This is my 1st dark acadamia novel and a new to me author. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It longer to complete this book than I would have liked, I kept forgetting to pick it up and would read something else. Could be because I figured it out early on and didn't want to be proved right. Overall, it was a quick read, once I remembered that I was reading it. Not sure if that means it was boring or if I was just interested in other books more. I will read something else from the author, because this could have been a "me" issue.

After two popular seniors are murdered everyone is on edge with a killer in their midst. There are many assumptions within and outside the school community. Liz tries to take advantage of this opportunity as the school’s newspaper editor Meanwhile Amy, the best friend of the murdered girl, is trying to hold it together while those close to her are suspect

I enjoyed the alternating voices of the two protagonists. One was basically an outsider with no real friends while the other was with the popular crowd. Both had problems within their family. Amy didn’t trust anyone involved in news reporting due to her own personal family history. Liz was trying to write a news worthy story in order to procure a scholarship. Both had to ultimately join forces to catch a killer.

Overall, this was a good short YA thriller, but I would have liked a little more character and emotional depth.

I really enjoyed this dark, twitsty murder mystery that takes place at Meadowbrook Academy, a boarding school. It was told from two points of view - Amy, who finds her best friend and her boyfriend murdered in their shared room, and Liz, the newspaper editor. I really enjoyed the two perspectives, as Amy is trying to figure out what happened for herself and Liz is investigating in order to write about it. It's fast paced, gripping and while a little predictable, still a fun enjoyable read.

I enjoyed this book! I love books that are set in a boarding school setting, and this checked all the boxes-rich kids, a murder, everyone acting shady. I

I enjoyed the main character, and appreciated that they didn't dumb her down like so many author's do with high school students. I also liked the mysetery, and the fact that there were so many suspects to go through to try to find the killer.

The beginning immediately grabs your interest and thrusts you into the bloody murders of 2 boarding school seniors. The remainder takes you through the twists and turns of all their complicated relationships. The suspense of what happened leaves an eerie feeling throughout the entire fast paced story. We just don't know who may be next or who is responsible for the grizzly murders, leaving no one feeling safe.

Thank you to the publisher for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Jessica Goodman is a go-to read for me and The Meadowbrook Murders didn’t disappoint. I love a boarding school setting and the small-town secrets piled on top the brutal murder of two privileged students was a perfect mixture. I enjoyed the two POVs of one popular, athletic student and the outcast student journalist and the way they were forced together throughout the book. One star removed because Amy (one victim’s best friend and roommate) did herself no favors keeping secrets and tampering with evidence at certain points. And I know that highschool girls can be evil, but some of these “friends” were super nasty in their mourning. Overall, The Meadowbrook Murders isn’t revolutionary. It’s an entertaining page-turner with popular tropes and I liked it better than The Legacies but probably about the same as all her others. A tried-and-true YA book that fans off Goodman and first-timers will definitely enjoy.

I am an avid fan of KMM. This book did NOT disappoint! I cannot wait for the next book to be available.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author/publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I am a huge fan of this author and was very excited to read it. I really enjoyed this book and it didn't take me long to read at all. The mystery was good and I actually did not figure it out until they revealed the culprit. I look forward to reading more of the authors books in the future.

The first week of senior year finds two kids murdered in their dorm.
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Amy wakes up after a night of partying for Senior Week only to find her best friend and her boyfriend brutally murdered in their shared dorm at the elite private school they both attend. Liz hears about the case and breaks the story as the editor-in-chief for their school paper. Amy and Liz both want answers, but for different reasons. When eyes start to turn to Amy as the killer, the two team up to get the answers about what happened that night.
🏫
This was such a great YA dark academia thriller by one of my favorite writers in this genre. I found the dual perspectives to help build the suspense, keeping me reading to see what happened next. I read this in one sitting! Students will love Jessica Goodman’s newest book when it releases February 4!

CW: blood, emesis, death, murder, violence, alcohol, classism, parental abandonment

Deducted 1 ⭐️ because I easily figured out the killer pretty early one

I have to admit I am a sucker for dark academia so this book was a hit with me. One of my favorite parts of this book is the short chapters that keep the story moving along. Both of the POVs are interesting. This book is very well paced and well written.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC! I’m always looking for mysteries to recommend to my students as that’s a popular genre for them. This one didn’t disappoint, and I can see my students enjoying it. The book is told in alternating POVs of Sarah, the roommate and best friend of the murdered girl and Liz, a college journalist looking to make a name for herself. While I’m not sure the murder is very believable, this was a fun mystery with plenty of creepy twists that keep the reader interested. You’ll find yourself suspecting new people as Liz and Sarah do, and, even though I had a suspicion of who the murdered was, it was pretty well concealed until the end. There’s some good teen drama here, and the language wasn’t too bad in it with sexual situations not being graphic but referred to as “hooking up.” Overall, I’d say this is best for older MS to HS readers, and I went from 3 stars to 4, considering teens would like it a little better than I did. Its creepy and right up their alley!

This was really good book but some of the characters drove me nuts, lol. You’re rarely gonna love every character though, so that doesn’t take away from the story. What surprised me most was who the killer ended up being. I never had them on my radar b/c they just didn’t have a motive that was obvious. They seemed like a good person who wouldn’t have any beef with anyone and came across as completely trustworthy.

But that’s what makes a story good, when the bad character is so careful and does such a great job of building your trust and acting as if nothing happened. There are plenty of characters that are suspicious or untrustworthy to keep you on your toes, guessing who could be so callous and why they would kill 2 people. You find yourself loving and loathing different characters throughout the book as they mature and change. But it’s not until almost the end that you start to figure out who the killer is and what their motive was and that’s when things really heat up.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

*3.5! ⭐️

This book wins the award for THE most insane first chapter I think I've ever read. Like WOW. If you can go in somewhat blind do it!!

As a whole I enjoyed myself with this one! Personally connected with Liz a lot but all the characters felt fleshed out and had depth, even the ones who were dead lol. Honestly with most other books I read in the YA genre the characters can feel really trope-y. The mystery itself had some cool aspects, you’ve just got to suspend your belief a bit. That last 35% though? It took OFF. I did not put the book down, despite it being 1am and I having class the next day. I somehow guessed the plot twist (go me!!) but honestly it didn’t take too much away from the final act

Thanks net galley <3

Book:
THE MEADOWBROOK MURDERS by Jessica Goodman
Thank you so much PenguinTeen and Netgalley for the EARC (Feb 4)

Review:
5⭐
THE MEADOWBROOK MURDERS is an über twisted thriller that follows the m*rders of two students at Meadowbrook Academy.
Senior year. It's supposed to be a time for Amy and her friends Sarah to have one last hoorah before classes start. After a fight, Amy finds Sarah and boyfriend murdered. To prove her innocence, and get justice for her friends, a reluctant Amy teams up with Liz, uncovering secrets and lies worth k*lling for.
Hands down this is my favorite book that Jessica Goodman has written. From the very first page, there was no putting this down. I literally read over half of it without realizing, engrossed in the story a story of ultimate betrayal. This page-turner was dramatic, and while Amy and Liz worked to unravel the truth, the craziness of it all was more than I could imagine. And that whodunit. I called it---not exactly everything about the reveals, but as the m*rder was solved I knew it was [Redacted].
10/10 would recommend, and I cannot wait til February to read this again.

3.5 stars, rounded down.
I like boarding school mysteries and I love Jessica Goodman, so this was a win win for me. I liked that even though it was told in alternating first person POVs, each voice felt unique enough that I had no trouble differentiating between Liz and Amy. I loved watching the friendship between the two develop. While I found this kind of predictable (I thought the killer was pretty obvious from early on, though I didn't know the "why" until the end), I still wanted to find out how Liz and Amy would reach the truth.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Once i started, i couldn't put this one fown. Quick and easy read. I loved the short chapters. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

The Meadowbrook Murders

is an enthralling YA thriller with fantastic dark academia elements. It starts right off the bat with the worst imaginable happening to one of our main characters.

I really enjoyed the two main POVs and how they juxtapose each other. The writing is strong, with the author really conveying that strong sense of dread and ‘constantly looking over your shoulder.’

This isn’t a story with a happy ending and I like that the dread, the morose and melancholia sensation stayed present entirely throughout. It enhanced the eerie and the need to find out what really happened!

I’d recommend this read for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Ghosts of Harvard. 3.5 stars, rounding to a 4 🙂

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of The Meadowbrook Murders. For me, Jessica Goodman's books are either a big hit or a big miss. The Meadowbrook Murders was a big hit for me. I was invested from the beginning and taken by surprise a few times. When I read a murder mystery, I give it a few chapters and then make two to three guesses about who the murderer is. Was my guess in my top three for this book? No. It was my fourth guess, which is a mark of a story that keeps me, a person who has been reading mysteries at different levels for 30+ years, on my toes and invested.

Is The Meadowbrook Murders groundbreaking? No.
Is it fun? Yes.
Will I purchase it for our library? Yes.
Will I recommend it when someone is looking for something to read after they've ripped through all my Holly Jacksons and my Karen McManuses? 100%.

What a great read! If you need a YA thriller to binge, look no further!

#yathriller #meadowbrookmurders #nextgreatread #bingeworthy

All in all, the book was pretty good. It was definitely a page turner, leaving me wanting to ignore my real life obligations to figure out who did it and how we were going to find out - key factors in a thriller book.

The book was also fast paced and an attention grabber. It did include dual POV and enough twists and a creeping feeling to keep you on your toes and more specifically to keep reading!