Bad Habits

"A truly original novel . . .a primal scream of a book that could be written only by this author at this time." —Laura Lippman, New York Times–bestselling author of The Sunburn and Lady of the Lake

Claire "Mac" Woods—a professor enjoying her newfound hotshot status at an academic conference—finally has the acceptance and admiration she has long craved. But at the conference's hotel bar, Mac is surprised to run into a face from a past she'd rather forget: the moneyed, effortlessly perfect Gwendolyn Whitney, Mac's foil, rival, and former best friend.

When Gwen moved to town in high school, Claire—then known as Mac, a poor kid from a troubled family—saw what it meant to have money, sophistication, culture, the very blueprints to success. Mac had almost nothing, except the will to change. Change she did, habitually grinding herself to work as hard as straight-A Gwen, even eventually getting admitted into the same elite graduate program as Gwen.

But then Mac and Gwen become entangled with the department's power-couple professors and compete head-to-head for a life changing fellowship. The more twisted the track toward success becomes, the more Mac has to contort herself to stay one step ahead—which deception signals the point of no return?

Jack-knifing between Mac's graduate days and the crucible of the hotel and its unexpected guests, Bad Habits follows Mac's reckoning between her hardscrabble past and tenuous present. What, exactly, did Mac do to get what she has today? And what will she do to keep it?

"By turns wicked and tender, ghastly and hilarious, Bad Habits is Amy Gentry's best book yet." —Elizabeth Little, author of Dear Daughter