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hayhayriles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Just ok, would necessarily recommend, but it wasn’t a bad read.
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape
Minor: Fatphobia
soobooksalot's review against another edition
- 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
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!
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content
Minor: Rape and Self harm
lunahbird's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I can’t stop thinking about this book. Bumped it up to a 4.5
4.25⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A story of wanting to be accepted, seen, loved but at what cost? A true mean girls book. Obsession, destruction, lies, guilt, murder, revenge. All things I wasn’t expecting but it sucked me in until the very end.
It was an interesting and uncomfortable take to be in the POV of one of the mean girls. To be inside her head and thoughts as things spiraled out of control.
I would’ve loved a bit more clarity at the end. But I guess that’s what keeps you thinking about it even after you’ve finished reading it.
I enjoyed it a lot!
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
deedireads's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, and Sexual content
whatskatiereading's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Rape
literarymarvel's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Body shaming, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
illegiblescribble's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
it's been a while since i've read a thriller that left me reeling like this one did. the characters for the most part were unlikeable, the depiction of college life mildly unrealistic, the ending a wish fulfillment, but "the girls are all so nice here" is more than the sum of its parts. the real treat is the number of breadcrumb details scattered throughout the book that are easy to miss due to the first-person narration; ambrosia's voice is so strong it drowned out my inner skeptic that usually scoffs at the ridiculousness of most thrillers' plots!
while my college experience was nothing like ambrosia's, her constant worry and desperate attempts to fit in resonated with me (and i heard plenty of wild tales from the more adventurous of my friends!). ultimately, "the girls are all so nice here" was a page-turner that i could not put down until i had finished it... at 4am! if that's not high praise, i don't know what is.
thank you to netgalley and simon and schuster for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual content
Minor: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts