The St. Ambrose School for Girls
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3.9 • 47 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Mean Girls meets We Were Liars in this compelling, cat-and-mouse thriller” (Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author) set in a boarding school where secrets are devastating—and deadly.
When Sarah Taylor arrives at the exclusive St. Ambrose School, she’s carrying more baggage than just her suitcase. She knows she’s not like the other girls—if her shabby, all-black, non-designer clothes don’t give that away, the bottle of lithium hidden in her desk drawer sure does.
St. Ambrose’s queen bee, Greta Stanhope, picks Sarah as a target from day one, and she is relentless in making sure Sarah knows what the pecking order is. Thankfully, Sarah makes an ally out of her roommate Ellen “Strots” Strotsberry, a cigarette-smoking, devil-may-care athlete who takes no bullcrap. Also down the hall is Nick Hollis, the devastatingly handsome RA, and the object of more than one St. Ambrose student’s fantasies. Between Strots and Nick, Sarah hopes she can make it through the semester, dealing with not only her schoolwork and a recent bipolar diagnosis, but Greta’s increasingly malicious pranks.
Sarah is determined not to give Greta the satisfaction of breaking her. But when scandal unfolds, and someone ends up dead, her world threatens to unravel in ways she could never have imagined in this delicious, “riveting, twisty read” (Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author) that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A bipolar teen contends with murder in this moody mystery written by none other than paranormal romance star J.R. Ward. The novel follows Sarah Taylor to her new boarding school, where mean girl Greta seems to have it out for her and she wrestles with her paralyzing crush on her RA. But things get really challenging when someone on campus is found dead, causing Sarah’s carefully managed mental illness to start sliding out of her control. Fans of Ward’s romances will recognize her talent for brooding, compelling atmosphere, but this page-turning read will appeal to anybody who likes a relatable main character and a gripping whodunit. The St. Ambrose School for Girls serves up a dark psychological thriller with a side of teen drama.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ward (the Black Dagger Brotherhood series) delivers a diffuse slice of dark academia set in the rarefied halls of the titular school. The year is 1991, and 15-year-old narrator Sarah Taylor has been admitted to the prestigious Greensboro, Mass., institution on scholarship. On the first day of school, Sarah, in her black clothes and steel-toed boots, feels out of place among the other girls, "who look like they've stepped out of the rainbow page of a United Colors of Benetton ad." Her foreboding is justified: she's soon being bullied by a clique of mean girls captained by the slim, blonde Greta Stanhope. What's more, Sarah has recently been diagnosed as bipolar and is on daily doses of lithium to keep her tethered to reality; as a result, there's a smudgy line between real events and those she imagines. When someone turns up dead, that blurriness becomes a major problem for Sarah and everyone around her. The novel begins well, with strong characters and effectively blunt prose, but Ward takes so long to get to the meat of the action that it begins to feel indulgent. Before they reach the solid conclusion, many readers will have drifted away.
Customer Reviews
Reading an author I’ve never read before.
I’ve never read a story before with a bipolar main character. So, Sarah Taylor is the first for me. I didn’t know what to expect from the author . I am familiar with her previous work but I have never read her books before. The cover and the blurb drew my interest which is why I preordered it. I connected with Sarah’s narrative and understood her disorder completely. The writing was easy to read . Each character was well fleshed out even Greta. I think that if Jessica Ward writes another story, I will read it as well.