Description

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“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.

About the Author

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Jessica Ward is a pseudonym for the #1 New York Times bestselling author who writes as J.R. Ward and has over twenty million copies in print. She enjoys spending time in the Adirondacks and lives in the south with her family and her dogs.

J.R. Ward is the author of more than sixty novels, including those in her #1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood series. There are more than twenty million copies of her novels in print worldwide, and they have been published in twenty-seven different countries. She lives in the south with her family.

Praise For…

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“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

* "Mental health, friendship, loyalty, jealousy, corruption, and love all have a place in this highly recommended novel that takes readers on a roller-coaster of events and emotions that the characters experience." --Library Journal, starred review

“A complex psychological thriller.” --CrimeReads

"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

“An intricate, unflinching portrait of growing up, fitting in, and speaking out. The St. Ambrose School for Girls is both a taut thriller and a study on the intensity of teenage relationships and coming-of-age emotions. With its vivid campus setting, twisty mystery, and cast of complicated female characters, this story will burrow into readers’ heads and stay there.” --Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here

 

“A twisty, claustrophobic thriller...that readers who like a deep POV will enjoy." --Booklist

 

"Complex and gripping." --Kirkus

"The brilliant and oh-so-talented Jessica Ward (who also writes as JR Ward) explodes into the realm of literary suspense with the completely immersive and utterly propulsive THE ST. AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. A master class in voice--oh that voice!—and cinematic setting, I could not turn the pages fast enough, compelled to find out what happens to Sarah Taylor,  Ward's unique and relatable 15-year old neurodivergent student who steps across the boundaries of an elite prep school and into mean girls, corruption, lust and murder. We journey toward truth, friendship, love and trust—seeing it all through the eyes of this instantly iconic young woman who understands the world in a “different” way.  Haunting, terrifying, and ultimately redemptive, you will never look at your fifteen-year-old self the same way again. I adored this book! And I am telling everyone." --Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of THE HOUSE GUEST