Mary worked hard in high school to earn a place at Cornell, also earning the nickname of Ivy League Mary in her hometown. But, something goes wrong in her senior year and she is expelled from her college, destined to return to her hometown and face those who rejected her throughout her school career.
Upon returning to Liberty, Mary finds a job at the local grocery store and tries to find a way to fit in. Then her childhood friend goes missing. Along with pretty, white Olivia, a pretty black girl is also missing, but the media and the police are just not interested.
Mary tries to find out more about both missing girls, doing some amateur detecting and getting herself into more trouble.
While the book does contain a mystery and Mary ends up in a dangerous position, I never really saw this as a thriller. it is told in the first person from Mary's point of view. In spite of her circumstances (kicked out of college, dead mother, uncommunicative father, etc.), Mary is not a very sympathetic character, even her best friend from high school, who is away at college herself, is fed up with her. Dang manages to bring this all together in the end and the reader sees Mary envisioning a future for herself, in spite of her screw ups and past behavior. If only it were this easy.

A fast-paced thriller with a solid twist. Mary, a high school outcast turned Ivy League student, is back in her hometown after being expelled from Cornell under mysterious circumstances. Back home, she gets caught up in the disappearance of Olivia, her once best friend & high school enemy. Convinced that Olivia’s disappearance is linked to that of DeMaria Jackson, a black girl whose death is largely ignored by the majority-white town, Mary investigates the possible murder while grappling with her own issues. While the reason behind Mary’s expulsion falls somewhat flat, the twist at the end makes it worth it. 3.5 stars.

Special thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Mary returns home after being expelled from Cornell to find an old friend and another girls missing. As she struggles to keep up the charade of being home for research, she begins to question whether there is a serial killer on the loose and everyone starts to look suspicious.

This was an entertaining mystery with several twists and turns and some very unlikeable characters. The story is well written and moved along at good pace……never a dull moment.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio and William Morrow & Custom House for an advanced copy. #NiceGirls #NetGalley

This was a fast-paced thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. I would recommend this for lovers of crime thrillers. I enjoyed this author's debut and will definitely keep an eye on her in the future! I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Mary moves back to her small town after being expelled from her Ivy League university following a violent outburst and finds herself caught up in the aftermath of two missing girls: one of whom was the childhood best friend who cast her aside in adolescence. She's convinced that the two disappearances are connected, and she begins investigating, while also trying to conceal the reason she's back home. Mary is not a likable narrator, but the reader feels for her, especially as the details of her childhood and the reason for her expulsion are revealed.
I will recommend to fans of Paula Hawkins and A.J. Finn.

Thank you to William Morrow and Custom House and Netgalley for digital copy for review.

I was so intrigued by this thriller, centering around "Ivy League Mary" who just got kicked out of Cornell and is back in her Minnesota hometown. When her childhood best friend turned social media star goes missing, Mary gets involved, connecting the dots to another missing girl the police don't seem to be paying attention to.

What I liked:
I thought the pacing was great, I bought into Mary's allure and mystery early on. Short, punchy chapters kept me engaged. I listened to the first 30% of this on audio and the narration by Carlotta Brentan was really good! I flew through the ending on my Kindle and enjoyed the twisty ride.

Where I struggled:
It is hard for me to really like a book with no likable characters. Everyone, even widowed Dad is either shady, a terrible person or just fell flat for me. There is so much focus dedicated to Mary's weight loss from a chubby high school kid to her thinner college self that "no one seems to recognize," it deserves a fatphobic trigger warning. While I am sure the author wants to highlight society's obsession with looks, it was a constant theme that I felt was unnecessarily overdone. Finally, I felt like the final ending was anti-climatic after all the turns, suspense and interwoven character storylines throughout.

With that said, I would definitely be open to reading more from Catherine Dang because I think she has a really engaging writing style.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio and William Morrow & Custom House for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Loved this book! When Mary gets expelled from her Ivy League college senior year for a fight with a freshman, she returns to her hometown in Minnesota. But things are not as they seem and even though she gets a job, one of her old friends goes missing and another girl's dismembered body shows up in the lake. Is it the work of a serial killer or are these two even related? Mary wants to help but of course, the police advise her to stay out of it. When has THAT ever worked in a novel?? Just a fun ride that I enjoyed!

Nice Girls by Catherine Dang is a wonderfully dark suspenseful tale of "Ivy League Mary". Mary was always the quiet nice girl who was hanging in the background of every social scene of her life, from childhood to the wonderful land of teenagers. In high school, she realized she could become something else. She worked hard and achieved what no one else could, hence the nickname, "Ivy League Mary". Finally at Cornell, Mary could transform into a person no one else knew. Until, her rage got the most of her and disaster strikes, forcing her back home. Her dream vanished just that easy. Now back home, she has to face everyone and the sad truth that Cornell didn't pan out.
As Mary's world has come to a fast halt, so has Olivia's. Olivia was the town sweetheart. She didn't come home one night and the town is rallying around trying to find her. Sadly, another woman washes up in the local lake, well parts of her wash up. Where are these women going? Are these cases linked? Mary knows both women and gets herself tied up trying to find how this all happened.
Catherine Dang has produced a wonderful debut novel! I can't wait to see what she does next! I will definitely be recommending Nice Girls to others and will be on the outlook for future works by Dang! Catherine Dang, you have a new fan!! Special thanks to NetGalley, Catherine Dang, William Morrow and Custom House, William Morrow Publishing for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 5 stars for me
#NiceGirls #NetGalley

3.5⭐️ Thank you William Morrow for the ARC in return for an honest review.
“Ivy League Mary” has recently been kicked out of Cornell and returns home with her tail between her legs, forced to face the shadows of her childhood. Meanwhile, the murders of two young girls hit the local news, and Mary takes it upon herself to investigate. I did not find any of the characters very likable, and had a hard time agreeing with some of Mary’s decisions and actions, but overall it was still a decently entertaining story.

Review I was surprised to learn that this was a debut novel. It is well written and captivating. The beginning was a bit slow, with open ended events, but it took off and I couldn't put it down. My suspicions went from one character to the next. Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC!!

The story sucked me in and made me want to keep reading to find out the ending. The characters are not very likable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I was drawn to this one because of the cover and the fact it was on a couple of “most anticipated thrillers” lists recently. I just finished it and I’m a little torn.
The good: fast-paced read, the first half and the mystery regarding what she did to get expelled got me hooked, dark and creepy lake setting, a good number of shady, untrustworthy characters.
The not-so-good: incredibly unlikeable main character who was supposed to be so smart, yet kept jumping to wild conclusions and putting herself in bad situation after bad situation, and the last half of the book required way too much suspension of disbelief. Overall, it feels a little bit like a second draft of a thriller that needs more polishing. The elements are all there, but it needs another edit.

I was hoping for a good thriller. Not exactly what i got here. The protagonist, Mary, was annoying from the start. I just couldn’t connect or have any sympathy towards her. I struggled with continuing. Finally around 50% it got interesting. And then it just imploded. To suspend belief is one thing but this just went beyond that. I should have paid attention to my first instinct and DNF’d.

Thank you to The Book Club Girls and NetGalley for the free ebook.

This was a pretty good book. It was a quick read. There were some twists and turns. I feel like I should have guessed who the killer was before the reveal, since I’m pretty good at that, but I didn’t so that was nice.

I didn’t really like Mary but I did feel bad for her to an extent. Many of her problems were the result of her own bad choices, but she’s young.

Probably not a full 4⭐️ but close enough

I'm honestly surprised that this is the first "missing girl" thriller I've ever read that acknowledges procedural bias in looking for white women versus expecting Black women to just "turn up wherever they ran away to." I've read an actual hundred of these kinds of books and reading NICE GIRLS, I realized that absolutely none of those other books ever made the point that we all already know. Policemen Prefer Blondes ... But Policemen Murder Brunettes.

What a fascinating book. I was impressed by the storyline and the characters were all well written and complex. Where there are complex storylines combined with intriguing characters the reader experience is magnified tremendously. To have a book that is well written as well as entertaining is a delight. Reading is about escaping your world and entering another one. The word building was phenomenal in this book. Here I forgot about my own life and was immersed in the world created by the author. I would recommend this book.

Thank you Harper Collins for the e-book early read. An easy read with some twists. This was a good psychological thriller but nothing extraordinary.

First, thank you to the publishers at William Morrow and Custom House and Netgalley for this e-ARC of Nice Girls.

Nice Girls is told from the POV of Mary, an Ivy League student who is expelled from Cornell after getting into a fight with a girl named Carly. Forced to go back home to her small Minnesota town of Liberty Lake, her father has her apply for jobs. Hired at Goodhue Groceries, Mary feels like her life has been reduced to nothing.

Shortly after settling back into her old town and life, her ex-childhood friend goes missing. Everyone is talking about Olivia Willand, praying for her safe return. Then an arm washes up on the shores of Liberty Lake, only to be that of another missing girl, DeMaria Jackson, a Black girl from the “wrong” side of town that’s been missing for months.

Mary, with nothing else to do, feels compelled to uncover DeMaria’s killer and find Olivia before it’s too late. Will she succeed? Or is she next?

Nice Girls was a good mystery with an interesting main character. Mary is someone that a lot of people could probably relate to. She grew up chubby and unpopular, but smart, studious, and determined, which is how she wound up at Cornell. She’s also finding how alone she really is after the incident that got her expelled and how easily she seems to make enemies in her small town. She’s still that same determined person though, as she does her own investigations into both DeMaria and Olivia. The ending of this book was absolutely wild!

Nice Girls releases September 7th!

Once the pride of her hometown, Mary is expelled from her Ivy League college in her senior year and has to return home with her tail between her legs. After taking a lowly job as a grocery store clerk, she strikes up a friendship with a former high school classmate who never used to give her the time of day. When another classmate of theirs goes missing and then body parts start washing up on shore, Mary finds herself trying to solve a murder and stumbles across another one that mirrors the current murder and was ignored by local police.

I liked the plot of this book but the writing style wasn’t my favorite. At times there was too much detail and at others not enough. Aside from the main character, the rest of the characters weren’t well-developed, to the point where a week after I finished the book, I couldn’t even recall who the murderer ended up being. Also, I found myself really disliking Mary and not being able to empathize with her.

This was such a page turner! I started reading it and couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what was going to happen next. That ending shocked me!