⭐️: 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.

I really enjoyed this YA boarding school mystery--highly recommended for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson. The Meadowbrook Murders takes place at a prestigious boarding school during the week before school starts. Only the Seniors are on campus, and after a night of partying, Amy finds her roommate and her roommate's boyfriend, Ryan, dead in the adjoining room. Since Amy and her roommate Sarah had a fight at last night's party, Amy and her townie boyfriend, Joseph, immediately become suspects. Amy's chapters reveal the backstory of her friendship with Sarah and alternate with those of Liz, the editor of the school's newspaper, who is investigating the murders. The short chapters will keep you turning the pages until the satisfying ending. Thanks to Netgalley, Penguin/Putnam Publishers, and author Jessica Goodman for the librarian preview copy--can't wait to add this one to our library!

This one is a YA thriller set at a boarding school, where two students are found murdered in a dorm room.. You have me right there at a campus setting, this one event had secret tunnels throughout. The college I went to had steam tunnels that were very storied and so it was so nostalgic for me. It's the start of the senior year of high school, Amy's best friend and roommate Sarah is murdered, along with Sarah's boyfriend. Amy must work to find out what happened to Sarah in order to keep herself and her own boyfriend off the suspect list. .It kept me guessing about quite a few things throughout. I just loved the campus setting. I pictured Chilton Preparatory School from Gilmore Girls, coupled with the steam tunnels of UVA. Recommended for those who like - murder mystery, campus setting, YA thriller, high school drama, Gilmore Girls, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Reconstructing Amelia and books of the like.

Amy and Sarah were ready to take on the world, or at least Meadowbrook Academy, during their senior year. As leaders on the athletic fields and in the social hierarchy of the school, they imagined their last year would be one of fun and memories. During seniors-only events the week before school was set to open, Sarah and her boyfriend were murdered in the dorm room Sarah shared with Amy. Amy, who was present, but heavily under the influence, heard nothing, and became a suspect. Being forced to move dorm rooms, and being placed with Liz, the highly motivated editor of the school newspaper, forced Amy to confront what happened and find the real answers.

This is another YA-murder-mystery-at-a-boarding-school book, with some suspense, but mostly highly improbably happenings. This book isn't bad, just not a stand-out in my opinion. Good addition for high school libraries looking to add to their suspense collections. While there are other themes outside of the murder (alcohol/drug use, lack of supervision of students, sex scenes, foul language) they are minimal and not told or described in graphic detail.

This is a young adult book I really enjoyed! I am not the targeted age for young adult so sometimes they don’t grab my interest. However, this one did! The writing is great, the chapters and short so they hold your attention and the story just flows! The premise hooks you from the start and the mystery element is there!

A fun YA murder mystery with unlikely partners--Amy, whose best friend and her boyfriend were murdered while Amy slept next door, and Liz, a budding journalist who would do anything to get the scoop. I figured out the murderer about two thirds of the way in, but it was still an enjoyable if somewhat forgettable ride.

The Meadowbrook Murders follows two students, Amy and Liv, after a tragedy occurs on campus right before their start of senior year. Sarah and Ryan, Amy’s best friends, were murdered in the room next to hers. With suspicion landing on herself and her townie boyfriend, Amy finds her world turned upside as she learns there were many things she didn’t know about Sarah. Liv, editor of the school newspaper and wannabe journalist, is desperate to uncover the truth and hopefully land a prestigious journalist scholarship. When Amy becomes her new roommate, Liv dives deep into her investigation and finds herself making enemies. With a killer still on the loose, neither girl can afford to let their guards down.

This was a great, gripping mystery! The setting was perfect—there’s something about boarding schools and murder mysteries that go so well together. And the campus having these tunnels and secrets was so fun. The pacing of this book was really well done. All the secrets that get revealed were so interesting and kept the suspicion on who the real killer was. Although, I did guess who it was it didn’t deter my enjoyment—I was just really pleased with myself that I finally got it right!

I really liked both Liv and Amy. I thought their dynamic was well done and the trust between them did not come easy so when they did start truly relying on one other, it felt well earned. Especially as, while their backgrounds and current stories are so different, they each have a lot of similarities about the struggles and touchy moment in their life with lies. I really enjoyed seeing both of them grow and overcome the obstacles. Liv is very intense and somewhat insensitive in her path to get her name as a journalist out there and I thought her character was really well done. Amy definitely went through a lot, but I loved that she still wanted to fight for herself and to find the killer. Both girls are really strong main characters with flaws and felt very realistic.

Overall, if you love murder mysteries at boarding schools with rich kids, I’d definitely recommend checking this one out!

Thank you to Penguin Teen CA and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

4.25/5
Thank you @penguinteen #partner for the gifted copies of this book!

If rich families with dark secrets plus some dark academia mixed together is your cup of tea then you need this one! I’ve read a couple of books by this author and this one is a favorite to date! I am not going to lie with my eldest going away to college next year this one gave me the ick because I just want my son to be safe as he goes away but putting my own issues aside this one creeped me out from the start. A roommate, named Amy, comes home late one night, doesn’t turn on the lights and goes to bed. She wakes up the next morning to find her roommate Sarah and boyfriend were brutally murdered as she slept and she didn’t hear a thing! Liz, another student and also editor, is determined to break the case and start her career. Trying to be sensitive to her classmates she has to go about it carefully. As Liz digs, she discovers maybe this high end boarding school has some dark and dangerous secrets she maybe shouldn’t have uncovered!

This book was completely bingeable, addicting and I was completely shocked by the ending! I loved the fact that everyone had secrets they were trying to bury! 👀 I devoured this in one sitting as it was fast paced and kept my attention with all the twists! It had a lot of what I love in books…rich people doing bad deeds, dark academia, strong, smart heroines and lots is suspense! This is definitely one to add to your shelf in February!