Most of her life Angela has been labeled “hyper,” a “troublemaker” and other not very nice things. Her parents don’t like her boyfriend and after her behavior seems to have led to a terrible accident, she is now labeled a “criminal” and “dangerous.” She is shipped off to a last chance school, Hidden Oak where she and the other dangerous girls began to realize the reasons their new school is so isolated—and these secrets just may cost them their lives. ( )

I essentially enjoyed this book while I was reading it, but felt pretty "bleh" about it afterwards, so I don't know that it's a book I'd recommend to a friend.

This is a book that had a tremendous amount of potential -- some great characters, and some truly awesome suspense building moments. Where the book falls through is in not delivering on that suspense. The author rushes through what should be the big "ah hah!" moments, or the big action climaxes, or worse yet, has them happen "off-screen" altogether. It's almost like getting to watch the first 2/3 of a great, suspense-filled movie, and then the movie projector breaks and you just hear the ending from the bits and pieces your friend remembers. The same stuff still happens, but the intensity just isn't there, and it kills the experience. ( )

Merideth says: It's Lord of the Flies meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest for teenage girls. Except not nearly as good. Schrfer telegraphs his punches and has a tin ear for characterization. Every character in this book ends up exactly as you would expect them to, and none of the 'shocking' revelations are all that shocking. Schrfer seems to want to make the point that those traits that make a girl 'dangerous' -- being loud, questioning authority, being a risk taker -- do not have to be negative. Except the girls in this book don't seem to learn that. Angela, the primary character, comes to the titular school with a problem of making poor choices, particularly in regards to boys and sexuality. Then she does the exact same thing, except now it's positive? Because it ends the abuse at the school? What message should we carry away from this? I'm not sure I know. Unfortunately, I can see this book being very popular. ( )

When I first heard of this book and saw it making the rounds through the book blogs, I seriously thought it was yet another Twilight ripoff, with your cast of supernatural girls at school or something. Wow, was I wrong. The School for Dangerous Girls is unlike anything you've ever read and probably ever will read. It's set in an entirely new and unique place, despite the fact that it is at first glance, a teen boarding school, but it's so so much more. Even more astounding than all this is that it is a male who wrote this, came up with this amazing, downright spooky and somehow surrealistic world of teen girls. The plot held no predictability and was simply fantastic. You could never imagine where it would go next. It's emotionally charged, powerful, and extremely raw, and the only thing you really knew (...mostly) is that the main character lives, since she's the narrator (but even so, who knows, she could have been a ghost or zombie or something, I suppose). It's all about the primal instinct of survival. While the title is slightly pathetic and could definitely have been better, this is one book I would very strongly recommend you read if you're looking for a thriller that will haunt your thoughts for days after reading.

Rating: 5/5 ( )

I'd read a good review of this book and was curious, as I'd seen the title on the shelf in passing. While having an interesting story and plot, the events of the book seem almost too convenient. Girl gets sent to a 'school for dangerous girls' and discovers all is not what it seems. Girl meets the only boy her age (the son of one of the teachers at the school), they fall in love and boy helps girl escape and bring down the school. It's an interesting plot, but ended up being far too predictable. That's not to say I didn't enjoy most of the book, I just wish that everything hadn't been tied up so neatly. ( )