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Nice Girls
Mary used to be such a nice girl. She was the resident whiz kid of Liberty Lake, Minnesota—the quiet, chubby teen with the scholarship to an Ivy League school. But three years later, “Ivy League Mary” is back—a thinner, cynical, restless failure who was kicked out of Cornell at the beginning of her senior year and won’t tell anyone why. Taking a job at the local grocery store, Mary tries to make sense of her life’s sharp downward spiral.
Then beautiful, magnetic Olivia Willand goes missing. A rising social media star, Olivia is admired by everyone in Liberty Lake—except Mary. Once Olivia’s best friend, Mary knows better than anyone that behind the Instagram persona hides a willful, manipulative girl with sharp edges. As the town obsesses over perfect, lovely Olivia, Mary wonders if her disappearance might be tied to another missing person: nineteen-year-old DeMaria Jackson, whose case has been widely dismissed as a runaway.
Who is the real Olivia Willand, and where did she go What happened to DeMaria As Mary pries at the cracks in the careful facades surrounding the two missing girls, old wounds will bleed fresh and force her to confront a horrible truth.
Maybe there are no nice girls, after all.
Then beautiful, magnetic Olivia Willand goes missing. A rising social media star, Olivia is admired by everyone in Liberty Lake—except Mary. Once Olivia’s best friend, Mary knows better than anyone that behind the Instagram persona hides a willful, manipulative girl with sharp edges. As the town obsesses over perfect, lovely Olivia, Mary wonders if her disappearance might be tied to another missing person: nineteen-year-old DeMaria Jackson, whose case has been widely dismissed as a runaway.
Who is the real Olivia Willand, and where did she go What happened to DeMaria As Mary pries at the cracks in the careful facades surrounding the two missing girls, old wounds will bleed fresh and force her to confront a horrible truth.
Maybe there are no nice girls, after all.
352 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2021
245 people are currently reading
31060 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Dang
2 books333 followersCatherine Dang is the author of the novels Nice Girls and What Hunger. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, she currently resides in Brooklyn.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 968 reviews
June 9, 2021
“Didn’t we almost have it all?”
Just like Whitney Houston belted in the 80’s, Mary also almost had it all.
Growing up and sprouting from a lonely girl with one friend to a budding Ivy League University student with a scholarship, Mary’s promising future dissipates in the blink of an eye after an unfortunate incident with her and a Freshman student.
Now, “Ivy League Mary” has been expelled from Cornell and is back home living with her dad, and working in the local grocery store. Dejected and depressed, she is ashamed of what she’s done and can’t stand the thought of others knowing why she returned to Liberty Lake, Minnesota.
Mary and her dad barely talk, but he actually speaks to her one day to let her know that her former childhood friend, Olivia, has disappeared. Olivia is a social media starling, rapidly gaining followers, and has an affluent family. Of course, it’s all over the news. Mary can’t help but be intrigued with what could’ve happened to Olivia, a friend she used to love and ended up hating.
Then, Mary discovers there was a previous missing person in town only a few months prior...19-year old DeMaria Jackson. The disappearance was under-reported and mainly swept under the rug.
Could the two situations be connected? Mary is determined to find out.
Nice Girls is an intriguing and engrossing mystery. It slowly builds suspense and introduces us to characters who may or not be malicious, made me question the reliability of the narrator, and generally held my interest. It delves into themes of anxiety, depression, mental health, and racial inequality.
Also, this is not a standard “mean girls” type of story.
I really enjoyed this, but do have to say the last third seems a bit implausible as Mary gets herself deeper into the weeds while digging for information. The denouement, albeit entertaining, might take some suspension of disbelief, but it is overall satisfying.
This is the debut novel of Catherine Dang (a former legal assistant), and I predict great things to come if this book is any indication.
3.5 stars rounded up.
Sincere thank you to William Morrow for sending me a physical ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication date: 9/7/21.
Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com
Just like Whitney Houston belted in the 80’s, Mary also almost had it all.
Growing up and sprouting from a lonely girl with one friend to a budding Ivy League University student with a scholarship, Mary’s promising future dissipates in the blink of an eye after an unfortunate incident with her and a Freshman student.
Now, “Ivy League Mary” has been expelled from Cornell and is back home living with her dad, and working in the local grocery store. Dejected and depressed, she is ashamed of what she’s done and can’t stand the thought of others knowing why she returned to Liberty Lake, Minnesota.
Mary and her dad barely talk, but he actually speaks to her one day to let her know that her former childhood friend, Olivia, has disappeared. Olivia is a social media starling, rapidly gaining followers, and has an affluent family. Of course, it’s all over the news. Mary can’t help but be intrigued with what could’ve happened to Olivia, a friend she used to love and ended up hating.
Then, Mary discovers there was a previous missing person in town only a few months prior...19-year old DeMaria Jackson. The disappearance was under-reported and mainly swept under the rug.
Could the two situations be connected? Mary is determined to find out.
Nice Girls is an intriguing and engrossing mystery. It slowly builds suspense and introduces us to characters who may or not be malicious, made me question the reliability of the narrator, and generally held my interest. It delves into themes of anxiety, depression, mental health, and racial inequality.
Also, this is not a standard “mean girls” type of story.
I really enjoyed this, but do have to say the last third seems a bit implausible as Mary gets herself deeper into the weeds while digging for information. The denouement, albeit entertaining, might take some suspension of disbelief, but it is overall satisfying.
This is the debut novel of Catherine Dang (a former legal assistant), and I predict great things to come if this book is any indication.
3.5 stars rounded up.
Sincere thank you to William Morrow for sending me a physical ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication date: 9/7/21.
Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com
October 10, 2021
3.5 ⭐️
So I started reading this book and about 65% of the way through I thought ‘why did my GR friends not like this book that much?’ Then I got to about 75% and said ‘ohhhh! I get it now….’ 😂
I loved most of it so it was disappointing that the ending was a bit OTT.
Mary couldn’t make up her mind who she thought the killer was and it changed so frequently and randomly that I could only take anything she said at any time with a grain of salt because it was going to change again in the next chapter. It was exhausting to keep up with all the changes.
I left with more questions than answers. I can’t name these because it will spoil the ending. The killer was not only predictable (given hints in earlier chapters), but was the type of character that I couldn’t have cared less that it was that person and the motive was so ridiculous and out of this world that it left me scratching my head.
I didn’t mind the first 65% of the story. In fact, I really liked it! But you have to be okay with OTT endings and a few unanswered questions by the end.
So I started reading this book and about 65% of the way through I thought ‘why did my GR friends not like this book that much?’ Then I got to about 75% and said ‘ohhhh! I get it now….’ 😂
I loved most of it so it was disappointing that the ending was a bit OTT.
Mary couldn’t make up her mind who she thought the killer was and it changed so frequently and randomly that I could only take anything she said at any time with a grain of salt because it was going to change again in the next chapter. It was exhausting to keep up with all the changes.
I left with more questions than answers. I can’t name these because it will spoil the ending. The killer was not only predictable (given hints in earlier chapters), but was the type of character that I couldn’t have cared less that it was that person and the motive was so ridiculous and out of this world that it left me scratching my head.
I didn’t mind the first 65% of the story. In fact, I really liked it! But you have to be okay with OTT endings and a few unanswered questions by the end.
Currently reading
January 24, 2022Finally my copy has been delivered! Before I start, I quickly looked at the goodreads page: as a ritual I checked the star status of the book without reading reviews. ( I don't read any of my friends' reviews before I finish a book) I'm flabbergasted after seeing those mixed reviews: I always trust judgements and tastes of Michelle and Melissa but I also trust Kim and Denise's reviews. Overall: there are highly praised and not so fan of this book reviews posted at the same time which make me wonder what side I will choose after finishing this one. Challenge accepted! I'm in!
October 11, 2021
Catherine Dang managed to sink her teeth into me with the start of Nice Girls. I was hooked from the first page. Until I wasn't any longer.
Mary was the chubby awkward girl in school. The girl no one ever wanted to be friends with. She vowed to leave Liberty Lake and to become the success she knew she could be. She had the grades after all. Then she was accepted to Cornell and became "Ivy League Mary".
That all came to an abrupt halt when she is expelled in her senior year. Now living back at home with her Dad and once again in Liberty Lake she is ashamed and embarrassed and would rather hole up in her bedroom then face the people of her past. Dad isn't having it though and demands she gets a job. She starts working at the local grocery store which is hardly a place to remain invisible.
Suddenly Liberty Lake is in an uproar. Olivia Willand, rising Instagram star and Liberty Lake local has gone missing. She was Mary's elementary school best friend until she wasn't anymore. Police, FBI, and all the media outlets converge together. Search parties organized in an effort to find Olivia.
Meanwhile, Mary becomes aware of another missing girl. DeMaria Jackson was a 19 year old black woman and single mother with one DUI under her belt. The police brush her off as a runaway though her mother Leticia disagrees. No further investigation is done.
Mary is convinced the two crimes are connected and becomes hell bent on solving the mystery. Is there a serial killer hiding amongst them in Liberty Lake?
I did enjoy this for the most part but other parts really bothered me. Mary was not likeable or reliable. Her hatred toward everyone got a little annoying. You know what? Kids are cruel. Navigating through adolescence and the teen years is akin to navigating a minefield. Most of us move on as healthy, stable adults but Mary seems to really be hung up on her youth. Through flashbacks we see a bit of their friendship and honestly I didn't think Olivia was all that awful. Heck, I have seen worse in my own life. Mary's reason for being expelled? Not quite as dark as I was hoping for and a bit overblown if you ask me. For someone that didn't want any attention she insinuated herself into the investigation making herself very known to not only the police but possibly to the culprit as well. The ending? I was shaking my head. I did enjoy how Dang brought light to a matter we have all seen and witnessed on the news before. Missing white girl from a nice neighborhood goes missing and everyone loses their minds while a missing black girl from the wrong side of the tracks gets no coverage at all and that's a crying shame. As if one life is more valuable than the other is sickening. Overall this is a decent book with one eye catching cover. I'll be keeping my eye on this author. 3.5 stars!
Thank you to William Morrow for kindly sending me a physical arc.
Mary was the chubby awkward girl in school. The girl no one ever wanted to be friends with. She vowed to leave Liberty Lake and to become the success she knew she could be. She had the grades after all. Then she was accepted to Cornell and became "Ivy League Mary".
That all came to an abrupt halt when she is expelled in her senior year. Now living back at home with her Dad and once again in Liberty Lake she is ashamed and embarrassed and would rather hole up in her bedroom then face the people of her past. Dad isn't having it though and demands she gets a job. She starts working at the local grocery store which is hardly a place to remain invisible.
Suddenly Liberty Lake is in an uproar. Olivia Willand, rising Instagram star and Liberty Lake local has gone missing. She was Mary's elementary school best friend until she wasn't anymore. Police, FBI, and all the media outlets converge together. Search parties organized in an effort to find Olivia.
Meanwhile, Mary becomes aware of another missing girl. DeMaria Jackson was a 19 year old black woman and single mother with one DUI under her belt. The police brush her off as a runaway though her mother Leticia disagrees. No further investigation is done.
Mary is convinced the two crimes are connected and becomes hell bent on solving the mystery. Is there a serial killer hiding amongst them in Liberty Lake?
I did enjoy this for the most part but other parts really bothered me. Mary was not likeable or reliable. Her hatred toward everyone got a little annoying. You know what? Kids are cruel. Navigating through adolescence and the teen years is akin to navigating a minefield. Most of us move on as healthy, stable adults but Mary seems to really be hung up on her youth. Through flashbacks we see a bit of their friendship and honestly I didn't think Olivia was all that awful. Heck, I have seen worse in my own life. Mary's reason for being expelled? Not quite as dark as I was hoping for and a bit overblown if you ask me. For someone that didn't want any attention she insinuated herself into the investigation making herself very known to not only the police but possibly to the culprit as well. The ending? I was shaking my head. I did enjoy how Dang brought light to a matter we have all seen and witnessed on the news before. Missing white girl from a nice neighborhood goes missing and everyone loses their minds while a missing black girl from the wrong side of the tracks gets no coverage at all and that's a crying shame. As if one life is more valuable than the other is sickening. Overall this is a decent book with one eye catching cover. I'll be keeping my eye on this author. 3.5 stars!
Thank you to William Morrow for kindly sending me a physical arc.
September 9, 2021
2.5 stars, rounded down. Unpopular opinion alert!
This is the story of "Ivy League Mary," an overweight semi-outcast in high school who reinvented herself after being admitted to and attending Cornell University. That is, until she is involved in an incident that leads to her expulsion from college at the beginning of her senior year and returning home to Minnesota with her father to shamefully work at a grocery store until she figures out what to do with her life. One of her friends from elementary school turns up missing, the popular and beautiful social media star Olivia, and Mary also discovers another missing girl, this one is poor and Black and no one seems to give her disappearance a second thought. Mary believes they are connected and sets off to find out who has taken the girls and why.
Just did not connect with this one and hated the main character. Mary is self-absorbed and looks down on others while at the same time is filled with self-loathing. There are so many parts of this book that did not make sense to me and so many incidents that were just not believable. I kept thinking--your life isn't over, just transfer to a state school and finish your degree! And when she is fired from her job due to her "criminal record" she just goes berserk rather than dealing with the situation calmly and maturely explaining what happened and that the boss was mistaken.
The potential was here for a really deep look into policing disparities between race, class, and social status. And the author does make an attempt to connect those dots, but then it just goes off the rails in a bizarre way and she lost me. The actual criminal's motivations and actions made no sense to me.
Overall, I found this book to not live up to my expectations and although my opinion is in the minority, I'd recommend passing on this one.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
This is the story of "Ivy League Mary," an overweight semi-outcast in high school who reinvented herself after being admitted to and attending Cornell University. That is, until she is involved in an incident that leads to her expulsion from college at the beginning of her senior year and returning home to Minnesota with her father to shamefully work at a grocery store until she figures out what to do with her life. One of her friends from elementary school turns up missing, the popular and beautiful social media star Olivia, and Mary also discovers another missing girl, this one is poor and Black and no one seems to give her disappearance a second thought. Mary believes they are connected and sets off to find out who has taken the girls and why.
Just did not connect with this one and hated the main character. Mary is self-absorbed and looks down on others while at the same time is filled with self-loathing. There are so many parts of this book that did not make sense to me and so many incidents that were just not believable. I kept thinking--your life isn't over, just transfer to a state school and finish your degree! And when she is fired from her job due to her "criminal record" she just goes berserk rather than dealing with the situation calmly and maturely explaining what happened and that the boss was mistaken.
The potential was here for a really deep look into policing disparities between race, class, and social status. And the author does make an attempt to connect those dots, but then it just goes off the rails in a bizarre way and she lost me. The actual criminal's motivations and actions made no sense to me.
Overall, I found this book to not live up to my expectations and although my opinion is in the minority, I'd recommend passing on this one.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
September 12, 2021
Did I love this book? You bet I did! All the stars for this fantastic debut! This was one of my most anticipated reads. I expected a great "mean girls" book. However, this was much darker than expected and I loved that!
Mary was harassed during high school about her appearance and her nerdy behavior. Yet she got the last laugh when she got accepted to Cornell. She was nicknamed Ivy League Mary by her small town...trust me..she was determined not to go back....until she gets expelled..and not for her grades...
Now working hard for her money at the local grocery store..Mary becomes obsessed with two local missing girls...This starts out as a slow burn delving into Mary's personality...then it takes a very, very dark turn...
The ending was dark, terrifying and fantastic! I never dreamed this story would take that kind of turn. The ending was so gory and shocking that it made me think of a book from last year that was very popular and I loved.
If you love a good debut...pub date is right around the corner- Sept 14th. Thank you so much Partner- bibliolifestyle and William Morrow for my gorgeous gifted copy!
Mary was harassed during high school about her appearance and her nerdy behavior. Yet she got the last laugh when she got accepted to Cornell. She was nicknamed Ivy League Mary by her small town...trust me..she was determined not to go back....until she gets expelled..and not for her grades...
Now working hard for her money at the local grocery store..Mary becomes obsessed with two local missing girls...This starts out as a slow burn delving into Mary's personality...then it takes a very, very dark turn...
The ending was dark, terrifying and fantastic! I never dreamed this story would take that kind of turn. The ending was so gory and shocking that it made me think of a book from last year that was very popular and I loved.
If you love a good debut...pub date is right around the corner- Sept 14th. Thank you so much Partner- bibliolifestyle and William Morrow for my gorgeous gifted copy!
October 15, 2021
This new release has a fairly pitiful Goodreads rating, but I thought the page turnability was right up there. Please note “Ivy League Mary” was pretty much a Grade-A Butthole, but since I’m not particularly fond of the “Average Joe becomes supersleuth murder solver” trope I was kind of alright with not liking her as well. An explanation regarding Mary’s buttholery was also provided at some point, so again I’m going to give it a pass. Just make a notation in your own brain that you might want to punch her in the throat. Also note that I request anything with a house on the cover without ever reading the blurb or looking at a rating so you might already be doing yourself a disservice by even reading this attempt at a review because this cover????
Well apparently cabin covers might even be better than house covers.
The story here is that Ivy League Mary has been booted out of Cornell her Senior year and forced to return home again. While living with her dad and working at the local Whole Foods knockoff one of Mary’s former classmates goes missing. And because she’s a pretty little white girl from a well established family errrrrrybody is looking for her. But no one bothered looking for DeMaria when she didn’t come home from work. She was simply labeled a runaway. Are the two girls connected? And if so, how?
As I said above, this debut kept me turning pages. I loved the acknowledgment of certain types of missing women getting the police/media/general population spotlight while others who aren’t from the perfect upper-middle-class upbringing simply go ignored for the most part. I also thought the ending was absolutely satisfactory. Aside from the moment where something like this happened . . . .
But again, as soon as I see some random person with zero qualifications being the one getting their nose all up in the missing persons cases I kind of expect a little Lifetime Stabby Stabs decision making to occur as well.
3.5 Stars for me. I would absolutely read this author again.
Well apparently cabin covers might even be better than house covers.
The story here is that Ivy League Mary has been booted out of Cornell her Senior year and forced to return home again. While living with her dad and working at the local Whole Foods knockoff one of Mary’s former classmates goes missing. And because she’s a pretty little white girl from a well established family errrrrrybody is looking for her. But no one bothered looking for DeMaria when she didn’t come home from work. She was simply labeled a runaway. Are the two girls connected? And if so, how?
As I said above, this debut kept me turning pages. I loved the acknowledgment of certain types of missing women getting the police/media/general population spotlight while others who aren’t from the perfect upper-middle-class upbringing simply go ignored for the most part. I also thought the ending was absolutely satisfactory. Aside from the moment where something like this happened . . . .
But again, as soon as I see some random person with zero qualifications being the one getting their nose all up in the missing persons cases I kind of expect a little Lifetime Stabby Stabs decision making to occur as well.
3.5 Stars for me. I would absolutely read this author again.
June 21, 2021
For a debut, this one packed a punch in the tired "girl gone missing" genre! It is addictingly dark and I was sucked in from page one.
Once quiet, overweight, and poor, Mary seemed to have only one thing going for her - her brains. She was dubbed "Ivy League Mary" in high school because she had something no one else did - a scholarship to an Ivy League school. She is now on the brink of having everything - she is skinny and attractive and about to graduate with a degree from Cornell. Until her luck runs out and she is expelled from Cornell. Now she’s back in her small hometown, working a dead-end job at a grocery store, and avoiding questions about what happened - even from those closest to her.
Then beautiful, popular Olivia Willand goes missing. Olivia is admired by nearly everyone in town and in the social media world - except Mary. Once Olivia’s childhood friend, Mary knows that behind Olivia's online persona hides a cold, manipulator who would do anything for attention. The town quickly obsesses over Olivia's disappearance, but Mary wonders if her disappearance is tied to another missing teenage girl - DeMaria Jackson, whose case has been widely dismissed as a runaway. As Mary pries at the cracks in the careful facades surrounding the two missing girls, old wounds re-open and force her to confront a horrible truth.
I really liked how the plot unfolded and the directions Dang took it in. I couldn't for the life of me figure out the connection between DeMaria and Olivia, and in the end I thought it was well-done and believable. I also like how Dang takes a hard but subtle look at how looks, class, and race affect the treatment of cases by the media, the police, etc. The town turns out in droves to search for Olivia, but when DeMaria disappeared, she was just treated as a runaway.
The only negatives - I didn't really like Mary or any of the other characters. She was a bit too edgy and aloof for me to really empathize with her - although I will say, once the reason for her expulsion was fully revealed, I did start to like her a bit more; however, I think it just came too late in the book, as by then, my feelings for Mary were just "meh". I also had an issue with the ending. There was a moment well before the conclusion that was such a dead giveaway to the "whodunnit" that blinking lights all around it couldn't have made it any more obvious. It took a bit away from the element of surprise I feel Dang was going for.
Overall though, a fantastic debut thriller that also provides an insightful social commentary. I'm already looking forward to Dang's next book! 4 stars.
Thank you so much to my awesome friend, Michael, for passing this ARC on to me, as it one I might not have otherwise read, and I definitely would have been missing out! 🤗
Once quiet, overweight, and poor, Mary seemed to have only one thing going for her - her brains. She was dubbed "Ivy League Mary" in high school because she had something no one else did - a scholarship to an Ivy League school. She is now on the brink of having everything - she is skinny and attractive and about to graduate with a degree from Cornell. Until her luck runs out and she is expelled from Cornell. Now she’s back in her small hometown, working a dead-end job at a grocery store, and avoiding questions about what happened - even from those closest to her.
Then beautiful, popular Olivia Willand goes missing. Olivia is admired by nearly everyone in town and in the social media world - except Mary. Once Olivia’s childhood friend, Mary knows that behind Olivia's online persona hides a cold, manipulator who would do anything for attention. The town quickly obsesses over Olivia's disappearance, but Mary wonders if her disappearance is tied to another missing teenage girl - DeMaria Jackson, whose case has been widely dismissed as a runaway. As Mary pries at the cracks in the careful facades surrounding the two missing girls, old wounds re-open and force her to confront a horrible truth.
I really liked how the plot unfolded and the directions Dang took it in. I couldn't for the life of me figure out the connection between DeMaria and Olivia, and in the end I thought it was well-done and believable. I also like how Dang takes a hard but subtle look at how looks, class, and race affect the treatment of cases by the media, the police, etc. The town turns out in droves to search for Olivia, but when DeMaria disappeared, she was just treated as a runaway.
The only negatives - I didn't really like Mary or any of the other characters. She was a bit too edgy and aloof for me to really empathize with her - although I will say, once the reason for her expulsion was fully revealed, I did start to like her a bit more; however, I think it just came too late in the book, as by then, my feelings for Mary were just "meh". I also had an issue with the ending. There was a moment well before the conclusion that was such a dead giveaway to the "whodunnit" that blinking lights all around it couldn't have made it any more obvious. It took a bit away from the element of surprise I feel Dang was going for.
Overall though, a fantastic debut thriller that also provides an insightful social commentary. I'm already looking forward to Dang's next book! 4 stars.
Thank you so much to my awesome friend, Michael, for passing this ARC on to me, as it one I might not have otherwise read, and I definitely would have been missing out! 🤗
October 30, 2021
2.5 Stars. Couldn’t stand Mary….
Mary has just been expelled from Cornell, details of what went down are a bit lacking, but we can infer in the first chapter it's an altercation of some sort . She ends up moving back to her hometown, Liberty Lake in the Midwest, with her dad---the last thing she wants to do being she was an outcast in high school, but one of the smartest in her class. Upon arriving back home one of her high school classmates, the popular Olivia, is discovered missing. Mary takes it upon herself to be an armchair detective and try and figure out what happened to Olivia.
Mary just grated on me…she's been out of high school for at least 3 years and still dwelling on the past. So much so, she doesn't let on that she was expelled but makes an excuse to anyone she sees she is working on her "thesis" to cover her embarrassment/failure. At what point did she not realize that people should/would catch on when she never returns to school? Near the end of the book we discover why she was expelled and her motivations on what set her off were completely ridiculous - especially since her dream was to go to an ivy league school - why throw it all away for a few comments???? Another thing that really bothered me was her "tip" to the police over something as little as a clean bathroom? She seemed to have really jumped to conclusions on that one.
I did read this super fast but I absolutely couldn't stand pretentious Mary. I just wanted to tell her to "grow up"! Finally, the ending just came out of nowhere. The who just seemed out of left field……
I do see a ton of mixed reviews out there so this does seem to work for some, just not me :(
Mary has just been expelled from Cornell, details of what went down are a bit lacking, but we can infer in the first chapter it's an altercation of some sort . She ends up moving back to her hometown, Liberty Lake in the Midwest, with her dad---the last thing she wants to do being she was an outcast in high school, but one of the smartest in her class. Upon arriving back home one of her high school classmates, the popular Olivia, is discovered missing. Mary takes it upon herself to be an armchair detective and try and figure out what happened to Olivia.
Mary just grated on me…she's been out of high school for at least 3 years and still dwelling on the past. So much so, she doesn't let on that she was expelled but makes an excuse to anyone she sees she is working on her "thesis" to cover her embarrassment/failure. At what point did she not realize that people should/would catch on when she never returns to school? Near the end of the book we discover why she was expelled and her motivations on what set her off were completely ridiculous - especially since her dream was to go to an ivy league school - why throw it all away for a few comments???? Another thing that really bothered me was her "tip" to the police over something as little as a clean bathroom? She seemed to have really jumped to conclusions on that one.
I did read this super fast but I absolutely couldn't stand pretentious Mary. I just wanted to tell her to "grow up"! Finally, the ending just came out of nowhere. The who just seemed out of left field……
I do see a ton of mixed reviews out there so this does seem to work for some, just not me :(
April 21, 2021
Do you ever almost NOT read a book, and then you are glad that you decided to pick it up? That was me with Catherine Dang's finely crafted debut, Nice Girls. Having read plenty of "girl-gone-missing" thrillers, I feel like I have explored the scope of what this genre has to offer. Fortunately, Dang gave me a little something more to enjoy with her novel about "Ivy League Mary," a girl who made it to Cornell and was subsequently kicked out during her senior year for one moment of seriously bad judgment. Back home and living with her father who is not happy about her mistakes, Mary tries to keep what happened at Cornell a secret while working at the local grocery store. But when she becomes involved in not one, but two missing girl mysteries from her hometown, she learns that she is not the only one with something to hide.
Catherine Dang is a voice that needs to be heard, and she is a welcome addition to the women's suspense genre. What I loved so much about her debut is that she takes time to really build her story, investing readers in the plot and characters before pulling out the twists and turns. This strategy is so effective because it allows readers to form their own opinions about the characters and their motives, and hence, when the rug is pulled out from underneath them, the pay-off is gratifying. Dang does a lot of showing, as opposed to telling, which is a characteristic I really appreciate in a writer - one who lets me come to my own conclusions instead of telling me what to think.
I was "all in" during my entire reading of Nice Girls, which I devoured in practically one sitting. Dang effectively layers a story about a girl moving back in with her parents after a failed attempt at college and the adjustments she has to make to go from being somebody back to nobody, with a small-town missing girls mystery. While the missing girls are always in the background, they aren't the constant focus of this multi-layered novel, and readers will find that Mary has secrets and intrigue all of her own.
Catherine Dang is a voice that needs to be heard, and she is a welcome addition to the women's suspense genre. What I loved so much about her debut is that she takes time to really build her story, investing readers in the plot and characters before pulling out the twists and turns. This strategy is so effective because it allows readers to form their own opinions about the characters and their motives, and hence, when the rug is pulled out from underneath them, the pay-off is gratifying. Dang does a lot of showing, as opposed to telling, which is a characteristic I really appreciate in a writer - one who lets me come to my own conclusions instead of telling me what to think.
I was "all in" during my entire reading of Nice Girls, which I devoured in practically one sitting. Dang effectively layers a story about a girl moving back in with her parents after a failed attempt at college and the adjustments she has to make to go from being somebody back to nobody, with a small-town missing girls mystery. While the missing girls are always in the background, they aren't the constant focus of this multi-layered novel, and readers will find that Mary has secrets and intrigue all of her own.
November 29, 2021
When I first picked this book up I was a bit apprehensive, as I had seen mixed reviews. Fortunately as soon as I started reading Nice Girls I was quickly hooked and could not turn those pages fast enough!!
As this novel begins, Mary and her father are quickly packing up her belongings and moving her out of her college dorm room and back to her small hometown of Liberty Lake, Minnesota. Almost immediately it's evident there is tension between the two, and even more so that this move is not a happy occasion. You get the feeling that Mary, who is almost immediately unlikable, is begrudgingly moving back home, with her tail tucked between her legs. It's never explained why, so very early on there is an element of mystery to Mary's return home.
Once home, Mary reluctantly takes a job at the local grocer, and discovers she's not the only recent graduate back home, bumping into former football star and current assistant manager, Wayne. As the days drag by, she seems to accept her situation and even befriends Wayne, who would have never even noticed her years earlier while in high school. Back when she was nothing but a pudgy nice girl. Now, years later, she's lost the weight and is not longer a push over. She's Ivey-league Mary now.
When two local girls suddenly go missing, one from the wrong side of the tracks as well as a woman of color, and another raised in privilege and a upcoming social media influencer, authorities focus all their attention on the latter. Mary takes it upon herself to investigate both disappearances, discovering a connection between the two, and numerous shocking, dark secrets in the process. Secrets someone does not want her privy to. Regardless, she is steadfast in her mission to give voices to the two victims, regardless of their station in life. But when her efforts are noticed and suddenly the tables are turned, she realizes she might in fact be the next target!! Could it be there is a serial killer in Liberty Lake?? Or is Mary just bored, and off her meds and making something out of nothing?
The characters throughout this novel were incredibly human, making them incredibly authentic to me, and I discovered I was really rooting for Mary to in some way, shape or form pull her life together towards the end, so she definitely grew on me, which is a great indication of some great character development!
Without giving too much more away, I really enjoyed the pacing, atmosphere and mystery element in this novel, and even found myself empathizing a bit for Mary, at times. I, at no point predicted whodunnit, and why, which was incredibly refreshing and equally horrifying!
Before reading this, I will caution it's important to know that there are many triggers within this novel, and at times this read more like a horror story on account of the brutality of the deaths involved. If you can stomach it, I think you will really enjoy this read - I know I did!!
To read that this was Dang's debut novel really impressed me and needless to say, I'm definitely a new fan of hers!
As this novel begins, Mary and her father are quickly packing up her belongings and moving her out of her college dorm room and back to her small hometown of Liberty Lake, Minnesota. Almost immediately it's evident there is tension between the two, and even more so that this move is not a happy occasion. You get the feeling that Mary, who is almost immediately unlikable, is begrudgingly moving back home, with her tail tucked between her legs. It's never explained why, so very early on there is an element of mystery to Mary's return home.
Once home, Mary reluctantly takes a job at the local grocer, and discovers she's not the only recent graduate back home, bumping into former football star and current assistant manager, Wayne. As the days drag by, she seems to accept her situation and even befriends Wayne, who would have never even noticed her years earlier while in high school. Back when she was nothing but a pudgy nice girl. Now, years later, she's lost the weight and is not longer a push over. She's Ivey-league Mary now.
When two local girls suddenly go missing, one from the wrong side of the tracks as well as a woman of color, and another raised in privilege and a upcoming social media influencer, authorities focus all their attention on the latter. Mary takes it upon herself to investigate both disappearances, discovering a connection between the two, and numerous shocking, dark secrets in the process. Secrets someone does not want her privy to. Regardless, she is steadfast in her mission to give voices to the two victims, regardless of their station in life. But when her efforts are noticed and suddenly the tables are turned, she realizes she might in fact be the next target!! Could it be there is a serial killer in Liberty Lake?? Or is Mary just bored, and off her meds and making something out of nothing?
The characters throughout this novel were incredibly human, making them incredibly authentic to me, and I discovered I was really rooting for Mary to in some way, shape or form pull her life together towards the end, so she definitely grew on me, which is a great indication of some great character development!
Without giving too much more away, I really enjoyed the pacing, atmosphere and mystery element in this novel, and even found myself empathizing a bit for Mary, at times. I, at no point predicted whodunnit, and why, which was incredibly refreshing and equally horrifying!
Before reading this, I will caution it's important to know that there are many triggers within this novel, and at times this read more like a horror story on account of the brutality of the deaths involved. If you can stomach it, I think you will really enjoy this read - I know I did!!
To read that this was Dang's debut novel really impressed me and needless to say, I'm definitely a new fan of hers!
September 25, 2021
Wow. Formulaic at best, but the plot makes no sense. Why would a girl kicked out of college want (or be able) to insert herself into a criminal investigation? The narrator is a horrible person who only gets more awful and ridiculous as the story goes on. So many of the plot points don’t make logical sense, and the narrator is never held accountable or deals with the problems she creates. The ending is truly bizarre - her father somehow intuits what has happened without either of them saying anything, and decides to protect her? Even the reason she was kicked out of school is thin, when it’s finally revealed after way too much buildup. The depiction of some of the characters feels rather racist, as well. This book was a hot mess and I can’t believe I bothered to finish it.
August 4, 2021
First of all, thank you to William Morrow and Catherine Dang for my ARC of this book that comes out on September 7, 2021. Is anyone really a nice girl? Mary doesn’t think so. After years of being the fat, awkward, forgettable girl from Liberty Lake Minnesota, she wants to change her town’s perspective of her. She works hard and now she’s known as “Ivy League Mary”- the girl who got out and attended the prestigious Cornell University. Now she’s back in Liberty Lake after being kicked out her senior year. No one knows why she’s back, but she is almost unrecognizable.
Soon after Mary’s return, the beautiful and popular Olivia Willand goes missing from Liberty Lake. Mary was childhood friends with Olivia, but after a falling out Mary knows Olivia’s dark side. She can’t help but obsess about the case, and starts looking into her disappearance along with another girl who also went missing from Liberty Lake. As she starts to dig in to Olivia’s life, Mary begins to bring up the past and everything that comes with it.
Nice Girls talks about the pressure girls have to be the best version of themselves. High school can be a hard time for girls specifically, and this book showed how that pressure is not always a good thing. The book also pointed out how friendships are not always born of connection, but sometimes of convenience.
The story slowly builds tension and I think Catherine Dang is an asset to the woman’s suspense genre. She layers the story so it builds and slowly lets the reader in. I felt for Mary without completely trusting her, always wondering if there was something going on beneath the surface. It was hard to put down and easy to imagine myself in the dark and gritty setting, with two specific parts of town.
Nice Girls talks about anxiety, depression, and the importance of mental health. It points out racism in the police force and the media, and inequality in the way crimes are investigated. It brought up many important points while also being an exciting and mysterious read. I recommend this debut to lovers of All The Missing Girls and Luckiest Girl Alive. 4-stars!
Soon after Mary’s return, the beautiful and popular Olivia Willand goes missing from Liberty Lake. Mary was childhood friends with Olivia, but after a falling out Mary knows Olivia’s dark side. She can’t help but obsess about the case, and starts looking into her disappearance along with another girl who also went missing from Liberty Lake. As she starts to dig in to Olivia’s life, Mary begins to bring up the past and everything that comes with it.
Nice Girls talks about the pressure girls have to be the best version of themselves. High school can be a hard time for girls specifically, and this book showed how that pressure is not always a good thing. The book also pointed out how friendships are not always born of connection, but sometimes of convenience.
The story slowly builds tension and I think Catherine Dang is an asset to the woman’s suspense genre. She layers the story so it builds and slowly lets the reader in. I felt for Mary without completely trusting her, always wondering if there was something going on beneath the surface. It was hard to put down and easy to imagine myself in the dark and gritty setting, with two specific parts of town.
Nice Girls talks about anxiety, depression, and the importance of mental health. It points out racism in the police force and the media, and inequality in the way crimes are investigated. It brought up many important points while also being an exciting and mysterious read. I recommend this debut to lovers of All The Missing Girls and Luckiest Girl Alive. 4-stars!
July 23, 2021
There are many positive reviews for this title; but not from me. Because this was an advance copy I felt that I needed to plug through and provide an honest review.
Back in high school our protagonist, Mary, was overweight and unpopular. She hoped her life would change for the better after she was accepted into an Ivy League college. She lost weight and although we don't get many details, she seemingly spent her first several years in college remaking her life, fitting in, living a normal college life, partying, boyfriends, etc. even becoming a resident advisor in a freshman dorm during her final year. But then she gets in a violent altercation with a freshman student whom she thought was her friend and is expelled. She returns home to try to pick up the pieces. She's home a few days when two women in town disappear around the same time, one of whom was a childhood friend, and she decides that only she can make the connection between the two of them and solve the crime.
Mary is not a likable character and I didn't get invested in her at all. It wasn't at all realistic that she would suddenly care so much about the two missing women. Her childhood friend dropped her when they entered junior high and went on to be a popular girl with a large Instagram following. She didn't know the other one at all - a black woman from the other side of town. She runs around suspecting literally everyone, jumping to ridiculous conclusions and pursuing crazy and reckless theories at the drop of a hat. For awhile I could only wrongly assume that it would end up all being in her imagination, which wouldn't have been satisfying, but might have made some kind of sense.
The writing style is brisk and oftentimes breathless - short sentences, many one sentence paragraphs, 52 chapters in 320 pages. One element of the author's prose particularly grated on me - her overuse of a name in a chapter with only two people in the scene - she constantly used the character's name, or in many cases, Dad, in almost every sentence when just "he" or "she" would do.
Sorry, this just didn't work for me.
#NiceGirls #NetGalley
Back in high school our protagonist, Mary, was overweight and unpopular. She hoped her life would change for the better after she was accepted into an Ivy League college. She lost weight and although we don't get many details, she seemingly spent her first several years in college remaking her life, fitting in, living a normal college life, partying, boyfriends, etc. even becoming a resident advisor in a freshman dorm during her final year. But then she gets in a violent altercation with a freshman student whom she thought was her friend and is expelled. She returns home to try to pick up the pieces. She's home a few days when two women in town disappear around the same time, one of whom was a childhood friend, and she decides that only she can make the connection between the two of them and solve the crime.
Mary is not a likable character and I didn't get invested in her at all. It wasn't at all realistic that she would suddenly care so much about the two missing women. Her childhood friend dropped her when they entered junior high and went on to be a popular girl with a large Instagram following. She didn't know the other one at all - a black woman from the other side of town. She runs around suspecting literally everyone, jumping to ridiculous conclusions and pursuing crazy and reckless theories at the drop of a hat. For awhile I could only wrongly assume that it would end up all being in her imagination, which wouldn't have been satisfying, but might have made some kind of sense.
The writing style is brisk and oftentimes breathless - short sentences, many one sentence paragraphs, 52 chapters in 320 pages. One element of the author's prose particularly grated on me - her overuse of a name in a chapter with only two people in the scene - she constantly used the character's name, or in many cases, Dad, in almost every sentence when just "he" or "she" would do.
Sorry, this just didn't work for me.
#NiceGirls #NetGalley
September 20, 2021
I kind of wanted Ivy League Mary to get chopped up with an axe by the end 😬
October 12, 2021
3.5 stars
Decent and quick read. I feel like every part of the story needed go deeper to really build that suspenseful "I can't wait to see what happens" feeling. 3.5 stars. It probably deserves more to be rounded down to a 3, but I'm going up to 4 because I enjoyed it. I think this author will definitely grow with her writing in the books to come.
Decent and quick read. I feel like every part of the story needed go deeper to really build that suspenseful "I can't wait to see what happens" feeling. 3.5 stars. It probably deserves more to be rounded down to a 3, but I'm going up to 4 because I enjoyed it. I think this author will definitely grow with her writing in the books to come.
September 29, 2021
1.5 Initially I was intrigued.... the premise was great up until the last 1/3 ,then it just became a ridiculous D grade plot that resembled a bad midday movie !
June 2, 2021
Thank you to William Morrow for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Nice Girls by Catherine Dang is a heart-pounding small-town thriller full of twists and turns. First off, as a reader of Asian descent, I am so happy to support this author! Even though this is not an #ownvoices novel (as far as I can tell, the protagonist is white), there are multiple Vietnamese-American side characters who add a lot to the story.
The story revolves around Mary, nicknamed "Ivy League Mary," who left a small, podunk town for Cornell a few years ago. Now, she's back, but she didn't graduate yet. What secrets haunt Mary amid her surprise return to her hometown? Meanwhile, the news buzzing around town is that a young woman named Olivia has been kidnapped and possibly murdered. Once, she was Mary's friend; then, she became an Instagram influencer; now, she's gone. As Mary starts investigating Olivia's disappearance, everyone in her life becomes a suspect. She starts to wonder if there is a serial killer hiding among the people she grew up with.
Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1, when Mary about to leave Cornell and head home:
"I kept hearing my name in every loud conversation or hushed tone, in the laughter as a pair of girls walked by.
I didn't know if that was better or worse than the text messages. I currently had forty-three of them, unopened, burning on my phone. They came from friends, acquaintances, coworkers, but nearly half of them had come from numbers that I didn't recognize. It was as if they all smelled blood and came for the carnage.
The texts were straightforward: You're a f*cking b*tch, Mary. You deserve worse."
After I read that excerpt, I had to keep reading and find out what happened to Mary at Cornell. The central mystery regarding the disappearance of Mary's old friend Olivia was also intriguing. Nice Girls is unputdownable. I flew through it within a few hours. If you're a fan of strong female protagonists, pick up this book! It reminded me of another upcoming thriller that I enjoyed, The Lost Girls by Jessica Chiarella, in that the protagonists aren't afraid to do the investigating themselves when the police can't find anything. Overall, if you enjoy reading post-college thrillers like The Girls Are So Nice Here, or if you're a fan of authors like Megan Miranda or Chevy Stevens, then you won't regret checking out this book when it comes out in September!
Nice Girls by Catherine Dang is a heart-pounding small-town thriller full of twists and turns. First off, as a reader of Asian descent, I am so happy to support this author! Even though this is not an #ownvoices novel (as far as I can tell, the protagonist is white), there are multiple Vietnamese-American side characters who add a lot to the story.
The story revolves around Mary, nicknamed "Ivy League Mary," who left a small, podunk town for Cornell a few years ago. Now, she's back, but she didn't graduate yet. What secrets haunt Mary amid her surprise return to her hometown? Meanwhile, the news buzzing around town is that a young woman named Olivia has been kidnapped and possibly murdered. Once, she was Mary's friend; then, she became an Instagram influencer; now, she's gone. As Mary starts investigating Olivia's disappearance, everyone in her life becomes a suspect. She starts to wonder if there is a serial killer hiding among the people she grew up with.
Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1, when Mary about to leave Cornell and head home:
"I kept hearing my name in every loud conversation or hushed tone, in the laughter as a pair of girls walked by.
I didn't know if that was better or worse than the text messages. I currently had forty-three of them, unopened, burning on my phone. They came from friends, acquaintances, coworkers, but nearly half of them had come from numbers that I didn't recognize. It was as if they all smelled blood and came for the carnage.
The texts were straightforward: You're a f*cking b*tch, Mary. You deserve worse."
After I read that excerpt, I had to keep reading and find out what happened to Mary at Cornell. The central mystery regarding the disappearance of Mary's old friend Olivia was also intriguing. Nice Girls is unputdownable. I flew through it within a few hours. If you're a fan of strong female protagonists, pick up this book! It reminded me of another upcoming thriller that I enjoyed, The Lost Girls by Jessica Chiarella, in that the protagonists aren't afraid to do the investigating themselves when the police can't find anything. Overall, if you enjoy reading post-college thrillers like The Girls Are So Nice Here, or if you're a fan of authors like Megan Miranda or Chevy Stevens, then you won't regret checking out this book when it comes out in September!
December 24, 2021
I hated this book. Mary is unsympathetic. She gets thrown out of college her senior year and apparently the world is over because there's no such thing as transferring credits to another school? She's also weirdly obsessed with high school. As someone who was also a geek in high school and didn't have a lot of friends I got to say her obsession with reconnecting with all the people from high school is just odd. I found myself yelling at her to get over it already.
I wanted to stop reading this book before I got to page 200. The only reason I finished reading it was because I couldn't find a review anywhere that actually said who the killer was. So I decided to push my way through the book so that I could write the spoiler-filled review and save others from having to finish the book.
So here we go.
The killer is John Stack. He killed Olivia and Demaria because he thought they were whores and whores deserves to die. Turns out both of them were doing amateur porn and he was an independent contractor for an amateur porn company who would film them.
Mary figures all of this out after kidnapping and beating a teenager who turns out didn't actually do anything other than be a jerk. She goes to the library and finds John's secret cabin. During a snowstorm she decides to go check out the cabin and lo and behold John is there and kidnaps her! He then does what all good Bond villains do and tells her why he killed the others. They struggle she wounds him, he wounds her, back and forth back and forth until finally he dies in the snow. And instead of calling the police and turning in the town serial killer whose cabin is full of dead bodies in a freezer...she drives home. Her father bandages her up and gets rid of the killer's car. And the incredibly unqualified police department doesn't seem to realize once they find the body, the car, and the cabin full of murder victims that there's also her DNA there. I guess we're supposed to believe her father, the roofer, was such a good cleaner that he got rid of all of his daughters DNA on the killer, in the car, and at the cabin???
I wanted to stop reading this book before I got to page 200. The only reason I finished reading it was because I couldn't find a review anywhere that actually said who the killer was. So I decided to push my way through the book so that I could write the spoiler-filled review and save others from having to finish the book.
So here we go.
The killer is John Stack. He killed Olivia and Demaria because he thought they were whores and whores deserves to die. Turns out both of them were doing amateur porn and he was an independent contractor for an amateur porn company who would film them.
Mary figures all of this out after kidnapping and beating a teenager who turns out didn't actually do anything other than be a jerk. She goes to the library and finds John's secret cabin. During a snowstorm she decides to go check out the cabin and lo and behold John is there and kidnaps her! He then does what all good Bond villains do and tells her why he killed the others. They struggle she wounds him, he wounds her, back and forth back and forth until finally he dies in the snow. And instead of calling the police and turning in the town serial killer whose cabin is full of dead bodies in a freezer...she drives home. Her father bandages her up and gets rid of the killer's car. And the incredibly unqualified police department doesn't seem to realize once they find the body, the car, and the cabin full of murder victims that there's also her DNA there. I guess we're supposed to believe her father, the roofer, was such a good cleaner that he got rid of all of his daughters DNA on the killer, in the car, and at the cabin???
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2022
I literally hate this book so much. #1, Escitalopram is not an opioid and the highest dosage it’s prescribed in is 25 mg/day. The author describes it like it’s some instant-hit, bingeable street drug whereas in reality, it takes up to several weeks to begin having an impact, and it’s primarily prescribed for anxiety. Anyway, why does Mary need to commit her new life to finding DeMaria and Olivia’s killers when she seems to have no attachment to them? Why does the audiobook narrator say the word “silence” about a million times as if it were pronounced like “contact lens”. And why is one of final suspects only and constantly referred to by full name? I literally googled it (since I don’t have the physical or ebook) to see if their name was hyphenated or I was misunderstanding it and thinking it was 2 separate names. She said it about 500x/chapter.
August 8, 2021
Really a 2.5...
This book was just a little off.
It had a lot of really, REALLY heavy handed political commentary in it that didn't seem to go anywhere. It'd feel like the author was setting these things up to be a major focus of the book, highly relevant to the plot, and then... none of it actually was. I thought some of the characters and depictions were... not well done. Things that I thought were set up to be torn down later in the book were left untouched. I figure I probably agree with the author on these subjects but I don't think this attempt served her message very well at all.
A lot of the protagonist's motivations never seemed to really ring true. Reactions to her from other characters often don't make sense to me.
Loose ends of all kinds are left untied throughout the book and the ending is pretty abysmal.
It almost has the structure of a cozy mystery but it isn't remotely cozy.
All that said, it was a page turner. I just think it has some serious issues in how the political commentary was executed as well as with how all over the place it was. I think the author has potential and could write a really great thriller if she figures out how to more tighly weave together all she wants to write about while still publishing a murder mystery thriller over the span of 320ish pages.
This book was just a little off.
It had a lot of really, REALLY heavy handed political commentary in it that didn't seem to go anywhere. It'd feel like the author was setting these things up to be a major focus of the book, highly relevant to the plot, and then... none of it actually was. I thought some of the characters and depictions were... not well done. Things that I thought were set up to be torn down later in the book were left untouched. I figure I probably agree with the author on these subjects but I don't think this attempt served her message very well at all.
A lot of the protagonist's motivations never seemed to really ring true. Reactions to her from other characters often don't make sense to me.
Loose ends of all kinds are left untied throughout the book and the ending is pretty abysmal.
It almost has the structure of a cozy mystery but it isn't remotely cozy.
All that said, it was a page turner. I just think it has some serious issues in how the political commentary was executed as well as with how all over the place it was. I think the author has potential and could write a really great thriller if she figures out how to more tighly weave together all she wants to write about while still publishing a murder mystery thriller over the span of 320ish pages.
July 12, 2021
Let me begin by saying that I do not enjoy giving negative reviews, but I did promise to always be honest with my feedback. So here we are.
I did enjoy the beginning of Nice Girls. I loved the spooky Halloween vibe – complete with a missing person’s search in the woods on Halloween itself.
I did really struggle, however, with the multitude of unlikeable characters who really had very little redeeming qualities to speak of. The actions and motivations of the protagonist were so outlandish and immature that I just could not suspend belief any further.
That said, I would definitely read another book by this author and give her another try.
My thanks to William Morrow Books for the opportunity to read this book before its September 7 publication date.
I did enjoy the beginning of Nice Girls. I loved the spooky Halloween vibe – complete with a missing person’s search in the woods on Halloween itself.
I did really struggle, however, with the multitude of unlikeable characters who really had very little redeeming qualities to speak of. The actions and motivations of the protagonist were so outlandish and immature that I just could not suspend belief any further.
That said, I would definitely read another book by this author and give her another try.
My thanks to William Morrow Books for the opportunity to read this book before its September 7 publication date.
August 8, 2021
**received an ARC with thanks from Goodreads and the publisher**
I know I'm the minority on this one, but Nice Girls was a miss for me. I didn't find the characters particularly likable and my mind kept wandering.
I know I'm the minority on this one, but Nice Girls was a miss for me. I didn't find the characters particularly likable and my mind kept wandering.
November 5, 2021
Awkward, unpopular Mary managed to get out of her hometown and blossom at an Ivy League university. She had it all. That is, until a fight between her a Freshman student escalated and she was kicked out of Cornell. Now she's forced to hang her head in shame and return to the hometown and the life she was so desperate to leave behind. It's bad enough she had to face her dad, but what will all her former classmates think about her lack of success? After all, everyone had such high hopes for Ivy League Mary.
The focus soon shifts off Mary and onto Olivia Willand. She's a social media darling who happened to go missing the day Mary came back to town. Mary's obsession with her former classmate and ex-friend's disappearance escalates and she soon realizes there's another disappearance, except nobody is talking about it or seems to care. Are they connected in some way? Why does no one seem to care about DeMaria's disappearance?
This book had some interesting and culturally relevant things to say regarding how society bases a person's worth on things as shallow as weight, beauty and race.
The treatment of Mary when she was a "fat girl" vs when she lost weight highlights societies misguided and misogynistic view of beauty and worth.
Another strong political statement was made in regards to the disappearances of Olivia and DeMaria. While the disappearance of Olivia-a popular, beautiful and Caucasian social media star-dominated the spotlight, the disappearance of DeMaria-an African American single mother with a DUI conviction-was swept under the rug and ruled irrelevant by the police and the media.
That being said, this book isn't without its problems-The main one being Mary. She's not a likable protagonist in that she's shallow, immature and self-involved. She can't seem to move past the way she was treated in high school and, when the source of her college dispute is revealed, it all seemed incredibly petty. It speaks to Mary's character that she would allow such insignificant things to hold her back from accomplishing her dreams.
Another issue was the ending. This book was fast-paced and captivating, until the last 25% It all just fell apart, became repetitive and the conclusion was pretty OTT.
This isn't your basic mean girl story (which is what I was expecting). If that's the kind of book your looking for, I'd suggest The Girls Are All So Nice Here or Girl Gone Mad instead. But it is a decent mystery with a good message. If your into more cozy mystery style books or books with a political statement to make, I recommend this.
The focus soon shifts off Mary and onto Olivia Willand. She's a social media darling who happened to go missing the day Mary came back to town. Mary's obsession with her former classmate and ex-friend's disappearance escalates and she soon realizes there's another disappearance, except nobody is talking about it or seems to care. Are they connected in some way? Why does no one seem to care about DeMaria's disappearance?
This book had some interesting and culturally relevant things to say regarding how society bases a person's worth on things as shallow as weight, beauty and race.
The treatment of Mary when she was a "fat girl" vs when she lost weight highlights societies misguided and misogynistic view of beauty and worth.
Another strong political statement was made in regards to the disappearances of Olivia and DeMaria. While the disappearance of Olivia-a popular, beautiful and Caucasian social media star-dominated the spotlight, the disappearance of DeMaria-an African American single mother with a DUI conviction-was swept under the rug and ruled irrelevant by the police and the media.
That being said, this book isn't without its problems-The main one being Mary. She's not a likable protagonist in that she's shallow, immature and self-involved. She can't seem to move past the way she was treated in high school and, when the source of her college dispute is revealed, it all seemed incredibly petty. It speaks to Mary's character that she would allow such insignificant things to hold her back from accomplishing her dreams.
Another issue was the ending. This book was fast-paced and captivating, until the last 25% It all just fell apart, became repetitive and the conclusion was pretty OTT.
This isn't your basic mean girl story (which is what I was expecting). If that's the kind of book your looking for, I'd suggest The Girls Are All So Nice Here or Girl Gone Mad instead. But it is a decent mystery with a good message. If your into more cozy mystery style books or books with a political statement to make, I recommend this.
October 26, 2021
Review to come
September 29, 2021
After being expelled from Cornell University, Mary returns to her hometown only to discover that her childhood friend, Olivia, is missing. Why was Mary kicked out of the Ivy League university? Will her friend be found dead or alive? And, just how many "sad, angry girl[s are] trapped in Liberty Lake?"
Even though I'm not typically a murder mystery fan, the extenuating circumstances of this suspenseful storyline pulled me in from the very first pages. I very much enjoyed this debut author's writing style and look forward to more. Beware that the ending especially is a bit dark and not for the faint of heart.
"Maybe no one is really a nice girl, after all."
Location: Liberty Lake, Minnesota and Cornell University
I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Even though I'm not typically a murder mystery fan, the extenuating circumstances of this suspenseful storyline pulled me in from the very first pages. I very much enjoyed this debut author's writing style and look forward to more. Beware that the ending especially is a bit dark and not for the faint of heart.
"Maybe no one is really a nice girl, after all."
Location: Liberty Lake, Minnesota and Cornell University
I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
June 14, 2021
Thank you to Goodreads for this ARC.
This story kept me entertained. The author’s writing is very descriptive and I felt so immersed in the story. I did not like Mary, the main character. She had a lot of anger issues. The ending surprised me. A good story!
This story kept me entertained. The author’s writing is very descriptive and I felt so immersed in the story. I did not like Mary, the main character. She had a lot of anger issues. The ending surprised me. A good story!
December 15, 2021
DNF at 60%
This is yet another thriller that I buddy-read with Nenia, but unfortunately neither of us enjoyed it. I thought the first chapter started off strong, but after that things really fizzled for me and never picked back up.
A lot of reviews mention how unlikeable the heroine, Mary, is, and I have to agree. I don't mind an unlikeable heroine at all, and in many cases even prefer it, but there was nothing redeeming about her as a character. She was someone who dwelled on the past to the detriment of her own personal development. Many of the things that preoccupied her weren't even high school things, which might have been understandable given that only three or four years had passed since then. No, they were elementary school things. Some back story is nice, but I found Mary's incredibly dull, and her obsession with the past seemed unhealthy.
The fact that she started investigating a couple of local murders made absolutely no sense for two main reasons: 1) she hated one of the victims and hadn't spoken to her in like a decade, and 2) she didn't even know the other victims but somehow decided to become this dead girl's own personal savior. Added to that, the reader never meets either victim. We only know of them through other people's memories of them, which makes it extremely hard to care.
At one point everyone attending a search party receives an email containing a nude, similar to those shows where every student at a high school will receive an ominous text. But in order to alert the people about the email, they were all called first for some reason, at the same time (and literally no one had their phone on silent, and all their ringtones are songs by famous singers). When Mary answers, someone just says "Email" and hangs up. Because the villain has apparently never heard of texting??? The logistics of this scene were so poorly done it felt unbelievable in the extreme.
Every time Mary seemed on the verge of some ominous realization, any buildup was squashed flat, leaving me wondering what the point was. Each chapter would fizzle out by the last line, which took away the urgency and suspense the story might have had. The writing was so awkward. It honestly read like the author wanted to cash in on the "ordinary person investigates murder and uncovers deadly secrets" trope and just banged something out without much thought.
Not even the small town setting could save this one for me. Nothing about it jumped out at me, except for the apparently enormous ghetto on one side of the lake, which everyone is okay with referring to as "the sewers." There was some relevant social commentary related to this, but it felt clumsily inserted into the story. (Also there was a huge glass skyscraper apartment building by the lake, which a guy working at a grocery store could somehow afford.) I just couldn't connect with all these various elements, but most especially Mary's tenuous reason for taking the investigation into her own hands. I couldn't suspend my disbelief at all for this one.
This is yet another thriller that I buddy-read with Nenia, but unfortunately neither of us enjoyed it. I thought the first chapter started off strong, but after that things really fizzled for me and never picked back up.
A lot of reviews mention how unlikeable the heroine, Mary, is, and I have to agree. I don't mind an unlikeable heroine at all, and in many cases even prefer it, but there was nothing redeeming about her as a character. She was someone who dwelled on the past to the detriment of her own personal development. Many of the things that preoccupied her weren't even high school things, which might have been understandable given that only three or four years had passed since then. No, they were elementary school things. Some back story is nice, but I found Mary's incredibly dull, and her obsession with the past seemed unhealthy.
The fact that she started investigating a couple of local murders made absolutely no sense for two main reasons: 1) she hated one of the victims and hadn't spoken to her in like a decade, and 2) she didn't even know the other victims but somehow decided to become this dead girl's own personal savior. Added to that, the reader never meets either victim. We only know of them through other people's memories of them, which makes it extremely hard to care.
At one point everyone attending a search party receives an email containing a nude, similar to those shows where every student at a high school will receive an ominous text. But in order to alert the people about the email, they were all called first for some reason, at the same time (and literally no one had their phone on silent, and all their ringtones are songs by famous singers). When Mary answers, someone just says "Email" and hangs up. Because the villain has apparently never heard of texting??? The logistics of this scene were so poorly done it felt unbelievable in the extreme.
Every time Mary seemed on the verge of some ominous realization, any buildup was squashed flat, leaving me wondering what the point was. Each chapter would fizzle out by the last line, which took away the urgency and suspense the story might have had. The writing was so awkward. It honestly read like the author wanted to cash in on the "ordinary person investigates murder and uncovers deadly secrets" trope and just banged something out without much thought.
Not even the small town setting could save this one for me. Nothing about it jumped out at me, except for the apparently enormous ghetto on one side of the lake, which everyone is okay with referring to as "the sewers." There was some relevant social commentary related to this, but it felt clumsily inserted into the story. (Also there was a huge glass skyscraper apartment building by the lake, which a guy working at a grocery store could somehow afford.) I just couldn't connect with all these various elements, but most especially Mary's tenuous reason for taking the investigation into her own hands. I couldn't suspend my disbelief at all for this one.
October 20, 2021
3.5 stars.
Mary's father moves her back home after she was expelled from college in her senior year for attacking a freshman. As background on Mary, she was a chubby girl in high school but exceptionally smart and many girls picked on her. She can't find any job now except as a grocery clerk. She feels as worthless as she did in high school. One of the girls who was mean to her back then goes missing. A mutilated body of another girl is found. Could this be the work of a serial killer?
There's not a lot of action at first and the middle is slow but the story picked up in the last quarter. I always try to compile a list of potential killers but this one turned out to be lower on my list of suspicions. I personally didn't like the end of the book. However, it was a solid debut.
Mary's father moves her back home after she was expelled from college in her senior year for attacking a freshman. As background on Mary, she was a chubby girl in high school but exceptionally smart and many girls picked on her. She can't find any job now except as a grocery clerk. She feels as worthless as she did in high school. One of the girls who was mean to her back then goes missing. A mutilated body of another girl is found. Could this be the work of a serial killer?
There's not a lot of action at first and the middle is slow but the story picked up in the last quarter. I always try to compile a list of potential killers but this one turned out to be lower on my list of suspicions. I personally didn't like the end of the book. However, it was a solid debut.
August 30, 2021
This one was just ok for me. It centers on Mary, who escaped her tiny hometown to go to an Ivy League school, then subsequently gets kicked out and has to return with a sense of shame. Meanwhile, a pretty and popular girl who used to be Mary’s friend disappears, and Mary makes a connection between her disappearance and that of another girl and does a little sleuthing on her own.
The main reason I didn’t love the book was because I didn’t love Mary. I found her to be kind of a horrible person, to be honest, though I kept telling myself that perhaps she was just young and insecure. She is somewhat of an unreliable narrator, which I did appreciate, as it kept me guessing throughout.
The message around how different victims are treated differently due to race and privilege resonated with me, and I thought the author handled it well. I also liked the ending of the story when all was revealed; I had an idea of who the villain was but the author didn’t leave many clues for me to feel sure about it, and the motive caught me completely off guard.
So all in all, decent book- I would’ve liked it a lot better if I had felt some kind of connection to Mary but it was still a good story. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The main reason I didn’t love the book was because I didn’t love Mary. I found her to be kind of a horrible person, to be honest, though I kept telling myself that perhaps she was just young and insecure. She is somewhat of an unreliable narrator, which I did appreciate, as it kept me guessing throughout.
The message around how different victims are treated differently due to race and privilege resonated with me, and I thought the author handled it well. I also liked the ending of the story when all was revealed; I had an idea of who the villain was but the author didn’t leave many clues for me to feel sure about it, and the motive caught me completely off guard.
So all in all, decent book- I would’ve liked it a lot better if I had felt some kind of connection to Mary but it was still a good story. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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