Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an E-Arc. I finished this book in one day! Which is not normal for me. I loved everything about this YA Mystery/Thriller. Dark Acedima, Private Boarding School! Twisted! Never read anything by this author before but I would love to read more!

A corrupt teacher, bullying, murder and drug dealing. Welcome to Draycott Academy.

Lia wishes she had been told before she entered.

High school sophomore Lia Setiawan arrives at Draycott Academy on an athletic scholarship. Surrounded by her overly wealthy classmates, she feels totally out of place. After watching a classmate get dragged off campus and no one does anything, she tries to uncover Draycott's dark secrets, while dodging all the threats trying to stop her. This novel is about cheating, corruption, murder, bullying, violence, drugs and unethical teachers.

One thing I really enjoyed about the book was seeing the role that culture and heritage played in Lia's life. She is half Indonesian and half Chinese-Indonesian, and there are a lot of interactions with people she connects with or on the negative side, who have a racist attitude. There are also sprinklings of Indonesian and Mandarin dialogue.

Overall, The New Girl is an amazing teen thriller that will please fans of books like The Good Girl's Guide to Murder. I had a lot of fun reading this book and couldn't put it down.

There were moments when I was screaming at the main character not to do something she was about to do. I love the manner in which the author depicts Lia's feelings of guilt and how it affects her decision-making.

I received this ARC in audiobook format and loved the narrator's voice. She was very good at changing her voice depending on which character was speaking.

Anyway, you should read it if you like crime mystery thrillers, Lia's experience being Indonesian and Chinese-Indo, twists and turns that keep you on edge.

Reasons you probably won't want to read it: the story concludes abruptly, there is a lot of rich teen drama, sometimes the characters are one-dimensional (their only characteristic is being bully).

TW racism, bullying/harassment, casual peer pressure, substance abuse, mentioned drug dealing, overdose, eye trauma, implied eating disorder, threat of violence in a relationship, strangulation, drugging

Lia Setiawan gets accepted at the prestigious Draycott Academy due to a scholarship and she really wants to make this work. But from the first day of her arrival she gets tangled up into all the secrets behind the closed school gates. She uncovers a corrupt teacher, blackmailers and people who just won't beleave her.
Things start to get really nasty and sometimes I was about "...this is way too much" but somehow Jesse Sutanto always manages to get things back on track.
I particularly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook Eunice Wong who does a great job.
Thanks #NetGalley #Tantor Audio and #SOURCEBOOKS Fire, Sourcebooks Fire for an ARC of this book

What harder than starting a new school? Starting a new school and immediately having a target on your back because of your sports ability!

Lia starts at a private boarding school after winning a track scholarship, basically kicking one of the varsity girls down to JV. Lots of bullying ensues and Lia uncovers a scandal.

Lots of Asian representation!

I felt the narrator did an amazing job with each voice and it was easy to distinguish between the different characters they were representing.

Thank you NetGalley and Tantor audio for an advance copy! This is my honest voluntary review!

I love the author of this book but this was a miss for me... I DNF the book, mostly because I didn't like the character of Lia and where the plot was going.

This is my first book by Jesse Q. Sutanto, and I enjoyed it. It was interesting reading how Lia handled everything that was thrown at her. I loved the authors ability to use sarcasm and humor but also include heavier topics such as bullying, racism, and classism. Of course some of the events in the book were a tad over the top, but that just made the book more enjoyable. The New Girl is a fast paced crazy ride that kept me engaged until the very end.

This was a super fun, dark and twisty YA thriller. I truly felt for the main character, Lia, when she was treated so poorly and bullied after starting at her new school. But throughout the book we watch Lia truly finding her voice and stand up to the people who wronged her. Definitely check this one out if you think you’ll enjoy a murdery thriller set at rich prestigious boarding school!

This book was fun, fast-paced and the audiobook was really well done. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

A good YA mystery. The setting of a private school is fun and the book keeps you engaged. I finished this in one day.

I have not read the authors previous work so I went into listening to the audiobook with a clean slate and open mind. I was left mostly disappointed.

For a YA Novel I felt like it hit a lot of the typical stereotypes. Snobby rich kids, girl from the wrong side of the tracks, prestigious boarding school, Gossip Girl eque vibes and an easy to pick apart plot. Like, Lea calling out boomers versus millennials, a dig at Betsy Devos and a lot of present day pop culture references but she never once thought to live stream or use her voice recorder on her cell phone with Mr. Werner? Not even after pulling it out to document Sophie’s struggle at the beginning of the story? Also, the overuse of cursing felt forced and not entirely appropriate for a YA novel.

Where I felt the novel hit it out of the park was in representation. As a non Asian person I appreciated the details that went into explaining the culture norms, prejudices and make up of the Indonesian and Chinese cultures. I don’t think I would have understood some of the references in the story without that foundation.

The overall pacing of the book was slow on the start then rushed by the end. The story had really began to ramp up and then bam, over. The ending wasn’t satisfying to me but it did tie everything neatly in a bow.

I also thought the character Lea was endearing though obnoxious at some points. Her self deprecating internal monologue wasn’t always fun to listen to but I remember being a teenage and it felt authentic.

Eunice Wong hit the narration right on the head and I truly enjoyed hearing the story through her voice.

Thank you to Netgalley, Jesse Q. Sutanto, and Tantor Audio for an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I have been really enjoying Dark Academia in books lately and this one did not disappoint. This was a great and well written YA mystery that I enjoyed listening to. I liked the different mini storylines that were mysteries that needed to be solved throughout the book along with the big mystery. I would recommend this one to any YA mystery fan. I also love that the author can switch between genres so seamlessly, it really shows her talent as an author. This one is out on 2/1/22!

Really enjoyed the audiobook ARC of this novel from Netgalley. It has total Mean Girls vibes, touches on important topics like bullying, and delivers quite the twist at the end. Overall, a great YA read.

At first this seemed like your typical boarding school/mean girls story, but I quickly learned I couldn’t have been more wrong. I absolutely loved the twist in the story, and the ending had me shocked. The book is pretty fast paced and action packed, new things kept happening before you’ve fully moved on from the last thing. Finished this in one sitting and it went by way too fast.

Lia is a new girl to Draycott Academy on a scholarship. She is a new topic to gossip about in this crazy rich Asian school.
No matter how much she try to fit in, but still made enemies in a week, including a corrupt teacher. Well, this is a problem, if she cants pass his class, bye-bye university!

A corrupt teacher and bullies classmates are not all. Actually, the teacher is an easy problem, just change class, don't mess with this teacher. But, no, she should pull herself more in shit, forsake who start a fight with a teacher?!
Well, start with a bad teacher, unstable boyfriend, and continue with a shit murder, overdose, and drug dealing.

This was in the week I decided on contemporary and young adults books, not anymore, everything but right now life. After reading this book, listening actually, I break my oath and want to start another contemporary, other Jesse Sutanto book probably!

This is an amazing book, entertaining, funny, mess up, twisted, mysterious, and suspenseful. I liked the characters and nonstop listening to it which was enjoyable with the ​great narrator for different characters, and awesome performance in suspense moments.

Many Thanks to Tantor Audio via NetGalley for giving me a chance to listen to The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto, Narrated by Eunice Wong, I have given my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator, Eunice Wong was amazing at differentiating between characters.

There was a ton of suspense in this book. It has Mean Girl vibes. It really touches on bullying.

I would recommend this audiobook.

2.5 stars

This started out pretty interesting, with new girl Lia being bullied after she takes the popular girl's spot on the track team. Then she starts to suspect underhanded things are going on, like a shady teacher and kids dealing drugs. I felt bad for Lia that everything was going wrong and so many people were treating her poorly. As things escalated though, I started to get annoyed at Lia's ignorance and lack of self preservation. Stop trusting that people will side with you just because, even though there's no evidence. Stop putting yourself in scary situations that you can't handle!

There were a lot of moving parts going on in this and I think it could have been simplified just a bit to make the plot clearer. I wasn't too surprised with the reveal, but I also read a lot of mysteries so it's possible other readers will be in the dark until the end. I don't think it was a bad story at all, I just wanted more from the main character.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the copy

The New Girl
Jesse S. Sutanto

Mean Girls? Mean Teachers? Lies? Bullies? Killers? Apparently we have advanced and went from a burn book to an app. This book totally gives me Mean Girl and Pretty Little Liars vibes with more plots and more up to date with technology! If that’s the type of things you like, this is the book for you. This totally took me back to my high school days the popular cool kids verses the average kids who was trying to get by years and years ago!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The New Girl seemed like it was going to be a pretty good YA mystery thriller book. I haven't disliked any of Jesse's book (yet), so I was excited to jump into this one. After meeting Lia, I found her quite enjoyable at times. Not all the time but most of it.

From the beginning, it didn't seem like she was going to really fit in. Especially when it came to the wealthier crowd. She's walking into Draycott Academy on a track scholarship, and she just wants to do what she loves: running. Unfortunately, she has to deal with certain bullies on a daily basis. It also doesn't help that some of the teachers are scheming for more money either.

Throw in a dead body or two, and you are thrown into an interesting mystery. Honestly, so many people were acting suspicious throughout this book. I couldn't really narrow it down to one person until a certain thing happened. So, when the big reveal came - well, I wasn't that surprised.

In the end, it was still interesting and pretty easy to listen to. I'm glad that I got the chance to jump into this book before it gets published.

Lia Setiawan has a full scholarship to Draycott Academy on a track scholarship. She sees one of the students be taken away by campus security on her first day. Everyone around her seems to not take notice, or care. This novel deals with cheating, corruption, murder, bulling, violence, drugs, and unethical teachers. She is not sure who to trust? This school and the environment are toxic. In order to keep her scholarship she needs to pass all her classes. At what link will she go to keep her scholarship?

This book is due out February 1, 2022 Thank you @sourcebooks and @netgalley for this advanced audio. The narrator did an amazing job!

I really enjoyed this title. At first glance this title might seem like a poor scholarship kid at a fancy private school story, 'The New Girl' is much much more! Told from a fresh perspective this book will make you get attached to the main character and really cheer her on until the very end. This title is full of twists and turns and will keep readers guessing until the very end.

When the author of Dial A for Aunties has a new YA thriller out, you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to be reading it! I actually dropped my next book and picked this one up instead, in the hopes that my thriller slump might end as I love dark academia mysteries! ⁣⁣⁣
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When Lia enters Draycott Academy, she's surprised and concerned when she witnesses campus security doing something out of their job description. As she spends more and more time at the school, she finds things really aren't what she thought they’d be, especially with one teacher who is determined to make life difficult.⁣⁣⁣
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I won't say anymore on this one except that it was amazing on audio! I was intrigued by the mystery and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I have already recommended it to my teenage daughter who also loves mysteries.