Elements of class and privilege emerge in this story about prep school life.

There are really two narratives unfolding in Academy Girls. In one, Jane Milton is a teenage student, running around with her two best friends, reading poems (with the intensity that poetry can have for teenagers), obsessing about their English teachers' lives, and investigating a murder that might have happened on campus years ago.  There are layers of secrets, from the students sneaking a beer or a smoke, to a cheating scandal, to a hit-and-run, and more.

In the other storyline, Jane Milton has returned to campus to teach English. Out of work and deeply in debt after her ex-husband's, uh, financial irregularities landed him in jail, Jane knows this job is her last chance. She's given all the subtle (and not-so-subtle) suggestions to work the kids hard and give them all As, because that's how the funnel into the Ivies works. The students, far from caring about poetry and school history, are disaffected and privileged, and without any resources of her own, Jane discovers a new side of the school.

The two stories unfold together, revealing the school's secrets in both timelines. Such a great read.

At Grove Academy they learned three lessons: literature is a kind of religion , only failures got married, and though we would eventually leave the academy, the spirit of the Grove would always stay with us. They were careless about the way we discussed our futures. Kat was the poet, Lissa the beauty, and Jane-me- who was suppose to be the serious one. They held fast to ideals- truth, good manners, beauty, and to far flung destinies. All of them assumed that the Grove would open her arms to welcome them again, if the need should ever arise. 35 years later- Jane’s son - charlie- who is now fifteen jane lives for Charlie. They had just come to the Grove. If she screwed this up they would have nothing. Jane felt this is what the Grove would have taught them- First: don’t believe what they tell you in books, Second: marry money Third: the third lesson may have been right after all. Jane was a divorcee, mother of one, a failed novelist, broke and given a one year position to teach English to seniors at the Grove. Lissa is married to the television producer Martin Edelstein and he intervened on Jane’s behalf for the job. This was no longer just a school for girls but coed. It was now hardley- Grove Academy. At one time Jane had sworn to never set foot in the Grove again and for a very good reason she was trying hard not to think about. They needed jane to be the housemother of Abbott North. Charlie will be with a dorm full of girls and expected to be a good respectful boy.
I just couldn’t get into this book. I tried two different times and this dragged for me. It also just didn’t hold my attention. I am sure others will really like it, just wasn’t for me.

The past and the present got entangled at The Grove, the prestigious school. Feelings, mysteries, desires and betrayals, and poetry.

Jane Milton is back on the grounds of her old school, this time as a teacher. And all is suddenly back - the teenage past, the wrongdoings small and great, the complicated friendships and the mysteries. What had really happened there in the past? And why the manuscript by her student is telling the story she herself might know TOO well?

This one has all the right elements - strong feelings, past mysteries, loves, loyalties, poetry, deaths, past, forgiveness and redemption even. But it is not working together for me, I am sorry to say. The feelings are right here, but the internal logic is missing and the story is greatly prolonged, too, which cuts the mystery and the thrill down. There is a lot of red herrings in the mystery - but no conclusions, really, even if we know (mostly) all the facts at the end - and I was not able to relate emotionally. As if all the emotions presented (and some of them are pretty deep, if colored in slightly disturbing light) were not able to create a bond, everybody is feeling on their own, but they almost never connect with the others. Even the main characters have very little bonds together. Really, the only real relationships are presented at the end of the book after gaining some maturity (for example Jane and Abigail).
Kat´s story is very tragic, namely because she was so alone. Kaitlyn´s story is redemptive, because, finally, she was not alone.

This is not a bad book per se. But it might be a lot better, if the emotions could manage to engage the reader. But the writer is definitely skilled, so here is to more connectivity in the future!

One of the more positive elements here is poetry, namely the poetry of Emily Dickinson. I might study her a little, because of all the passion of her.

This book is very readable. It is a story that captures the reader rather early on, and has you guessing the entire way through. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good suspense story. The setting of the stoy is also whimsical, taking place in a boarding school.

This is the story of a woman who returns to teach at the boarding school she attended as a teen. As she settles in to her new life there, the past rears up to haunt her. As a student, she and two other students were very close and had secrets they never wanted uncovered. As her past threatens her, she must unravel some mysteries of the past and present.

The characters in this one weren't very likable to me, but the storyline kept my interest..

This one wasn't my cup of tea. Probably just my mood. I won't be reviewing it beyond this note right here. Thank you for the opportunity though

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