Member Reviews

This book was so much fun! Set at a New Hampshire boarding school, with rich, snotty students and the typical teaching/house parent couple where the husband is a hunk and the wife is a plain Jane, the story grabbed me from the start and never let go. With deft writing the author slowly built the suspense (even though the bad guy was obvious) so you simply could not put the book down. A perfect summer beach read!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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Another exciting read from this author that does not disappoint. The story begins with a girl in the infirmary. A girl accused of murdering her twin sister at the boarding school where they've just become students. We then learn more about twins, Bel and Rose Enright, who are very different. Police interviews are interspersed throughout so that readers learn more about the murder as the plot unfolds. The characters were very deeply rooted and believable. The events are unfortunately quite true-to-life. There are twists and turns that keep the pages turning. And the ending....nice one!!!!!

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*Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* The book starts with the knowledge that someone has been killed at Odell Academy, but the reader does not find out the victim until well into the book. This was a clever idea as it allowed for lots of foreshadowing throughout the novel. The protagonists are recently orphaned twins, Bel and Rose Enright whose grandmother has shipped them off to the same boarding school that their father attended, prestigious Odell Academy. The girls are put in Moreland Hall, a dormitory known for its troublemakers. Rose throws herself into the academic and co-curricular life of the school, whereas Bel falls in with the 'wrong' crowd.

One reviewer described this book as a cross-between 'Mean Girls' and 'Cruel Intentions' and I can't quite feel it is apt. My rating would be between 3.5 to 4 stars. 4 stars because it is compulsively readable. I wanted to know who was killed and by whom and why and was very engaged in the plot. 3.5 stars because the book did rely on a number of tried and true plot devices - twins that are radically different, a student developing a crush on an older man, a seemingly perfect family where not all is as it seems, snobby boarding school students and so on. Overall, an enjoyable read however.

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Twin sisters Rose and Bel Enright go to live at Odell boarding school after their mother dies. Rose, the quiet and studious one seems to fit right in there at first, until Bel starts hanging around with an older crowd and joins in a prank gone wrong. The twins are then at each other's throats and it's no surprise that, after Bel is found murdered, Rose is the one holding the bloody knife. Now she has to find a way to prove her innocence.
I thought this was a fast-paced good book. I love how the creepy old boarding school campus becomes like an evil presence looming over the whole story.
Thanks Michele Campbell and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

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Loveeddd this one! Thrillers are best for summers and even though this book was sent for review during the chills i still took my time and i finished it during a hot beautiful sunny day!! I loved it and I recommended to some thriller fanatics i know and we buddy read this AGAIN to have more thrills and chills!

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Twin sisters who are opposites seems to be a trend lately and not necessarily a good one. These two sisters are orphans which is one of the few things to differentiate them from others. The school their grandmother sends them to is more like a juvenile detention center filled with almost all mean girls.

I just couldn't get into it as it was not believable in the least.

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This book started slow but soon got me caught up in the drama at this elite New England school. The setting was well described although some of the details were somewhat muddled.

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**This review may contain spoilers...continue at your own risk!**

This book was good - up until the very end. The killer is obvious very early on in the investigation; how could it not have been him?! And then that epilogue. They missed a golden opportunity. Instead of the ending the book actually had, they should have had Heath kill himself while proclaiming his innocence, and then have Darcy admit to the killing in the epilogue. THAT ending would have rated 5+ stars. As it is, it gets a 3.5, rounded up because I enjoyed the writing style. Unsure if I will be reading more of Campbell's work; if they all have obvious endings, there's really not much point.

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She Was the Quiet One
June 27, 2018
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From the author that brought you, It’s Always the Husband, Michele Campbell has once again brought her talent to another thriller. Engaged from the first page to last, I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Anxiously wondering what happened between the two Enright sisters, Bel and Rose.

Taken away from the only place they knew as home, were sent to live with their grandmother after a tragedy. With their eyes set on success, popularity, boys, men, and themselves. You get involved with the characters, wondering what decisions they will make next. Good? Bad? Murder? Who did it? Why?

One term that hit me that I didn’t understand until much later in the novel, was the Slipper Attack. I didn’t understand what it meant and felt frustrated that the author didn’t describe it at the beginning.

You begin to think you know who died and know who did it. But beware, what you think you know is not who. This book had my mind turning so different ways, trying to figure out what was going to happen. Yet still just when I thought I knew, nope, keep trying.

This book will have you flipping pages faster than you can read. Who will you fight for? Bel? Rose? Sara? So many characters from different walks of life.

Read it and enjoy. I would love to hear your comments on the book as well.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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What could go wrong at a fancy school in a small town ? A lot !! Another outstanding book buy Michelle Campbell. She always has a really sick twist at the end of the book. I love when you think you know what's going on and then, no you were wrong. I really enjoyed this book , it keeps you on the edge of your seat. She is certainly on her way to being one of the great mystery authors of this time. I highly recommend that you read this book. You'll be glad you did !

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Thank you NetGalley for the ARC book “She Was the Quiet One” by Michelle Campbell. This was the first book I’ve read by this author & plan on reading more. I really like the way she writes and makes the reader feel like they are part of the story. It was a fanatic suspense/thriller book. I would highly recommend to my friends who love to read. I will not give any spoilers but please check this book out. It’s one you and your friends will be talking about. I’m now a huge Michelle Campbell fan. Thank you again NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this fantastic book.

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She Was the Quiet One is about Rose and Bel, 15 year old fraternal twins, who are sent to a prestigious New England boarding school after their mother dies. Rose is studious and loves the idea of going to this new school but Bel, the wild, rebellious one, immediately falls in with a bad group. Rose confides in Susan Donovan, who heads the dorm along with her very ambitious and popular husband Heath. Bel is drawn to Heath and this is where the dark tale takes off. Heath is a weak man in many ways and has already lost one career because of it...he's determined to make this new teaching career carry him all the way to headmaster of the school and he'll let no one get in his way.

We read the book from alternating views of Rose and Bel. Both girls, who are so different and they already have difficulty getting along because of those differences but the people at the school help to pull the girls farther apart as the book progresses. With grownups who actively lead at least one of the girls down a wrong path and other grownups who look away or make excuses for what is going on, the book is mired in tragedy. From the beginning, we know one girl is dead, supposedly at the hands of the other. I did not want to put this book down until the very end.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

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3.5 - 4 Stars. I have had my eye on this book for a while now, the synopsis really caught my attention. Michele Campbell is a new to me author, and I was really excited to start reading this book. It all played out like a movie you can't stop watching. Twin girls who have become orphaned, now living with their extremely wealthy grandmother who ships them off to the same boarding school their father went to and his father before him, etc. A young married couple who come to the school to be the dorm heads of one of the girl's dorms. The dorm with the worst reputation at the school, with girls doing all sorts of things that are against school rules.

I have to admit that by chapter 2, I had guessed who committed the murder. But this author was new to me, so I dedicated myself to leaving my thoughts on the back burner until I had read the whole book. Michele does a great job of trying to lead the reader astray, filling the book with red herrings to keep us on our toes, questioning if we really know who is doing what. There's a lot of things that happen that look so straightforward at first, until new light is shed on the circumstances, and then nothing looks so cut and dry anymore.

This book is labeled as a women's fiction book, but it is also very heavy in the YA category. There's a whole lot of the "mean girls" feel and some unrequited love going on. Twin sisters who have lost everything and are just trying to fit in, each in their own way. One sister falls in with the wrong crowd, and starts doing a whole lot of stuff she knows she shouldn't be doing, but she just wants to be accepted.

On the other side of all this is the husband and wife team who are advising the girls in the dorm. Their seemingly perfect family life is not at all what it seems on the surface, and their new positions at the school are like a second chance for them to rise out of the ashes of their previous life and reach the goals they've set for themselves. Only, apparently, their goals are not lining up anymore.

The storyline kept me engaged for the most part, but I admit the book dragged in some places for me, and I was anxious to get past some sections that didn't seem essential to the plot so I could get back to the meat and potatoes of the story. I did really like the way the chapters were set up. I won't explain that, I will leave that to readers to figure out.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. I liked the mystery of who was doing what, the way Michele cast dispersions so you weren't 100% sure of what to believe. Ultimately when the story ended, I had been correct about who the murderer was, but I did second guess myself a few times along the way. I'm off now to see what other books Michele has published so I can read them too!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

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Sisterly love can be is tested at an alarmingly fast rate when you just don’t see eye to eye. Peer pressure, crushes, and sociopaths just don’t seem to mix too well in this suspenseful thriller.
Campbell’s writing is intelligent and straightforward, her characters unique and her plot masterfully written. People will be talking about this one!

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She Was the Quiet One is a suspenseful story with strong writing, engaging characters and a twisty plot that kept me on my feet. I wasn't crazy about the author's last book, but this one has me eager to read more by Campbell!

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Twin sisters who grow apart at private school. One wanting a quiet life with her classes and one falling for her advisor. Good read, but you know who the killer is. It didn't keep me guessing. Thanks NetGalley and St Martin's Press.

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I am now a fan of Michele Campbell! Her writing made me feel like I was watching a movie the entire time, I could easily picture every scene. I feel like the book started slowly but once it picked up I was hooked and couldn't wait to ge to the end. And what a twist at the end that was! Thank you so much, NetGalley, for the ARC.

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I received a copy of She Was The Quiet One for review from NetGalley.

She Was the Quiet One focuses on Rose and Bel Enright, who after the death of their beloved mother are sent to a New England boarding school by their grandmother who has been entrusted with their care. Rose quickly tries to fit in and does well academically. Bel, always the wild one, finds friends in the snobby group of girls who make the school a living hell for the less popular students. When Bel winds up dead and Rose is holding the murder weapon, chaos ensues. Is Rose really the murderer or is there something more sinister at play? This was an excellent novel which kept me riveted until the last page.

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If you liked IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND, you will absolutely love this cleverly crafted, psychological thriller about two orphaned twin sisters with opposite personalities who become estranged when they are sent away to a boarding school by their grandmother. The storyline is so intricately interwoven, the reader should expect the unexpected when one of the twins is murdered. This is definitely a must read for those who appreciate the genius of a masterfully written story.

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I remember really liking the book, Its Always The Husband so when I saw Michele Campbell wrote a new book, I knew I had to read it. She Was The Quiet one takes place at a New England boarding school, a picture perfect old fashion school complete with a lush campus and green ivy growing up the sides of centuries-old buildings. Rose and Bel, twin sisters, begin attending the school when their mother passes away. Rose is the more cautious sister and Bel is the wild one. Right away Bel starts hanging with the wrong crowd.

The story also focuses on Sarah and Heath Donovan, a married couple who are in charge of the dorm where the girls are living. Heath is gorgeous and flirty with the girls, you can tell right away that this is a recipe for disaster. I’m not finished with this book but I can tell you that its gripping, dark, and unfolding like a movie!


For Rose Enright, enrolling in a prestigious New England boarding school is the opportunity of a lifetime. But for Rose’s vulnerable twin sister Bel, Odell Academy is a place of temptation and danger. When Bel falls in with a crowd of wild rich kids who pressure her into hazing Rose, the sisters’ relationship is shattered. Rose turns to her dorm mother, Sarah Donovan, for advice. But Bel turns to Sarah’s husband Heath, a charismatic and ambitious teacher. Is Heath trying to help Bel or take advantage of her? In a world of privilege, seduction, and manipulation, only one sister will live to tell the truth.

In a novel full of twists, turns, and dark secrets, Michele Campbell once again proves her skill at crafting intricately spun and completely compelling plots.

Due out July 31.

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