Catherine Morrow, a student at Esther Percy School for Girls, a boarding school in Vermont, is befriended by Skye Butterfield, the beautiful daughter of a Massachusetts senator. Catherine’s closest friends, Suzannah and John Paul, feel crowded out by Skye’s presence. This situation is menacingly aggravated by this group of friends’ pranks and drug use.

At first, I felt that I couldn’t relate to the story. After all, it was a story about wealthy, risk-taking, drug-abusing high school students. The story from the outset seemed unsettling. It was the author’s beautiful and intelligent prose, however, which engaged me. I realized that there was more to this story than my first impression. Having been drawn in especially by its psychology, the story presented a picture of something ominous. Throughout reading the entire book, that feeling remained. Moving through the story, I began to see a deeper layer of narration. I was taken in by a story of teenagers’ travails – dealing with parents, accepting authority, setting priorities, learning about friendship, and developing one’s own moral place in the world. These are all universal themes to which anyone can relate.

As I allowed myself to accept the characters as they were, I was rewarded with the feeling that I really knew them despite their shortcomings. This made the story much richer for me and engaged me emotionally to the end.

I definitely like the author’s writing style and would recommend this book to others. I think this story would be especially interesting to people who’ve already enjoyed such books as John Green’s Looking for Alaska or Curtis Settenfield’s Prep. ( )

On the whole, I enjoyed this book; de Gramont's writing style is engaging, and the plot moves along quickly. The subplots involving Catherine's equestrian competitions and the trip to Venezuela to buy cocaine were distracting and not very believable, and took away from the main story. ( )

I was hoping for a little more depth in this book, but I still really enjoyed it. I was hoping for a little more of something like The Secret History and this didn't quite compare. However, the language was beautiful. This was wonderfully written. I had a hard time with the whole Latin American undertone and could have done without it. It just didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest of the story to me. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. ( )

Just divine! The perfect combination of gorgeous writing and a fun plot. Plus, it's a boarding school story! Fantastic. Highly recommend!!! ( )

This book was OK. It just didn't ever really go anywhere very exciting. maybe it was a bit too juvenile for me. Sneaking around (but usually not even sneaking) getting drunk and high. I just want more substance than that. Maybe I'm just too old. ( )