Review- New Girl

Title: New Girl
Author: Page Harbison
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC compliments of Harlequin and NetGalley

A contemporary young-adult retelling inspired by the classic 1938 romantic suspense bestseller Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

They call me 'New Girl'...

Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.

Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy. And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.

Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend…but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.

And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back.

My thoughts: 

New Girl was definitely an interesting book to read. Half the story is told from Becca’s point of view before she goes missing and the other half is told from “new girl’s” point of view who essentially replaces Becca at the private boarding school. As soon a “new girl” arrives, most of the student body snubs her because they’re upset that the school was so quick to replace Becca’s spot. Now, I didn’t go to a boarding school nor did I got to public school so I find it very hard to believe that all the students break curfew, drink, do drugs, have casual sex and break the rules all willy nilly. I guess I was a really good teenager.

The author does not reveal the main character’s first name and she is referred to, throughout the whole book, as “new girl”. It’s supposed to be this big to-do where her name is finally revealed in one of the last pages. So when her name is finally revealed I think to myself, “wait, that’s not her name, I thought her name was something else”, not realizing that she had been referred to as “new girl” the whole book. So that point was lost on me.

Even though I liked the book and I thought the story was interesting, I felt like the mystery lessened towards the end. I really love books that completely catch me off guard and blow me away with the “who done it” at the end. But I had pretty much guessed what had happened by the end. I’m giving New Girl 2 hearts because I thought the characters were unrealistic and I pretty much guessed the mystery.