I was really intrigued by this book but unfortunately whilst I read this in 2 days, I didn't enjoy it at all. It was a very uncomfortable read and it felt quite icky. The author clearly had permission form her former friends families but reading about the secrets and stories of the deceased made me feel very odd, especially due to the manner in how they passed.

Wow. I need to take a few deep breaths after finishing this book. I knew a little already about the Troubled Teen Industry in the States, but reading this book added a personal and emotive spin on what I knew and I found it absolutely heartbreaking.

I am astounded that this industry still exists, remains unregulated and is allowed to continue on. Those poor girls needed help but the help they needed most definitely was not this.

The author of this memoir not only spilled their own emotion onto the page, but the heartbreak and grief of other's too. I can only imagine the conflict of pain and catharsis that must have existed whilst writing this book. I 100% recommend this book and I thank the author for setting me off on a research rabbit hole.

A story of 3 troubled girls who had an unfortunate ending. Not a rare story in this day and age. I feel like the book did go on a little in terms of detail which didn't really develop the story as much as it could have. At first, I wasn't sure if this was a fiction book passing off as non-fiction, as it seemed a bit convoluted at times.

Over all it ended up being very interesting, it just could have done with a change of pace throughout.

The Elissa's was a novel I found difficult to get into, but was happy I did once it got rolling. The story is interesting and touched a personal note for me.

I absolutely whipped through this marvellous true crime study of the youth "rehabilitation" business in the US.

The prose is compelling and Samantha Leach creates a sense of who the women she's writing about really were.

A story of loss and addiction. A page turner to find out what happened. Would recommend, a enjoyable read.

A sad story about loss and addiction and how it can effect everyone in different ways. The person going through it and the people they leave behind.

A sad and bleak story of loss and addiction, and parents who think they're doing right but are actually sealing their children's fate.

I found the vast majority of this book a little dull, to be quite honest. I found the author's editorialising of things she didn't experience a little egregious, and in places, somewhat romantic which is a bit troubling. However, I think in the context of this book, works.

I wouldn't recommend this book if anyone was actually interested in the horrible world of the troubled teen industry, more for people interested in modern true stories/crime books.

I will start by saying that I didn't realise the true crime side of this story until I was started and it definitely impacted my approach to the story.

This is one of those books that leaves you wishing for more but in terms of delivery I don't know if it ever fully takes off from the heights that it does manage to reach and achieve in its narrative of these girls's story. This book left me wishing for a retelling in an ideal world that didn't have the loose ends and at sometimes cold tone of Samantha and the girls interviewed.

True crime is always going to have an air of mystery and intrigue surrounding it, but after finishing this book, I was just left in a more puzzled and unknown place about the book but also the overall lives of the girls at Ponca Pines academy.

It's hard to rate and review true crime I find, but overall I think this story has deeper depths to reach and achieve than what Leach has managed here, but the approach overall is hard to grasp and tune into.

This possibly the worst book I have ever read. When I requested this arc I went in there with the assumption that the story would focus on three victims of a specific institution: the troubled teen industry. However, this book was everything but what I was led to believe. The book is not about the three girls but about the author themselves, the number of “I” is outstanding. It’s about the author’s own grief. It also felt very weird that the author was airing their dead best friend’s deepest darkest secrets. It felt so inappropriate, I understand that the families were okay with this book but still if I was Elissa I would haunt someone if you get what what I mean. Everything in me is against this book and I cannot recommend it.

I didn't realise that this book was actually non fiction. I originally thought this was a fiction book 'pretending' to be non-fiction.
It's a fascinating story but not quite sure it was written in the best way.

I found Leach's writing to have lots of waffle - lots of unnecessary back story into the girls/too much description at times. This slowed down the pace for me and made me zone out at times.

Interesting book - would love a documentary of it - but didn't overly enjoy my reading experience based on the writing.

The book was written by a friend of one of the three teenaged troubled girls. Drag use, opioids, organ failures led to a dark ending. The story is heartbreaking but so real nowadays.

This story of three girls otherwise lost to history was a thought provoking, page turning read. Interesting and alluring.

The story of three girls, all with similar names, caught up in the troubled teen industry, a melancholy tale of children trying to find their place in the world and to deal with their own sense of self in a world that shines a harsh spotlight on young women and judges intensely.

A friend of one writes this with incredible insight and it is often heartbreaking but always real. Sad and emotionally resonant this one will stay with you