Initial Thoughts

I saw “Gossip Girl” in the tag and I knew I needed to read this book. That show was one of my favorites in high school and I don’t read enough thrillers so I was eager to give this a try.

Some Things I Liked

Gossip Girl meets Veronica Mars. It had elements of both of these shows that I absolutely loved when I was in high school and I loved that nostalgia.
Pretty Little Liars vibes. Again, another show I enjoyed so I appreciated the nods to that series.
A somewhat relatable MC. Despite the incredibly far fetched scenarios, (I don’t know about you, but this book was not even remotely close to my high school experience), I found that Jill was a relatable character. She worried about normal things and had a conscious where it seemed like her peers really didn’t. She made a good narrator.

One Thing I Wasn’t Crazy About

Plot twist. I saw right through the plot twist. Literally, as soon as this character was introduced, I was like “_____ did it”. Given that this book’s purpose is to be a thriller and a mystery, I would be remiss if I didn’t deduct points for predictability. Please note, it is *VERY* hard to surprise me. I’ve seen pretty much every crime show that Investigation Discovery has.

Series Value

There’s not much to this as a series. The mystery in this book is solved. However, those kids are up to some SHADY stuff! I wouldn’t be surprised if more crimes came out of their nonsense. So, in that vein, I can see potential spin-offs being successful.

Final Thoughts

I liked this book. It was a bit predictable but overall, kept me excited to keep reading.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommendations for Further Reading

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro – if you liked the high school setting, try this series about a modern day Sherlock Holmes and her Watson.
One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus – I haven’t read this one yet but I’ve heard good things. Definitely give it a try if you liked They Wish They Were Us.

*I WAS PROVIDED A DIGITAL GALLEY VIA NETGALLEY IN RETURN FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION*

If you're looking for a rich and enticing thriller with epic twists and unexpected turns, look no further!

They Wish They Were Us was a book I was really excited about since its announcement. I love murder-mysteries, and I love them even more when they're written with an addictive writing style. Jessica Goodman planned to deliver, and deliver she did.

I loved each and every one of the characters in this story. The main character, Jill, is both an outsider and an insider in her friend group. She was chosen for the Players, a group of teens in their high school have earned their way to being "elite" in Gold Coast Prep, but she doesn't exactly fit the school or its student body. For one, majority of the people attending Gold Coast are rich, white kids with affluent families. The author made multiple points throughout the book to call schools like Gold Coast out on this, making it obvious her stance that there should be more diversity than just those who can afford it or are white and can act well enough to fit in.

Jill's best friend, Shaila, was killed during their freshman year of high school. Everyone assumed the killer was Shaila's boyfriend after he was found wandering in a blood-drenched hoodie. Since then, it's been silent. But upon starting her senior year, Jill gets a text from the guy's sister claiming he was innocent.

I really loved how the author plotted this story out. Just when you thought you had a hint of something, you were proven wrong or left guessing in the aftermath. Along with that, she made the teenagers in this book feel and appear as real teenagers. In the majority of young adult books, you'll either have characters who feel older than they're said to be or you'll have stereotype-influenced characters that are so fake they make it hard to read. Goodman didn't let that happen in this book, and I have to say, I'm very thankful for that.

Even though I was able to solve the ending before it actually came about (thanks to my unwavering brain that refuses to rest for even a second until it knows every last detail), I still found this book to be unpredictable in a lot of other aspects.

The only part of this book I didn't like was that, toward the end, there was a threat made to Jill by Gold Coast's principal over a situation that occurred. I didn't really feel like that ever got wrapped up or dealt with like it could've been, and it was more so glossed over after everything else came out to play.

But overall, I really did love this book. I wasn't anticipating to love it as much as I did, and for that, I rate it 4.75 stars. I look forward to reading more from Jessica Goodman and also to seeing the movie interpretation of this novel!

I love this so much! A group of privileged teens loose their best friend in a murder, they were sure that Graham committed It. But when Jill receives a text message, unraveling everything she's ever known, they are no longer sure what to believe.

This reminded me of A GOOD GIRLS GUIDE TO MURDER and I loved it. The characters are dimensional, all having their owns and desires. They want to get off of Long Island but they want to make their last year as the Players one of the best ones. Lies, desires, school and so much more!

THEY WISH THEY WERE US is a dark prep school story with a small bit of mystery thrown in. I was expecting this to be more of a thriller mystery due to all of the hype and the synopsis, so I was disappointed that the murder mystery isn't really investigated until the very end and even then, it unfolds rather quickly. Fans of Gossip Girl will enjoy the antics of the Long Island elite teens!

This story wasn't my favorite as a book but I'm excited to see where the show goes. I felt like the story was pretty predictable and there weren't any surprises. I definitely get the Gossip Girl vibes with all of the students being rich and partying and parents are barely around if at all. I was intrigued enough it read it cover to cover because I wanted to see how the story ended. It ended differently than I would have expected but I still saw the reveal coming. I will definitely be interested to see more from Goodman though!

I love stories set in boarding schools so I was excited to read this one. This was such a let down. This felt like a forced mystery about spoiled rich kids and their privileged problems. I could not connect to any character because they were bitter, hateful, spiteful characters with no redeeming qualities. I wanted to DNF several times but I pushed through. I wanted... no.. I *needed* more of the focus to be on the murder mystery that took place and the journey to find out what happened. Instead, it was a too long story of Jill (the MC) giving inner monologue about nothing.

This was too slow, boring, and rambling of a story. Everything about it needed more development.

This book hit me at the right time. I needed something easy and light (YA's my go-to when I need something like this). I got all the Gossip Girl vibes - a show I love to binge watch (again, when I need something easy and light).

At the heart of this book is the mysterious death of Shaila. A student at a rich, white, preppy and private high school, she is pledging to get into the secret society, the Players. It's the last night of the freshman class's initiation and each pledge has to overcome their greatest fear. But as each pledge leaves, accompianed by a upper classman to observe the completion of their task, not all of them come back. One will be dead and another will be accused of murder.

Four years later, the accused murderer is claiming his innocence. But by now, those who were there that fateful night just want to move on - they're graduating and heading off to college this year and freshman year is so far away...no need to rehash the death of Shaila.

But Shaila's best friend, Jill, isn't convinced and as new information comes to light, she is determined to figure out what happened to Shaila that night once and for all.

As I mentioned above, it was fun to get lost in this Gossip Girl-like world. Spoiled rich kids that think they're invinsible from the repercussions of the real world always sets up to be juicy and self-indulgent.

We have a secret society of the elite.⁣
And they wish they were us.⁣
⁣
We are the beautiful, and the popular.⁣
⁣And they wish they were us.⁣
⁣
We have the best parties and the answers to every exam.⁣
⁣And they wish they were us.⁣
⁣
One of us is dead.⁣
⁣And still, they wish they were us.⁣
⁣
One of us went to jail.⁣
⁣But was it the right one of us?⁣
⁣
Gossip Girl meets One of Us is Lying meets The Secret History - nothing is ever as it seems. Or is it?⁣
⁣
This one has all the prep school drama, spoiled rich kids, and murdery vibes one could want - and it is a FUN read. And, also - it’s TV adaptation is coming soon!⁣ Yay!

Thank you Penguin Teen for the e-arc of They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman.

Freshman year Shaila is murdered and her boyfriend confesses to the murder. And now her friends deal with her loss through their high school years until they make it to senior year. They've moved on and finally get to rule the school as Players.
A secret society that involves hazing on freshman that could be Players one day. But being a Player sets you up to have your future set before you even graduate.
But when one of the Players named Jill starts receiving text from an old acquaintance she begins to question if being a Player is worth it.
Secrets begin to unravel friendships end. This book had my attention from the beginning even after I guessed what happened to Shaila. It was an entertaining read.

DNF. The CW/Riverdale-esque plot and the spoiled rich kid caricatures were just unbearable from the first page. Murder mysteries can be fun when executed correctly, but placing them in this type of environment (with elitist and snobby teens) is more than overdone at this point and about 25% of the way through the story, nothing stood out as particularly interesting, unique, or engaging.

3 stars

Jill is a senior at a elite prep school on Long Island. She's part of the Players-- a "secret" society of the school. They throw exclusive parties and have insider information. Her freshman year her best friend Shaila was murdered. Shaila's boyfriend Graham confessed to the killing and is currently away serving his time. But during her senior year, which is supposed to be the best yet, she starts getting texts from Graham's sister claiming his innocence. Should Jill dig up the past and find out what really happened? DUH DUH DUHHHH!

But actually, it's not that dramatic. This book was enjoyable to read but it wasn't top tier for mystery. It gave me major Gossip Girl vibes, including all of the parties and drama. The drama was fun to read (mostly because my high school experience was very tame). The friendships and relationship dynamics were interesting and well done I thought. I also liked the moral dilemma Jill has with being in the Players (let's just say the Players do some shady stuff). While the drama was interesting to read, I thought this would be more of a mystery/thriller than it was. I LOVE secret societies in books, but in this book it's not even that secret because most of the school knows it exists. While the ending was good, it was a little predictable. I hardly ever guess endings but I did pretty early on with They Wish They Were Us. I also felt like it focused way too much on the high school drama and not enough on the murder for a "mystery" book.

Overall, if you're looking for some high school drama with a dash of murder, you'd probably enjoy it. If you're looking for a twisty, suspenseful YA mystery, it might fall flat.

Thanks for Penguin Teen for providing me with an ARC of this one! I read it in two days, so it's obviously a thriller you can fly through. Personally, I haven't read too many prep school murder mysteries, so I don't know how it holds up to others. But I did enjoy the concept of the Players and I'm sure it's not too far off from what happens a few of these elite schools around the country. It's also hard to argue with the premise that these students would have gone along with the hazing culture for so long, since it's so pervasive at fraternities around the country. Jill is also a more relatable character among all of these wealthy, beautiful teens (she's still beautiful, of course, just not wealthy).

The one thing I didn't like was the pacing of the novel. It didn't feel like enough happened during the book for it to take place over the course of a year, so there were a lot of time jumps that didn't seem to work given the development of the characters. Still, the writing was great and the twists and turns were engaging! I recommend this one for fans of Karen M. McManus' books.

I cannot quite wrap my head around just how good this one was. THEY WISH THEY WERE US is everything I love about YA. It’s more of a thriller (think E. Lockhart’s WE WERE LIARS) yet sexy in the way YA is able to toe that line. It was a bit slow to start. I struggled with the plot at first, knowing something was going to happen but unable to figure out what. Then the last 100 pages came. And then I couldn’t breath for the final 50. I loved it so, so much.

I'm not sure why, but this book felt like it was written to be a tv show. Maybe it's the similarities to Pretty Little Liars, but something was just off. I liked the book, but I had a hard time remembering who each person was for a good half of the book. The characters didn't feel different enough.

Jill is on scholarship to an expensive, elite prep school. This school has "The Players". It's basically a sort of secret society with a small number of kids from each class. It's her senior year and they only have six instead of eight. Jill's best friend, Shaila was killed at the end of their freshmen year. Shaila's boyfriend, Graham, confessed. The only person who doubted his guilt was his older sister, Rachel. Jill is dating a player, but she obsesses about an older player, Adam. He's away at Brown and she's determined to go there the following year. Nikki and Jill got close when Shaila died. They were all best friends. Now Jill's little brother is going to try to become a player, too. They have all the power. Players have past test answers that the teachers still use. Each of them can log in and cheat on any test. But the players are not all fun.

Jill references initiation night a lot. Throughout the year, the freshmen are given "pops". They're usually small things like carrying books, getting coffee, etc. But not all of them are and she realizes that girls have it way worse. Some of the stuff is sexual and a lot are crimes. But they keep doing them to be one of the kids everyone wants to be. Shaila died the night of initiation, but it becomes obvious that more happened that night. Jill finally wakes up and realizes how messed up it is. Rachel reaches out to her about Graham's innocence and says that Shaila was cheating on him. At first, Jill refuses to believe it. But then she decides to look into things and it's possible that Graham might be innocent. She also realizes that if he is, someone else she knows is guilty.

The killer was pretty easy to figure out, but I wasn't sure on the why at first. I did enjoy Jill's growth and her relationship with her brother. The book has pretty decent pacing. It was just the characters that lacked for me.

I gave this book 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4 on Goodreads.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my review copy.

Warnings: This book is more mature and there is a lot of talk of sex. There is teenage drinking, talk of attempted sexual assault, talk of an inappropriate relationship, a lot of hazing, misogyny and sexism, and a lot of rich, white privilege.

This murder mystery trope set in Long Island’s most prestigious Gold Coast Prep school has everything you loved about Gossip Girl!
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Privileged teens, secret societies, secret hazing rituals, exclusivity, friendships, back-stabbing, popularity & rich people drama, including a murder.
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This book sucked me in from the first chapter ( I can never get enough reading about the uber rich) and kept me guessing through the twits until the end. I really enjoyed this YA thriller and look forward to seeing what is next for The Player’s Club!

"This is the way it should be. We're no better than anyone else. We're just the only ones who didn't realize."

There are the cool kids and then there are the Players. They Wish They Were Us is a YA mystery set at an elite private school where the Players have to decide how far they'll go to get what they want. If you like One of Us is Lying or E. Lockhart's books, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks or We Are Liars then give this teen mystery a read.

They mystery isn't completely predictable, but the writing and the character depth/development is well done. It's a great read, and I can definitely see it as a TV series.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Best For: 14 and up, YA mystery fans
# of Pages: 327
Clean Read: No. There's some language, violence, drug use, and underage drinking.

W O W this book was so good! I haven't gotten caught up in a YA mystery/thriller in quite some time. I thoroughly enjoyed the elite socialite Gossip Girl feel of the ambience Jessica Goodman encapsulated in this story. The mystery kept me on my toes, and the clues were really fun to follow and guess along with to see if I was right. Highly recommend!

One minute I was crying like a baby, the next I was somewhere down the beach covered in blood."
I received an arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This book is set to come out on August 4th 2020.
They Wish They were us is a slow burning murder mystery. It reminded me a lot of that show Pretty Little Liars. The weird part? The fact that some of the kids refer to the others as "Undies." Every time I read that word I giggled and immediately thought of underwear. I will be giving it a 3/5 stars as the last 120 pages were hard to put down.


Murder mysteries are outside of my genre and this one was no different. Our main character Jill Newman goes to a very preppy high school where rich kids have 6 different houses and they pretty much run their school. Honestly? It felt like they were in a cult where they made each other do stupid things over and over again just to fit in. As this isn't my lifestyle I worked at a college with preppy white kids just like this so it's probably why the book doesn't resonate with me. These are the type of kids that would tell you to "know your place." Nothing irks me more. Anyway, toss a murder into the mix and add a scandalous amount of money you'll probably see where this book is going.


This book really focused on drama between the characters more than it did on the murder itself. I think that is why I found it really slow. It didn't start making headway until the last 120 pages when the character actually seemed to give a damn about her childhood friend.
I found that I was getting a bit confused while reading the book. It would switch back and forth between past and present without really giving you a heads up. It was jarring at first but once you grew used to it you were able to keep up.


For a first ever book I give the author props. judging from the fact that it says book one next to it I'm assuming there will be another book. I'm hopeful that the author will be able to pace the next one better. I'm not sure I have any intention to read the next one. I will be sending my copy to a friend who is most excited for this one! I hope she enjoys it!

They Wish They Were Us follows Jill Newman, a senior at Gold Coast Prep, a member of the elite society, the Players, and a scholarship student. Told entirely from Jill’s perspective, she takes us through the hierarchy of the Players, their selections, hazings, and ultimately initiations. But Jill is haunted by the death of her best friend Shaila when they were freshmen. Everyone assumes that Shaila’s murder was solved, that her boyfriend killed her. But when the presumed murderer’s sister contacts Jill for help finding out the truth, Jill starts to question if everything she knows about the Players is true.

Starting They Wish They Were Us, I was so excited about the plot. I thought I was going to like this book given that it was compared to Gossip Girl, filled with drama, and focused on murder. But instead, it largely focused on a whiny group of self-centered teenagers hazing new members of their secret society. I was so bored, waiting for the actual plot to begin.

About halfway through, at a major turning point in the plot, the story starts to switch gears and I instantly felt hooked. The story started to focus less on the hazing rituals Jill and friends were forcing upon the freshman and more on flashbacks to the ones they had been subjected to a few years back. The tone quietly shifted from elitist to reproachful as Jill starts to reflect on the things that happened during her freshman year and how they may have contributed to Shaila’s murder. In the end, I thought it was well done and had a good message, but I didn’t feel as though it made up for the first 150 pages of exposition.

I enjoyed this but didn't love it. It did remind me of Gossip Girl because all of our characters go to a private school and are super rich. We follow Jill who is apart of 'the players' aka the elite group. Each grade has one and every year the senior class picks 8 freshmen to become 'players' and go through grueling tests to prove their worth.
Jill and 7 others were picked freshman year and now they are seniors and it's their year.
Jill's best friend, Shailia died on initiation night freshman year and her boyfriend, Graham was arrested for her murder and now 3 years later...questions are emerging, did he really do it?
We basically learn all about these tests and how hard all of their lives are and I just loathed all of these characters so much. I'm sorry but I did, and I found the hazing was horrible and yet year after year it gets worse. Overall it was ok...just didn't love it.