I am currently purchasing books for our secondary school library for our senior students. I am trying to provide a balance of genres and periods and really try and introduce them to a wide range of modern fiction. This book would definitely go down well with a hypercritical teenage audience as it has a bit of everything - great characterisation and a narrative style that draws you in and keeps you reading whilst also making you think about a wide range of issues at the same time. I think that school libraries are definitely changing and that the book we purchase should provide for all tastes and reflect the types of books that the students and staff go on to enjoy after leaving school. The Other New Girl is the kind of book that you can curl up with and totally immerse yourself in and I think it will definitely go down well at my school. I think that it was the perfect blend of page-turning fiction with a distinctive narrative voice. I think it would be a big hit with our seniors and will definitely recommend that we buy a copy as soon as we can.

A coming of age story and it's set in a boarding school which I love! Susanna Greenwood is one of only two new girls at the school and there are lots of things that come up through the year. It was quite a detailed book and slower than I'd usually read but I would recommend it!

This was very choppy. It starts in the middle of an event, which leads to reminiscing about the era the plot summary involves, so it doesn't make much sense at first. Even then, the writing is choppy.

The Other New Girl is a story that will lead you through an ongoing empathetic moral journey, as you travel back in time with Susannah, a new grandmother who runs into a figure from the past that brings up one that she'd tried to push away for a long time. As a teenager, Susannah was trying to form her own moral identity, all while attempting to fit in with her peers, more as a survival method, and follow a path of higher moral and ethical standards as she uncovers her ongoing Quaker faith. Unfortunately, she is destined to get wrapped up in very unfortunate and sad tragedy as the moral/ethical boundaries and peer-pressure collide. Following her through this backwards journey was very emotionally challenging, but I found it to be an enjoyable read.

Thank you to She Writes Press for providing me with an advance copy of L.B. Gschwandtner's novel, The Other New Girl, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Susannah Greenwood is one of two girls starting at a Quaker boarding school in their sophomore year. Susannah joins the swim team and is quickly accepted by the popular group of girls. The other new girl, Moll, doesn't have an easy time. She quiet and simply different than the other students. Susannah tries to befriend Moll, but a series of events leads to disaster.

LIKE- I've always been drawn to stories that take place in boarding schools. I didn't attend a boarding school and I didn't even go to summer camp, so the idea of kids living away from their parents is somewhat romanticized in my mind. Additionally, I'm drawn to stories about religion. I didn't know much about the Quaker faith and I found that aspect of Gschwandtner's novel to be fascinating. In fact, I wish she had dove deeper into it. 

The Other New Girl is written from the perspective of an adult Susannah who runs into an old classmate which sends her down the rabbit hole of reflecting on a terrible thing that happened in high school. There are themes of guilt and regret. The teenage Susannah is placed in an incredibly difficult position and she is shaken to the core by what happens around her, things that were set into motion by her and that quickly spiral out of control. The Other New Girl is about the domino affect of actions and how your life can be impacted negatively, even when you have the best intentions. 

DISLIKE- I found it difficult to connect with Susannah. I can't pinpoint it, but there was something about Gschwandtner's writing that made me feel distant from the protagonist. Although I found the story compelling, this lack of connection with Susannah hampered my ability to emotionally connect with The Other New Girl. 

I recently read an article ( unfortunately, I can't remember the source, but it was in one of my writing magazines) that mentioned the 1960's as being an over-used era for coming of age novels. The Other New Girl takes place in the late 50's/early 60's and it does have many of the cliche historical/social references of the era. If I hadn't read this article, I probably wouldn't have thought about it one way or the other, but since I did, I wondered how different and perhaps more potent this story would have been, had it been set in a different era? 

RECOMMEND- Maybe. Although I couldn't connect with the protagonist, I still was compelled to read The Other New Girl. It's a quick read and Gschwandtner hit on subjects that interested me. Also, I did a quick scan of reviews and other readers are loving this book. I think I'm an outlier with my dislikes.

I loved the premise of this book but when reading it, the style wasn't for me.

The Other New Girl is an interesting book for those looking for a "mean girl' story in a different setting--Quaker co-ed school in the 1960s. I appreciated the idea behind the book, but it fell into the trap of telling the reader everything, instead of showing. The narrative is very slow, and often overly descriptive, and in the end this book was not for me.

I loved this book! Possibly because I went to high school in the 60s, and this story is set at a high school in 1960? Nah -- there the similarity ends! This story revolves around two 16 year olds at a private boarding school in the east, both of them new to the school. Susannah, the new girl, gets taken into the “cool girls” clique right away, even though she is a sophomore and the cool girls are juniors and seniors. The other new girl is Moll, also a sophomore. So why did I relate to this so much? I went to a small public high school in a beach town in Southern California, and was definitely not part of the cool girls clique! But part of the reason so much of this story resonated with me was the shame and anxiety that Moll felt as she tried to fit in or at least find her place in the weird world of high school. I'm fairly sure most high school girls have felt similar feelings.
In The Other New Girl, Moll, a brilliant but nerdy social outcast, is encouraged by her only friend Susannah to overcome her fears enough to get her courage up to the point where she can attend a school dance. She works hard on looking right, trying SO hard to fit in, and finally overcomes her anxiety and fear enough to get herself there. But then (in what I thought might become a Carrie moment), she experiences bullying that is so hurtful to her that she decides to take extreme action as she desperately wants to find out who she wants to be. As her actions and disappearance reverberate throughout the school (especially for Susannah), the book explores themes of loyalty, obedience to authority, friendship, and betrayal.
Not exactly a mystery or a thriller or a coming of age story, it is all three! It is a very compelling read that is extremely well done, with realistic characters, dialogue, and situations (even for those of us who haven’t been to a private boarding school in the East). With thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press, this one gets five stars—and I look forward to reading more of Ms. Gschwandtner’s work.

I'm surprised I liked this book as much as I did! The author was able to keep me reading by making the subplots as interesting as the main plot.
The main character, Suzie, is a new sophmore student at a Quaker (a relgion she isn't familiar with) coed boarding school. You follow her as she tries to fit in with the cool kids without losing her moral values. She befriends the one other new girl, Moll, a girl who can't seem to fit in anywhere, and is suddenly caught up in a situation she is unsure how to handle. Throughout the book the author goes between present day and the past never making it seem confusing. A great read!

Even though The Other New Girl had 1960 as their setting in a co-ed Quaker Prep boarding high school, it seemed to me that it could have easily taken place in today’s turbulent times. The teenage years were one of trying to fit in, to be part of a clique. This novel demonstrated how some teenagers were able to cope and how others, specifically the other new girl, always felt different and an outcast. When Moll tried to fit in, with the help of her only friend, she was humiliated by hateful words. It was a type of bullying that still resonates in today’s high schools. The consequences of those actions resulted in an emotional debate about loyalty, friendship, and betrayal. The characters were very well defined and the dialogue was filled with a myriad of emotions that resulted in a fast and memorable read.

I really got into this book. By the halfway point I couldn't put it down. The relationships between the characters were well thought out and the main character was really likeable. I would definitely recommend this book!