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Tell Me Everything

Cambria Brockman (Goodreads Author)

3.63 · Rating details · 6,325 ratings · 503 reviews

A murder at an elite New England college tears apart a group of friends - and one of them is playing a dangerous game - in this electrifying debut in the tradition of In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Couple Next Door.

In her first weeks at Hawthorne College, Malin is swept up into a tight-knit circle that will stick together through all four years. There's Gemma, an insecure th ...more

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ebook, 368 pages

Published July 16th 2019 by Ebury Digital (first published June 16th 2019)

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· 6,325 ratings · 503 reviews

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Jun 05, 2019 Chelsea Humphrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: from-publisher, bookstagram-made-me-do-it

"There is something imminent surrounding us, and we have no idea it's there. Tomorrow morning, we will sit down for breakfast at the dining hall, as we always do, and realize one of us is gone."

What a pleasant surprise! I had almost given up on suspenseful debuts, but this one felt worthy of my time. Tell Me Everything doesn't masquerade as the next {insert popular psych thriller}, but instead simply presents itself as an engrossing character study following six friends at university together. S "There is something imminent surrounding us, and we have no idea it's there. Tomorrow morning, we will sit down for breakfast at the dining hall, as we always do, and realize one of us is gone."

What a pleasant surprise! I had almost given up on suspenseful debuts, but this one felt worthy of my time. Tell Me Everything doesn't masquerade as the next {insert popular psych thriller}, but instead simply presents itself as an engrossing character study following six friends at university together. Sure, there is a vein of suspense that grows as the novel progresses, and there were a couple of twists at the end that got me (YASSS), but the true shining moments of this story are the atmospheric details and the captivating interactions between these young adults. Also, may I add that these novels, the ones that do not advertise a massive twist you won't see coming, tend to be the ones that are able to sneak a few smaller twists past me, which is SO much more enjoyable than the large, predictable flops. Sips tea.

Let's start with the setting. Guys, I am a sucker for any novel set at university, especially if there are secrets, and drama, and murrrderrrrs. Muahahaha! The New England college town we are dropped into felt just as much a character in this book as the people we follow for four years, and the ever-changing weather and local culture really turned the story into a cinematic event in my brain. The author clearly is knowledgable of the area, and she took what she knew and turned it into a fictional experience, on that began warm and inviting, but quickly turned unnerving and dangerous.

Our story is told from one POV, but the book jumps around between Freshman Year, Senior Year, and Texas 1997. Even though this is a character driven novel, feeling literary at times, the pace was fairly quick with many stories being told at once. In the present, we are learning the backstory of how our cast of characters became friends at the beginning of their college experience, while also learning their personal history, although there is a greater buildup to our narrator, Malin's past. This was a delightful and fun way to tell the story, as it has a classic feel but always seems to work.

The ending, for me, was very satisfactory. I cannot go into great detail, but Brockman chooses to leave us with a few future details involving Malin and her gang, while also dropping a bomb that leaves us to wonder what and how those future things happen. While a few of the twists are fairly predictable, I don't think those are the ones meant to shock or surprise us; in fact, I believe those twists are the ones the reader is supposed to assume, and as we grow closer to the revelation, we feel the growing dread, quite like a train approaching at a dangerous speed with no way of stopping. Highly recommended for those looking to find suspenseful literary fiction with unlikable (but compulsively readable) characters and a light mystery.

*Review copy furnished via the publisher. ...more

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Jul 04, 2019 Erin rated it liked it

Shelves: i-won-it-in-a-giveaway, july-2019

I won this in a giveaway!

I have so many thoughts....

I liked this book. The writing is good, the plot moves fast, and the characters are interesting.

My problem with this book is that the book has nothing to do with the synopsis.

The blurb on the back of the book says Tell Me Everything is in the tradition of In A Dark Dark, Wood and The Couple Next Door. The synopsis says a murder at an elite New England college tears apart a group of friends. One of them will test the limits of what she's capa ...more

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Sep 20, 2019 Mackenzie - PhDiva Books rated it it was amazing

An elite New England college, a group of friends that formed fast and close, a shocking murder that tears them apart….

I knew going in that Tell Me Everything was my kind of book. I love books that take place on college campuses. They are little microcosm of society—everything always seemed heightened because it is more contained. This was no exception!

When Malin begins school at an elite New England college, she's determined to try and make friends. She quickly finds herself in a close group of An elite New England college, a group of friends that formed fast and close, a shocking murder that tears them apart….

I knew going in that Tell Me Everything was my kind of book. I love books that take place on college campuses. They are little microcosm of society—everything always seemed heightened because it is more contained. This was no exception!

When Malin begins school at an elite New England college, she's determined to try and make friends. She quickly finds herself in a close group of six who remain friends throughout school. But Malin has to work harder at maintaining friendships than the others. And Malin has secrets. By Senior Day four years later, one of them will be dead... Told through the eyes of the introverted, quiet, and fascinating Malin, this is a novel of suspense you won't want to miss.

What a book!

The story is told in alternating timelines between freshman year as Malin forms friendships with the group of six, Senior Day where the twisted path these friendships have taken unfold through quick stories leading up to the murder, and stories from Malin’s past that cover secrets she has worked to keep hidden.

This narrative structure was perfectly executed, as the bits of stories we learned about each character slowly became connected, leading to a shocking ending that truly took me by surprise. Sometimes telling a story out of sequence can be jarring, but that didn’t happen here. Instead, the characters became more rounded as the book progressed.

Malin is an interesting and unique narrator. Her beauty is in stark contrast to who she is—someone who is more comfortable in the shadows letting others shine. When Malin starts college, she pushes herself to try to make friends. In the past, she has always preferred being alone, a fact that made her parents worry about her. With a fresh start, Malin is determined to be normal and have people to rely on.

And despite Malin’s reserved nature and distance from others, she does develop friendships. Seeing the characters through Malin’s eyes was interesting, because Malin is a person who reads others and tries to understand what they want, what they are hiding, and why they are doing things. But Malin herself never seems fully reliable. Through her monologue, we come to understand that Malin has some secrets in her past that she hopes the others won’t learn. Malin doesn’t even share them with us right away.

And the ending! I have to be careful here because I don’t want to give any hints. I saw another reviewer describe the ending as “a twist so quiet you never saw it coming” and I think that is the perfect way to describe it. A brilliant debut novel! I will be looking for whatever Cambria Brockman does next! ...more

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Jul 05, 2019 Shannon rated it really liked it

Enjoyed this college mystery. Not too twisty but was still a fun read.

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Nov 18, 2019 Berit☀️✨ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019, arc-physical

** Mini Review **

A slow burn character study with a splash of suspense. Told entirely from the perspective of Malin. In multiple time periods, freshman year, senior day, and A brief look into her childhood. This really was a story about friendship and connections. Malin is an introvert, her freshman year in college she’s determined to make friends and is happy to find herself part of a group of six who remain tight throughout college. The group moves in together after freshman year. They are as ...more

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Jul 11, 2019 Bridgett rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc

Nobody knows who I am, except me.

What a pleasant surprise this book was...a surprise I truly wasn't expecting. These days, any time I finish reading a psychological drama, and feel it was a refreshing change from the over-saturated norm, I call that a win.

A highly atmospheric story, set in a blustery New England town, Tell Me Everything gives us a glimpse into the lives of six "mini-Ivy League" students. Told strictly from Malin's point of view, the timeline bounces from her 1997 Texas chil Nobody knows who I am, except me.

What a pleasant surprise this book was...a surprise I truly wasn't expecting. These days, any time I finish reading a psychological drama, and feel it was a refreshing change from the over-saturated norm, I call that a win.

A highly atmospheric story, set in a blustery New England town, Tell Me Everything gives us a glimpse into the lives of six "mini-Ivy League" students. Told strictly from Malin's point of view, the timeline bounces from her 1997 Texas childhood, to her freshman year at Hawthorne College, and finally, to the tragic events which occurred her senior year. This is a slow-burning, character driven novel, but the interactions between this group of people is effortlessly gripping. The tension builds after every flip of a page, eventually coming to a surprising, and satisfying, conclusion. Having said that, please don't misunderstand what I mean by "surprising." This isn't a twisty novel. It wasn't sold that way in the synopsis, and it doesn't read that way. I believe we were meant to intuit most of what happens...and I did. Regardless, thanks to some pretty stellar writing from Cambria Brockman, I still found my jaw dropping near the end.

Frankly, this could have potentially been a 5 star read for me, had it not been for one of my least favorite triggers...animal abuse. Animal torture or death never fails to dampen my enthusiasm. I understand why the author did what she did...in this case, it worked, and was probably even necessary to further the story line...but yuck. It makes me feel sick and I never enjoy reading or thinking about the suffering deaths of innocent animals.

My favorite thing about the book? Malin. There was nothing archetypal about her character. She was described as blonde and pretty...but shadowed by her friends' beauty; shy, quiet, and highly intelligent...I loved the way her mind worked.

Pretend.

Side note: I do find myself wondering what in the world the book cover has to do with the actual story.

**Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the complimentary copy, in exchange for reviewing purposes.

Publication date: July 16, 2019
Goodreads review posted: July 11, 2019 ...more

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May 25, 2019 Jamie Rosenblit rated it really liked it

A group of friends from college living together - each has their own agenda - whether it be dreams of wealth and grandeur, love (from someone else’s partner) or just covering what they can’t have - what could possibly go wrong?

Tell Me Everything opens with Senior Day, where we learn nothing will ever be the same, but then we flash back to Freshman year to learn what and why everything changes. Told in alternating timelines, with additional flashbacks to our narrator Malin’s childhood, we begin ...more

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Jul 16, 2019 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley, physical-arcs

3.5/5

I love a mysterious book that follows a group of tight knit friends, and for bonus points this was set in a New England college town, which is always a plus for me! While I did think this would be a bit more thrillerish than it was I was still really into the mystery at play here and overall enjoyed this one.

This is told solely from Malin’s viewpoint but it does have a few timelines. First is during her and her friends senior year, next is their freshman year when they all meet and lastly i ...more

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Jul 21, 2019 Anna Luce marked it as dnf

Shelves: disappointing-reads, 7-not-for-me, ebooks-overdrive, 2019-reviews

A college in New England + a group of friends + murder = me hoping that this is the next The Secret History

DNF 20%

Can you hear that sound?
...it's the sound of my expectations going down the drain.

This novel is yet another attempt to join the edgy-narrator bandwagon.
The blurb will lead you to believe that this novel is similar to The Secret History and If We Were Villains...when in truth this is little more than a laughable story about a protagonist with a 'dark past' (something which is getting ...more

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Aug 03, 2019 Jeanette rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Oh what a lot of words to say what was said. It's not BAD writing, but extreme overkill to the characters. Most every aspect of every individual from the group association that cores this story has 5 or 6 times the redundant stereotype "qualities" within intense description, over and over again. And the further into the book the more the "eyes" and values rose up on the pretentious scale. To the point where I felt like that old California girl saying "gag me with a spoon!"

When I was at page 71 I Oh what a lot of words to say what was said. It's not BAD writing, but extreme overkill to the characters. Most every aspect of every individual from the group association that cores this story has 5 or 6 times the redundant stereotype "qualities" within intense description, over and over again. And the further into the book the more the "eyes" and values rose up on the pretentious scale. To the point where I felt like that old California girl saying "gag me with a spoon!"

When I was at page 71 I thought I would get back to it after starting another. But seeing all the thick tomes I had in the TBR pile- I changed my mind and plugged on because it was now or never. Too troublesome to jump back into this redundancy pile twice.

At least 200 pages in the middle I sped read. And then read slowly and actually reread some portions from about page 320 onward. UGH! Nothing happens but groans and complaints (not even a crime) at this college until the last 80 pages. Pacing of the book is "off" entirely- just for this point of focus alone. Too late for most readers to care?

All of these "secrets" and Malin's secret too. Nope. They didn't seem secrets to me but almost obvious. Especially since her father whispered to her the one word dictate to her as he left on her first day of college. The entire was almost obvious if it had not been so contrived and convoluted by the switching technique, done rather poorly. Poorly because nothing about Levi or her own (Malin's) family was ever a surprise to me.

This is pure YA modern "thriller". Not erudite thriller or savvy plot. Not at all. The trailer itself is widely off, IMHO. It's about a college "group" which "sticks together" for 4 years. And none of them have moral values, structure of belief "rules" or knowledge of human either. None of those enough to fill a thimble.

What made it 2 star even and not 2.5 stars was the "we think" assumptions embedded within the entire book. Let's "hate the rich" and also identity politics "relate" and judge "all together now" raised its head on more than several occasions. UGH! At the beginning I had an inkling the characters would become depth revealed. But that did not happen. That beginning 80 pages was absolutely the best part of the book.

It could have been told better, with MUCH more tension and interest in 1/2 this word count. Very juvenile characters. 19 to 22 year-old humans going on 13. ...more

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Apr 07, 2019 Sarah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

Tell Me Everything left me feeling extremely cheated. This book is advertised as some kind of mystery thriller that involves a murder, but it makes it sound like the murder is going to be early on and the story will revolve around it. Instead, this is a book about Malin and her group of friends as they bounce through college, and all the dark secrets Malin claims she knows about everyone. Spoiler: there are hardly any real secrets to be divulged throughout. So mostly, this is a book about a grou Tell Me Everything left me feeling extremely cheated. This book is advertised as some kind of mystery thriller that involves a murder, but it makes it sound like the murder is going to be early on and the story will revolve around it. Instead, this is a book about Malin and her group of friends as they bounce through college, and all the dark secrets Malin claims she knows about everyone. Spoiler: there are hardly any real secrets to be divulged throughout. So mostly, this is a book about a group of friends in college and all the drama they harbor. There is a murder in this book, but it happens way too late in the story and offers almost no resolution for any of the characters. It seems completely out of left field because it is. The author uses the cheap tactic of creating a twist that isn't practical or logical whatsoever, but it makes the character edgy and dark, and apparently we're supposed to root for that.

And then there's Malin. I knew I wasn't going to like her after the first 30 pages when I was hit with this lovely little snippet:

In high school, I got away with being a loner. I knew I was pretty enough, definitely smarter than everyone else, and even though the boys gave up trying to date me in the middle of sophomore year, I could have been in the popular crowd. But I didn't want to try.

Of course you didn't, Malin. Being mainstream and popular didn't pique your interest because you were too busy being dark and mysterious. Instead, she comes off as incredibly vapid: she offers nothing to any of the people in her life because she never opens up, and other than being the narrator, for most of the book, she could have been missing and not even the reader would have remembered her. This character trope has been done to death already, and it really offered nothing new or unique. What I'm saying is this story has been done before, and it's been done better.

HEAVY SPOILERS: (view spoiler)

I will say the flashbacks into Malin's life when she was younger were well done and intriguing, and they were the one part of the story I really wanted more of. They finally tied some of the rest of the book together toward the end, which I appreciated. ...more

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Jul 22, 2019 Bedelia rated it it was ok

Shelves: 01-07-tbr-july19, 11-top

Meh. Not for me. No suspense at all. Fell very flat. Audible narrator was blech.

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Mar 21, 2019 Diana Iozzia rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. “Tell Me Everything”
Written by Cambria Brockman
Review written by Diana Iozzia / Bookworm Banter

“Tell Me Everything” was not the book that I expected it to be, which was disappointing. Now, according to the description, we have the main character, Malin, who quickly becomes a part of a strange friend group at a prestigious. Also, we read in the events and secrets that occur in this story will build up to a murder. Then, Malin will fight for the truth to stay hidden. So, I was wrong thinking this ...more

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Nov 20, 2019 Donna Hines rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed-library-books

"There is something imminent surrounding us, and we have no idea it's there. Tomorrow morning, we will sit down for breakfast at the dining hall, as we always do, and realize one of us is gone."
Well, what more can one say other than a murder has been committed at an elite college in New England and this tight knit group is about to experience a wild game that nobody expected not even the reader!
I love twists but in this case they occurred w/o any foresight which is even better because of that cr ...more

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Jul 19, 2019 Melissa (LifeFullyBooked) rated it it was ok

2.5 stars
Kept me interested throughout to find out exactly what the "big secret" was...and when I found out I was underwhelmed. I had pretty much figured it all out anyway, and I felt like the author spent way too long getting to the point.
The jumpy timeline worked sometimes, and other times it just served to muddle the story. I thought a few less jumps and less foreshadowing, and more revelation would have helped the pace move more quickly.
Also, this is an anal quibble, but no one has ever acc ...more

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Jul 19, 2019 Laura Peden rated it liked it

Shelves: audible, audiobooks

Unfortunately this wasn’t the book for me. Nothing even really happens and I felt it was pretentious. The cover art & blurb are misleading as well. On to the next..

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Jul 04, 2019 Amy Storey rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Imagine if Amy Dunne from “Gone Girl” was narrating a vapid psychological thriller about her and her equally shallow friends from a wannabe Ivy League college. Now you have “Tell Me Everything.” I wanted to like this book (I got it from the publisher as part of a giveaway) and I was motivated to finish it, but I was just rolling my eyes by the end.

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Aug 04, 2019 ELEANOR rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019

I picked this book up because a blogger (lol) hyped it up and I'd read that Netflix bought the rights and is turning it into a movie. Lately I've tried to stay away from these twisty thrillery type books because almost all of them get compared to Gone Girl and almost none of them are ever worth it.

Anyway. Tell Me Everything is kind of confusing and misleading. The blurb mentions a murder (!) that tears apart (!!) a group of friends (!!!) in college (!!!!) but that doesn't really happen? The murd ...more

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Jul 31, 2019 Amanda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Tell Me Everything is told from the perspective of Malin, a student at Hawthorne University in Maine. Alternating between Senior Day and Freshman Year, the story follows how Malin became friends with 5 other students and how they interact during their time at Hawthorne. It is clear from the beginning that something happens on Senior Day and also that Malin had something tragic happen when she is younger, but the book draws out what happened until the end.

Usually I love books that follow boarding ...more

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Jan 22, 2020 Liz rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019-release, college-setting

The “teaser” of Tell me Everything sounded right up my alley! A group of unlikely friends at a elite New England college are about to graduate. Some come from a world of privilege others humble beginnings...but all come with their own skeletons in the closet. Throughout the book, Cambria Brockman dives deep into the ageless question...how well do we really know our friends. I enjoyed the premise of this book very much...although it was a much slower burn then I find myself really gravitating too ...more

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Sep 29, 2019 Bill rated it liked it

3.0 STARS

PRETEND
Late January 2011, Senior Day at the tiny liberal arts college in the old mill town of Edleton, ME. The Jump, the cold, the adrenaline, the Ledges, the hook ups, the drinking, the watching, the waiting, the planning … but all Malin can think of is her father’s whispered word of advice fluttering around her head. PRETEND.

PATIENCE
Late September 2019, I finished reading Tell Me Everything. The first eight-five percent of this story is an extraordinarily slow, at times mind anestheti 3.0 STARS

PRETEND
Late January 2011, Senior Day at the tiny liberal arts college in the old mill town of Edleton, ME. The Jump, the cold, the adrenaline, the Ledges, the hook ups, the drinking, the watching, the waiting, the planning … but all Malin can think of is her father’s whispered word of advice fluttering around her head. PRETEND.

PATIENCE
Late September 2019, I finished reading Tell Me Everything. The first eight-five percent of this story is an extraordinarily slow, at times mind anesthetizing, table setting for the last fifty pages of revelations and twists. Do the slow reveals and eye opening twists adequately compensate for the 300 page slog? PATIENCE.

Malin Ahlberg was a loner from Texas, the lone surviving child of a modestly comfortable family from Houston. She can play nice and fit in, prefers obscurity but knows how to make things work in a group. She is quiet and reserved but she can see things. People confide in her, she’s trusted. She is self-serving, selfish. She can pretend! The infinitesimal scars on her palms are some of the very few markers of her closely held secrets. Well, unless one does a little digging. The Deerfield Hunter is a curious story, a chapter in the Ahlberg family history George Ahlberg first shared with his daughter when she was fifteen. A long line of family psychosis handed down from generation to generation to generation. His advice? Pretend!

Shortly after her arrive at Hawthorne College, the “mini ivy league” college where the real Ivy League rejects pursued their educations, Malin was surprised at how quickly she was able to assimilate into a close knit group of friends that remained together until the beginning of the end on that cold January night at The Jump. The group dynamics of the six college friends far too closely resembled the interactions within her family in Texas. John Wright was eerily similar to her brother Levi. Ruby reminded Malin of her mother. She could no longer stay distant and peripheral. She had to act and nip this thing in the bud.

After all, she was a protector, not a murderer!

Where were the editors on this one? So much potential, so much left underdeveloped and unexplored. The story could have been deeply dark and disturbing. Instead, I experienced disappointment. I was underwhelmed. The last 50 pages rescued this college adventure in the woods of Maine from the sleepiness of a medical coma unit. The first three hundred pages nearly lost me to the mindlessness of unbearable boredom. In my mind I kept shouting, “Get on with it!” The last fifty pages drew me in like the swirl of a whirlpool. Did the vortex of the whirlpool offset my time in the coma unit? I don’t think so.

Tell Me Everything was just OK for me but make no mistake about it, Cambria Brockman has tons of potential. I’ll keep an eye out for her sophomore effort! ...more

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Mar 02, 2019 Beth rated it it was amazing

A tightly-written, assured debut thriller with a strong cast of characters and one of the most disturbing (in a good way) and complicated protagonists since The Girl on the Train.

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Jun 23, 2019 Brooke rated it really liked it

ARC provided by the author for an honest review

4.5/5 stars

This was a really good book. One of the best thrillers I've read in the new adult genre. I loved the mystery of the main character because it kept me wanting to read more to figure out her backstory and why she was the way she was. There was a lot of foreshadowing at the end of each chapter which added intrigue because it made you want to figure out what Malin was referring to. Malin as a character and narrator was very interesting. I lov ...more

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Dec 20, 2019 Karen Foster rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars.
Atmospheric with a great sense of impending doom, this one was a real page turner, with a really interesting main character POV. I loved the non-linear timeline, and I’m always here for a story involving a group of close knit friends at an elite New England college. It’s no The Secret History, (but then what is?) but it’s a satisfying debut with twists and turns to keep you guessing.
However, I just don’t get this cover art choice! It doesn’t represent this book at all!

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Jul 29, 2019 Cyndi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: vacation, edelweiss, netgalley

What an amazing debut! It is hard to believe that this is Cambria Brockman’s first book. The many pluses of this psychological suspense are the winter Maine college setting, the flawless execution of well-rounded, believable characters and the unique plot line that constantly kept me surprised. This was one of those books that I could not put down and I enjoyed every minute of it. Suspense fans should put this at the top of their list!

Many thanks to Edelweiss, Ballantine Books and Cambria Brock ...more

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Jul 17, 2019 Bonnie Brody rated it really liked it

Welcome to a page-turner that will have you putting your 'to-do list' on hold until you reach the end. And that probably won't take long if you read it at jet propulsion speed as I did.

Tell Me Everything takes place at Hawthorne College in rural Maine where most of the students are children of financiers and come from money. The novel takes place in two primary time frames - freshman year and senior year. During freshman orientation, six students meet and form an indelible bond for the rest of t Welcome to a page-turner that will have you putting your 'to-do list' on hold until you reach the end. And that probably won't take long if you read it at jet propulsion speed as I did.

Tell Me Everything takes place at Hawthorne College in rural Maine where most of the students are children of financiers and come from money. The novel takes place in two primary time frames - freshman year and senior year. During freshman orientation, six students meet and form an indelible bond for the rest of their college years. The novel is narrated by Malin, mysterious and elusive. The parting word she receives from her father after her parents drop her off at Hawthorne is 'pretend'. She spends most of her time on the outside of the group, observing the others and gathering information. Many a time, I asked myself what this information was for and I just knew it would not be for the good of her so-called friends. Malin has some secrets in her past which she is desperately trying to hide from the others, and they center around her dead brother.

Ruby is at Hawthorne on a soccer scholarship and she is the star player. On the soccer field she is a strong and powerful beauty. When it comes to her love life, and trying to hide her background from the others, she is a frightened and fragile girl. Malin dubs Ruby her best friend and the two are almost inseparable. When they are not together, Malin can probably be found sneaking a peek at Ruby's journal or pushing off the drunken come-ons of John, Ruby's boyfriend.

John is a dream boat when it comes to looks. However, his emotional repertoire seems stuck on anger and lust. As he finds himself flunking an English class at the end of freshman year, he seeks revenge on the instructor despite the fact that his own drinking, partying and skipping class have made his grades suffer. He would be a great representative of the #notmetoo movement.

Max is John's cousin and he seems to be traveling in John's shadow. Max is secretly in love with Ruby but, after a while, it becomes obvious that he is mooning for her. Max is a talented photographer whose work is being shown on campus and at Portland galleries during his freshman year. Despite his love of art, he is majoring in pre-med because this is what his father expects.

Kaled is a real prince from Abu Dhabi. He loves to drink and spend money. All of the six, except Malin, love their booze but Kaled is one of heaviest drinkers of the lot. His mother buys the six friends a newly renovated house near campus with enough bedrooms for all of them to have their own. He's kind of a mystery dude who is dragging on a relationship with a student he's not that into.

Poor Gemma. She is the fifth wheel. She talks about her boyfriend back home in England but no one ever meets him. She drinks.....and drinks.....and drinks from morning to night. The only time she's not drinking is when she's having sex or eating and, while that is frequently, nothing can compete with the time she spends drinking.

Malin is the only one who is abstinent from alcohol though she pretends she's drinking by filling her water jug with actual water instead of booze but acting like she's drinking alcohol along with the others. She slugs from her fake booze supply while watching and observing the others through whatever means possible. She has a bounty of secrets all leading somewhere, and I can't say any more about it in order to avoid spoilers.

Ms. Brockman, an alum of Bates College, may have been painting Hawthorne as Bates's alter-ego from her time there, with a little Colby and Bowdoin thrown in for good measure. It is a freshman novel and authors tend to use the experiences they have at hand when they write. I was taken, too, with how much Malin's physical description looks like Ms. Brockman's photo on the back cover.

This novel is far from perfect but I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a bestseller. Ms. Brockman writes like a proven author and there are only certain things that annoyed me with the book. There is so much drinking going on that I'm surprised any of the group could get up in the morning. Maybe I'm behind the times but don't colleges have counseling centers and support groups for alcoholics? Does anyone do an intervention these days? I was most annoyed by the way the author tried to prove how close the group or its members were by repeatedly mentioning their secret smiles and looks that only they could read, and sometimes the look or wink could be read by only one of them. I also felt that it was taking too long to get to where the novel was going. I was never bored, however, so that says a lot. I will be looking for more of Ms. Brockman's books in the future. ...more

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Jun 22, 2019 Nancy Baker rated it liked it

Shelves: first-goodreads

In this story you follow the lives/relationships surrounding 3 girls and 3 guys who meet in their freshman year in college. Nearly all come from affluent families, or at least lead the others to believe. There is Khaled, from Dubai who's parents buy him a house near campus to share with his friends. Also in the group is John and Max, who happen to be cousins but a blood line is about all they have in common. Gemma is going for a theater major but surprisingly is fairly insecure. Then there is Ru ...more

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May 10, 2020 Peaches rated it it was amazing

Shelves: entertainment

***Spoilers included***
Honestly, I thought this book was fantastic and really impressive, especially from a first-time author of fiction. Granted, I’m biased-I like thrillers and character studies (this book is a bit of each) and I also went to a small liberal arts college for undergrad, which added to the appeal; however, I do read a great deal and found that this book peaked my interest far more than many have recently.

Trigger warning: An animal is killed and though it’s not a major part of t ***Spoilers included***
Honestly, I thought this book was fantastic and really impressive, especially from a first-time author of fiction. Granted, I’m biased-I like thrillers and character studies (this book is a bit of each) and I also went to a small liberal arts college for undergrad, which added to the appeal; however, I do read a great deal and found that this book peaked my interest far more than many have recently.

Trigger warning: An animal is killed and though it’s not a major part of the book, it’s really sad. I’d rather a human die.

Plot: Malin arrives at Hawthorne College as a freshman with some history of trauma that is not fully revealed until the end. Her father tells her to pretend, which also isn’t explained until the end, and the plot moved back and forth from freshman to senior year, where someone is dead and, again, that isn’t revealed until the end. I guess if you don’t like delayed gratification, this isn’t the book for you.

I was first interested in how accurate the depictions of going to a small liberal arts college were, which Brockman also attended herself. I knew nothing of Hawthorne College because the actual college closed in 1988. I wonder why Brockman decided to write as if it still existed in 2011 instead of just making up a college for the setting. Anyway, the first photo looked so much like my own liberal arts college (which wasn’t shocking-many of them look similarly) that I was able to readily imagine where Malin was.
There were also eerily similar situations to what I dealt with. At my college, there was a guy (also middle eastern with a name that began with a K) who was rumored to be a prince, although people a year ahead of me claimed they called the embassy and found it was a lie. Also, our “prince” took six years to graduate from undergrad and preyed on freshmen girls. Additionally, Brockman portrays the cliquishness of the small college life well. You really do know everyone there (my college had around 1,000 students total) and fall into groups based on who lives near you freshman year. I had a similar situation multiple times to Malin and Amanda at graduation when Amanda voices that they could have been friends. There was a girl who was inappropriate with my boyfriend who I dated all 4 years and of course I did not mix with her friends, but once during a leadership retreat, once senior year, and once years later on social media, three separate girls who were her friends and I clicked and there was always this “we could have been close” feeling. It’s just how it is. I wasn’t really a part of any life-risking traditions, which I guess was left to Greek life that was shockingly absent from this book, especially to have taken place in 2011 (Come on, Gemma was such a joiner. Really?), but people who lived off campus were more isolated from other students unless they had parties.

I also appreciated the realistic views of students and what they’re capable of. Firstly, their laziness: “Most of my classmates didn’t seem to realize that if you actually studied and read, you could get good grades” (111). But also how manipulative they are and how their word is often taken without question, like Levi accusing the teacher of hitting him and her losing her job or John writing the fake review on Ratemyprofessor because he’s mad he didn’t get a decent grade when he put forth little effort in the class. It’s all sadly so true. One truth that I hope is more widely accepted, however, is how useless and ineffective outside-of-class group work is. Someone (Malin) always has to be the one to force lazy people to do something.

Plot-wise, I was motivated to read. I didn’t really expect Malin to be a sociopath, but looking back, it makes sense. She was always studying everyone and trying to blend in so she wasn’t caught. The family history with the serial killer, secretive father, and psycho older brother were interesting too. For most of the book, I was going to give it 4 stars because I was angry it skipped from freshman to senior year. I have a friend who went to a large college and whenever she and her college friends get together (some of whom she wasn’t on the best terms with by senior year), they only talk about the same things that happened freshman year. Once, I pointed it out and she said, “That’s when everything went down,” or that’s when you all liked each other sincerely. Either way, as someone who went to a small school, I can say that a lot happens in those middle two years too that change people. But by the end of the book, I understood why Brockman did this, even though I wasn’t happy about it. Malin was able to coast during those two years (also, maybe Brockman didn’t want to write a 500 page book) and senior year is when she had to try again.

Malin being sociopathic isn’t completely believable because she certainly obsesses over Ruby in a weird surrogate mother kind of way. I’d argue that she really just suffered trauma and PTSD, making her overly fixate on justice to right the wrongs of her life (like wanting to become a judge. Isn’t that too collectivist for a sociopath?). The whole “By the time I am forty, I will have killed five people” (351) wasn’t as believable because we don’t get insight into Malin wanting to hurt people enough before that. Plus, she even likes Hale, who is creepy as hell, hanging out at undergrad parties, asking a freshman how he’s doing teaching, not taking no for an answer when she tells him what she wants to major in. I’m so happy she didn’t end up with him (and maybe she killed him. Who knows!). One aspect of Malin’s distant personality that works well though is that since she has to study behaviors, she has a lot of insight into how to function: “I knew better than to be the only girl in a group of guys. I knew the stigma attached to that kind of girl” (26). “This was the chance to prove I was best friend material. ‘You know she’s jealous of you, right?’” (47). But even she gets it wrong sometimes. She’s so obsessed with saving Ruby that she won’t accept Ruby made a choice: “You still don’t get it, do you? I want that life. I want to be wealthy, like you” (300). Sidenote-Wasn’t Max rich too? Just trade. I also liked how Malin shamelessly read Ruby’s diary. I don’t think a sociopath would justify it though, like “I have to know how to help her.” A sociopath would just be like “I felt like doing this.”

The book did have some inconsistencies aside from Malin’s personality too. The language was very modern. No one said “Same” as a reply in 2011. Also, hardly anyone had phones they could check their email on. I liked the inclusion of literature that wasn’t so well-known (at least to me) or in your face, like “Friendship” by Aleksander Pushkin. But I do think leaps were taken with the interpretation since it was so short. When I read it, I didn’t get any of what hale brought the class to conclude. Maybe I’m dumb, but I do have two degrees in English. Also, the whole downward slope of Ruby would trigger Malin before senior year when she sees her in a wilted tutu. Lastly, I didn’t get Max saying Malin was his best friend since they barely saw each other.

I wish John had known what Malin did to him, or at least it had been clear.

Overall, I really liked it and I’m willing to give it 5 stars (which I rarely do) despite my issues, but I will say, lobster at college?! That isn’t a thing. The food was so bad at my college that I got down to under 110 lbs my freshman year (I’m 5’8”) and my mom thought I had an eating disorder when I really just hated the food.
...more

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Jul 11, 2019 Kailey (kmc_reads) rated it liked it

3.5 stars. Thanks to the publisher for my gifted copy.

I had heard good things about this one from a few different friends, so I knew I had to check it out. It’s also already been picked up by Netflix, so I wanted to read it before it airs on tv. While I usually LOVE a drama surrounding kids on a college campus, this one just felt a tad too long for me. The beginning was good, I thought the middle dragged just a little/felt redundant at times, but the ending was like W.T.F. CRAZY. The ending defi ...more

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Mar 11, 2019 Stephanie Laffin rated it it was amazing

So compelling I couldn’t put it down. If you liked Girl On A Train, In the Dark, Dark Wood or Bonfire, you will enjoy this.

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About Cambria Brockman

Cambria Brockman

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Cambria Brockman grew up in Houston, London, and Scotland, and attended Holderness School in New Hampshire. She graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, with a degree in English literature. She owns an award-winning wedding and portrait photography company, Cambria Grace, along with its popular Instagram account. Brockman lives in Boston with her husband, son, and dog. Tell Me Everything i ...more