This is such an important topic and I am glad we are getting books about it in YA fiction. Unfortunately for me personally this book suffered from way too many POVs. I think it bogged down the story and it made me not eager to pick it up.

I wanted to love this book, I really did. But I just could not get into the authors writing style. The plot was strong and I would recommend it to those who like dark slow reads that are character driven.

All Girls by Emily Layden is a intriguing and emotionally resonant novel that is a perfect fit for readers who appreciate complex, character-driven stories that explore the challenges of coming of age, the complexities of female relationships, and the struggles of navigating the complexities of power and consent in institutions, particularly those who enjoy the works of authors like Sally Rooney and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

The start of Atwater's 2015 semester is met with an accusation from an anonymous source. Will it overshadow the school year, or can the students juggle the norms of student life in the exclusive world of boarding school? Told through nine student points of view, All Girls provides plentiful narratives that range from the argumentative to the contemplative with a sophisticated teen air. However, the investigation into the accusation does not live up to the hype. The big reveal is anticlimactic and results in a study of CYA of the school's board and administration. The third act feels like the description of the commencement speaker, full of daring, bold promise that ultimately fails flat. Although the narrative runs to the mundane, it is filled with anticipatory intrigue into the inner monologues of teen girls. The style has a beautiful flow that supports reminiscing, which makes the accusatory plot point stand out as a bit of a dud.

Thank you, St Martin's Press, for the gifted copy of All Girls by Emily Layden.

I typically love books like All Girls but, for some reason, this book just wasn't for me. I struggled to connect with any of the characters or to be invested in the storyline. I ended up DNFing this title around the 30% mark.

Hopefully Layden's next book will be the one for me!

I love a prep school/boarding school novel, and went into this one excited about what was to come. It began promisingly, hooking me from the start, though it didn't quite deliver throughout. I had the sense that the author wanted to tell more stories than the book could hold, and it slowed down and diluted my reading experience to try to wade through them all.

I picked up this book because I attended an all girls preparatory school myself. This book was difficult for me to get into due to the multiple points of view. I personally would’ve enjoyed the story more if it was not a new point of view each chapter. Wanted to love this book but I couldn’t.

I found this novel to be a moving, thoughtful exploration of the most difficult moments in adolescence.

This book was described as Gossip Girl meets Curtis Sittenfeld, and that describes it perfectly!! That was the EXACT vibe I got from this book, 4 stars, and I will definitely read more by this author!

I’m a sucker for boarding school stories. Seriously, if that’s in the description - I have to read the book! The start of this book was strong and I was hooked. As I progressed through the story, I started to lose interest. The number of points of view became overwhelming and difficult to keep track of. My brain just couldn’t handle the constant shifting which was too bad - I think the book had a ton of potential!

Boarding schools have always fascinated me, and there’s just something about these novels that makes for an intriguing story. Inhabiting a world few of us will ever experience, boarding school girls lead a life of power and privilege, and when you combine that with the elements of a good coming-of-age tale, you often have quite the interesting read on your hands. Emily Layden’s debut novel All Girls is one such book, but readers should educate themselves on the format and pacing of this novel before they pick it up to avoid being disappointed.

All Girls draws readers in with a scandal. It seems a male teacher slept with a student decades ago, and now the victimized girl is speaking out by exposing him on campus to the new class of students at Atwater, a prestigious New England boarding school. While the book opens with this tale, it doesn’t remain its focus, and instead the offense lingers in the background, threading its way throughout the pages of the story, occasionally popping up here and there.

No, All Girls is actually about, well, the GIRLS of Atwater. The book is divided into several sections with a different student at the boarding school taking the spotlight, letting readers into her life at the school. We witness friendships, sports, first love, prom, and graduation through the eyes of these girls. There is no significant plot to remember, and quite frankly, you will forget the characters too, but the journey is an alluring one. All Girls is for anyone who has ever been curious about the day-to-day life of boarding school students and wants to peek behind the walls of Atwater.

Going to an all girls high school myself, I feel the author did their research, or went to an all girls school herself (although my school was not a boarding school and had no teacher/student relations). I feel the student and teacher relationship troupe is a very slippery slope, and while it was a big part of this story, it didn't overshadow everything else in a terribly negative way. I liked that it was an event taking place in the 70s and 80s and not at the school presently, even though you are lead to believe differently. I loved the lifestyle scenes like graduation and prom.

I have always been fascinated by boarding schools and All Girls makes an excellent addition to my long list of boarding school books I've enjoyed. This book has several different POV's and while that gets mildly confusing it weaves a vivid tapestry of what it is like to be a girl.

After reading this book, I would never send my children to an all girls (prep) school. All these girls have problems and some of them are really bad. The book also shows how important money is to these schools (which may be the theme of this book. I struggled to find a common thread through the chapters, but the only thing i can find is that all the girls are private school students. There was another story about a former student being sexually assaulted, but it never really was resolved. The book ended at graduation and yet the reader had no resolution of the undergraduate students, which was a little disconcerting.

I thought this book was well-written and very timely. It was a coming of age story that looked at many different student’s attending a prestigious private school. I really enjoyed how each chapter was told from a different perspective and gave you different information. It is not a mystery or thriller, which I had originally thought it was, but it was still a good read. I will definitely be reading more from Emily Layden!

Coming of age, prep school drama are usually my thing but I had a hard time getting into this one. I set it aside and hope to return to it.

A coming of age story set an a girls prep school. This book just didn’t do it for me. I felt like it never got off the ground, really had to struggle through the ending.

Initially, I was excited to read this book due to the campus drama premise. However, I felt like the book and characters were too juvenile (even considering the age of the characters). The character development was there, but I felt like it was sacrificed for the drama.

I couldn't get into this book. I wasn't invested in the characters and ended up skimming a lot of it. Thank you for letting me read this book.