Very suspenseful and interesting at first but eventually got too unrealistic and played out. Perhaps there’s been too many stories about secret societies and mysterious stalkers trying to destroy someone by texting the whole school lately.

This book had me a little bit lost in the weeds at times, but overall I think it does pull off what it sets out to do: Gossip Girl meets Get Out. That's such a good, concise description. The characters in this book are great, the plot was interesting, if clunky- it wasn't so clunky that it overpowered my interest in moving forward. Like good horror, it starts off realistic and you think it's one thing, and suddenly you're spun around and it's something else, totally horrifying and grotesque- not realistic at all. but somehow hyper-realistic, the way the best horror really gets under your skin and lays everything bare.

I thought the book earned its tentative happy ending, and along the way there were many good things to savor. Good LGBT representation too.

Page turner from the start. So good. And the author wrote this in Uni! Dang. Really really good.

When I say the book synopsis does not even really give you what this book is about. I mean that in a good way because each part it dives deeper and deeper into what so many of us Black people face daily. This book was Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars meets Get Out. But even that description you can’t really predict it all.

Chiamaka and Devon being the only black kids at this private prep school was already having me suspicious because you can never be too comfortable around white people. When they are both named as Head Perfect and Senior perfect, that’s when their own personal downfall begins. Reading this with my friend we kept guessing who Aces was that was exposing Chi and Devon’s personal lives, the hit and run turned possible murder, the lies, the secrets. Aces very much have A from Pretty Little Liars the way texts were being sent at random to students. But it kept going deeper. This plot is not just about being Black but it’s about surviving white spaces where they don’t want you to even exist.

These same white people will laugh in your face and smile at you but secretly plot on you. That’s exactly what these 2 faced. When you see how deep racism goes. It’s not just 1 person but an entire society, one where you’re being taught to hate generations on generations. Everything really does lead back to slavery and racism. White people see us as game, objects, not real life human beings. And that’s the scary part how far they’ll go to mistreat you, the micro aggressions we face, the hatred. It’s all tied together. But Devon and Chi chose to fight back! Fight a long tradition of the erasure of the Black students at Niveus.

The way so many things had symbolic meaning I gasped turning the page. I loved reading about the lives of Devon and Chiamaka. I was sad seeing how hurt Devon got in the process of it all. He didn’t deserve it. Fighting internal battles of coming out to his mom and not being accepted in his neighborhood. Chiamaka doing her best to appease to her white classmates so they won’t question her Nigerian Italian identity. The masks they wore just to survive was so relatable. Truly a great book written even though it was YA. It definitely was suspenseful and all 3 parts told a story! What’s crazy is the book starts off so simple but as you get to part 2 you’re filled with anger for Chiamaka and Devon and it’s blasphemous how deep the hatred for them runs. When I say I was gagged because what do you mean they had camps to teach kids how to be racist? Insane but very much something that we see in real life. Overall it was a page turner as you got to the next parts. I enjoyed this for sure.

This story ruined me but in the best way. It was so incredible and so complex, and there were quite a few times where I just had to set down the book to process what had happened.
It's a great mix between mystery and showcasing life amongst diverse identities. I think that this will definitely continue to be an influential read for my life, and I'm not sure I will ever stop thinking about it.
It's just one of those stories, you know? The first time I read this, I hadn't seen many books that really made me connect deeply with the main characters. Sure I was a little younger, so I didn't have as many novels to compare that to, but it still holds up right now to me.

Overall, if it wasn't obvious by now, I would 100% recommend reading this, and I think it's suitable for quite a large range of ages. While the message is also important for children to understand, I think it's best if read by young adults and above because of some of the darker or "more adult" themes.

Really good book if you want like Gossip Girl meets Get Out, the epilogue was amazing to see the characters develop friendships between the rumours going around from the Aces was amazing. The characters had to face bullying, racism and much more stuff which was hard for them but it was amazing to see the develop of the book.
Overall: 10/10

2.5? This was intense. I am still processing Martha….I did not trust a single character this entire book, everyone was so sus from the beginning. I needed more from the ending, feel like the fire was kind of a cop out? Also, there is no way Devon just moves on with Terrel as if nothing happened? Mr. Taylor was crazy….