We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan Pages: 352
Published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers on August 21, 2018
Genres: Young Adult, contemporary
Source: ARC from Publisher
Mischa Abramavicius is a walking, talking, top-scoring, perfectly well-rounded college application in human form. So when she's rejected not only by the Ivies, but her loathsome safety school, she is shocked and devastated. All the sacrifices her mother made to send her to prep school, the late nights cramming for tests, the blatantly resume-padding extracurriculars (read: Students for Sober Driving) ... all that for nothing.
As Mischa grapples with the prospect of an increasingly uncertain future, she questions how this could have happened in the first place. Is it possible that her transcript was hacked? With the help of her best friend and sometimes crush, Nate, and a group of eccentric techies known as "The Ophelia Syndicate," Mischa launches an investigation that will shake the quiet community of Blanchard Prep to its stately brick foundations.
We Regret to Inform You is a young adult contemporary by Ariel Kaplan. I wanted this book to work for me so badly. I have an interesting history with this novel. I first picked it up when it was sent to me for review in 2018. I started it, really disliked the main character and put it down. Several times. I thought it would be a DNF for me. I just couldn’t connect with the main character Misha. But then I fast forwarded to January 2020 when I was browsing goodreads for some books from my TBR that I wanted to add for my Tackle my TBR 2020 reading challenge, and somehow came across We Regret to Inform You. And I started seeing all of the awesome ratings from people that have pretty similar reading tastes to mine, and I was intrigued by this book all over again. So I decided that I would try to pick this one up again. I started it over from the beginning, and again I could not connect to the main character at the start. I just didn’t find her to have very much substance, but then as I read on, a different problem presented itself.
The book took a different turn than I was expecting. It became a mystery, which on one hand made Misha a little more interesting, but on the other hand disappointed me immensely. Let me back up and explain what We Regret to Inform You is about. Misha is a model student. Excellent grades, killer extra curriculars, wonderful prep school education. All in preparation for an ivy league college. But when Misha is rejected from all of the Ivey’s she is super bummed. But then when she also gets rejected from her safety school, she is completed crushed. I thought the book was going to be about how to pick up the pieces when you are let down or when you don’t succeed at something. Which in the world of college admissions, I think is super relevant and interesting. I was so there to see some awesome character growth from Misha. And to be completely honest, I could believe why she was rejected. Everything from the way she described her accolades to her inner monologues seemed flat, uninteresting and completely cookie cutter. There was nothing for a school to be able to distinguish her from the thousands of other Misha’s applying.
And yes, I saw the line in the summary about her thinking her transcript could have been hacked, and her enlisting the techie group- The Ophelia Syndicate, but I honestly thought that was going to be a part of her character growth story ARC. Something to show that there is more to prepping for college than extra curricular “padding”. So truthfully, I was kind of bummed with the turn the story took. The mystery plot was fun, and I really did enjoy The Ophelia Syndicate, but it wasn’t what I was looking for in this novel. I did finish it the second time around, but I was left feeling pretty meh. I didn’t end up connecting with, or liking Misha any more than I did with my first go around. I did enjoy the mystery plot; however, I felt like it was a big missed opportunity for the author to make a really great book about college rejection. So be forewarned, this is not that book. But it is a fun mystery. If you are interested in that, then you may enjoy We Regret to Inform you more than I did. And I hope you do. This was not the book for me, but that is ok. It might be just what you are looking for!
Let me know your thoughts on We Regret To Inform You in the comments below. Did you love it? Did you Hate it?
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 Tackle My TBR Reading Challenge
This novel was very entertaining! It was really reading, with an especially endearing cast of supporting characters.