Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - People Like Us

I’m gonna be honest, the beginning had me doubting the book. About halfway through the story really picks up and the end had me shocked. I was so so shocked at who the killer was, that it brought the books rating up a whole half star.

I’ll start with the pros. I genuinely could never form a real theory. I figured some people were too obvious, but I had no other leads. The mystery was really entertaining. Not only the mystery with the murder case, but also with information about characters. The slow reveal of what happened in Kay’s hometown had me so hooked and I liked that little moments were sprinkled throughout the book.

Now the cons. Until the end, I would’ve rated this book 3 stars. Especially at the beginning, I felt like the writing lacked emotion. It was a very tell-not-show style and I wasn’t used to it. I do think the writing got a little better throughout, but some things still confused me. Kay received some heavy threats and acted completely normal about what happened on the website. As she did each task, I felt like the book rushed through those moments. Also, all the characters at the beginning of the book confused me, but it was not too difficult to understand after a few chapters.

Overall, the book is probably worth 3 stars, but the plot twist was so good that I had to bump up the rating. It was enjoyable to read and I liked the suspense.

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aichaa's review against another edition

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4.0

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nickoliver's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

On the one hand, it was a bit predictable - I was able to figure out the exact nature of the plot twist way before the end -, and the characters and the way they acted was incredibly confusing to me sometimes. They often revealed things so nonchalantly as if they were no big deal and did things that seemed to go against what I'd been believed was their nature up until that point. It kind of felt like I was being gaslight by a book sometimes.

I also wasn't the biggest fan of the writing? It wasn't bad for the most part, but every once in a while, Mele would describe things in a way that made no sense. Here's an example:

But with every passing second, I feel a rising anxiety in the pit of my stomach, like I did the first time we kissed. It doesn't feel the same as those quick, crucial moments when Brie and I swirled together in Spencer's room, or the thousand times he and I flung ourselves at each other."

Who describes a make-out like that? "Swirled together"? "Flung ourselves at each other"? Moments like that just took me out of the story, because I just kept being taken aback by them. It just seemed like Mele tried to find ways to describe things without repeating herself, but without making sure the words actually meant what she thought they meant.

On the other hand, I had kind of fun reading this? It was a bit disappointing that the scavenger hunt mentioned in the synopsis didn't take up as much of the plot as I expected, because I was always very curious to see what new scandals it would reveal. I also kind of liked that some of the girls were queer. There was a bit too much cattiness and mean girls energy in this and friends being nasty to each other (which, to someone who hasn't had any meaningful friendship since childhood, has always confused me tremendously), but it didn't bother me quite as much as it usually would. (Possibly because Kay didn't talk about it all too much and always seemed to trivialise her mean streak.)

So overall, while this wasn't a masterpiece and also very easy to figure out, I read it very quickly (admittedly, it did also have a very big font, which helped) and had fun for the most part.

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barry_benson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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hannahg3mm311's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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