From the author of It’s Always the Husband comes a riveting new suspense novel about privilege, power, and what happens when we let ambition take control. For Rose Enright, enrolling in a prestigious New England boarding school is the opportunity of a lifetime. But for Rose’s vulnerable twin sister Bel, Odell Academy is a place of temptation and danger. When Bel falls in with a crowd of wild … with a crowd of wild rich kids who pressure her into hazing Rose, the sisters’ relationship is shattered. Rose turns to her dorm mother, Sarah Donovan, for advice. But Bel turns to Sarah’s husband Heath, a charismatic and ambitious teacher. Is Heath trying to help Bel or take advantage of her? In a world of privilege, seduction, and manipulation, only one sister will live to tell the truth.
In a novel full of twists, turns, and dark secrets, Michele Campbell once again proves her skill at crafting intricately spun and completely compelling plots.
Praise for She Was the Quiet One:
“Campbell’s skillful characterization and her shocking final twist make this follow-up to It’s Always the Husband well worthwhile. Readers who enjoyed Simone St. James’ boarding-school mystery, The Broken Girls, should give this a try.” —Booklist
Praise for It’s Always the Husband:
“Twists, turns, and a puzzling mix of suspects . . . will keep readers turning the pages.” —Booklist
“An intriguing whodunit that examines the explosive potential of secrets to destroy friendships, marriages, and lives . . . a page-turner.” —Kirkus Reviews
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My first book from this author, an I really enjoyed it. I love suspense thrillers and this one certainly didn’t disappoint. I had parts of the storyline figured out before the ending, but the epilogue was certainly a surprise. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends.
Wow! This book was a page-turner. Full of suspense, mystery and great characters. I first thought that this was going to be like a mean girls type of read but it ended up being more than that. The writing is so well done that it kept me guessing, and the twist at the end was quite a surprise. I really enjoyed this one. This is the first book by Michele Campbell that I have read and now I must read her first book.
3.5 Stars. I have had my eye on this book for a while now, the synopsis really caught my attention. Michele Campbell is a new to me author, and I was really excited to start reading this book. It all played out like a movie you can’t stop watching. Twin girls who have become orphaned, now living with their extremely wealthy grandmother who ships them off to the same boarding school their father went to and his father before him, etc. A young married couple who come to the school to be the dorm heads of one of the girl’s dorms. The dorm with the worst reputation at the school, with girls doing all sorts of things that are against school rules.
I have to admit that by chapter 2, I had guessed who committed the murder. But this author was new to me, so I dedicated myself to leaving my thoughts on the back burner until I had read the whole book. Michele does a great job of trying to lead the reader astray, filling the book with red herrings to keep us on our toes, questioning if we really know who is doing what. There’s a lot of things that happen that look so straightforward at first, until new light is shed on the circumstances, and then nothing looks so cut and dry anymore.
This book is labeled as a women’s fiction book, but it is also very heavy in the YA category. There’s a whole lot of the “mean girls” feel and some unrequited love going on. Twin sisters who have lost everything and are just trying to fit in, each in their own way. One sister falls in with the wrong crowd, and starts doing a whole lot of stuff she knows she shouldn’t be doing, but she just wants to be accepted.
On the other side of all this is the husband and wife team who are advising the girls in the dorm. Their seemingly perfect family life is not at all what it seems on the surface, and their new positions at the school are like a second chance for them to rise out of the ashes of their previous life and reach the goals they’ve set for themselves. Only, apparently, their goals are not lining up anymore.
The storyline kept me engaged for the most part, but I admit the book dragged in some places for me, and I was anxious to get past some sections that didn’t seem essential to the plot so I could get back to the meat and potatoes of the story. I did really like the way the chapters were set up. I won’t explain that, I will leave that to readers to figure out.
Overall, I enjoyed this story. I liked the mystery of who was doing what, the way Michele cast dispersions so you weren’t 100% sure of what to believe. Ultimately when the story ended, I had been correct about who the murderer was, but I did second guess myself a few times along the way. I’m off now to see what other books Michele has published so I can read them too!
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this ACR book.
I throughly enjoyed reading this book from start to finish. It had a bit of it all. Sisters who are at odds with each other, students who are sneaky and up to no good in my opinion and the teacher who uses the young girls.
A must read. I loved it.
The blurb for this one promises twists, turns, and dark secrets. It is an interesting story, and there are plenty of dark secrets, but I didn’t find much in the way of twists and turns. Instead, most of it was rather predictable, especially the killer’s identity in spite of a few decent red herrings. A few things were a stretch on the believability scale, but a lot were necessary for flow and plot so could be easily overlooked. The exception to that came toward the end – first, with the twins’ grandmother and her change in personality. I just didn’t buy it. The other was the epilogue, and while I can understand wanting to wrap everything up with a neat little bow, it was just over the top. Sadly, it was also the only real twist in the book. As the setting for the story is a boarding school, quite a bit of it revolves around teenage angst, primarily that of Rose and Bel, but that was expected given the storyline. At the end of the day, it did hold my interest, but I was disappointed in the complete predictability of it all.
After being orphaned at the age of 15, twin sisters, Bel and Rose, move across the country to live with their rich, paternal grandmother. Unfortunately, she seems disinterested and ships them off to the same prestigious boarding school their father attended. The twins should have been closer than ever after losing their mom to cancer (and their dad when they were five), but instead, the rift between them only grows bigger while they are away at school. But, was the rift big enough to cause one of them to murder the other?
”The only quiet woman is a dead one.” – Sylvia Plath
Meanwhile, Sarah and Heath Donovan and their young children moved into Moreland Hall after being hired as dorm heads to put a stop to the recent shenanigans at the girls’ dorm. Will this position help English teacher Donovan realize his ambitious dream of becoming headmaster? How far will he go to achieve his lofty goal?
“Sometimes we don’t know people as well as we think we do.”
There was sooo much drama in this book, and I loved it. Boarding school drama. Twin sister drama. Friendship drama. Marriage drama. So much twisty drama that it kept me guessing until the very end about who was dead and why. Who was the murderer, and why did he/she commit such a heinous act? And, who the heck was Anonymouse, and why was he/she stirring the oh-so-dramatic pot? Read this twisty tale to find out!
I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Location: New Hampshire and Connecticut
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
She Was the Quiet One by Michele Campbel is a well written mystery story with a knock your socks off plot, that will keep you page turning until the wee hours of the morning! You’ll have to get a score card though, because there are lots of well written characters with big personalities through out the book.
With the tragic death of their mother, twin sisters Rose and Bel Enright are sent to off to The Odell elite boarding school by rich Paternal Grandmother. After all, it’s a family tradition, going back decades.
Both girls are very different to one another..Rose smart and studious and Bel wants to be liked and in with the popular crowd ..wants to be where the action is!. When Bel gets in way too deep with ‘the wrong crowd’ this mystery drama turns messy, causing the twins too turn against one another, and kids at school to take sides! With lies, chaos,and murder you’ll be in the edge of your seat waiting for the next move!
For what happens….. you’ll have to get a copy of this awesome book of your own and plan on a sleepless night or two! Gets a firm 5 stars!
“She Was the Quiet One” by Michele Campbell is a captivating, intriguing and intense novel. The Genres for this Novel are Fiction, Mystery, Suspense and Thriller. The timeline for this story is mostly the present and goes back to the past only when it pertains to the characters or events of the story. The setting of the story is mostly in The Odell School, a private, New Hampshire boarding school.
The author describes the characters as complex, and complicated. Rose and Bel Enright are fraternal twin sisters that are now orphans, and are sent by their grandmother to The Odell School. Both sisters are as different as night and day. At the prestigious boarding school, there are some groups of students that don’t abide by the rules. The senior students in this group are mean and cruel and bully and belittle the younger students. They have a negative attitude and a feeling of entitlement. .One of the sisters is immediately accepted into this group, even though she is younger.This strains the relationship with the other twin. What is even worse, is that this group is determined to alienate both sisters from each other.
The school has hired the Donovans, both teachers with young children to supervise and help control the bad influence and character at the school. Mr. Donovan has a magnetic and charismatic personality, and the students love him. Mrs. Donovan is more reserved. They have hidden past secrets. Mr. Donovan’s goal is to be the Headmaster of the school, and he is extremely ambitious.
Many of the characters are suspicious. There are twists and turns, betrayals and lies. Some of the characters are ambitious, jealous, insecure, and unbalanced. Everything is not what it seems to be, and everyone is not who they seem to be. All these factors lead to disaster and tragedy.
I would recommend this edgy novel for those readers who enjoy suspenseful mysteries and thrillers. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.
Loved:
The storyline.
Intermittent viewpoints.
How the story went back and forth between the investigation and the story.
The added epilogue was a nice little party favor; I’ll call it:)
In my opinion:
Could have been written with more mystery.
I craved more action/story after the ending climax.
The story seemed to tie up all it’s loose ends too quickly, which made more than one of the characters not as believable anymore.
This book fell just a little short for me, I could see it written perfectly with maybe a little more storyline and mystery, but I did enjoy trying to piece together who the killer was until it gave it away a little too bluntly. Even after that, I wanted to see how everyone’s lives played out, but like I said it was wrapped up quickly. Being disappointed at that, the epilogue was a nice little kick.
I struggled to decide whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars, and I went with 4 because sometimes during mysteries they are so complicated, I miss things or don’t understand, and this was all laid out, so I can’t complain. Even though there are things I envision could be better, I had fun reading this book and it was enjoyable.
Thank you, author-Michele Campbell, publisher-St. Martin’s Press, and the Goodreads Giveaway Program for this free print copy I won in exchange for my honest review. Thank you also for the adorable, awesome little tote that promotes the author’s first book which is so smart marketing wise, that came with my copy of She was the Quiet One. I truly love it!
The twins have lost both parents and have gone to live with their grandmother who quickly ships them off to boarding school. That is where all of the good stuff starts. As students pick out the twins they are separated by the friends they choose and the actions they take. That’s where it begins, hazing and ridiculing, targeting and more. There is plenty of intrigue and the author chooses to go back and forth from the past to the present during the police investigation.
I loved the premise of this book and it really is well written and a great read but I got tired of the back and forth and it felt drawn out out at one point. I am not a person who enjoys all of the teen angst and it probably would have been better received by a younger audience. I really wanted to love it but I found myself looking to see how much was left. While it was a bit much for me this is perfect for YA’s. I just happen to be of an age that it’s just over the top. There were plenty of twist and turns and plenty of deception. As the truth comes out there are surprises. I haven’t read this author before but this wont stop me. I do like her style and the intrigue I just think this one missed the mark for me and 3.5 stars is all I can do.
This is a story about twin sisters, one good one and one bad one. Bel and Rose are ophaned and soon they are sent to a boarding school and soon become enemies. They fight over boys and friends. Sarah and her husband Heath run the school, soon their lives will intercede with accusations, lies, warning signs. Heath will do anything to become headmaster. Will he do it to cover up a murder? Is he having an affair with one of the twins? Sarah suspects so and soon pictures from a cell although hazy may confirm her suspicions. Her husband is very handsome and secretive. This book keeps you guessing. It has a great story line and makes you want to keep reading. Which twin died and will the other sister be charged with her murder? I kept trying to figure out the killer but it was not who I thought.
The cover is beautiful and I also received a tote. I look forward to reading Ms. Campbell’s next book. It’s Always The Husband.
chapter 46 ended abruptly but I was able to figure it out.
Thank you Good Read Giveaways and St. Martin’s Press for this page turner.
As with her first book, It’s Always The Husband, Ms. Campbell weaves a tale that will have you swearing you know what’s going to happen, and feeling pretty proud of yourself. Then, in the last chapter, throw it all out the window. Love the writing style, and detail. This book had great characters….at times you wanted to shake them, yell at them, hug them. So appreciate the details in her writing.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.