I enjoyed the narration, but this book just didn’t work for me. There weren’t any likable characters, the relationships were dishonest or bleak, and I just couldn’t connect with this story in any way.
I love the cover, though!

First, thanks to @netgalley and @harperaudio for an audiobook copy of this title. I had a hard time getting into this one. However, by the end I was hooked.
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This book is about a woman named Josephine. She is in her mid-30’s as the book opens. She’s just gotten married and on her honeymoon decides to take a detour to visit the long-defunct campus of her boarding school. It doesn’t go well. It unleashes in her this torrent of memories and emotions that she’s locked up for many years. The book flashes back and forth between the present day beginning of her marriage and family to the last year she spent at school. Over the course of 6 years she becomes completely obsessed with the past. She lets the unbelievably toxic experience taint her present. It strains her family and her career.
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The reason I had a hard time with the book isn’t because it’s not good. It’s very good. It’s because the environment that these young women find themselves in at boarding school is so terribly damaging. I have two teenagers and I cannot fathom putting them in this situation on purpose. Although, by the end I was totally hooked. The conclusion was the perfect cherry on top but I so wasn’t done with the characters.
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This would be a terrific book club selection. There are many layers to dissect!

This audiobook was just ok to me. The story didn’t grab me and hang on. Some parts I didn’t even connect with the story or what was happening.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It offered just enough suspense about what happened at school with the main character that I kept wanting to listen to it. It felt like a true depiction of how high school can be in general whether or not at a boarding school. The main character struggles with a lot of the memories she has from that time in high school and it plagues her in her adult life.

The ending was very surprising and I feel like there is so much to dissect about it. It's a book with an abrupt ending but the kind that makes you want to take about it with other people. I would definitely recommend this book if you want to revisit high school and experience the heightened emotions of teenagers which also, seeing how your teen years can have a great impact in the person you become when you are older.

I love a campus novel—especially a girls boarding school novel. The Divines has a strong premise and I enjoyed the "present" of the novel that acts as a framing device. Unfortunately, the "past" of the novel, where most of the action takes place, was more difficult to get on board with. The protagonist, initially sympathetic in her adult form, is a belligerent bully as a teenager. I don't typically mind an unlikable character, but Joe's behavior is bigoted and reprehensible, and as an adult she paints herself (past and present) as a victim rather than a player in her own experience. Although Eaton's writing is solid, I couldn't quite get on board with the protagonist or the plot, and the ending cemented this as a 2-star read.

This is not my usual read but it was so good! There was so much depth to this one. Between how people remember things differently and how we all hold on to things in various ways. This one validated my own emotions/memories and tells the story that our high school years stick with us more than most of us admit.

This one was okay, but I really didn't love it. The audiobook was really tough to listen to, so I unfortunately struggled to get through it.

While not something that will stick with me in the long run, this is definitely something that I feel a lot of people who read thrillers would enjoy. It's not a thriller in and of itself, it definitely has that 'what's really going on?' quality that makes you keep wanting to turn pages. Oh - and the ending will give you whiplash.

Well goodness, you guys. If you didn’t already know, girls are the worst.

This book is about a bunch of WASPy girls that go to St. John the Divine private school. They call themselves The Divines and think of themselves in just that high of regard. They have a particular way of dressing, speaking, hair-flipping, and of metaphorically (and sometimes physically) tearing each other to shreds. Josephine, an alumna and legacy, is in her thirties and no matter what she does, she cannot shake the hold this school has on her even now. The deeper she goes, the more her life falls apart.

This book is full of fully-fleshed out flashbacks (I did not intend to have this alliteration, but now I must leave it because it is fun to say) that begin to fill in the blanks as to why Josephine is having such a hard time getting over her school days. Many increasingly terrible things happened at the school during her time there and the guilt weighs on her terribly.

One of the things that fascinates me most about this book is how much it focuses on memory. Whether it’s putting a fake sepia sheen on memories to gloss them over or obsessively focusing on certain memories that actually mean nothing to the other party, this book delves into it hard. Everything culminates at the end with a reunion and Josephine attempts to confront her complicated feelings with her past memories.

I left this book feeling hashtag blessed that I was educated in a co-ed public high school. Although who doesn’t love a private boarding school setting in a book?? Give this one a read if you agree.

A story following an exclusive all girls boarding school is fascinating enough, but when one of the boarding school members is found dead by her classmates, the intrigue of this novels premise becomes even more enticing!

The pretension present in the characters of The Divines and the addition of a death reminded me a little bit of The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I am a sucker for a story that takes place on a campus, I love the idea of reading campus novels during the winter and fall months and I always try to seek them out as often as possible. I was hoping The Divines would deliver. It sounded interesting enough, but the pace of this story and the audio book narration were both a bit of a slog for me. I had a hard time getting into the story. I never fully felt connected to the premise or the characters. This bizarre boarding school experience that these girls shared was interesting enough, but it was so polarizing in comparison to everything in this specific genre vein that I found myself lost in the oddness rather than charmed by it.

I think this novel would have been a standout with some more intentional characterization.

Thank You to Harper Audio and Netgalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I chose this book because several sources deemed it a "2021 Must Read". Overall, I found the book compelling and thought-provoking rather than entertaining and enjoyable. The author is a gifted writer, and I look forward to her next book.

The story is set in present-day Los Angeles where 30-year old successful journalist Josephine lives with her husband and young daughter. Most of the story is told in flashbacks as Josephine recalls her teenage years spent at St. John the Divine, an English boarding school for privileged, wealthy girls known as The Divines. The author does an outstanding job bringing to life the school and its entitled students. The students’ conversations—funny, sarcastic, scathing, cruel, condescending, occasionally kind—were extremely well-written. (I found the marriage scenes less interesting and believable.)

As the story unfolded and I began to question the veracity of Josephine’s recollections, I felt compelled to learn the truth and see how the story ended. I gave the book 4 stars because I had a hard time connecting with the main character.

When I finished the book, I began questioning my own memories. How accurate are they? How have they influenced me over the years, and how much are they influencing me now? I think the book would lead to an interesting discussion as a book club selection.



I listened to the audio version. The narrator did an outstanding job voicing the various characters, especially the teenaged girls.

I truly did not enjoy this book. I was really excited about the concept but I just don't think Eaton followed through. The boarding school aspect would grab my attention and then all of a sudden be ripped away so we could learn more about present day Josephine who I just didn't care about. I think using present day Josephine as a framing device (seeing her at the beginning and again at the end) would have been much more effective. I was also extremely underwhelmed by the ending. It felt like such a letdown after all the buildup about Gerry. I would not recommend this book to any of my friends or followers.

Fifteen years after leaving her elite English boarding school, St. John the Divine, Josephine is obsessed with her memories of life there and her role in a violent event that led to the school’s end. Jo reflects on what it meant to be Divine–the elitism, indifference, and rebelliousness that defined the over-privileged girls who walked the grounds. As she examines her past, her present unravels as well. She’s uncertain why her memories have such a hold on her–and whether her memories are true at all.

This one is a little hard to pin down. It’s a strangely compelling coming-of-age campus novel, a little dark, with a bit of a mystery. The unsettling ending offers some interesting food for thought, but I did find it a little unsatisfying.

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. I enjoyed how this book is set in England. It is a interesting book. The narrator did a good job reading this book. I would recommend this audiobook to anyone and everyone. It is in stores now for $26.99 (USD).

I had a really hard time staying focused on this audiobook. For me, it was a slow storyline. It wasn't horrible, but maybe actually reading it would have been better, for this story, than listening to it.

I was disappointed in the end of this boom. I feel like the whole book built up to the confrontation at the end only to be a bust. Great book until the last few pages. #netgallery

Meh, This one didn't land for me. There are so many boarding school stories out now that I didn't feel this one stood out, except for the fact that I find it hard to believe that the girl who was "killed" was alive and the main character didn't know that. The narration was fine.

This book was a slow read for me. I chose it because I went to a boarding school in Connecticut. There was no moment in the book that I could relate to. I also did not like any of the characters. I gave it 2 stars because I liked the cover and the narration was well done.

This just was really not my favorite book. I found it difficult to follow and just didn't want to return to it.

They are "Divine." Girls born and bred for greatness, plucked from the upper crust of society and set above all others. Or at least, that's how they view themselves. "They" are the girls of St. John the Divine Boarding School in England; an elite bunch of young woman hellbent on destroying and humiliating anyone who doesn't fit in or cater to their every whim. Ellie Eaton's debut novel follows one of the "Divines," Josephine, as she is drawn back into her past and tries to remember a horrible incident that happened to one of the girls at her school - an event that she was, in part, responsible for.

I am a fan of "school stories," especially those that take place in elite boarding schools, which is why I picked up The Divines. However, I am left feeling disappointed after reading this novel, as I never connected to or cared about the characters, nor did I find the plot terribly compelling. I am participating in the 2021 PopSugar Reading Challenge, and had initially selected this book as my "Dark Academia" read; however, I soon found out that the ominous event hinted at in the synopsis was not really as dastardly as I anticipated. This book reads like silly schoolgirl fluff, portraying the mean girl pranks of Josephine and her friends, and the trivial musings of teenage girls. The storyline also failed to hold my attention, and in my opinion, it jumped around too much with not enough time given to the characters to invoke any sort of relationship with the reader. I just expected more from this "highly anticipated read."

Imogen Church narrates this tale, managing to spark some life into a rather dull story. Imogen reads with dramatic flair, and has a way of making even boring passages seem interesting. However, as an American, it did take me awhile to become accustomed to her style of reading - I had to get used to her accent, as well as her theatrics.

Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Audio for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.