Ace of Spades by. Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Ace of Spades

Author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Format: hardcover (borrowed)

Pages: 512

Publication Date: 6/1/21

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Categories: Young Adult, Racism, Prep School, Romance, Mystery, Thriller

An incendiary and utterly compelling thriller with a shocking twist that delves deep into the heart of institutionalized racism, from an exceptional new YA voice.

Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light.

Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power.

Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they’re planning much more than a high-school game…

Content Warning: Death, Violence, Racism, Suicidal Ideation

This one really surprised me!

When I started reading this, I thought, okay some prep school drama is going down. Who is spreading this malicious gossip? I was in on the mystery, trying to figure who could be the culprit and without giving major spoilers – let’s just say I was totally off. The author did such a good job dropping a bomb on me when the big reveal happens.

So obviously the beginning was slow because it’s a mystery. We meet out two main characters, Chiamaka who is half Nigerian/half Italian. Devon is a black boy who lives in a rough neighborhood, he’s there at Niveus Academy on scholarship. Chiamaka is the most popular girl in school with aspirations for Yale. Devon is a musician with hopes to get into Julliard and everything is going so well their Senior year…until they are not. Someone called Aces is spreading some details about their lives to their fellow student body and all of it is about to ruin their lives and future – unless they find out who’s doing it. That’s all I can say!

Chiamaka is bi as we find out later on in the book. Chiamaka is a strong girl because although she’s biracial, her parents have money. So she fit in more easily with everyone at the school whereas Devon kept his head down and stayed out of the limelight. Devon is gay and the boy he loves is gay too, but he’s a drug dealer and hangs out in a crowd that isn’t accepting of his sexuality. Devon suffers a lot for being gay from being beaten when he was a kid, to having his heart broken because the boy he loves can’t openly love him. I really felt for Devon and connected to him more. I was invested in his love life more than Chiamaka’s.

The reveal in the end is jaw dropping and eye opening. The story talks about institutionalized racism and it touches on so many different issues – legacy, affirmative action, Chiamaka trying to impress everyone by being what they want her to be, Devon trying to make bad choices just to sruvive. I love that Chiamaka and Devon fight back though and there is an epilogue – 16 years later! Loved that ending!

Why you should read it:

it’s a mystery-thriller but with an unexpected twist
great LGBT representation and characters (mostly Devon)
important book about racism

Why you might not want to read it:

not into prep school drama – mysteries can be kinda boring in the beginning – I thought this was just going to be some mean girl drama/with kids dealing with the pressure of climbing to the top of the social/academic chain, etc (but it is MORE than that)

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this story! I like how it kept me on my toes and surprised me in the end. I really connected to Devon and was invested in his story. I look forward to reading more books from this author!

📚 ~ Yolanda

Quotes from the Book:

This world isn’t ideal. This world, our world, the one with houses as crooked as the people in them. Broken people, broken by the way the world works.”
― Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé , Ace of Spades

I look at him and I think about how we don’t know the people we think we know at all.”
― Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé , Ace of Spades

This May End Badly | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: This May End Badly

Author: Samantha Markum

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 320

Publication Date: 4/12/22

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Categories: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance, Prep School, Fake Dating

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Wednesday Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

When a high stakes boarding school prank war leads to a fake dating scheme, two teens must decide if they are ready to take the ultimate risk — falling in love.

Pranking mastermind Doe and her motley band of Weston girls are determined to win the century-long war against Winfield Academy before the clock ticks down on their senior year. But when their headmistress announces that The Weston School will merge with its rival the following year, their longtime feud spirals into chaos.

To protect the school that has been her safe haven since her parents’ divorce, Doe puts together a plan to prove once and for all that Winfield boys and Weston girls just don’t mix, starting with a direct hit at Three, Winfield’s boy king and her nemesis. In a desperate move to win, Doe strikes a bargain with Three’s cousin, Wells: If he fake dates her to get under Three’s skin, she’ll help him get back his rightful family heirloom from Three.

As the pranks escalate, so do her feelings for her fake boyfriend, and Doe spins lie after lie to keep up her end of the deal. But when a teacher long suspected of inappropriate behavior messes with a younger Weston girl, Doe has to decide what’s more important: winning a rivalry, or joining forces to protect something far more critical than a prank war legacy.

This May End Badly is a story about friendship, falling in love, and crossing pretty much every line presented to you—and how to atone when you do.

Content Warning: sexual harassment/assault

I’m a sucker for prep school stories so I knew I had to request this one.

The thing I liked most about this story was Doe and Well’s relationship. They have fun together and their interactions kept the story lively. They fake date to get under the skin of Three (Doe’s arch enemy and Well’s cousin) but of course feelings get involved by the end of the book and Doe has to figure out a bunch of stuff. The romance was cute and I was invested in their relationship.

The characters are all flawed – Doe being our main character seems to be the most flawed. She is self-centered and selfish especially when it comes to keeping her school non co-ed. She’s spent her whole time at The Weston School pranking her rival Three and the Winfield boys. Wells, who is Three’s cousin, and Doe’s fake boyfriend has his own reasons for trying to get under Three’s skin and we learn that his upbringing wasn’t exactly perfect. Both Wells and Doe have messy families and I think that’s why they get along so well.

I like the diversity of Doe’s friends and I thought it was good of them to call her out on how she was acting. But I also liked how they tried to work things out afterwards. It shows Doe’s growth when she owned up to what she did and tried to fix things. When things are good between the girls though, they are a fun group!

Outside of Doe’s rivalry with Three, there are important issues being discussed in this story like feminism (Doe’s strong inclination to keep Weston an all-girls school/woman power) but other issues were brought up to like the rights and feelings of LGBT+ students on both Weston and Winfield campuses. Also how being a co-ed school could benefit the student body. Another pressing issue in the story is a teacher who is a predator and girls voices not being heard.

Kind of wished that with the teacher being a very known predator on campus, Doe and friends would have done something about it much sooner. I know it’s because they didn’t have concrete evidence and they probably didn’t think their complaints would be heard by higher-ups and that’s a sad reality – because it IS real. The administration in the story definitely came out saying it was a bold accusation against a staff member – predictable, realistic – but in this story, at least the girls and boys finally come together to take this teacher down. I wish it happened that easily in real life but as we know…it doesn’t happen that way.

Doe has tunnel vision and it’s focused on Three and making him as miserable as possible. I thought she was a bit obsessive about it and wish she would have let up a little but I’ve never hated that one so much before so maybe it was just hard to let go for her. Because what is she without the pranks and hating Three? Doe is scared to find out but she does…and grows from learning more about herself.

Why you should read it:

you like prep school rivalries
a cute, fake dating romance
I like how Doe grows and learns from her mistakes (it takes awhile though) but I like that she faces the consequences.

Why you might not want to read it:

you are not into prank wars? lol…I can’t think of a reason

My Thoughts:

This story really held my attention and I read it in one sitting. It’s a a great story about friendship, falling in love, letting go of anger and channeling in into a cause that can rally everyone on both campuses.

📚 ~ Yolanda

The New Girl by. Jesse Q. Sutanto | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The New Girl

Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 288

Publication Date: 2/01/22

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Categories: Young Adult, Prep School, Thriller, Mystery, Contemporary

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Lia Setiawan has never really fit in. When she wins a full ride to the prestigious Draycott Academy on a track scholarship, she’s determined to make it work even though she’s never felt more out of place. But on her first day there she witnesses a girl being forcefully carried away by campus security. Her new schoolmates and teachers seem unfazed, but it leaves her unsure of what she’s gotten herself into. As she uncovers the secrets of Draycott, complete with a corrupt teacher, a golden boy who isn’t what he seems, and a blackmailer determined to get her thrown out, she’s not sure if she can trust anyone–especially when the threats against her take a deadly turn.

Content Warning: Murder, Drug Use, Bullying

This is my second Jesse Q. Sutanto book and I can definitely see a theme with her stories. Murder! The New Girl is a thriller mystery filled with prep school drama filled with beautiful people, brand names, bullies, wealth and drug use.

I love that the main character is half Indonesian and half Chinese-Indonesian. We get to learn some Indonesiand and Chinese-Indo culture. She attends Draycott Academy where the rich kids drive very fancy cars, wear designer clothes, pay for good grades, use drugs and basically do whatever they want. But when Lia gets a mean girl mad by taking her spot on the track team, she has to do everything she can to fight back and keep her spot at the school. And this is when things go haywire.

Lia is not scared, I gotta give her credit for that. She stands up to Mandy, the girl on her track team but that gets Lia into deeper trouble. The story is full of teen drama, scandals and even murder. I’m usually into teenage drama, but there was something about this one that was turning me off at times and I think it’s all the teen speak going on – it just wasn’t working for me.

Pacing was a little off for me also. It started off slow with her meeting a cute boy and falling for him and then it really picks up as the drama between her and a certain teacher begins. Then it gets wild but I felt that way about her other book, Dial A for Aunties. There are some twists and turns, so with a story like this you just have to hang on and enjoy the ride.

Why you should read it:

you like ya mystery thrillers that take you on a wild ride
Lia’s experience being Indonesian and Chinese-Indo
twists and turns keep you on your toes

Why you might not want to read it:

slow beginning, fast ending
lots of rich teen drama
teen speak wasn’t working for me

My Thoughts:

It took me awhile to get into this book but the twist and turns did keep me intrigued. Also I like the Indonesian and Chinese-Indonesian representation. The book overall wasn’t a book for me because I’m not the right audience for it but I think teen readers would enjoy this one.

📚 ~ Yolanda

The Ivies by. Alexa Donne | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Ivies

Author: Alexa Donne

Format: Hardcover (borrowed)

Pages: 320

Publication Date: 5/25/21

Publisher: Crown

Categories: Prep School, Murder Mystery, Young Adult

Everyone knows the Ivies: the most coveted universities in the United States. Far more important are the Ivies. The Ivies at Claflin Academy, that is. Five girls with the same mission: to get into the Ivy League by any means necessary. I would know. I’m one of them. We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions…among other things. We improve our own odds by decreasing the fortunes of others. Because hyper-elite competitive college admissions is serious business. And in some cases, it’s deadly.

Alexa Donne delivers a nail-biting and timely thriller about teens who will stop at nothing to get into the college of their dreams. Too bad no one told them murder isn’t an extracurricular.

I like a good murder mystery and this one is fairly interesting. It’s about a group of girls at a prep school who call themselves the Ivies because they will do ANYTHING to get into the Ivy School of their dreams. The group has the typical head mean girl, her cronies and then the weakest link who is Olivia, because she’s the poor scholarship girl. Something happens to Emma, one of the girls in the group – she is murdered and Olivia wants to find out who did it.

Olivia’s investigation takes us into the world of the Ivies and all the stuff they did to other students at Claflin to put themselves ahead. I think the story did a good enough job keeping me on my toes trying to figure who the killer could be, but my suspicions were pretty on point.

It’s a quick read and has lots of prep school drama. If you like scandals then you will enjoy this one.

Content Warnings: bullying, death, toxic relationships

I didn’t connect to any of the characters because I couldn’t relate to their situations. I don’t know anyone who would do all the things they did to get into an Ivy league school – so it was a bit too dramatic for me.

I didn’t really feel the romance building between Olivia and Ethan.

Why you should read it?

you like a drama filled prep school story
you like ya murder mysteries

Why you might not want to read it?

can’t relate
predictable

My Thoughts:

This was an okay read. The story was a bit predictable but I guess the fake friendship of the Ivies was entertaining enough for me to finish the book. Sometimes it’s interesting to see how far a character would go to get what they want!

📚 ~ Yolanda

Mad World by Hannah McBride | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Mad World (#1)

Author: Hannah McBride

Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited)

Pages: 520

Publication Date: 10/14/21

Categories: Bully Romance, New Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Alpha Male, Prep School

I’m Madison.
I spent the last seventeen years in a trailer with my mom as she rolled from one addiction to the next. All I wanted was to survive high school and get out of this place. Finding out I had a long lost twin sister on the other side of the country seemed like something out of a movie.

Too bad I didn’t realize it was a horror movie.

Now I’m Madelaine.
We were only supposed to switch lives for a summer. But then the unthinkable happened and now I have the chance to be my twin for the rest of my life. I get the fancy house, the rich father, and the elite school.

But all of those things come with a price I don’t think I can afford.

Maybe taking over my dead twin sister’s life isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

Mad World is the first book in a new series by Hannah McBride . It contains dark themes (including bullying) that may be triggering for some readers.

Well this was unexpected and I borrowed this book on KU because of the cover – I went in knowing nothing but came out pleasantly surprised.

This is a bully romance – it has many triggers, it has a few alpha males but compared to other bully romance I’ve read in the past (and took a break from reading) this one is pretty tame. I wish more bully romances were as mild as this one!

I enjoyed the plot – twin sisters, separated at birth, find each other. They swap lives for what is supposed to be only the summer, but when Madelaine doesn’t come back…Madison continues to impersonate her because there are some business deals on the line that would affect her dad’s wealth among other things. Her dad has also agreed to take care of her mother who has a drug problem. But it’s not easy impersonating the twin she barely knew – when she reaches Pacific City she finds out Madelaine is reviled, and hated for very good reasons. Madison also learns some crazy dark, f’ed up secrets that Madelaine was keeping. The story isn’t original but it was very entertaining.

The small circle around Maddie is her ex best friend, Bex, and her fiance, Ryan and his friends. I actually liked seeing this group come together. Bex is there for Maddie when she finds out the truth, and out of Ryan’s friends, my favorite is Linc who is that goofy, funny guy who can’t keep his mouth shut. Ash is intriguing too but only because you don’t know much about him. I liked getting to know all of them.

Ryan is an alphahole but so mild compared to some other bully romances I’ve read. And this is a new adult so if you want heat, you can find it here. Ryan can be a jerk, jealous and possessive but you can tell Maddie is his soft spot. I liked seeing them do the fake dating, even more so when he knows she’s not Madelaine and they really get to know one another. He has his issues though, don’t these alphas all have them? This is the kind of bully romance I can handle because it’s enemies to lovers with just a tiny slight edge, and I’m addicted to enemies to lovers romances.

Content Warnings: sexual abuse, bullying, drug abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault, attempted rape, pedophilia

Bully romances are dark – it’s why I tend to stay away from them but I was intrigued by the synopsis and I usually don’t like twin stories either but I wanted to see if Maddie could pull off the switch. And engaged at 17? What is THAT about? I had to know. I do wish they were just all in college because she is underage and engaged to Ryan who is 19 I believe? Of course in bully romances they defy all rules – usually the alphas are so filthy rich that they can do whatever they want. I always think it’s crazy in these romances that these rich kids rule their little worlds with money and power. And they are barely even legal, it’s a bit ridiculous but super entertaining!

So much abuse – drugs, physical, sexual – it’s all there. Some of these characters are vile. But I’m going to continue reading the series just to see Maddie get revenge (I HOPE). I think she needs to gain a little bit of Madelaine’s ruthlessness to survive this though…will she toughen up? I hope so. And take these guys and some girls down. 😠

There were some typos in the beginning of the story so I hope it’s more cleaned up in the sequel.

Why you should read it:

enemies to lovers romance, and you like to see an alpha male fall in love
entertaining as heck – if you like chaos, rich people drama, school drama
to see if Maddie can pull it off

Why you might not want to read it:

bully romances turn you off
dark topics – see content warnings

My Thoughts:

I needed to get out of my reading slump so I read something out of my comfort zone and it worked. I was entertained by this story a lot and I was invested to see if Maddie would pull off being her sister. There are so many ways I think the sequel could go after that cliffhanger of an ending and I’ll be here waiting patiently for book two.

📚~ Yolanda

How We Fall Apart by. Katie Zhao | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Stars

Title: How We Fall Apart

Author: Katie Zhao

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 8/17/21

Publisher: Bloomsbury YA

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Dark Academia, Prep School

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Bloomsbury YA for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Students at an elite prep school are forced to confront their secrets when their ex-best friend turns up dead.

Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends–Krystal, Akil, and Alexander–are the prime suspects, thanks to “The Proctor,” someone anonymously incriminating them via the school’s social media app.

They all used to be Jamie’s closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow The Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy’s full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too.

How We Fall Apart is a look into Asian students at Sinclair Prep, trying to stay on top of the pack with perfect grades. When top girl Jamie Ruan is found dead, someone accuses her closest four friends of committing the crime. But who really killed Jamie and why?

This story is told by Jamie’s best friend/nemesis, Nancy Luo. Nancy isn’t rich like her other friends. Her mom was the maid for the Ruan family so Nancy always envied Jamie’s power and wealth – but was that enough to be a motive for her to kill her? I liked how we didn’t really know who could be the killer. “The Proctor” is dishing out secrets on Jamie’s best friends and the secrets are juicy and scandalous – Nancy’s being the worst, I think.

I think we get a good glimpse of the issues between Asian students – rich and poor, the competition, the pressure to succeed that is put upon them by their families. There was also the issues of Asian students dealing with their peers who are not Asian, who had prejudices against them because of their race – like automatically being “smart” because they were Asian. I liked how Nancy felt anger about that, knowing how hard her parents worked to put her through school.

I liked the second half of the book more than the first because the secrets were being revealed and the story moved faster. There’s a twist at the end that explain this Incident that Nancy and her friends keep mentioning but never goes into detail about and it was nice to finally know what happened during that event. It wasn’t what I expected which was good.

Trigger: suicide, murder, drug use, bullying, teacher/student affair, abuse, mental illness

I wasn’t connecting to any of the characters until the second part of the book. I found Jamie the typical rich girl bully who gets her way, Nancy is her shadow. Akil, Krystal and Alexander were there to round it out but this story is mostly about Jamie and Nancy. I think I wanted more from Nancy, but that really doesn’t come into play until the last few pages. So for most of the story she was a bit lackluster to me.

The ending is left open for a book two. Is this where Nancy really reveals her personality? That would be intriguing. It did make me curious about what The Golden Trio did that Alex knows about.

The teacher/student affair was a no for me. I get it was deliciously scandalous though, Nancy’s secrets were the most dangerous ones. But Peter needs to be taken down.

I think this book will appeal to a lot of people who like dark academia with all the scandals taking place at Sinclair Prep, it definitely is a story that keeps you on your toes. I did like how it addressed some issues that Asian students deal with in a prep school setting, the crazy pressure and competitiveness they experience on unhealthy levels. We get a glimpse of all the darkness that comes with trying to stay on top like abuse, drug use, and parental neglect. It just shows money can’t buy everything. I do wish it had a little more intensity because it’s a thriller and I did want more from Nancy as well. But overall it was a quick read with an interesting twist at the end and a lead up for book two.

📚 ~ Yolanda