The Academy Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Gossip Girl Goes to Boarding School and Everyone Needs Better Life Choices
Author: Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
Suicide
Bullying
Eating disorder/disordered eating
Teacher-student relationship
Alcohol abuse
Drinking in secret
Substance use
Infidelity
Sexual content
Sexual harassment
Addiction
Grief
Homophobia
Cursing
📚 The Academy Review
🚨 Spoiler Warning: This review contains major spoilers, including the ending. 🚨
I had a really good time with The Academy.
Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for anything involving boarding schools, academia, prestige, secrets, and messy interpersonal drama, but this book absolutely worked for me. It felt like someone took a fancy New England boarding school, threw in a giant bucket of gossip, mixed in some questionable life decisions, and then hit publish.
And honestly? I was entertained the entire time.
This book reminded me a lot of Gossip Girl, which is absolutely a compliment coming from me. There are wealthy students, complicated friendships, secret relationships, betrayals, rumors, scandals, and enough drama to fuel several school years instead of just one.
The best part is that there isn't just one storyline. There are about a million things happening at once.
We've got:
📱 Anonymous gossip apps
🍸 Secret underground drinking clubs
❤️ Love triangles
🚩 Teacher-student relationships
🏳️🌈 Secret same-sex relationships
🎓 College admissions pressure
🤖 Students cheating with ChatGPT
💔 Grief and loss
👀 Rich people behaving badly
It's a lot.
But somehow it never felt overwhelming.
🏫 Plot Summary
The story takes place at Tiffin Academy, an elite New England boarding school that suddenly jumps from #19 to #2 in the national boarding school rankings.
Head of School Audre Robinson should be thrilled, but she's already dealing with the aftermath of a student's suicide from the previous year and privately suspects the ranking may have been influenced by wealthy donor Jesse "Big East" Eastman.
The novel follows a large cast of students and faculty throughout the school year.
One of the main students is Charley, a new arrival still grieving her father's death and struggling with her mother's remarriage. She's quiet, bookish, and initially keeps to herself.
Then she meets East Eastman, the charismatic son of the school's biggest donor.
Because every boarding school apparently needs an underground speakeasy.
East discovers an abandoned bomb shelter beneath campus and decides that the logical response is to transform it into a secret bar called Priorities.
As one does.
Charley helps him with the project and gradually falls for him.
Meanwhile, young history teacher Simone is trying to find her footing at the school. She's only twenty-four and already feeling overwhelmed. Things get significantly worse when East begins pursuing her.
And unfortunately, she responds.
Repeatedly.
While all this is happening, an anonymous gossip app called Zip Zap appears on campus. Students begin posting rumors, secrets, and private information about everyone from classmates to faculty members.
Nobody is safe.
Every secret becomes potential entertainment.
Every mistake becomes public knowledge.
And chaos spreads through the school.
🍿 The Drama Never Stops
One thing I really appreciated was how many different storylines felt genuinely interesting.
I was invested in:
Charley and East's relationship
Davi's struggle with disordered eating
The anonymous Zip Zap posts
The secret relationship between Cordelia and Honey
Simone's increasingly disastrous choices
The mystery surrounding who was exposing everyone's secrets
There was always something happening.
I also liked that some characters felt very real.
There were characters I loved.
There were characters I wanted to shake.
There were characters I completely understood even when they were making terrible decisions.
That's usually a good sign.
😬 Simone: Girl, What Are We Doing?
Can we talk about Simone for a second?
Because WOW.
At first I felt bad for her.
She's young.
She's insecure.
She's trying to prove herself.
Then she starts making one bad decision after another.
Then another.
Then another.
Then somehow finds a shovel and starts digging even deeper.
Watching her spiral into jealousy, alcoholism, and obsession became one of the most fascinating parts of the book.
I couldn't look away.
Like watching someone confidently drive toward a giant "BRIDGE OUT" sign while insisting everything is under control.
🤖 The Most 2025 Boarding School Ever
One thing that made this feel modern was how it incorporated current issues.
The students aren't just dealing with typical teen drama.
They're dealing with social media influence, anonymous apps, online reputations, academic pressure, and even using ChatGPT to cheat.
Some books try way too hard to feel contemporary and end up sounding painfully out of touch.
This one mostly avoided that problem.
The technology and social dynamics felt believable.
🎭 Who Was Behind Zip Zap?
Eventually the school discovers that students Levi and Grady from the newspaper have been using hacked school information to fuel the anonymous gossip posts.
Once they're exposed, the app's influence begins to fade.
But the damage has already been done.
Friendships have been destroyed.
Secrets have been exposed.
Trust has completely eroded.
Basically, exactly what you'd expect from a school-wide anonymous gossip app.
💥 The Ending Explained
The biggest storyline comes crashing down when Simone's inappropriate relationship with East is finally exposed.
After becoming increasingly jealous of East's relationship with Charley, Simone spirals further into drinking and reckless behavior.
East secretly records a conversation between them that clearly proves their relationship happened.
The recording eventually reaches school leadership.
When confronted, Simone admits the relationship.
Audre immediately fires her.
Honestly, there was really no other outcome possible.
By graduation, rumors about Simone and East are everywhere.
When Charley learns the full truth, she breaks up with East.
And honestly?
I understood her reaction.
Finding out your boyfriend was simultaneously involved with a teacher is not exactly relationship-strengthening information.
Meanwhile, the secret speakeasy Priorities is repurposed by the school for legitimate events.
However, the story ends on a surprisingly hopeful note.
Charley, Davi, and their friend group gather together after graduation.
When East arrives, Charley ultimately allows him to join them.
It's not a dramatic grand reconciliation, but it leaves the door open for their relationship moving forward.
And since this is planned as a duology, that makes perfect sense.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I thought The Academy was a lot of fun.
Was it realistic all the time?
Absolutely not.
Did I care?
Also absolutely not.
This is one of those books where the entertainment value carries everything. I was invested in the friendships, the betrayals, the scandals, the romances, and the constant stream of poor decisions.
If you enjoy stories about elite schools, academic pressure, messy relationships, gossip, secrets, and social drama, there's a good chance you'll have a great time with this one.
I definitely plan to read the sequel.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
The drama was dramatic. The gossip was gossiping. The students desperately needed supervision. I was entertained.
📖 Books Like The Academy
If you enjoyed The Academy, I recommend:
Prep — Curtis Sittenfeld
The Ivies — Alexa Donne
They Wish They Were Us — Jessica Goodman
Ace of Spades — Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks — E. Lockhart
We Were Liars — E. Lockhart
Tell Me Three Things — Julie Buxbaum
Good Girls Lie — J.T. Ellison
The Favorites — Layne Fargo
Truly Devious — Maureen Johnson
Comments
Post a Comment