AKA the book that stole my peace, my breath, and my whole snow day…

Bookish besties….

I originally put this book down because I found the beginning was going way too slow, but once I picked it up again, I spent a whole TWO days finishing it. And I only spent two days because I stayed up reading past midnight. Once again, Tiffany D. Jackson did her thing.

BACKGROUND: THE REAL SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE CULT

In 2010, a man named Larry Ray moved into his daughter’s dorm at Sarah Lawrence College after he was released from jail. Literally. Moved in. This grown man was living with college students. After he got out of prison. You know, in case there weren’t enough red flags.

What followed was years of:

• Psychological manipulation
• Forced confessions
• Financial exploitation
• Sexual abuse
• Sleep deprivation
• Isolation tactics
• Complete personality breakdowns

He convinced them he was some kind of savior, a life coach, a government spy, a wronged man, a truth-teller. He made them dependent on him for validation, food, permission, their entire sense of sanity. Multiple extremely intelligent, high-achieving college students fell victim to him because abuse doesn’t discriminate. It dismantles you slowly.

Tiffany D. Jackson takes that concept and says, “What if we explore this dynamic at an HBCU through the eyes of a shy Black freshman who just wants friends and belonging?”

PLOT OVERVIEW (SPOILER-FREE)

Freshman Jordyn is already floundering.

Her bougie assimilated parents did NOT want her going to an HBCU because they believe proximity to whiteness equals success. Jordyn’s been surrounded by white students her whole life, so stepping onto Frazier University’s campus is like switching planets.

She wants:

• Friends
• A sense of belonging
• A chance to breathe without parental surveillance

But Jordyn is also a bit shy, eager to please, and painfully ready to trust people who give the slightest bit of warmth.

She clicks quickly with her roommates Vanessa (that bossy, “I know what’s best for the group” girl), Kammy (sunshine incarnate), and Loren (a girl from a big family who wants to make her own way).

They’re a seemingly normal group of girls…until Devonte, Vanessa’s brother, gets out of jail and moves into their dorm room.

At first, he’s helpful. Cooking. Cleaning. Doing fatherly TED Talks in the living room. Jordyn even feels seen by him at moments.

But THEN…THE SWITCH UP!

He begins:

• Restricting their movements
• Controlling their diets (tea. Just tea. Girl, WHAT.)
• Gaslighting them
• Drugging them (the ayahuasca scene?? I wanted to vomit)
• Recruiting more vulnerable students on campus

This man built a cult faster than I can locate my keys on a Monday morning.

And slowly, painfully, Jordyn becomes isolated until she is literally one person away from drowning in the chaos.

MY READING EXPERIENCE

This book made me:

• yell “JORDYN NO” roughly 493 times
• whisper “girl please” at the ceiling
• want to hug her because she’s lonely and desperate for connection
• want to fight half these college students with a folding chair

She’s frustrating but in a real way. Jordyn is 18, scared, has no real friends, and comes from a controlling home. She’s the perfect target for a cult like this.

Until she meets Nick…

JORDYN + NICK: THE SWEETEST POCKET OF LIGHT IN A DARK BOOK

Nick is the lone white boy on campus and is so sweet it hurts. At first, they bicker and she is not feeling him at all, but as she gets to know him, she finds that he’s the only person in her corner. The moment he basically tells her, “Girl…you’re in a cult. What you’re going through is not okay,” I wanted to hug him because someone finally SAW her.

Their mutual protectiveness is beautiful.

Jordyn stopping him from being sexually harassed while drugged was such an unexpected reversal of a trope, and it WORKED. Nick trying to get her away from Devonte’s control? STRESSFUL. AND ADORABLE.

I was rooting for them the whole novel.

THE PLOT TWISTS (LOTS OF SPOILERS)

⚠️ You have been warned.

VANESSA. IS. THIRTY. AND THE REAL MASTERMIND?!

Thirty.

A whole grown woman masquerading as a freshman in college. And she was working with Devonte the whole time? The way I screamed. Especially when we find out that Devonte isn’t her brother, but her MAN?????? I clutched my invisible pearls.

THE JUMPING SCENE

I had to put the book down. The way these girls stalked Jordyn down and jumped her in the bathroom for defecting from the cult was beyond horrifying.

VANESSA AND DEVONTE MURDERED JORDYN’S BROTHER?

And Jordyn knew??? She played the longest, slowest chess game in YA history and when she finally said: “Checkmate?” I had the utmost respect for her.

WHERE ARE KAMMY AND LEGACY???????????

Missing?? Dead?? Witness protection??? Tiffany D. Jackson said open ending to fuel your insomnia.

FINAL VERDICT

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It would’ve been 5 if a few plot threads wrapped tighter, especially Kammy and Legacy’s fates.

Tropes

• Found family (gone VERY WRONG)
• Cults
• Justice served sideways
• Slow Burn
• Revenge arc in disguise
• Trauma Bond
• Unlikely allies
• “Wait…you’re in danger” romance

For More Context, Then Watch This:

• Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story (Netflix)
• Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence College (Hulu)