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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
I totally misjudged this one ... I thought prestigious boarding school where only one twin survives the manipulation, pranks and power would be the perfect binge read. How wrong I was because what I got was a story that used everything we’ve seen before
✔️ cool vs uncool students
✔️ unlikeable characters
✔️ bullying, manipulation
✔️ teacher/student sexual relationships
✔️ naive wife, untrustworthy husband
✔️ predicable twist
As the kids would say, ‘nuff said’
✔️ cool vs uncool students
✔️ unlikeable characters
✔️ bullying, manipulation
✔️ teacher/student sexual relationships
✔️ naive wife, untrustworthy husband
✔️ predicable twist
As the kids would say, ‘nuff said’
I really enjoyed the story and setting of this one, although I felt at times that the teenage characters spoke like how an adult would write a teenager. The mystery was solid and and I was guessing until the end. I was given this arc for my honest review. It took me 4 hours to read.
This was a lot better than her debut, I thought the epilogue let it down. That info should have been introduced another way, maybe not at all.
I groaned when I realised it was another POV and thought it was going to be some shitty twist. It was more, so what?
Oh, man this was so good! I thoroughly enjoyed Campbell's previous book entitled "It's Always the Husband" so I was eager to get my hands on this one and it didn't disappoint! "She Was the Quiet One" follows the lives of twins Rose and Bel who are very different to one another. When their mother passes away, they move to New England to live with their grandmother and are both enrolled in Odell academy, a school attended by rich, privileged kids. Rose loves her new school and uses it to full advantage but Bel ends up falling in with the wrong crowd and the twins grow even further apart. Then tragedy strikes.
As in Campbell's previous novel, the characterisation is exquisite, the plot intriguing and the pace perfect. A masterfully crafted book that is full of suspense. There are plenty of dark secrets and twists and turns throughout, whilst the POV alternates between several different characters keeping the mystery under wraps until the very end.
Once I picked this up that was it, I was shut away reading until I finished it. The author knows how to engage you in the first few pages and is adept at holding your interest the whole way through.
Many thanks to St Martin's Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
As in Campbell's previous novel, the characterisation is exquisite, the plot intriguing and the pace perfect. A masterfully crafted book that is full of suspense. There are plenty of dark secrets and twists and turns throughout, whilst the POV alternates between several different characters keeping the mystery under wraps until the very end.
Once I picked this up that was it, I was shut away reading until I finished it. The author knows how to engage you in the first few pages and is adept at holding your interest the whole way through.
Many thanks to St Martin's Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
I haven't read Michele Campbell's other book, but I am going to after this one. The short summary of She Was the Quiet One is that there is a murder on the campus of a private New England boarding school. We find that out in the first few pages. There is a set of twins and one of them is dead and the other is being blamed for the murder. The novel changes point of view throughout to get the backstory on the twins, the surrounding cast of characters, interviews with the police, etc.
The story is very compelling and hard to put down. However, it does venture a little on the YA fiction side, given the age of the characters (16) and the "drama" that happens with 16 year old girls at a boarding school. The teenagers were better developed characters than the adults.
The ending was very predictable, right down to cell phones being dead at inopportune times. I was hoping for a twist at the end, but nope, the ending was exactly according to script. Everything was wrapped up at the end (although reality had to be suspended a little bit - are the cops really that naive?).
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book/
The story is very compelling and hard to put down. However, it does venture a little on the YA fiction side, given the age of the characters (16) and the "drama" that happens with 16 year old girls at a boarding school. The teenagers were better developed characters than the adults.
The ending was very predictable, right down to cell phones being dead at inopportune times. I was hoping for a twist at the end, but nope, the ending was exactly according to script. Everything was wrapped up at the end (although reality had to be suspended a little bit - are the cops really that naive?).
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book/
This is my first read of Michele Campbell and for just happening across the audio book I was pleasantly surprised. This was well crafted, well read and it had enough suspense to keep me interested.
After the death of their mother, twins Rose and Bel Enright wind up at Odell Academy in New Hampshire. They are sent by their wealthy grandmother, who has no idea what to do with the teenagers now foisted upon her. Rose is the good twin--good grades, good friends, good behavior. Bel, on the other hand, is known for going a bit wild. But it was Bel their mother favored--much to Rose's consternation. Floundering after the loss of their mother, Bel winds up with the wrong crowd at school and then turns on Rose when she calls her out on it. Meanwhile, Heath and Sarah Donovan have been brought in to clean up Moreland Hall, the dormitory where the twins are staying. It has developed a reputation for trouble. It's a daunting task, especially since so many of the girls come from storied, rich Odell families. Both Sarah and Heath are Moreland alums--they met at the school--and not all of their memories are pleasant. As for Heath, his dreams extend far beyond teaching high school English. But something in his past holds him back; he's hoping to parlay their time at Moreland into something more. But soon things at Moreland--and Odell--are out of control, with the Enright twins and the Donovans right in the middle of all the trouble.
From the beginning of the novel, we immediately know that an Enright sister is dead, but not which one. The narration from Bel, Rose, and Sarah is interspersed with snippets from police interviews, as we try to piece together exactly what happened to lead to murder. This was perhaps my favorite part of the story--trying to figure out who had been killed--and why the other sister is the prime suspect. The format of the novel is very well-done and extremely compelling.
In the beginning, some of the dialogue seemed stilted: I couldn't imagine the sisters really talking to each other in particular ways, for instance. Rose and Bel's instant fighting seemed rash, and it was hard to take. In fact, the entire boarding school drama seemed a little too much, at times. I understand the fact that girls can quickly turn on each other--especially when they all live together--but the twins threatening to kill each other over a sweater? It was tough and it was a lot of drama, so fast, so often. Rose was incredibly prissy and tough to like for a lot of the novel. And then poor Sarah, who was such a doormat, with an incredible lack of judgement--she was a hard character to find sympathy for as well.
The novel also seemed to march toward a fairly inevitable conclusion. I kept waiting for a big twist or surprise to throw me off and while the epilogue offered a little bit of that, there really wasn't much. The book focuses more on the unraveling of the families than twists and turns, and that was a little disappointing for me. I like to be thrown off the trail a few times.
Still, I really enjoyed the format of this one: wondering and waiting to find out who was dead, along with the pieces from the interviews. I liked the boarding school setting and how it added to the story. While I didn't always enjoy all the characters, I really came to feel for for Bel Enright, and I did sympathize with Rose, as well. Even if things were fairly predictable, Campbell kept me reading and interested the entire time. 3+ stars.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you!).
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From the beginning of the novel, we immediately know that an Enright sister is dead, but not which one. The narration from Bel, Rose, and Sarah is interspersed with snippets from police interviews, as we try to piece together exactly what happened to lead to murder. This was perhaps my favorite part of the story--trying to figure out who had been killed--and why the other sister is the prime suspect. The format of the novel is very well-done and extremely compelling.
In the beginning, some of the dialogue seemed stilted: I couldn't imagine the sisters really talking to each other in particular ways, for instance. Rose and Bel's instant fighting seemed rash, and it was hard to take. In fact, the entire boarding school drama seemed a little too much, at times. I understand the fact that girls can quickly turn on each other--especially when they all live together--but the twins threatening to kill each other over a sweater? It was tough and it was a lot of drama, so fast, so often. Rose was incredibly prissy and tough to like for a lot of the novel. And then poor Sarah, who was such a doormat, with an incredible lack of judgement--she was a hard character to find sympathy for as well.
The novel also seemed to march toward a fairly inevitable conclusion. I kept waiting for a big twist or surprise to throw me off and while the epilogue offered a little bit of that, there really wasn't much. The book focuses more on the unraveling of the families than twists and turns, and that was a little disappointing for me. I like to be thrown off the trail a few times.
Still, I really enjoyed the format of this one: wondering and waiting to find out who was dead, along with the pieces from the interviews. I liked the boarding school setting and how it added to the story. While I didn't always enjoy all the characters, I really came to feel for for Bel Enright, and I did sympathize with Rose, as well. Even if things were fairly predictable, Campbell kept me reading and interested the entire time. 3+ stars.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you!).
It's a perfectly adequate thriller, though I don't think there is much thrilling going on, it's fun and readable enough.
When their mother dies, twins Rose and Bel move in with their grandmother who they barely know. They are sent to The Odell Academy, a boarding school for the rich kids, where the academic Rose fits right in, but the wilder Bel becomes friends with the popular kids, but the friendship comes with a price. Bel has a crush on Heath Donovan, an ambitious teacher, which sets her against the older popular kids.
The book has some Gossip Girl vibes and I have to say that I hated all the characters. I wanted to know what happens but didn’t feel much sympathy for any of the people.
The book starts with a murder, but we don’t know who died or who did it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too difficult to guess who it was, but it takes the cops waay to much time to get it or understand at all what goes on in the school. So much eye-rolling here…
It was a solid read, but I had higher hopes for this one.
The book has some Gossip Girl vibes and I have to say that I hated all the characters. I wanted to know what happens but didn’t feel much sympathy for any of the people.
The book starts with a murder, but we don’t know who died or who did it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too difficult to guess who it was, but it takes the cops waay to much time to get it or understand at all what goes on in the school. So much eye-rolling here…
It was a solid read, but I had higher hopes for this one.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A psychological thriller novel set in a boarding school, when I wrapped up my thoughts on the book during the readathon I mentioned it being a combination of Fangirl, Big Little Lies, and The Naughtiest Girl. Its main characters are two twins that are polar opposites from each other. After they were orphaned, Rose and Bel were sent to a rich, exclusive boarding school where they joined different crowds. Intrigue, murder, and politics come into place in this story afterwards.
Overall I considered this novel an impulsive, fun, enjoyable thriller that has quite a lot of drama. It's fast paced and at first seemed very typical, but it has some unique aspects in its plot. However I disliked all the characters here, in the way that they are all trope-y and very one-dimensional. The two twins sound like characters eleven year old me would make up for a short story, and the antagonist was completely predictable.
The plot was also all over the place, especially in the last chapters where everything starts to unravel and come together. Some explanations and the way the author dealt with some plot points were a little odd and not in a good way. So overall, I didn't love this book, and wasn't very impressed with the story and characters.
A psychological thriller novel set in a boarding school, when I wrapped up my thoughts on the book during the readathon I mentioned it being a combination of Fangirl, Big Little Lies, and The Naughtiest Girl. Its main characters are two twins that are polar opposites from each other. After they were orphaned, Rose and Bel were sent to a rich, exclusive boarding school where they joined different crowds. Intrigue, murder, and politics come into place in this story afterwards.
Overall I considered this novel an impulsive, fun, enjoyable thriller that has quite a lot of drama. It's fast paced and at first seemed very typical, but it has some unique aspects in its plot. However I disliked all the characters here, in the way that they are all trope-y and very one-dimensional. The two twins sound like characters eleven year old me would make up for a short story, and the antagonist was completely predictable.
The plot was also all over the place, especially in the last chapters where everything starts to unravel and come together. Some explanations and the way the author dealt with some plot points were a little odd and not in a good way. So overall, I didn't love this book, and wasn't very impressed with the story and characters.