Reviews - The Counselors | The StoryGraph

1.35k reviews for:

The Counselors

Jessica Goodman

3.48 AVERAGE

bookishwinterwitch's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

saltair_andtherust_onyourdoor's review against another edition

3.0

dark lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

linaa13's review against another edition

3.5

mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

(this is the 2nd book i've read from Jessica Goodman)
i liked the counselors a lot more than they wish they were us, but its still such a hard read to get through in the beginning. there was a lot of exposition and goldie is just so difficult to like (for me) in the beginning, but once you get, maybe, 60% of the way through, it kicks up.

pikasqueaks's review against another edition

stay with me... i think this book is what an adult extremely out of touch with children would write when asked to write a YA book. there is no way this book was intended to actually appeal to teenagers.

this book felt like an adult looking back on their weird summer camp experience with a sense of nostalgia you can only achieve by being exposed to the realities of adulthood.

jessica goodman really loves a poor "not like the other girls" protagonist, and i wonder what would happen if she just jumped right into using the rich bitch as her main.

itsvm's review against another edition

3.0

I honestly can't say that I LOVED this because of the main character Goldie. A lot of the choices she made throughout the book really bothered me. However, Goldie and her friends are first-year camp counselors and when a murder happens at camp it makes you wonder who you can really trust. I love this genre and still had fun reading despite Goldie being SO naive.

nina_nouwens's review against another edition

4.0

This book is everything I love about one of my new favourite tropes in the thriller genre; girls who would do *anything* for each other. Goldie, Ava, and Imogen were so real. Their friendship, the backbone of it all, their deceit and lies and the ways that they struggled to keep their dirty secrets from each other was so wonderfully human.

mcsmartypants's review against another edition

2.5

fast-paced

Good book to read if you want to do no critical engagement. Entertaining and excited but falls apart under any scrutiny. Main plot twists were predictable based off tropes and character archetypes the author follows (especially with Stu and Mellie). Certain parts were either not explained or delved into enough— Meg + Imogen’s characters, the town of Roxwood beyond the basic information, setting descriptions of the camp were underdeveloped making it hard to picture, most characters were flat. Overall fine.

the_crab's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sophiesbookshelf2's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The counsellors is a fun, relatively quick mystery read. I enjoyed the main trios friendship and I feel like the story developed at a good pace until the end where the confrontation just felt a little lackluster and then it was over and we didn't see any of it. Just felt a little meh as an ending, but pretty good YA mystery murder

Content Warnings

jadathereader's review against another edition

3.0

tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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