[Review] Admission - Julie Buxbaum

Summary: 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? (Pub Date: Dec 01, 2020)

 

Chloe leads her normal life, as only someone as privileged could, and is preparing to head to college when her mother is suddenly facing charges of defrauding the admission system for her college. 

 

3.5 rounded up to 4. 

 

The story happens in two timelines, the before the FBI raid in Chloe's house and the present while she faces the risk of her whole family going to prison. I'm not usually a fan of two timelines and I won't say I loved it here but I also think it was a great way to show it all. Chloe is a very oblivious character, but was she really unaware of the whole scheme? Did she know something? What happened to her friends that they're not with her? 

I've read two of Buxbaum's novels and this is probably my least favorite. At the same time, it still held the quality you'd expect from her. It was just not comfortable to follow Chloe's opening her eyes at last, or rather her whole family's. Considering there was a recent scandal involving a real-life actress (as Chloe's mom is), that also made too attached to reality, when I prefer escaping it. It's not that raw, it's still a fluffy read to be honest, but it did make me freak out to watch the family go deeper into the fraud and know it'd come back to bite them. 

For those who like Buxbaum's romances like I do, there is one here and they're as cute as those in her other books, but it's definitely not the focus. 

This book is the kind that is worth reading with a partner or a book club, because it'll be great food for thought. How much can a person know without knowing? And would you stick with a friend who did what Chloe did? Just some examples of discussions this will feed you. It's not your usual feel-good coming-of-age.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 4 out of 5.