The St. Ambrose School for Girls

By: Jessica Ward

Narrated by: Gail Shalan

Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

“Mean Girls meets We Were Liars in this compelling, cat-and-mouse thriller” (Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author) set in a boarding school where secrets are devastating—and deadly.

When Sarah Taylor arrives at the exclusive St. Ambrose School, she’s carrying more baggage than just her suitcase. She knows she’s not like the other girls—if her shabby, all-black, non-designer clothes don’t give that away, the bottle of lithium hidden in her desk drawer sure does.

St. Ambrose’s queen bee, Greta Stanhope, picks Sarah as a target from day one, and she is relentless in making sure Sarah knows what the pecking order is. Thankfully, Sarah makes an ally out of her roommate Ellen “Strots” Strotsberry, a cigarette-smoking, devil-may-care athlete who takes no bullcrap. Also down the hall is Nick Hollis, the devastatingly handsome RA, and the object of more than one St. Ambrose student’s fantasies. Between Strots and Nick, Sarah hopes she can make it through the semester, dealing with not only her schoolwork and a recent bipolar diagnosis, but Greta’s increasingly malicious pranks.

Sarah is determined not to give Greta the satisfaction of breaking her. But when scandal unfolds, and someone ends up dead, her world threatens to unravel in ways she could never have imagined in this delicious, “riveting, twisty read” (Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author) that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

©2022 Jessica Ward (P)2022 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"Ward tells the story of a vulnerable teen struggling to fit in at a tony boarding school with deep compassion and a lyrical ferocity. A riveting, twisty read." —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace

“Completely original, quietly chilling. Mean Girls meets We Were Liars in this compelling, cat-and-mouse thriller featuring enemies made, secrets kept, and tables turned.” —Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author of One Step Too Far

Trigger Warning

Suicide, eating disorders, statutory r*pe, bipolar, bullying, murder, and a dash of homophobia. Reader be ware. Good grief this was a slow read. But read well.

How does a book so vividly put me back in highschool

And make my teen angst come back as real as it was more than 35 years ago?!
It started slower than most Wards books, but loving her other series made me stick with it. Then I could not stop listening.

Love it

Absolutely love it ! She definitely nailed it with this I was glued to the pages until finished

Unable to put this book down!

While I have followed this author's works for many years, this is definitely a different genre than I've become accustomed to from her. I have no regrets in giving it a chance. I love that the featured heroine lives with a mental illness that most authors seem too scared to tackle. I also really like that the author handled such sensitive subjects with respect and dignity. Overall, it was a fantastic book, and I couldn't stop listening.

Well-written and beautifully narrated

This story would have been excellent based on plot and character development alone. But the prose took it to another level. I particularly enjoyed the sometimes snarky and sometimes overwhelmed stream of consciousness musings of the main character. The narration was superb and really did justice to the descriptive and somewhat frantic voice of the MC. I have added Gail Shalan to my list of favorite Voice Actors to help when deciding between audio or Kindle books.

I thought thos would be so much better.

I love "scary-boarding-school" stories, but the wicked just weren't wicked enough. I expected it to be "Mean Girls" vs. "evil-doer," but thus far I'm waiting for the "gothic" to kick in...but no. Quite disappointing.

Wow!

The book starts out slow, building the story layer by layer. Before you know it, bam! Things start happening left and right. A great story by an amazing author!
The narration was spot on perfect.

Huh. So that happened.

A very unfortunate result for a smart, talented, successful, experienced author.

Just plain awful.

Oh my.

The absolute reminder every five seconds in a crescendo of the narrators voice is enough. We get it. She dresses in black and thinks differently. Everything so breathlessly talked about. It’s not until the last welcome hour that the story is even interesting.

Trying to keep going

Having trouble getting past the fast, stream of consciousness narration. My mind keeps wandering. Not holding my attention at all. Also, I attended boarding school and it is nothing like the depiction.