Rating: 
Summary: Too Predictable
Review: This book essentially rips off The Secret History by Donna Tart. While the storylines are different in some ways there similarities are too many to ignore. The focus on Classical Studies, the reenactment of ancient Greek rituals...those things aside the book doesn't develop characters well (it's hard to tell apart Jane Hudson's three female students, all we know is they are goth and take her latin class) and the plot "twists" are utterly predictable. Who is the person secretly stalking Jane? I figured it out almost immediately. What is the big secret that Domina Chambers tells Lucy? Not too tough to grasp if you read a little into how the woman treats Lucy...And what was that ending? It was painful to read. Everything is wrapped up in a nice neat little package. Again, it was utterly predictable.The book had potential, I liked the basic ideas but they just weren't developed effectively.
Rating:
Summary: Had potential but didn't live up
Review: This book had the potential to be good but suffered from a number of pitfalls that ended up souring the whole, including transparent characters, befuddled plot (not aided by the skips backward and forward in time bewteen the main character Jane's school days and her modern situation teaching at the same school) and a fairly drab writing style. So many repetitions of the same type of event (return after return to the frozen lake) became tedious, with little other interesting outside action to break the monotony of it.
The psychological whodunit aspect was spoiled (at least for me) because i predicted in most cases how the secret revelations about the characters would play out.
About halfway through i discovered that i really didn't care about any of the characters, as most had little definitive personality; Jane's students especially blended together (especially since the Latin students went by multiple names) because there was little to distinguish them in my mind.
Also, maybe i'm too old [mid-20s] but the antics of these teen characters just seemed rather trite to me.
It interested me that this book was compared to Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" in the cover blurb, as many elements were similar (Classics students, mysterious deaths, close ties to a certain professor), some even enough to be almost ripped off (recreation of rites from past cultures, unusual sibling relationships), though they played out differently. If you want a skillful crafting including these elements in a fictional story, read Tartt's book instead.
Rating: 
Summary: A gothic novel
Review: This book reminded me of The Secret History by Donna Tartt. It has the same feeling of things, mysteries, hidden beneath the surface. Jane Hudson, an instructor at Heart Lake, teaches at the same school she once attended. While a student there, her two roommates killed themselves. Now, girls in the class she teaches seem to be coming to the same end. Jane has to come to an understanding of what happened in the past in order to help her students now.This is a dark, gothic novel, full of mysterious alliances, secrets kept, and secrets told. This is a really good read on a stormy weekend with a cup of tea at your side. You wind up caring for all the characters, and wondering what will happen to them in the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: This book was better then I had expected. It is strongly written and keeps you interested at all times. There are quite a few twists in the book which makes it all the more exciting. Overall a good read. My only complaint was the end was a little bit more cheesy then I had hoped for. However, quite a few people like everything to be wrapped up in the end. A good read that you can get for a good deal.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as I had hoped for.
Review: This story revolves around Jane, Lucy, Deirdre and Matt....and of course the lake. It seems to take on a character of its own. Jane graduated from a boarding school on Heart Lake and began her subsequent life. Events of her life however lead her back to her alma mater where she teaches Latin. Strange events begin to take place once she is back at the school though. It seems that someone has found a long lost journal and her experiences from the past are being re-enacted by her current students. Jane can only solve this mystery by confronting her past and uncovering the truth of exactly what happened in her senior year on the lake. The story had a few twists and turns, though predictable. I didn't find myself actually liking any of the characters however. There was never any real sense of friendship between Jane, Lucy and Deirdre. I felt like they were all using each other for their own purposes. They seemed to be able to shrug off tragedy at a whim, i.e. someone falls into the ice and drowns and they just pick themselves up, dust themselves off and go back to school! I do not see any real emotion here. The lake itself is described endlessly. While it does play a pivotal role in the story, I felt the characters needed to be fleshed out more and the lake descriptions curtailed a little more. All in all, just an okay read.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Fun
Review: While the book can be a bit predictable in some ways, Goodman writes an interesting, interwoven tale that keeps the pages turning. I found myself staying up past midnight to finish it. She shows intellect by including the Latin subplot, and yet even adolescent readers will find it a page-turner (but beware: sexual content). This is a fun, worthy read for mystery lovers who want more than the typical, bloody, mindless tale.
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