Like many reviewers, I have mixed feelings about The Divines.

While parts of the book were beautifully written, it fell very flat for me. I pushed through some of the slower chapters and some of the increasingly unlikeable characters, hoping for an ending that would make an impact. However, it just didn't happen. For all of the tough things to read, I really wanted there to be some kind of payoff. I will be thinking about this book for days to come, but it feels more unresolved than anything.

That said, the author created an intriguing, though disturbing, world of the boarding school. It was described with such detail that the reader could easily feel like one of its students.

This book surprised me with how much I enjoyed it - capturing my attention from the beginning and making me read to the end. I needed to know how everyone turned out. The book made me sentimental thinking about friendships and memories that shaped my own life including roommates at college - when I first felt the freedoms and entitlement of youth that Joe experienced. We were close- like sisters. We were obnoxious at times. I wonder if they would remember events the same way - with good memories and some regrets? I wonder if, like Joe, I would be surprised at how they would describe me from back then. When I was reading I also thought about the way some college students treated the “townies.” We thought ourselves better than even though we did not know them. This was before society prompted us to think about our privilege. I prided myself that I was not one of the mean girls, although I could be quick to action if someone picked on someone in my inner circle. I enjoyed the writing style and the way the author chose to share the story from two different points in Joe/Sephine’s life. It was important that she finally gave herself permission to come to grips with the past. I wonder if she will try and find Lauren so she can truly be at peace. Highly recommend this debut novel. A great look into the adolescent mindset - wanting to fit in and be loved, The book had themes of bullying and underage drinking that may be hard for some readers, but the characters were honest and believable.

In one of the most overdone themes of 2020 books, boarding school bad girls, The Divines was particularly unpalatable to me. This book is yet another one of the boarding school novels where the characters bully and harass their way through their days, mocking less popular students, drinking, smoking, doing drugs, fantasizing about and partaking in inappropriate relationships and last but not least wrecking chaos that ends up destroying the school they attend or people there with them. In this case on top of all that, the author takes a casually vulgar approach about human bodies and sex that seems unnecessarily blunt and awkward - like she's trying to shock the reader but not really adding any value to the story. Josephine, the narrator, shows a reflective lack of satisfaction in life both during her boarding school days and in her current, less than interesting life as a wife and mother who struggles to find a job. Pretty much the only thing this book accomplishes for me is reassuring me that I was actually a really decent human being as a teenager if the type of behavior in this book counts as normal for young women. With characters that are less than redeeming, narcissistic and generally uninteresting this book may appeal if you like reading about teenagers behaving badly or are into the whole Sally Rooney hype, but it has absolutely nothing redemptive to have made it worth my time to read. If I hadn't have been reading an advance copy for review I likely wouldn't have bothered to finish it.

The setting for the book was very intriguing to me, as I always love a good boarding school mystery. However, the plot fell flat for me. At the end I kept thinking, I have just a short amount left - how are they going to wrap this up? Nothing felt resolved to me, nor did it feel like there was a sequel coming. The main character, Jo, was likeable enough until the last quarter or so. Then I felt like she was withdrawing from her family and not acting like herself. Overall, this was okay. I liked it, but the story line wasn't great.

This story revolves around an elite boarding school It bounces back and forth between Josephine’s life today and her life while at school. It outlines how this boarding school:shakes many facets of Joe’s life.
I found that I never really worked up a liking for any of the girls at the school, but that being said, I found myself looking forward to reading what would become of them. An interesting story which contains an incident with a classmate that leaves an indelible Mark on Joe. An easy read and entertaining enough for me to recommend.

I received this arc from HarperCollins and netgalley in exchange for my honest review..

Overall I liked the book well enough. It was a quick read. Nothing terribly new in the lives of boarding school girls. They are mean. I didn't really care too much for the main character, Josephine. At times I felt bad for her but mostly just didn't like her. I also didn't really like the ending. It seemed to me like there were some loose ends that I would have liked to see tied up. I'm going to give it a 4 star rating, but honestly it's more like 3 1/2.

This was a super interesting book. If you liked “The Au Pair” by Emma Rous, that is what Ellie Eaton’s writing is most akin to. The story is told in flashbacks and present time and it was spectacularly well-done. I’m super excited to see what everyone else thinks when it’s published because I expect that it will be a hit.

Welcome to St. John the Divine, a boarding school filled with "Divine" young women such as Josephine, who goes by "Joe" (all of the Divine girls go by masculine names). As an adult, Joe returns to the site of her former school and is suddenly haunted by the events that took place during her final months there. Through alternating timelines, we as readers slowly learn about Lauren, the "townie" that Joe befriends despite the disdain of the other Divines; Skipper, Joe's ex-best friend and the most popular Divine in the 5th year; and Gerry, the most un-Divine of the Divines - an ice skater that keeps to herself and who the other Divines refer to as the "Poison Dwarf."

This is a book that I'm going to be thinking about long after I've put it down. It is not your typical boarding school tale; it will likely leave you feeling unsatisfied and out of sorts. It will leave you wondering about the truth, wondering about boarding school syndrome, and wondering about the characters. It will leave you wanting more.

I love boarding school stories (maybe because my mother went to one and told us lots of stories) and this one did not disappoint. Josephine or Joe or Sephine is an adult now, but haunted by the posh private school the has defined her life. She's not very likable, snobby, kind of cruel, self-absorbed, and completely unself-aware. Self named The Divines, because of the school name, the students reek of privilege and entitlement. Josephine, now close to 40, with a wonderful husband, looks back on her high school life mulling over the mistakes she's made. Unfortunately, she's learned very little and is still totally self-absorbed. Even though Josephine isn't likable, the book is. It's well written and hard to put down. It says a great deal about class and privilege and how our actions define us.

St John The Divine is an English boarding school for girls. The schools goal is to offer an ellite selection of girls an exceptional education, and friendship for life. But in reality it produced hateful, sex obsessed, delinquent, pack mentality piranhas.
Josephine once fit in amount the Divines. Now fifteen years later, in reflection, she knows what she did was wrong. Her part in the schools scandal has haunted her for years. She has tried to forget the past, but it has a way of popping up again and again. She must face what she did and who she hurt.

The Divines is a different take on life in boarding school. Of course it touches on bullying, sex, drugs and scandal. But it also tells the story of regret and the PTSD that is very real for some of these girls. Living without parental supervision in the wolf pack of adolescent girls who essentially run the school, is a huge life experience. It not something you forget.
I easily related to Josephine's character, even though I never went to private school. Every girl has experienced sexual experimentation, social embarrassment and envy. I felt the hurt of her rejection, bringing up memories of girls I idolized in school.
Bouncing back and forth from school life in the 90s, to Josephine in her thirties, shows how her actions have effected her adult life. How friends you insist will be there forever, have disappeared. Its heartbreaking and so completely true.
Eaton has written an important book for teen girls and adults. Her words will ring true to both generations and hopefully force reflection and change. Bullying may have changed shape throughout the years, but it never goes away.

The Divines is the nickname of the privileged, hair flicking teenage girls who attend an English boarding school called St. John the Divine in the 90s. The narrative switches between present day wife and mother Josephine and her experience as a teenage Divine student called Joe.

This story left me feeling conflicted as it was very intriguing, but uncomfortable on many levels. I loved the haunting, twisted atmosphere of the boarding school but disliked revisiting the awkwardness and cruelty of teenage girls and the toxic group mindset of the Divines. I struggled to get into the story at the beginning, but it became more interesting as the details of Joe's unsettling high school experience emerged. I went back to the beginning to fill in the gaps after finishing the book and found it more interesting with some context. As someone who was an outsider in high school I could relate to the outcasts in the story and relished looking through the eyes of the in-crowd, as well as the present day look at being haunted by past mistakes and trying to let go of them or make amends. Both Ellie Eaton's haunting writing style and the dark and twisted nature of the story reminded me of Ruth Ware's books. I would recommend this book if you like dark, suspenseful stories!

Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow and Custom House for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is about present day Joe reliving her days at an all girls boarding school. I really didn't like or care about the characters. I'm wondering did girls really act this way? I really only kept reading to find out what happened to Linda Lake. Really wouldn't recommend this

How molded and haunted we are by our teenage years.
After being in the vicinity on her honeymoon, Sephine (joe) recounts her time at an exclusive boarding school and becomes consumed by it in her adult life. She's reminded of destructive relationships between the girls, hateful bullying and the lasting impact of her perceived memories on her own life. Privilege isn't always what it's thought to be.

This book is about a collection of girls an elite boarding school. I actually enjoyed it very much. Characters ring true and the situation is I could identify with.

I so wanted to love the Divines, but for me, this book didn't deliver.

The Divines is a bookended story that begins with the death of Gerry Lake, a talented ice skater, at a prestigious UK boarding school. The novel opens with Josephine as she and her new husband make a pit stop at her old school en route to their honeymoon.

From the start, two things are clear - Josephine's baggage includes more than just luggage, and she has largely kept her husband in the dark about her teenage years.

The Divines, which is the nickname of girls who attend this school, is a disjointed novel about entitled teens, arbitrary bullying, and a self-absorbed woman who fails to evolve. As the story unfolded, I found myself waiting for a moment of reckoning for Josephine that never came. The supporting characters are unfocused and indistinguishable from one another. The titular climax - a reunion in an airport (no spoilers!) - was ultimately inconsequential.

For me, Eaton's attempts to establish an intriguing, glittery portrait of teenaged girls fell flat.

I will have to admit it took me a few days to process how I felt about this book. What I thought was going to be another story of a tragic death at an elite boarding school turned out to be so much more. The characters are all complicated, angsty teens and while I didn’t particularly like any of them, I could relate to the challenges of navigating the teen years and girl drama. No spoilers, but the ending completely surprised me and I do feel this would be an excellent choice for a book club.

The author powerfully conveyed the message that what we do in our youth can have long-lasting impacts on our adult life. She captured the teenage angst, self-loathing, and exploration of friendship and sexuality very well. I had some trouble suspending my disbelief on a few key points, for example not knowing whether Gerry had survived or not, but overall it was well done. The ending was perfect and a delicious surprise!

Present day quite literal mean girls told from the vision of a mean girl. It is hard to read at times - reflecting on Insecurities and talking behind peoples backs. This book tells the awkward story of trying to fit in, even when you are still in the in crowd. The things you have to give up and the road to travel. It is a quite tough one. It was quite difficult to read at times and was definitely not what I expected. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a quick read but was hard to get into at times. The story is told in the present time and the past when the main character was a young girl in boarding school. In the present time she is married with a child but is obsessed with the time she was a young girl at the school and can’t let go of the past. After I finished this book there were to me a lot of questions that wasn’t answered and the main character was not very likable. Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC for my honest opinion.

This is a story about reflecting on one's past and trying to make amends for mistakes made. Unfortunately, it fell a bit short for me. I found it to be very slow moving and I didn't make a connection with the main character.