💀 D A R K A C A D E M I A 💀 with a mix of sibling revenge, a fight for justice and strong feminist themes: “The Favorites” by Rosemary Hennigan

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤/5

Jessie Mooney has worked her ass off in order to secure herself admittance into Law School at Franklin University. Especially into a SPECIFIC course with a SPECIFIC Professor. Attending law school isn’t the only thing on her agenda … but seeking REVENGE for her sister.

Jessie has a plan to EXPOSE Professor Jay Crane for the predator he is. But first she needs to become one of his infamous “favorites” to get him in the right position that she needs him in. How many other girls have been cast under his spell before her sister??

🚨 This book covers a lot of heavy topics including sexual assault, so please check trigger warnings beforehand! This story is a slow burn, but wow once it heats up … is it ever POWERFUL, raw and emotional.

Thank you kindly to @rosiehennigan @graydonhousebooks @htpbooks @harpercollinsca @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases November 7, 2023!

The Favorites is a story of sexual harassment, the #MeToo movement, and revenge, but despite the good writing, the not-quite-believable plot doesn't push The Favorites up from my 3.5 score. Irishwoman Jess has been accepted to enroll in a master's program at the prestigious Franklin Law School in Philadelphia. She worked hard to be admitted into and become a "favorite" in a prestigious small seminar on Law and Literature taught by Jay Crane, whose experience with Jess's sister while teaching for a semester at Trinity College in Dublin, led to her depression and eventual death. Jess now plots to take revenge. The set up for the story is reasonable, but the ways in which she attempts to entrap Crane are not realistic if one is to believe that he is the instigator. Jess is the only fully developed character and even she seems very remote from the reader at times. The first half of this novel moves along at a nice rate, but it slows perceptibly in the second half. Hennigan shows a lot of promise and I look forward to seeing her talent develop in her next novel.

I really enjoyed this one! The plot was so interesting, and I loved seeing how everything played out. The way that both this plot and the original unravelled was so compelling. The ending was amazing, and I 100% need to read more from this author!

Set during the #MeToo movement, The Favorites introduces us to Jessie, who is hell bent on exacting revenge on behalf of her sister. Her target is a Law and Literature professor named Jay Crane and whoo boy is he in for it!

The Favorites started off strong for me but lagged in places.

Overall a good read but it did require some patience from me.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

[arc review]
Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Favorites releases November 14, 2023

<i>“A cycle of pain to break, a villain to expose. Punishment to inflict, justice to create.”</I>

Plagued by the distress of her sister’s unexpected death, Jessie seeks out justice in the form of collecting concrete evidence by mirroring the exact teacher/student relationship she had with Professor Jay Crane.

The intimate 6 person Law and Literature class and academic setting gave me <I>How to Get Away with Murder</I> vibes, though the very specific political inclusions made this read feel dated.

There’s an assumption from the main character that there was an authoritative power imbalance involving being taken advantage of sexually, but I felt like the level of stakes and intimacy to mirror the other girls’ experiences wasn’t quite there, and it would have been a more compelling or believable read had Crane been more vocal and interested in Jessie.

Definitely left wanting more on all aspects — tension with the setting, side character involvement and development, maybe an alternating past pov from the late sister?
Taking a higher risk, higher reward approach might have landed a better ending.


<i>“But, to me, Antigone also spoke to something else, the story of the love between two sisters, and a loyalty that persisted, despite a gulf of miscomprehension between them.”</I>

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House for my copy of The Favorites by Rosemary Hennigan!

This story kind of reminded me Promising Young Woman regarding Jessica finding revenge for her sister and the way she did it but tamer (cause that movie's amazingly wild!). I really enjoyed the social commentary on the lack of justice regarding rape and rape culture in today's society and the dark academia vibe. I found myself so engrossed in reading this. I have read quite a bit of comment how nothing much happens until you're halfway past the book and although it is true, I didn't find myself getting bored. The build up to what is the focal point of the story was greatly executed in my opinion.

The pain and conflict that Jessica had gone through the whole book was so well done that you start to feel it in you. The rage, the disappointment, the grief, the fear. Everything. I think I'm just a little disappointed with the ending cause I was hoping for more? 95% of the book was just a banger and then that ending is just.... underwhelming.

This was one hell of a book. I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend if you enjoy social commentaries with a strong MC.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc. This was such a delicious book for any fans of dark academia. The writing was superb, the twists and turns had me gasping, and the suspense was killing me. I loved it so much. It was also very atmospheric and the characters were well crafted. Good read.

3.5★ I really like the premise of this one, the social commentary on the lack of justice surrounding rape and our rape culture as a whole, and the dark academia vibes this book gives off in droves. However, something seems to be missing in its execution and that prevented this from being a win for me.

First and foremost the pacing was off during the second 2/3 of the book after a great intro. It is a very slow moving story and as a result, it seems to drag quite a bit during the middle portion. It does pick back up, but at a point you then need to suspend a bit of disbelief.

I have seen criticism that this book shows why victims don’t feel they can come forward but i think that’s inaccurate. This book illustrates the severity of what happens when a culture embraces victim shaming and is more often than not, apt to believe an attacker over the attacked. And yet this important message seems to get a bit lost in the weeds.

ʀ ᴇ ᴀ ᴅ ɪ ғ ʏ ᴏ ᴜ ʟ ɪ ᴋ ᴇ :
• stories of revenge
• social commentary
• strong protagonists
• dark academia vibes

Thank you HTP Books and Harper Audio for my gifted copies in exchange for my honest review.

This book is going to be a hit. It draws you in from the first chapter and is compelling throughout. I couldn't put this book down. The suspense and mystery, with the twists, will keep your head spinning like in the Exorcist. Top notch suspense and thriller. I am def buying this book when it comes out.

This was wild! Simmering with revenge and twists that were unexpected! I loved the story and how it unfolded. Don't mess with Family! New Author for me and I will reach for more by her! Brilliant Book.

A true page turner! Dark academia at it's finest, and perfect for fans of My Dark Vanessa and The Secret History. Loved it!

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

Jessie Mooney travels from Ireland to Philadelphia to enroll in a graduate law program at Franklin University. She is thrilled to have been accepted into a very competitive Law and Literature class there not because of its cachet but because of its professor, Jay Crane. She wants to become one of his infamous “favorites” because she blames him for her sister’s death and has a plan.

Set during the 2016 election and the very beginning of the #MeToo movement, there are important issues here: questions of the nature of justice, retribution, right vs legal, male power, consent, sexual predators, injustice, victimization, the inadequacies of the legal system, and is stalking ever justified?. This is a very slow burn…and maybe more a fizzle than a burn. For fans of dark academia, there is much grist for a book group discussion, including the ending.

I wanted to enjoy this book & did at times. But such a large part of it seemed like a political dissertation that just wasn’t my business. Parts of it gripped me & others made me yawn. I enjoy fiction, maybe even escapism. But truly, when I look for a read in my downtime, I just want something so interesting it keeps me up @ night. Not sure this is placed in the appropriate market.

I honestly don’t even know where to start with this review! I absolutely loved this book and read it in less than 24 hours after being in a reading slump for a month and a half. I’m back baby #

For fans of dark academia, this one's for you. There’s also quite a bit of Greek mythology mentioned in the first third, which I LOVED, however you don’t need to know about Greek mythology to understand what’s going on.

Our main character, Jessie, is objectively pretty unhinged, however I was constantly rooting for her. She is constantly making bad and reckless decisions and yet I was like “you go girl, you ruin that man's life”

I would highly recommend this one if you like dark academia!!

I have to be honest, I didn’t love this book. I love books on college campuses and usually really love them. However I just couldn’t get into this book. It’s very well written, and the story is good. I think I just didn’t like the subject or how it was handled. Overall it’s. Good book and I know. Lot of people will love it, but for me it was mostly a miss. I’d give this a 3.5, but wanted to round up.

Parts of this book I really liked, wanted more revenge and more justice for her sister. It was slow at times but also raised issues/questions to think about, which I liked. 3.5 rounded up, if it was tightened up I would have liked it better

Beautiful cover, very interesting description which is what caught my eye. Sadly the pacing was super off for me and I feel like nothing happened for the majority of the book. I didn’t enjoy reading this due to the pacing and it was difficult to understand the main character and their motives.

Great Read!

This book makes me question can one ever get JUSTICE. Is revenge sweeter?

This novel checks all the boxes of a thriller. I read this book in 2 days. My first from this author but definitely will be looking for more titles from her.

I highly recommend this book to readers that like twist and surprises.

I received an e-arc of this from Harlequin Trade Publishing and Graydon House via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was half dark revenge scheme, half discussion on the philosophy around justice (and whether or not our legal system is capable of bringing about justice for victims-- particularly those that happen to also be women). It has shades of <I>The Secret History</i> but with a more palatable and less pretentious circle of students at the core. A more apt comparison might be <i>Promising Young Woman</i>. While our main character has enough dedication to get into a master's program and cross an ocean solely for the purpose of revenge, Jessie doesn't have quite the same bite as Cassandra.

I found this to be a compulsive read but found the ending to be a bit of a letdown (despite the fact that it was probably the most realistic conclusion this story could have had).