The Legacies by Jesscia Goodman

Title: The Legacies

Author: Jesscia Goodman

Genre: YA Thriller

Series: N/A

Hardcover, 336 pages 

Publication: July 25, 2023 by Razorbill
Source: I received a review copy in exchange for a honest review.
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Old money. New secrets. One killer party.

Scoring an invitation for membership to the exclusive Legacy Club in New York City is more than an honor. It gives you a lifetime of access to power and wealth beyond any prep school doors and guaranteed safety and security as Legacy Club members always look out for their own. That is, after you make it through a rigorous week of events and the extravagant gala, the Legacy Ball.

So it’s not surprising when Excelsior Prep seniors Bernie Kaplan, Isobel Rothcroft, and Skyler Hawkins are nominated as Legacies; their family pedigrees have assured their membership since birth—even if they're all keeping secrets that could destroy their reputations. But scholarship kid from Queens Tori Tasso? She’s a surprise nominee, someone no one saw coming. Tori’s never fit in this world of designer bags, penthouse apartments, and million-dollar donations. So what did she do to secure her place?

The night of the Legacy Ball is supposed to be the best night of these seniors’ lives, a night of haute couture, endless champagne, and plenty of hushed gossip.

Everyone expects a night of luxury and excess. No one expects their secrets to come out. Or for someone to die trying to keep them hidden.

 MY THOUGHTS

The Legacies is a standalone YA mystery thriller with the perfect vibe of Gossip Girl. The story is centered around four Excelsior seniors leading up to the Legacy Club Ball, an event that will shape their entire future. The book jumps back and forth through time and multiple POV of the three main heroines, Bernie the “It” girl, Isobel the “sidekick best friend” and Tori the “scholarship girl”. The Legacies opened up with a murder that shook high society to its core, as readers discovers alongside the characters what transpired and the identity of the victim as they navigated: lies, betrayal, secrets, blackmail…all in the name of The Legacy Club.

I’m normally not a fan of multiple point-of-view but in the case of The Legacies, it worked and was integral to the story. Readers were able to see more depth and exactly what the characters were thinking because most of the time, what we think we see and know on the surface isn’t the entire story. The girls couldn’t be more different, all nominated to the club for different reasons but all with the same goal. The Legacy club is the key to opening doors that are only available for the select members. Because it's not how or what you do but who do you know.

I enjoyed The Legacies more than I expected to. The first page set the tone of the book and I was hooked right away. The story flashed back before the Legacy ball and after, sprinkled with interview snippets as we pieced the puzzle pieces on the victim’s identity and people’ motives. The mystery aspect had me on the edge of my seat with endless twists and turns I didn’t see coming! Goodman’s writing and storytelling kept me engaged the entire time, adding enough bread crumbs along the way to entice reader resulting in a satisfying conclusion. Its been awhile since I’ve read a standalone and I forgot how nice it was to reach the end with things all tied up and completed.

 

 

The Swallows by Lisa Lutz

 

Title: The Swallows
Author: Lisa Lutz
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
Series: N/A
Hardcover, 399 pages
Publication: August 13, 2019 by Ballantine Books
Source: Personal, Audiobook
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It starts with this simple writing prompt from Alex Witt, Stonebridge Academy's new creative writing teacher. When the students' answers raise disturbing questions of their own, Ms. Witt knows there's more going on the school than the faculty wants to see. She soon learns about The Ten--the students at the top of the school's social hierarchy--as well as their connection to something called The Darkroom.

Ms. Witt can't remain a passive observer. She finds the few girls who've started to question the school's "boys will be boys" attitude and incites a resistance that quickly becomes a movement. But just as it gains momentum, she also attracts the attention of an unknown enemy who knows a little too much about her--including what brought her to Stonebridge in the first place.

Meanwhile, Gemma, a defiant senior, has been plotting her attack for years, waiting for the right moment. Shy loner Norman hates his role in the Darkroom, but can't find the courage to fight back until he makes an unlikely alliance. And then there's Finn Ford, an English teacher with a shady reputation who keeps one eye on his literary ambitions and one on Ms. Witt.

As the school's secrets begin to trickle out, a boys-versus-girls skirmish turns into an all-out war, with deeply personal--and potentially fatal--consequences for everyone involved. Lisa Lutz's blistering, timely tale shows us what can happen when silence wins out over decency for too long--and why the scariest threat of all might be the idea that sooner or later, girls will be girls.

I’ve been a longtime fan and lover of Lutz’s work. I was first introduced to her writing with The Spellman Files back in 2009 and have gone on to read more within the same series. Lutz has written many standalone novels since and while I own all of them, I sadly haven’t gotten around to reading any of it. I was determined to remedy that this year (I know, we’re at the end of the year) and picked up her latest novel, The Swallows. I was intrigued and am a sucker for stories that takes place at private/boarding schools.

The Swallows is a departure from Lutz previous work, The Spellmans Files. The Spellmans Files is what I’d called hilarious light-hearted mystery while the Swallows still a mystery at its core; is darker, cutthroat, and holds nothing back. I was absolutely riveted. With little time for reading these days, I opted for the audiobook version and was delighted to find out the book had multiple narrators. Which was perfect considering there were many POVs in the novel from faculties to students. Without going too much into spoiler territory, The Swallows follows Alex Witt, a new teacher at a New England Prep School. She’s one of those cool, doesn’t take shit kind-of-teachers. She’s straightforward and doesn’t tolerate bullying/injustice which is how she discovered that the prep school is more sinister than it looks.

What was discover was that behind the prestigious façade and crisp uniforms, a few male students were behind what is called the ‘dark web’, an online portal housing everyone’s dirty secrets and among other things that shouldn’t be going on, let alone in the dark. Witt's presence gave the female students the push to delve deeper into the 'dark web', so much so, that the girls were out for a change, a reckoning that eventually changed the foundation and hierarchy of the entire school and all those that reside there.

I enjoyed The Swallows much more than I anticipated. Thanks to the vague synopsis and no reviews read, I was able to go into the novel completely unaware of what it was about. I wasn’t expecting a war amongst the female and male students. Lutz tackled school taboos that most are too afraid of touching such as sexism amongst faculties and students those among their superiors and peers, school ethics, and teacher-student relationships.

I loved the change of power dynamics and seeing those deemed as victims take their power back. It's very current and mirrors our own reality with the whole METOO movement. The writing/storytelling was impeccable as always. But the ending. Just when I thought I saw all the twists and turns, Lutz hits readers with another double whammy! The ending literally had me clasping my mouth in utter shocked. I love those kinds of unexpected shocks.

All in all, The Swallows was another satisfying novel from Lutz. With this novel, Lutz has shown me she can write anything from comedy, suspense and everything in-between. If you haven't checked out her work yet, I highly recommend it!