Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The New Girl is about Indo-Chinese runner Lia who has been drafted into a ritzy boarding school for her track skills. She's thrilled to have this opportunity, but it quickly goes sour when she has to put up with a gossip app that loves to pick on her, mean girls, a teacher who has it in for her, and of course plenty of racism and colorism.

The crux of the story here is that Lia discovers something ugly about her teacher and then everything in her life spirals out of control. She's trying to make sure she can stay at the school, while also dealing with guilt regarding her involvement with her teacher's shady dealings.

While the story moved along at a galloping pace and kept me wanting more answers, overall I found the story to be pretty simplistic. I guessed all of the big reveals ahead of time and didn't really find some of them very believable. It was also a bit too insta-love-y for me with Lia and her immediate boyfriend, Daniel.

The writing itself was really pretty-- I definitely want to read more from this author. But I think I would enjoy more literary works from her and not necessarily mystery/thrillers.

Eunice Wong's narration is a breath of fresh air. She adds so much personality to her character interpretations, but also just to the regular prose. She (at least seems to) speak Mandarin and Indonesian very well. This book has a lot of conversations that take place in other languages and Eunice's reading in those languages sounded natural and fluent to my untrained ear.

I would recommend this book to YA thriller readers or to other mystery/thriller readers who want a fun and quick read that may not be super surprising.


Trigger warnings:
-Severe bullying
-Accidental death
-Trauma to the eye
-Apparent death by overdose
-Mention of drugs
-Accidental overdose (drugs put into others' drinks without their knowledge)
-Racism
-Colorism
-Murder