e-ARC, 321 pages
Release Date: December 1, 2020
Published by: Delacorte Press
Read from: December 8-16, 2020
Stand-alone (A few Easter eggs from other Buxbaum stories are hidden here)
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from the Netgalley in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Drugs and Overdose (No death)
For fans of: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Stand-alones, YAFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things comes an of-the-moment novel that peeks inside the private lives of the hypercompetitive and the hyperprivileged and takes on the college admissions bribery scandal that rocked the country.
It’s good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer. She’s headed off to the college of her dreams. She’s going to prom with the boy she’s had a crush on since middle school. Her best friend always has her back, and her mom, a B-list Hollywood celebrity, may finally be on her way to the B+ list. It’s good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer–at least, it was, until the FBI came knocking on her front door, guns at the ready, and her future went up in smoke. Now her mother is under arrest in a massive college admissions bribery scandal. Chloe, too, might be facing charges, and even time behind bars. The public is furious, the press is rabid, and the US attorney is out for blood.
As she loses everything she’s long taken for granted, Chloe must reckon not only with the truth of what happened, but also with the examination of her own guilt. Why did her parents think the only way for her to succeed was to cheat for her? What did she know, and when did she know it? And perhaps most importantly, what does it mean to be complicit?
*MY THOUGHTS*
When the real college admissions scandal broke, I was shocked. Of all the things to do, people were actually doing things like this? As if they weren’t getting the world handed to them anyway. I was shocked and appalled and really just upset by the whole thing. I didn’t watch anything about it. With that being said, I have no reason why I liked this as much as I did when I didn’t care for the actual real thing.
“Both of you need to grow a pair,” she says, and pauses, as if reconsidering. “Of ovaries.” “Did you just say I need to grow a pair of ovaries?” I ask. “I did. The language of courage should not only belong to men.”16%
Chloe has just gotten into the college of her dreams after a tough senior year. She has a wonderful new boyfriend whom she’s going to prom with, her best friend is awesome, and her mom’s a celebrity. Nothing can get better than this. And unfortunately she’s right. Just when everything is amazing, the FBI comes and crushes her perfect dream. Her mother is being arrested for a college admission scandal where she’s at the center. How can things go from so good to so messed up so fast?
“Me: I raised my score 240 points. That doesn’t sound like too much? Like there’s a glitch in the matrix?” Shola: No glitch, bitch. That should be your senior quote.”35%
I think the main thing I liked about this was the fact it made me feel for Chloe. Don’t get me wrong, she played her part in this, but at the same time, she was “aggressively oblivious” for the most part. I firmly believe she didn’t know anything 100% until the end. And the way she was so scared that she thought her parents thought she couldn’t do it on her own made me so sad. And of course, her being scared of their disappointment was very much like real life. I’m scared of people’s disappointment my own self nowadays and I’m an adult. I really felt bad for her. Her parents on the other hand, not even a little bit.
“…they ask about a challenge you’ve overcome. My life has been, like, mostly challenge free,” I say. I feel Levi laughing, his belly jiggling, my head, though this time I think he’s laughing at me. “We should all be so lucky, Chlo.”42%
This seemed to be ripped right out of the headlines. I wasn’t one of those that followed this case super closely, so the further I got into this book, I was interested in what was going to happen. I know others already knew, which is probably why this story is written the way it is, but I didn’t care for the back and forth. I found myself being mostly interested in the “Now” chapters because that’s where the drama was. The “Then” chapters held the back story, but since it started with the HUGE incident and had guns blazing (literally lol) those chapters just didn’t do much for me.
“Do I need to call Kenny?” I ask, because this is how we live now. Before spending time with all my parents, I need to consult my lawyer.”62%
The other thing I didn’t care for about this was the chapter towards the end with Hudson. Some of you know I had an aunt and uncle who overdosed and almost caused my unborn cousin to do the same. Reading books with hard drugs and overdoses depicted is hard for me. I would really have appreciated someone putting a TW/CW on this book. As I came up on it, I ended up skimming it until I got past it, so there’s at least a chapter in this book I may have missed. I felt like this would be better than DNF’ing when I was at 88% of the book.
“Guilt fills me; I’m saturated with it, because I really see us from the outside looking in. Our brazen entitlement. How we thought we had earned all of our own good fortune and manipulations”75%
The rest of the story was fine and I actually really liked it. There were Easter Eggs from Buxbaum’s previous books, her writing style was still amazing, and even though it was a story torn straight from the headlines, I was on the edge of my seat while reading. And I can honestly say, I liked the way Buxbaum wrote this out. She showed the entitlement and how those actions effected other people. I know this will make some uncomfortable, but I was glad she went there. Yes it’s basically what happened in the news, but the person in the news was also trying to get people to see her as “just a mom” when in fact the Black mother who was arrested for putting her child in a better school district was doing the exact same thing. I was glad she chose to highlight these things and not shy away from them.
“Money makes you weak because it tricks you into thinking you’re strong.”87%
This book was like reading a tabloid, but in a good way. Especially since I hadn’t paid attention to this case before. It’s not my typical read, but I’m glad I read it nonetheless.
Overall, I give this
