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Ali A (82 KP) rated They Wish They Were Us in Books

Aug 14, 2020

They Wish They Were Us

Jessica Goodman | 2020 | Young Adult (YA)

7.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

They Wish They Were Us is about Jill Newman and her senior year at Gold Coast Prep. Though everything looks perfect, it's far from it. Three years ago, Jill's best friend Shaila Arnold was murdered. Her boyfriend Graham confessed, the police arrested him, cased closed. Now, Jill is a senior member of the Players (a Gold Coast Prep exclusive, not-so-secret society) and she's ready to make a change. One night, she gets a text claiming Graham's innocence and her year begins to crumble. She needs to find out what really happened to her best friend, no matter the cost.

I enjoyed this book, but I think I enjoyed it most because of the character of Jill Newman. She's a badass, independent female character who knows what she wants. Her friends though, I absolutely hated them at the beginning - spoiled little rich kids who thinks the world owes them everything. But throughout the book, Jessica Goodman was able to drop hints here and there about why they are the way they are, and it made me hate them less. By the end of the book, I actually started rooting for them.

Towards the end of the book, I had a thought as to what the twist was, but still didn't know who the killer was, not until it was basically revealed. Goodman did an excellent job at keeping the suspense. The twist ended up being good - sometimes with murder mysteries, the killer/killing ends up being a bit out there, but this one added up.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and the mystery within. It kept me turning the pages to see what the end results were.

*Thank you Bookishfirst and Razorbill for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kudos

Debbiereadsbook (1487 KP) rated Dark (Blood Moon, Texas Shifters #1) in Books

May 25, 2020

something not quite right, but not sure what!

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

I finished this book, so that's a good thing!

I can't say what didn't quite work for me, I hate that I can't, you all know it annoys me so!

The world building is good, with werewolves and vampires exposed to the world a short time ago, in a thoroughly modern way!

Hayden and Ethan have history, I was expecting that history to be a bit more than it appeared to be. Ethan's personal history is bad, as is Hayden's, both of them having difficult childhoods. There is much angst about their childhoods.

Or there SHOULD have been. While Ethan regularly comments on what his childhood did to him, how he closed off from everyone, Hayden does not. I wanted MORE from Hayden about her childhood!

Ethan brothers held more interest to me, than Etahn himself, I'm afraid and I would like to have had a bit more about them. I can see a pairing between one of his brothers and Hayden's sister, Ellie. Who, in my humble opinion, needed a slap a time or two!

There is a back story that kinda got lost on me, and I wasn't sure what the whole point of the kidnappings was, to be honest. It tells you, in the book, but the penny did not drop for me, I'm afraid.

Some sexy bits, although much of those are glanced over, off screen as it were. Some violent bits too.

Still, as the first by this author AND a first in series, not a bad read, just not one that really pushed any of my buttons, I'm sorry to say!

3 good stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**