Absolutely loved this dual POV murder mystery set at a boarding school. New girl Liz is intrigued when she gets a new roommate, Amy, whose best friend and best friend's boyfriend were murdered in their room while Amy slept. Though this seems slightly inspired by the Idaho true crime case, this story is really about the tenuous bond between Liz and Amy as they try to get to the truth. Big fan of this author!

3.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for providing me an eARC via NetGalley to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a decent YA mystery/thriller. It was easy to follow, and I felt like the pacing kept the story moving really well. The dual POVs were fine, but I did find that both girls sounded the same at times and I had some trouble remembering whose POV I was reading.

The plot was good, and I liked Liz’s character. The student journalist trying to get answers about the murder was a fun angle to read from. I liked how she struggled with getting her peers to trust her, and also her guilt over whether or not she should report and write about the things she’d learned. Amy wasn’t as strong of a character for me, but I did feel that a lot of her emotions and actions seemed realistic for a character who had discovered her best friend murdered in the next room.

There were a few red herrings, and I liked seeing the girls try to find answers. There were a couple of little things that I picked up on that became important later, and they led me to the murderer much earlier than the characters. I still enjoyed reading the book all the way through, and the ending was fast and exciting for a brief moment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for providing me with an ARC!

Things I liked:
1. It was dual pov. One pov was of the best friend of the murdered characters, and the other was a journalist trying to solve the mystery. That made it a little more interesting because I got to see multiple perspectives of the same story, both with vastly different biases.
2. The setting. I love to read boarding school stories, they always have something interesting revolving around money and scandals.

Things I didn’t like:
1. I was able to guess the murderer at about 30%. For me, I don’t like to accurately predict it until much later in the novel. I want to be shocked at the ending. However, there were a few other plot twists that I couldn’t see coming.
2. I didn’t like either of the main characters. I found both of them annoying, but they slowly grew on me throughout the book.

I liked this one and thought it was a solid dark academia thriller with a good cast of characters and an interesting look on a class that didn't feel too obvious. I also loved that Amy and Liz were at odds for the duration of the novel and came together to be friends when it really mattered. Many YA thrillers like this one tend to have their main characters befriend each other despite it making no sense and I was pleasantly surprised they were separated on their own personal journies for most of the novel's run but still didn't lose the qualities that set them apart from each other.

If you're a fan of YA Thrillers with an academia setting then you'll love The Meadowbrook Murders. Each chapter of this book leaves you hanging and wanting more. I also loved the dual POV and I honestly didn't see the big twist coming so that was a nice surprise. Definitely recommend this one to my YA girlies.

We follow students at the prestigious Meadowbrook Academy in Connecticut. Amy and Sarah are best friends and roommates when Sarah and her boyfriend are murdered in Sarah’s dorm room; Amy was asleep in the room next door when they were killed, along with her own boyfriend. Lies are uncovered as the investigation begins.

This one was just ok for me. Dark academia is a sub-genre that I do usually love. I think the miss for me was never really feeling super invested in any of the characters.

I had a great time with The Meadowbrook Murders—it hooked me from the start and kept me guessing. The small-town setting really added to the tension, with characters who all felt a little too perfect, making it hard to trust anyone. The twists were fun, and the ending pulled it all together in a satisfying way.

If you’re into psychological thrillers with lots of secrets and twists, this one’s definitely worth checking out!

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for providing me with this arc!

I liked this book and recommend to anyone that enjoys young adult thrillers. I read it in just a few days and thought there were some good twists and turns!

I haven't read a lot of YA mystery but I thought this was a solid book. The start was definitely shocking and pulled me in as a reader. I liked the dual perspectives of Amy, the friend and ?suspect?, and Liz, the school reporter. I feel like Liz definitely had more character growth. The killer was - and yet, was not - a surprise. There weren't any clues really directing to him, other than a feeling I got that I can't explain. I still don't truly understand the motive but that's a minor thing.
I would read another Goodman YA mystery.
Thank you to NetGalley for a dARC; my review is my own.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam Young Readers for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

It might be because I read the Private Series by Kate Brian as a teen or because i’m a sucker for my home region of New England, but if there’s a book set at a boarding school in Connecticut, I’m gonna read it. I’ve enjoyed a lot of Jessica Goodman’s book and this was no exception. It’s fast paced, juicy, and keeps the reader guessing. I didn’t see the twist coming at the end, but I’m also not an investigative journalist or theorist while I read. Anyway, this is a great YA thriller and a fast one to through in your beach bag for spring break.

Synopsis:

“It’s the first week of senior year at Meadowbrook Academy. For Amy and her best friend Sarah, that means late-night parties at the boathouse, bike rides through their sleepy Connecticut town, and the crisp beginning of a New England fall.Then tragedy strikes: Sarah and her boyfriend are brutally murdered in their dorm room. Now the week Amy has been dreaming about for years has turned into a nightmare, especially when all eyes turn to her as the culprit. She was Sarah’s only roommate, the only other person there when she died—or so she told the police to cover for her own boyfriend’s suspicious whereabouts. And even though they were best friends, with every passing day, Amy begins to learn that Sarah lied about a lot of things.Liz, editor of the school newspaper and social outcast, is determined to uncover the truth about what happened on campus, in hopes her reporting will land a prestigious scholarship to college. As Liz dives deeper into her investigation, the secrets these murdered seniors never wanted out come to light. The deeper Liz digs, the messier the truth becomes – and with a killer still on campus, she can’t afford to make any mistakes.” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Setting—Connecticut boarding school, need I say more.

The Stakes—Each of the characters had a lot riding on their involvement in the crime, making it Interesting to read and flow between Amy and Liz’s POVs.

The Pacing—I love to reach for YA thrillers when I need to get out of my head and focus on the story.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

The Twist—I didn’t see the twist coming but I was a little disappointed by it and who ended up being the killers.

Unresolved Elements—I liked that there was some ambiguity in the ending but I also wanted to know more about a few things that happened leading up to the big reveal.

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Overall Rating: 3.75/5

Content Warnings:

murder, blood, gore, child death, violence

A page-turning, twisty, dark acadamia thriller set in a Connecticut boarding school. Higly recommend for teens who are fans of the thriller/murder genra, this who done it will leave them guessing until the end.

Good suspenseful read. Both girls are looking for that lifelong friendship, and while they will always have that connection, I don’t think they found that with each other.

I did enjoy the switching of perspectives for each chapter, so you knew what each character was thinking and feeling. The killer made sense, and was still a little shocking. I would recommend to older teens and adults looking for a good murder book.

I love a good YA thriller & this one did not disappoint. I loved watching Amy & Liz come together, despite their very obvious differences, to solve the mystery together. This was fast paced, dark academia thriller that i know most teens will love. I really enjoyed this & will look for more by this author.

I think that this author writes great engaging why a mysteries. This book is set in a elite boarding school, where everyone has money and connections. When two of their brightest and most beloved students are found murdered, the school scrambles to find a quick solution, even if that means not finding the right killer. Not until her best friend Amy and the outcast school paper editor come together does the investigation really start to gain some traction. This was certainly a page turner and I think that my students would really enjoy it.

The murder happens right at the start, setting the tone for a nonstop, intense ride. Meadowbrook Murders is fast-paced and gripping from beginning to end. I never fully expected Peter to be the culprit, though I had my suspicions, and at one point, I even started to believe Joseph might have killed Sarah and Ryan—there were just too many coincidences. While I don’t think Liz and Amy will become best friends, I’d like to believe that after surviving such a terrifying ordeal, they’ll stay in touch. A highly entertaining dark academia read.

The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman is a dark academia murder mystery set in Meadowbrook Academy, a very prestigious boarding school. Amy is all set to enjoy her senior year with her best friend Sarah – they have so many exciting plans for their last year of freedom. But everything changes when Amy finds Sarah and Sarah’s boyfriend, Ryan, murdered in their dorm room, right next door to Amy’s room. Amy of course falls under suspicion, as it would be difficult for anyone to get into the dorm and because she and Sarah had a big and very public fight the night before.

The chapters alternate between Amy’s POV and the POV of Liz, the editor of the school newspaper. While Amy is very popular, Liz is much more focused on academics and journalism and is rather a social outcast. With hopes of earning a college scholarship, Liz focuses on investigating and reporting about the crime. This alienates Amy, who at first refuses to help her in any way. However, Liz and Amy eventually end up forced to share a dorm room and realize they need to work together to solve the murder.

This was a pretty quick read – I read it all in one sitting, in fact. However, I did find it had a pretty slow start, to the point that I almost gave up about a quarter of the way into the book. Fortunately, it ramps up a bit later on. I did not really get much of a feeling of dark academia from this book - overall, it is a fairly straightforward YA mystery.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

It’s the week before another school year at Meadowbrook Academy, the last year for the seniors, who are the only ones on campus. The seniors get a week to bond before the rest of the students join them. But this year is different. This year, Amy woke up to find her roommate Sarah dead in her bed, along with Sarah’s boyfriend Ryan.

As the police investigate, the school moves Amy to another room. There is only one available to her, and Amy finds herself sharing a room with Liz. Liz is editor-in-chief of the Meadowbrook Gazette, the campus newspaper, and Amy knows that she will be looking to write about the biggest thing to happen on the campus.

Liz is someone who devours true crime books, and she is hungry for the story that will put her on the map. She wants to work for a top media outlet, so she has her eyes on journalism school and a top career after. As soon as she hears about the murders, So Amy refuses to talk to her, of course.

Liz realizes that no one has posted a story online about the murders yet, so she writes one with the information released on campus so far, which gets her in trouble with the administration, since she posted it without talking to them. Amy, meanwhile, realizes that there was someone else in the room the night of the murder, her boyfriend Joseph.

Joseph isn’t a student. He lives in the nearby town and works at a local café. He wants to be a chef. And he’d had a knife, a small one, with him in the room. He had been gone when Amy woke up, and she did notice that the knife was also gone. Amy had trouble believing that Joseph would hurt anyone. But she also knew that he wouldn’t be protected the way the other students would be. He would be looked a with suspicion, just because his family didn’t have the money the Meadowbrook students come from. Amy knows that the only way to protect him is to find out who killed Sarah and Ryan.

Liz, in trouble for posting her story online, is meanwhile getting noticed for being the first reporter to the story. Her best chance of keeping that momentum going is to solve the crime herself. If she can figure out who committed the murders, she can write her own ticket after school. But that means she has to be the one to figure out who killed Sarah and Ryan.

As the young women each follow the clues and move towards the killer, the put themselves into more and more danger. Will they be able to protect themselves when the truth ultimately comes out?

The Meadowbrook Murders is a crime thriller about friendships and futures, about class and secrets. It’s twisty and dark, with all the classic notes of a murder mystery. These characters are smart and sophisticated. In fact, I had to keep reminding myself that they were in high school, as they were far more mature than anyone I went to high school with back in the day. But I really enjoyed this story. There were some lovely surprises and lots of tension to keep those pages turning. If you’re a fan of dark academia, then you just might want to head to Meadowbrook to solve a mystery.

Egalleys for The Meadowbrook Murders were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

This is not the typical genre I choose to read but I'm glad I picked it up. This was a very quick, easy read that kept me guessing until the end who done it. The story takes place in a boarding school, when the first week back her senior year Amy finds herself waking up to her roommate and roommate's boyfriend dead in the room next door. Amy finds Liz the editor of the school newspaper an unlikely ally and they team up trying to figure out who the murderer is.

I will easily give this book a 3.5 rating and look forward to reading more from Jessica Goodman.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
3.5 stars rounded up

I've learned from Two Sides to Every Murder that I like when the two protagonists in a mystery book just continually have some sort of tension between them even as they grow closer, and it's a reasonable tension. Amy here is dealing with a lot of crap and is a teenager who has no idea how to process it, and so you get why other characters are huffy with her even if you get why she's hurting and so confused (and admittedly selfish in her grieving). Then you also get why Liz approaches the case as she does, even if it is a bit callous and cruel.

I think of the two, Liz definitely has the most growth, but that's because she's more the character meant to grow while Amy is the one meant to be suffering the brunt of the emotional turmoil in this book. And their differences just come together to make this work.

There's also a lot of hard feelings in this book and secrets that complicate relationships, and I like that the consequences to those difficult moments last. There's a relationship between two characters that splinters in a way that doesn't just get repaired by the end, which I feel like a lot of books would do anyway.

I had an inkling of who the killer was by, like, 20%, and the more the book went, the more sure I grew of who it was. It definitely felt like the reasoning could be a bit better. It wasn't bad, per se, but there was a certain way that the character was acting that made me think it would go a more interesting way.

There were some other issues I had with the book, but nothing so bad that it made me decide to round down instead of up. Maybe there's more things that I'd have noticed if I'd read more YA Mystery books, but oh well 🤣

This was such a cool mystery book. I was flipping the pages as fast as I could from day 1. The twists and turns were everything. I liked how this book packed the punch of the mystery from page 1. This book was amazing. The emotion, the drama, it was such a fun time.