Great premise, hooray for a boarding school book! Unfortunately, I thought it was the first in a series/trilogy, or at least would have a sequel and it doesn’t appear to be. Normally I prefer that books not be set up for sequels, but I felt like this was just getting going and I couldn’t wait to see how the girls would get through school and seek further revenge on the fairy tale like horrible stepmothers responsible for them being there. I definitely feel like the stepmothers did not get what they deserve.
Quick summary: three girls end up with dreadful stepmothers and get packed off to an idyllic New England boarding school. Not friends at first they discover what they have in common. Although the girls make reference to how they are like the girls in fairy tales, there is no magic or fairy tale stuff in here (though it seems that the evil stepmothers must be casting spells over their silly fathers to make them act the way they do.)
I really enjoyed this.
Boarding school! Author (of adult books) I like! I was so excited when I saw this and I’m pleased to report it did not disappoint. Maybe not knock your socks off, but it was a good story, rich with contemporary boarding school details, and what’s more, I thought it was a great book appropriate for younger YAs. As I’ve mentioned before I think it can sometimes be difficult to find stuff like that. Not every kid is going to be a hit with the boys, or act like a Gossip Girl, and although there is a romance in here, it is a very beginner type realistic romance. I would certainly recommend this along with My Life in Pink and Green for those who don’t want a whole lot of sex/drama (though this is for a slightly older age group, I think.) The quirky/smart factor in here is great-Viola makes movies. Her parents are documentary film makers and she herself loves to film things. In fact, her filmmaker parents are what got her stuck in boarding school in the first place. 
This is a 
I am fresh off finishing this book just an hour ago and the main thought still in my head is, “Why can’t anyone just write a single book anymore? Is 400 pages really not enough to tell your story in?” I was so caught up in this but suddenly it hit me two pages from the end–”huh, there’s no way everything is getting wrapped up in 2 pages, dammit! this is being set up as a the first in a series/trilogy” It’s just maddening. I felt the same way about Hunger Games. OK, enough of the rant, because this was a super and imaginative novel. A words about how I acquired this book–the other day I found myself with nothing to read (which is foolish I realized because I have stacks of “to be read” books in the house and I literally just forgot about them) and I asked Paul to go ahead and surprise me and just bring something home. He brought me this and Shift (which I’m about 2/3 of the way through and it’s also awesome.) I looked at the cover of The Explosionist and said “Is this set in a boarding school?” and sure enough it was. 
