Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Nous étions les reines

[TL;DR]
Ambrosia never wanted to go back to Wesleyan. Someone else has different plans, though, and after a series of mysterious letters and emails, Ambrosia is drawn back to Wesleyan. Too bad her former best friend, Sloane, is also back under the same pretenses. The past has a way of coming back and there is nothing that either Ambrosia or Sloane can do to stop it.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a decent enough thriller. The first half was certainly entertaining, and I love characters that are easy to hate within this genre. Ultimately, the flaws of this book came from the pacing and lack of climax. The pace was just a bit too slow by the end, and I needed things to start progressing. Thrillers follow a formulaic pace traditionally, and there wasn't that speedy, racing end that we have come to know.

The climax came just a little too late for it to make sense, and I felt that the last 15 pages were a rushed madhouse comparatively. The character reflection was wonderful. I adored reading about how terrible everyone was because it created this nice juxtaposition. Who doesn't love a shady b trying to run from her horrible past?

Rating: 4/5 stars
TW/CW: blood, murder, suicide, rape, sexually explicit scenes, cheating, substance abuse, drinking

Content Warnings

soobooksalot's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

"I don't know if it's disgusting or impressive that girls can do that for each other. That we can achieve that level of deceit in the name of sisterhood."
For me, The Girls Are All So Nice Here has Heathers vibes without the satire.
Someone died at Wesleyan University 14 years ago. And someone knows how it really happened.
A reunion invitation is accompanied by a note sent to three people who were involved with the deceased, stating "we need to talk about what we did that night".
Chapters alternate between "then" and "now", chronicling the toxic friendship between Ambrosia Wellington and Sloane Sullivan, aka Sully, during their time at Wesleyan and at the reunion.
Manipulation, lies, power through sex, and distortion through it all with the party substances of youth make up the story.
It's tense, it's taut, it's awful and it's fantastic reading.
These are not girls you want to be, or be friends with, but you can't look away.
I'll definitely be picking up whatever Canadian author Laurie Elizabeth Flynn writes next, assuming it's in the same dark vein as this one. Recommended!

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signediza's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

deedireads's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a brutal, twisted thriller with a wild ending, told from the perspective of the mean girl herself.

For you if: You like thrillers and narrators that people love to hate.

FULL REVIEW:

First, big thanks to Simon & Schuster for sending me an advance copy of this one. I veryyy rarely read thrillers; they just aren’t my thing. But every once in a while it’s nice to mix things up and read something different from the heavier literary fiction and complex fantasy I gravitate to.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a mean girls story flipped inside out: The narrator is the bully. That, in itself, is a really interesting choice that makes this book do something that others in the genre don’t. Ambrosia “Amb” Wellington is a pretty terrible person, all of it stemming from an overwhelming hunger to feel accepted and validated. The timeline flips back and forth between her freshman year of college and what happened with her roommate, and the present day at her 10-year college reunion as she desperately tries to hide her secrets (and past self) from her husband.

There’s no doubt that Laurie Elizabeth Flynn can write a story that keeps you reading. The ending of this one wasn’t so much a twist — the devastating details are revealed gradually throughout — as a shock. I just never would have expected her to do that. And the epilogue is the WTF icing on the cake.

This is an uncomfortable, brutal, gripping story about the devastating effects of the toxic gender expectations that lead women to hurt and compete with one another. If you like to read thrillers and are looking for something that sets itself apart with interesting choices (not to mention an author who’s sure to be a new talent to follow), pick this one up.

Content Warnings

rbookish's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

3.0

this made no sense for like 80% of the book

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literarymarvel's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I don’t like books that put girls against girls. And I hate psychological and emotional manipulation. And that is literally all this book is: two narcissistic, drugged up, drunk college girls who ruin another girl’s life - all because they can. The four stars for this novel are primarily for the writing. It’s gripping, suspenseful, and leaves you reeling with that ending. But it was a total trauma to read. So if you struggle with any of the trigger content warnings, don’t read.

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