The description being Saltburn meets Succession is spot on! I love both, so I was very excited to read this thriller and it did not disappoint. I'm also extremely surprised that this is a debut. I absolutely will be keeping an eye out for what this author writes next. If you are looking for a fast-paced book, that goes out of the box and will keep you guessing, this should be your next read!

This one had all the ingredients for a juicy thriller—reality TV drama, royalty-adjacent billionaires, murder, and secrets locked behind estate walls—but it never quite came together for me. I *wanted* to be hooked, but despite trying both the audiobook and print version, it just didn’t fully click.

That said, I *did* enjoy the overall concept and the twists that emerged—there were definitely moments of “wait, what?” that made it worth continuing. Maya as a character is compelling on paper: a party girl turned prime suspect trying to outwit a powerful family. But somehow, the execution felt a bit flat or overly drawn out. Still, I could easily see this working as a beach read—something light, dramatic, and escapist for poolside lounging.

If you’re looking for something twisty with a *Succession* meets *Knives Out* vibe, this might do the trick—but for me, it didn’t rise above the rest of the pack.

It was a little too slow to be thrilling and a little too uninteresting for me to care.
At this point, we get so many stories about horrible rich people that I don't care anymore. We know they suck, but why should I give a damn about the particular rich family story you made up? If they suck in the same way as every other one. Either give us a protagonist to actually root for, or make the rich assholes weir enough to keep reading until they're taken out. Make them vampires or cannibals for all I car, but mean, bitchy and egotistical is not enough, cause we've read it all before.

Rich people behaving badly…if you liked The Perfect Family, this one is for you!

Really enjoyed this. Good writing, interesting characters, and a smart plot make this a great read.

I just couldn't with this book. Nothing feels original or exciting. It feels like Maya wants to stick it to the family for no reason. I might just be over this whole genre of book of rich people doing shady things plus poor girl with secrets.

I really struggled with following the story. I realized at 40% that I wasn't sure I knew what was going on except for some high level plot points. I'm blaming the narrator for this. A lot of the characters' voices are annoyingly haughty, almost like the narrator was making fun of them. I was so zoned in to the ridiculousness of the reading I forgot to listen to the actual words.

Between my lack of engagement with the story and the overacted narration, I ended up DNF'ing this.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A Girl Like Us is a twisted tale of a nobody who becomes a somebody. Maya goes from nothing, to a reality tv star, to marrying into one of the wealthiest and most notorious families in the UK. She jumped straight to the top, but with that comes a lot of pressure from the spotlight and a lot of dark secrets to be uncovered within her new family. When her husband’s cousin is discovered murdered, Maya finds herself thrown to the top of the suspect list and she has to dig deep into the fortress of family lies to find the truth and clear her name. This story kept me captivated and second guessing everything I thought I knew after every chapter. The beginning was a slow build, but once you work your way to the climax of the story line, it sucks you in and you can’t put it down. The only thing I did not like about this book was the subplot of Maya’s affair. It seemed irrelevant to the progression of the narrative. I kept waiting for it to tie in somehow, but it just seemed to be a subplot that had potential to be a bigger plot, but then got lost in the main plot. I also would have preferred to read this book versus listen to the audiobook. It jumps back and forth between characters quite often and even with the change in voices to create distinction of who is who, I got lost several times and had to rewind to listen to the change over and understand. Overall, I enjoyed this book and think it’s a captivating and thought provoking story and I love the twists that keep on coming!

Rich people behaving badly is an all too real and yet captivating thriller trope and A Girl Like Us takes this to a new level.

The Sterling family heiress is murdered and names Maya, the newest member of the family by marriage, the new heiress in her will. Having never met the previous heiress, Maya is immediately under suspicion and thrust into a deadly dance to unearth long buried secrets.

This book was so twisted and clever! It gets a little slow in the middle but then the action picks up right to the end. A locked room thriller set in the Sterling family estate, A Girl Like Us is full of secrets, lies and betrayal that will have your head spinning.

🎧 I felt like this audiobook could’ve been enhanced by multiple narrators. With so many characters in the book of differing ages, I sometimes got confused on their ages because the voice affectation was so similar.

Modern Day Yellow Wallpaper

This book started strong for me. I loved the thought behind the story. As mentioned in the title, it started out by giving me major Yellow Wallpaper vibes. It was creepy and haunting but in a good way. As the story progressed, it became a little unbelievable with some of the major elements of the plot.

The downfall for me was in an audiobook. I wasn't a fan of having so much story to keep up with through so many characters. I personally prefer a story that is not as complex to follow. The story itself wasn't bad and it was a good suspenseful read; however, the audiobook side of it made it hard to keep track of who was who. The narrator was spot on to how I thought Maya would sound, but didn't quite reach me for doing the side voices.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review and feedback.

Once I started I couldn’t stop! This was full of glamour, scandal and crazy rich family drama! I couldn’t get enough of it! I loved it! Thanks NetGallery!

So… this is a thriller that left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. While the premise is enticing—think Inheritance Games meets Succession- it felt long and, at times, a bit meandering. There are a lot of characters, and as the plot twists unfolded, it became increasingly difficult to keep track of who's who. The family dynamics are interesting, but the book struggled to maintain my engagement.

The audio version might have been a mistake for me; I found it harder to follow all the players and shifting perspectives. (I wish there was a way to know ahead of time if a book has a large cast—I'd definitely choose the physical book next time.)

Maya, the protagonist, is thrown into a world of wealth, power, and secrets after her marriage to Colin Sterling, heir to a powerful family. When his cousin is murdered, Maya becomes the prime suspect and uncovers a web of intrigue. While many readers loved the book, I found it a bit too complicated for my taste.

The writing is solid, but the payoff didn’t feel worth the slow build. If you enjoy family sagas full of secrets and twists, you might love this—just maybe skip the audio version!

So much to unfold in this book. Some of it interesting, some of it holy moly what is wrong with people and mostly ugh. Maya, a former reality star, has just married Colin Sterling. He is one of the “those Sterlings”. Wealth, aristocracy and an enormous sense of entitlement. Oh and some twisted heinous things have happened in their history that they’ve used their money and influence to sweep under the rug. These are not good people and they just keep getting more nefarious and awful. The story opens with Maya and Colin being whisked home as a murder has happened and they may be in danger. We meet so many relatives, one more horrible than the next and all I kept thinking was Maya needs to get away from them all before it's too late. An interesting then and now whodunit. The narration was good, but with so many characters it might have been easier to follow along with more than one. At times it was a bit difficult to determine which person she was.

A Girl Like Us I am giving 3 stars.

I enjoyed the plot. It had a few twists that kept engaged enough to finish it. A healthy amount of good old fashioned family scandal! The main character is also very likeable.

I had the audio book and I do believe that had I read this book, I may have given it a higher rating. The main issue I had with the narration was following along with the story. It was narrated by a single narrator, but the story perspectives shift throughout the book. The narrator does embody different tones and accents, but at times it was difficult to follow which character perspective was what. These shifts generally happen at the start of a new chapter, so my feedback would be to say the name of the character at the start. For me, trying to determine whose perspective it was took me out of the flow of the story a bit. I think I missed some of the important back stories of certain characters because of this.
Other than that, I really enjoyed the story.

A thrilling inheritance drama (I guess those are big this year?) that circles an old-money British family when one of their own turns up dead.

Maya Miller is a washed up TV starlet with a bag full of secrets. She’s married Collin, a rich AF aristocrat. On the way back from their rushed honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, they find out his cousin has been murdered. She was the sole heiress of his families massive fortune. As their family’s murder protocol* mandates, they all have to convene at Silver North, their old villa estate in the English countryside.
*They have a whaaatt??😱

Maya meets his stuffy family for the first time in these strange circumstances; her reception is not warm. Everyone is regarding her as an gold-digging interloper. Is she?? She seems to be hiding something, a closely guarded secret that could be revealed as the police investigate the family during the murder investigation.

Maya is quickly learning of the high stakes inheritance conditions, and her strange connection to the dead cousin, Ariana. While she doesn’t recall ever crossing paths, Ariana’s singles Maya out in her will, sparking resentment and placing a hefty target on Maya’s back.

What follows is a treacherous quest to gather answers, and rich people becoming unhinged, revealing a complicated history full of scandal and deceit. Who killed Ariana and why? What’s her connection to Maya? Maya must play her hand carefully while she learns about her new family.

It’s a fun read, full of glamor, betrayal, and murder. It’s an intriguing voyeuristic peep behind the scene of rich people behaving badly, protecting their wealth and reputations at no cost. The pacing is quick and engaging, perfect for a sunny weekend at the park.

Maya Miller, a popular reality star, marries into the wealthy Sterling Family. A sudden death in the family has Maya and Colin rushed off to the family estate, along with the rest of the Sterling Family. Arianna, the heiress to the family fortune, was murdered. Unbeknownst to Maya, Ariana leaves the entire family fortune to her. But why? No one knows, including Maya herself. She has never met Arianna, at least she doesn't remember meeting her. The news of the will has the Sterling family up in arms. How can an outsider like Maya be the new heiress to the family fortune? The family is trying to figure out how to correct this "mistake". Maya wants to figure out why Arianna has chose her to be the new heiress. In doing so, she begins to unravel some of the Sterling Family secrets. Secrets that can put her in danger. However, Maya also has her own secrets. Secrets that can destroy her family with Colin. Will Maya be able to keep her secrets while she tries to figure out the secrets of the Sterling Family? I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading another book by Anna Sophia McLoughlin.

As a synopsis - A girl comes from a not so polished past ends up meeting her husband whose family is in the 1%. Someone in the family dies and it’s all a whodunnit Clue style book that leaves you wanting to know more.

For the audiobook format, I thought the audiobook was very well done. The narrator was a good fit and I enjoyed listening.

As for the book, I thought it was good. The switch back and forth from first person to third person was a bit jarring at first and while I wasn’t a huge fan of that, it didn’t take away from the impact of the book for me in the end. Just like other thrillers I like, this one kept me guessing. I had theories and they were all wrong which I liked because I had no idea where the book was going to take me. In all, I’d say this was worth the read and I gave it 3⭐️.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7391696886

Rich people behaving badly and I am here for it! So many secrets and so many lies make this one twisted ride. The characters are greedy, ruthless, and nefarious. The story is a bit over the top in all of the best ways. The plot will pull you in and make you obsessed. Family drama combined with deception and wealth is an addictive combination. The narration brings the story to life adding elements of intensity and intrigue. Thank you, NetGalley and RB Media for my audiobook.

This was a hard audiob99k for me to get through. Maybe it was the characters or the narration, I'm not sure, but I just was not able to listen and finish in one go. I disliked Maya from the beginning, so that put a damper and bias on me liking the book.

#netgalley #AGirlLikeUs

The first quarter of the book slow. The book as a whole was okay, the rich family drama was entertaining, but the plot as a whole was just too predictable for me, I had everything figured really early on and it just made the read not fun.

Overall I felt like this was a well written book with a pace similar to The Silent Patient. The main character, Maya, was surprisingly relatable and the whole family dynamic was very interesting. They were all mostly unlikable people, but I suppose that was the intention of the author. I appreciated the dual point of view, slowly learning more about Arianna’s history as Maya also uncovers more. I rated this book a 3 because I prefer more plot driven books with a faster pace, but someone who reads mystery thrillers would enjoy this.

The timing was odd in the beginning as she was explaining her background, but it slowed down a lot. So much so that I had no idea how she was going to wrap up all the loose ends. The twist at the end didn’t really make sense to me, mostly because it didn’t seem believable. But besides that, I was satisfied with the final outcome. As for the narrator of the audiobook, I liked her normal reading. The posh voices were a bit much though.

I love a good plot twist and this was twisty. This felt like I was a fly on the wall of some luxurious family estate listening to the juicy gossip of people that are rich and cunning and self-important. Overall very enjoyable. The narrator for the audio was great.