Name: The Headmaster’s List
ISBN: 9781250827388

Melissa de la Cruz

The Headmaster’s List

This was... Not good. There was so much and so little going on. There were too many issues that were trying to be addressed that they all felt shallow and pointless. 

Spencer's drug addiction is built up throughout the book (with emphasis in the last 10 or so chapters) and dealt with very quickly. As in 2-3 lines in the final few chapters.

Racism-Spencer faces racist remarks from Hailey. These are never brought up again. 

The fact that Chris was literally into online gambling???? and nothing is done about it???

The Headmaster's List barely plays into the plot and is nothing more than a gimmick to be used for a title. 

There were some other annoyances, like phrases being repeated and also the dog was misgendered at one point?

Another issue I would like to call attention to is Tabby. Tabby is non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns. There is one instance where Tabby is misgendered--while this was likely a mistake, it definitely did not have good vibes. It makes me concerned that Tabby was being added as a diversity token rather than for inclusion purposes. Again, I would like to doubt that (nor am I accusing her of this) this was intentional on the author's part, but I feel that this is something worth mentioning.

I also HATE when the answers to the mystery come out of left field. There was absolutely no indication that the perpetrator was the perpetrator until the last second, and the motives were so off?? It made no sense and now I'm angry.

Holly

This was... Not good. There was so much and so little going on. There were too many issues that were trying to be addressed that they all felt shallow and pointless. 

Spencer's drug addiction is built up throughout the book (with emphasis in the last 10 or so chapters) and dealt with very quickly. As in 2-3 lines in the final few chapters.

Racism-Spencer faces racist remarks from Hailey. These are never brought up again. 

The fact that Chris was literally into online gambling???? and nothing is done about it???

The Headmaster's List barely plays into the plot and is nothing more than a gimmick to be used for a title. 

There were some other annoyances, like phrases being repeated and also the dog was misgendered at one point?

Another issue I would like to call attention to is Tabby. Tabby is non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns. There is one instance where Tabby is misgendered--while this was likely a mistake, it definitely did not have good vibes. It makes me concerned that Tabby was being added as a diversity token rather than for inclusion purposes. Again, I would like to doubt that (nor am I accusing her of this) this was intentional on the author's part, but I feel that this is something worth mentioning.

I also HATE when the answers to the mystery come out of left field. There was absolutely no indication that the perpetrator was the perpetrator until the last second, and the motives were so off?? It made no sense and now I'm angry.

I’ve been on a mystery kick so this book showed up at the perfect time for me to devour it, thanks fierce reads hahah! Starting off by saying, I ADORED Ripley. What can I say? I’m an animal lover to the max, so she won my heart pretty quickly and I prayed the entire read that nothing happened to her.

The Headmaster’s list is definitely for fans of One of us is Lying and A Good Girls Guide to Murder. It takes place at a school in LA for the elite and privileged, and if you make it on the headmaster’s list.. you’re bound for the ivies for sure. Obviously it’s a very competitive setting however, I don’t feel like it was 100% focused on that. The focus was more on the mystery and pretty much the downward spiral of our girl, Spencer.

I felt like I knew some of the key twists very early on but Melissa de la Cruz still had some tricks up her sleeves that were saved for the very end. I quite literally had the hardest time putting this down because I NEEDED to know what truly happened.

Overall, the story unravels well and it’s gripping from start to end. It also does a good job of showing PTSD and anxiety rep in our MC.

Courtney Passio

I’ve been on a mystery kick so this book showed up at the perfect time for me to devour it, thanks fierce reads hahah! Starting off by saying, I ADORED Ripley. What can I say? I’m an animal lover to the max, so she won my heart pretty quickly and I prayed the entire read that nothing happened to her.

The Headmaster’s list is definitely for fans of One of us is Lying and A Good Girls Guide to Murder. It takes place at a school in LA for the elite and privileged, and if you make it on the headmaster’s list.. you’re bound for the ivies for sure. Obviously it’s a very competitive setting however, I don’t feel like it was 100% focused on that. The focus was more on the mystery and pretty much the downward spiral of our girl, Spencer.

I felt like I knew some of the key twists very early on but Melissa de la Cruz still had some tricks up her sleeves that were saved for the very end. I quite literally had the hardest time putting this down because I NEEDED to know what truly happened.

Overall, the story unravels well and it’s gripping from start to end. It also does a good job of showing PTSD and anxiety rep in our MC.

The Headmaster’s List

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