Review Detail

Mischa is the perfect high school student. She has joined all the right clubs, she has the best grades, and her test scores are terrific. Imagine her surprise when she doesn't get into any of her top college choices--and then she's rejected by her safety school, too.

Mischa can't tell her mom, a single parent who has given up a lot to send Mischa to her expensive private school, about her troubles. And she's too embarrassed to talk to her friends. But she eventually opens up to her best friend, Nate, and then she seeks the help of the Ophelias--a fun, smart, and interesting trio of tech-savvy girls who start to unravel the mystery behind Mischa's college rejections.

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU chronicles the nightmare of countless high school students, and reading it is sure to induce anxiety in many working to snag a place in one of their top colleges. But this isn't just a story about the senior year admissions race; Mischa's attempts to reframe how she thinks of herself in light of her circumstances will resonate with all teens going through a time of transition. There is also plenty of humor, a bit of a mystery, and just enough romance--so it's a book that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

There is more depth to WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU than I expected. While Nate offers plenty of comic relief, he is also a complex character, and Mischa's mom's perspective also provides interesting twists.

This book is a cautionary tale about the pressure and expectations placed on high school students, but it's also a lot of fun. I also found it hard to put the book down once The Ophelias get involved. In short, WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU is a terrific novel that I happily recommend. My thanks to the publisher and YA Books Central for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.