Spending a year at a prestigious New England boarding school would have been the dream of little high school me. Teaching for a year at a prestigious New England boarding school probably sounds a little bit more like a nightmare.
It’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy. As the students return it is also the same day that school rankings are published. Amazingly Tiffin has made a seventeen spot jump to number two in the country. Take that Phillips Exeter! Just as everyone begins getting comfortable with their school’s new place at the top, an app called ZipZap appears to threaten the fragile status quo. Shocking blind items are appearing about students and teachers alike and it seems like everyone has a secret to hide.
I’ve read a few of Elin Hilderbrand’s Nantucket based novels and enjoyed them. Netflix’s The Perfect Couple was based on one and was pretty true to her rich people behaving like jerks formula. This is different in setting (private school, not Nantucket) and that she wrote it with her daughter, basing some of the stories on Shelby’s own boarding school experiences. It’s got a little of a Gossip Girl flavor with the anonymous messages and teenage drama but much less sensational. Blair and Serena would eat these children alive. The scandals among the teachers and administrators are much juicier but also made me a little bit sad. It kept me occupied while I was reading it but for pure enjoyment at the antics of the rich and ridiculous I’d probably go for one of her Nantucket novels instead.
And now that I’m thinking back on it the amount of loose threads just completely left dangling in the wind was annoying, even if they’re trying to make this into a series. What’s in the e-mail Elin? What’s in the e-mail?!?
