Book Description 

September at Tiffin Academy is always a heady time, especially for the senior class—“sixth formers,” in Tiffin-speak—a season of college applications and intense pressure, of partying hard and last hurrahs. As the chapel bells ring in students and staff, everyone has something to look forward to—but in the midst of the anticipation and excitement, nagging questions and dark secrets lurk beneath the surface…

Are Tiffin’s It Couple, Charley and East, on the rocks? What sparked the rift between football star Dub and his best friend Hakeem? Will Pippa Sacks, posh day student, topple the delicate social hierarchy—or wreak even worse havoc? Can Head of School Audre Robinson save her job—and the school—after a disastrous financial mistake? And what was in that email attachment Cinnamon Peters sent to Dub before she died?

Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter Shelby Cunningham answer these questions and more in The Thoroughbreds, a page-turning story about friendship, treachery, ambition, and growing up, at any age.

My Review 

I thoroughly—no pun intended—enjoyed the first book in this series, so I was positively ecstatic to be able to read the sequel. I needed to know how everything was going to wrap up after all the loose ends in the first book. 

I’m going to try to avoid spoilers from the first book, although readers should really start at the beginning of the series to fully appreciate the character arcs as well as the narrative thus far. 

A fun little fact about this book is that it takes place over the course of the 2026-27 school year, so if you are reading this book around release time, the narrative actually takes place in the future. 

The first book in the series had its fair share of scandals—mostly exposed by gossip app ZipZap, but now the ensemble cast of students are sixth formers— or seniors in boarding school talk. The toxic ZipZap app might be gone, but the stakes are higher and the characters appear determined to prove that they don’t fear consequences. Well, maybe they do a little….

For starters, it was a big deal when Charley Hicks arrived at the beginning of the first book as a new fifth former (junior). But now there are not one but two new sixth formers! The new characters add a nice touch to everything as they are both foils and rivals for the established characters. 

I like that the book focuses on some of the faculty in addition to the students because a boarding school is truly a community and so much more than a typical school where everyone goes home at the end of the day. On that note, there are some new faculty members to replace the ones who left at the end of the first book. 

I would absolutely recommend The Thoroughbreds. This book is certainly a worthy sequel and a very entertaining read. I found myself getting wrapped up in the drama and genuinely caring about the characters and their predicaments. The authors wrapped everything up with a neat little bow, but I would love it if the series continued to follow Tiffin as the secondary characters become upperclassmen… not to mention the delightful faculty. Except for Rhode because ew. 

I received a digital ARC of this book from Little Brown/NetGalley.