title: To Have and Have More

author: Sanibel

publisher: Zando-8th Note Press

publication date: April 15, 2025

pages: 368

peppers: 1 (on this scale)

warnings: lack of justice, micro and macro aggressions, racism

summary: Emery was born in Korea and adopted by a VERY wealthy American couple. At Derrymore Academy, she meets up with Lilah, a Chinese-American girl on scholarship. The book follows their relationship from the beginning of high school, when they both become alternates on the Varsity Tennis team to Senior year, as they write their college application essays. 

tropes:

boarding school
the uber rich
scholarship kids
gay best friend

what I liked: There is no question in my mind that this pseudonym-using author went to Hotchkiss or Deerfield or some other NE elite boarding school. EVERY detail is drawn perfectly about the school, the administration, dorm life, friend groups, sports teams, publications, Chapel, race relations, etc.

what I didn’t like: 

overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author, Sanibel, for an ARC of To Have and Have More. All opinions are mine.

To Have and Have More is the debut novel by Sanibel. I throughly enjoyed this book and the way the author handled class. Excellent debut.

As a fellow boarding school kid (thanks for the Mercersburg shout out!), To Have and Have More engaged me on multiple fronts. I loved the nostalgia of boarding school in the late aughts and early 2010s. There were just enough cultural touchstones of the time included to help paint a picture without dating the entire story. I appreciated the author's subtle nod to themes beyond wealth and racial identity - sexuality (as represented by Noah), parent/child relationships (as represented by the Hoopers and Changs), gender norms (as represented by Errol, Jake, Ian, and Scott), female friendship (as represented by Candace, the quadruplets), among many others. Emery and Lilah's relationship covered so many fronts. I will be thinking about this book for a long time!

Sanibel writes a striking satirical tale set in the private school world of privilege and prejudice. With a group of unlikable yet sadly realistic caricatures found within this setting, it achieves the goal of creating an uncomfortable environment. Great debut!

I do wish the ending packed more of a satisfying punch.

This is the type of book that scratches a Mona Awad satirical itch!

Sanibel came out swinging with this as her debut. The prose is fun and paces quickly, the settings are nostalgic and places you right back into the early 2000s, and the characters are deliciously grotesque. Being a teenage girl already is a lot - add the nuances that these characters are facing and you get a recipe for mind tricks, ostentatious behavior, and feeling absolutely certain in every choice.

The social commentary was well delivered and I wont stop thinking about the last few chapters and the epilogue for a while.

Thank you to 8th Note Press for the advance copy for review!

I love that this book explores important themes of gender, race and class inequality. However, i think that most of the character are heavily unlikeable. Despite this, I still enjoyed the book overall, even if it was a bit hard to get through at times

As a Korean American who grew up in white America, I knew this book would resonate with me the second I read the blurb.

In white America, race is inextricably linked to class, money, and privilege. Sanibel masterfully explores these motifs through Emery, a privileged Korean American adopted into a white, wealthy family, and Lilah, a middle class Taiwanese American whose parents depend on her to achieve their American dream, as they navigate an elite boarding school.

Their dynamic mesmerized me, and I recognized so much of my own adolescent identity struggles in both main characters. Derrymore, the boarding school, serves as the perfect setting to dissect these issues—through did-you-hears, feigned sympathy, and unchallenged microaggressions.

Thanks to NetGalley for this wonderful ARC!

This is the debut novel by a Korean/Taiwanese author who grew up in Princeton and I liked it, I could tell how the authors own life inspired the complex ideas discussed in this novel, but I felt it was missing something. I didn’t feel I was really invested in the characteres until about halfway through. The story was an important examination of ideas about money, culture, privilege that are difficult to express in a short novel. While I enjoyed reading it, I wanted a little bit *more* depth the entire time.

I flew through this book in a day; it reminds me of "The Clique" series that I binged as an early adolescent but with more bite and more relevant social topics. I found myself drawn to the material culture of the book—the early aughts references bringing me into my own childhood flipping through Seventeen magazine and longing for the designer goods that Emery so casually sloughs off—as well as the relationship between Emery and Lilah.

*Spoilers*

I had such high hopes for Emery's journey to race and class consciousness, and just when she seems on the precipice of these realizations, she falls back into her reliance on whiteness, privilege, and wealth. The ending scene between Lilah's father and Emery at graduation felt like a needle in my throat.

Set against the backdrop of the opulent Derrymore Academy, the novel pulls no punches in exposing the subtle and overt ways wealth and whiteness shape the lives of its students—and the challenges faced by those who don’t fully belong.

The fraught, nuanced relationship between Emery Hooper and Lilah Chang is at the heart of the story. Emery, adopted into the world of country clubs and Mediterranean vacations, is a fascinating character: confident and seemingly untouchable, yet quietly navigating the alienation of being an Asian girl in a predominantly white world. On the other hand, Lilah is a painfully relatable outsider, grappling with the insecurities and cultural dissonance of being one of the few students of color at Derrymore. Their interactions are layered with tension, curiosity, and a slow-burning understanding that feels authentic and earned.

The novel excels in its depiction of the microaggressions and casual racism that permeate Derrymore, from dismissive comments to the weaponization of stereotypes. These moments are rendered with unflinching honesty, showing how they impact both Emery and Lilah in deeply personal ways. The exploration of white privilege—particularly its ability to shield the wealthy from accountability—is both scathing and insightful, forcing readers to confront uncomfortable truths about systemic inequality.

While the story’s tone is often critical, it is also laced with moments of warmth and humor, particularly as Emery and Lilah’s bond develops. The pacing is tight, and the writing is razor-sharp, capturing the intricacies of Derrymore’s high-society bubble while delving into the emotional lives of its characters.

This is not just a story about privilege or race—it’s about identity, belonging, and the ways people connect despite the forces that divide them. I highly recommend.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m pleasantly surprised. Although this is tagged as adult fiction it reads as YA. I don’t say that disparagingly, just as an FYI. I generally don’t read YA, but once I got into this book, it just kept growing on me, it became increasingly fun and funny. Quite an enjoyable look into the boarding school world.

Sanibel writes with a witty knowing prose, she has obviously spent some time in this world. Emery, is the protagonist of this fast paced novel, We meet her in middle school as an accomplished and bright, popular student on her way to Derrymore, an elitist mostly white and old monied boarding school.

Emery is a flawed individual, she acts as though she is above it all, but desperately wants to be admired and viewed as top notch. One of the roadblocks she encounters is she is white, although her adoptive parents are, and quite active donors and voices at Derrymore, which provides her a status almost unrivaled.

Her parents are top of the food chain people who always manage to get what they want, and though Emery is still trying to figure out her relationship to richness, she is a conniving, self-centered, life-by-the-check-box witch. She doesn’t really form true friends, because she stays focused on the bottom line. Which for Emery means, how can this relationship help me or hinder my march to top popularity.

Sanibel has a lot too say about the haves and the have much mores. She also makes insightful remarks about Asian culture and Chinese vs. Korean idiosyncrasies. Lilah is a sycophant but as the novel progresses, she becomes less of one and finds her own voice and confidence. Her interaction and relationship with Emery make up the bulk of this novel, and though I thought we were heading for an explosive conclusion, the ending ultimately proved to be anti-climactic. Thanks to Netgalley and 8th Note press for an advanced DRC. Book will hit shelves in April 2025. A very pleasant surprise awaits readers who embrace this novel.

This is the book I knew I needed. I'm so glad Sanibel created this novel. My son was adopted from Guatemala and attends a mostly white high school. He has experienced racism, and this story is authentic and believable. It's also written incredibly well. I finished it with a lot to think about. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.