The story is a study of mental illness, it seems. The author created a character who is severely bipolar and crafted a story around her illness; trying to live her life, and navigating through good days and bad.

Manic episodes are all-consuming. Blanking out. Losing track of time, obsessive thoughts, suicidal tendencies and actions, and so much more consumed our main character.

She’s brilliant, however, and finds herself at a new school trying to survive. The author creates a story that has you feeling deeply connected to Sarah through her depression, fears, and hatred by others.

She’s different and stands out. She has no people skills, and that blatantly shows as she attracts attention in different ways in the story. Negatively and positively.

It’s really hard to describe the feeling you are going to go through with the plot. There’s bullying to extreme degrees. Death and destruction of people. You’re not sure where the story is going and the author does keep you compelled to keep turning those pages.

Shocking turns of events left me speechless and saddened that the author chose to go this route. Especially with the ending. That’s where my conflict comes in.

On one hand, the author is brilliant and clearly crafts an interesting intricate depiction of a person with a mental imbalance. We feel her pain, her shame, and her introverted actions, yet is desperate to have even one friend.

But on the other hand, the story is heavy and can be depressing which could be a lot to take emotionally for some readers. So just be aware of that.

I’m vacillating on the rating because of the authors writing skills and Ward’s extraordinary storytelling ability. The St. Ambrose School for Girls is an intense psychologically complex story that leaves you feeling conflicted at the end.

I would definitely be interested in reading this author again. She’s wicked talented but this one just didn’t cut it for me as I need heavy, emotionally tolling, crime-filled stories to end with some sort of uplifting lightness as a balance.

The St. Ambrose School for Girls by Jessica Ward is a gripping and emotional coming-of-age story about a teenage girl navigating her way through a new school, mental illness, and bullies. The writing is raw, honest and realistic, exploring the real-life struggles of a teenager with bipolar disorder. I found myself completely immersed in the story, rooting for Sarah as she faced one challenge after another.

The characters are well-developed and memorable, especially Sarah who is a relatable and strong protagonist. I appreciated the way Ward portrayed mental illness and how she handled the stigma surrounding it. Her writing showed great sensitivity to the topic and I believe this book can help remove some of the stigma surrounding bipolar disorder.

The novel also tackled issues of bullying, privilege, and identity. Greta, the mean girl and Queen Bee is a villain you love to hate, but what I loved most about Ward's writing was how she showed that bullies are often dealing with their own issues and insecurities.

Overall, The St. Ambrose School for Girls is a powerful and thought-provoking book that tackles important topics with grace and honesty. I highly recommend it to fans of young adult fiction who appreciate books with an emotional punch.

I will always read all of the books about boarding school. It’s not too late for me to teach at one! That said, this book needs to come with ALL OF THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. The discussion of suicide was almost more than I could handle as a stable adult. I worry about putting this in the hands of a fragile high schooler. While the overarching message is firmly anti-suicide, there are moments that—especially if taken out of context as Moms for Liberty love to do—would be upsetting at best. Aside from all of that, this book has some of the most powerful writing that I’ve seen in YA so far this year. The descriptions are rich and powerful. The metaphors are unique and powerful. I was captivated by her writing. I also found that her presentation of BPD was carefully handled and respectful of people living with it. I was engaged until the last page & couldn’t put it down!

I enjoyed this book. I happen to really like this genre and I would give it 3.5 stars. I am a harsh critic for stories along these lines so this is a good rating. Fun twists and turns. Great summer read.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for the chance to read and review this novel :)
I couldn't finish this book. The beginning starts off too strong "I'm not like the other girls because they wear colors and I wear black clothes and steel toed boots!" I was highlighting how many times she brought that back up. It was a lot. There was also way too much fluff. The description of her dorm took up multiple pages. Talk of a curling iron went on for two pages. It was just way overdone and needs to be cut back.

Not for me. I like the elements and the synopsis intrigued me but it read too young adult for my liking.

DNF at 23%

The book was soooooo slooooooooooow. I could not get invested in the story or the characters. Sarah's inner dialogue is confusing and dragged on and on and on... There wasn't much interaction between her and the other characters and the interaction that she did have was continually dissected and inspected from 45 different angles. The descriptions of every single thing took too long (my opinion). A trip to CVS pharmacy took almost a whole chapter to describe. I could not force myself to continue reading, and that's when I made the decision to DNF.

I love J.R. Ward and this won't deter me from reading her books in the future. This one just wasn't for me and it is not a read I would recommend.

Sarah doesn’t really fit in with the carefully cultivated girls of private school St. Ambrose. On the surface, Sarah wears black, isn’t wealthy, and is socially awkward. Her mother—always looking for an angle to advance her own status in life—submitted an essay Sarah wrote and now Sarah is a St. Ambrose girl. But while Sarah is smart enough to do the work, she is different from all the others. Now Sarah has drawn the attention of popular girl Greta—placing her right in the ringleader’s sites. It isn’t just the mean girl making Sarah’s time at St. Ambrose difficult though, Sarah is bipolar and hasn’t consistently been taking her medication since arriving at the exclusive private school.

Sarah develops a friendship with her roommate, and crushes on the handsome RA in her building. But as her mental health begins to falter a series of events stretch the bounds of her well-being. In the midst of a potentially scandalous relationship and a death at the school, Sarah struggles to differentiate what is really happening from her perception.

The St. Ambrose School for Girls is a dark, windy trail about fitting in, standing out, truth, perception, and being true to yourself. Author Jessica Ward did a solid job of conveying the thought patterns of a character in the midst of an acute mental health crisis and making the reader empathize with her. There are some slow parts in this book, and it’s definitely a slow build, but an interesting read nonetheless.

The St. Ambrose School for Girls will be available July 11, 2023.

*I received a copy of The St. Ambrose School for Girls from Gallery Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I received an ARC of this book and it was quite the wild ride. The depiction of Sarah and her mental state, the struggles she goes through at a new school, as an outsider, as someone being bullied, and someone who often confuses reality and what’s in her head was very compelling. Her interactions with her peers and her superiors were across the gamut, and at times both difficult and heartwarming. This story had many twists and turns, culminating in a who done it you don’t really see coming!

I couldn't get through this book so it's a DNF. It's entirely overwritten and the MC is horrible. I can usually enjoy a horrible MC but the "not like other girls" energy was off the charts.

Honestly this book was pretty disappointing. It wasn't a bad book or even poorly written but it was exhausting to get through. I really questioned whether the book should even be published or if it should be kept in a drawer as some vanity project.

The book is told in the first person from bipolar student Sarah Taylor. Sarah is a scholarship student at the prestigious St. Ambrose school and is navigating her new environment with her mental health challenges. Adding to those challenges is queen bee Greta who bullies Sarah mercilessly. However, things all come to a head when Sarah discovers dark secrets and a student is murdered.

The main and biggest issue with this book is Sarah's narration. I found Sarah to be a fascinating and likable character and her struggles with her bipolar disorder added a new element to the dark academia vibe. However there was too much description. For example there's a scene early on where Sarah and her classmates are playing a game of touch football. Sarah is going to catch the ball but at the last moment decides to drop it. I read this book on a Kindle so it's hard to determine actual pages but this scene took about three to four kindle pages for her to catch and drop the ball. Everything is over written and over described. Occasionally there is a glimmer of plot but it's hard to catch. By the end I was honestly just skimming the book and that didn't take away from the actual story.

This is why I question whether the book should even be published because sometimes to move the plot forward, to make the book entertaining you need to sacrifice your beautiful, overwrought metaphors. I really think the editor needs to go through this and eliminate parts because as it is now is not good. As a writing excercise sure it's great but as a novel that's supposed to be entertaining no.

One last thing billing this as "Heathers meets the Secret History" is ridiculous. Despite being set at a boarding school there is almost no mention of classes or academia. Also Sarah is so caught up in her own head and her own problems she doesn't have the mental capacity to plan out elaborate murders of her awful classmates.

I gave it two stars because I enjoyed the ending but overall this was not good. Dark Academia is having a moment right now and the genre is pretty oversaturated. I would recommend any other dark academia book over this one.

I was provided a free copy of this book through NetGalley.

I was sadly disappointed by this novel, which fell prey to stale YA tropes and insensitive depictions of mental health and suicide. The protagonist was steeped heavily in the early 2000s "not like other girls" mentality, from her goth clothing to her negative attitude towards femininity, to her disparagement of the other women in the story. None of the characters were particularly likable, and the stereotypes about mental illness were outdated and harmful. It also makes NO sense as a comparison to the Secret History, the latter being a complex adult novel that is ultimately a grim parody of the romanticization of academia and elitism that this novel embraces.

⭐️: 3.5/5

When Sarah arrives at The St. Ambrose School for Girls, the queen bee, Greta, sets her sights on the lonely misfit. What follows is a battle of wills between the two, as Sarah, with the help of her roommate Strots, puts up with more and more malicious pranks. Sarah only wants to make it through the semester, but soon, scandal unfolds and someone ends up dead.

The little synopsis of this compares it to “Heathers meets The Secret History”, which is partially accurate. It seems that literally any book set in a boarding school or university setting anymore is compared to The Secret History, even if it’s not actually a book that I’d classify as “dark academia” or really bears any resemblance to The Secret History. I’d say it’s more like Heathers meets Mean Girls. Even this comparison isn’t clear until the back half of the book when the action starts to pick up. I really didn’t connect to the book, the characters, or the plot until about 60%, and I was honestly considering DNFing, because the first half seems so preoccupied with communicating the way that Sarah thinks and the exact symptoms of her mental illness. This makes a lot of the character introduction repetitive and exhausting to read, and also throws off the pacing of the whole book. Towards the end, I’m not sure if it’s just that I got more used to the tone, but it got a lot better for me, and I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. I wouldn’t call it particularly profound, but it also had a lot more heart than I initially gave it credit for.

Thank you to @netgalley and @gallerybooks for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

The story is a study of mental illness, it seems. The author created a character who is severely bipolar and crafted a story around her illness; trying to live her life, and navigating through good days and bad.

Manic episodes are all-consuming. Blanking out. Losing track of time, obsessive thoughts, suicidal tendencies and actions, and so much more consumed our main character.

She’s brilliant, however, and finds herself at a new school trying to survive. The author creates a story that has you feeling deeply connected to Sarah through her depression, fears, and hatred by others.

She’s different and stands out. She has no people skills, and that blatantly shows as she attracts attention in different ways in the story. Negatively and positively.

It’s really hard to describe the feeling you are going to go through with the plot. There’s bullying to extreme degrees. Death and destruction of people. You’re not sure where the story is going and the author does keep you compelled to keep turning those pages.

Shocking turns of events left me speechless and saddened that the author chose to go this route. Especially with the ending. That’s where my conflict comes in.

On one hand, the author is brilliant and clearly crafts an interesting intricate depiction of a person with a mental imbalance. We feel her pain, her shame, and her introverted actions, yet is desperate to have even one friend.

But on the other hand, the story is heavy and can be depressing which could be a lot to take emotionally for some readers. So just be aware of that.

I’m vacillating on the rating because of the authors writing skills and Ward’s extraordinary storytelling ability. The St. Ambrose School for Girls is an intense psychologically complex story that leaves you feeling conflicted at the end.

I would definitely be interested in reading this author again. She’s wicked talented but this one just didn’t cut it for me as I need heavy, emotionally tolling, crime-filled stories to end with some sort of uplifting lightness as a balance.

At chapter 9 I decided to DNF this book. Nothing of substance has happened, more time was spend reading descriptions of inconsequential things (how to dye clothes) or spiraling thoughts; neither of which moved the plot forward. Based on other reviews, it isn’t until you’re about 80% of the way through the book that the murder happens and I can’t muddle through that much more nor do I have a big desire to skip ahead and finish based on what I’ve read so far. In the past, I have enjoyed YA books and those based in boarding schools, unfortunately this one isn’t one of them for me.

Cliche dark academia that is the slowest of slow burns. Something happens at some point, but I don't know what it is because I got bored and fell asleep... multiple times reading this.

At 20%, the author is still just describing things. It's so boring. There's the barest hint of a plot forming. I jumped ahead to the last three chapters to see who died and who killed. It could have been an interesting story if all that had happened sooner instead of nonstop explanations of what the walls and objects looked like.

Wow... this novel did exactly what I was hoping it would do, extreme thrill and suspense! Excellent writing and the characters really came alive on the pages. Definitely a must read!

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the advance copy to review.

I was so intrigued by the description of this book, Heathers and The Secret History... But sadly, I couldn't get into the story. The characters did not interest me and the relationship between the mother and daughter just bothered me. I really wanted to like this one.

I'm usually a sucker for a YA boarding school mystery, especially one set in the 90s, but this one just didn't really work for me. The characters seemed a lot older than 15, the murder that's teased at the beginning doesn't actually happen until almost 80% of the way through, and I just found the main character kind of challenging to identify with. I'm sure this would be a great book for someone, but it wasn't a fave for me. Content warnings for suicidal ideation/attempts, bullying, teacher/student relationship, and murder.