This is a brilliant and wild ride of a book! Succession as a murder mystery!

It is fascinating with so much commentary on new and old money, how the wealthy relate to each other. Maya is such a brilliant character and I didn't expect to root for her. We follow her as she seeks to clear her name and dealing with the Sterlings who are also so compelling.

It is a riveting, twisty, unputdownable, and irresistible thriller that I highly enjoyed. Anna Sophia McLoughlin is a really good writer and i look forward to reading more of her works in the near future!

I did go into this one thinking it was a thriller, it is not. I would not label it as such. It was sometimes slow, sometimes more of a family mystery drama? The plot was okay but it just left me underwhelmed, I felt like there was something missing to make it a truly memorable book.

This was a wild, chaotic, and enjoyable read! Maya, a former reality show star, is now a member of one of the most powerful families on the planet. When a death in the Sterling family causes everyone to be locked down in their palatial estate, Maya starts to discover just how dangerous the Sterlings might be…

I never knew quite what to expect and was slightly confused by the dual perspectives though my patience was rewarded as the story concludes in a surprising and satisfying way. Definitely a thrilling read though I would have loved to know even more about Maya and what motivates her. Recommended to anyone interested in wealthy family drama/rich people problems! 3.5 stars.

Thank you very much to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

This was so MESSY! I loved it!

Family drama + reality tv + murders, lies, and deception = my cup of tea! ☕️

Not going to lie though… I had a bit of a soft spot for Marcus🙈

⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"A Girl Like Us" by Anna Sophia McLoughlin is about Maya Sterling, a party girl turned socialite as she deals with her new family who has just discovered that their heiress has been killed. And that the fortune has been passed onto Maya.

McLoughlin did a wonderful job of creating a plot line that kept me interested all through the night. However, that was the only part of the novel that I liked. I didn’t know anything else about the characters besides what was helpful to the story and as a character focused reader it was then hard to get into the book.

I thought the plot twists were really interesting and I liked the alternating chapters between a character’s journal and present day Maya’s point of view. But, it was hard to connect with Maya when everything I knew about her only helped move the plot along. I felt like I didn’t really know who she was, which in the end I think will make the story forgettable.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants a quick, family mystery drama, with no strings attached.

Thank you SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Maya Sterling née Miller was a poor girl turned reality star who has now married into the powerful Sterling Family. “SterlingCo, one of the first global media companies. Operations in dozens of countries, a massive portfolio of cable channels, publishing houses, newspapers, magazines. A family business with extensive reach.” As Maya and her new husband Colin Sterling land in New York after coming back from their honeymoon in Mexico with their infant daughter Becca men in black suits swarm the airplane and they are told they have to initiate protocol 202 because Colin’s cousin the infamous Arianna Sterling Heiress to the Sterling fortune was murdered while in Mexico, so now since there has been a murder in the Sterling family all immediate family members are now forced to travel to England to Silver House until the killer is caught. Colin’s family already thinking Maya has married him for money dismissing her from family meetings but then when Arianna’s will is read and she names Maya who supposedly has never met her as the new heiress to SterlingCo everyone is starting to wonder who she really is.


A tale of twists, lies and deceit with a lot of character introductions. It definitely was a slow start but once it got going I wanted to read more. Great plot twist! I wish Colin had more of a backbone though. Four stars

This book is about Maya, a former reality TV star married to the most eligible bachelor Colin. She became part of the Sterling family. Colin’s cousin Arianna was murdered Maya became the next heiress. She later became the prime suspect. Maya had to keep the threats out of the Sterling family, especially tabloids. The book is pretty good with a lot of secrets and other things. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read this book and do a review.

This held so much promise and I had high expectations going into this because the blurb seems so intriguing, however I was slightly disappointed. I still do think its a decent thriller in a sea of boring thrillers that put you to sleep, this had some good twists and turns and I always appreciate a spooky atmospheric setting. The writing style seemed a bit choppy and therefore took me out of the story at times, but I do think people would still be able to enjoy this story!

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
A Girl Like Us releases February 11, 2025

<i>argentum semper vincit — silver always wins</I>

Upon landing back in New York from their honeymoon, Colin and Maya are immediately rerouted to England to convene at the Sterling estate after being told there was a death in the family. But not just any death — the murder of the Sterling heiress.

It’s later revealed that Arianna named Maya as the new heiress in her will; someone of no blood relation.
With an extensive history spent in psych wards, it’s anyone's guess why Arianna left the Sterling inheritance to Maya.

Is it just a coincidence that Arianna was found dead in the same city where Colin and Maya’s honeymoon was held, and on their last night of festivities? Does this have anything to do with Maya’s time spent on reality tv before she married into such a wealthy family?

<i>A Girl Like Us</I> was a bit underwhelming as a whole, and I definitely wouldn’t go around calling it a thriller.
My main takeaway is that the characters weren’t used to their full potential. The Sterling's all have such a strong presence, so I wanted Maya to have had to interact with them more. It was like she wasn’t even newly married with how little she talked to Colin!
The author could’ve even played off of the staff to layer more suspicion or loyalty towards one person, but they failed to do so.

cw: infidelity, gaslighting, manipulation

a great debut! akin to knives out with some fun twists and turns. a thriller that you won’t be able to put down so make sure you check this out Feb 11 2025!

Thank you NetGalley and. Sourcebooks Landmark for the eARC.
This was a great book, full of intrigue, nasty rich people and a couple of murders. This English family greets Maya, an American ex-reality tv star, married to one of their own, with hostility they don't bother to hide. She's not one of them, end of story.
Soon there's an event whereby Maya's life is threatened and sets her on a path of seeking the answers to all their secrets. A very dangerous game!
None of the characters are likeable, not even Maya, but that didn't take away my enjoyment of this book. I loved it and thought the ending was great. A must read!

Such a twisty, dysfunctional family saga… One that you could not put down or turn away from
My first book by this author butwill definitely not be my last

One of the most intense, delicious books I've ever read. I'm in awe of Maya's story, of the deception of the Sterling family and the ability of Anna Sophia McLoughlin to create a world that was both aspirational, eerie, and nightmarish. The character development, both through writing and through the learnings of their lives, was superb.

Maya's strength, her cunningness and willpower to change and be better felt odd, in the best way possible. Her characterization is one of which we've all read before - wild party girl turned prim & proper wife, with deadly secrets lurking to upend her entire life. Yet, I couldn't get enough. I wanted her to win and I wanted her to find a happy ending. I willed away her lawless behavior and cringed at the Sterling's uptight ways.

A Girl Like Us was Succession mixed with Big Little Lies and every other drama you could think of. The ending was shocking and something that that crossed my mind earlier in the book but I thought was out of the realm of possibility. The true villain is obvious at times, yet everyone's hands are dirty.

I ate the this book and it is definitely going to be everyone's favorite book once it is released.

this book is like if knives out and stone cold fox had a baby. it's a pretty clever locked-room mystery full of rich people behaving badly.

A Girl Like Us- Anna Sophia Mcloughlin Another rich people behaving badly but A Girl Like Us deftly separates itself from the pack with its characterizations. I was intrigued by these characters and the decisions they made. I am also always happy when reality tv is a component!

From Maya Miller's humble beginnings to television superstar to wealthy heiress readers follow her personal journey with all of her hidden secrets. Marrying into the Sterling Family empire, Maya is now assured of a secure future not only for herself, but for her infant daughter as well. But secrets rarely stay hidden especially when marrying into a family with so much to lose should their own secrets ever be discovered. Should Maya go along with their legal demands and relinquish the title of heiress to the Sterling empire in order to be accepted into the family or should she stand up for herself and decide that the secrets she's uncovered about the family give her the power now?
With Sterling family members all out for themselves, readers must decide if Maya's earlier transgressions being exposed will be worth the cost and what exactly happened to the former heiress, Arianna, who she's been told was insane for years before meeting her untimely death. Why was Maya, a stranger to the family named as the next heiress and who among the family will go to any lengths to change their status, including murder?
Full of twists and flashbacks, "A Girl Like Us" will keep readers enthralled until the very end.

Stone Cold Fox meets Knives Out and The Inheritance Games. Exactly my kind of book. So many clever, well-executed, well-written twists and turns.🔥

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I LOVED this book!!! It was so very interesting! Each page kept you guessing on what was going to happen next and you truly don't know until the end! This book is marketed as Saltburn Esc. but it truly reminds me a lot of the Inheritance series with a few elements correlated to Saltburn!

A woman marries into the complicated dynamic of a billionaire family. When a member of the family is murdered, they all convene at the family estate until the killer is found. There are repercussions from the will of the deceased, making an already tense situation fraught with danger and deception.

Maya Miller is no stranger to attention, having starred as the bad girl who speaks her mind on a reality TV series, even earning and playing up to her nickname, Miss Mayhem. When she marries eligible bachelor Colin Sterling, her fame and notoriety ratchet up even higher. Colin is the best person in the Sterling family, a truly good man and an anomaly in a gene pool filled with liars and cheats. Being called back to the family seat isn’t ideal, but doesn’t faze Colin as he accepts it as part of his familial duty. As we learn with each page, however, Maya has plenty of secrets, poised to unravel with every twist and turn of the novel. Colin’s backstabbing relatives put Maya in a position where she doesn’t know who to trust as her life and her future with Colin are in danger from the very people with whom they are forced into lockdown.

A Girl Like Us is a dark and gritty mystery/family drama. For me, there were one too many awkward turns in the story…too many coincidences that felt contrived and forced into the plot. It is a well written book and I wish I loved the plot twists more.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for and advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Maya Sterling is famous. The former reality star is newly married and has recently
given birth to a daughter as Anna Sophia McLaughlin’s A Girl Like Us begins. Her new husband is a Sterling, a member of the ultra rich and mega famous family that owns a giant media conglomerate that rivals the Murdoch empire. Overseen by its formidable matriarch Helen, the Sterlings have been bred to win, and to protect the family’s customs and reputation-at any cost.

Shortly after returning from their wedding in Mexico, Maya and her husband Colin are informed that the family’s troubled heiress Arianna has been murdered. They are whisked to the sprawling Sterling compound in London where Maya begins to suspect that she may not have married into a fairytale scenario after all.

Maya feels a type of kinship with the deceased heiress, both trailed by paparazzi regularly, objects of fascination in the public eye.
The action bounces from Maya’s POV to diary entries from Arianna as she is growing up to give the reader an insight to the mind of this elusive heiress.

A Girl Like Us is a passable thriller, but its many of its early twists are contrived and easy to guess. The story ultimately suffers as Maya, the main protagonist, is not likable enough to root for even though her character is clearly set up so that the reader will be on her side. Overall I was disappointed in this one, as the plot seemed very interesting but failed to deliver in the end.

I received this free advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and feedback..