A realistic look at sorority life in the south, but with a surprising message within the story that starts out subtly and then moves to a predominant part of the tale. Highly readable and well written. I became invested in the characters as the story was told from different perspectives. Easy to follow and well worth the read. I'd recommend it to friends and as a book club read.

I loved it and will give it a 5 star. This was a different review for me to write though. My daughter lived this book. I know people in real life that could be the characters in the book. Some of them very nice and some not so nice ones that you will meet if you read the book, which I highly recommend.
As to the subject of racism that is covered in the book. Does it exist, sadly yes. Is everyone from the South, Ole Miss or any SEC school racist, ABSOLUTELY NOT. Does racism exist only in the South, of course not.
This book does a great job of showing that most people in the South are many things but racist is not one of them. They are kind, caring, helpful people. That everyone gets along very well on a daily basis. Sadly the national media and many others that do not live in the South don't seem to understand that. As Oprah once said, "you are your zip code" if you don't live there you don't have any idea.
I hope all my friends will read this book, I especially hope all my Ole Miss friends and SEC friends will read this book and I really hope all Moms with daughters that went through sorority RUSH/recruitment or will some day will read it. It should be required reading for all parents, and students that are considering a sorority or fraternity. I hope everyone that just enjoys a great book will read it, as it truly is a great one.

I wanted very much to attend Ole Miss, and be in a sorority, but life took me in a different direction. Luckily for me, Lisa Patton’s ‘Rush’ gives an insider’s view to the traditions and secrets of Southern life and sisterhood.
Told from the viewpoints of Miss Pearl, who works in the Alpha Delt house and is a beloved family figure to the young women she cares for, Wilda, Ole Miss alumni and mom to an incoming freshman, and Cali, a bright and kind freshman from a small town, these three women all have secrets to keep that threaten to come out. The “villains” in this book are Lilith Whitmore and her daughter, Annie Laurie, but everything is not exactly as they seem. We also meet the other employees in the sorority house who work tirelessly and for little pay.
I’m a longtime fan of Ms. Patton’s Dixie series, and in ‘Rush’ she unflinchingly delves into the matter of racism and classism in 2016 Mississippi. She doesn’t shy away from addressing the issues head on and is able to tell important stories within this seemingly lighthearted look at Southern sorority life. I also loved the details about the lives of these strong women, and I could almost picture myself in Oxford on Bid Day, feeling the excitement of being welcomed into the sisterhood of a sorority.
I was thrilled to receive this book from NetGalley and the publisher for free, and I would very much recommend it to others.

I loved this book. This is the first time I have read anything by Lisa Patton but I will surely be checking out the rest of her titles. Rush is the story of sorority life told from the vantage point of prospective members, alumnae and even members of the house staff. Rush is easy to read and enjoyable but does explore social issues such as racism and the differences of socioeconomic classes. Ms. Patton did such a good job in helping us get to know her characters that I kept thinking I would like to read a whole book about each character! I am a member of a sorority (MANY, MANY years ago!) so this book vividly reminded me of those days, good and bad. I went to a Big 10 school and sorority life is very different in comparison to what its like in the south, but it was interesting to read what its like at schools with a bigger Greek system as well as what its like present day. I would like to believe that today's youth are as socially aware as a few of the girls in the story, but I am not so sure. As much as I loved reading this book, I question if readers who haven't experienced sorority life would enjoy it. I hope so because it is a really good read.

Such a great book! I was in a sorority and this brought me back to those days. I loved the characters in this book, except for the moms who were just treating the help with so much disrespect. I liked how the girls loved these ladies like they were their own family.
I felt drawn into their world and was rooting for them the whole time. Sorority life is not understanding by looking in but by looking out. It takes a lot of strength to be in a sorority and there are cliques and some of the women do have more money than others. But it is a place where you make friendships that last a lifetime.

The above is the entire blurb. I did not have one laugh out loud moment, but I did have a lot of uncomfortable ones. I noticed that the author herself is a Alabama graduate but set the story in Ole Miss because everyone loves them. Really? As someone who lived in Mississippi and taught in Mississippi, I sent my children out-of-state for college. 

The characters were very superficial and the only one I cared for was Wilda's husband. 

I'm not sure if this was supposed to be funny but it came off as shallow and insensitive. The Greek system is full of racism, elitism and needs to be done away with. You are in college to learn, and the only way to do that is by interacting with people different from you. Generational Racism is alive and well on the majority of campuses. And to say there has never been a black house mother in the SEC is shameful.

I would not recommend this book.

Netgalley/ St.Martin's Press  August 21, 2018

Loved this book. Didn’t want it to end. Highly recommend.

Love love love. Incredible book. Fabulous book club pick too

At first glance, and reading the description, I thought this novel would be about the trials and tribulations of freshman year of college and of joining a sorority. I was wrong. The story, on the surface, centers around three young women entering into their first Rush season, as well as the involvement of their families. While that may be described as the main plot, the center, what this novel is really about is the inherent racism in Greek life in the South. It's about the love shared between these young, privileged white women with their black household staff. The audience really comes to understand how the women can be so blind when it comes to how poorly the staff are treated (little pay, no vacation, no benefits at all). And, in this case, how "Miss Pearl" is the beloved mother these women all needed over the years. It's at times intentionally frustrating, but ultimately an uplifting novel about race relations in this microcosm of life. The writer's afterword hopes that her novel may aid in these current conditions, and I can't help but to agree.

First off, this book promised to be laugh out loud funny, it wasn't. I guess in 2018 I don't find racist white people (even if fictional) hilarious. It also talks about exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters and friends (sure, at a very superficial level). I do think that I was officially done though when we had a black character not only bash Obamacare and claiming it made poor people poorer, but when that same character did a well both sides are at fault here when discussing racism in America. You just got the Beyonce "Boy Bye" middle finger wave from me here. "Rush" seemed like a funny send up of sorority life in America. Too bad it was not.

"Rush" is mimicking "The Help". We get multiple POVs. We got a black character talking about taking care of her babies (she's only 44). We got a white character who is going to do what she can to make things better not only for the woman she has supposedly grown close to after speaking to her I think twice at this point in the book, but for all of the staff (the help) that work at the sorority. We also have another character who is foolish as the day as long.

"Rush" starts off with Miss Pearl talking about her babies and taking care of the girls of Alpha Delta Beta for 25 years. Miss Pearl is going nowhere fast. She works the sorority, but does not get paid during the summer when the school/sorority is closed, and is struggling to make ends meet. When a possible promotion arises to House Mother, Miss Pearl is encouraged by her aunt (who is also a cook at the sorority) but the current House Mother as well.

The second POV comes from Wilda. She's nervous about her daughter going to Ole Miss since that means she is now officially an empty-nester. When an opportunity comes up that will allow her to keep an eye on her daughter and also volunteer for Alpha Delta Beta she jumps at the chance.

Cali Watkins is struggling to fit in at Ole Miss. She has a secret she is hiding from not only her roommate (Jasmine) but also her new best friend Ellie (Wilda's mother).

The three POVs did not work together very well at all.

Miss Pearl's voice was way too subservient to me. Even when she was having problems with a fellow worker, she just seemed way too passive. There is even a scene where one of her "babies" touches her hair without permission and instead of telling her not to touch her hair, goes to herself, well some of these girls parents didn't teach them manners (eyeroll). I also really really hated this character talking about racism and giving one of the secondary characters (Lilith Whitmore) a free pass for her racism and outright hatred towards her at the end of this book. You can't be forgiven for something if I don't really think you even absorb what you did. The book fast forwards to two weeks later so I guess that's enough time for people to just not be racist anymore.

I was bored by Cali's POV from beginning to end. Her supposed close relationship to Miss Pearl didn't even work since they don't meet until around the 60 percent mark. Cali saying she felt close to Miss Pearl on bid day just didn't ring true. You all talked for maybe 10 minutes. When Cali and Ellie decide to fight Lilith Whitmore the book just didn't ring true at all. I have not been part of a sorority. I was chased after during my undergraduate years to join, but I was not in the mood to be part of something where the majority of the sororities were predominantly white. Even girls who joined who were African American were very very light skinned. This was all back in 1997 by the way. So though I have not been part of the Greek life as they say. I have a hard time with the way the events in this book are portrayed. I don't want to spoil things for potential readers, but a few times I went, yeah sure that doesn't make any sense at all, but whatever.

Wilda's POV should have been in a separate book. Frankly I was more interested in her POV. Dealing with two sons who are grown living their separate lives. She has her youngest daughter at Ole Miss. However, she gets caught up with keeping up with the Jones's and agrees to have her daughter room with Lilith Whitmore's daughter. That is the beginning of a disaster of her own making. When it comes up that the girls should split the cost of a dorm room decorator (yeah I was nonplussed myself) Wilda goes behind her husband's back to make sure he has no idea what she has done. Wilda has some backbone here and there. She actually calls out Lilith's racism to her face, but she still like all other characters in this book were so passive.

The secondary characters were not developed very well. We have uber racist Lilith Whitmore who does remind me of so many white people I have met in my life. When she tries to explain later about why she is the way she is I rolled my eyes a thousand times. Go kick rocks.

Wilda's daughter Ellie would have been a better POV or at least a better additional POV. I really didn't get much a sense from her besides she really liked Cali, and could not stand rooming with Lilith's daughter (Annie Laurie). Speaking of Annie Laurie, she was just nasty for nasty sake and once again got a redemption that was not deserved at all.

I will say that Wilda's husband was interesting and they seemed like a pretty happy couple. I wish that we had seen more fall-out discussion between them after all the secrets Wilda was hiding comes out.

The writing was okay. I can at least say you will definitely know the characters voices are separate. I just didn't care for all of the characters. I also thought the flow was up and down too much. We would have Cali talking to Miss Pearl and then the book would jump to the next chapter that was still Cali's POV. The POVs I don't think were evenly distributed. I can't tell in my ARC version very well, so will say that it seems that Wilda and Cali got more POVs than Miss Pearl did.

This book takes place in 2016 and I love that the author does not only mention the Presidential election, but manages to get some digs at Obama in there. Taking place at Ole Miss, which is obviously in Mississippi just about killed me. I guess we are not going to talk about the atrocities that have occurred in that state. That state had the murder of James Craig Anderson in 2011 by a group of white teenagers. But you go ahead and tell me how black people need to let go of things that have happened in the "past" and move forward instead of blaming white people.

The ending was more white savior nonsense. I just couldn't even get spun up about it at this point. Was glad to be done with this book.

Sorry but I just couldn’t get into this book. I could not honestly review as I was unable to read.

Having never been in a sorority, reading Rush gave me an interesting peek into what rush means and the reason women want to join a sorority. On top of that, this book was so filled with compassion, love and caring that I was instantly drawn in and I hated to see it end.

Instead of being focused exclusively on themselves, several of the main characters were shown to be wise beyond their years, trying to include others and make their lives better, even the people that appeared to have everything.

I really enjoyed not only the "be the change" moral (if you will) of the story, but I also appreciated the well rounded characters that made me feel like I knew them. Easy read that will draw you in quickly, check it out.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and author for an early copy.

Rush was not my kind of book. I couldn't really get into the story and I had to force myself to finish the book. Nothing was very captivating or interesting and I never felt compelled to keep reading. The writing felt very clunky at times, especially with metaphors that seemed out of place and awkward. Also, since there were multiple POVs, there was often overlap between chapters that was a bit redundant. The characters were okay, but they didn't seem very genuine. I think there would've been more depth to the story if a character on an opposing side (e.g. Annie Laurie) had a POV.

While Rush was nice and sweet, it definitely wasn't "laugh-out-loud funny" as the summary suggests. I guess I thought the story would be more dramatic than it was, so it was kind of a let down for me.

Uplifting novel about social injustice and campus life in the deep south. The ending was a bit fairy tale-ish, but I truly wish that change could be wrought so simply and loved it.

I didn't go to a sorority based university but this did seem to be true to what being in a Southern based university would be. I was impressed by the style of writing; however, it was sad to see this so racially driven in 2016.

I didn't join a sorority when I was in college, so I didn't know much about the Rush process. The lives of the staff in the house revolve around the girls, becoming a second family for them. The alumnae guide and, sometimes, sabotage the process behind the scenes. The girls become their best or worse selves to impress the upper classmen who make the decisions.
Miss Pearl is a shining star and housekeeper in the sorority house; she listens to the girls and helps them find their way. Cali is a pledge; she worries that her lack of "pedigree" will keep her on the outside looking in. Ellie is a "legacy"; she has a sure shot getting rushed. Together, the two of them become a force for change.
The story takes place during the freshman fall semester at Ol Miss University, and we follow Cali, Ellie and the rest of the pledges as they go through the rush process. In the same house, but in an alternate reality, Miss Pearl and the staff keep the house running smoothly until tragedy strikes.
I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. By the end, I was fully engaged-I wanted the best for all of them.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having worked in a Greek Life Office at a Large SEC school, the main theme of this book was/is very interesting to me. Although I no longer work with the population, it is very interesting to me especially in contrast with Black sororities that I amore familiar with. I learned enough of the lingo that I understood most of what was going on, but the author gives great description and backstory to help those unfamiliar with Panhellenic Recruitment.

Overall the 90% of the story was hard to put down. I found myself trying to read snippets anytime I had downtime because I was so drawn into the story. I did not care for the ending- it reeked of white saviorism and that was almost enough to turn me off the book until I read the authors notes/story.

My biggest complaint with the book was the Ms. Pearl character. At times she seemed like a trope- a modern day version of someone from the Help. I felt that her character just didn’t really ring true. At first she “read” much older than 44 and she just really seemed like a caricature. At times I think the story could have been told from the Wilda/Callie POV and been just as good an effective.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. I liked the Wilda/Callie POV and the overall pace of the book. I almost stopped and put it down after reading the first chapter ( Ms. Pearl) but I’m glad I kept on- until the last chapter with everything wrapped up in a neat and tidy bow.

I do think the author has good intentions and I hope that the market ( PHC sorority women and and alums) for this book will hopefully enjoy and see the issues Ms. Patton has bought to the forefront.

This great quick read about sorority life in the south is set at Ole Miss. It is told from three viewpoints: Wilda, a sorority alum an mother of a daughter beginning college and going through rush; Pearl, the devoted longtime housekeeper at the sorority house; and Cali, a girl from humble circumstances who knows that sorority life will bring her the connections and family that she craves. This is a pretty predictable book with a few twists, but the predictability makes it a good book to read on a lazy spring day. the characters are unforgettable and it is very well-written. I highly recommend it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/36742940-rush

Well done by author. A modern day version of The Help. Loved it! Brings out anger at the continued racism, confusion...really $10,000 dorm room, and pity that you have to tear down a child to get your child accepted,

I loved every word of this book. It was such a timely, refreshingly poignant story and everything I love about southern fiction. The setting and the characters were wonderful and won't be easily forgotten.