[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
In most high schools, the kids at the top of the social food chain are the jocks – the football or basketball players, the cheerleaders. Not at Eaganville. At Eaganville, it’s the Speech and Debate team.
The varsity Speech stars can do no wrong. They will verbally eviscerate another student in class, and the teachers are silent. Teachers offer breaks on class assignments. The teacher’s lounge is like their clubhouse for lunch. They are in the spotlight of the school culture, bright and shiny. They are also catty and cruel. Their coach is esteemed by administration, parents, and colleagues. He’s a winner. And he makes sure the team wins, too. Even if that means he is catty, and cruel as well.
And Sydney is determined to join the team.
Not because she wants to be one of them. Sure, she’s loved to argue her whole life. She’s clever and witty with a sharp sense of humor and plenty of snark. But she wants to join the Eaganville Speech team for the joy of taking them down once and for all, from the inside.
Review
Wow! This was great!! The writing is SO sharp – quick, and snappy. You can hear the rhythm of the debates in the early attacks on Sydney and her friends. It was like reading an Aaron Sorkin West Wing walk-and-talk. I was hooked by the writing. I have to find out what else this author has written.
On top of that, this is SO funny!! I was screenshotting sections and texting them to my husband in another part of the house because they begged to be shared. Between Sydney’s job and the pop culture references, I was in love with this story.
A revenge story – for me – has to be compelling. I need to feel the anger rise up in me, the righteous indignation. I need to feel the fictional vengeance is necessary or justified. (Moxie is a great example of this.) Because otherwise, the revenge acts are just as wrong, just as mean. And when it comes to the coach, that happened. He needed to be dealt with here, and pursuing the proper channels went no where. And his part of the ending was satisfying.
The students’ behavior wasn’t as strong for me. Yes, they were snide and condescending. Yes, some of them were cruel to Sydney’s friends to varying degrees. But those stories happened mostly before Sydney was even there. She didn’t witness them or live through them. Since she is the only point of view character, there was an emotional distance to those stories. It made complete sense for her to be hurt for her new friends, to recognize the wrong-ness of how they were treated. But the emotional punch wasn’t there for me as I considered what drove Sydney to revenge.
There’s is so, so much to love with this book. Yes, I wanted a stronger motive for Sydney to take down the team, but everything else here was absolute perfection for me as a reader. If you enjoy sharp, witty stories with amazing writing, be sure to check this one out! (Language, underage drinking, sexual references, LGBTQ+)