whitneydaniell

by: Joelle Wellington
published: Jul 25, 2023
genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery
416 Pages, Hardcover
GoodReads Link

When The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor. This is the GoodReads synopsis:

Adina Walker has known this the entire time she’s been on scholarship at the prestigious Edgewater Academy—a school for the rich (and mostly white) upper class of New England. It’s why she works so hard to be perfect and above reproach, no matter what she must force beneath the surface.

One fight, one moment of lost control, leaves Adina blacklisted from her top choice Ivy League college and any other. Her only chance to regain the future she’s sacrificed everything for is the Finish, a high-stakes contest sponsored by Edgewater’s founding family in which twelve young, ambitious women with exceptional promise are selected to compete.

But when she arrives at the Finish, Adina quickly gets the feeling that something isn’t quite right with both the Remingtons and her competition, and soon it becomes clear that this larger-than-life prize can only come at an even greater cost. Because the Finish’s stakes aren’t just make or break…they’re life and death.

GoodReads

I was so excited to read this book! It’s been on my TBR for months. From the cover to the description – and it didn’t hurt that it was written by a black woman – I knew I was buying as soon as this book hit my B&N. If you read my July recap, you know that I was on a book-buying strike for July, so I got started a day late this month. This book was so good that I couldn’t put it down and finished in a solid 24 hours.

Let’s jump right into it!

I. Characters — We get 34 chapters and an epilogue all from the protagonist, Adina’s point of view.

Adina who has recently graduated from high school, had big plans to attend Yale University in the fall. However, after a fight with another student – a student whose parents are wealthy and powerful, Adina’s acceptance to all of her choice colleges was rescinded. In a last-ditch effort to get her future back on track, she vies for a spot in a competition for women, put on by (another) uber-wealthy family, called the Finish. Unbeknownst to Adina, this competition is not based on merit or knowledge but is based on desperation and terror.

Through Adina’s story, you get the jest of the many microaggressions that people of color swallow every day when in predominately white spaces. Adina is a young woman of color in a posh school, with the children of the ultra-wealthy who live in sprawling estates and have summer and winter homes. Adina is neither ultra-wealthy nor, posh but she can move in these spaces with the help of her white friends. However, when her white friends find that her accomplishments outshine their own, she is ousted from the group. Again, this tale is as old as time. Adina may be a high-school student dealing with the woes of “mean girls” or “cliques” but, to people of color, this is real life. This is workplace animosity, this is “affirmative action” taunts on Ivy League campuses, this is, “you’re so well-spoken” dog whistles. I could go on and on. To put it lightly, Adina had to be twice as good, to get half of what her classmates had.

A few notable characters:

• Toni – the ride-or-die that we all need. Sadly, I was waiting for her to be a snake in the grass (Charles, I mean, come on) but, so glad that she was who we all should want in our corner.
• Graham – Ohhhhkaaaaay white boy. He still gets a double side-eye from me but, I appreciate his efforts.
• Saint – Proud of you but, you and Adina cannot be each other’s therapist.
• Leighton – I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you! #Tyra (you had to be there).

II. The Story / Plot

What did I say before? The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor. Now that threw me for a loop. I do not like to mix romance with my murder; I like my murder, straight up – no chaser. In this case, I could have done without the idea that these women have to fight to the death for the attention and affection of a man. YUCK. Without giving away too much, I also would have liked to see more skill from the games and the girls. I also would have liked to see, less time spent on dinners and repartee, and more time on the games.

Much like Adina’s whole story and backstory, the games also seem like they could be a metaphor for how women fight (sometimes to the death) for the attention of men. This reminds me of the now uber-famous quote by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,

We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man.

Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.

The young women of The Finish are the best of the best; the smartest, the wealthy, the beautiful, the savvy, the innovative, the ones who will change the world, with or without a man. But somehow, these women believe that their only way to success is through The Finish – that’s sad.

III. The Writing

Quick, easy read. The chapters are a good size, not too long and drawn out. For a “young adult” book, the dialogue was spot on, I felt like 18-somethings would be saying the words on the pages. I also appreciate that there is not a lot of current slang or mention of social media, or other verbiage that could date the book and story. As this book ages, I think that the writing will age well. **Sometimes when the writer has slang or sayings that are popular in the “now”, or mentions of technology that could be outdated in 3-4 years, it dates the book as it ages.**

Final Thought: I didn’t hate it. Granted, it is marketed as YA, meaning I was only going to get but so much murder and gore (still would have liked a bit more) but, I didn’t hate it. Written by a black woman – check! The story is about a black woman – check! That’s all I need to buy it and read it. Would I recommend it? Yes.

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