I actually enjoyed this audiobook for the most part. It was a bit farfetched. I know parents do get involved in their children's college admissions process. Operation Varsity Blues is proof, but I'm not sure they'd commit murder, but this was a fun listen and the ending was amusing. I liked all the kids involved, plus Marin and the headmaster.

And the narrator of this audiobook was quite good. She was able to change her voice for the various characters.

Enjoyed this audiobook. A joy to listen to. I think you will enjoy it too. Sit back and just take it in.

For everyone that has stressed about the college admissions process or have teenagers you are helping to get into college, this is the book for you. This is the story of the ultimate overachieving parents that will do ANYTHING to get their kids into the most prestigious schools, including ‘taking out’ the competition!?

At the beginning, I was a little disgusted and put off by all the preppy parents and how pretentious they all were, but as the story went along, I found myself siding with Maren and Winnie and couldn’t wait to see when they would stop letting people walk on them and how they were going to carve out their place and secure Winnie a spot at Stanford, against all the wealthy parents who are all trying to buy their way in.

It’s a bit of a slower start but picks up the pace pretty early on and was a good ‘whodunnit’ thriller for those that like stories with the prep school backdrop.

The narrator did a great job and was a positive influence on the listening experience.

The characters in 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 care very much about the school they get into. Like way, way too much! This was one of my favorite reads recently. I was in love with the story! It was captivating, and I was drawn to Maren and her daughter. Their underdog story had me rooting for them the whole way through! The terrible actions of some of these parents had me completely disgusted, and yet it was like a train wreck....I couldn't stop reading about them! I loved it! This is the perfect book for readers that enjoy a lot of drama in their thrillers...it's like a competition show!

The audio of this one was great, and I highly recommend it!

I really loved this book! It started out as a crazy helicopter parents super involved in their kids lives.....but there was more to it as we found out about the backstory of the main characters. This book was fast paced & I couldn’t stop listening to it! I still can’t relate to kids & parents *literally* going crazy over which Ivy League college they will apply to & lose their mind getting into. But it was crazy entertaining!

A deliciously dark tale of three mothers and the lengths they'll go to see their daughters succeed. This was a timely read considering the recent college admissions scandals and I really loved how the author explores all of the women's inner psyche.

Girls with Bright Futures by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman is a fictional behind-the-scenes look at college early application season at a prestigious Seattle prep school. Madness ensues as the kids are trying to apply to their top picks for schools and their parents are unable to withhold meddling in this momentous decision. When Stanford announces it will only be accepting one student from the academy because student athletes have filled all the other slots, it gets cutthroat as three girls and their mothers do whatever they can to assure they are given the coveted Stanford slot. One of the girls lands in the hospital after a horrific hit-and-run and her mother is left to pick up the pieces and figure out if college fever was responsible for what happened to her daughter while grappling with her own history that she would prefer to keep private.

I was quite impressed with Girls with Bright Futures! Based on the synopsis I expected a solid level of thrills and mystery, but I was pleasantly surprised by the development of the characters, the multiple viewpoints, and how real the characters felt. I don’t share their lifestyle by any means, but I know people like this, and I’ve heard horror stories about the ivy league application process that were confirmed here. I’m so glad that wasn’t something I ever had to experience first-hand!

I truly felt for the girls and wanted to throttle every single one of the parents. I understand no one is perfect, but how could anyone in this situation not see how gross their behavior is! They were able to call out each other but felt totally justified in their own poor decisions that affected not only themselves but their children and spouses. I can’t even imagine what psychological damage these parents wrought on their children. It’s hard enough to be a senior in high school trying to decide what to do next with your life without your parents trying to push you into their own unfulfilled dreams.

Tracy and Wendy wound this storyline so tightly, it was like watching a sweater unravel with each slight tug. Everything was connected to cleanly; each character’s choices unraveled someone else’s lies. The twists kept coming all the way through to the epilogue. After you thought everything had been revealed, Tracy and Wendy still weren’t finished. I found myself sitting in the car after I reached my destination or throwing in my headphones every chance I got to fly through this book.

I listened to this as an audiobook and was thrilled with their choice of narrator in Mia Barron! She was brilliant and I hope to read more book narrated by her. She has a clear, even tone, reads at a great pace that didn’t feel like it was dragging, and had fantastic voices for each other the characters that were easy to distinguish.

Thank you to Netgalley, RB Media, Recorded Books, Tracy Dobmeier, Wendy Katzman, and Mia Barron for the pleasure of listening to the audiobook of Girls with Bright Futures in exchange for an honest review.

I sadly missed my opportunity to read this story. I will need to look for it at a bookstore to finally get the opportunity to read it.

The title was archived, without notice, before I could listen to it. I was looking forward to it but will have to check with my library now.

Seattle's Elliott Bay Academy (EBA) is a college prep school on steroids. The parents would literally destroy each other and their kids as well, if it means getting their own child what they want and right now, what they want is college entrance to the most prestige colleges. For three young women, Stanford is the school of choice, and their is only one spot left for EBA students. Alicia, a Tech Guru and multimillionaire moves to use her money to get her daughter the top spot. Kelly, a Stanford Grad tries to use her position within the school PTA to get information to then use to knock out the competition and Marin, who is out of their league in reference to money and influence tries to back out of the fight, as she is a single mother without the power or funding to fight, and who does not want to be in the lime light. But all bets are off when her daughter has a devastating accident, that appears to not be an accident at all.

Girls with Bright Futures is a suspenseful, interesting read that plunges the reader into the lives of the wealthy and powerful, and a glimpse of the things they are willing to do in both fun and war. It also displays how those lives interact with the less fortunate and how trauma in youth can shift and change a persons life so completely. This reader was completely immersed in this story from the opening lines, and at times would laugh out loud and at others was brought to such a sad state for the things these characters went thought. The narration in this book by Mia Barron was excellent, and you always knew who was speaking throughout the story, and they were so easy to listen to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for the advanced copy of the audiobook version of Girls with Bright Futures. I absolutely loved the narrator, who I feel navigates between the various characters with mastery and maintained an engaging tone throughout reading the novel.

Girls with Bright Futures is a compelling, thrilling take on the recent Varsity Blues College Admissions scandal. It takes an unflinching look at the inherent disparities of the college admissions process and offers a stark social commentary on the role privilege, access, and helicopter parenting plays in today's teenagers' futures -- and throws in a fun mystery at the same time! Protagonist Marin is portrayed as a strong woman overcoming tons of adversity all in the name of helping her daughter Winnie succeed. She is a relatable, likable character. I rooted for her with every page.

Spoilers from here:
The novel switches between the perspectives of three Elliot Bay Academy moms; outside of Marin, I LOATHED the other women (they were written to be despised!). This story felt so incredibly realistic to me, I had severe anxiety as I listened each day as I reflected on my own high school experiences and what I witness the teenagers I teach experience each day.

However, I will admit I am biased as a proud Stanford alumna, and so while the premise of the novel was immediately engaging to me, I felt that this novel could really be about any Ivy Plus school. And, SPOILER ALERT -- the mere mention of UC Berkeley about 3/4 of the way in had me rolling my eyes and predicting the ultimate ending. At about this same time, I felt the story lagged as it worked to tie up all of the loose ends and explain various storylines, some of which I felt could be cut completely from the narrative with little impact. Overall, I felt this story was an easy listen that slowed at times. It started out strong, but the ending to me felt rushed and ultimately dissatisfying.

thank you to net galley and rb media for providing me an arc audiobook in exchange for an honest review. this book was everything i needed and more. the audiobook is phenomenal. the narrator makes sure that each character has a distinct voice. also, the different povs added a lot to the story. the premise of this book is basically about backstabbing mothers who will do anything to get their daughters into the college of their choice. the plot twists were so unpredictable. you’re meant to hate the characters and this book achieved just that. i love this book so so much. there are a lot of trigger warnings so make sure to look into those before checking this book out. i highly recommend this book:)

This book made me so happy to not have kids.

Girls with Bright Futures is the story of three mothers of girls at a prestigious school in Seattle. It is college selection season and their daughters are all applying to Stanford for early admission. One day they are told that Stanford will only accept one more applicant from their school. So how far will these women go to get their daughter into Stanford?

This book has it all. spoiled people, people who persevere, people to grow and learn. Along with danger, revelations, forgiveness, and redemption. Dobmeier & Katzman have created some great characters who fall into all of the various categories you could need for this story. One of the best moments comes about 2/3s to 3/4s of the way through the story where one of the girls has more balls than any of the other characters and truly says what anyone in that situation wishes they could say.

I highly recommend this one to any reader.

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for an advanced audio recording of the book in exchange for an honest review.

4+ stars

Three mothers are very focused on getting their daughters into Stanford early decision. Alicia is an ultra rich Stanford alum, Meren is her over worked personal assistant, and Kellie is the obsessive and nosy pta mom who is also a Stanford alum. Only one more early decision spot is open for the senior class at their kids elite Seattle private school.

Things get pretty brutal with the competition for the spot that it even comes to physical harm to one of the applicants.

There is so much wealth and privilege for almost all of the characters its hard to relate. A lot more happened with Meren and Winnie than I expected. I through this would be more like the celebrity college scandals with Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman but the authors did a good job adding more to the plot. Well worth the time.

Mia Barron did an excellent job narrating the book. I enjoyed listening to her.

Elliot Bay Academy is a very elite, white, and upper middle class high school in Seattle, and it’s college admissions time. The book focuses on three of the students, all three of whom are applying for the one available place at Stanford, although really it’s their mothers that are pushing them forward.
Alicia is the CEO of a major tech company and is obscenely wealthy. Her daughter Brooke is an average student and is fairly ambivalent about Stanford, but her mother is determined she’s getting that spot, and will do anything to get it.

Maren is a single mother in her early thirties, she’s a lot younger than the other mothers and works as Alicia’s assistant, saving as much of her wages as possible to get her daughter Winnie to Stanford; her daughter’s dream since she was a child. The rest of the school has their knives out for Winnie, a naturally gifted and bright student.

Kellie is the head of the PTA and volunteers as much as possible to fit in with all the other parents; she and her husband are struggling financially but trying to keep up appearances. Her daughter is dealing with terrible anxiety so Kellie takes matters into her own hands to get her that Stanford spot.
The three mothers will have to decide how far they are willing to go to get their daughters into the university of their dreams, and what exactly they’ll need to do to hide their secrets.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was on the lighter side although it dealt with serious topics, including sexual assault, college admissions scandals (shout out to Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlan, there’s definite shades of that whole sordid incident in here), and attempted murder. As well as real life references, it had Big Little Lies, and Desperate Housewives vibes, so much so, that it started to feel slightly soap opera-ish at one point but actually the characters acknowledge that themselves which tickled me.
The writing is engaging and flew along for me; I was looking forward to getting back to it when I wasn’t reading it and would absolutely recommend it if you’re going through a reading dry spell!

This book was pretty mixed for me - I think the storyline is pretty unlikeable but intriguing (that sounds weird, but it's supposed to be somewhat unlikeable). It's inspired by the college scandals and is basically about parents who will stop at nothing to get their private school children in to the college of their choice: lies, cheating, $15 million donations - so you can see that you aren't really going to like anyone's characters (except a few). The authors add enough intrigue to make you not hate everyone, but it's pretty slim pickings. Then you add a little whodunnit on top of that, and I thought that was going to be the main focus, but it gets pretty side tracked with extra plotlines and for a while, it feels like finding out who did it is a secondary storyline. But, there is enough of a hook that you will want to figure out who did it, plus hope that everyone gets what's coming to them in the end. I did enjoy it and thought the narrator of the audiobook did a fantastic job switching characters and read 3 distinct perspectives so well!

This was my first ever audiobook and I got through it with minimal hitches ( yayyy). It was definitely different from reading a book for me. It helped me concentrate on all parts of the book. Usually when I read, I fast read certain parts which I couldn't do in this. But it still was a great experience. I will definitely start listening to audiobooks in the future.

This book was very unique. I haven't read a lot of books in this genre largely (women's fiction). The writing style was articulate. There was multiple POV's in narration and each was very intriguing. Almost all the characters in this book was vicious and therefore unlikable. But that was the whole theme of the book.

The story was about 3 moms from the same prep school vying for a spot in Stanford University. It is appalling to see to what level people are ready to stoop for college. This book focuses on the seedy underbelly of college admissions. The privileged and rich are ready to do the vilest of things for a spot.

Alicia is tech giant and Stanford alumnus. Alicia's daughter Brook is a mediocre at best. Maren is Alicia's personal assistant and her daughter Winnie is remarkable. Kelly is another mom from the same school and her daughter Krissy is intelligent but way too anxious. When Stanford announces that only one spot is available for their school. All hell breaks loose. There is even an attempted murder on Winnie. So many secrets get revealed? Who gets the coveted spot? And who gets hurt? Read to find out!

I'd recommend this book to everyone who loves drama, gossip and thrillers.

This novel had me both laughing out loud and crying at the craziness that the EBA parents go through for college - or even kindergarten! - admissions. It was a great reality check too, not to get too tied up in the 'image' of the perfect family, we're all fighting some battle.

Girls with Bright Futures was gifted to me by @bookmarked and it is a total page-turner! What happens when a group of entitles parents are all fighting to get their kids into the most prestigious universities? ⁣Back stabbing, jealousy and doing anything to get heir kids ahead. I found myself shocked with what people were willing to do but not so shocked that every page of this book could not be true! However, this book is more than just a fast paced race to the finish. It has heart, emotion and had me routing for the underdog. I couldn’t put it down! My favorite read of this year so far! I read this book and listened as well. The narrator was great and really added to the story.

4.5 stars! This completely exceeded my expectations. I absolutely loved this book! The beginning was a little slow but it still worked well. It was drama filled and so entertaining! By halfway through this book, I was totally hooked and could not get enough. I loved the audiobook, the narrator was excellent. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.