#NetGalleyARC I really wanted to enjoy this book but it just didn't do it for me. I usually don't mind books that are told from multiple POVs but for some reason with this one I kept losing track of who's who and who was the narrator. It's a decent thriller but I just couldn't get really hooked into it. Will I purchase it for my HS library? Yes because I think my students will enjoy it, but it just wasn't MY cup of tea.

murder? mystery? thriller? i loved this book! sometimes there is nothing better than a YA thriller and this was it for me! especially if you are a fan of a good girls guide to murder! thank you netgalley for this arc!!

Bad Like Us is perfect for fans of Cruel Summer, Pretty Little Liars and A Good Girls Guide to Murder.

The mystery was GOOD and the setting played huge part in that. I love locked room or secluded mysteries because everyone looks guilty at some point. I personally didn't figure out who the killer was until Eva set her trap.

The multiple POVs were a bit confusing at first but as the story progressed it was easier to follow. I thought the short chapters were great, it kept the story moving forward quickly. The snippets from the police reports and Piper's social media added a lot of depth to story, I think this would make a great audiobook!

Great for fans of Karen McManus, Bad Like Us was a perfect YA thriller. Fast, dramatic, and fun. There were parts of the plot I wish were a bit more developed, but overall a very fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warning: death

I’ve read two other books from this author and enjoyed both but this one feels made for lower young adult readers. It’s definitely for the teen readers.

A group of teens go to a remote location for Spring Break, but things get out of hand when one of them ends up dead. This is a short book, coming in at under 300 pages so it’s a quick read. A lot of the story happens during their time at the private beach lodge but there are flashbacks leading up to the spring break trip which gives us insights into some of the main characters. There is a lot of suspicion between the characters as they try and figure out if one of them is the killer. My guess was mostly right but there was more in the reveal that I didn’t expect.

It was an okay read, but I wanted more thrills and suspense.

My Thoughts:

This was a quick read and I think it would appeal to teenagers. I do wish there were more thrills and suspense but overall it was an okay read.

A spring break trip turns deadly and Eva doesn’t know who she can trust.

I liked the premise of this one but I couldn’t get into the writing style. I think the author could have worked to build suspense early on more.

Not a bad book, just not sure I was the target audience ✨

Social media blog aspects were fun to follow✨

Lower level YA✨

Multiple POV✨

The flash backs were a bit confusing✨

The ending was good and tied everything together well✨

Thank you NetGalley for the arc of this book! This was a fast-paced book that kept me engaged the whole time! I really enjoyed this YA thriller. I was a littler worried that all the different characters would be hard to keep track of, but they really weren't! Each character had their own distinct persona. I thought that everything came together nicely at the end and didn't leave any questions unanswered.

I really wanted to like this more, but my problem with it lies with the same issues I've had with books like Seven Ways We Lie or Nine Liars - there are TOO MANY CHARACTERS FOR ME TO KEEP TRACK OF! This is probably just a *me* problem, but my brain cannot compute when I have to follow and invest in so many characters, especially when I need to be scrutinizing them to see which of them is possibly a killer. Anyway, I will try out the author again, but this one was really hard to keep up with and to stay engrossed in.

Eva doesn’t normally party, but when she receives an offer to attend a small spring break bash at an isolated cabin on the coast, she and her friends agree to go to help take their minds off Miles’ recent academic troubles. She doesn’t know much about the other people going other than that she’d like to get to know Colton more. But drama arises when an anonymous letter is found that stirs up an already tumultuous relationship, and as a massive storm blows in, the teens don’t realize that one of them will soon be dead.

This story is told from multiple POVs and includes a multimedia approach, using articles, video transcripts, and group chats to supplement the plot. Many chapters also ended with small sections that explored the past of one of the characters, usually in relation to the background of something that had happened in that chapter. The setting was an isolated cabin on the Oregon coast with minimal cell service. The author utilized this lack of service to add tension, but there were many times when the teens had active group chats that had no issues with messages being delivered. The convenience and inconsistency of this detracted from the tension and suspense that could have been there. There were also several other instances where things just conveniently occurred to build tension but didn’t make much rational sense, which I disliked.

The characters largely felt flat to me. A couple of the characters were decently written, while the remainder felt like they were underdeveloped and one-dimensional. One of the characters just kind of existed, and I got him and another character confused constantly until the last quarter of the book. I also had a difficult time finding some of the character motivations compelling. One example revolved around trying to get money for attending college. But as someone who also didn’t have parents with money to pay for my education, I found it odd that the character acted like everything had to be paid out of pocket right away (there are income-based grants, student loans, financial aid, etc.).

If you enjoy fast-paced YA murder mysteries in isolated settings, then you might enjoy this read, just don’t think about it too hard. My thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for allowing me to read this work, which will be published March 5, 2024. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Bad Like Us releases March 5, 2024

2.75

A group of 9 friends take a road trip to a remote beach house for their senior year spring break, but only 8 leave alive.
This murder mystery is told though multi-pov and mixed media that includes group text messages, vlog style videos, and interview transcripts, as well as some non-linear flashbacks.

I liked the overall suspense of not knowing who the murderer was and having to analyze every character interaction to determine who was the most suspicious and for what reasons.
I think the downfall for me was the large cast of characters because it didn’t allow for the reader to get to know each of the individuals that were on the trip on the same level — for instance, there was so much about the twin’s family history but I hardly know anything about Javier other than the fact that he was Piper’s boyfriend.

All in all, it’s a pretty quick read and I tend to enjoy pnw settings, but there are some glaring plot holes pertaining to the level of remoteness that are still bugging me.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. My review will appear on my blog on March 4, 2023. I will also post to retail sites, Goodreads, The Storygraph and Instagram that same week.

Review:
I need to start this review by acknowledging that with this being a young adult book, I'm not exactly the intended audience. I requested this one on Netgalley because the cover gives a slasher vibe, but that's not at all what this book is. It is a decent mystery, though, and while I didn't exactly find it especially thrilling or surprising, I feel like teens (who are the intended audience) will likely enjoy it.

The story follows Eva and her group of friends - Noah, Colton & Danny (twin brothers), Miles, Javier, Piper, Karly, and Alice - as they embark on a spring break trip to a private beach lodge owned by Noah's uncle Paul along the Oregon coast. Eager to escape their daily lives and reconnect, they dive headfirst into a world of parties and relaxation. It was supposed to be a weekend of fun, however, tensions rise when Piper receives an anonymous love letter. Javier (Piper's current boyfriend) believes it was from Danny (Piper's ex-boyfriend), and a fight erupts. Tensions run high, and by the end of their last night at the cabin, one of them is dead. Now, the police are involved, and the teens are forced to stay at the cabin while the investigation is underway. Fingers are pointed, and tensions escalate as Eva and the rest of the group try to figure out which of them is the killer.

I was never completely invested in the characters, though Eva, Alice, and Miles were more my speed. I feel like if I had been a part of this friend group, I definitely would have gravitated to them. I also enjoyed the connection between twin brothers Danny and Colton. The flashback scenes, which gave us a closer look at their rocky home life with an unreliable mother, added depth to their characters and made them more sympathetic. Piper was another major player in the story, but I really didn't care for her. Then again, I don't really understand the need to document every moment of your life and post it on social media, so that's likely why she annoyed me. Sadly, the rest of the characters felt really flat. I almost feel like there were too many characters involved.

The focal point of the story is the death of one of the teens. We don't find out who died until about 1/3 of the way into the story. Once it was revealed who died, I felt like the last 2/3 of the book really dragged. There was a lot of unnecessary drama (but again - when isn't there drama when you're dealing with teens?), and when the reveal of what actually happened finally occurred, it didn't have much of an impact on me - mostly because of my lack of connection with some of the characters.

Overall, I wasn't shocked or really surprised by anything in this book, though teen readers may feel differently. I, personally, feel as though this story has been told before, and there wasn't a whole lot that felt new here. That said, the writing is perfectly fine, and I think that fans of YA mystery novels will enjoy this one - especially if they like a familiar story.

I’m sure that this is going to end up being one of my favorite books of this year. Such a gripping and tense mystery full of characters that you don’t know if you can trust or not. That being said, I felt like Colton’s POV wasn’t really needed. In fact, it sorta gave some things away.

If there is one thing I enjoy, it is YA mystery/thrillers, and one of my all-time favorite YA thriller series is Karen McManus' One of Us Is Lying Trilogy, and when I was reading this book, it gave me such similar vibes, primarily because of the friendship group. This was a classic murder mystery, and I can honestly say that I never expected what would happen, which is rare because murder mysteries sometimes become predictable.

As I went further into the book, the pace picked up and I became more and more fascinated with it. It was a genuinely enjoyable read. I only wish the book had focused on a couple of people rather than numerous individuals since too many voices in a book may be overpowering, however it did not detract from the enjoyment of the writing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for this arc.

(3.75 stars)

Unfortunately, this book feels as though it is all over the place.

An ending that I guessed really early on and as mentioned, the tangents and subplot was not necessary.

The writing is okay, but with all the tangents, I can't get a solid feel for her writing.

Eva and her friends go to a private lodge for spring break. Their friend Piper is a social media influencer who likes to stir things up. A murder occurs and they all have something to hide. This story goes between past and present and I couldn’t hardly put it down. It was a great read with fascinating characters. Thanks NetGalley and Inkyard Press for this ARC that will be released March 5, 2024!

3.5⭐️I liked this. It was high school but not overly high school to where it was cringy for me. I liked the slow, behind-the-scenes, not-in-your-face romance. This was a quick read. The chapters switched point of views and were very short, which I didn’t mind. It helped make the story more fast-paced and quick. One thing that was iffy for me was the pacing of the plot. There were flashbacks that were unclear to me and made me confused. Sometimes, I felt left out. Like I wanted to know what was going on during some of the memories, but I.. was lost. Obviously, a lot became clear as I read. However, there were a couple moments where I’m like ‘why did I need this?’ This book was perfectly spooky in a mysterious, murderous way. Definitely a page-turner that I didn’t want to put down and did not want to end!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Inkyard Press, for this dark, suspenseful, and gripping ARC!

Bad Like us as a great YA Thriller and Mystery. I enjoyed reading and honestly loosing sleep over the entire book. However, it reads as if the characters are typical teenagers, like stereotypical teens, if that makes sense? And around 3 characters that I really like were as developed as others and I wish they were. They would have added so much to the plot. All in all, Bad Like Us is an easy and fun thriller book to read.

First, I would like to thank Inkyard Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

While this was a pretty straightforward read, I'm not sure this one was for me. If you are a fan of YA thrillers, then this book is right up your alley. Unfortunately, for me, I thought the twist and the motivations behind the reveal were somewhat lackluster. I didn't have any investment in who the killer was. I was hoping that I would care more or have more desire in finding justice for the victim.

There were also a lot of characters to keep track of - juggling their own personalities and motives was very confusing initially.. If there were maybe two less teenagers, I think I would have enjoyed it more.

That being said, I did enjoy the flashbacks at the end of some chapters. It gave context and insight into the past of certain characters. I thought that was a really great tool that the author used.

Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of YA thrillers. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, I just wish it had been more of an edge of your seat page turner for me.

Thank you for the early copy. This was a really solid YA thriller. It was fast paced, interesting and kept me guessing. I wasn’t sure what exactly had happened until the characters revealed it in the story. I think this will be great for spooky season or anyone that likes thrillers/mystery books.