Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

I'd rate this 3.5 stars.

I've enjoyed all of Jessica Goodman's books and find them great for students who enjoy engaging, but relatively straightforward thrillers. This story has duel POVs, which I always enjoy. Two students are brutally murdered in their dorm room at a prestigous boarding school and one of their roommates must figure out who did it before someone is wrongly accused. The story was engaging and I read it quickly, but I also guessed the killer pretty early on. That is fine, but what I did miss was a strong explanation for the killer's actions. To me, the motivation just wasn't there, which detracted from the overall story (for me). Overall, this will be great for high school classrooms!

The Meadowbrook Murders is a suspenseful YA murder mystery that delivers on the suspense. Told in the points of view of two very different characters it kept me turning pages on my Kindle, so happy to have received this ARC.

Liz and Amy are both flawed characters, but both focused on finding the truth, each in their own unique way.

The book had me hooked from the beginning, dying to know what would happen next. They even managed to surprise me at the end.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy YA murder mysteries.

The mystery of who killed two boarding school students kept me interested, with me changing my mind about who the killer might be several times along the way, but neither of the main characters ever grabbed me enough to care much about them. There are the requisite secrets that are discovered about the two dead teens - secrets that could be motive for the murders - but even those don't seem all that big of a deal. They are just more along the lines of disappointments for Amy, who thought she and her best friend shared everything. It also felt implausible that Amy was not more thoroughly questioned by the police. She acted like she was being targeted by them as a main suspect throughout the book. Finally, I didn't find Liz's obsession with only finding facts, and sorting out what merited journalistic attention, to be very compelling as a character trait. I was happy that the two girls managed to work out their differences and rely on each other.

It wasn't predictable but the killer admitting what they did to Sarah and Ryan to their next victim is unrealistic. I'm not sure how that can be written better but there was to be a way.

The Meadowbrook Murders is a YA thriller that follows Amy and Liz after a horrifying attack on the school campus. Sarah, Amy's best friend, is discovered brutally murdered in her bed, alongside her boyfriend. Amy, devastated by the deaths, and even more upset that her last exchange with her friend was a cruel argument, is determined to move on with her life. However, with everyone on campus thinking she is the killer and with new secrets being revealed, Amy is more confused than ever. Then, there is Liz. She has never fit in with her boarding school classmates. All Liz wants is to be an esteemed journalist. In order to win a coveted scholarship, she needs to write an epic piece. This double murder may be just what she needs. But how far is Liz willing to go to get her story? How many people is she willing to hurt?

The Meadowbrook Murders is an easy read and definitely has some suspense, tension, and YA drama. The story is told through two POVs: Liz and Amy. I enjoyed having both of their perspectives and thought the author did a nice job developing both characters. A few of the twists towards the end I found to be unnecessary (particularly the one involving Joseph and Sarah). It definitely reads as a YA book, which, again, makes it a fast and easy read. I do think thriller readers will be able to predict the murderer reasonably easily. With that all said, I still enjoyed the book and wanted to finish it.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Young reader’s group for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

I have mixed feelings about this book I enjoyed it but there was a lot I didn’t like.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Liz she was lacking something she started off very unlikable but as the story progressed it got a little better but still I wasn’t really feeling her.
Surprisingly I really enjoyed Amy’s chapters and I felt so bad for her but was so proud at the same time, her character development was probably my favorite.

I guessed the culprit from the beginning but I won’t lie and say the author didn’t slightly convince me it was might’ve been someone else. Overall it was a pretty nice read very fast paced and if I were still a teenager I probably would’ve enjoyed this so much more.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A well-paced and engaging YA Thriller. The story kicks off with a bang when Meadowbrook senior Amy wakes to find her best friend Sarah and Sarah's boyfriend Ryan murdered in their dorm room. The last conversation Amy and Sarah had was a very public argument that left many of their mutual friends torn on whether or not they could trust Amy, who kept secrets of her own to protect someone she held dear. This leaves Amy in a position where she reluctantly has to rely on the school newspaper editor Liz even though Amy is not a fan of journalists or the media in general.
I did enjoy the book and found it engaging, however, it was a fairly run-of-the-mill "popcorn thriller" without anything super unique to set it apart. I would recommend it to its targeted audience, people who enjoy YA thrillers, or those just getting into the genre.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers group for the eArc.

⭐️: 3.5/5

I’ve always been a sucker for a YA book about rich people behaving badly, and if there’s a murder involved, even better. When I read They Wish They Were Us, I loved the characters and the plot, so I had high hopes for this one, and while I did enjoy this and read it pretty quickly, it fell just a little bit flat for me.

The mystery itself was a lot of fun, and it’s always a bit nostalgic to read about teens trying to solve a mystery and bumbling their way through it, contaminating evidence because they think they can do it better than the cops, and just generally being uninformed while thinking they’re the most informed. It’s a hallmark of a teen thriller, and while the decision feel very young, that’s what makes it a comfort genre for me.

I did find Liz to be…really annoying throughout the book. She was the stereotypical lower income character in a story about rich kids, who has a chip on her shoulder and believes no one could possibly have any circumstances that make their lives as hard as hers. She made so many “mental notes” I felt like making a drinking game out of it, and she was so callous about everything going on in service of her own self interests, it was hard to root for her even when she came around. The conclusion was satisfying, although it didn’t have as much follow though as I wish it did, due to the circumstances of the reveal. I did ultimately enjoy this one though, even if I wasn’t necessarily the target age or audience.

Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinteen for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

It's the start of senior year and it's senior week. Amy goes to bed and wakes up to find her roommate Sarah, and Sarah's boyfriend, Ryan, murdered in their room. And last night she had a big fight with Sarah and doesn't completely remember what happened after. She wasn't alone in her room either, so she's concerned that she will be a suspect, but she couldn't have murdered her friend, could she?

I'm a sucker for a campus story, so throw in an elite boarding school with teens behaving badly and a murder to start off the story, and I'm there. Told in alternating points of view, we hear from Amy's perspective as well as Liz, the editor of the school newspaper. Liz is more of an outcast looking to break the big story and not super popular with the crowd that Amy and Sarah hang out with. Amy is trying to understand what happened to Sarah and Ryan and quickly learns who is still her friend or who now thinks she's a suspect in the murder. Liz just wants to prove herself as a good journalist and hopefully score a college scholarship.

I appreciated that the teen's took center stage in the story and there was only limited involvement of the adults around them, including the police. This was a quick read with short chapters that easily kept me turning the pages. While I wasn't completely surprised by the ending, it didn't lessen my enjoyment of reading this.

Thank you to G. P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for the opportunity to read and review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
4.5/5

I loved reading “They Wish They Were Us” so when I saw this book, also set on a school campus (my favorite setting for mystery/thriller books) I knew I had to read it!

This book takes place at Meadowbrook in the northeast and follows Amy, a popular star soccer player, and Liz, the editor of the school paper. After a senior week party, Amy wakes up to find her best friend and roommate murdered. She gets moved to another room and finds out she’s now staying with Liz who is struggling with how she can write the story without hurting or betraying her classmates.

There are many suspects and even more secrets. You’ll never figure out who did it.

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Group, and Jessica Goodman for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.75 stars! 💫 First off, a MASSIVE thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for the ARC of The Meadowbrook Murders!! 🖤 I couldn't resist diving into this dark academia thriller! The suspense, the twists, and those oh-so-privileged students at Meadowbrook Academy? Pure chaos in the best way! 🌪️

The story kicks off with Amy, whose best friend and boyfriend are murdered in their dorm room. And here's the kicker—Amy was the only one there but claims she didn’t hear a thing... 👀 Naturally, everyone's side-eyeing her, and the drama cranks up as Amy’s trying to clear her name while uncovering a bunch of secrets she didn’t even know Sarah was hiding! 📚 Then, we meet Liz, the overachieving editor of the school paper who’s digging into the murder for a scholarship. Their dynamic? 🤩 SO juicy, so full of tension! 🔍

✧ Murder Mystery 🔪
✧ Reluctant Allies 😤➡️🤝
✧ Dark Academia 🖤
✧ Small Town Secrets 🤫
✧ Suspicious Best Friend 👀
✧ Prestigious Boarding School Vibes 🏫
✧ Dual POV 💬
✧ Whodunnit? 🕵️‍♀️

The pacing? 🔥 It was short, snappy chapters that kept me flipping like a book-crazy person on a caffeine binge! The suspense? Chef’s kiss. But, I did start figuring out the ending a little early, and while the plot twist wasn’t mind-blowing, it was still satisfying enough to keep me hooked until the end. 😅 I honestly could’ve used a bit more on the killer’s motive—maybe a few extra pages wouldn’t have hurt, right? 🤷‍♀️ But hey, the character growth—especially Amy and Liz—was chef’s kiss level! Watching them work together and evolve was a total highlight! 🌟

Definitely a binge-worthy thriller for fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder or anyone who loves a good boarding school mystery with tons of juicy secrets! 👀 Had a blast with this one, and I’m sure you will too! Can't wait for the release on Feb 4! ✨

Thank you to NetGalley for this E-ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. Read half of it in one sitting. It’s a really fast read. Easy to get through. A YA I would think. Very suspenseful.

Amy wakes up one morning at her boarding school. She had a fight with her best friend and roommate. They’ll be fine though. They always make up after a fight. They’re like sisters.
But not this time. There’s blood everywhere and Amy doesn’t want to open Sarah’s bedroom door.

A quick and easy read to figure out who would’ve wanted to hurt Sarah.

I really enjoyed this read.

This was such a fast-paced and gripping YA thriller. I ended up binging it in one day. There were so many heart-pounding edge of your seat moments.

You have Amy who on the first week of school. Her best friend and roommate, Sarah and Sarah's boyfriend are brutally murdered in their dorm room. Everyone thinks that Amy is the suspect because she was the only other person in the room. Amy is hiding a good deal of secrets to protect others .

Then enters Liz, the social outcast and the quiet girl who takes it upon herself to solve this case so she can write about it in the school's paper and hopefully that will be her big break.

This had such great character development. You get two povs of Liz and Amy and both of them have such growth and true change throughout the course of this book. That is great to read. The only reason I have to knock it down a star is because the culprit is a little bit predictable but that does not at all take away from the thrill ride that is this book.

I’ve read all of Jessica Goodman’s books and I’ve liked them all. However, this was my least favorite one. I felt like this book took too long to get going and focused too much on Liz trying to decide if she should write a news article about the death of two classmates.

Once I finally got about 60% into the book, it got a little faster and I found myself wanting to know how it ended and not wanting to stop reading. I didn’t have the culprit figured out, so that was a nice surprise for me.

Overall I liked the book, I’d say 3.5 stars. I thought it was just a bit too slow in the beginning compared to her others, but I liked how the story wrapped up and I was fairly satisfied with the ending.

This was a well-crafted and suspenseful mystery ... but I did figure it out early! That said, Goodman will have you guessing who did it from start to finish with plenty of twists and turns. The characters were where this fell a bit short for me. I wasn't really invested in a single one of them and that may have to do with where this story starts. I just found that I didn't know anything about the couple who were murdered and that I think impacted how invested I was in determining who murdered them.

Overall a well done story though!

Thanks for the opportunity to read this early!

“Sarah wakes up before I do. ”
Here are reasons to read the YA Mystery book:

Boarding School - At the boarding school of Meadowbrook Academy in Connecticut
Morning surprise - Amy wakes to find her roommate Sarah, and Sarah’s boyfriend Ryan have been murdered
2 POV - We follow the mystery through 2 POV, Amy and Liz, who is the school’s Newspaper editor. Did someone break in? Or is there a killer among them?


I have been a big fan of this author’s previous work. I really loved reading from Liz’s point of view, which makes sense as the author used her previous experience as a journalist to shape that character. However Amy was kind of unlikeable and without a backbone, making it hard to really root for her, despite the predicament she finds herself in. One thing I would have liked to see more of here is, since quite a few characters have negative experiences with the press, that we see more in depth discussion about this instead of a lot of high school drama. I devoured this book though, and if you are a fan of YA Mysteries, you might at least have a good time.

This engaging ya novel centers on two seniors solving a double-murder in a prestigious boarding high school. The culprit is predictable and the denouement feels a little rushed, but the journey to get there is enjoyable and it’s a quick read. The dual and alternating points of view added to the fast pace and offered some insight into the effects of perspective.
I would definitely add this to my classroom library.
Thank you to Penguin Random House for access to this advance copy.

[arc review]
Thank you to Penguin Teen Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Meadowbrook Murders releases February 4, 2025
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Liz is a student journalist and the editor-in-chief at Meadowbrook Academy. The past recipients of the scholarship she’s vying for all share the commonality of unearthing illegal activity within their high school, so when two students at Meadowbrook are murdered, Liz makes it a priority to be the one to break the story to the public and figure out what really happened.

Central to the story is Amy: best friend and roommate of the deceased. When Amy finds Sarah and her boyfriend dead in the room next to her the morning after a senior year party that resulted in an unresolved fight between them, it sparks a question as to whether the person they were fighting about had anything to do with their sudden deaths.

This was fast-paced and interesting enough that I was compelled to finish it in one-sitting. I really enjoyed the setting and the added element of the tunnels, and how Goodman realistically depicted how everyone processes grief differently.

My only qualm is that because the story started out with the deaths of Sarah and Ryan, and there weren’t really any concrete flashbacks of them interacting, it was hard to fully buy into the idea that they were close with Amy when all of the reveals seemed to indicate otherwise.

Jessica Goodman is one of my favorite mystery/thriller writers, and I could not wait to get my hands on this one! Of course, she did not disappoint, and I was hooked from beginning to end. I don't want to spoil anything, but just know that the twists in this are *chefs kiss*.

US pub date: 2/4/25
Genre: YA thriller
Quick summary: Amy's last year of boarding school quickly turns from dream to nightmare when her BFF Sarah and Sarah's boyfriend are murdered on campus. Newspaper editor Liz is determined to get to the bottom of all the secrets Amy doesn't want revealed - and the secrets she didn't know Sarah was keeping.

I really love a boarding school setting, so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it felt a bit too YA for me as an adult reader. It was a quick read, but it didn't wow me. I probably would have really enjoyed it had I read it in high school. I would recommend Goodman's other books, notably THEY'LL NEVER CATCH US, over this one, but I'll continue to read any thrillers she writes.

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.