A review by smartinez9
All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth

3.0

This is one of those books that’s hard to rate. Decently-written and compelling, it did keep me engaged and guessing for the most part, although most of the twists I predicted fairly early on. That said, everyone is kind of detestable. Charlie is decently capable and crafty, though at some points slow on the uptake. She starts out pretty awful, leaning heavily on not-like-other-girls tropes, but is at least a little self-aware. The part that really irked me was her easy forgiveness of Leo and Dalton, which felt both 1. undeserved and 2. extremely out of character for someone who’s supposed to be a jaded loner who doesn’t trust easily. Leo, Dalton, and Uncle Teddy overall went rather unpunished on the deceiving women front. And isn’t Grayson like 22? When she’s 17? Also, her father is meant to be shrewd and calculating, but doesn’t figure out that Peter’s an investigator? It’s in his job title. While the overall commentary on wealth and privilege was solid, it wasn’t particularly nuanced or original. Half of the characters were blond, and I’m fairly certain there were zero POCs. Also, the fact that one of her closest friends is a scholarship student and that dynamic is never fleshed out was disappointing.

Def could’ve done without the suicide jokes and the Leo thing. That was uncomfy.