I really enjoyed this book - the writing style, the message and the exploration of each individual character. I’d love to read a sequel to see where the girls end up.
I really loved how modern and real this book is. There were lesbian relationships and hints of same-sex attraction, modern-day technology and social media, and strong women who are determined to get where they want in life. Emily also expressed eating disorders, sexual abuse and harassment, the importance of sexual education in schools, consent and anxiety.
I really liked that the chapters were organised into sections like ‘orientation’ and clearly follow the big events for these girls. The text was also peppered with official school emails, newspaper reports and text messages which I love in books. These additions really help break up the text and make it more enjoyable and intriguing.
We follow the perspectives of different girls in alternating chapters, who are from different grades and who have different backgrounds and are in different social groups. Emily successfully gave each girl her own personality, which, considering the amount of characters, I really admire her for. This was a great way to learn about the girls objectively and helped create a connection.
The past pupil’s (Karen’s) sexual misconduct case is the linking factor between each girl and continues in the background of each chapter. Sometimes it is a very clear contemporary re-enactment of what Karen experienced, but sometimes it is a faint connection, like not being believed by adults. I really liked this subtle link throughout the whole book.
The biggest issue in this book was that, even though the school advertises that it empowers girls to become strong, confident women, they really don’t care about these girls and would do anything to make sure their own reputation is not ruined. It is actually quite a toxic environment underneath the façade the school tries to create. I think this really reflected society today where women are only listened to and policies are only enacted if it benefits and improves the image of something else.
The person pulling pranks to raise awareness of sexual harassment was not who I thought it would be, but I don’t think I was even reading this book to find out who was doing this. This book tells these girls stories and shows you the trials women have to go through, hammering home the point that women matter and should be respected.

Quite a thought provoking story with a lot of important messages that make you think. The many characters within the story could get a bit confusing for me at times and sometimes took me a while to realise who I was reading about, but nevertheless I still enjoyed the story and the concept behind it. From the friendships between the girls, their inner monologues and the coming of age story surrounded by a rape accusation made by a former student. It was interesting to hear the thoughts from each girl and follow them through the book as they not only navigated the aftermath of the accusation but their own lives within the school, their place within the world outside of the school and their own individuality

This was a really interesting book, which has unsurprisingly drawn comparisons to ‘Prep’ but which also reminded me of ‘Privilege’ by Mary Adkins. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite match up to either of them, but nonetheless Emily Layden is an author to watch.
My problem with ‘All Girls’ was the sheer number of characters, all of whom are followed for a chapter at a time. No sooner had I got attached to one, the story moved on to the next!
Layden writes very well, and it was an intriguing premise- if you enjoy campus set novels I’m sure you would enjoy this. It just didn’t quite hit the spot for me

A great, tense read, unexpected in its plot. If you pick up this book expecting a gentle story about a girls boarding school, you’d be wrong. It’s dramatic in nature. A modern coming of age story, that makes you think about the tensions facing teenagers growing up today. A prestigious all -girls school in Connecticut faces the toughest time as one of its staff is accused of sexual assault, and what follows is the ramifications of this. A gripping read, well plotted and structured. Perfectly paced, intriguing characters. I really enjoyed this book, thank you for sending.

The author of this book takes a complicated subject and tackles it with care and delicate attention, creating a number of useful perspectives around sexual assault, and how women respond to it and deal with it around them.

To say that this book is timely or relevant seems clichéd or an understatement; this is for right now, for the world we live in at this very moment. It is for every girl who has ever been uncomfortable and confused, or infatuated, or lost, and the people who are meant to help her are the ones doing the harm, protecting their own or refusing to believe her. This is for every adult who dismisses questions, ignores cries for help or turns a blind eye. This is for those in power who choose their privilege over the lives of the vulnerable. This is for schools, businesses, institutions, companies, governments, celebrities who choose to protect their reputations over the safety of children. This book is more important and more brilliantly written than I can even explain. Read it.

This novel is told from the perspective of nine different girls each with their own story. This leads to the narrative becoming a little confusing and disjointed. More a series of short stories. A young adult read. My thanks to Net Galley the publisher and the author for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Very much enjoyed this book.

The way it’s written helps it stand out with many different perspectives being expertly woven together to give the full story.

The premise is sensitive and is dealt with as such.

Excellent read.

I would like to extend my thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me this advanced reader’s copy in return for a fair, frank and honest review.

I found this book difficult to keep up with. I understand the premise behind the story; sexual assault and how it is dealt with today however this was really hard to differentiate due to all the different perspectives by the girls. I appreciate that it is an ARC however there are random number 1s and 0s all throughout it. While I appreciate what the author was trying to do I just did not like the book and struggled even to finish it.

I liked the sound of this book, set in an All Girls Boarding school, what fun this could be! The story focuses on a historical allegation of sexual assault and rape, made by a former student against a teacher. The school newspaper/magazine try to get involved and the school try to keep it under wraps as much as they can. We see a lot of similar stories from girls, which all tie into the theme of the book, and it’s what I knew and expected to happen. But the biggest downfall was that there were far too many characters and it took a lot away from the story. I got confused between girls, forgot who was who and what happened to each girl.

I have this 3 and half stars as it has an important theme, but I couldn’t eat past the many voices in the book.

Thank you to John Murray Press and as always the author, Emily Layden.

Definitely relevant right now. Through multiple narrators we get multiple viewpoints not only on the controversy but also on the arcane world of elite boarding schools.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for review.

An important book written for the #MeToo generation, this novel takes perception and asks us for the answers to sometimes painful truths, through the eyes of those still developing their views on the world. It's clever, witty, unique, and a true adventure through the beginnings of adulthood.

This debut novel is set within an elite all-girls’s boarding school and tells the story of a sexual abuse case that comes to light told through the perspective of nine students. This book has suspense and intrigue as the school tries to navigate through the scandal.

Despite the interesting plot I found it difficult to follow with each chapter introducing a new viewpoint. It felt just as you began to get to know a character a new character with a fresh perspective was introduced which left it feeling a bit disjointed in the flow of the story. Overall, I did enjoy the story and it did raise the important topics of the Me Too movement.

Thanks to NetGalley & John Murray Press for providing me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with this, to be honest. The concept was good - a prestigious girls’ boarding school, tradition, intrigue, love, jealousy, historic scandal...

I had trouble keeping the characters separate, as they nearly all seemed a bit interchangeable, and completely unrelateable. (Are sixteen year old girls these days all gorgeous, self-assured, sexually active well-dresses geniuses?). Sadly, I got to a point about 80% through the book where I realised I had no interest in it, and gave up.

All Girls is an unflinching look at the world told via nine very different views points. All see things differently and want and expect things from the world that sometimes aren't realistic. But it's interesting to see them navigate the challenges their choices and the world at large present them with.

I thoroughly enjoyed All Girls. I heard about this book via social media and it really appealed to my sense of nostalgia. Like many, I grew up devouring books about boarding school life and longed for midnight feasts and adventures like the children in these books, All Girls is set in Atwater, an all-girls boarding school in Connecticut. It tells the stories of different young women who are attending Atwater. Some are in their first year, others have been there before. At the beginning of the book there is an accusation that "a rapist works here" and this theme runs through the book but is by no means the whole focus. We get to home in on certain aspects of different girls lives and learn about their backgrounds, insecurities, hopes and ambitions. There is a strong focus on relationships, body image and self worth.

There are multiple character perspectives as the story unfolds. This was a strong point of the story for me. I really enjoy getting to see things from more than one character's point of view and it made the story flow really well. Some of the girls are incredibly privileged and it is a little hard to relate to their lifestyle, however, this sort of school is generally filled with wealthy students so it made sense for the demographic to be like this.

This is easily the sort of book I could imagine as a tv series and think it will appeal widely, but particularly to readers like me who have fond memories of books from their own youth. I am very glad I don't need to go through my secondary school years again!

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me, not sure if it is because of the layout of it as it's an ARC or the story but I just couldn't get into it. I got a bit lost if I'm honest. There were the numbers 1 and 0 throughout the 20% I read, which confused me and words were split. Not sure if there are any chapters either? I'm sorry but this wasn't for me. I hope it was just the layout of the proof rather than the book itself.

I've ben trying to expand my reading tastes out into contemporary novels over the last year. Picking up All Girls was part of that experiment - an experiment that has been quite successful up until this point.

All Girls is a contemporary novel, and possibly falls under the literary fiction category as well. I'm not sure. Neither am I sure if it's meant to be an adult book, a new adult book, or a young adult book. This is one of its flaws, though a minor one. Categorisation doesn't matter at all if a book is a good one. But the lack of identifiable features in this book only adds to its seeming confusion.

Layden tells the novel from lots of different perspectives. We begin the story through Lauren's eyes. She's a freshman arriving at Atwater for the first time, so we see the school through the perspective of someone who is new to the place. This is a good way of opening the story, for me, because it's a good way in to describing the school and learning about the odd traditions etc these schools tend to have.

The next chapter, however, moves onto another character, one which we have just seen through Lauren's eyes. The book continues like this for the duration of the story. We move from character to character each chapter, never repeating a perspective. So we never get to know how Lauren got on in her first year at this school.

I didn't like this aspect of the book. I found that just as I was starting to feel for a character, understand them and sympathise with them, Layden was moving us on to the next character and mini story. This made the story feel quite disjointed.

The main story that linked all the smaller stories together is the mystery around which teacher raped the student currently suing the school. Someone is pulling stunts throughout the school year in an attempt to keep attention on the case. This question links all the different perspectives, as students speculate on both the case and the stunts. I think the way Layden wove the main storyline through the different characters' stories was clever, but I don't think it was prominent enough to really engage the reader enough throughout the disjointed perspectives.

The biggest thing I appreciated about the book was the diverse range of female voices Layden puts on the page. There are subtle discussions around sexuality and race, which I think deserved a larger portion of the novel. But it was nice to see them there.

All Girls is well-written, and I think the central discussion around sexual assault is important. However, I think this book is unfortunately a case where the force of the message overshadowed the story.

Set in a boarding school, we are immediately thrown into the main plot line of an allegation which causes a huge stir within the school's community. With this is mind, I was so excited to get my teeth into another dark academia styled book!

Unfortunately I just didn't get this story. The reveal was anti-climatic, the lack of actual investigation into who was doing what was unrealistic and I just didn't develop attachments to any of the characters.

I became highly confused by the constant perspective swapping and the amount of names thrown into the mix. However, I do realise that the amount of girls involved in the story, is to reiterate the point that things like this, happen to "All Girls" and that it is almost swept under the carpet.

The suggestion from the Headteacher, that the school just needs to do better, seems to be used as a get-out-of-jail-free card. This also caused me to lose interest in how the story actually ended but I preserved and still the ending was anti-climatic.

Hopefully this is more of a hit for others but I just didn't enjoy the style and felt the story could have been told from just the one perspective.

This book is a hard one to review. It definitely kept me hooked (until the last chapter) and I felt like we really got to know the girls in the story however it seemed disjointed to me. There were so many characters that I was never sure who was who and which grade characters were in. It was confusing at times and while each chapter had a lot to it, after each finished the girls weren’t really revisited again properly. I would rather the author had focused on a handful of the girls across the school and had come back to them again rather than giving each of the many chapters to an entirely different person.
I enjoyed the running ‘mystery’ of who was carrying out the ‘pranks’ however the explanation and resolution towards the end didn’t make that much sense. Finally, the ending was the weakest part of this book. Up until the last two chapters I was really in to it and would’ve forgiven the wide range of narrators and the dropping of stories at the end of each chapter because they were all interesting, however it just seemed to peter out. Sadly although I think the concept was a good one and the original storyline was intriguing, because it was stretched across too many characters and it didn’t really go anywhere I think it missed the mark overall.