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Disclaimer: I received a free eARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things comes an of-the-moment novel that peeks inside the private lives of the hypercompetitive and the hyperprivileged and takes on the college admissions bribery scandal that rocked the country.

It’s good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer. She’s headed off to the college of her dreams. She’s going to prom with the boy she’s had a crush on since middle school. Her best friend always has her back, and her mom, a B-list Hollywood celebrity, may finally be on her way to the B+ list. It’s good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer–at least, it was, until the FBI came knocking on her front door, guns at the ready, and her future went up in smoke. Now her mother is under arrest in a massive college admissions bribery scandal. Chloe, too, might be facing charges, and even time behind bars. The public is furious, the press is rabid, and the US attorney is out for blood.

As she loses everything she’s long taken for granted, Chloe must reckon not only with the truth of what happened, but also with the examination of her own guilt. Why did her parents think the only way for her to succeed was to cheat for her? What did she know, and when did she know it? And perhaps most importantly, what does it mean to be complicit?

Goodreads

I’m a huge fan of YA contemporaries that tackle current social issues and offer a different perspective to the parties involved (heLLo Angie Thomas and Melissa de La Cruz), and that’s the reason I picked up this ARC!

Admission revolves around the buildup to, and the aftermath of, the 2019 college admissions scandal. As a college student myself who attends a very well regarded university and witnessed the reaction of other college students when this scandal hit the news, I was curious to see if this book could offer a different perspective than the ones I heard.

The fictional novel follows Chloe Berringer, a girl admitted to a prestigious university in Southern California as a result of her parents participating in the scheme. It’s told in dual timelines; her life before the scandal breaks, and her life after she opens the door during her senior year of high school to find the FBI waiting to arrest her mother.

Overall, I thought Buxbaum artfully told a story that sparked the feelings of discomfort, anxiety, fear, anger, and helplessness felt by not just the outside world, but also by the students and families involved in the scandal, a perspective that I hadn’t really considered.

Admission was a testament to how we can bounce back from the darkest times in our life, and come back stronger than ever. Even when we think there’s no light at the end of the tunnel and we’ve hit rock bottom, things can get better if we accept responsibility for our actions and thoughts, and have a desire to overcome adversity. We’re all ignorant about our flaws sometimes, and oftentimes it’s only after a life-changing event that we realize what they are and how we need to change to be who we want to be.

Reading this book was uncomfortable and a bit stressful at times, in a way that made me just want to get through it, but looking back I think it was meant to be that way because those feelings exactly capture the situation. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to further explore the scandal and its implications, or anyone intersted in a story about overcoming challenging and the bravery it takes to admit to one’s truth.

Admission‘s release date is December 1, 2020, and you can pre-order and read more about the book using the links at the top of this page! Are you excited to read Admission? Any thoughts on the cover? I’d love to hear what you think about this book down below!

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Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day ❤