Thank you to the Publisher for the Arc!

I didn't realize i needed a book that reminds you of Promising Young Woman until i read the favorites. It has a similar premise with a girl getting revenge for someone they loved. but this took more of a literary fiction approach rather than a thriller. I kept waiting to be surprised and thrilled but that didn't come. This story felt like it was missing depth and could've been so much more in terms of Jess and her relationship with her sister as well as more "stalking." But we didn't really get that. I did enjoy this but just wanted a tiny bit more from the story.

I hate leaving anything negative on here, but I just didn’t really enjoy this one. It sucked me in hard until around the 70% mark, then… it’s the kinda thing that makes it hard for REAL victims (like me) to get justice. And it made me feel all kinds of emotions. Just no. No.

Jessie is a law student from Dublin, Ireland, who travels to an elite Philadelphia law school to complete her studies. She's been enrolled in a prestigious by-invitation-only class, Law and Literature, taught by legendary professor Jay Crane, who hand picks his students and always chooses one to the "the favorite." Jessie is determined to be the favorite -- not for her career, but so that she can get close enough to him to get revenge for what he did to her older sister, Audrey. Audrey was a "favorite" and Jessie believes that Jay Crane is responsible for a series of events that ultimately led to her death. Jessie hatches a series of elaborate plans to destroy this professor, resulting in a page-turning thriller that is entertaining, but also will inspire thoughtful conversations about sexual abuse, toxic relationships, and the imbalance of power between professors and students.

This book was fine, I just couldn’t get into it

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Dark academia fans put this one at the top of your TBR's! Though it's got much more going for it as well. I loved the authors writing style. She has an assured voice and a way of drawing you in with her visceral use of language and keeping you held within the story with perfectly paced tension building. I loved Jessie . She was a sympathetic character and I held my breath as she skirted the line between justice and revenge for her sister. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC

3.5

if "promising young woman" was set at a law school during the 2016 election, and given a fizzle ending rather than a bang. i mostly enjoyed this, and i don't think it was bad by any means, but it was lacking in a few departments.

the pacing was veeeeeery slow. nothing happened for the entire first half of this 300 page book. but simultaneously, i felt like there was a lot missing from jessie's internal world. the whole premise of the book is based off of her grief following her sister's death, but every time she talked about her sister, the author employed a lot of cliches. it just didn't feel like real grief. the final passage of the book (not a spoiler) is basically just like, "my sister is always with me, forever <3333"

frankly, the other big problem was that i did not believe in the exclusivity of this "elite" cohort. we're supposed to think that this is a prestigious law school, and that the students are all in fierce competition to get into the law and literature class. so why is the class so boring and basic???
the first day is spent talking about atticus finch and if he's a good lawyer. did we not all cover this in ninth grade? then later on, they spend a class discussing paradise lost and debating which figure truly represents justice, between god and the serpent. i had more or less the same discussion in my sophomore year brit lit class at state school.
i honestly was shocked when i reached the acknowledgements and discovered that the author is actually a lawyer and based the academic parts of the book on discussions with her law professor husband. the material is giving literature 101, not super elite exclusive cohort at law school.

i did like the book overall, but i'm not jumping to recommend it to anyone.

thank you for an arc.

I really enjoyed this book, and basically read it in one sitting because it was that good. The Favorites tells the story of Jessie, an Irish law student who has come to the US to seek revenge on a professor who somehow harmed her sister (we slowly find out what happened during the course of the novel). Jessie is a fascinating character! Of course we empathize with her desire to seek justice, but what does that really mean, and how far can she justifiably go? Jessie and the other characters are really well-developed and multi-dimensional. This was a remarkable combination of slow-burning thriller and meditation on the difference between justice and revenge.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh I loved this book. Teacher- student relationships are always fascinating because of the power dynamic, the forbidden factor and usually the May- December age difference. This story however, the relationship was plotted, deliberate with the purpose of revenge in mind, making the book unputdownable.

There were things I really liked about this book, all the ethical questions it raised and even the questions about her sister's state of mind and what really happened. It did get bogged down at times with details of the classes. A plan for revenge for the man/the professor who hurt her sister, and the sister eventually died in an accident.

The Favorites is described as “an edgy, feminist campus novel about justice, gender, and power,” which spoke to me immediately and is why I requested it. I liked the classes we get to sit in as the reader and the legal and ethical discussions touched upon therein. I also enjoyed revisiting Philadelphia on the page, and in general I liked the slight “mystery” of one sister trying to find out what happened to the other (although the mechanics of Jessie hiding her sisterly appearance/relation seemed way too convenient). In addition, I never felt the book rose to anything close to “edgy,” and the feminism of the work felt very 2016 (which, to be fair, is explained in the Author’s Note).

The Favorites is a story we’ve seen before (both in real life and in literature). A male professor or teacher crosses the line, ruins or attempts to ruin a female student’s life, and walks away with little to no consequence. Unfortunately, this story has also been done better before, and although I read to the 60 percent mark and skimmed to the end of the book, I would have properly DNF’d before the 25 percent mark. The story feels more like a play than a novel, with a fictionalized university that (although maybe based off UPenn?) comes off feeling overly generic and populated by Ivy League NPCs. Our main MC (Jessie) and antagonist (Crane) also feel a bit generic, to the point that their actions and dialogue are predictable (especially so since Jessie is essentially re-creating her sister’s experience with Crane some years prior). Nonetheless, I enjoyed the creative use of email throughout.

I devoured this book. I was immediately and completely pulled in by Jessie’s voice and found myself furiously flipping the pages. This book questions what justice means, who gets to carry it out, and what one might gain or lose in the process. It’s provocative, heartbreaking, and deliciously addictive. I could not put it down!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Graydon House for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Cool, inviting cover. Great description of a story I would normally love. I just couldn't get into it. The basics are all there but for some reason it did not connect for me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for the purpose of this review. Two stars.

WOW!

If this isn't a book to brag about I don't know what is...

I started The Favorites late last night. Never did I anticipate I would be closing the book at 3am left in complete shock. There was no way I would be sleeping, my adrenaline was speeding. I got up and folded clothes, yes at 3am. I needed time to myself to grapple with what I had just read.

This book was insane! It was twisted, it was heartbreaking but it was so darn good!

The Favorites is a must read, out November 14, 2023, I strongly encourage you to pre-order this book!

Teaser:

An edgy, feminist campus novel about justice, gender, and power, following a woman who enrolls at a law school in Philadelphia and competes her way into an elite cohort of "Law and Literature" students to get revenge on the charismatic professor who wronged her sister

Most students would kill to be accepted into the prestigious Law and Literature cohort at Franklin University. But for Jessie Mooney, enrollment in the course is about more than elite campus status, rigorous thought, and professional connections. It’s her chance to get close to charismatic professor Jay Crane—and take him down.

From the moment she discovered their secret relationship, Jessie's been convinced Crane is to blame for the events leading to her sister’s death. Still haunted by their last email exchange—You know what you did—she'll cross any line to hold him accountable. But when Jessie finally earns Crane’s trust and the coveted position as one of his “favorites,” attracting the other students’ envy and suspicion, the truth becomes darkly twisted. Is it justice Jessie craves, or revenge? And what does she stand to lose if she gets her way?

Shimmering with tension, this provocative novel explores the nature of obsession, the inequities of power, and the ways that anger, desire, and love reveal the best, and worst, of us.