For a teen mystery/thriller, it was enjoyable. However, the writing was just okay and the characters did not have enough depth for me. I wish I connected more with them to feel thrown off by the resolution of the killer :/ It was a quick and fun read though, i love love rich kid drama.

Huge thank you to Penguin Teen and Jessica Goodman for sending me a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It's Amy and Sarah's senior year at Meadowbrook Academy. This is their year, their entire futures stretched out in front of them, a year full of boathouse parties and dates with their boyfriends and getting ready for college. But that's before Amy walks into Sarah's bedroom one more and finds her and her boyfriend, Ryan, lying dead in Sarah's bed-brutally stabbed to death, all without Amy having heard a thing in the next room.

But when Liz, the editor of the school newspaper, makes a decision to report on the situation without permission in hopes of landing a college scholarship, all eyes flip to Amy as the number one person of interest in Sarah's death. And with pieces missing, half-truths, and a whole lot of skeletons in the closet, things start to unravel fast. And with the police set to catch the killer as soon as possible to avoid bad publicity for the prestigious school and their angry-at-the-wrong-things alumni, Liz and Amy find themselves at the center of a storm that they never anticipated.

This is not my first Jessica Goodman book, and there's a reason I keep coming back. She writes excellent murder mysteries with well-fleshed out casts of characters. YA thrillers are hard to master because you run into the issue of cardboard characters, too many characters, and trite dialogue with chaotic side plots that leave you confused. This book had none of that. This was a YA thriller with the feel of an old school murder mystery, just the right tone and level of emotion and intrigue.

The Meadowbrook Murders releases on 02/04/2025 and I highly recommend adding this to your TBR list right away.

This murder mystery at a boarding school will definitely keep you guessing and turning. I really liked the different POVs of Amy, the roommate of one of the murder victims and Liz the editor in Chief of the school paper who is on the outside of the senior class. I could not put this book down

Thank you to Penguin Teen for my arc!

This story is entirely the reason why i enjoy YA Thrillers so much because you just have a good old fashion murder mystery which you don't get to read a lot in YA anymore and it saddens me so The Meadowbrook Murders was fantastic. I loved Liz and Amy and their friendship and how you get to see them grow and the plot weirdly reminded me of something I've seen in the news recently and I'm curious to know if this book was based off that but this story was so fast paced, I was constantly wrong about who the killer was and when it was finally revealed, I was completely surprised. really enjoyed this!

I've read four other books by this author, this one might be my favorite. I really enjoyed the switching POV between the two girls, one directly involved as the best friend/roommate, while the other is trying to report on this mystery. The two of them are forced to become roommates. They don't really work together until the very end, but I was cheering when they finally teamed up. It also has a fun setting of a boarding school. Can't wait for this author's next YA thriller and to see where it's set!

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.