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A review by whitneymouse
The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto
4.0
**Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS fire for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changed my rating**
I read Jesse Q. Sutanto's Dial A for Aunties earlier this year and loved it, so when I saw she had a new YA book, I was very eager to read it. I'm so glad I was given the opportunity because I enjoyed this one a lot!
The book follows Lia Setiawan, a new student at Draycott Academy on a track scholarship. Lia's running is so great that she knocks the queen bee off of the varsity team, causing the other girl to get revenge through sabotaging Lia's grades. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away, but this book is jam-packed with action and sneaking around. It has a lot of dark academia vibes to it. Everyone at Draycott has secrets and the question is how far they're willing to go to keep them a secret.
I saw some reviews say this was "predictable." I don't agree with that analysis. I've been reading this genre for about a year now (so by all means, still new) BUT I felt like Sutanto gave us quite a few characters that could plausibly be behind certain aspects of the book that I wasn't able to guess all of the twists. So make of that what you will, but I think it was sufficient for most Thriller/Suspense readers. I liked a lot of the characters. I think Sutanto did a nice job with making the setting diverse and with creating a sympathetic protagonist. She's able to tackle some real world issues (specifically racism and classism) in her YA murder book that I felt were handled well.
I would like to address that obviously not every book will be everyone's cup of tea and reading is a deeply personal and subjective thing, but I always kind of question when I start seeing 2 and 3 star reviews on a BIPOC author's books where people start saying they "don't relate" to aspects, whether that's cultural or, in this case, the idea that rich children existing is somehow "unbelievable". We just had a news cycle not that long ago about parents paying to pretend their children were athletes to take spots at top schools, paying to have someone take the SAT for their child, etc. to ensure they got into Ivy League schools. There are kids all over TikTok and YouTube flexing cars and boats and other things their parents bought them. I work at a (public!) school where many of the kids have upper middle class money (not nearly as much as these characters) and they still go to Paris or St. Thomas or other expensive locations for school breaks and flex their electronics. It is not unbelievable that a private school with a $60k a year price tag would have kids with personal jets or yachts at it. They do exist and that's an annoyance, but it's not some farfetched and outlandish thing like some reviews are trying to make it. I really wish people would stop lowballing authors for things that are easily verifiable. Again, we're all entitled to our opinion, but when that opinion is demonstrably untrue, then it's just being biased and unwilling to check if your background knowledge is true or up to date.
Overall, I think the book is worth your time. It's melodramatic at times, but most teen mysteries are and the setting and characters are fun.
4/5 stars
I read Jesse Q. Sutanto's Dial A for Aunties earlier this year and loved it, so when I saw she had a new YA book, I was very eager to read it. I'm so glad I was given the opportunity because I enjoyed this one a lot!
The book follows Lia Setiawan, a new student at Draycott Academy on a track scholarship. Lia's running is so great that she knocks the queen bee off of the varsity team, causing the other girl to get revenge through sabotaging Lia's grades. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away, but this book is jam-packed with action and sneaking around. It has a lot of dark academia vibes to it. Everyone at Draycott has secrets and the question is how far they're willing to go to keep them a secret.
I saw some reviews say this was "predictable." I don't agree with that analysis. I've been reading this genre for about a year now (so by all means, still new) BUT I felt like Sutanto gave us quite a few characters that could plausibly be behind certain aspects of the book that I wasn't able to guess all of the twists. So make of that what you will, but I think it was sufficient for most Thriller/Suspense readers. I liked a lot of the characters. I think Sutanto did a nice job with making the setting diverse and with creating a sympathetic protagonist. She's able to tackle some real world issues (specifically racism and classism) in her YA murder book that I felt were handled well.
I would like to address that obviously not every book will be everyone's cup of tea and reading is a deeply personal and subjective thing, but I always kind of question when I start seeing 2 and 3 star reviews on a BIPOC author's books where people start saying they "don't relate" to aspects, whether that's cultural or, in this case, the idea that rich children existing is somehow "unbelievable". We just had a news cycle not that long ago about parents paying to pretend their children were athletes to take spots at top schools, paying to have someone take the SAT for their child, etc. to ensure they got into Ivy League schools. There are kids all over TikTok and YouTube flexing cars and boats and other things their parents bought them. I work at a (public!) school where many of the kids have upper middle class money (not nearly as much as these characters) and they still go to Paris or St. Thomas or other expensive locations for school breaks and flex their electronics. It is not unbelievable that a private school with a $60k a year price tag would have kids with personal jets or yachts at it. They do exist and that's an annoyance, but it's not some farfetched and outlandish thing like some reviews are trying to make it. I really wish people would stop lowballing authors for things that are easily verifiable. Again, we're all entitled to our opinion, but when that opinion is demonstrably untrue, then it's just being biased and unwilling to check if your background knowledge is true or up to date.
Overall, I think the book is worth your time. It's melodramatic at times, but most teen mysteries are and the setting and characters are fun.
4/5 stars