This book had a fantastic premise! Admittedly, I haven't seen Gossip Girl, but I really enjoyed One of us is Lying and LOOOVE dark academia (ahem, The Secret History).
I appreciated that Jill, the main character, had moral qualms about some of the things happening in the book and took a stand, fighting peer pressure and the desire to conform. It's a tough thing to do and I, for one, appreciate seeing it written into YA. And the mystery had me intrigued at the start.
Unfortunately, most of the other elements in the story didn't quite work for me. The storytelling style was jarring, skipping from past to present frequently, in a confusing way. The clues and red herrings felt heavy-handed. And the characters felt one-dimensional.
However, some of this may be a case of I've-read-too-many-thrillers-/-YA-thrillers. It's not exactly like any one thriller I've read, but it felt enough like an amalgam of several that my mind kept jumping to those thrillers as I read. (It had aspects of All These Beautiful Strangers and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, for starters). So, while this one didn't work for me, it might appeal to readers newer to YA thrillers set in high school!
Thank you Penguin Teen for providing an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
I appreciated that Jill, the main character, had moral qualms about some of the things happening in the book and took a stand, fighting peer pressure and the desire to conform. It's a tough thing to do and I, for one, appreciate seeing it written into YA. And the mystery had me intrigued at the start.
Unfortunately, most of the other elements in the story didn't quite work for me. The storytelling style was jarring, skipping from past to present frequently, in a confusing way. The clues and red herrings felt heavy-handed. And the characters felt one-dimensional.
However, some of this may be a case of I've-read-too-many-thrillers-/-YA-thrillers. It's not exactly like any one thriller I've read, but it felt enough like an amalgam of several that my mind kept jumping to those thrillers as I read. (It had aspects of All These Beautiful Strangers and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, for starters). So, while this one didn't work for me, it might appeal to readers newer to YA thrillers set in high school!
Thank you Penguin Teen for providing an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.