Book Review: She Was the Quiet One | Michele Campbell

A dark and twisted book about the complexities of sisterhood and the scandals that can rock a small community! This is my first book I’ve read by Michele Campbell, though I have been wanting to read her first book, It’s Always the Husband, and I really loved it! I read a Q&A with Campbell where she talks about the inspiration behind her first book being her fascination with the concept of frenemies and what the implications are for that type of relationship as they mature. In this book we see the concept of frenemies escalate, as the love and jealousy between two sisters compounds into a complex relationship that ultimately ends in tragedy and scandal.

(What would the mash-up term for sister frenemies be?? I need to put some thought into this…)

Sisterhood is a fantastic and terrifying relationship for a thriller. Sisters love more intensely and also fight more intensely than even best friends do. The bond of sisterhood can so easily be tainted by jealousy. The sisters in this book, Bel and Rose, are fascinating! They both admire and covet a quality in the other, and neglect to appreciate the things about themselves that are enviable.

About the Book

In the wake of their parents’ deaths, teenage twin sisters Bel and Rose are sent by their grandmother to the prestigious boarding school where their parents met, The Odell School. Though the school is full of opportunities, Bel and Rose are having trouble adjusting to the social pressures of boarding school. Rather than drawing the sisters closer together, the school intensifies their ongoing rivalry, ultimately ending in tragedy.

Sarah and Heath seem like the perfect couple: attractive, married with two young kids, former students at The Odell School, and current teachers and dorm supervisors at the school. But all isn’t as perfect as it seems. A group of senior girls has a bet that one of them will seduce Heath by graduation. Heath would never cheat on Sarah, and yet Sarah can’t help but wonder if there is something Heath is keeping from her. Does she really know her husband?

And then scandal rocks The Odell School—one of the sisters has been murdered, and the list of suspects is as long as the school roster. Who had a grudge against the sisters??

Reflection

Given that Bel and Rose are teenagers and the setting is a boarding school, I did wonder if this would verge on a Young Adult novel. It didn’t at all though! While young adult readers may enjoy this book, this is definitely an adult fiction/suspense book. The settings were so fun to read about! Campbell herself lives in a New England college town, so she writes about the school and town very effectively.

Poor Bel and Rose! If these sisters could learn to support one another instead of fighting, what a difference it would make! Of course, in the wake of personal tragedy and the pressures of the social system in the boarding school, these sisters never had a chance. Their rivalry is quickly intensified by the opinions of those around them. The things that make them each unique, Bel’s beauty and Rose’s intelligence, become the weapons they throw at one another. Talk about frenemies!!

Sarah and Heath’s storyline was fascinating. The doubts that they harbor, unspoken in an effort to support one another, almost overwhelm them. Theirs is a marriage that has survived some major hurdles, but what they face this year at The Odell School is beyond anything they’ve experienced. Beware of teenagers with an agenda!!!

This book is not one filled with twists, though the epilogue has a nice little twist that left me smiling as I finished the book. This is a book that is driven by the darkness and suspense of a scandal and the unraveling of a fragile social system as secrets come to light.

I read this book with some of my book besties, Kendall and Holly. We had such a fun time reading and discussing this book! I am excited to see what other readers think. It is completely salacious fiction!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Michele Campbell for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a candid review.