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msbarnesela's review
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Bullying
Moderate: Eating disorder, Drug use, and Addiction
au_conn1's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Minor: Eating disorder and Homophobia
btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Violence, and Bullying
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Eating disorder
TW: mentions HPsienna1508's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-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
3.5
This is a good book but I found the main character to be a bit cringy in some parts. The author used a lot of current-day teenager slang which I feel will get a bit out of date in a few years.
I wouldn't say this book is bad, but it isn't as good as The Obsession.
I feel like there were a lot of weird moments where the book was really rollercoaster-ish. It does deal with a lot of sensitive areas which I can see as being problematic because they feel very stereotypical and underdone.
I feel like the cover doesn't really match the book. I feel like if the book was more like the cover it would've been a much better book. Jesse Q. Sutanto is such a great writer - especially in The Obsession - so tbh this wasn't really what I expected.
I wouldn't say this book is bad, but it isn't as good as The Obsession.
I feel like there were a lot of weird moments where the book was really rollercoaster-ish. It does deal with a lot of sensitive areas which I can see as being problematic because they feel very stereotypical and underdone.
I feel like the cover doesn't really match the book. I feel like if the book was more like the cover it would've been a much better book. Jesse Q. Sutanto is such a great writer - especially in The Obsession - so tbh this wasn't really what I expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Bullying
Moderate: Racism, Eating disorder, Classism, Addiction, Drug use, Murder, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Suicide
jasmineslibraryy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
train wreck but in a fun messy teenage girl way
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Cursing, Racism, and Alcohol
Moderate: Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Stalking, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting
wulfwyn's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I read The Obsession and needed more. The New Girl was written after but I'm not sure if it takes place the same time as The Obsession or before. Read them both.
We get to know a lot about Lia. I liked her and kept rooting for her even after she started making questionable choices. I liked Stacey and Beth. Danny was the perfect boyfriend. The others, I either disliked or was ambivalent about them.
I really enjoyed how the story unfolded and all the twists that suddenly would appear. I kept guessing at who did what. I was correct a few times. But all those other times, when a twist popped up, kept me turning pages. If twisty YA is your thing, pick this up.
We get to know a lot about Lia. I liked her and kept rooting for her even after she started making questionable choices. I liked Stacey and Beth. Danny was the perfect boyfriend. The others, I either disliked or was ambivalent about them.
I really enjoyed how the story unfolded and all the twists that suddenly would appear. I kept guessing at who did what. I was correct a few times. But all those other times, when a twist popped up, kept me turning pages. If twisty YA is your thing, pick this up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Bullying
Moderate: Eating disorder, Classism, and Murder
collinsd's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Classism, Bullying, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Eating disorder
Minor: Vomit
ulviyyask's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Bullying, and Vomit
Moderate: Eating disorder, Drug use, and Violence
Minor: Racism and Racial slurs
sarahmreads's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
2.5
Lia is the new girl at Draycott Academy, an elite boarding school that she hopes will be able to earn the track scholarship of her dreams. However, when her move-in day consists of a student being dragged away from the school by the police, it's clear to see that not everything is what it seems at Draycott. Will Lia survive the year?
It was so hard to get into the first half of this book. While it did move at an extremely fast pace that I really wasn't expecting, so it was hard to catch up. It was kind of like trying to jump on a treadmill that's already at its fastest speed. The introduction to the school barely lasted like 10 pages before Lia is shown her room and the drama begins. Once I got a good portion into the book, I finally managed to pick up on the pace of the story.
The plot was very much Ace of Spades and Mean Girls, but not really in the best way. There were so many plot twists, but a lot of them came off as pretty predictable based on the nature of the story. And this story was basically "rich people suck, power to the lower class!" I can't really speak on the authenticity of the Chinese-Indonesian and Asian representations as I am not of these backgrounds. I will say that the one queer character in this story felt very forced. It was like "I said that to you because I like you" and it's never brought up again, because Lia is not queer. Lia also looks away from a stray boob at one party and it kind of just rubbed off the wrong way to me.
Everyone was SO PETTY it was unreal. The bullies had absolutely no depth to them besides "hey we're the mean girls and we love to see you suffer." In fact, almost every other character felt too basic. Lia was basically defined by her track and her own depression and anxiety from what happens over the course of this book. Half the time I swear she was crying or just horribly lying. I also wasn't a huge fan of her inner dialogue or her actual dialogue. Overall, the characters weren't really believable or likeable.
Probably the only real thing that kept me going in this story was seeing how far some extremes would go, because those would be quite amusing although they really didn't make the most sense.
The New Girl is just another rehash of every typical new girl boarding school dark academia story that was just a disappointment and a drag despite being fast-paced.
I received a copy of this story as an ARC from NetGalley. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
It was so hard to get into the first half of this book. While it did move at an extremely fast pace that I really wasn't expecting, so it was hard to catch up. It was kind of like trying to jump on a treadmill that's already at its fastest speed. The introduction to the school barely lasted like 10 pages before Lia is shown her room and the drama begins. Once I got a good portion into the book, I finally managed to pick up on the pace of the story.
The plot was very much Ace of Spades and Mean Girls, but not really in the best way. There were so many plot twists, but a lot of them came off as pretty predictable based on the nature of the story. And this story was basically "rich people suck, power to the lower class!" I can't really speak on the authenticity of the Chinese-Indonesian and Asian representations as I am not of these backgrounds. I will say that the one queer character in this story felt very forced. It was like "I said that to you because I like you" and it's never brought up again, because Lia is not queer. Lia also looks away from a stray boob at one party and it kind of just rubbed off the wrong way to me.
Everyone was SO PETTY it was unreal. The bullies had absolutely no depth to them besides "hey we're the mean girls and we love to see you suffer." In fact, almost every other character felt too basic. Lia was basically defined by her track and her own depression and anxiety from what happens over the course of this book. Half the time I swear she was crying or just horribly lying. I also wasn't a huge fan of her inner dialogue or her actual dialogue. Overall, the characters weren't really believable or likeable.
Probably the only real thing that kept me going in this story was seeing how far some extremes would go, because those would be quite amusing although they really didn't make the most sense.
The New Girl is just another rehash of every typical new girl boarding school dark academia story that was just a disappointment and a drag despite being fast-paced.
I received a copy of this story as an ARC from NetGalley. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Violence, and Racism
Minor: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Hate crime, and Vomit
PTSDkindredbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
3.0
I received an e-galley of The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto from Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the second book this year that I requested from a publisher that is part of a series. I had not read The Obsession but was luckily able to find a copy at my local library. I can now say that you do not need to read The Obsession before you get to The New Girl but it will definitely help as characters from the first book appear in this book. Though to be fair, in order to not spoil anything for yourself, it's probably best to read it in the order that it's published even though the events of The New Girl actually happen 3 years before The Obsession.
Okay, The Obsession is not my usual genre that I tend to gravitate towards. I'm not a huge mystery/thriller fan but I was drawn to this one because I really enjoyed Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto. And after reading that book, I should have had a better idea of what I was going to get into with The New Girl and The Obsession. This series centers on events that occur at Draycott Academy, a prestigious boarding school for the rich. In The New Girl, Lia is the new girl as the novel is aptly named. She's transferred to Draycott on a track scholarship and soon finds herself the target of bullying because of her new track team members. As Lia begins to navigate these trials at her new school, she finds that there is a lot of dark secrets that students and staff are hiding. She soon finds herself finding out these secrets in order to secure her place at school.
The New Girl is so intense and dark. I found it so interesting - just all the drama, subterfuge, and conspiracies that these students were getting into. A certain aspect of the story that parrticularly intrigued me is the idea of good people doing bad things. It's a combination of bad timing, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and sometimes just having bad luck. I found that Lia was making choices that were morally wrong - but I couldn't fault her for them completely seeing how she ended up in those particular moments. I think that this is something that Jesse Q. Sutanto really likes to explore in her books - seeing as it is a running theme in all three books that I have read from her so far.
Like I mentioned before, this is not my usual genre but I enjoyed reading The New Girl and Jesse Q. Sutanto continues to be an author that I will keep an eye on for more books.
This is the second book this year that I requested from a publisher that is part of a series. I had not read The Obsession but was luckily able to find a copy at my local library. I can now say that you do not need to read The Obsession before you get to The New Girl but it will definitely help as characters from the first book appear in this book. Though to be fair, in order to not spoil anything for yourself, it's probably best to read it in the order that it's published even though the events of The New Girl actually happen 3 years before The Obsession.
Okay, The Obsession is not my usual genre that I tend to gravitate towards. I'm not a huge mystery/thriller fan but I was drawn to this one because I really enjoyed Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto. And after reading that book, I should have had a better idea of what I was going to get into with The New Girl and The Obsession. This series centers on events that occur at Draycott Academy, a prestigious boarding school for the rich. In The New Girl, Lia is the new girl as the novel is aptly named. She's transferred to Draycott on a track scholarship and soon finds herself the target of bullying because of her new track team members. As Lia begins to navigate these trials at her new school, she finds that there is a lot of dark secrets that students and staff are hiding. She soon finds herself finding out these secrets in order to secure her place at school.
The New Girl is so intense and dark. I found it so interesting - just all the drama, subterfuge, and conspiracies that these students were getting into. A certain aspect of the story that parrticularly intrigued me is the idea of good people doing bad things. It's a combination of bad timing, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and sometimes just having bad luck. I found that Lia was making choices that were morally wrong - but I couldn't fault her for them completely seeing how she ended up in those particular moments. I think that this is something that Jesse Q. Sutanto really likes to explore in her books - seeing as it is a running theme in all three books that I have read from her so far.
Like I mentioned before, this is not my usual genre but I enjoyed reading The New Girl and Jesse Q. Sutanto continues to be an author that I will keep an eye on for more books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Death of parent
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