rosalind has a child and an ex that is a famous young adult author, who is also being sued for sexual assault. We can see that Rosalind has grown a bit and being a mother seems to have taken her outside herself at least a little bit. We do still see glimpses of the self-centered girl she always was, in her friendship with Ginny next door. Everything is always all about Ros when they talk etc. She is more mature in how she deals with her ex-spouse and also her inner thoughts are a bit less selfish as she now has her son to put first. We see that Rosalind is still struggling with the past events of Megan going missing and all of that has come to the forefront again due to the lawsuit (no spoilers). Ultimately, Rosalind still finds ways to connect this event to herself and how it affected HER life. It's only near the end that she seems to finally look at how it may have affected MEGAN's life. Rosalind was fairly unlikeable for a good chunk of the book. I think that was intentional on the author's part though. She definitely succeeded in painting a certain picture about Rosalind. She successfully showed the complex feelings that a teen on her own for the first time might experience and the insecurity and need to fit in etc. But even as an adult, there were times when Rosalind was unlikeable. I did find that her growth in terms of how she was as a mother was a nice change. It was subtle, but effective. She was never self-conscious when she was being a mother. She seemed to naturally just put Benji (her son) first and wanted to raise him to be a responsible, caring person who was sensitive to others and knew the importance of consent etc. It was refreshing to see her be so natural in that role and never second guess herself. Every other aspect of her life was full of doubt, angst etc...from her relationship with her ex, her friendship with her half sister Val, her relationship with her mother and even her own skills as a baker etc...So there were still areas she had a lot of growing up to do. The end of the book showed that the events of the lawsuit and actually looking at things from Megan's perspective etc made Ros start to change her views and her actions in a good way. The end was a bit abrupt for my taste, but I can see that the author likely felt that they'd brought Ros as far as they could and the rest was implied. So maybe the abrupt ending was fitting in that sense. Good writing, but hard to know exactly what the story ultimately was supposed to be about. The main event surrounding Megan's disappearance and the sexual assault case kind of got lost a bit and almost seemed to take a back seat to Rosalind's own inner selfish thought processes and actions. 3.5 stars.

I struggled with my personal rating of this book. The storyline is heavy, triggering and touches on a topic which can never be discussed enough. Sexual assault is a touchy subject. I thought the beginning of the book which took place in 1997 was perfectly written. I was part of this era growing up and I could relate 100% to the culture during this timeframe. The book triggered many memories and repressed memories. Ros, while not exactly a likeable character, is a familiar one. A young university student just wanting to fit it. Her biggest flaw was trying to act how she thought other people would like her instead of just being herself. Isn't that what we all want when we are young? To fit in. To be liked.

When the book flips to present day is when I lost interest. The story line really dragged on and did not hold my attention in the way the beginning did. I didn't dislike this part of the book, I just found it was very slow.

The ending fell short for me. I was disappointed how it ended despite the build up of education, awareness, and justice seeking. But maybe, it was just a sad but realistic ending.

Overall, not a bad read, It is slow burn but does a good job touching on SA and the #metoo movement. The writing is solid, I love the Canadian ice storm element. I was a young mom stuck at home with two small babies during this snowstorm, talk about memories!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me a copy to review.

This would be a great choice for a book club as I was left wanting to discuss so much about the issues raised in this novel. Set in two timelines, 1997-98 at a university and 2020 during the pandemic, the story deals with self image, friendship, trauma and consent. I enjoyed following the main character's growth from a self absorbed older teen to a slightly wiser, more aware mother, friend and daughter and felt the ending was realistic. I found it to be very thought provoking and both a worthy and entertaining read. 4/5 stars

Life during the 1989 changes the lives for a group of university students in Ontario Canada. The story centers on one in particular, a very insecure girl trying her utmost to fit in with devastating results. A few twists at the end.

My captivation with the story and its central character, Ros, was cemented in the first section of the book. The protagonist's strenuous efforts to present herself as someone she is not were at times cringe-worthy, yet her struggle evoked empathy within me. However, everything altered after the disappearance of Megan during the 1998 ice storm. The second part of the book resumes in 2020, amidst the pandemic, when Ros, now 40 and a mother of an 11-year-old, returns to Ontario from California to care for her mother who is recuperating from an injury. Following her estrangement from her child's father, she discovers that he has been accused of historic sexual assault. Although the writing in the book is adequate and the cover art is excellent, I was less invested in the second half. Ros, despite advancing age, appeared not to have matured, as shown by her excessive concern for others' opinions. The handling of the sexual assault charges was anticlimactic, and the ending was unremarkable. Notwithstanding my mixed reaction to the book, Scott's work is clever, contemporary, and thought-provoking. As a person raised in the nineties, the story's plotline resonated with me, especially the evolution of the #metoo movement. The conflict engendered by the realization that what was once deemed acceptable behavior is now universally considered a violation continues even after reading the novel - however, the unsettling experience is worth the journey.

{Book review - The Damages by Genevieve Scott}

I’m torn on writing this review. I found the writing very well done but the story was just not good. Going in it sounded like The Damages was a thriller, a missing girl from a university campus during an ice storm and her roommate was the last one to see her in the middle of the night, but it wasn’t. Instead it’s the story of Ros (Rosalind) who is incredibly unlikeable from the beginning and how she tries so hard to fit in with the cool kids no matter the cost even if it means only being nice to her roommate in the privacy of their room.

After the slow burn of the first half of the book I was hoping the second part would redeem itself. It did not. Taking place 20 years later, Ros is just as unlikeable and awful as her younger self. I’d been hoping that we would get a chapter or Megan’s POV but unfortunately did not.

I’m sure there is an audience for this book but it was not me.

Available July 25, 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced copy.

Thank you to Genevieve Scott, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced ebook copy of The Damages for me to read and review. This is an addictive, page-turner of a story! I loved seeing the main character during both of the time periods shown and the character growth she has undergone by the end of the story was excellent. The interconnected themes of identity and lies was very thought provoking and this is one of those stories that will stick with me for a long while.

During an ice storm, a young woman goes missing and her roommate is thought to be responsible. These events are revisited about 22 years later, when surprising accusations are made about those 2 days.

That statement probably made this novel seem like a mystery/ thriller, but it reads more like women's fiction, dramatic at times, thought provoking at others.

The events that occurred during the ice storm were difficult to process in it's uncomfortable honesty. Ros was insecure and craving popularity and coolness status and things seemed to be going her way until the rug got pulled from under her. She needed the wake up call she got from the whole experience but it was painful to read. Twenty-two years later, while she seems to be more realistic in her pursuit of relationships, she still proves to be the underdog.

The subject of consent comes up, what assault meant then versus now, the "me too" movement, accountability, etc. There are so many things to talk about, relevant issues pertaining to appropriate behavior, that I feel needs to be addressed but this novel shows how blurry the lines get. The ending feels unresolved, but really that is probably how it is in the non-fiction world as well.

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

The Damages by Genevieve Scott offers a thought-provoking and engaging exploration of toxic culture in schools during the 90s, as well as a compelling journey of self-discovery for its unlikeable main character, Ros. Set in around the city of Toronto, the story follows Ros, a woman struggling to find her identity and fit in, and later trying to navigate through her husband’s sexual assault charge.

Scott's writing style is quite monotone, yet it managed to keep me engaged and compelled to continue reading. Although lacking a noticeable climax, the story's charm lies in its ability to capture the reader's attention with the portrayal of realistic characters. The individuals depicted felt like people you might know in real life, enhancing the reader's connection to the narrative. However, the protagonist, while authentic, is not entirely likeable, adding depth and complexity to the story as readers witness her struggles and flaws.

The novel effectively highlights the toxic culture prevalent in schools during the 90s. By not imposing feelings upon the audience, the author allows readers to make their own decisions about the characters and their actions, fostering a deeper level of engagement, as well as prompting us to question our beliefs.

The inclusion of Toronto settings added an extra layer of enjoyment for me since I’m familiar with the city, immersing me in a nostalgic experience of the 90s era while growing up. Also, despite Ros’ mother not being a hairdresser, but often mentioned as cutting hair during the Covid era, resonated with me, drawing parallels to my own upbringing with a non-maternal hairdresser mother. This relatability established an emotional link between me and the narrative.

In conclusion, The Damages by Genevieve Scott is a skillfully written and compelling novel that expertly navigates themes of toxic culture, self-discovery, and most importantly, consent.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

As Ros tries to navigate fitting in at Regis, and tell a carefully curated story about who she is and her own importance to others, her shaky self-esteem and need to protect herself from potential repercussions spins out of control when her roommate goes missing.

Because Ros has never told the truth about herself to others, it is hard to discern what is the truth, even as we come at the storyline from two angles, past and present. Is the present Ros telling the truth any more the past Ros didn't? Even Ros admits there are holes in her story from when Megan went missing.

This is a gripping story about consent and how it was viewed differently in the 90s. I did find it interesting that there was this belief that the idea of consent started to shift from a clear-cut idea of propriety and where the lines were in the 90s. But if we are truthful, that shift around how women were to view sex started to occur in the 60s and blew up with the #metoo movement. Women were given the impression that sex was as much our right as for a man, and our ability to say no crumbled under the pressure we all felt to be "just like the guys" in that regard.

I grew up in the 70s and there was this constant pressure to give in to guys, and being called a slut, or taken advantage of if you did. Girls that felt the need to maintain dignity and say no were labelled frigid or cut out of social circles (ask me how I know). Parties in general were a landmine when alcohol and drugs were involved, and self control (for one part of the population) wasn't.

All that said, this book has an important message to tell about consent. That abuse comes in more forms than just one. Consent is an important message to learn, and one we really need to teach the next generation. Perhaps books like this one will get that message across. It certainly shows the damage it causes if we don't.

Thank you net galley for giving me this opportunity to read this book.
This is a dual timeline story set in 1998 and present.
Rosalind is at university in central Ontario. She is looking forward to meeting new people and especially her new roommate. Rosalind is surprised to find out that her roommate is Megan.
Megan is not who Rosalind would like to have as a roommate. Rosalind was hoping to have a roommate who is in the in crowd.
Come January 1998 there is an ice storm and school is closed. Rosalind weedles her way into the in crowd.
On a stormy night Rosalind, Megan and other friends get a taxi to the local bar. The girls get drunk and Megan wants to leave. Rosalind sees Adam who she has a crush on and leave together. Adam asks Rosalind if Megan is ok.
Megan goes missing and nobody knows where she went.
Fastforward twenty years and Rosalind's ex is accused of a sexual assault.
I found that I didn't like the character Rosalind as she was all about herself. She didn't care what happened to anyone else.

This book is good, but it didn’t wow me. There a few timelines and I liked that it was set in small-town Canada during the ice storm in the 90’s. The campus setting was also fun, reminding me of dorm life. The MFC, Rosalind/Ros was not likeable and an admitted liar. Although Ros is a people pleaser, she is not a nice person, and only tries to please people she thinks are cool or important to her social standing. When her dorm mate,Megan, goes missing, Roz couldn’t care less. Not until she herself is seen as responsible for not reporting her absence. Megan is found a couple days laters, but Ros is now the school pariah. Fast forward to 2020, and Ros’s ex husband Lukas, who she knew as Dutch back at school, has been accused by Megan of sexual assault. For such a hot button topic with the current MeToo movement, I would have liked to have seen more drama between the characters but they all seem pretty blasé about everything. Even Benji, Ros and Lukas’s son, seems unconcerned by it all. That being said, this story will definitely work for some readers, it just wasn’t a hit with me.
Thanks to #NetGalley and #randomhousecanada for this e-Arc in exchange for my honest opinion.