Where do I even start with this book?! It was amazing. I loved every second of this book! Can’t wait to own for my own pets library.

I thought this was a fun, YA murder mystery novel. 6 students from NYC's most prestigious private schools are asked to join The Legacies the week before the start of their senior year. Tori Tasso is a scholarship kid from Queens and no one can understand how she was nominated as one of the 6 submissions from Excelsior Prep. You follow Tori and her fellow Legacy nominees over the week leading up to the ball acknowledging their acceptance into their storied club. Unfortunately, at their ball, one of their nominees is found dead. The Legacies was a fun read, great for fans of Goodman's prior works, as well as Kara Thomas, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and Karen McManus.

Jessica Goodman's YA thrillers are always fun, quick reads, so I was really excited to have the chance to read this one! “The Legacies” is an amazing YA thriller, which reminds me of “One of Us Is Lying” with morally grey characters who each have their own secrets. The book starts out with a murder investigation and backtracks into the particulars and how things started out with the central characters. The alternating chapters that were written from different perspectives was a good way to tell the story. This is fast paced with multiple POV's from all the girls and dual timelines keeping you on the edge of your seat. Jessica does a really great job of dropping little twists like breadcrumbs that leave you completely guessing until the end. I read this is one sitting I couldn't put it down, from all the twists and turns and great storyline. I highly recommend this. I will say the constant flash forwards were a little confusing but they did a really good job of hiding the reveal. This is the perfect book for a summer read! I look forward to reading her next YA thriller. Many thanks to Jessica Goodman, NetGalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group/Razorbill for sharing this digital review copy with me in exchange for my thoughts.

I liked this book! Not my favorite of Jessica Goodman's, but not the worst! I think the character's relationships could have been a bit more fleshed out and the ending felt rushed and quick - but it reminded me of Big Little Lies. I would recommend to students who enjoy thrillers!

The Legacy Club is an institution of old New York money and privilege. But something happened at this year’s Legacy Ball and someone wound up dead. Alternating in viewpoint of two shoo-in Legacy members and one scholarship recipient outsider, we work back through time to figure out that more money really might mean more problems.
I’m not always a fan of YA but I love the way Goodman writes. This partly reminded me of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, and rich people behaving badly is also always fun.
Thank you to the author and Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read this book! It is a fun summer YA thriller filled with twists and turns. Like Jessica Goodman's last book, this one feels very summery but was missing the compelling nature I got with the Counselors. Teens from notable schools in NYC are selected to join a society that promises to lead to great connections for their future. When a murder happens, everyone becomes a suspect.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:3.5/5
Although I had fun reading this book, it was nothing special. It's a twisty mystery that'll keep you on your toes until the end. However, the characters were not very compelling. I couldn't predict the ending, but it lacked the intensity I was hoping for. I enjoyed some parts of it, especially the fact that it keeps the identity of the murder victim hidden right until the end, thus arresting the reader's attention.

I love a good suspense story, and Ms. Goodman delivers every time. The intrigue of high school life is my favorite genre of all, especially when it involves snarky teenagers and a death of some sort.

The Legacies is an elite club with secrets from high school to adulthood. Where bonds are made, and people are broken. (Small Spoiler) There is always a Queen Bee, the one who stings everyone, and in this book, your Queen is sneaky and does not show up until the end of the story. I love the friends that aren't really friends, but it is all about using people and users being used. I guess I like books that make teens look like horrid little monsters—kind of what I remember high school being like. Most of the time, the horrid little monsters grow up to be shamefully distorted adults who make the circle of making little horrid monsters all over again.

This mystery was slow paced. There were a few surprises, but overall not one of my favorites that I have read this year.

Students from prestigious schools in New York City are chosen to become a part of a society that will lead to many great connections for the future. However, a murder has occurred and everyone potentially has motive.

I wasn’t quite sure I would like this book when I read the description because I am not usually one for stories on the 1% BUT a few pages in, I was hooked!! This story follows are FMCs as they navigate a week of events as they are inducted into a very selective, mermbers only club that will provide them every leg up into opportunity, fortune, and even fame. What they don’t expect at the end of their week is a murder.

One of my absolute favorite things in a novel is a dual perspective. In The Legacies, we have perspective from three different girls who attend a prestigious academy; Bernie, who was born with the silver spoon, Isobel, who is slightly less affluent but still very much so wealthy, and Tori, our scholarship student thrust into the life of the one percent. With the perspectives of the three girls plus a side narration about the night of the ball, this story really keeps you guessing until the very end.

I enjoyed delving into a different classes of society, more than I expected. The references were spot on (of course I had to look some of them up), and without spoiling anything, I found the attitude of the upper class right about on par with what I assume it to be.

I highly recommend reading this if you are into mystery, intrigue, a little suspense, and a killer novel.


Reviews sent on Goodreads, and will be uploaded to TikTok tomorrow. I was unable to post a review to Amazon. The site wouldn’t let me.

This book was really interesting and had me guessing the whole time.

Definitely gave off Gossip Girl vibes which is one of my favorite shows!

Would recommend to friends!

I was immediately drawn to the synopsis of 'The Legacies' because it seemed like a How to Get Away With Murder meets Gossip Girl story. This book did not disappoint. The story is a murder mystery/whodunit set amongst New York City's elite.

The Legacy Club is a society of New York's most elite that grants incoming Seniors in high school access to wealth, power and connections. Each year they hold The Legacy Ball to initiate the newest members.

The story is told from multiple POV's and covers before and after the night of the Legacy Ball. The Legacy Ball ends in the death of someone but that identity is not revealed to the end. Who dies at the Legacy Ball ? Was it an accident? Was it murder? Who was involved?

I really enjoyed uncovering the mystery and diving deeper into the relationships between the characters. I did find the ending to be predictable and at about the halfway point, I knew who was dead and how it happened. That didn't prevent me from enjoying the journey to the resolution though.

I highly recommend 'The Legacies' especially if you enjoyed Gossip Girl or How to Get Away with Murder. It was a great read and I really enjoyed the dynamics and the ending!

Thank you to Razorbill and NetGalley for the ARC of The Legacies!

Rich teens and parents behaving badly with exclusive clubs? Sign me up. This is a fun, YA thriller and if you’ve enjoyed goodmans other books, you’ll like this one.

3/5⭐️

I am a sucker for a good thriller with rich people. I was initially intrigued by this story as it is a YA thriller/mystery that follows a group of high schoolers joining a club of the ultra-elite. However, the execution of this fell flat for me. This was not my favorite of Goodman’s work but still feel like it was worth the quick, twisty read. If you are a fan of high school drama and are interested by the privilege and lives of NYC wealthy teens, then pick this one up!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Penguin group for this advance reader copy of The Legacies by Jessica Goodman - this one is out next month, 7/25/23!

I should note that I've recently started checking out the original Gossip Girl, and this one gave me MAJOR GG vibes, mixed with Pretty Little Liars. This one is a YA book about a group of friends that have had a lot of privilege growing up and are vying for spots into the Legacy Club, which will propel them into success and wealth in life. Told between rotating POVs of Bernie, Isobel and Tori, this one was a very quick read. I'm not sure how I feel about the timeline - the Legacy Ball is the titular event for this book, and some parts, we're a few days before the ball, and then a few times we're after the ball, so there's a lead-up that some major event happens. I was reading this one on my Kindle, and the "future" after-ball chapters are italicized, so it was a nice visual cue to remember what timeline we were in, but I can see that this may get lost if you're listening to the audio.

While I thought this one was easy to read, there's a lot of characters. When I was reading it, I was having trouble keeping them straight - Skylar in this book is a male, and I just read a book with a female Skylar character, so that was a little bit tricky to keep straight. While this one doesn't apply a lot of practicality to "real life" settings, it was fun nonetheless. I haven't read anything else by this author, nor do I read a ton of YA, but if I do check out young adult works, I do enjoy this mystery/whodunnit-style. If you've been a fan of Gossip Girl or Pretty Little Liars, I think you'd enjoy this one!

Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for this honest review. Check this one out when it publishes 7/25/23!

To start: As always thank you to NetGalley for access to this ARC! When I started The Legacies by Jessica Goodman I wasn’t entirely impressed. The book felt very much like Goodman’s past novels and lacked the compelling edge I was so badly looking for. Early on, most of the characters are extremely unlikeable and unable to truly help themselves. But the more this book went on, the better it got. It begins to pick up at a very fast rate with short chapters and some extreme character growth. Isobel and Bernie, along with Tori, become some of the best characters. The multiple mystery plots carry this book and keep you wanting to know more. The pacing along with the characters truly serve this plot in the best way. A slow start ends up leading to a pretty good payoff. Out very soon, mystery lovers need to check out The Legacies!

Thank you to NetGalley and Razorbill for this ARC! All opinions are my own.

This book was wonderful! The multiple POVs were woven together seamlessly, and really helped to build the characters. I enjoyed seeing the girls from each others’ point of view and then learning more about them when it was their own turn to “speak,” because this made them seem like real people—good and bad, with both sinister and innocent motivations. The writing was easy to follow and continued to build in intensity as the book continued. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good socialite mystery!

I don’t think this is Jessica Goodman’s best book. I thought it was a good story. But I think her others are better. I would suggest though. I enjoy every book I’ve read by her. Just wish this one was a little better.

This is like Gossip Girl meets Big Little Lies. I was super excited to read this, because I really liked They Wish They Were Us and The Counselors, but this left me cold.

The structure is nearly identical to Big Little Lies -- there was a fancy party and someone died. And we keep flashing back to the night of the party (sans police interviews like BLL) and then forward to the days leading up to it. Much like BLL, you're kept in the dark not just about who did it, but also who died, so everyone is a suspect on both fronts (I honestly forget how the end of BLL plays out - if we find out who died before we find out who killed them). It did keep me guessing - the victim could have been any one of our main characters OR their parents; same for the culprit. But I wish more time had been spent on denouement.

The Legacies are members of an elite Manhattan club - every year, a committee nominates six students from each of the top Manhattan private schools. Members take turns giving nominations, and the only rule is you aren't allowed to nominate your own child (but it's also a given that the children of legacies are likely to become legacies themselves, so they just coordinate who's going to nominate whose kid). Our three main characters are Bernie, Isobel, and Tori. Bernie and Isobel are shoo-ins, of course. Bernie's mom is running all of the events. Isobel is a bit of a hot mess - pills, alcohol, etc. And Tori is the resident scholarship kid. Her parents own a diner, her mother passed away right when she got into Excelsior prep, and her family is having money problems because they still haven't received the payout from the wrongful death lawsuit her father filed after her mother's death. On the night of the Legacy Ball, all of the new members have to get up and give a speech about supporting different scholarships (mind you, until Tori, none of the recipients of said scholarships ever made it into the club). The person who gives the best speech wins 25 grand. Usually the winner just donates it back, but Tori's hoping to get the money for her family.

We also keep hearing about some party that happened earlier in the summer - which all 3 of our girls attended - that resulted in a falling out for Isobel and Bernie (they've....kind of mended fences?) and some kind of blackmail scheme for Tori. I guess the reveals there are supposed to keep you from realizing that we aren't getting much forward momentum on the whole "someone fell off the roof" opener. And also Bernie's mom has disappeared and isn't answering her calls.

There's somehow simultaneously a lot happening and not much happening. And the last few chapters almost feel out of order. We end with Tori finding out something that Bernie already figured out a couple chapters earlier (but it's played like this is a BIG revelation, and the first we're hearing of it). I'm wondering if it will play out differently in the final edit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

I think this book was trying to be like a YA mystery with the wealth, location, and drama of Gossip Girl, but I did not get the vision.

In my opinion, the alternating chapters were not executed well. I am usually a fan of short chapters, but when the person telling the story is constantly changing, along with these random "After the Ball" chapters, it is difficult to stay invested in the story. The characters seemed so snotty and unlikable that I lost interest in the plot fast.

The tone of the book was just so flat. I thought the storytelling lacked the intrigue and drama you would think would be obvious in an elite, high society mystery. Each character's narration felt stiff and monotonous.

Overall, I definitely was not a fan of this author's writing style. The initial premise was interesting, but the plot and characters did not live up to the blurb.