My review of Tap & Gown

Hi guys,

I was one of the winners of an ARC of Tap & Gown in Diana's recent limerick contest. I've finally finished my review, and I've posted it here. Check it out after the cut, and hope it's helpful!

I have never written a literary review before, so bear with me.


Tap & Gown is an amazing journey of twists and turns, volleys and misses. It is not for the faint-hearted. For those who took the journey from the beginning—from Amy’s anonymous interview phone call to her tristate area search for Jenny, from the sanctuary at Cavador Key to these final months of her senior year of college—this is a journey that does not disappoint. Unlike the other three books in Peterfreund’s series, particularly the more leisurely Rites of Spring (Break), this final installment denies introduction—it leaps right into story. There’s just too much to do, too much plot that needs to happen. The fast-paced narrative propels you into Rose & Grave’s tap process, showing us the chaos of the last few moments of Amy’s Eli career. We get more detail about Amy’s classes and her work than we have ever gotten before, more angsting about what to do after college, and happily, more relationship drama than Amy has ever had. Lovers of Mr. Orcutt will be happy to hear that we learn much more about the Poe/Jamie in Tap & Gown. Amy’s relationship with Poe is indeed central to the story as we fight with her to get to a place where the relationship can thrive. As with everything else in Amy’s life, there’s no smooth sailing here.

In Under the Rose, there is one scene where Amy emerges from an all-nighter, and goes to the Rose & Grave tomb, only to find several of her club hanging out together. She later states that this is what R&G should always be like—the bonding, the community, the exchange of new and different ideas. More than ever, in Tap & Gown, we see these bonds, especially between the Diggirls. The sense of community is wonderful, and one of the best parts of the series. As Amy’s friendship with the other Diggers has grown, so, too, have their characters changed and developed, and it’s such a pleasure to read.

Unsurprisingly, in this new installment, we see several new faces as well as the return of a few old ones. Brandon and Felicity? Check. Darren Gehry? Check. Even the lost Carol gets a passing reference. But the real meat of the story lies in the new characters, most of them Amy’s junior potential taps. What we learn with her is such an important message of female empowerment, of tenacity, and of being true to oneself. We learn about sacrifice and compromise. And most of all, we learn about change, both for better and for worse. It’s a little cliché to talk of change being the central theme of a book about graduation, but Peterfreund spins it in a way that doesn’t feel quite so obvious. Amy’s approach to change evolves so subtly, but so genuinely as to make us feel that no other approach could have worked.

For me, the key to a good story is unpredictable characters in unpredictable circumstances. That is, the characters surprise us with their actions, yet those actions feel in character. At the same time, the plot must maintain some kind of unpredictability, throwing those characters into situations that are unexpected, but completely plausible. Peterfreund successfully achieves this balance with Tap & Gown—I was gripped by both the story and the characters’ development in a way that made this book the most masterful of the series, and affording closure while still allowing me to imagine Amy’s future.

And for those of you who are desperate to know, we do get an Animal House style-list, at the end, of where D177 is going. Rest assured, Diana ties up all the loose ends!

Thanks so much to Diana for the ARC!