I'm always so interested in Mean Girl Reform stories and I liked the different complications here. I was also interested to read a book from the POV of a character who actually likes her single-sex Catholic school since almost always YA characters do not like that. This is the kind of YA novel that can be a hard sell because it doesn't really have a good hook, it's just kind of a meandering realistic coming of age story with a dose of weepiness. But I liked it, and so will a certain kind of reader looking for this kind of thing.

I liked this a lot. I think its plot is a little bit hook-ier than [b:Neighborhood Girls|29613802|Neighborhood Girls|Jessie Ann Foley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500030373l/29613802._SY75_.jpg|49956090]--youngest of 8 kids copes with grief while also being massively neglected by his big, grieving family and overlooked as an underachiever at school, and finally manages to express himself via photography. But like Neighborhood Girls and before it [b:The Carnival at Bray|22571247|The Carnival at Bray|Jessie Ann Foley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408469642l/22571247._SY75_.jpg|42037695], I think Foley just excels at explorations of grief, particularly non-romantic grief (versus the common tragic romance books). The voice here is really strong and compelling.

I also think the sudden, unexpected death of a college student via meningitis is a storyline that's probably going to resonate even more in these pandemic times.

For me, this was fine. It definitely brought to mind the kind of...pragmatic whimsy of a Roald Dahl (but without the antisemitism and fatshaming). It ended up also feeling a little didactic about environmentalism but like, you know, he's not wrong, and also that kind of story appeals to a lottt of elementary school-age readers who I think will really dig this.

But if you're coming to this looking for the kind of gritty complexity of [b:The Magicians|6101718|The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)|Lev Grossman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1313772941l/6101718._SY75_.jpg|6278977], I mean, it's definitely not here because this is not that kind of book. This is a book for young children. And that's fine. I personally probably wouldn't have picked this up if it were by an author who I wasn't already a fan of, but the story will sell itself to kids who aren't familiar with Grossman's work for adults.

For me, this was a fairly quick and interesting read. I've read/watched other stuff about NXIVM but Natalie's story gets in kind of at the ground floor (and gets out before the branding) so it's a different perspective. This is definitely the kind of memoir where the writing itself isn't anything special but the story is compelling. If you're interested in cults in general and NXIVM in particular, I think it's worth a read.

lmao this book is so bad in so many ways and like TRULY makes me wonder what his endgame was here if not just to burn every bridge had had in the fashion world??? MUCH TO DISCUSS.

https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-161-the-wig-the-bitch-and-the-meltdown/

I loved [b:The Carnival at Bray|22571247|The Carnival at Bray|Jessie Ann Foley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408469642l/22571247._SY75_.jpg|42037695] and when I saw Jessie Ann Foley had a new book out I was like "Yay" and then I realized that actually she's had 3 books come out?? Time flies and also maybe they weren't all very well-publicized? AnyWAY I read all 3 of her latest books this week and I liked them all but I liked this one the best. I think her books are a little hard to sell because they're mostly like, realistic coming of age stories with a strong voice and a dose of grief to them. This one--about a ~bad girl~ getting sent to a reform school--maybe has the best hook to it, and I really loved this exploration of Mia's life. I think it's something that a lot of teens can relate to and maybe also consider their own experiences and/or their perceptions of some of their peers differently.

The text here is pretty straightforward and feels both like a lengthy newspaper article and also like some straight-up Girl Scout propaganda. But I love the Girl Scouts and it is a compelling, and even as promised inspiring, story. I also think that for some readers it would give a pretty eye-opening view on the ins and outs of NYC's shelter system, and perhaps could help some feel more empathy for the unhoused.

I knew this book would be great but it took me a little while to get around to reading it--I wanted to make sure I was in the right mindset to focus on it. Anyway: it's great. Great for teens, great for adults. Written very conversationally but with such a clear through line through history.

This was a lot of fun! It has kind of a coffee table book vibe--very easy to flip through, lots of fun pull-quotes and images. I didn't know much about Maxine Waters besides her recent meme-ing, so I appreciated getting a brief overview of her long career in public service. It's definitely not an in-depth, serious biography of her (in fact my library has this filed under Self Help instead of Biography??) so readers looking for that will be disappointed. But readers looking for some stylish infotainment will be pleased.

A beautiful gut punch.