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The It Girl (It Girl, #1)
6.0
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Popular Gossip Girl character Jenny Humphrey is leaving Constance Billard to attend Waverly Academy,...
Beautiful Disaster (Privilege #2)
7.0
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She's Back.... After wasting away in a mental institution for a year and a half, Ariana Osgood is...
The Similars (The Similars #1)
Book
When six clones join Emmaline’s prestigious boarding school, she must confront the heartbreak of...
The Woman Underwater
Book
No one disappears without a trace…. Don’t try to tell Victoria Sands that time heals all...
Mystery Suspense Thriller
ClareR (6001 KP) rated Our Evenings in Books
Nov 2, 2025
This is a beautifully written, thoroughly captivating read. I seem to have collected a number of Hollinghurst novels on my shelves and not read them - because I just knew I would love them. I did love Our Evenings, and now I need to get to it and read the others!
This is a coming of age story, and follows the life of Dave Win, a half Burmese actor. It starts when he wins a scholarship to a top boarding school. His widowed mother, a dressmaker, would never be able to afford to send him. The world is opened up to Dave - or is it?
This is a story of class, privilege, racism and Dave growing up to understand his homosexuality in a time where it was illegal. The contrast of his old school mate/ bully’s life of affluence and privilege as an MP, and his as a struggling actor (because of the lack of parts for mixed race actors) is stark.
It really is an excellent read and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, put it down.
This is a coming of age story, and follows the life of Dave Win, a half Burmese actor. It starts when he wins a scholarship to a top boarding school. His widowed mother, a dressmaker, would never be able to afford to send him. The world is opened up to Dave - or is it?
This is a story of class, privilege, racism and Dave growing up to understand his homosexuality in a time where it was illegal. The contrast of his old school mate/ bully’s life of affluence and privilege as an MP, and his as a struggling actor (because of the lack of parts for mixed race actors) is stark.
It really is an excellent read and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, put it down.
Fashion School Girl
Games and Entertainment
App
~~> Stella’s school is a fashion nightmare! Help her give a school-wide fashion makeover! ~~> From...
IY
If You Could See the Sun
8.0
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Alice Sun has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school, where...
A gothic boarding school tale that falls flat
Rose Christie is nervous but excited when she's hired on as the new Head of Classics at Caldonbrae Hall, a boarding school for girls in Scotland. A renowned establishment for 150 years, Caldonbrae is a far step above Rose's current teaching gig and will offer a chance to help her mother, who is struggling with MS. Rose is the first external hire in over a decade, making her an immediate outsider, along with her youthful age. She quickly feels over her head at Caldonbrae, where the teachers and students alike seem to lord over her. But soon Rose realizes that everyone seems to be on to a secret, except her. Why did the last Classics teacher, Jane, leave so suddenly? As Rose learns more about Caldonbrae, she quickly realizes it is nothing like she expected.
"One way or another someone was going to get eaten alive here, Rose realized. She'd be damned if it was her."
I'm a sucker for boarding school stories, but this one did not live up to the promised hype for me. It grew on me a small bit by the end, but when I say this is a slow burning tale, I mean SLOW. I was incredibly tempted to "DNF" this book, but stuck with it, skimming or fast reading portions of it. The big twist, so to speak, doesn't come until halfway through (55% in fact). At that point, we have sat through lots of classics lessons and pontificating about Caldonbrae and gotten to know a lot of girls at the school.
Although, "getting to know" is probably generous, as there's a lack of character development throughout most of MADAM. There are a variety of girls at Caldonbrae thrust upon us, but I found it nearly impossible to keep many of them straight. (It doesn't help that the UK version of schooling is hard to follow, with thirds, fourths, and more tossed about, but rarely ages. Woe to us idiotic Americans!)
We know little about Rose, are offered a scarce backstory, and pieces about her father that are supposed to form her personality seem tossed in haphazardly. Instead she drove me crazy with her dithering and inability to make decisions. Most of the time I just wanted to shake her. She was in an impossible situation, perhaps, but she seemed unable to grasp anything for much of the book, or realize the seriousness of her circumstances.
I think MADAM was going for ominous and creepy--everything building up to its explosive ending (which is hinted at in the beginning pages), but it falls short. Instead, it seems more annoying and perplexing. When the twist is revealed, it's an interesting one, yes, but I couldn't help but question it, wonder how such a thing could be sustainable. MADAM just couldn't keep up the eerie tone it was trying for.
There's definite storytelling potential here, and I did find myself somewhat attached to a few of the girls by the end, when things pick up slightly. MADAM tries to align the classics (think tales of Medea and Antigone and such) with its boarding school girls, but often the tacked on tales of these mythical and classical women feel like unnecessary, added on pieces. It reaches too high, trying for a feminist angle, but falls short, with a fast ending that cannot possibly live up to all those classical, high-reaching aims.
"...she wondered how an establishment that promised to educate 'girls of the world' could somehow make its women feel so small."
Overall, there's a lot going on in MADAM, but it just didn't gel for me. I couldn't root for Rose for most of the novel, and the classic pieces inserted into the plot didn't work. There were sparks I enjoyed, but overall, this wasn't a favorite. 2.5 stars.
"One way or another someone was going to get eaten alive here, Rose realized. She'd be damned if it was her."
I'm a sucker for boarding school stories, but this one did not live up to the promised hype for me. It grew on me a small bit by the end, but when I say this is a slow burning tale, I mean SLOW. I was incredibly tempted to "DNF" this book, but stuck with it, skimming or fast reading portions of it. The big twist, so to speak, doesn't come until halfway through (55% in fact). At that point, we have sat through lots of classics lessons and pontificating about Caldonbrae and gotten to know a lot of girls at the school.
Although, "getting to know" is probably generous, as there's a lack of character development throughout most of MADAM. There are a variety of girls at Caldonbrae thrust upon us, but I found it nearly impossible to keep many of them straight. (It doesn't help that the UK version of schooling is hard to follow, with thirds, fourths, and more tossed about, but rarely ages. Woe to us idiotic Americans!)
We know little about Rose, are offered a scarce backstory, and pieces about her father that are supposed to form her personality seem tossed in haphazardly. Instead she drove me crazy with her dithering and inability to make decisions. Most of the time I just wanted to shake her. She was in an impossible situation, perhaps, but she seemed unable to grasp anything for much of the book, or realize the seriousness of her circumstances.
I think MADAM was going for ominous and creepy--everything building up to its explosive ending (which is hinted at in the beginning pages), but it falls short. Instead, it seems more annoying and perplexing. When the twist is revealed, it's an interesting one, yes, but I couldn't help but question it, wonder how such a thing could be sustainable. MADAM just couldn't keep up the eerie tone it was trying for.
There's definite storytelling potential here, and I did find myself somewhat attached to a few of the girls by the end, when things pick up slightly. MADAM tries to align the classics (think tales of Medea and Antigone and such) with its boarding school girls, but often the tacked on tales of these mythical and classical women feel like unnecessary, added on pieces. It reaches too high, trying for a feminist angle, but falls short, with a fast ending that cannot possibly live up to all those classical, high-reaching aims.
"...she wondered how an establishment that promised to educate 'girls of the world' could somehow make its women feel so small."
Overall, there's a lot going on in MADAM, but it just didn't gel for me. I couldn't root for Rose for most of the novel, and the classic pieces inserted into the plot didn't work. There were sparks I enjoyed, but overall, this wasn't a favorite. 2.5 stars.
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Girls with Sharp Sticks (Girls with Sharp Sticks #1) in Books
Oct 19, 2022
When I read the synopsis of Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young, I was hooked. I love stories about mysterious boarding schools, so I had to read this book! Plus, I had read The Program by Suzanne Young and loved that book. I was not disappointed by this novel.
Philomena aka Mena is one of the beautiful girls. In fact, all the girls at her all girls boarding school are beautiful. They are taught how to behave. They're only allowed salads for food, and their classes focus more on etiquette and how to act in male company. They are all fully obedient until one day something awakens in Mena. She realizes that not all is as it seems at her boarding school. Something sinister is going on, and Mena will do anything to find out to protect her friends.
The plot of Girls with Sharp Sticks has been done before. In fact, much of the plot reminded me so much of the 2018 film Level 16 with a few differences. However, I still really enjoyed the plot. While one of the major plot twists became obvious to me about halfway through the book, there were still a few plot twists that I never would have predicted. Throughout my reading of this book, I felt like I was standing right there in the pages watching everything unfold. Yes, there were some over the top things that happened in the story, but this didn't put me off. I loved that this novel didn't have much romance in it. There is a very light romance though.
I very much enjoyed the creepy boarding school setting with it's very strict teachers (the majority of them male). As this is a series, there is a minor cliff hanger, but I feel like this book can be read without having to read the other books in the series unless you want to know what happens afterwards. You could just read Girls with Sharp Sticks and leave it with the happyish ending though if you really wanted to.
I enjoyed reading about all the characters even the vile ones. Mena certainly was an interesting character with her thought process and how fearless she was. Her curiosity did get her in trouble from time to time, but she persevered to get to the bottom of what was happening at her school in order to protect her friends. Guardian Bose was easy to hate because of how horrible he treated the girls. I just wanted him to go away because he was so mean! I had a love hate relationship with Anton. On one hand, I felt that he cared about the girls in his own way, but I knew he was not to be trusted at all. Jackson had an interesting back story, but after learning his back story, I was left wanting to know more about him. My favorite character throughout the book was Valentine. There was just something about her. In my mind, I had pictured her a a beautiful frail girl, but looks can be deceiving! I was hoping we'd get to read more about her throughout the book than what we did. Valentine was the best part of the book in my opinion.
Trigger warnings for Girls with Sharp Sticks include profanity, blackmail, brainwashing, violence, mentions of sexual assault, and murder.
All in all, Girls with Sharp Sticks is an engrossing read with its interesting character and a plot that will have you cheering on the young women as they try to figure out what's going on at their school. I would definitely recommend Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young to those ages 16+ who are sick of being told what to do by the patriarchy.
Philomena aka Mena is one of the beautiful girls. In fact, all the girls at her all girls boarding school are beautiful. They are taught how to behave. They're only allowed salads for food, and their classes focus more on etiquette and how to act in male company. They are all fully obedient until one day something awakens in Mena. She realizes that not all is as it seems at her boarding school. Something sinister is going on, and Mena will do anything to find out to protect her friends.
The plot of Girls with Sharp Sticks has been done before. In fact, much of the plot reminded me so much of the 2018 film Level 16 with a few differences. However, I still really enjoyed the plot. While one of the major plot twists became obvious to me about halfway through the book, there were still a few plot twists that I never would have predicted. Throughout my reading of this book, I felt like I was standing right there in the pages watching everything unfold. Yes, there were some over the top things that happened in the story, but this didn't put me off. I loved that this novel didn't have much romance in it. There is a very light romance though.
I very much enjoyed the creepy boarding school setting with it's very strict teachers (the majority of them male). As this is a series, there is a minor cliff hanger, but I feel like this book can be read without having to read the other books in the series unless you want to know what happens afterwards. You could just read Girls with Sharp Sticks and leave it with the happyish ending though if you really wanted to.
I enjoyed reading about all the characters even the vile ones. Mena certainly was an interesting character with her thought process and how fearless she was. Her curiosity did get her in trouble from time to time, but she persevered to get to the bottom of what was happening at her school in order to protect her friends. Guardian Bose was easy to hate because of how horrible he treated the girls. I just wanted him to go away because he was so mean! I had a love hate relationship with Anton. On one hand, I felt that he cared about the girls in his own way, but I knew he was not to be trusted at all. Jackson had an interesting back story, but after learning his back story, I was left wanting to know more about him. My favorite character throughout the book was Valentine. There was just something about her. In my mind, I had pictured her a a beautiful frail girl, but looks can be deceiving! I was hoping we'd get to read more about her throughout the book than what we did. Valentine was the best part of the book in my opinion.
Trigger warnings for Girls with Sharp Sticks include profanity, blackmail, brainwashing, violence, mentions of sexual assault, and murder.
All in all, Girls with Sharp Sticks is an engrossing read with its interesting character and a plot that will have you cheering on the young women as they try to figure out what's going on at their school. I would definitely recommend Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young to those ages 16+ who are sick of being told what to do by the patriarchy.