US Reality tv starlet with questionable mental health marries into a posh wealthy British family. The family heiress is murdered, everyone must get to the estate immediately, and then the real sides of the upper crust come out and no one is there to save our starlet from the horrendous behavior of this family everyone admires

# A Girl Like Us
# 4/7/2025 ~ 4/8/2025
# 4.5 / 5.0

Pong-buried secretS, and epie twists and inns, A Girl
Like Us had my attention from the very first word. And let me tell you, this family was the secret sauce in what was a killer story. Dysfunctional in the extreme, they were cold, calculating, and cunning in the best possible way. All except for Colin-who had my heart right from the start-and Maya, of course. Well, maybe she had just a few of those traits. Morally gray and with a love for winning at all costs, she was the perfect addition to this ruthless pack of wolves, which made the plot come alive right before my oh so riveted eyes.
As for that plot, I adoringly ate most of it up one heaping spoonful at a time. So much so, in fact, that I finished this 400+ page stunner in just under twenty-four hours. With twist after twist shifting the storyline in first one direction and then another, the conclusion was 100% unguessable for this thriller lover. That's not to say, though, that I didn't see through many of those stunning reveals. It didn't, however, ruin the book for me even the slightest. After all, with ever-present foreboding, complex group dynamics, and a pace that soared higher and higher, I wouldn't have wanted to actually be there with the Sterlings, but I absolutely loved being a fly on the wall.

Maya is a former reality TV star who ends up marrying Sterling, from a super powerful and rich family. When a family member is found dead, Maya, Sterling and the rest of his family find out that Maya has been named the new heiress of the family's empire. Things go south from there.

I had high hopes for this locked room mystery with rich people and reality TV stars, but I was put off by the inconsistent pacing of the book overall. I expected more of an engaging thriller. I liked the premise of the book and thought Maya held her own in that family.

Thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for this eARC. A Girl Like Us is out now.

A Girl Like Us is a super twisty thriller that had me hooked from the moment I started listening.

The concept is sooo juicy: a murder, a massive inheritance, and a locked-down estate full of potential suspects. Maya was a compelling narrator—clever, calculated, and never quite as innocent as she seems. I totally thought she was in on it the entire time! I especially loved the way the author played with public perception and media narratives, showing how quickly a woman can be painted as either a social climber or a scapegoat.

That said, I did feel the pacing was a tad uneven in places. Some parts dragged while others raced ahead, and I found myself wishing for a steadier pace. But just when I thought I had things figured out, BAM, that plot twist hit!! It was smart, satisfying, and made the entire ride worth it.

Maya Sterling has pretty much clawed her way from the bottom to, if not quite the top, then certainly to a richly appointed room with a view. After an impoverished trailer park childhood, the beautiful young woman was cast on the reality show The Springs, about young people spending their summers flirting and fighting in the Hamptons. While originally meant to play the role of the local nice girl, Maya soon figured out how to make herself an even more integral part of the series:

QUOTE
For Maya, playing up those likeable, girl-next-door qualities worked, in a way. It kept her on the show. But Maya soon realized it also meant fewer lines in the final edit and thus smaller royalty checks. And that just would not do. So, she brought out that other part of herself. The girl who would voice the thing everyone was thinking but was too afraid to say. The sort of thing that might get your ponytail pulled or a drink thrown in your face. When it comes to throwing drinks in faces, though, Maya is a quick draw. Her castmates learned to not try. Eventually they started calling her “Miss Mayhem.”

She’s different now, of course. More evolved than she was at nineteen. At any rate, the mayhem is in check.
END QUOTE

Since the show wrapped, she’s parlayed her celebrity into a bestselling make-up line and, now, an adorable baby with her wealthy husband. Colin Sterling is as young and beautiful as Maya is, and was once one of the world’s most eligible bachelors. Most importantly to Maya, he has her back in the same way that she has his. The newlyweds are a team who dote on their baby daughter Becca, no matter the naysaying of their critics… which unfortunately includes the members of his rich and powerful family.

For Colin is part of the family behind the United Kingdom-based SterlingCo, a globe-spanning media corporation that’s run by Harry Sterling, the reclusive and somewhat paranoid head of the clan who’s already deeded the bulk of his wealth to his 20-something year-old daughter Arianna. Arianna herself hasn’t been seen in public since her latest partying scandal, and has mostly been out of sight and out of mind. Until, that is, she’s found murdered in a Mexican apartment.

Her death immediately sets off a security protocol that has all the members of the Sterling family – Colin, Maya and Becca included – whisked off to Silver House, the family’s ancestral estate. Maya, whose standing in the family is by far the most precarious, finds the enforced isolation understandably stifling, even as she learns more about the family dynamics firsthand. Perhaps most intriguing is what she learns about Harry and Arianna from a gossipy relative:

QUOTE
“They were very close for a long time, Harry and Arianna. Then she grew up, realized she’d been a princess locked in a castle, and became rebellious. They had some fight, I don’t know what about–and then you couldn’t mention her name to him. And she must’ve felt the same.”

“I get that.” Maya actually does. She’s heard it said that rich and poor have more in common than the middle class. Whatever the gulf in security and comfort, rich and poor are both in their own way free from bourgeois conventions. They understand that life is cheap, don’t cling to sentimental connections. Instead, they mythologize their family. Or destroy them.
END QUOTE

Maya’s sympathy for Arianna helps sustain her, until the contents of Arianna’s will are read out and Maya unexpectedly finds herself in the crosshairs. Bewildered and increasingly distrustful of the people around her, Maya will have to get to the bottom of Arianna’s life and death if she’s to have any hope of escaping Silver House alive. And if she has to bring out her Miss Mayhem persona once more in order to protect herself and her closely guarded secrets, then so be it.

This deliciously soapy thriller for the modern age is elevated by Anna Sophia McLoughlin’s keen eye for social commentary, as Maya fights to keep herself and her loved ones safe no matter what. Maya might be wealthy now, but she knows what it’s like to feel poor and helpless, and she certainly knows how to take every opportunity that she can in order to advance and maintain her social position. The twists were excellently done, with Maya and Arianna both coming out as flawed but deeply sympathetic characters. I was certainly rooting for Maya to succeed, and for her to avenge the doomed woman who would so unexpectedly alter the course of her life.

While reading this book, it felt as though absolutely nothing and yet everything was happening simultaneously. Honestly, it was a struggle to get through and finish. The pacing was inconsistent, and much of the story seemed to repeat itself: Maya tirelessly searching for answers about the recently deceased heiress, Arianna; getting caught by one of her in-laws; enduring their scornful remarks about her not being “Sterling” enough, or not coming from wealth; then heading back to the house for more clues—rinse and repeat.

The writing, while understandable for a debut, occasionally felt disjointed, which affected my immersion. Still, I’m willing to give the author some leeway on that front.

The final 25-30% of the book, however, was when the story finally gained momentum and began to feel like a true thriller. The twists and turns were plentiful, though I did predict many of them in advance, which diminished the impact. Despite that, the book did manage to keep me on edge, but not because of the plot’s suspense—instead, it was largely due to the characters, whose behavior made me uncomfortable, adding a different layer of tension.

Secrets Will Out..
Fast paced and glamorous locked room mystery come dysfunctional domestic drama where secrets and lies may inevitably out. With a well drawn cast of eclectic characters, a claustrophobic and nicely executed plot and a firm sense of place, this is both an immersive and compelling read laced with menace and drenched in a closed in atmosphere.

This book exceeded my expectations with a wealthy family's drama, deep rooted family secrets and rich people behaving however they want. This book kept my attention from the first chapter, and I devoured it in its entirety. I also loved that I could not guess the ending - there were so many twists and turns that kept my attention. I cannot wait to read more from Anna Sophia McLoughlin.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this thrilling ARC!

I DNF this book. The premise sounded intriguing but the writing style and approach didn’t resonate with me. I found the characters to be unlikeable - and while sometimes that can be compelling, it just wasn’t the kind of book that I’d like to be reading right now.

2.75 stars

This is pitched as "Succession" meets "Saltburn", and with how fun "Saltburn" was it makes me wonder if "Succession" is boring. The premise was there, but the execution was lacking on this one for me. First off, I'm not sure why it's set in 2004, which feels like a weird thing to critique, but the whole time I kept waiting on something to make that make sense as a setting choice and it didn't happen. I guess because of the reality TV culture? But I feel like that's still relevant today, so. Anyway, Maya Miller got famous from reality TV and has now married into a super-rich aristocratic family, the Sterlings. Then, the young heiress to the Sterling family fortune is found murdered while Maya and her new husband are on their honeymoon, and they're called to the family compound for the reading of the will. When Maya is named the sole inheritor despite never meeting the heiress, the estate gets locked down so they can try to figure out what happened.

I'll be honest the twists in this were dumb to me, one of them was literally just someone forgot something, and then another was so absolutely ridiculous I couldn't get over it. No middle of the road twists here. There was some bouncing around in time between the present and Maya's past, and also some chapters from the heiress's diary, and those were the most interesting part. Overall, though, the setting was cool and the idea was fun, but it fell flat for me.

3.5 stars rounded up. This book sounded like it would be a fun, fizzy kind of thriller featuring a cast of rich people and a whole lot of backstabbing. And it was. I liked it overall, even though I didn't really like or care about any of the characters. It was entertaining and twisty. It also felt a bit flat. It is what it claims to be though and works well if you're in the mood for that.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

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.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I just felt a bit bored overall. I don’t think this book was horrible but it didn’t really offer anything new or exciting to me.

The writing was just a bit bland as well and I was left wanting something more.

I hope others love this one.

This book was good! I liked it but didn’t love it. I definitely see potential in it and look forward to seeing what else the author does.

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.

A locked room mystery where the room is literally on lock down to keep the high profile suspects away from the media storm around them AND to cut them off from the outside. Our FMC has to navigate this isolation while she tries to figure out where this situation is going while also dropping her own culpability on the reader throughout.

This story certainly held plenty of tangled webs and little surprises with the setting adding to the twisted plot. Unfortunately it didn’t take long to become frustrated with the protagonist. Her rags to riches allure was insufficient against her depressing inner monologue. There were also characters I wanted so much more time with or that almost didn’t get enough time to understand for the plot. The pacing suffered because we were in her head instead of following the huge developments.

If you like twisty mysteries that are heavy on character, this one may be for you, I just couldn’t get into this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

A Girl Like Us is an engaging thriller that keeps you hooked with its complex, often unlikable characters. The story pulls you into a world of rich, out-of-touch people, each with their own messy secrets. The tension builds nicely throughout, and you’re always guessing what’s going to happen next. Overall, it's a really fun, twisty read with characters you love to hate.

I recently had the pleasure of reading this, and I have to say, it exceeded my expectations in so many ways. From the very first page, I was hooked by the engaging style and the intriguing characters. The author does an excellent job of building a world that feels both immersive and believable, making it easy to get lost in the story. The plot was full of twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the story would surprise me with something unexpected. I highly recommend this and all their work.

More of a 4.5 star rating.

I loved this! It did start off a bit slow to me, but by the 20% mark, I was hooked.

I’m a sucker for locked room thrillers and this was SO good.

With tons of twists and and tension, this was one of the best slow burn thrillers I’ve read this year.

Thanks to NetGalley & publisher for this ARC.

📸 Former TV Reality Star
📸 Married into Powerful Wealthy Family
📸 Family Drama
📸 A Murder

Packed with family secrets and a slow-burn unraveling, this one had an interesting premise. While I felt a bit disinterested in the middle of the story, the ultimate twist made up for the read. (The last 10% is where the big kicks come in.) If you liked The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha you may like this one.