Review: The School For Dangerous Girls

Book: The School For Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer

Pages: 341

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Library

Book Summary From Amazon:

Angela's parents think she's on the road to ruin because she's dating a "bad boy." After her behavior gets too much for them, they ship her off to Hidden Oak. Isolated and isolating, Hidden Oak promises to rehabilitate "dangerous girls." But as Angela gets drawn in further and further, she discovers that recovery is only on the agenda for the "better" girls. The other girls -- designated as "the purple thread" -- will instead be manipulated to become more and more dangerous . . . and more and more reliant on Hidden Oak's care.

My Thoughts:

I really liked the whole boarding school/ psychological aspect of the book, but there was just too many loose ends, and not enough explanations. It seemed as if Schrefer was trying a bit too hard to be too mysterious about the school's background information, and in my opinion, fell short. Sometimes it works that a certain situation tends to be a bit vague, but about 115 pages into the novel, if there is no foundation of explanation, it kind of puts the reader off.

I was also a bit annoyed with the character Juin and felt like she was sort of the "queen bee" or the boss of everything, but it really wasn't explained why and how she was able to survive the first year, and why the school accepted her back in the second year. It also seemed kind of strange that there were students that kept mysteriously disappearing, but the school leaving no kind of explanation of where they went, or why they were taken away. Overall, after 100 or so pages into the novel, if there is no real answer of what is going on in the story, it's likely that I will not be able to get into it.

Would I recommend this book: No

Rating: I give this book a DNF.