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alejaeger's review
5.0
This was everything I never knew I needed. Didn't expect to love this so much!!!!!
I'll never be the same ever again. aaaaaaaaaaa
I'll never be the same ever again. aaaaaaaaaaa
lpcoolgirl's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a great read, loved the story and how it played out!
naomistrange's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
victoriaelisa's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sadkitty's review
4.0
I didn't guess the right killer. The story keeps getting better even after the mystery is solved.
shaylaw's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
reeyabeegale's review
3.0
It’s more of a 3.5 stars. Honestly, I was so set in rating this 3 stars because I agree with one of the reviews I’ve read here on Goodreads — a big chunk of this book in the earlier chapters was very intriguing and exciting, it had me guessing who the killer was, and the book took multiple twists that I had to change on who I thought the killer was a lot of times as well.
I’ve read a lot of books that are psychological thrillers, I love them and one of the best, in my opinion is the Prep School Confidential trilogy. It was very exhilarating and written so well. But after reading Choker, the idea of psychological thriller books changed — it was perfect.
Now, coming across this, it was good. I loved the presentation of blackmail via a recipe website! I enjoyed seeing how an LGBT theme played in the story, and how it was presented.
After Kay shared the story of the Dear Valentine, I was dead set on who the killer was, and I had an idea as to why the killer wanted revenge. However, the actual reveal disappointed me because I expected a finer connection between everyone who was involved, I was looking for a more sinister reasoning —because I’m so used to getting chills towards these parts of the books, but with People Like Us, it was lacking because the killer wasn’t really telling me something I don’t already know (or guessed for that matter). Jess’ death and the role she played, was good and it was not in my knowledge but it wasn’t the “boom” of the story.
Bumping this 3.5 stars came towards the very end, when Bianca’s identity was revealed —I love this kind of twists. And the biggest reason why I decided to rate this .5 higher than my original rating was because of Todd’s death. The mystery behind it and how Kay had an important part to play was brilliantly devious and self-serving. I enjoyed it because all throughout the book, I was led to believe that she was just blaming herself for the death of both Megan and Todd, but she wasn’t really at fault (like in most contemporary books about self-healing and finding theirselves). It was nice to see that there were two psychological defected/challenged characters in the book instead of the usual one, was a good addition. For me to find out that she was willing to go a certain extent to detach herself from the incident in her past, it was a big twist but it wasn’t enough to get a 4 star rating in my opinion.
I’ve read a lot of books that are psychological thrillers, I love them and one of the best, in my opinion is the Prep School Confidential trilogy. It was very exhilarating and written so well. But after reading Choker, the idea of psychological thriller books changed — it was perfect.
Now, coming across this, it was good. I loved the presentation of blackmail via a recipe website! I enjoyed seeing how an LGBT theme played in the story, and how it was presented.
After Kay shared the story of the Dear Valentine, I was dead set on who the killer was, and I had an idea as to why the killer wanted revenge. However, the actual reveal disappointed me because I expected a finer connection between everyone who was involved, I was looking for a more sinister reasoning —because I’m so used to getting chills towards these parts of the books, but with People Like Us, it was lacking because the killer wasn’t really telling me something I don’t already know (or guessed for that matter). Jess’ death and the role she played, was good and it was not in my knowledge but it wasn’t the “boom” of the story.
Bumping this 3.5 stars came towards the very end, when Bianca’s identity was revealed —I love this kind of twists. And the biggest reason why I decided to rate this .5 higher than my original rating was because of Todd’s death. The mystery behind it and how Kay had an important part to play was brilliantly devious and self-serving. I enjoyed it because all throughout the book, I was led to believe that she was just blaming herself for the death of both Megan and Todd, but she wasn’t really at fault (like in most contemporary books about self-healing and finding theirselves). It was nice to see that there were two psychological defected/challenged characters in the book instead of the usual one, was a good addition. For me to find out that she was willing to go a certain extent to detach herself from the incident in her past, it was a big twist but it wasn’t enough to get a 4 star rating in my opinion.
raspberryicedtea's review against another edition
3.0
Ich bin immer noch unsicher ob das Buch nicht doch 4 Sterne wert ist, statt 3,5 da ich es tatsächlich eigentlich ganz gerne gelesen habe. Es ist ein Internatskrimi mit Intrigen und so weiter. Es war auch spannend und das Ende hat mich auch überrascht.
Trotzdem hat es mich nicht mitgerissen, ich konnte nicht mitfiebern und hoffen.
Kay fand ich in Ordnung. Sie ist Teil einer beliebten Clique der Schule und hat kein Problem damit andere Leute zu erniedrigen und zu demütigen. Sie sieht das anscheinend als eine Art Sport und "Spaß". Ich war gerade am Anfang sehr skeptisch, weil sie so unglaublich oberflächlich und arrogant war, jedoch lernte man sie besser kennen und sie wurde letztendlich auch als ein Mensch dargestellt. Zwischendurch hatte ich das Gefühl, sie hätte sich geändert , stellenweise und besonders am Schluss war ich aber wieder sehr genervt, weil sie sich anscheinend immer noch für etwas besseres hält, auch wenn sie es natürlich nicht so sieht. Auch ihre Hintergrundgeschichte kam mir doch sehr übertrieben vor. Ihr sind so viele schlimme Dinge passiert, die ihr Verhalten erklären sollten, letztendlich entschuldigt es aber nichts.
Nola mochte ich eigentlich ganz gerne.
Alle anderen Figuren waren so oberflächlich, dass sie mir echt egal waren. Besonders Brie hat mich total angenervt, genauso wie Kay, die Brie total vergöttert hat. Brie war die Heilige, die Perfekte, die alles richtig macht und so hat sie sich selbst auch gesehen.
Das Ende... Ich weiß nicht, es war überraschend, es gab noch eine Wendung mit der ich nicht gerechnet habe. Aber es ging sehr schnell, während es sich in der Mitte stellenweise gezogen hat. Also war das Ende eigentlich doch enttäuschend, da es so weit hergeholt war, außerdem wurde die Auflösung dann in zwei Kapiteln abgehandelt als wäre es nichts.
Trotzdem hat es mich nicht mitgerissen, ich konnte nicht mitfiebern und hoffen.
Kay fand ich in Ordnung. Sie ist Teil einer beliebten Clique der Schule und hat kein Problem damit andere Leute zu erniedrigen und zu demütigen. Sie sieht das anscheinend als eine Art Sport und "Spaß". Ich war gerade am Anfang sehr skeptisch, weil sie so unglaublich oberflächlich und arrogant war, jedoch lernte man sie besser kennen und sie wurde letztendlich auch als ein Mensch dargestellt. Zwischendurch hatte ich das Gefühl, sie hätte sich geändert , stellenweise und besonders am Schluss war ich aber wieder sehr genervt, weil sie sich anscheinend immer noch für etwas besseres hält, auch wenn sie es natürlich nicht so sieht. Auch ihre Hintergrundgeschichte kam mir doch sehr übertrieben vor. Ihr sind so viele schlimme Dinge passiert, die ihr Verhalten erklären sollten, letztendlich entschuldigt es aber nichts.
Nola mochte ich eigentlich ganz gerne.
Alle anderen Figuren waren so oberflächlich, dass sie mir echt egal waren. Besonders Brie hat mich total angenervt, genauso wie Kay, die Brie total vergöttert hat. Brie war die Heilige, die Perfekte, die alles richtig macht und so hat sie sich selbst auch gesehen.
Das Ende... Ich weiß nicht, es war überraschend, es gab noch eine Wendung mit der ich nicht gerechnet habe. Aber es ging sehr schnell, während es sich in der Mitte stellenweise gezogen hat. Also war das Ende eigentlich doch enttäuschend, da es so weit hergeholt war, außerdem wurde die Auflösung dann in zwei Kapiteln abgehandelt als wäre es nichts.
irmah's review
1.0
literally all I wanted was a nice little sapphic boarding school murder mystery and then it was… this thing……
the pacing is soooo off, there are around a billion of useless characters, and they all manage to be both one-dimensional and inconsistent at the same time, none of the adults are capable of doing their jobs, and all of the teens are incredibly cunty (and not in a goof way), the plot is all over the place, there are so so so many chekhov’s guns hung above the fireplace, and yet none of them manage to get fired….
….and yet I finished it to get a sense of accomplishment and to be able to complain about it, oopsie :)
the pacing is soooo off, there are around a billion of useless characters, and they all manage to be both one-dimensional and inconsistent at the same time, none of the adults are capable of doing their jobs, and all of the teens are incredibly cunty (and not in a goof way), the plot is all over the place, there are so so so many chekhov’s guns hung above the fireplace, and yet none of them manage to get fired….
….and yet I finished it to get a sense of accomplishment and to be able to complain about it, oopsie :)