4.5⭐

The cover really caught my interest, and I’m thankful I was approved to read this ARC! I loved the characters. I think Virginia’s sister was my favorite. Based on how Virginia described Victoria at the start, I thought she was going to be rude and awful, but she was the complete opposite. The only thing I didn’t like was the MG romance, because it doesn’t hit the same as YA. I think it would have been better if Virginia and Grayson stayed (best) friends.

Why is everything Jodi Meadows writes so charming? I don’t read a ton of midgrade, but the writing on these doesn't make you feel like they are only for kids. There's something about them that makes them relatable even though the characters are only 13.

Took me a minute to get past the second-hand embarrassment from the first bit, but once the MC was away from her toxic friends, I loved her.

Recommended.

I find that it's rare for a middle grade book to remind me so vividly what being thirteen years old was like. I've read and enjoyed MANY middle grade/upper middle grade books, but few capture the 13-14 year old age bracket so well. This was praise I had for BYE FOREVER I GUESS and CONFESSIONS FROM THE GROUP CHAT had that same cozy nostalgic charm to it. Don't get me wrong--I love and have found absolutely fantastic upper middle grade titles that are darker and grittier and don't shy away from the heavier things that can happen to a kid that age--but sometimes kids (and I) want a story that feels true to form but that is still fun and cozy. Sometimes kids read cute and fun YA romances and love them but wish they could read about a Liz Buxbaum or Lara Jean Covey that's THEIR age, worrying about things THEY worry about. That's exactly what Jodi Meadows has provided with her DEER HILL ANONYMOUS series, which I will be recommending to every middle school girl who asks for romance recs.

Virginia Vaughn feels like an outsider in her own friend group – the one who doesn’t have her own thing, the one who is not pretty enough. The one who feels compelled to also say cruel things about classmates in their group chat. When she finally stands up to the leader of the group, the release her mean texts – but of course not their own. Luckily she has big sister and a mysterious boy that she has started texting with to guide her through this horrible time.
Really fun and heartbreaking in turns, I enjoyed this books and am very grateful there were no cell phones when I was in middle school. It works on many levels – beware of the problems phones bring with them and also the good things that can happen when you look up from your phone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for this DRC.
#ConfessionsFromtheGroupChat #NetGalley

Confessions From the Group Chat, was such a great book for Middle school grade students. This delt with loosing friendships and creating new friendships. I thought the idea of friends taking snapshots of private conversations and sharing them with others is something that everyone not only middle school grade but even into adult age is something everyone is afraid of. Especially when something we are the most vulnerable with the people we are texting and should have trust in the friendship. This book takes a deeper dive in what it means to be friend and to also stand up to what you believe is right, even if you are the only one standing.

Loved the book!!

Thank you NetGalley for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! I read it in one sitting! It was adorable and cute with lots and twists and turns that kept me totally engaged throughout the entire novel. I'm definitely going to recommend it to all my teacher friends.

Jodi Meadows is my new favorite kids author, her characters are just *so cute*. Also, I love that all her MCs are big knit/weavers! Go yarn enthusiasts, we're a tight knit group!
I do like that Jodi Meadows includes internet safety and being honest with your parents about what you're doing online as a BIG theme in her books. Kids nowadays are online and doing so many things that its good to see fiction books showing that being safe is important, especially when giving your number out to people who you don't know. Positive influence is key.

I think this is a great story for middle schoolers about what friendship actually is. In addition to being a super-sweet romance, it's mostly a story about how trying to fit in doesn't always mean you'll make friends, and that your friends can sometimes make you...worse. There was a lot that worked for me in this story, ESPECIALLY the secret-identity texting.

Jodi is the master of the middle grade rom-com and she has great cover artists as well. There were some issues with the formatting that made it difficult to read (just for the publisher to be aware of), but I'm sure that will be fixed before the final edition. I love this little world Jodi has created with this book and her most recent before it, and I hope she continues as I think these will be fan favorites with teachers and librarians.

What happens in the group chat should stay in the group chat. Unless your friends are the actual worst! Virginia's friend group isn't the best to begin with (very much mean girls) but what they did to her was foul. I hate that no one helped stand up for her, but that's unfortunately what it's like in middle school.
I found this extremely relatable, for all ages really. Navigating friendships and just trying to gauge where you fit in. I loved this. The friendship between Virginia and Grayson was also very sweet. I'm a sucker for stories told in messages and this did not disappoint. It was exactly what I hoped for.
Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC

What happens when you stand up to the bully in your friend group and out them in front of the whole cafeteria? Come with Virgina as she navigates the world of bullies in her life, through texts, online messages, and in person bullying. When do mean comments cross the line between razzing your friends and trying to tear them down? Will Virginia be able to survive middle school?

Confessions From the Group Chat is a sweet book about friendship, loyalty and the consequences of gossip and bullying. Virginia is a thirteen year old middle school student trying to fit in. When she gets into a verbal fight with the queen mean girl, every unkind thing she had ever said in their group chat is published on social media. She finds herself ostracized from almost the entire school. An unexpected text from a stranger starts her on a journey of self-discovery. Confessions has all of the feels: angst, humor, romance. It is a squeaky clean read appropriate for any grade.

I received a free advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I am excited to share this book with my students, This book is so real and so relevant. The characters are well written and the story is a quick read. Great advice throughout the book.

I absolutely adored this!!! In Jodi Meadows' second MG romcom, we meet a tween girl, Virginia, who finds herself chatting with an online stranger-turned-crush. Yet when Virginia's mean texts from her group chat with her friends are leaked, she may be at risk of losing everything with her new online friend. This was SO cute, and I really liked how realistically flaws the MC was—I think most of us have said/done things we regret as tweens, often as a result of peer pressure and wanting to fit in, and I loved seeing this portrayed in this story! I think tween readers will also love all the texting, which made this a fast-paced read. Love love love and can't wait for Jodi's next MG romance :)

Jodi Meadows masterfully captures contemporary middle graders' concerns in Confessions From the Group Chat. Taking place in the same fictional town as her previous middle grade novel, Bye Forever, I Guess, this new novel mines similar territory: changing friendships, bullying, and first crushes. In this book, main character Virginia is both the bully and the bullied: when mean texts she sent about her classmates get posted online, she turns to the only friend she has--Knight Errant, the anonymous person she reaches out to because their phone number is one digit off from hers. Turns out Knight Errant is a boy her age, and from her town. As Virginia and Knight grow closer and she starts to develop a crush on him, she begins to realize he might not be anonymous after all. And that's a problem, because if he's who she thinks he is some of the worst things she's said were about him.

Virginia's a well-developed character, who elicits sympathy despite her own bad behavior. Rather than deny the things she's texted and implicate her friends as well, she takes responsibility and resolves to be a better person. The young characters' technology use feels realistic; the emphasis on online safety is appreciated. Well-developed supporting characters (Knight, Virginia's friend Jess, and Virginia's older sister) provide much needed support when Virginia is at her lowest, and her parents provide excellent comic relief via a minor subplot about a home improvement project.

Virginia's friends aren't always nice, but they're her friends. Until the day they turn on her and start posting her mean texts from the group chat to a public message board. She is mortified--and ashamed of herself for having joined in their meanness--but there is nothing she can do to make it better. Her only solace is her anonymous text-based friendship with a boy her age. And then even that goes wrong--or at least very weird.

Relatable middle-school drama.

Jodi Meadows delivers a refreshingly honest and heartfelt middle grade novel in Confessions From the Group Chat, capturing the tangled web of adolescence, digital drama, and the search for self. With empathy and humor, Meadows gives readers an inside look into the social and emotional landscape of middle school in the age of smartphones and viral messages.

The story centers on Virginia, a relatable and resilient protagonist who finds herself caught in the whirlwind of online gossip, fractured friendships, and self-discovery. When her trusted group chat turns toxic and private conversations are made public, Virginia is forced to reckon with the harsh reality of digital betrayal. What follows is a journey not only to reclaim her dignity but also to uncover what true friendship and personal identity really mean.

Meadows’ writing is spot-on for the middle grade audience. She captures the emotional highs and lows of tweens navigating the murky waters of social media and peer relationships. The use of text threads, chat logs, and multimedia formatting adds a layer of authenticity and makes the novel especially accessible and engaging for reluctant readers. Despite its shorter page count, this book packs a powerful punch with its timely themes and realistic characters.

What sets this novel apart is its balance—it offers depth without feeling heavy. Virginia’s experiences open the door to conversations about digital responsibility, emotional intelligence, boundaries, and the lasting impact of words. Her journey includes light touches of humor, an age-appropriate romance, and meaningful family moments, all of which make her story both multidimensional and memorable.

I wholeheartedly recommend Confessions From the Group Chat for classroom and school libraries, as well as for parents looking to open meaningful conversations with their kids. It’s a must-read for the modern middle schooler and a valuable tool for guiding young readers through today’s digital dilemmas with compassion and clarity.

Virginia learns the hard way that what happens in the group chat doesn't always stay in the group chat. When she stands up for herself to her middle school friends, things turn ugly as they set up a revenge account to humiliate her. Finding herself suddenly friendless at school, Virginia takes comfort in texts with her "text-door neighbor," an unknown boy her age. If you've read Meadows' first book set in Deer Hill (Bye Forever, I Guess), you'll quickly see where this one is headed. Predictability and sweet serendipity are what make rom-coms so addicting, especially for middle school girls, so I know this one will be a big hit once it reaches my classroom library shelves. I'm sure they'll be asking for another Deer Hill book soon! As their teacher, I hope they take Virginia's experience as a cautionary tale before they post anything that could come back to haunt them—and that they learn who those safe adults are in their lives whom they can turn to when it's all too much.

Virginia, Jess, Kat and Mary Heather are friends. Or, at least, Virginia believes they are. After Kat makes fun of Virginia for her crush on the no longer popular boy Grayson, Virginia has had enough. She stands up to Kat and loses her friend group. To make matters worse, Kat and Mary Heather set up an internet account where they post mean texts Virginia has written in their group chat about some of her classmates. These are edited so that the students believe Virginia is the only one saying these things, when all of the girls in the group chat have said mean things about the other kids. Now no one wants to speak to Virginia so she tries to contact her “text door neighbor” - a trend where you send an anonymous text to a number one digit off your own number. Luckily, a boy her age who identifies as “Knight Errant” befriends her on the phone. He and her older sister Victoria support her through her former friends’ continued cyber bullying. Virginia learns that she must confront her bullies, accept the consequences of the mean things she said and become a better person than she was.

Virginia experiences a lot of character development. Her relationship with her older sister was very sweet. Internet safety, parental monitoring of teens' interactions online and the dangers of cyber bulling are portrayed well, not overly preachy or unrealistic. I think my students will enjoy this book.

Wow! This was so endearing!! I hadn’t expected to get hooked on middle school drama and keep flipping the pages. Now this is a short read at 272 pages but a lot of that is formatting of text exchanges so don’t let the length put you off from getting it for your middle grade reader.

The plot and details are so relevant to the age and there is a lot to be learned from the coming of age book. It teachers our young readers how much words can hurt as well as the challenges of social media. It explores what a friendship really is, a budding age appropriate romance, judging a book by its cover and familiar relationships. A little bit of everything to get a reader engaged.

This is one I’m going to highly suggest for parents and teachers to have in their personal libraries.

I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary eARC from Holiday House through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.


My rating system for Middle Grade and children’s books

⭐️ Significant problems and would never recommend to the audience.
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea but may have some appeal.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ an ok book which I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend but it has some value for young readers
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! I would recommend for the age or reading level appropriate for the book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Would recommend highly, especially to school programs as a wide spread reading opportunity.