Four friends return to their sorority after finding out their spill book (think burn book from Mean Girls) has been stolen. All four women are pretty awful people and do not want their secrets getting out. There was a lot of back and forth here alternating people and timelines. I enjoyed the spill book blurb at the beginning of each chapter. This was rich people behaving badly and included so many TikToks, GRWM, Ashley Madison type of clubs, Sugar babies, and only fans references. It was like every salacious type of scandal you could imagine. 3.5 stars. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Rush week was a wild ride. I enjoyed this book alot. The thrill and just overall plot to this book had me hooked

I think this book is supposed to be set in the future, and the past was set in current times 2022-now, which honestly made the book incredibly confusing at times. The book follows 4 sorority sisters, who each have secrets kept from one another, but post-college they each blackmailed from an unknown person that their secret will be exposed. This leads to the sisters returning to the University of Alabama for their old sororities recruitment week. All their secrets were written in a spill book that was buried in their sororities time capsule that wasn't supposed to be opened until at least all of them were long gone from this world. The 4 girls aren't as close as they once where, but all come to Alabama and work together to try to figure out who is coming after them.

I was excited to read this book because like most of the US, I am totally obsessed with rushtok especially at Alabama. I find it so fascinating. However, this book brought none of the fun from that. The book was incredibly sloppy, I really don't think this should have even been published (keep it as a fanfic or something) - especially because you name drop U of A and The Machine (which was also a bit unnecessary to the story). I hated how it would flip back and forth between timelines and POVs like one minute we would have one girl in the past then it would be current times with a different sister. This made the book incredibly hard to follow at times. I was not in a sorority, but have tons of friends in one, and there is no way that all of your alumni would be at recruitment for the entire week being at the house, and doing events. Then the whole ending was honestly trash - I felt like it was also sloppy writing that made the author pick who stole the book and the reasoning behind it was so lame and weak it wouldn't hold up anywhere.

I absolutely loved the story told with this book. Pledges becoming sisters and dealing with the drama that comes with sorioritys during and long after they've graduated. Definitely has some sneaky vibes that remind me of Pretty Little Liars or Gossip Girl if you are interested in shows like that. The only downfall I did not care for was the timeline hopping. I understand that was necessary to get the. whole story of the girls to tell what happened then and now, but it got confusing at some parts to where I had to go back and see "is this the past or present". Other than that, cute book. Would definitely recommend.

Could have had potential but didn’t work out, really struggled reading this, wouldn’t recommend this to friends or family.

Rush Week is the perfect combination of Pretty Little Liars meets Bama Rush. Michelle Brandon does a great job of weaving the past with the present and sprinkling secrets and lies throughout to keep the reader interested.

I really enjoyed reading about the messy lives of Brooklyn, Asana, Taylor, and Annabelle. I often felt like I was watching a TikTok stream of sorority girls in Alabama, but there were a few things that didn't quite work for me.

The ending felt anticlimactic and some of the plot points were a bit too unbelievable for me to enjoy. I think the book could have been shortened and the ending could have been sharpened into a more exciting finish.

Thank you to Michelle Brandon and Harper Collins for this ARC!

Michelle Brandon brings TikTok’s #BamaRushTok to life in Rush Week, which centers on four sorority sisters with a wealth of secrets they are forced to face five years after graduation. While the concept is promising, the execution falls flat with ridiculous plotlines and unlikable characters.

One of the biggest issues with this book is that it takes place only five years after the characters finish college. This was an odd choice, as five years is not a big difference in life experience, and it is strange to expect them to have fallen out of touch so quickly.

The alternating points of view are also a bit distracting, especially as there is some unstructured timeline jumping with the secrets revealed at the beginning of each chapter. It is also hard to believe people would willingly put their deepest, darkest secrets in writing rather than making something up. Add in the fact that the characters lack charm, and it becomes difficult to care about their issues, let alone believe that anyone else is captivated by them.

This book had the potential to be fun and campy, but it falls a bit short with too much villainy and absurdity.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this uncorrected reader's eproof ARC of 'Rush Week' by Michelle Brandon - expected release date of 07/22/2025

ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn't get into this book. It isn't the author's fault, I'm not her target audience. Definitely meant more for the 18-26 crowd with the storyline and slang used throughout. I'm not sure how this book will hold up down the line, given the heavy cultural references (TikTok, RushTok, #, OOTD, influencers). She totally overdid it with the constant mention of OnlyFans, feet pics and sugar daddy/baby references with Brooklyn's character too...

The 4 main female characters were unlikeable, intolerable, and unrelatable. I figured out who stole the Spill Book and was at least hoping the reason was juicy, but no. I also don't really understand why The Machine storyline was included, I think that could've been left out completely and not affected anything at all.

In the South and in particular Alabama, what sorority you belong to not only shapes your college experience but also how you are perceived. Annabelle was raised as a pageant queen and her mother Lily expected her to look and act in such a way that rushing a sorority was never not an option. To her mother, that shaped her future as a wife and mother. Asansa joined as she was tired of the New York City life and to only be perceived as a Duke. She certainly had a very interesting side in terms of her sexuality of which she was unabashed and strong in who she was and how she would choose to live her life. As a reader, I had to applaud Brooklyn who was determined not to.live the life that she came from.as she remembered as a child looking at the hole in.the trailer. Being hungry. Yes, she had to make money and embraced actions that some would perceive as unethical, but she found her way and her followers. Taylor found who she was as to a person who didn't back down and live in the shadows as a politician's wife. The Spill.Book was a character in this book as it threatens to expose each member as to their darkest secrets. I enjoyed the then and now and was glad that they came back together. They were each other's most staunch supporter.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.
The writing was very poor. The plot was fine. I was excited for this as a former sorority president. My mother-in-law was a member of the machine even. The writing is like that of a hallmark or lifetime movie, which this story would do well on.

For anyone sucked in by Bama RushTok this is the book for you! It was an interesting plot using what we’ve all loved about RushTok so it hooks you in. I feel the ending wrapped up very quickly and without conflict and the jumping of timelines was confusing at times but a solid enjoyable book. If you don’t let the little things distract you this is a wonderful read especially for the former sorority queens.


Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the chance to read this ARC and give my thoughts

Unappealing and shallow college students with secrets who grow up to be unappealing and shallow women. Not my kind of book, sorry.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I feel like this could have been a really fun concept, but fell flat.

There were a lot of details that were either poorly done or unnecessary. The Machine story line could have been completely left out, the stealing of the spill book was anticlimactic, Greg's arrest (though much deserved) felt as if it came out of no where. This story was all over the place and a lot of it just felt like it didn't belong or wasn't realistic. I wish the author focused on one big secret or the dark sides of Greek life.

The summary sounded promising, but didn't live up to the potential. There are four main characters, and consist of short chapters alternating POVs. It took a while to fully be able to tell the characters apart and follow their stories.

This one was just not it. I had high expectations .- but it just seemed unrealistic with the timeline. Like it was just really unrealistic that these girls were so into social media, yet hadn’t spoken to their best friends in five years. It also just didn’t seem realistic at all, where it made it hard to get into it.

I was excited to read this book because I have a lot of experience in my sorority both in college and after. In general, I am always happy to read about the complexity of female friendships and I do believe in sorority being a great place for that. I was disappointed by how it seemed to be only negative stereotypes chosen to push the story forward. It felt expected and I didn't find myself pleasantly surprised by the way the book was going. The end did wrap up in a way I was happy with but before that it was hard to pick back up in the middle.

I wanted to enjoy this but I felt taken out of the story from the stereotypical description and out of the reality of this world story lines, etc.

I really liked the idea of this book, but was expecting a better execution. It was, however, a fast and entertaining read. I look forward to seeing what else this author will bring to the table.

Rush Week wasn’t for me. Greek Life at the University of Alabama is legendary and I looked forward to this glimpse into that world. Unfortunately, I never got on board with the different plot strands of the book and found the main characters immature and unlikable. The dual timeline made for a sluggish narrative and there were also timeline issues that made aspects of the story hard to follow. I understand that the author took some creative liberties with the time and place of different cultural references, but these additions to the story were just another thing that did not come together for me.

I expected more from a book vetted by this publishing house.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of RUSH WEEK by Michelle Brandon in exchange for my honest review.***

Michelle Brandon’s “Rush Week*”is an engaging read that delves into the exhilarating and often cutthroat world of sorority recruitment and the life after. The novel follows a group of women who must come back and partake in the festivities of RUSH WEEK for their old sorority ADL. The book has a back-and-forth story line that goes from THEN until NOW/

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its portrayal of female friendship. The bond between the main characters feels authentic, capturing both the excitement and pressure of joining a sorority while trying to remain true to themselves and each other. While the girls all have their own secrets, their secrets help built their character and make them grown stronger together.

However, while Rush Week delivers on drama and emotional depth, there are moments where the pacing lags. Certain sections feel overly drawn out, particularly those detailing the minutiae of recruitment events and inner sorority politics. These moments slow down the story and make it feel repetitive at times, taking away from the tension that drives the plot forward.

Despite this, Rush Week remains an entertaining and relatable read for anyone interested in college life, friendship, and the challenges of fitting in. Brandon crafts a world that feels immersive, even if it occasionally gets bogged down in unnecessary details. If you enjoy stories about female friendship, secret lives and Greek life, I recommend this book for you!

This was so disappointing! I was so excited to start this book - who doesn't love some Bama Rust Tok and the dark side of sororities, with a little blackmail thrown in? The first 30% of the book was great, I was invested, but the last 70% was such a drag. Aside from the initial blackmail letters, there was really no more mention of the blackmailer - it was more going back to the characters' college days and what they were currently doing during Rush Week. It would've been great if the blackmailer was an anonymous narrator or if the blackmail was stepped up as the book progressed. Additionally, it felt like the characters were a little young to be blackmailed - they are my age! They haven't lived enough life to have truly blackmail-worthy problems. I think the book would've been better if the "blackmail" were about a murder or something equally juicy.
The other problem I had was that the book flipped from current time to the characters' college days, but then also differentiated between each character, with a little blurb at the beginning of each chapter from yet another character. So you would have a blurb from Brooklyn, the chapter would be about Taylor back in college, then another chapter would have a blurb about Annabelle and be set in current time in Asana's POV. It was very distracting.
Overall I would recommend skipping this book.