Do you really want to know what happens at Gold Coast Prep. Well, you see, there’s this secret society called the Players. A small inner circle where the senior Players call the shots. As part of the hazing ritual to be initiated into this legacy, aka “pops,” these embarrassing and fearful acts must be performed by the invited underclassmen. What for? The Files: SAT, final exam, and AP test answers, Ivy League prep, you name it. But, when freshman Shaila is found dead, fast forward three years later, how does Jill cope with losing her best friend? And, who the hell killed Shaila?

Okay, I got major Pretty Little Liars vibes mixed in with its spin-off, The Perfectionists. The story was told in Jill’s POV, and alternated with flashbacks to the past that involved Shaila, memories Jill recalled, to help piece together who could have killed her. It was a fast-paced read, and I really enjoyed the second half. There was some romance, mad deception, broken friendships, and cray cray sh*t that go down. Probably your basic run of the mill elite prep school drama. It’s got the who-can-you-trust sort of thing, too.

A binge-worthy YA thriller that is absolutely perfect for all you PLL and Riverdale fans—be sure to check it out!

You’d think the murder mystery would’ve been the most interesting piece, but the dynamic between the female Players, both current and former, was really the most compelling part of this story for me. It was fascinating to watch Jill and her friends struggle through the ranks of the Players, telling themselves that they just needed to survive until they were finally in a position to change things for the better, only to perpetuate the same dynamic once they finally were.

This is not just a murder mystery, but is also a story showcasing the very real danger of allowing privilege and entitlement to foster with no sense of boundaries or accountability. And it’s also a story about complicated, imperfect, young women who are, at the end of the day, just trying to figure out who they are, what their place is, and what kind of person they want to be.

I requested this ARC because The Secret History is one of my all-time favorite books, and They Wish They Were Us was promised to have "a dash of The Secret History." Because of this comparison, I went into this book with really high expectations, none of which were met, unfortunately. I think if this comparison to TSH wasn't made in the synopsis, I would have enjoyed this book much more than I did, mostly because I kept expecting things that didn't happen.

The prose was really simple, and not literary and sophisticated, as I expected it to be. I suppose I can see the parallels between this book and TSH if I squint. For example, Jill had this really romanticized opinion of her friends but slowly realized that they were all terrible people. But I don't think the character relationships seemed complex enough to fully convey that feeling.

I was 100% sure about who the murderer was before the main character even started to investigate anything, so reading her fumble about was a bit frustrating. The trauma after everything the girls went through could have been addressed better. I also would have preferred if Jill found evidence while actively looking for it, instead of stumbling across in accidentally. The ending also tied everything up a bit too neatly for my liking.

I'm definitely more of a critical reader, so despite all the critiques, it was a fun read. This book was refreshing and easy to get through; not every book has to be super complex anyways. If I read this back in high school, I would have loved it, so I'd recommend it to people in that age group!

I am truly so upset about this book.

In the beginning I was really enjoying it. The elite boarding school vibes were killer and initially I was into the writing style. It kept me guessing and made the first few chapters nothing short of addicting. However, the further into the book I got the less I was enjoying it.

The plot in the middle was slow and featured extremely long chapters. On top of that the constant switching between the past and present narrative made the story hard to follow, especially since the plot/chapter lengths were causing me to lose attention.

At 57% I decided to set the book aside. While I was, and am, very intrigued by the mystery aspects I didn't find myself enjoying the story overall. It didn't focus as much on the mystery as I would've liked and it simply was not keeping my attention. At this time it's best for me to set this down and move onto other stories.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for Providing me with an E-Arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

If you need to get your Pretty Little Liars fix look right here. Private school, a "secret" society, high school drama and a murder. I wasn't sure about this one at first, but the more I read, the more I ended up liking the main character. The final 1/3 of the book was a page turner. I thought maybe I had it figured out but I was a little bit off. Great for YA mystery readers.

Thank you Penguin Teen for providing me with an e-arc of the book!

The story was immensely engaging and I couldn’t put this book down! I thought the whole secret society at the school was exceptionally interesting and surprisingly different from what I expected. Throughout the book I was meticulously evaluating anything and everything that made someone seem suspicious and potentially the killer. I thought the whole book was well thought out and I would be interested to see more from Gold Coast Prep!

Jessica Goodman’s debut novel tells of a murder that haunts an elite Long Island prep school years after the fact. It follows Jill Newman, a scholarship student at Gold Coast Preparatory School and friend of the victim Shaila Arnold. Now a senior, Jill is determined to put her friend’s tragic murder behind her and let her final year of high school be “her year”. Beyond being a typical teen thriller, They Wish They Were Us also tackles the pressure modern teens are put under to succeed. We see the pressure Jill puts on herself to get into an Ivy League college–so much so that she allows herself to be inducted into a secret society known as “The Players”, which grants her access to SAT answers and sample entrance test questions, among other things. I went to public school so I wasn’t pushed to attend an Ivy, but the pressure to be accepted into a “good” college was there, and though I’ve been out of high school for a few years now, I definitely related to Jill and company’s plight (even if I was too honest to ever cheat). The Players society appears to have a bigger role in Shaila’s murder than meets the eye, but still everybody thinks the case is closed–high school freshman Shaila died from blunt force trauma to the head and her boyfriend at the time, Graham Calloway, is responsible. With his impending transfer to federal prison upon his 18th birthday, Jill is sought out by Graham’s older sister, Rachel, who sincerely believes that her brother is innocent. At first, Jill thinks that Rachel only believes Graham innocent out of a sense of family loyalty–and given that she is the only member of the Calloway family that hasn’t disowned him, it’s easy to see that, but soon Jill uncovers a web of secrets and lies that could cost her friendships and her future. It was an intriguing who (really) dunit mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. Nobody can be fully trusted, which makes They Wish They Were Us that much more harrowing.

They Wish They Were Us is the first book in a planned series, and while I’m not sure how (or whether) Jill Newman’s story will continue, I can totally see more scandal coming out of the Players and Gold Coast Prep. The lavish lifestyles of Jill’s friends and classmates are enough to make most of us feel like total losers, but it’s also the perfect breeding ground for high schoolers committing heinous acts fueled by jealousy and other vices. Fans of One of Us is Lying and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder will want to check out this new voice and new series.

When I was in high school, Gossip girl was the hottest show, it felt extra special to think that I was the same age at the time the story was taking place. While reading this book, I felt like I was back fan-girling about a show full of drama, and mystery. They Wish They Were Us is just that, a novel filled with drama, and a murder mystery, whodunit, all the things I LOVE in a book.

The story is delivered incredibly, written in thirds person and filled with so much detail. I appreciated the character development, and the detail behind each characters part in the story.

It’s got the drama, the lies, the betrayal, and it was fun to try and figure out who was being truthful, and who was just downright LYING! Everyone’s got something to hide.. and it’s up to you to decipher!

I enjoyed this captivating, fact paced, incredibly addictive page turner!

I recommend it to anyone who loved shows like Gossip Girl, Riverdale, and Pretty Little Liars!

The ending half was so unputdownable!
Jill is finally a senior and a Player. She should be having the time of her life. The players pretty much rule the school. They have the best lunch table, the best parties, the best grades, and get into the best colleges. But it all comes at a price. One of those things missing is Jill's best friend Shaila...She was killed by her boyfriend, Graham, freshman year.

This is another book where I was so mad at (most) of the adults. Those in authority know what goes on with the Players and yet.... Not one adult would do a thing about it.
I liked Jill a lot. Yes, she goes along with the crap Players go and have had to go through...
But she really steps up when it's time to. She gets a text that steers her in another direction to find out the truth.... Because Graham is now trying to prove his innocence with help.

If you love a good YA Mystery, pick up this book!

I enjoyed this one. It definitely gave me gossip girl vibes and though some of it was slow overall I enjoyed it.

Thank you so much for making this available for educators to read for review. I have decided to not move forward with continuing this at this time because I had some trouble getting into the story as well as some of the characters' motivations. I wish this book all the best.

Kind regards,

Brittney

THEY WISH THEY WERE US is an engaging YA thriller reminiscent of GOSSIP GIRLS. The book follows Jill, who had lost her BFF Shaila when they were freshman years ago. Shaila was murdered by her boyfriend, Graham. Jill is a Player, an elite group of students with brutal initiation practices at a wealthy private school.

Jill is now a senior and on top of the food chain. She has never forgotten Shaila, and when someone from her past contacts her to say that Graham didn't kill Shaila, the question becomes who did. While most of the book is about the Players, this mystery underlies the plot to add some suspense.

What I loved: This is a highly captivating read. The main theme of the book seems to be about hazing, why it is done, continued by those it hurts, and the power plays it serves. This was really thought-provoking and its persistence is interesting to examine, especially with regards to the roles people play in it and why they go along with it. There is also some interesting subtext about privilege.

The mystery of what really happened to Shaila keeps the book moving quickly. While I had a bunch of guesses (and one was correct), I appreciated that the answer was not obvious and it needs to be played out.

What left me wanting more: As a relatively small point, the beginning of the plot is somewhat hard to follow, as we switch between time and information comes slowly. This does speed up pretty fast though. There were also a lot of characters that can be a bit hard to follow at first.

Final verdict: Overall, THEY WISH THEY WERE US is an intriguing and captivating YA psychological thriller that not only seeks to solve a murder but also tackles hazing and privilege.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

If you're a fan of Gossip Girl and Private series by Kate Brian and the high stakes of an elite group in set in a private high school and a cup of murder it would be this.

Jill, who's on scholarship at her school, has always wanted to be in this elite group called The Players. They are the rich and the elite and the secrets that are between them may be dangerous. During her freshmen, her best friend, Shaila dies and it changes everything, the small and large and after going through the initiation process; she becomes a Player her senior year. She hopes that nothing like what happened to her best friend won't happen to the other that follows her.

"It was a moment in time. Just because it's over doesn't mean it didn't happen."


As she starts senior year, some secrets don't stay buried for long and the truth always comes out.
I was a bit apprehensive in the beginning because I was trying to figure out how all these pieces fit and I didn't trust anyone, because of how deeply rooted these kids were into the friendships (a few were debatable), the misdirected way of thinking that was involved. I really enjoyed Jill's character who was relatable and knew her friends were doing wrong, but that internal struggle of not wanting to be on the outside if she called them out. My thoughts were all already the place and I was positive that I knew who did it, but I was quickly realizing that I was quite off par and through me off track in disbelief and I was pleasantly surprised at the whodunnit.

"Sometimes it's hard to know which qualities really define you, and which ones have been affixed to you by others so many times that you actually begin to believe them and claim them as your own."

Thanks to penguin teen for an e-arc! think I’d rate 3.5 for this one, but I didn’t like it enough to round up.

I was struggling with the beginning, because I couldn’t tell if it was headed in a direction I wanted to root for. Fortunately, it did a little, and Jill kept me around because she got more and more... awakened? Idk if that’s the word I’m looking for, but it’ll do.

I loved that she was calling out all the bullshit, sexism and harassment that girls experience, and noticing how it can start young when dudes are around each other and just being total shit birds without anyone to check them. (Although, idk why she never sat down with her brother and talked about some of this? Just kind of watched and raged against the machine. But they were so close, she could have totes had an open conversation with him??)

I’m not the type of reader to sit there and try to puzzle out the mystery or twists, but I can spot a trash bag from a mile away and I think that’s how I knew who to distrust, if not to outright suspect, so there wasn’t a ton of surprise for me at the end. But that’s ok—it was almost sweeter when the person was finally exposed, because I was waiting for it for so long!

I enjoyed the story enough, but I think it was more of an average thriller for me. Kind of how I felt about One of Us Is Lying, so I guess that’s an apt comparison! Goodreads has this listed as #1, so does the mean there will be more books?? Not sure how the way it ended, unless it follows new characters. But I’m intrigued!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited to see this book offered at BookCon and was even more excited when I was able to get my hands on it! They Wish They Were Us is part Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl. Jill Newman goes to a prestigious school where she and six of her friends are Players, a group of students who were hand picked to be apart of this elite group that has the best parties, are the most popular, and have access to things like answers to tests and easy ins with any college they want. But their freshman year when they were chosen to become Players, one of their friends was murdered and the other took the blame. But what really happened that summer night?

Just the description alone is enough to get you interested. The writing is really well done. And the plot is interesting enough, but is more of a slow burn. The author Jessica Goodman takes her time building to the suspense, which is good because you really get to know the main character Jill and understand her choices, but also bad because you’re waiting for her to get to the point, to try to solve this murder.

I liked the book, but I wasn’t thrilled with it. I love a mystery that keeps you guessing and Goodman did that, but at a point you kind of lost interest because the murder plot was almost a weird side character you kept forgetting about until someone else brought it up.

If you don’t like to be scared by a mystery or thriller, I would recommend this book. It’s about a 3 on the thriller scale.

Jill Newman is part of an elite group of students at Gold Coast Prep, the Players. During their initiation as freshman, her friend and fellow Player, Shaila is killed. Shaila's boyfriend is accused. The novel takes place during Jill's senior year at Gold Coast Prep and it turns out that maybe the murder was not solved after all.

The story is told from Jill's perspective and includes many flashbacks that gives the reader some insight into the characters and their relationships, especially with Shaila. While I don't think all teens will identify with the characters and some of their actions, I think many will connect with the pressure that many teens feel they have to do well both socially and academically.

Based on the description I read of the book, I expected it to be a mystery from the beginning, but it does take some time before the true investigation begins. Once we get more into this, I couldn't stop reading! Despite it being a slow start, I think the flashbacks were important and was intrigued to find out whodunit!

So this book is promoted as a murder mystery. But the first third of the book is focused on a bunch of privileged high school kids that live in wealthy community that seem to be able to have money to spend on parties, cars, and a lot of trips to the local Diner. The theme appears to focus on the need to cheat one’s way to get to the top (probably influenced by the recent college application scandals by the rich and famous that has been in the news). I was about to give up on this book and 2-Star it because it was not relatable but I decided to read on though, hoping that it would get better. The middle third of the book finally starts to focus more on the whodunnit aspect and the main character, also still not relatable, at least becomes somewhat more likeable. Unfortunately, the mystery follows a textbook formula of the which elements are needed for a mystery book. In the end, it’s not much of a surprise and the ending requires a lot of open minded imagination. As stated in other reviews, this is more Gossip Girls than much anything else.

“They say only the good die young, but that’s just a stupid line in a song we used to sing. It isn’t real. It isn’t true. I know this because Shaila Arnold was so many things – brilliant and funny, confident and wild. But honestly? She wasn’t all that good. “

THEY WISH THEY WERE US by Jessica Goodman is a well-crafted mystery/thriller about 8 freshman students at Gold Coast Prep, each looking forward to their senior year where they’ll rule as Players. The Players are the most elite students and an exclusive group, which comes with the privilege of a handy app that provides access to everything they need to guarantee college admission, along with a whole slew of other benefits. When Graham kills his girlfriend Shaila at the end of freshman year, they’re down to six Players. The Players all believe that Graham killed Shaila but when Jill, a Player and Shaila’s bestie receives a strange text from Grahams sister, stating he’s innocent and she needs Jill’s help in proving it, the mystery and thrills kick in high gear!

Jill is the narrator and is the best protagonist, she showed so much growth throughout the book, going from a fairly shallow mean girl to having actual depth; questioning herself and others around her. Nikki, another character shows growth, too, and that’s always a great thing in a book that I hope there will be a sequel to.

The plot takes off right from the start, it had me guessing and then guessing again. There are some great twists and red herrings, making me suspicious of more than one of the characters. Jill reflects back on freshman year quite a bit so we get to know Shaila through Jill’s eyes and the rest of the supporting characters, who aren’t always very likeable but Ms. Goodman does this seamlessly and its information that is relevant to the story.

They Wish They Were Us is an engaging mystery/thriller and I’ll be looking forward to the next in the series.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Jessica Goodman for providing me with a DRC of They Wish They Were Us in exchange for my honest review.

This book had a fantastic premise! Admittedly, I haven't seen Gossip Girl, but I really enjoyed One of us is Lying and LOOOVE dark academia (ahem, The Secret History).

I appreciated that Jill, the main character, had moral qualms about some of the things happening in the book and took a stand, fighting peer pressure and the desire to conform. It's a tough thing to do and I, for one, appreciate seeing it written into YA. And the mystery had me intrigued at the start.

Unfortunately, most of the other elements in the story didn't quite work for me. The storytelling style was jarring, skipping from past to present frequently, in a confusing way. The clues and red herrings felt heavy-handed. And the characters felt one-dimensional.

However, some of this may be a case of I've-read-too-many-thrillers-/-YA-thrillers. It's not exactly like any one thriller I've read, but it felt enough like an amalgam of several that my mind kept jumping to those thrillers as I read. (It had aspects of All These Beautiful Strangers and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, for starters). So, while this one didn't work for me, it might appeal to readers newer to YA thrillers set in high school!

Thank you Penguin Teen for providing an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

THEY WISH THEY WERE US is basically a Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars/One of Us is Lying lovechild that, in premise, sounded right up my alley. I love a good twisty thriller, especially when they have a good cover. And this cover, with its blood splattered plaid pattern and the gold name necklaces that were so popular when I was in high school, seemed to practically be screaming my name. Unfortunately, I did not feel like the book truly lived up to its potential.

I think the biggest flaw of this book was its marketing and its pacing. I enjoyed the beginning and the end of the book. I found the resolution satisfying. I was set-up to be engaged by the complex social hierarchy within The Players. I like stories that have rich kids doing questionable things with no consequences. But the middle of the book just lost me completely.

I love a good murder mystery, I’ll admit. But the murder mystery was essentially missing from this book. I felt like the murder mystery seemed to take a backseat to Jill’s personal drama and stress over college. I wanted the other Players to be darker characters, or at least possible suspects in Shaila Arnold’s murder. I think that could have enhanced the dramatic tension. Instead, I was 100% certain of who the murderer was from Chapter 2. I just wanted MORE possible suspects and more investigation. It felt like work to get through to the end of the book, where the action started to pick up again. The only relief from the slog were the flashback sequences to freshman year, which I think were executed really well.

And to be clear, I don’t always mind if I can figure out who a murderer is early on in a story. It can be fun to figure out that your guess was correct and see the pieces as they start to come together. But since there was so little investigation, you didn’t get that dramatic payout – instead it just seemed like the characters were being blind. I think I would have enjoyed this book much more if the murder mystery aspect wasn’t in the forefront of the blurb copy. Then I might have been more prepared for the story I actually got.

If you are looking for a Gossip Girl-esque world with secrets and privilege, I think this book is one you will enjoy. If you are looking for a compelling murder mystery, I would recommend picking up another title.

*I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*