Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the digital advanced reader's copy.

***Trigger warning: suicide and mental illness***

This story was as upsetting as it was engrossing, but per the trigger warning above, it is not for everyone. It contains what I thought was a very grounded portrayal of suicidal ideation. It's not messing about, so be careful with yourself if you choose to pick it up. This is not a run-of-the-mill beach thriller.

So, first of all I think all the marketing comparisons are doing this book a huge disservice. One described it as "Heathers meets The Secret History" and another described it as "Mean Girls meets We Were Liars." Of those references, the only one I haven't watched or read is We Were Liars, but, I can speak to the other three, and this one is nothing like those, mostly because it faces a teenager's mental illness head-on and doesn't make light of it, resolve it, or use it only as a plot twist for an unreliable narrator. Also, this book isn't satirical at all, and, while it has moments of humor, it's not a comedy. So, if you picked this book up like I did thinking you were getting a straight-forward cliquey boarding school thriller, you're not. This is ten times better, but also ten times more of a gut punch.

Sarah is a brand-new sophomore at St. Ambrose. She's an outsider. She's struggling every day to just survive with the mind she's been given. And now she's being thrown into what is a lion's den for her - irregular sleep, socializing pressures, bullying, independence, and more.

When things go from bad to worse and people are hurt and everything is spiraling out of control, Sarah has no idea who to trust because she can't even trust her own mind.

Gah. This description sounds so banal, but Ward (better known as J. R. Ward, bestselling author of urban romantic fantasies, which I've never read, so don't let that stop you. This book is completely different from what she normally writes, which is why she chose a different pen name) does such an amazing job of letting us into Sarah's mind - showing us the leaps and bounds of depressive and manic phases, the intuitiveness that allows for great connections but also possible delusions, and the deep frustration with a mental illness diagnosis and the limited options for coping.

Sarah is a memorable character whom I felt in my bones. She's not easy in any way, but she is deeply human and worth knowing.

Ward does such a great job with all of her characters: Ms. Crenshaw, Nick, Strots, Keisha, Greta (and even Francesca), and "Tera Taylor," Sarah's mom (oh my goodness, there are really only two scenes with Sarah's mom and both are amazing - such a great building of both characters).

The ending will definitely leave you with thoughts about right and wrong, guilt and innocence, friendship and trust, and more. It's not so much a twist ending as a thought-provoking, empathy-provoking one.

Definitely many more layers to this than I expected.

Pick it up, if you are able to without hurting yourself. I recommend highly but also with high caution.

*language, violence, sexual references

I barely made it to 25% in this book. I kept waiting for it to get better but it was not. I cannot invest time in a book that does not draw me in within the first quarter of the book.
The main character is dull and obsessed with another girl but there is really no character building present.
I cannot say if this book finally gets better since I could not finish, but it might.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The pacing of this book was so slow. I also thought this book was going to be a thriller. It was mostly a story about a girl getting bullied. I did not like this one.

Unfortunately I ended up DNFing this book at about 25%.

It was marketed as The Secret History meets The Heathers and I just didn't get that with this book.

It was slow and rambly and by 25% not much had happened, and I wasn't invested in the characters.

If it'd had more action or plot I think I would have enjoyed it, but as it stands it just ended up not being for me.

TW: discussion for suicide and self-harm
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was immediately drawn in by the blurb (compared to Heathers!) and the cover and my god, the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" was never more accurate. "The St. Ambrose School for Girls" is supposed to be a thriller/coming-of-age Young Adult book but I think Ward may be a bit confused about her audience. There are overly descriptive, almost contrite descriptions for nearly everything and the characters are so incredibly unlikable, I would say bordering on hateful. Sarah, the main character, felt like a YA lead from the early 2000s to the aughts; she's so "not like other girls" which we immediately know because unlike other girls, she's a Goth. She doesn't wear shoes, she wear steel-toed boots, she wears black, she FEELS, etc. Right from the beginning, Sarah pins herself against everybody including her mother. There's also a whole subplot where she begins to plan how to kill herself after having attempted many times. This whole aspect felt deplorable if I'm being honest. That whole bit felt very much like a "here's how to" on suicide instead of whatever cautionary tale Ward was attempting (I'm assuming).

It was also difficult to care about anything, including Sarah's suicidal tendencies, because like the other characters, she was unlikeable as hell. I mean everyone was pretty awful and irredeemable in my opinion. I get the feeling Ward originally set this in college but for whatever reason aged everything down so a lot of these more mature and often times heavily handed and violent discussions just feel completely out of place and way too much for the book's demographic. ESPECIALLY the suicide discussion. Ugh.

I would not recommend this to anybody.

Wasn’t my favorite read. Felt like it was almost too descriptive and some of it wasn’t needed. The story was predictable.

This was interesting, but marketed as a “dark academia” book- and that’s not what this is. For what it is- a suspenseful novel- it is good!
I do think the book could have included more background while at the same time cutting out a few pages, I’d recommend it


Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an arc in exchange for my opinion!

I went into this book thinking it was a YA book. I love all things that are boarding school like and was excited to start this story. I enjoyed that it was taking a mental illness approach that I feel other authors shy away from. I really enjoyed Sarah as a character, I felt like she acted like a 15 year old. What I wasnt expecting was all of the talk of suicide and an actual suicide. This is a sensitive subject and I would struggle giving this to my students to read. Overall as an adult it was a bit hard to read with the overall detailed descriptions. I will say that I did not see that ending coming. Overall I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. Thank you netgalley and publisher for the advanced copy.

Sarah Taylor is transferring her sophomore year of high school to St. Ambrose school for girls. There she is the brunt of mean jokes from the mean girl Greta. But she is having the suppport from her roommate Strot. This is a mind blowing opening of mental health issues that should be directed. From young teenagers, adults, adults. But how your support system is needed. That how there should be people in your corner believing in them. Granted, After several chapters we find out Sarah is diagnosis with Bipolar disorder. That she must take her medicine to control the disorder. But Greta the school top popular girl aka meanie to be mean. She will do anything to prove a point. But there is also the popular hottie R..A. Nick Hollis who has previous scandals but not is well known. His wife is away promoting her healthcare incentive for hiv. But Sarah has evidence of him and a student. But I don’t know how else to explain this book without ruining anything. But, I was a little disappointed about the end. That two wrongs don’t make a right.

This was a hard one for me to get through. I guess there's a such thing as being too descriptive? There were entire paragraphs describing the smell of a room. It was just to slow and wordy for me. I found myself skimming a lot.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. This book is very suspenseful almost up until the end wondering who did it. The story involves a girl with bipolar illness and the reader needs to determine if parts of the story are real or her hallucinations. Lots of twists and turns would reccomend

I am begging publishers and marketers to stop comparing any and all books set in boarding schools to the Secret History and calling them Dark Academia. This book is not at all dark academia, and not a whole lot...happens in it. The depictions of mental illness are a bit-eyebrow raising, so go in with that in mind. The plot summary is misleading too - the death is not the focus until the last third-ish of the book - up until then the story is about Sarah struggling at school. Which would be fine, if Sarah was at all interesting or a developed character. Overall this was not for me.

I was SO excited to get this book and start it. I am a HUGE fan of JR Ward! This book was definitely different than anything I have read by this author before. But I really enjoyed it.

This novel takes you into the mind of a bipolar/manic mind. St. Ambrose is a prestigious girls school where everyone comes from money, except the scholarship students. Self worth, friendship, relationships between students and staff all play into the perceptions of reality.

This story is a slow burn, but it worked for me. I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC. I am not a paid reviewer. This is my honest feedback. This novel is my first to read by Jessica Ward and she quickly became a go-to author to read more from her. I loved the way the author created this dark academia book that has this Heathers meets Mean Girls dynamic. It kept me guessing until the very end; which is great because I typically figure out the "twists" in a plot fairly quick.

Huge J.R. Ward fan here. I was pretty excited when I received this ARC. Now I'm just kind of disturbed. This is supposed to be a YA book from what I understand (main character and others are 15 years old). Could we not give instructions to children on how to kill themselves? That would be great. I'm going to do my best here to avoid spoilers and still make sense.

For the most part, I actually liked the main character, Sarah. Some of her inner thoughts were a bit too long but they did give a well researched look at someone with bi-polar. Sarah was even humorous at times. I felt for her being the outcast and the target of bullies. Had her past suicide attempts been mentioned as part of her back story and an example of what its like to live with her illness, that's fine. But then she starts down a path on attempting again, and so much time is spent on how she's going to kill herself, complete with instructions. No she wasn't mentally stable, but that does not excuse how the detailed way she will end her life is described over and over again.

I didn't really like any of the other characters at all. Her roommate could've stood up for her from the beginning but didn't. But they were supposed to be friends. And as far as the adult-minor rumored relationship, all I could think of was what if he didn't do it and Greta set him up too? There really wasn't much proof besides the item that was found with his things. And who's to say Gretta didn't plant it? That was my first thought. I didn't like his part of the ending because I wasn't convinced of what everyone was assuming. Had there been more actual evidence earlier on I might not have minded the ending as much. But it still didn't belong in a YA book (in my opinion).

But for me, I hated that ending for everyone involved. So much time was spent following Sarah around in her day to day life and her inner thoughts, then at 80% stuff starts to happen, then what happens doesn't make much sense. And all the while I'm thinking this is not appropriate for a YA audience. These are adult concepts and not age appropriate for a YA reader. Others will feel different, I'm sure. And this was a well written book. I love Ward's writing style and I always have. But this, this just left me feeling disturbed more than entertained.

I didn’t totally love The St Ambrose Schools for Girls, but it was okay! It had things that I liked—dark academic, unreliable narrator—but it just didn’t hit for me. The story didn’t grab me and I felt a little like I was forcing my way through the book.

This book follows Sally as she starts a new school picked out for her by her mother. Sally doesn’t think she will fit in at the school since she doesn’t dress like the “it” girls. She also really wants to keep her BPD a secret.

It was twisty and the setting was perfectly gothic, so I’ll give it a 3/5. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review The St Ambrose School for Girls by Jessica Ward.

Thank you Netgallley for the advanced copy of this book. It was a difficult read to get into. Many times, in the first half of the book I wondered if I could finish. The symptoms of a 15-year-old with bipolar was troubling and difficult to read. Then the story takes off and twist into a mystery. I enjoyed the book in total.

Thank you NetGalley for an EArc of this book. I love books in an academia setting, and this one certainly had that with lots of twists and turns. Sarah arrives at the St Ambrose school and isn't like other girls. Things start happening and there are topics of bullying, misogyny, and even bipolar disorder. My biggest problem with this book was the lack of character development and pacing. Many chapters just felt like nothing happened. It just moved so slowly and the conclusion didn't really feel very satisfying. It has lots of potential but it seems to get loaded down and readers can lose interest.

Pleasantly surprised but not what I thought it would be. I would describe this as starting as as a light you'd adult fiction but shifted to quite a serious murder mystery over halfway through. So I did not see it coming. The inside of the main character's mind was presented a bit like Joe from "You" which I liked. Although the narrative made the book a little too lengthy in my opinion. The pace of action was a bit too slow for me. Pros: story has interesting setting in unique school, complex but realistic character (likeable) Cons: slow action, predictable

Thanks to Netgalley & Gallery Books for the E-ARC!

I really enjoyed this one! The twists kept me on my toes and the story was very well written for a debut. I will definitely read more by this author.