We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan
Grade: B+
Release date: August 21, 2018
An e-galley was provided by Random House via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: Mischa Abramavicius is a walking, talking, top-scoring, perfectly well-rounded college application in human form. So when she's rejected not only by the Ivies, but her loathsome safety school, she is shocked and devastated. All the sacrifices her mother made to send her to prep school, the late nights cramming for tests, the blatantly resume-padding extracurriculars (read: Students for Sober Driving) ... all that for nothing.
As Mischa grapples with the prospect of an increasingly uncertain future, she questions how this could have happened in the first place. Is it possible that her transcript was hacked? With the help of her best friend and sometimes crush, Nate, and a group of eccentric techies known as "The Ophelia Syndicate," Mischa launches an investigation that will shake the quiet community of Blanchard Prep to its stately brick foundations.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: We Regret to Inform You has been kind of slipping under the radar. Not a lot of bloggers have talked about it, and it's not getting a lot of hype, like some other August titles. And I'm surprised. It was nice to go into the story, not knowing what to expect, but also it was terrifying. Yet, there was nothing to be scared of.
WRtIY has a good voice. Mischa is a strong narrator who kept me interested from the get-go. She's mature but still teenager-y. (For example, she doesn't tell her mom about her grades being hacked for a very long time.) Also, can I just say I shipped her and Nate from the get-go? There were never any serious communication issues between them, and yeah, they have a fight at one point, but both apologize the next day and move past it. The Ophelia Syndicate is a well-rounded group of girls, although some of their background details still felt too surface to me. (Also, I really wish their group's name had been talked about in more than one scene.) Meredith Dorsay was a layered character, which I appreciated. She felt gray in good ways; there was no excuse for how she treated Mischa, but she also helped do the right thing at the end (although mostly for selfish reasons).
The plot moved along at a good speed. There were several points where I was sad to have to put the book down and go to work or sleep. The beginning takes a couple chapters, but then it really gets going.
Content warnings: Making out. It's suggested at one point that a teacher has relationships with two different students.
The Verdict: I'm happy to inform you that this book was a hit.
Will I be adding this book to my library?: Possibly.
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