Rating: ★★★☆☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: February 27, 2018
Source: Borrowed
Kay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet, but the past is past, and she’s reinvented herself entirely. Now she’s a star soccer player whose group of gorgeous friends run their private school with effortless popularity and acerbic wit. But when a girl’s body is found in the lake, Kay’s carefully constructed life begins to topple.
The dead girl has left Kay a computer-coded scavenger hunt, which, as it unravels, begins to implicate suspect after suspect, until Kay herself is in the crosshairs of a murder investigation. But if Kay’s finally backed into a corner, she’ll do what it takes to survive. Because at Bates Academy, the truth is something you make…not something that happened.
People Like Us was my most anticipated YA thriller of 2018. I love boarding school books, I love books about cliquey mean girls, and I love reading debut novels. The plot of the book gave me some real Pretty Little Liars vibes, and let’s be honest, I was so into that show that it’s actually a little embarrassing. So what did I end up thinking about this book? Not a lot, actually.
If anything, the book is a little too PLL for my tastes. It feels like it would make an awesome CW show, but as a book? I don’t know. It’s a little disappointing. I was entertained and I would never call this a bad book, but I never really got a sense that Kay was all that concerned about the threatening website or that she really cared too much about being blackmailed. I also tend to dislike books with love shapes, and this was more of a love… hexagon? I don’t even know. It’s a tangled web, that’s for sure.
I appreciated the representation and that nobody really made a big deal over Kay’s sexuality (or anybody else’s, for that matter), but that wasn’t enough for me to love this book.
#mm18: vacation reads
Have you read People Like Us? Is it on your TBR?
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The Bibliophagist 
I never read or watched PLL but this book has been on my list for a while.
Love hexagon does sound a bit concerning tho 😂
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Haha, it’s your normal YA where everybody’s in love with everybody. It’s actually really entertaining, so I hope you like it if you get around to it!
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I would probably enjoy the computer-coded scavenger hunt, but surely, not the drama and the sexual context. Too much drama and too much sexual context mean that the plot of the book is poorly constructed and the story lacks creativity…Don’t we always add salt and spices to a flavorless soup to make it yummy? I did not read this book, but from reading your review it looks like the story needed a little pizzaz and so the author added the sexual context and drama–the salt to add to a flavorless soup. But, too much salt always spoils the soup!
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There’s not a ton of sexual content in this book (it’s definitely YA) but I know what you mean!
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I’ve seen all the PLL episodes lol. And I think this one is on my tbr. I now am having doubts hahaha
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I think you’d probably like it if you liked PLL! It’s definitely not a bad book, it’s just not quite what I was expecting. 🙂
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I also love books about boarding schools but I was just…not that into PLL. I was for the longest time, but then I just kind of gave up – it wasn’t for me. A love hexagon sounds like so much work, to be honest!
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Even I’ll admit that PLL was kind of a disaster at the end! And I totally agree, I can hardly handle my normal everyday life with my (one) boyfriend, I don’t know how I would handle a love hexagon!!
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Bummer. I have a serious soft spot for anything boarding school! Buuutttt, PLL?? Bleck 😀
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I read this a few months back and agree with a lot of what you said! Unfortunately I just didn’t fall in love with it the way I was hoping to.
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It’s disappointing because it wasn’t a bad book, but it just want what I was hoping for!
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I completely agree! What’s your favorite YA mystery/thriller? 🙂
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We All Fall Down by Natalie D. Richards is the first book that came to mind!
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I just looked it up and the synopsis sounds really interesting! I’ll have to add it to my TBR 🙂
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