Anne’s Comments (group member since Sep 30, 2025)

Anne’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Hi everyone,

I’d love to throw a title into the ring for consideration as a future Book of the Month pick: The Mark (Built to Vanish: Book 1) by Anne Keene. https://bit.ly/4mB4RFf <—GoodReads page

Have you guys had a Campus Read’s challenge yet (top campus books, setting in a school, etc.)? Maybe that could be a future topic.

It’s a literary coming-of-age novel that might appeal to readers who enjoy books like The Secret History (Donna Tartt), A Separate Peace (John Knowles), or Friday Night Lights (Buzz Bissinger). Here’s what sets it apart:

📘 Not your usual campus novel:
• A sports story without a scoreboard triumph
• A military novel without war
• A heist about the conspiracy of friendship itself

📘 Blurb:
Within the walls of the U.S. Naval Academy, four midshipmen fall into an unlikely, intimate bond—friendship defined by loyalty and forged in secrecy. Each has learned to survive by staying unseen. Yet showing up for one another pulls them above the radar, where visibility itself is a risk. In a place that prizes silence and conformity, being there for each other is both devotion and sacrifice—as every act of loyalty exacts its price.

It’s a story about ambition, identity, and the costs of friendship when the institution around you demands something else.

If anyone’s curious, ARCs are available now via BookSirens: https://bit.ly/3KmwGnb. And of course, I’d be thrilled to discuss the book here if it’s chosen as a group read.

Thanks so much for considering it — and I’d love to hear: what makes a book stand out to you as a great group read?

— Anne