Customer Reviews

Tap & Gown: An Ivy League Novel

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ironically, writing this review was hard. Truth be told, I was actually avoiding it. And it's not because I didn't love it. Because let me tell you, I loved this book like George Harrison Prescott loves women. No, I avoided it for a much more cowardly reason. You see, I kept getting a lump in my throat every time I went to write it. Because writing it would mean it was really over. The book, the series, the whole Amy at Eli saga. And, yes, I know Rampant will be out soon and I am seriously looking forward to that. But this series will always hold a special place in my heart and it's hard to see it come to a close. Even the kind of close that leaves you with a big, ear-to-ear grin on your face.

Amy's made it to her last semester at Eli. Time is running out and she has a thesis to write, a brand new boyfriend she'd like to spend some "quality" time with, and an appropriate replacement Digger to find who will supposedly take her place within the tomb of Rose & Grave. And though she's studiously avoided thinking about it up until now, she also has to deal with her own personal post-traumatic fallout from the events at the end of spring break. Feeling rundown, anxious, and like senior year is kicking her butt seven ways from Sunday, Amy finds herself the unexpected recipient of rather a lot of attention from a few very hopeful, very accomplished undergrads. Of course, in true Bugaboo fashion, when she does stumble across the perfect tap, her potential choice comes complete with the kind of baggage guaranteed to scandalize the venerable patriarchs of R&G. It seems she is once more surrounded by secrets, some of them harmless, and some of them poised to wreck everything she's worked so hard to achieve.

Amy is such a strong character. She's an everygirl and, as a result, it's just so dang easy to empathize with her, particularly when we've had the opportunity to follow her through four books and watch her progress from an uncertain, unwelcome, uncomfortable-in-her-own-skin fledgling Diggirl, to a confident lynchpin member of a whole new order of Rose & Grave. Perhaps most satisfactory of all, she becomes brave in her honesty. Even when it scares her. She learns to be careful with (and protective of) the relationships she formed in her time at Eli. She understands how she fits into the larger scheme of things and she knows what (and who) is important. Frankly, I was proud of the girl. I have to say, it is extremely gratifying to finish a series feeling like the characters would be people worth knowing, like it played out the way it was meant to, like the author knows the score. Diana Peterfreund delivers with TAP & GOWN.

I hereby confess: It was good for me.

Loved the book. Loved the whole series. Wish Diana was planning on writing a fifth (and a sixth, and a seventh...)! The plots are captivating. Diana's writing style is smart and jaunty, and she does a fantastic job of getting the reader invested in her characters.
The series, while great in its own right, had a bit of a Gilmore Girls feel to it. The focus on the secret society, Yale setting, quirky characters, clever dialogue -- all of these elements were reminiscent of GG. This would be a great beach read!

This book is a fantastic read. I would recommend starting at the beginning of the secret society girl series but the way this ended was perfect. The character's stories are tied up well and it is one of those books that when you finish it, you can sigh a happy sigh. If you are a fan, you will surely enjoy this book!

This last book in the Secret Society Girl series has Amy tapping a member to replace her in her secret society, Rose and Grave, while preparing for graduation. She deals with the same concerns that most graduating college students have - work, friendships, college romance, etc - while dealing with turning over her secret society to the next year of taps. The characters are realistic and the situations believable. It was a great ending to a great series.

I couldn't wait for this book to come out. I wanted to see how Diana would finish the story yet I didn't want it to end. Would the realtionship last? What would the new taps be like? Where would the Diggers of D177 end up? I think it was wonderfully written and the perfect ending. Deeper than I expected.

Enjoy!

The end result of the plight of the Diggers, Diggirls and D117 as a whole was great read, especially to kick off summer. The end of college years and the fear and freedom that comes with it was well written. The dialogue between characters, both new and old, kept the story flowing well!

I thought that this book was a great way to end the series. It seemed pretty realistic to me. Amy was different in this book than in the previous three. She felt that everything was slipping away from her - school, the society, her boyfriend, and best friend. I thought that the author really captured that sense of "what now" that comes at the end of your college years when you're not sure how to proceed into the "real world." However, I wonder how many ivy leaguers leave college not sure where they're going or what they're going to do, but it's a pretty standard feeling for the rest of us. Overall, I enjoyed this whole series and was very happy with the ending.

I hereby confess: I just read the entire series for the second time.

I love Diana Peterfreund's books. I didn't go to Yale, but I get nostalgic every time I read about Amy's exploits. The writing is snappy and fresh, and the romance was just perfect. I just wish we'd get to see Amy Haskel's life after college.

In short, it was the perfect ending. I loved it!

TAP AND GOWN is a satisfying conclusion to this addicting series about college-level secret societies, though it is not without its unsatisfying moments. Diana Peterfreund's strength in writing interesting and well-rounded characters still shines through, although the introduction of new characters with their own problems is rather jarring and rushed, especially when they ultimately play such a large role in the book.

I have mixed feelings about the fact that this series about the inner workings and dramas of a secret society did not give more attention to the natural stresses of college. It seemed like the society members were constantly getting into one screwup after another and having their traditional "secrecy" compromised, without striking a good balance between normal academia and their society life. It's for the sake of fiction, yes, I know, so I can't really say more than that I hope future books set in college will actually deal with, you know, actual college life.

The pacing of TAP AND GOWN felt rushed to me because a whole drama involving the possible end of Rose & Grave was thrown into the last 50 pages with hardly a hint of warning beforehand, making it so that the climax of the story and its subsequent resolution felt unnatural. As far as story arc goes, this one's is rather helter-skelter, but fans of Amy Haskel will still not be disappointed. There is still enough wit, drama, and romance to go around.

The end of Amy Haskel's time at Eli University has finally arrived. This novel picks up right where Rite of Spring (Break) leaves off [SPOILERS OF BOOKS 1-3 COMING UP], with Amy and Poe discussing whether their spring fling is something more than that, and they decide to make their relationship public regardless of what the rest of the Diggers think. Yet even as Amy falls in deeper with Poe (and learns to call him Jamie), she must also finish her thesis, pick her tap for next year, and figure out the next seventy years of her life. This being Rose & Grave, the tap process does not go smoothly. Can D177 get themselves together long enough to ensure that there will be a D178?

Final novels in a series can be hard to do well, but Diana Peterfreund gets everything right in Tap and Gown. It's clear how much Amy and her club have grown during their year together. The characters have changed over the four novels, and those changes pay off as the storylines are wrapped up.

The biggest changes, of course, have been to Amy and Poe, though we have to wonder if the change is in Poe himself, or just in our perception of him as seen through Amy's eyes. Has Poe changed enough for their relationship to make it? And can Amy commit to him despite her looming graduation? And what, exactly, is Amy going to do after that graduation?

Graduation at a school like Eli is tremendously difficult. The vast majority of students have come from another place, and will be going somewhere else when it is over. This changes friendships and ends romances. Tap & Gown captures that feeling perfectly as Amy and her friends say goodbye to this chapter of their lives.

This novel was the perfect conclusion to this series. I loved it, and I was sad to see it end.