Gosh this was a roller coaster of a book. The action was relentless and there were some very nasty characters in the mix. I couldn't read it fast enough, I thought it was great, a dark book with plenty going on. I did manage to work some of it out, but there were still surprises up to the last page. No spoilers from me, but I would recommend this book .

Ambrosia is a successful woman, married to younger husband, Adrian, and trying to put her younger self behind her. However, when Adrian discovers that she has been invited to a reunion at her prestigious college, Wesleyan, he enthusiastically embraces the idea and makes it hard for her to come up with excuses why she can't possibly attend. He assures her that he would love to see her old friends and says not to worry about the mean girls. What he doesn't know is that Ambrosia was, in fact, one of the mean girls herself...

This is a novel about a young girl who is keen to embrace everything that college has to offer and be one of the popular girls. Along with the charismatic Sloane Sullivan, or Sully to her friends, she happily makes choices that she knows are not only wrong, but will cause hurt to others. What Ambrosia is most worried about, is that others will also remember the hurt she caused and that this reunion is not a good idea at all.

I thought this was an interesting look at how Ambrosia tries to fit into a new world and about the closeness and dynamics of female friendship. The novel switches between past and present as we learn the secrets in Ambrosia's past, as well as the why someone was so keen that she attend the reunion. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Eatyour heart outMean Girks 😊
A good thriller with past and present timelines and characters you will love to hate
Well told

I had seen reviews stating The Girls Are All So Nice Here was impossible to pit down and I totally agree. From the first chapter I was hooked. It had a great plot line and the chapters went between present day and Ambrosia and Sully’s time at college. Amb and Sully return to college after being invited to their ten year reunion. It’s should to be a happy occasion reminiscing with old friends but there’s a reason Amb doesn’t want to attend. After receiving a note that says ‘we need to talk about what we did that night’, it seems that some secrets won’t stay hidden. I would say this book is Mean Girls meets Cruel Intentions as we delve into finding out the lengths girls will go to.

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and the author for the chance to review.

This is a mystery. It features two timelines by one first person narrator, the first is set 2003 and the second 2017.

In 2003, Ambrosia Francesca Wellington begins her freshman year at Wesleyan University, a prestigious college filled with privileged students. She quickly befriends Sloane 'Sully' Sullivan who is charismatic and troubled. Eager to fit in and eager to please Sully, Ambrosia finds herself in popular with both her boys and girls. However, things are not what they seem and it's seems that trouble follows her too.

In 2017, Ambrosia is now married to Adrian Turner and working in PR Brighton Dame. She is invited to a class of 2007 reunion by Wesleyan Alumni Committee, which she attends reluctantly. Things start to unscramble when she meets Sully and her past catches up to her present.

I liked how the author gave the first person narrative because it makes you have a greater understanding of that character, Ambrosia, and you tend to sympathise with her. I liked the descriptions and dialogues.

This was a heady, captivating read that propelled me along with the force of a punch. I love reading about intense, complicated relationships between women, and this one did not disappoint. Sully is Regina George, Heather Chandler and Villanelle rolled into one - as intoxicating as she is irredeemable. This book is perfect for fans of the worst-friend genre, standing firmly alongside Bunny by Mona Awad, Dare Me by Megan Abbott and The Girls by Emma Cline.

When Amb returns to her college for the ten year reunion, it is under duress - someone is sending her notes, telling her that she has to go - and for good reason, there are things that would be much better left in the past.
I'm not sure why I found this book so compelling, but I did! Though I didn't particularly connect with the story on a personal level, I found I couldn't stop reading, I had to know what was going on. That said, it wasn't a classic thriller page-turner style either. I, think, therefore, that it was the writing that drew me in.
The writing is great and it turns, what could be seen as a quite far-fetched plot, into something hugely readable and engaging. I have read a few books set in elite high schools/colleges that flit between past and present recently and I think this does it really well, the voice is consistent, yet there is a difference in age. I wasn't sure if as a reader I was supposed to sympathise with certain characters or find them deplorable, and I liked that about the book. It kept me guessing, leading me along a path I couldn't turn away from and the prose made the journey really enjoyable.

The Secret History meets Heathers, with a dash of Mean Girls, I really enjoyed this speedy thriller, with past and present unfolding to reveal some shocking twists. I felt the characters were well drawn and depictions of teenage girl cruelty was spot on - which is rare.

Gripping from start to finish, and keeps you guessing throughout. The plot flows well and the characters are beautifully built.

Loved this book!!!! Told in the present and past about girls at college, different characters, some more dangerous then others that come to a dramatic climax at a reunion. Excellent read!

This book is one of the best books I have ever read. I loved it. I really enjoy academic suspense novels, set in Universities or colleges and this is one of the best I've ever read. Dark and suspenseful and full of dark secrets, I highly recommend this book.

I don’t have a check box list of what I love to find in a thriller, I always go in open minded and full of hope - with The Girls Are All So Nice Here, I knew from only a few chapters that this was exactly what my thrilling heart needed in my current read. A college campus is the perfect root where secrets, lies and obsession gestate - Amb is now married when a reminder of her past pops through her letterbox and she’s immediately on high alert about her past coming back to bite her. She has something to hide, and we are so here to find out what!

Amb isn’t particularly a likable character but with flashbacks to her past, tied around her upcoming college reunion, you’re set in stride with her, after all everyone has a past but with a detective circling her and people she’d rather avoid crossing her path we are set for a dramatic reunion sprinkled with revelations, sprinkled with insights of the mystery that engorges you immediately. There’s an array of characters sewn into the centre of this book, including Sully, a character that unnerved me from the beginning, manipulative and a get - under - your - skin individual. Then on the other side we have Amb’s partner Aiden who is just innocent and supportive. This shows Elizabeth’s ability to create diverse characters with levels of depth which add further to the storyline. With great characters, a brilliant setting and fantastic writing, you become invested in the deep searing drama of Amb and her complex history of bumpy friendships, shaky personality traits and betrayal - think a darker side of Mean Girls but excellently done.

The Girls Are So Nice Here is a well written psychological thriller that grasps you tighter with every chapter that you read. This is a debut that will have you hooked and desperately needing more.

TW: Suicide, self harm, drug use.

Whilst this was an entertaining easy read, I can't say that it provided anything of substance.

The general premise is that Ambrosia did something really bad when she was at college. She receives a mysterious note telling her she has to go to her college reunion, even though she really really doesn't want to. There, she meets up with her old partner in crime, Sully. These two were the party girls of Wesleyan (the college they went to), the mean girls that reigned their campus. They need to find out who sent that note, and who knows what they did that one fateful night that changed everything.

I personally think the characters were too annoying and frustrating to read about to be able to fully enjoy the story. I found the main characters very immature and a bit pathetic. Whilst I usually love any story that can illicit such a strong reaction out of me, I just feel like these characters fell a bit flat. They were these cool mean girls that people were meant to be envious of, but to me that was very unrealistic. I just can't imagine being envious of A) someone who talks the way that they did e.g. "Showtime". This was in relation to stealing boys' phones and messaging random girls in order to ruin their relationship or instigate some sort of drama. B) The way that they were so hyper-focused on boys was a bit sad. They just seemed so immature to me. I myself was incredibly immature at university but I feel like these two girls take it to a new level. To be fair, it could definitely be a different culture (I'm from London and went to university in Manchester)/ environmental aspect that makes it difficult for me to relate to any of the characters.

Another character I disliked was Adrian. I just don't understand why he was so pushy about going to the reunion! I understand that it was an essential plot device in order to keep Ambrosia there but his later sentiments that she was being a downer was completely unwarranted. I also just didn't understand his desperation to go. Like chill man, she doesn't want to go!

Also, it is INSANE that someone would become so obsessed with one boy, give up everything for them, totally mess up their relationship with a good friend of theirs, and then go on to say some truly deplorable things...like what is wrong with this girl?? This isn't a criticism, just a thought I had whilst reading!

Despite some of my criticisms, I would still recommend this book if you enjoy easy to read thrillers that you'll fly through. I did really like how the story kept me guessing and had a few twists and turns. I feel like this would make an excellent high budget thriller on Netflix.

There has already been quite a buzz about this book so I was glad to receive an ebook to review. None of the characters in The Girls Are All So Nice Here are nice at all, even the ones you think might turn out to be, but they were all cleverly portrayed and that kept my interest.

Ambrosia Wellington doesn't want to go to her weekend college reunion 10 years after she left but is persuaded by her husband that they should attend. He has no idea what she did back then and Amb (this shortening of her name irritated me almost as much as the actual name did) does everything she can to ensure he doesn't find out.

This is a dark story of college kids with a very 'Mean Girl' main character but while the overall pace was good the ending petered out and was disappointing.

The Girls are all so nice here - Elizabeth Flynn

I really enjoyed the writing style, as the author flicks back and forth between the girls boarding school days and the current weekend reunion (a whole weekend - no thank you!!) Due to the nature of the timelines it really made me keep guessing all the way through and I must have changed my mind about how it was going to end about four times. I can't say that I actually liked any of the characters - to be fair I thought they were all horrible, but that wasn't necessary to enjoy the book. I think it would be great as a Netflix show. A gripping fast paced read with a great conclusion!

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for allowing me the chance to read this in return for an honest review.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here is kinda like Mean Girls set in a boarding school.
We follow the narrative of Ambrosia, who is invited to the 10 year school reunion. Problem is she was one of those ‘mean girls’ and did something really bad while she was there. The story alternates between the two timelines which works pretty well.
Ambrosia, or Amb as she preferred to be called is not a likeable character in the slightest, as soon as you do start to feel a little sorry for her she is back doing her nasty, manipulative deeds. Even in the present timeline I’m not sure if she was ever actually sorry for what she did.
If you like dark, messy characters then I definitely recommend this. Although this isn’t necessarily my usual type of book to read I found myself unable to put it down, I just had to keep reading. I’ll definitely be reading more from this author!

OMG is all I have to say! What an amazing thriller!
The Girls Are All So Nice Here follows Amb who did something very bad while a freshman at college after she was taken under the wing of party girl Sully. We don't know what she did but ten years later she's invited to a college reunion by someone who wants revenge.

I definitely got Heather's and Mean Girls vibes from The Girls Are All So Nice Here. I was hooked and uncomfortable the entire time reading this which is what I want from psychological thrillers. The characters in this book were the WORST! Flynn got these characters so right, I hate to say I enjoyed the bitchiness but I was very entertained. I think I'd like a spin-off prequel with Sully because she was so EVIL.

I knew I was going to love this book from the beautifully written opening paragraph, and I am happy to report that it did NOT disappoint,

"The Girls Are All So Nice Here" is one of the darkest, most beautifully written debut novels I've read (the author has a couple of other titles but this is her first in the adult fiction genre).

The story follows Ambrosia Wellington, switching back and forth between the present, where she is married, living in Manhattan, and being persuaded to attend her college reunion, and her freshman year where she is embarking on a destructive, borderline-obsessive friendship with wild-child Sloane "Sully" Sullivan. In the past, we see Amb being gradually sucked further and further in to the vortex created by Sully, who is a force unto herself, and in the present we watch as her carefully constructed adult life begins to unravel during the reunion weekend at her alma mater, with someone leaving both Amb and Sully cryptic notes about what they did in the past.

I loved the darkness of this novel, and how the author managed Amb's descension into teenaged cruelty so deftly - there were no pantomime villains in this novel, just beautifully drawn characters, a gradual unravelled story, and the insistent, intoxicating pull of personalities stronger than your own who talk you into doing things you wouldn't ordinarily consider (and who hasn't experienced that at some point, if not quite as drastically as happens here?)

It's a credit to author that she manages to make Amb a realistic victim as well as a realistic villain, and I loved watching the story play out - though I felt genuinely winded at some of the plot reveals, and hurt on behalf of the affected character(s).

A gorgeously realised and beautifully executed novel - I will definitely be recommending this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher, who granted me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

This “college reunion revenge“ novel gets off to a great start - the protagonist, Ambrosia, seems intent that she and her husband don’t attend a college reunion, and you soon figure out she’s told him a very filtered version of events from her college days. And of course, someone else is intent that the full truth is revealed. As I discovered more about her past choices my feelings towards her became more and more mixed. She was ultimately one of the “mean girls” in college, and made a lot of really hurtful choices, but is now being toyed with by some invisible enemy who wants to ruin her life, or worse. I enjoyed the narrative style, switching between the college years and what’s happening at the reunion, and I was quite gripped while she was still trying to keep things from her husband, but it felt like the story lost energy after he finds out, and the journey to the conclusion of who’s been trying to force Ambrosia’s truth into the light wasn’t as thrilling as the rest of the book had been.

Ambrosia Wellington is eager to leave the past behind but her college reunion is looming and she can't think of an excuse quickly enough, that will disallow her extroverted husband and herself from attending. A letter claiming to know exactly what she did and exactly why she is so reluctant to go back and face it arrives, becoming the final catalyst for her inevitable return down memory lane.

Much of this book was placed in the past, allowing the reader to witness the young adult Ambrosia navigate independence and her insecurities. Party animal, Sully, initially seemed like the liberator that would save her from fading into obscurity and give her the permission to act as wildly as she dared. However, their actions became increasingly harmful to both themselves and the others around them. They relentlessly continued, no matter the consequences and no matter who was trampled in the process, though.

This focus on the toxicities of a young female friendship continued throughout the entire book and I was unable to stop reading about the darker deeds this duo were enacting. The present-day Ambrosia was the result of the ructions they caused, as she lived a half-life, to compensate for her former excessive nature, and one seeped in lies, to disallow anyone who entered her life to know the devastation she had previously caused. This entire book was a ticking time bomb, leading to both a college-day and present-day explosion!

I was unable to stop reading and, despite her despicable actions, Flynn constructed Ambrosia as an individual that the reader still wished the best for. I did also want to give her a stern shake on many an occasion, though! Her growth was what I most ardently wanted, however. She had much to apologise for but facing it was the only way in which to do this. She seemed less like a bad individual and, instead, one unable to escape both her own mind and the fake image she had presented to the world, to cover the insecurities that plagued it.