Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Girls like Bean don’t get invited to Deep gatherings. Faculty kid Frances Bean Ellis stands out from the crowd at her elite Manhattan-area private high school, Talentum. Bean is shocked when she’s invited to an event put on by Deep, a global wellness company run by the mother of her crush, Julia Patterson. This party, for Deep’s Femme line for girls, is exclusive and secretive, requiring attendees to wear all white—a drastic change for Bean, who prefers a Victorian goth look. But Bean yearns to spend time with Julia, so she accepts. The gatherings allow Bean to step into the world of Deep, immersing herself in subjects like spiritual emanation, clean skin care products, and life force energy. But is everything really as holistic and wonderful as it appears on Instagram? What secrets are hidden in the depths of the Pattersons’ mansion? Intrigue abounds in this story that’s full of thrills and atmosphere—the Deep parties feel ethereal and mystical. Bean’s character arc stands out: from her painfully insecure attempts at asserting individualism at the beginning of the novel, she eventually finds new confidence in herself. Unfortunately, the romance that develops between Bean and Julia is disappointingly shallow, and lackluster prose holds back the otherwise interesting story. Bean and Julia present white. A dizzying if unevenly developed trip into the depths of wellness culture.(Fiction. 14-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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Named after the daughter of famed 1990s couple Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, high school junior Frances “Bean” Ellis is proud of the outcast identity she and her friends have developed among the students at New York’s Talentum, an exclusive private school. Then her crush Julia invites Bean to a party hosted by Julia’s mother, founder of wellness and lifestyle company Deep. As her relationship with Julia blossoms, Bean immerses herself in Julia’s mother’s teachings, ignores her friends, and enjoys newfound popularity. With help from charismatic Deep leader Kai, Bean confronts her feelings of inadequacy and her grief surrounding her alcohol-dependent father’s death. But when a tragedy occurs, Bean enlists her friends to probe Deep’s facade. Krischer (The Falling Girls) spins a tense and fast-paced plot full of ’80s and ’90s references and allusions to the #MeToo movement and Jeffrey Epstein scandal as a cautionary tale. Despite Bean and Julia’s underdeveloped romance and a convenient reveal, this page-turning novel highlights the way gaslighting and peer pressure can have devastating consequences. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Bean is just the daughter of a Talentum School teacher—not a child of the rich and powerful prepping to become tomorrow’s elite. So when Julia Patterson, daughter of an ultra-famous wellness magnate, confesses her attraction to Bean, she’s easily swept off her feet. Soon, she’s lured into Deep, the health and spirituality movement spearheaded by Julia’s mother, inspired by its message of personal strength and self-actualization. But Bean’s sudden changes in dress and habits begin to concern her friends and mother, though she insists that she and Julia are just in love. That is, until Bean bears witness to Deep’s hidden side of sexualization, drugs, and potentially murder. But is she in too deep to escape? Krischer shines a light on the lucrative world of health and wellness and especially how marketing by these movements bears a disturbing resemblance to cult indoctrination. The story viscerally explores how even willful people like Bean can be lured into alienating themselves from loved ones in pursuit of belonging. A fast-paced thriller with strong implications in the age of influencers and gurus.