Week 26 Review: Their Vicious Games

From Goodreads:

A Black teen desperate to regain her Ivy League acceptance enters an elite competition only to discover the stakes aren't just high, they're deadly, in this searing thriller that's Ace of Spades meets Squid Game with a sprinkling of The Bachelor.

You must work twice as hard to get half as much.

Adina Walker has known this the entire time she’s been on scholarship at the prestigious Edgewater Academy—a school for the rich (and mostly white) upper class of New England. It's why she works so hard to be perfect and above reproach, no matter what she must force beneath the surface. Even one slip can cost you everything.

And it does. One fight, one moment of lost control, leaves Adina blacklisted from her top choice Ivy League college and any other. Her only chance to regain the future she's sacrificed everything for is The Finish, a high-stakes contest sponsored by Edgewater's founding family in which twelve young, ambitious women with exceptional promise are selected to compete in three mysterious events: the Ride, the Raid, and the Royale. The winner will be granted entry into the fold of the Remington family, whose wealth and power can open any door.

But when she arrives at the Finish, Adina quickly gets the feeling that something isn't quite right with both the Remingtons and her competition, and soon it becomes clear that this larger-than-life prize can only come at an even greater cost. Because the Finish's stakes aren't just make or break…they're life and death.

Adina knows the deck is stacked against her—it always has been—so maybe the only way to survive their vicious games is for her to change the rules.

My Review:
I so very enjoyed reading this book! The synopsis really caught my attention, and once I started reading, the book had me hooked, I had to know what was going to happen next, how Adina was going to get out of this alive!

The fact that one moment ruined Adina's prospects for her future, when it wouldn't have happened to someone who was white, or had greater privilege then her? And for something that she didn't start? That was infuriating. And it just makes it worse, what she goes through, to try and recover the future that she planned.

The Finish has some very dark secrets, including just how deadly it is. I loved watching Adina go through these trials, doing her best to stay alive, but becoming less and less invested in the prize at the finish line.

I loved what this book discussed about race and class. I read she wrote on this book's Goodreads page about this book being a satire, and that, combined with the great pacing, just worked to tell a really fantastic and powerful story that I loved! 

This was a really fantastic read and I can't wait to read more by Joelle Wellington! 

Author: Joelle Wellington
Read: June 28th, 2023
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a DAC Book, SAC 2023 Book, WoW Book and a WTC Book! 
Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Expected Publication: July 25th 2023

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars