Kiss, Marry or Kill: 30
Kiss, Marry or Kill: 30
Don't trust the blurb—but 100% read this book. Plus a "kiss" lightning round, rest is hard work, and what's wrong with my favorite reality TV?
This is my weekly series for subscribers only, where I’ll share things that caught my eye this week in a fun and flirty way (kiss), a sustainable way (marry), or a not-so-good way (kill). And yes, this trendy game is technically “f***, marry, or kill” but we run a family-friendly-ish show around here.
Kiss (things I like right now)
St. Ambrose School for Girls, Jessica Ward
CW: Suicide/suicidal ideation, statutory rape
Much like Lessons in Chemistry, this book’s description did it no justice. Granted, Lessons was more about the mismatch between the cover and the content, but the first blurb on this book almost made me pass.
“Mean Girls meets We Were Liars,” Lisa Gardner called it, and something makes me wonder if the St. Ambrose editor pressured her into that angle, or if Gardner didn’t read the book at all. The blurb promises punchy, trendy, “gotcha” chick lit. St. Ambrose School for Girls delivered so much more.
Sarah Taylor arrives at St. Ambrose on a full scholarship and desperate for a new start. At 15, she’s already been hospitalized for bipolar disorder and suicide attempts, hiding the scars and praying her secrets remain hidden from her bright, shiny classmates. Her mental health conditions plays their own starring role in the story, which could have been distracting or worse, tokenizing. Instead, Sarah’s full expression—depression, mania, and all—were carried so lovingly, so tenderly, bordering on reverence, and that is why this book is so damn good.
On its own, the story is full of warmth, tension, and suspense. Sarah’s roommate, Strots, cares for Sarah in a way no one ever has, bonded by a common adversary—the manipulative, sociopathic 15-year-old Greta. In fairness to the book blurb, there are mean girls and there are liars, but it’s Sarah’s bipolar that truly carries the story. The author’s depictions of Sarah’s struggles made this book deep and rich and imaginative in a way that the mean girls and the lying could not have on their own. (The scene painted outside the CVS was one of the most beautiful and compelling I’ve ever read. It has stayed with me for weeks.)
The writing is lush and gorgeous, but never forced. I’m not sure how you do that—walk that line between “wow, you really tried to do something with this description” and “this is a single, effortless, perfect line”—but she did, in a way that clearly holds her character’s journey sacrosanct. Sarah was real to me. I can’t stop thinking about her and praying that she is doing okay. And that’s what makes this a true 5-star read.
P.S. Apparently “Jessica Ward” is a pseudonym (she is a prolific author with more than 20 million books in print, writing as “J.R. Ward”), and this TRULY CHAPS MY ASS. I want to meet her! I want to tell her how much I loved this book! How dare she write something this good anonymously. What a badass.
