A whip-smart psychological thriller from the author of Good as Gone (a New York Times Notable Book), in which a grad student becomes embroiled in a deadly rivalry that changes her into someone unrecognizable to her struggling family, her ambitious academic friends, and even herself Claire “Mac” Woods–a professor enjoying her newfound hotshot status at an academic conference–finally has the … newfound hotshot status at an academic conference–finally has the acceptance and admiration she has long craved. But at the conference’s hotel bar, Mac is surprised to run into a face from a past she’d rather forget: the moneyed, effortlessly perfect Gwendolyn Whitney, Mac’s foil, rival, and former best friend.
When Gwen moved to town in high school, Claire–then known as Mac, a poor kid from a troubled family who had too much on her plate–saw what it meantto have. Money, sophistication, culture, the very blueprints to success. Mac had almost nothing, except the will to change. Change she did, habitually grinding herself to work as hard as straight-A Gwen, even eventually getting admitted into the same elite graduate program as Gwen. But then Mac and Gwen become entangled with the department’s power-couple professors and compete head-to-head for a life changing fellowship. The more twisted the track toward success becomes, the more Mac has to contort herself to stay one step ahead–which deception signals the point of no return?
Jack-knifing between Mac’s world-expanding graduate days and the crucible of the hotel and its unexpected guests, Bad Habits follows Mac’s reckoning between her hardscrabble past and tenuous present. What, exactly, did Mac do to get what she has today? And what will she do to keep it? With taut, powerful prose, Amy Gentry asks how far we’ll go to get what we want–and whether we can ever truly leave the past behind.
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Bad Habits is a psychological thriller about 2 best friends turned rivals. Mac and Gwen come from two worlds. Mac’s father left the family when she was young, but always told his daughter that she was a princess and the world was hers. But when he left, Mac, her mother, and her sister, Lily, struggled with making ends meet, and Mac left her world of beauty pageants behind.
In high school, Mac meets smart, beautiful, and wealthy Gwen. Against all odds, they become best friends. Gwen inspires Mac to push herself, because Mac believed her dad-that the world is hers, and she will do what she can to capture it.
After high school, Gwen and Mac are accepted into the same elite graduate program. But when a fellowship is on the line, what will they do to win it?
Fast forward 10 years to a hotel where the two former best friends meet again and review the night that changed their lives and their friendship, and finally admit what happened and realize what some people will do to get what they want.
Chilling.
With two very unlikable main characters, the novel is surprisingly gripping in its plot development and pacing.
Once again, Amy Gentry has written a book I could not put down. BAD HABITS is a rich, compelling story about ambition, privilege, and the toxicity threaded through academia. The protagonist, Mac, was born without the wealth or advantages of her best friend, Gwen, but when she follows Gwen to grad school, she believes she will finally carve a place for herself among the elite. What she finds, instead, is a tortuous program, shifting allegiances, and dangerous mind games. All of it comes to a head one night when tragedy strikes—or is orchestrated—creating a memory that Mac works to put behind her for the next ten years. But the past comes roaring back when she runs into Gwen again, and old secrets threaten to upend the successful career that Mac has built for herself. This book is filled with deliciously complex characters, each with layers upon layers that keep revealing themselves right up to the final page. Amy’s writing is impeccable, each sentence sharp and precise, cutting to the bone every time. I really enjoyed the narrative structure of the book—cutting back and forth between the past (Mac’s time in “the Program”) and the present (scenes at a hotel where Mac is forced to confront what she’s tried to bury). Both storylines are taut with tension, intersecting in ways that skillfully illuminate the novel’s themes. If you love dark academia, you will devour this book.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Goodreads FirstReads, for my e-Arc.
Attending an academic conference, Humanities professor, Claire “Mac” Woods is riding high on her reputation, until she spots…her, Gwen. Gwendolyn Whitney. They have a history.
They first met in high school when Gwen moved to Wheatsville, IL with her family. Because of their last names, they were in the same home room. But, that’s where their similarity ends. Gwen was everything Mac was not : wealthy, elegant, intelligent, and cultured, it all came so easy to her. She was a “have.” Whereas Mac, burdened by poverty, an addict mom, and special-needs sister was, decidedly, a “have-not.” Still, they became unlikely friends.
But, what Mac did have was drive and ambition. She worked herself to the bone to keep up with Gwen. Ultimately, both were granted admission to the same top graduate program and…competed for the same coveted fellowship.
The Joyner fellowship could transform their career and, in turn, their life. But there is a price. Is it worth it? Will they be willing to pay? How much? Even Mac and Gwen themselves don’t know.
The plot shifts in time and setting from their teenage years in Wheatsville, to graduate school at Dwight Handler University and finally to the SkyLoft Hotel, venue of the academic conference, depicting the changes in their careers and relationship dynamic.
The blurb, setting, and genre of this book drew me in so I was excited to get the opportunity to read and review it. Although the book had its moments, I thought it was just ok. The wordiness and excessive jargon slowed the pace and made the story feel long.
Wow! In BAD HABITS Amy Gentry deftly explores power struggles and their subtle—and not so subtle—shifts and consequences. As the truth of what happened one night a decade ago claws its way to the surface you’ll be switching your allegiances from left to right and back again. Whip-smart, and beautifully written, BAD HABITS is one hell of an exploration of what can happen when friendship tangos with an insatiable appetite for success and control. This novel is unexpected, surprising and has a diabolical ending I won’t forget any time soon.