Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The New Girl

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto

31 reviews

czoltak's review

funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book was like a bad soap opera. The characters were annoying, the dialogue was cringy, and the plot was completely over the top. However, there was something weirdly, compulsively readable about this that made it hard to put down. Points to the audiobook and that fact for making it so I read this book in only a matter of hours 🤷‍♀️

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msbarnesela's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I’m probably the wrong audience for this, but I like the author’s other books, so I gave it a shot. It’s a fast-paced, tense story, perfect for YA readers who like thrillers. I found nearly every character to be unlikable; I started out rooting for the MC but hated her by the end. I also found myself internally screaming, “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP TRYING TO ESPIONAGE YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS AND TELL A $@*%#@% GROWN UP.” Not that the adults were much better, although the MC could’ve called her mom.

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theoceanrose's review

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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au_conn1's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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fkshg8465's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I wish I’d read this one before The Obsession since that would’ve been chronologically correct. I always feel discombobulated when reading or watching series out of sequence. But there really isn’t much connection between the two books either, other than one character who spends most of the story off script. So it shouldn’t have bothered me so much other than these events of The Obsession lost some of the logic for me. Also, ask the characters were dispicable and disposable.

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honestlyyours77's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I will note that I listened to the audio version of this book which I fear is completely responsible for my lack of enjoyment of it.
I wish there was a user based app where there was at least an audio book section to rate the reading of the book since it has such an impact on the consumption of the work.

I wanted to scream at the characters but most likely because of how Eunice Wong performed it. I honestly wonder if some of there female audio readers of a certain age have ever had interactions with a teen. Their caricature like performances are getting more and more ridiculous and completely taking the consumer out of the story. This may not be the authors fault directly but they are ultimately responsible for their work and need to figure out something better as not to ruin their novels.

Audio readers need to walk the line of reading the book with energy and nuance to get a reader engaged and know the intent of the emotion going on but not step into completely taking over and not allowing the consumer to build their vision of the world being put forth.

Spoilers…

For the book. It was terribly predictable. Just once I would like the nice good looking boyfriend that the protagonist didn’t think they could “get”, to not be the culprit in the end. Other than the predictability if it, it is contributing to a very sexist mindset in many facets.

The biggest issue with the work is that it’s simply not believable. While nobody should be ridiculed or even commented on for their race, sex, financial status etc… it’s no wonder she isn’t liked as she is so over the top.

Stories are recycled often and that is fine but you need to do it well and this just does not hit the mark. It has the “been there , heard that” feeling of gossip girl, mean girls and a hint of pretty little liars all rolled into one and it just doesn’t live up.

It was also an edited mess. There were many holes that should have been caught by the editors or in the editing the holes inadvertently got created. Either way it was a fail.

Positives? The color of the cover is pretty. It’s also nice to have diverse characters that are from different cultures. I just just a shame it didn’t have more positives to go along with it.

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btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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bookishmillennial's review

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

Premise:

contemporary teenage fictional thriller
second book in the Obsession series (though it feels more like a companion book, since this takes place before the events of The Obsession)
Lia, the titular new girl of an elite private, dormitory-based high school Draycott Academy, starts school on a track scholarship during her sophomore year, and sees Sophie (mentioned in book one) being dragged out of the campus on her first day
Lia makes friends with Beth, another Indonesian American student, and Danny, a Chinese-Indonesian student who has complicated relationships with his family back in Jakarta
She quickly makes enemies with the girls on her track team, especially Mandy, and seemingly Stacey, a computer/hacking genius
Lia's English professor Mr. Werner tries to convince her to drop his class and take an "easier" class, as he does not think she will succeed
Lia learns the inner workings of this elitist microcosm of society -- she downloads Draycott Dirt, reminiscent of Gossip Girl, FML, Reddit, or Twitter (but anonymous), and begins to see the constant gossip that is spread about every one of her classmates, including her!
Though the odds and 99% of everyone at Draycott Academy seem to be against her, Lia is determined to make it work so she can have a real shot at getting into college
check content warnings below because sheeeeeeeesh!

Thoughts:
It's giving Gossip Girl x Pretty Little Liars x Crazy Rich Asians x AGGGTM x dark academia !!!!

I actually really enjoyed this book so much more than the first book, and I devoured the first one!

I appreciated the commentary on the racism within the Asian diaspora against each other, especially the Chinese racism towards native Indonesians. I think most people don't know that this type of discrimination exists within the Asian communities (unless you are immersed in the community), so I was glad this was highlighted!

Lia was such a fierce, strong-willed, and brave main character to root for. Of course she was not perfect (what 15- or 16-year old is? SHOW ME, I'LL WAIT!), but I felt she did what she needed to in order to survive. This academy and almost everyone in it continued to throw obstacles in her way, and Lia refused to let them win. She used their hatred and opposition as fuel to work harder. I was infuriated, disgusted, and disappointed along with Lia, and Jesse wrote those feelings so well!

Also, even though this is mostly tense, dark, angry, and devastating, Lia still made me laugh sometimes too! Her self-deprecating humor was a quick moment of light, which was much needed because I spent most of this book grinding my teeth and holding my breath !!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the way this mystery and thriller unraveled, and I will continue to read anything Jesse writes!

Quotations that stood out to me (may be some spoilers so read at your own risk!):

“Bet she shops at Target,” her friend replies, to which they all laugh.
“Actually, it’s Walmart, so all of you can suck it.”

What he doesn’t know is that I live off moments like this. Every time someone tells me I can’t do something, all it does is fuel me. I’d take their nay-saying and pound it into a hot, angry kernel, and whenever I’m tempted to give up, I’d hold that kernel in my mind’s eye and let the rage push me forward. Pure fuel.

“Did I just step into a K-drama? What’s going on?”

My entire future is about to be destroyed because I’m the wrong color.

Why? Because racism. That’s fucking why. Non-Asians wouldn’t understand the hierarchy that exists between different Asian cultures. To them, we’re all just one big giant category.

“Shut up! I’m trying to sleep!”
Yes, well, Anya, some of us are trying to shake off the trauma of their first homicide.

She’ll think I’m showing off, and I’m not doing that at all, I just need to outrun this cursed voice in my head.
Dirty, lying, murdering bitch.
Did I mention that the voice is mean AF?
But the thing is, it also has a point.

Can I hate myself any more than this? Not possible. Every atom in my body is seething, picking up a tiny spear and jabbing it into my being. I am officially the worst person in the history of worst people.

The mention of it poisons the moment, chilling me all the way to my core. The race thing. What an innocuous way of referring to something insidious that nearly got me killed. Despite myself, despite all the guilt I’m still grappling with for
lying continuously to Danny, I feel a sudden stab of icy hatred toward his family.

Drug dealers are known to often kill people, so it would be easy to believe that the dealer probably
killed Mr. Werner as well. Right?
Right. That way, the cops will stop sniffing around the school; plus, they’ll see me as a good, helpful kid. Maybe. Only problem is: How? If the cops aren’t able to find out who’s involved in the drug ring, how am I supposed to do it? Okay, think. Think. Thiiiink. Hmm. This Shakespeare-worthy inner monologue goes on for a while.

And I realize, again, how disappointing it is to realize that the adults who are supposed to be looking out for you are only looking out for themselves.

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caswrites's review

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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willowmae's review

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Not as good as the other book in the series.
This book is a prequel to, I personally recommend reading the other book first.

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