One of Us is Lying meets Bodies Bodies Bodies, Bad Like Us is a wild ride. Two friend groups collide when someone dies during an isolated spring break trip at a private beach lodge. Parties, influencers, love triangles, and murder are the perfect mix for a mystery. Be careful who you trust...

Thank you to Inkyard Press and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy.

I have to say I always try and find the good in every book that I read, if a book sweeps me away I can overlook plot holes, and forgive story gaps, heck I can love a book that a lot of people despise, and I wanted to love this book I did, it just missed the mark for me.

There were too many characters to keep track of, who was interested in who needed a chart somewhere and the murder investigation just seemed off, it was somewhat like a young adult version of Summer House meets Alone in the Woods.

Now I know what you're thinking, normally I would love both of those things but in this one, it just didn't work. I will say I did read an advance copy so there is always the possibility that things were corrected in the final edition and if I find out later that happens I will happily update my review.

Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for providing a copy of this E-Book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Who doesn’t love a good thriller with some who done it mixed in. I would largely suggest this book for teens on the younger end of the spectrum but I enjoyed this book. While on a trip at a remote cabin for Spring Break a group of “friends” wake up and one person is missing. There is a bit of a One of Us Is Lying vibe which is very popular with teen readers right now. I’ve ordered a copy of this book for my library!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced e-copy.

The premise is mysterious. But the action dragged. I lost track of time in the story. It happens so slowly and feels like it’s spread out over a full week instead of a weekend. There didn’t feel like any urgency. It’s just everyone accusing each other over and over. There was no real evidence, no real impetus for anyone to do any digging. I was underwhelmed by the climax. I was underwhelmed by the romance. It might have been more interesting if the other characters had had POV instead of just the two mains.

I couldn't make it through this one. There were too many characters to keep up with and little variance between them. The writing was also very basic and juvenile.

A really fun book, perfect to read with sounds of rain in the back (exactly what I did), the plot is well built and the rhythm is very nice, we got this back and forth between the recent past and what's happening in the present, the chapters are short so you don't get tired in any point.

I would recommend this book to people who like YA, stories with teenagers, cute little doses of romance and a curious case to resolve.

I really enjoyed this one. It had all the One of Us Is Lying x Pretty Little Liars vibes. Just what you need in a YA thriller.

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Bad Like Us is the most recently released YA Mystery from Gabriella Lepore. This fast-paced novel hit shelves in early March and I couldn't wait to get to it. After enjoying this author's last two novels, I was expecting a certain vibe and it delivered exactly what I wanted.

In this story, we're following a group of teens setting out together to spend Spring Break at a rustic lodge on the Oregon coast. The lodge is owned by one of the teen's Uncles, making it free and all theirs for the week. Unencumbered by adult supervision, the kids are looking to party, spend time together and just relax, shaking off recent stressors, of which there are many.

The group, in and of itself, has some complications. At the heart of most of the drama seems to be Piper. Her constant live streams and pot-stirring attitude have everyone on edge. Can't she give it a break? It's not solely Piper though, there are definitely other tensions brimming just under the surface that make the environment, shall we say, touchy.

Our main perspectives are Eva and Colton. I enjoyed both of these characters and the audiobook did have dual narrators which was great for making their voices distinct.

After a night featuring a campfire on the beach, some adult bevys, and high levels of interpersonal drama, one of the teens is found dead the next morning. The police swoop in and a tense investigation into them all begins.

I enjoy the way Gabriella Lepore builds out teen friendship groups. This is a feature of all of the books that I have read from her and I always get pulled into their lives easily. I also feel like the mysteries are always solid and engaging. I loved the setting of this one and the set-up of the teens being on Spring Break. A lot of secrets are being kept amongst the group and it ended up going much deeper than I initially anticipated, which I appreciated.

Overall, this was another fun one from Lepore. I'll continue to pick up all of her releases. If you enjoy YA Mysteries, and haven't read her work yet, you should give her a shot!

Thank you to the publisher, Inkyard Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Lepore never fails to entertain me and I'm looking forward to picking up whatever she puts out next.

This was my first book by this author. I’m not ashamed to say their very first book I DNFed it lol But this one was way better and it was about something that I really like, influencers in thrillers. (Which makes me wonder…. Why is this even a thing? Lol Why are the influencers always involved in some mess?!)

So like I said, I was all ready for this as soon as I saw it had to do with an influencer. They’re always involved in some mess. And this one was extra messy. For who knows what reason the influencer, Piper, was there along with her current boyfriend and her ex. Now if that wasn’t messy already, they’re teens, so everyone all had their own drama AND they were all like mad at her for her being in everyone’s business. And let me just say, man she was annoying lol I knew she was going to be the victim lol The mystery tho was just ok. I hate mysteries where you can’t figure out who did it because they withhold information from the reader. It’s doled out in little spurts and never given everything that’s going on so you can’t actually make an informed guess. And I get it, that might be the point, but it just feels like lazy writing. I want to be given all the info, make a guess, and still get it wrong. That’s what would impress me.

Since it was written to barely giving out information, the plot seemed lost. I didn’t really know what this was about. And then when the info started coming in, it seemed like the author was throwing cooked pasta at the wall to see if it stuck. And when it did, she just kept going. And that’s fine, but it felt a bit disjointed and it felt like everything that happened just came out of nowhere. I know things are supposed to be a surprise, but this was weird. Idk how to explain it properly.

The narration was very good tho. I didn’t have a problem with any of them. And the way the police interviews and the social media posts sounded different than the others, it sounded so good. I love books like that. So even with me not being super into it, the audio really brought it to life and I was able to ignore those things I didn’t care for and get lost in it.

This was loads better than the other one I tried by them, but it still wasn’t my favorite. I think I’ll have to read some more by this author to get used to their writing style. For now, I’m going to just make sure I have them in audio to make sure I’m thoroughly entertained by them.

This was an interesting YA thriller/mystery, that I would recommend to those who think it sounds good!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Spring Break is a vibe—until someone gets murdered.
🏄
Eva and her BFFs are headed to a remote cabin in Oregon for Spring Break. She’s been more excited if she knew the other half of the group better. Hanging out with Piper, the social media influencer, especially has been hard, but Eva has high hopes to spend more quality time with Colton, the boy she’s liked for a long time. Everyone is having a great time until an anonymous letter sparks a fight between the group’s love triangle. The next morning one of them is dead. Eva wonders who she can trust among the group, even wondering about her best friends.
🏄
I’d read Lepore’s first YA thriller and didn’t love it. Had I known this was by the same author that wrote This Is Why We Lie I probably wouldn’t have picked it up and that would have been a mistake. This was a very solid locked room thriller book that reminded me of Suddenly A Murder. This will be a hit with tweens and teens for adding in the social media aspect.

CW: death, violence, blackmail, gaslighting, classism, poverty, alcohol, gambling, murder


3.75 ⭐️rounded up

this was a fun book!! i’m mostly a romance reader, and it’s been awhile since i’ve read a mystery, so this was a nice break for me. i love a good whodunnit and i think this was done really well! i was genuinely taking notes while reading to try and figure everything out and i loved that!!

making it ya was a good choice too! it was a quick and easy read!

Title: Bad Like Us
Author: Gabriella Lepore
Genre: YA, mystery
Rating: 3.8 out of 5

Spring break is a vibe—until someone gets murdered.

Partying with popular classmates they barely know is not what Eva and her BFFs had in mind for their spring break. But things have been off ever since Miles' academic career took a turn for the worse (they don't talk about it), so a trip to a private beach lodge might be exactly what they need. And Eva won’t admit it, but the chance to reconnect with Colton is worth putting up with Piper’s constant livestreams to her thousands of “besties.”

At first, it’s all sand and waves, but tensions run high when an anonymous letter shakes up an already-flailing love triangle.

When someone turns up dead, Eva can’t even trust her closest friends—but she thinks she can trust Colton. As they get closer to the truth, they uncover secrets that upend everything they thought they knew about their fellow spring breakers.

Frankly, Piper got on my very last nerve, and I had trouble keeping the other characters—well, the female characters except Eva—straight. It was a little hard imagining all these parents being okay with their teenagers going off on their own, with no phone service, so that required suspending my disbelief quite a bit. Despite the subject matter, this felt like a fluffy, quick read, and would probably be a good weekend read.

Gabriella Lepore lives in Wales. Bad Like Us is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.)

This book is Pretty Little Liars meets One Of Us Is Lying but set in a remote cabin. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the characters were so well written. I liked the locked room aspect.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own opinions.

I found Bad Like Us to be rather age-appropriate compared to most YA thrillers I have read. The story is addictive and reads at a good pace. I liked it

I read this book really fast, which was really great, since the last few books I’ve read seemed to take a long time. The plot of BAD LIKE US moves pretty quickly, and the chapters are short– another thing I love in a book!

The story follows two points of view and then includes videos recorded by a third person, so it feels like three different viewpoints. I liked both Eva and Colton, both of whom have real-time scenes from their perspectives. The story has a bit of romance that develops, and I thought that was balanced well against the murder mystery. It never felt like those two story elements were competing with each other. The progression of the romance felt natural.

I liked the setting, too. The whole story takes place at a beach resort in Oregon that one character’s uncle owns. It’s in a secluded area near the beach, which makes it pretty isolated. Some of the characters surf, so there were some scenes featuring surfing. One character is a social media influencer, so there are a bunch of scenes showing her making videos and other people reacting to the way that she behaves and the things she says in the videos.

If you’re looking for a quick read in the vein of Diana Urban or Karen McManus, I recommend this one. I think BAD LIKE US is my favorite of Gabriella Lepore’s books so far.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Spring break is all sun and fun… until someone winds up dead.

Two groups of friends merge into one as they head to an off grid beach house on the Oregon coast for spring break getaway! Not all of them like each other and as secrets and lies start coming to the surface, one of them is found dead and everyone has a motive… or do they?

This was a quick and entertaining read! The author uses multiple POVs and flashbacks to unravel the plot. There were a couple chapters I felt were unnecessary and some things didn’t make a lot of sense unless you suspend reality a bit. But overall this was a good YA whodunit.

3.5 stars

If you’re looking for a YA whodunit that isn’t bloody, but still clings to a fair amount of suspense, then this may be a really good fit for you.

Taking a look at the large amount of chapters this book had, I was torn between wondering if it’d be a high body count mystery and being worried that it would drag on too much. Thankfully the chapters were pretty short, and I felt that it kept a pretty decent pace overall, so the length held up fine.

Also be aware that there is a lot of “x-weeks ago” or “x-months ago” time hopping. It wasn’t confusing, written more like flashbacks, so it didn’t make it difficult to follow.

My only real issue is that the ending felt like it was wrapped up too quickly. We find out whodunit, there’s a moment of conflict, and then the second to last chapter starts with a time jump to the next day and the last chapter is a time jump of another week I think, the second to last only briefly mentioning what happened and what’s going on with the killer. For as long as the book already was, I feel like it could’ve been given another couple chapters just to give us more substance with the moment of conflict and the aftermath. Unfortunately I’m disappointed enough for it to affect my rating.

Overall I still really enjoyed this book and would recommend it if you’re looking for an easy to read mystery!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishing team for this ARC!

This teenage spring break went wrong was a super fun read. I really enjoyed the different POVS, as well as the flashbacks - that being said, I did feel the timeline could get a little blurry and confusing at times. I think the large amount of characters, as well as the jumping timelines is what was really the driving force of giving this novel this 3.5 star review, but I still throughly enjoyed the suspense of the book as a whole. YA books can definitely be hit or miss for me, as sometimes the miscommunication of teenagers can drive me insane, but I think the book was well written, just could’ve used a more concise storyline. Would still recommend!

I really liked this one! It was a super quick YA thriller/mystery with a romance subplot that I was living for. The story takes place over spring break between a group of seniors. I really enjoyed how the mystery part was laid out. We don’t really know what the mystery is until the second half of the book, which was a fun way to build the backstory. With the main mystery there was also a sub mystery that you’re trying to figure out the whole time. Definitely some obvious diversion of the author wanting you to think it’s someone who it isn’t, but I still world see the whole ending coming! Definitely add this to your TBR!

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