The Dollhouse Academy by Margarita Montimore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ivy Gordon is the most famous star pumped out of the Dollhouse Academy for almost two-decades. The older she gets, now a Hollywood-gasping 34-years old, the more fed-up she gets with the system and her role in it.
The Dollhouse Academy is a wildly-secretive, posh boarding school and talent incubator for potential stars. It’s every young performer’s goal to get there.
Ramona Holloway and Grace Ludlow, best friends and a double act, have idolized Ivy Gordon for years. Watching her career with an admiration that only the young can feel.
At the age of 22, a lucky break suddenly grants both Ramona and Grace admission into the Dollhouse. This is their chance to finally make it!
Though the campus is picturesque and the opportunities endless, the two feel ill-prepared for the cut-throat boot camp-like environment they find themselves thrust into.
Grace fairly quickly finds success, while Ramona, who secretly sees herself as the more naturally-gifted of the two, soon finds herself lagging behind.
The more the disparity between the two gets, the more difficult Ramona finds the whole experience.
Adding to her distress, Ramona is also receiving anonymous, threatening messages. There are moments when she suspects Grace, but could that possibly be true?
Would Grace actually try to scare Ramona, or purposefully harm her chances of success?
As past and present merge, the truth behind the Dollhouse starts to come to light. Will Ivy be able to express everything she needs to in order to save the next young ingenues from following in her footsteps, or is it already too late?
This was a fantastic audiobook and a very interesting story. I loved the unsettling vibes of the Dollhouse. I felt that whole environment was so well-developed. I could picture everything beautifully.
I do tend to enjoy stories that follow musicians, actors, celebs, or the arts industry in general, so that aspect really worked for me as well. I will admit it had a more General Fiction feel than I’m generally compelled to pick-up, but the air of creepiness succeeded in keeping my interest.
The 1st-chapter of this sets the tone and while it does take a step back, it’s a slow build, that sense of urgency, even in moments where you can’t put your finger on why, remains. It’s one of those stories that sneaks under your skin without you being able to verbalize why that is.
I loved Ramona’s perspective most of all, because the further in got in, the more I started to question her reliability, and I love an unreliable narrator. With that being said though, I also found Ivy’s perspective extremely interesting.
If I had to compare the vibe, or feeling of this book, paying no attention to content or themes, to another book, I would say my feeling while reading it was most closely matched by The Other Black Girl.
I would recommend this to Readers who love an unsettling atmosphere, stories involving celebrities, or dark academia. I also highly recommend the audiobook. The fabulous narration brought this novel to life for me.
Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to reading more from Margarita Montimore.
