Book:
THE MEADOWBROOK MURDERS by Jessica Goodman
Thank you so much PenguinTeen and Netgalley for the EARC (Feb 4)

Review:
5⭐
THE MEADOWBROOK MURDERS is an über twisted thriller that follows the m*rders of two students at Meadowbrook Academy.
Senior year. It's supposed to be a time for Amy and her friends Sarah to have one last hoorah before classes start. After a fight, Amy finds Sarah and boyfriend murdered. To prove her innocence, and get justice for her friends, a reluctant Amy teams up with Liz, uncovering secrets and lies worth k*lling for.
Hands down this is my favorite book that Jessica Goodman has written. From the very first page, there was no putting this down. I literally read over half of it without realizing, engrossed in the story a story of ultimate betrayal. This page-turner was dramatic, and while Amy and Liz worked to unravel the truth, the craziness of it all was more than I could imagine. And that whodunit. I called it---not exactly everything about the reveals, but as the m*rder was solved I knew it was [Redacted].
10/10 would recommend, and I cannot wait til February to read this again.

3.5 stars, rounded down.
I like boarding school mysteries and I love Jessica Goodman, so this was a win win for me. I liked that even though it was told in alternating first person POVs, each voice felt unique enough that I had no trouble differentiating between Liz and Amy. I loved watching the friendship between the two develop. While I found this kind of predictable (I thought the killer was pretty obvious from early on, though I didn't know the "why" until the end), I still wanted to find out how Liz and Amy would reach the truth.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Once i started, i couldn't put this one fown. Quick and easy read. I loved the short chapters. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

The Meadowbrook Murders

is an enthralling YA thriller with fantastic dark academia elements. It starts right off the bat with the worst imaginable happening to one of our main characters.

I really enjoyed the two main POVs and how they juxtapose each other. The writing is strong, with the author really conveying that strong sense of dread and ‘constantly looking over your shoulder.’

This isn’t a story with a happy ending and I like that the dread, the morose and melancholia sensation stayed present entirely throughout. It enhanced the eerie and the need to find out what really happened!

I’d recommend this read for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Ghosts of Harvard. 3.5 stars, rounding to a 4 🙂

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of The Meadowbrook Murders. For me, Jessica Goodman's books are either a big hit or a big miss. The Meadowbrook Murders was a big hit for me. I was invested from the beginning and taken by surprise a few times. When I read a murder mystery, I give it a few chapters and then make two to three guesses about who the murderer is. Was my guess in my top three for this book? No. It was my fourth guess, which is a mark of a story that keeps me, a person who has been reading mysteries at different levels for 30+ years, on my toes and invested.

Is The Meadowbrook Murders groundbreaking? No.
Is it fun? Yes.
Will I purchase it for our library? Yes.
Will I recommend it when someone is looking for something to read after they've ripped through all my Holly Jacksons and my Karen McManuses? 100%.

What a great read! If you need a YA thriller to binge, look no further!

#yathriller #meadowbrookmurders #nextgreatread #bingeworthy

All in all, the book was pretty good. It was definitely a page turner, leaving me wanting to ignore my real life obligations to figure out who did it and how we were going to find out - key factors in a thriller book.

The book was also fast paced and an attention grabber. It did include dual POV and enough twists and a creeping feeling to keep you on your toes and more specifically to keep reading!

This was a good YA thriller/mystery. I like how it jumped right into the murders. It was fast paced and bingeable!

While we jump right into the story of The Meadowbrook Murders, It took me a little bit to fully engage, but I'm going to call that a slow burn, since I really became completely enthralled by the second half of the book. I enjoyed the depth that Jessica Goodman gave her characters and the way that the story unfolded to keep the readers guessing, without completely throwing everyone for a loop. It was really well crafted and I'll be looking for more by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

It took me a while to get into this on, so give it a few chapters.after I got into it - wow!

It was amazing. You will love it - I promise.

Highly recommend.

This was a quick, bingeable read in a "dark academia" setting that still managed to feel cozy. I thought there were a lot of good twists, the chapters were the right length and had good pacing, and the characters felt mostly fully-formed, but there was a little something missing that would have made it 5 stars.

This murder mystery is set at a prestigious New England boarding school. Liz, the overzealous editor of the school newspaper and social outcast, is determined to uncover the truth about who murdered the popular couple on campus. She also hopes her reporting will land a prestigious scholarship to college. There are many twists and intense situations that keep the reader guessing.

This reminded a lot of Pretty Little Liars butin a good way.

Even your best friends hide secrets from each other its human nature to keep somethings to yourself.

I ha 3 theories on who the killer was and i was right on one of them its pretty clear who it is once everything starts to unfold and you start piecing everything together.

if you liked a good girls guide to murder then i think you will like this.

Overall, the book was pretty good. It was definitely a page turner, leaving me wanting to ignore me real life obligations to figure out who did it and how we were going to find out - key factors in a thriller book. The setting is one of my favorites, but due to the shortness of the book, I didn't really feel like we were at the boarding school. The location felt unimportant, though it's what drew me to the book in the first place. I did predict pretty quickly who the killer was, but that didn't take away from the enjoyableness of the journey to get there.

3.5 stars / rounded up.

Sarah and Amy are at a boarding school and excited to start their senior year. After a party, they go back to the dorms where their boyfriends have snuck in to stay the night. The next morning Amy wakes up and finds Sarah and her boyfriend murdered. Amy has no idea what happened and why they were killed. As she tries to find the truth, she might be the next victim. A solid YA read.

It's senior year. Everyone's hopes are high for making the most of their last year at Meadowbrook Academy. Amy was ecstatic for having an incredible senior year. That was until she woke up one morning to find her roommate and her roommate's boyfriend murdered. Liz is a student journalist who is desperate to uncover the truth, no matter how shocking it may be.

I've read a couple of other books by Jessica Goodman. I've always loved her writing, and this book was no different! I find her books to be very fast-paced. This story progressed quickly. New information comes to light every few chapters. It was impossible to know who to trust.

I would like to thank @netgalley, @penguinteen, and @jessicagoodman for the opportunity to read this ARC! Keep your eyes out. The release date is February 4th, 2025!

The Meadowbrook Murders has many things that I like to see when reading a good mystery including a dual POV and enough twists and creepiness to keep me guessing. Goodman weaves a captivating tale of dark secrets among the students at a prestigious boarding school and the lengths a couple of them will go to in order to reveal the killer. The "dark" elements of this story are not as dark as some dark academia novels I've read, but there was enough to keep me turning the pages to see if my thoughts were correct.
Mature readers will enjoy this read, and I look forward to sharing it with them.

4.5 stars!
Such a good face paced read. Author didn't skip a beat! Loved the short chapters, Grabbed attention at the very beginning and I devoured it!

Jessica Goodman is one of my favorite authors. This YA dark academia thriller sounded right up my alley, but sadly this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. All of the characters were a bit one-dimensional to me. I wish we’d known more of everyone’s backstory, I think that would’ve improved the story a lot.

For a YA mystery, this was really good! I’m normally great at figuring out who did it, but this kept me guessing and joy was I guessing all the wrong my characters! A quick must read!