Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I liked the book, and found the storyline and characters intriguing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
It does not graphically describe the SA, but it is referenced repeatedly.
*** SPOILERS IN REVIEW***
This is a slow burn that had me engaged at first but fizzled out fast. I couldn’t get into this book, for me it was unfortunately a miss and anticlimactic.
The premise being that a women, Jessie Mooney, enrolls into a prestigious law school to seek revenge for her sister’s death. When she find a final email that says, “you know what you did” Jessie believes that her sister’s professor, Jay Crane is responsible. He has a group of students that are “The Favorites”. Jessie’s plan is to get into Jay’s good graces and become one of them.
There is too much focus on the law class discussions and mythology, that it left me bored. I wanted more of the story, character development and dark academia.
I would have to say that this book is NOT a thriller or even mystery/suspense but more so women’s fiction with themes of power, injustice, revenge and the Me Too movement at the forefront. It has a heavy theme of 2016 election and rich entitlement, which for me fell flat. I hope to read other books from this author.
This is a slow burn that had me engaged at first but fizzled out fast. I couldn’t get into this book, for me it was unfortunately a miss and anticlimactic.
The premise being that a women, Jessie Mooney, enrolls into a prestigious law school to seek revenge for her sister’s death. When she find a final email that says, “you know what you did” Jessie believes that her sister’s professor, Jay Crane is responsible. He has a group of students that are “The Favorites”. Jessie’s plan is to get into Jay’s good graces and become one of them.
There is too much focus on the law class discussions and mythology, that it left me bored. I wanted more of the story, character development and dark academia.
I would have to say that this book is NOT a thriller or even mystery/suspense but more so women’s fiction with themes of power, injustice, revenge and the Me Too movement at the forefront. It has a heavy theme of 2016 election and rich entitlement, which for me fell flat. I hope to read other books from this author.
I liked this, but a lot of aspects felt a little underdeveloped. I think the narrative framing of the story does it a disservice. I wanted to see more of Jessica’s five classmates and feel more tension about where the revenge plot was going. The pacing also felt a little off, especially during the last third of the book. Overall a good plot, and I find Jessica, Charlie, and Jay to all be interesting characters, but I wanted more from it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Grief
Moderate: Death
Minor: Rape, Vomit, Stalking, Alcohol
3.5 Stars
How far would you go to seek justice?
Jessica Mooney travels to America from Dublin to enrol in Professor Jay Crane’s prestigious law and lit class. Except, she’s not just there to study the law—she’s there to seek revenge against Crane for what he did to her sister, Audrey.
Becoming one of Crane’s Favorites was something Jessica sought to do from the beginning and at times, it was uncomfortable to read how far she was willing to go to make that happen. Told around the 2016 elections, it really highlighted the abuse of power and the failures of the legal system. I was quite absorbed in Jessica’s story but found myself wishing more of the side characters, like Charlie and Vera, were more present along the way. I feel it could’ve really rounded out her character more and shown she wasn’t just a vehicle for revenge.
The ending was abrupt, but satisfying in its own way. Thank you HarperCollins Canada for the chance to read and review early.
How far would you go to seek justice?
Jessica Mooney travels to America from Dublin to enrol in Professor Jay Crane’s prestigious law and lit class. Except, she’s not just there to study the law—she’s there to seek revenge against Crane for what he did to her sister, Audrey.
Becoming one of Crane’s Favorites was something Jessica sought to do from the beginning and at times, it was uncomfortable to read how far she was willing to go to make that happen. Told around the 2016 elections, it really highlighted the abuse of power and the failures of the legal system. I was quite absorbed in Jessica’s story but found myself wishing more of the side characters, like Charlie and Vera, were more present along the way. I feel it could’ve really rounded out her character more and shown she wasn’t just a vehicle for revenge.
The ending was abrupt, but satisfying in its own way. Thank you HarperCollins Canada for the chance to read and review early.
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read this book in one sitting. It was a very interesting premise and I was excited to see how the revenge plot would unfold. I do love a good dark academia/campus thriller book and the vibes were absolutely there. I love that this was different from most campus novels and set in a grad school setting. This thriller was definitely a slow-burn which made me enjoy it even more. I am looking forward to Rosemary Hennigan's next novel. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am a sucker for dark academia, so it’s no wonder I picked this up. It is a wonder that I finished it. The plot was just plain ridiculous. Who on God’s green earth thinks that seducing a rapist so you can trick him into getting arrested is a good idea? And it drove me crazy that Jessica wore the same unique dresses as her sister and Jay, this brilliant professor who was supposedly the smartest man alive didn’t notice?? Besides the plot holes and general silliness, it lacked the eerie, intimate, and nuanced relationships and group dynamics that make this sub genre so enticing. You can’t just make up a Law and Literature class, slap a mediocre mystery in a small college, throw in some “literary” discussions that do nothing but prove you’ve read the SparkNotes summary of To Kill a Mockingbird, and call it dark academia. And the fact that the whole time Jessica is addressing her life story at great personal risk to someone with no connection to the plot whatsoever proved how poorly planned this book was. I do appreciate Hennigan trying to take a feminist angle, but it felt cliched, overdone, and dated. Do not expect a big reveal. In fact, do not expect much of anything from this book. This is not for fans of TSH, or even IWWV. This is baby’s first dark academia.
This had the dark academia elements I crave in the autumn, but I think it's too soon for me to be reading novels set during the 2016 election.