Book Review: The Thoroughbreds by Elin Hilderbrand
As a fan of all the Elin Hilderbrand island drama, I enjoyed her foray into exploring boarding school life at a New England prep school from both the adult and student perspectives. The Thoroughbreds is the follow-up to her novel, The Academy, which she co-authored with her daughter Shelby Cunningham. I quickly found myself immersed in the world of boarding schools, the school’s annual traditions, and the decadent menu brought to campus by the unconventional Chef Haz.
Synopsis:
September at Tiffin Academy is always a heady time, especially for the senior class—“sixth formers,” in Tiffin-speak—a season of college applications and intense pressure, of partying hard and last hurrahs. As the chapel bells ring in students and staff, everyone has something to look forward to—but in the midst of the anticipation and excitement, nagging questions and dark secrets lurk beneath the surface…
Are Tiffin’s It Couple, Charley and East, on the rocks? What sparked the rift between football star Dub and his best friend Hakeem? Will Pippa Sacks, posh day student, topple the delicate social hierarchy—or wreak even worse havoc? Can Head of School Audre Robinson save her job—and the school—after a disastrous financial mistake? And what was in that email attachment Cinnamon Peters sent to Dub before she died?
Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter Shelby Cunningham answer these questions and more in The Thoroughbreds, a page-turning story about friendship, treachery, ambition, and growing up, at any age.
The students at Tiffin Academy are starting their senior year with fresh revelations and a few new staff members. On move-in day, the head of school discovers she inadvertently lost millions of dollars of the school’s money through an unfamiliar financial advisor, and the new college counselor has the Herculean task of seeing that all the students at this prestigious boarding school get into the colleges of their dreams. Star-crossed couple Charley and East ponder their futures together. My favorite character, Davi Banerjee, is still caught in the middle of her parents’ love triangle. As the author reminds readers, while this novel is set at a prep school, it should not be considered YA. The residents and staff bring plenty of spice to the pages with their escapades! The authors introduced two new students, Pippa and Liam, and they provided a shake-up to the school that was very true to life, in my opinion. The reader also finally learns what was in Cinnamon’s e-mail that she instructed Dub Austin not to open until graduation day.
While this novel didn’t bring a ton of surprises to my reading (as a writer, I can usually guess most of the plot twists) it was still a fun read full of plenty of hijinks and drama. It also made me very glad I never attended a prep school! The modern-day college admissions process is brutal.
Please note: This book is a follow-up to The Academy. Please read that first or you will be confused about the characters and what happened to them in the previous school year.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an advanced reader copy.