Seton Girls by Charlene Thomas

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I kept debating on whether I wanted to read Seton Girls but a mutual who loved had me feeling FOMO. Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me a finished copy in exchange for review.

Aly goes to Seton, an elite private school with her boyfriend J who plays on the JV football team. This is one of those towns where football is everything and the boys on the team can do no wrong. For J this team and this school is his opportunity to a better life through the prospect of a college football scholarship. For Aly she's just along for the ride with him. When the head of the varsity football team is accused of sexual assault and Aly becomes friends with the accuser, the façade of everything Seton represents starts to crumble before her eyes.

I left Seton Girls with mixed emotions. I do think Charlene Thomas has a lot of potential as a writer and when I was engaged I was engaged. However upon reflection, so much of this book requires suspension of belief and when I thought back to the events in the book not enough made sense with the big scandal. The pacing meant that then the ending was rushed along. After being vaguely discussed for so much of the book when the scandal was finally revealed, we didn't get the chance to really watch things play out. 

Telling the story through the eyes of Aly when Britt is the victim meant we as readers were in a way both detached from Aly and Britt at times.  There was way too much repetition in the beginning of the book with the teens attending parties and drinking every weekend and some of that time could've been spent showing more of Aly and J outside of the football world and Seton. Because unlike Britt who lived in Seton-proper Aly and J lived an hour away in a different type of neighborhood. And at the end of the story we're supposed to believe in the love that they had for each other but I had doubts because we saw little of their relationship. The exploration of their relationship and Aly's identity outside of it should've come in earlier than it did. It was also very noticeable to me that no one's parents seemed to really be involved outside of some quick mentions. And with what they were dealing with that parental presence was needed for support.

It was an intriguing story and while I appreciated the support the girl's gave each other there was more that could've been done and the conversations could've gone further.