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fkshg8465's review
- 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
Graphic: Bullying, Gaslighting, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Racism, and Toxic relationship
bookishmillennial's review
- 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
- 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 forlying 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 probablykilled 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.
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Bullying, Cursing, Classism, Drug use, Murder, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Toxic relationship
britbrit29's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Racism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Classism
kaczorlantz's review
- 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? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Vomit, Blood, Racism, and Drug use
shannong123's review
5.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug use, Bullying, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Racism and Classism
vaniavela's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Gore, Murder, Xenophobia, Torture, Drug abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Blood, Bullying, Addiction, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Violence
sarahmreads's review
2.5
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.
Graphic: Gore and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Violence, and Racism
Minor: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Hate crime, and Vomit
PTSD