Reading this book was quite daunting for me initially, mostly because I had been hearing about it nonstop from so many others, not only in person, but also on the Internet, I really wanted it to live up to this hype that I was seeing from everywhere. Overall, this story felt tumultuous, a bit overbearing at times and always strangely beautiful.

All in all, I did enjoy the writing, as well as the narrative and what the story was supposed to entail based off of the blurb.

Over the past few years, I have read quite a few expansive novels that take place over an extended period of time whether it be within a family in a traditional sense, a found family or a long friendship that takes place over years. Telling a story like this definitely feels ambitious mostly because of how many characters and how many different stories we are having to pay attention to all within about 300 pages, sometimes the book felt too short, but then sometimes it felt like it was too long at the same time.

One thing I was wishing for was to get more clarity about what happened to Nakia, and how her life came to a halt near the end. I did enjoy all of the different moments that she endured within her life as well as her social and political standpoint that the author discussed throughout the novel, with her character living in LA I know that it was something that was very important during this time that this is taking place in.

The strain of the relationship between Daniela and Desiree was something that was quite hard to read for me at times just because I am a sister as well and I have two younger sisters. But, unlike Danielle and Desiree, I have a really beautiful and constantly growing relationship with them that has flourished from when we were children, to well into adulthood. Reading stories about difficult relationships with siblings is always hard for me, because I hate thinking about people experiencing negativity surrounding their siblings/family, but I know that it’s just me inserting my personal bias into the situation and it does in no way take away from the story!

The world that these characters lived in, felt very realistic and lived in, it didn’t feel too dramatized or overly done up for the sake of the novel. Doing something like this takes deliberate effort, so I definitely appreciate the immersive/realistic mess of that.

They were just times in the moment while reading this where I felt really disconnected from the story as a whole because we jump between different time periods quite regularly and it can kind of pull you out of the story just a bit. I would spend a lot of time getting immersed in the story of a specific character and then all of a sudden we would switch the next chapter to somebody else that maybe I wasn’t as 100% invested in.

Generally, I do enjoy stories about friendships and families, and I do love that this one wasn’t so cookie-cutter and polished, it was nitty and gritty, honest and authentic to a very specific type of experience, and I feel like it pays homage to the idea of everybody within this friend group, being on their own separate journey, and how that can affect different aspects of their lives/relationships.

If you enjoy literary fiction, you will definitely enjoy this book.

I rated this book a 3.75 out of 5 ⭐️

Thank you to Angela Flournoy , NetGalley, and Mariner Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review and thoughts on this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Every time I read something by Tiffany D Jackson, I always feel like I went on a journey and a half within 300 pages. It’s insane the concept of so much happening in so little time because everything in this book happens within one college semester but the beginnings of the madness only take a few weeks to form!

The Scammer by Tiffany D Jackson is a gripping, thriller YA novel surrounding the story of a College freshman named Jordyn whose entire world gets flipped on its axis the minute her brand new college roommate's ex-convict brother Devonte slowly and meticulously moves himself into their dorm room and slowly begins to wreak havoc on their lives.

This book is definitely for the true crime/more realistic thriller genre lovers. As I was reading the story I kept thinking to myself, this is definitely something that could actually take place on an actual college campus. As I was reading it, it seemed harmless, just a story about some college students and a girl who is on a journey to find herself, maybe something of a coming-of-age. But, the more and more I got into the story the more insane it seemed, especially as Devonte began, showing himself more, and you could see the girls kind of start to cave in on themselves as they started to feel the heat and the pressure from him.

Something I’ve heard said a lot is that “ a broken clock is right twice a day”, meaning, even something or someone that is unreliable can be correct on occasion. You could see through Devonte‘s manipulative tactics that he would sprinkle in a little bit of truth into some of the antics, to help build trust amongst the roommates. Once you could see Jordan starting to start to feel like more of an outsider and start questioning him more due to not only the influence of Nick (the only white person at this HBCU) but by also just paying more critical attention. You can see her start to be put on the outside of the group and how Devonte was able to use that to his advantage to pin the girls against each other, almost like they were in competition and to convince them that Jordan was not “one of them”.

This book felt very fast paced to me, as I was reading it. I was like a little bit peeved about how realistic it felt, but at the same time how unrealistic about because the timeline seemed like it was being put in hyperspeed, in my opinion, that was the only thing that really fell flat for me. I would’ve felt more connected to the story in a realistic sense, had the timeline been stretched out a little bit more.

The more and more I think about it I also think about how easy it could be to start a cult in this specific manner on a college campus around young, isolated and somewhat naïve college students that are separated away from their families. (The more you read about cults the more you’ll know about how these kinds of things start).

I do in a sense wish that this book would’ve been a bit longer haha, we definitely got to the ending pretty fast and it was wrapped up nice and tight with a bow.

I also found out while I was actually reading this book that this was based on a true story which after I did some more deep digging about that case made the story that much more compelling!

Overall, I did enjoy this book, it was gripping, engaging, and a bit scary at times when you think about how easy it is to be manipulated as a teen/young adult. This is the first thriller I have read in 2025 and I’m giving it 4 ⭐️

I rated this book a 4 out of 5 ⭐️

Thank you to Tiffany D Jackson, NetGalley, and HarperCollinsChildrens | Quill Tree Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review and thoughts on this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.