Book Review: All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick

Title: All Eyes on Us

Author: Kit Frick

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Publishing Date: June 4th, 2019

Pages: 384

Audio Length: 10 Hours 26 Minutes

Genre: YA LGBT Mystery

TW: Conversion Therapy, alcoholism, emotional abuse, stalking

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

What it's about:

Pretty Little Liars meets People Like Us in this taut, tense thriller about two teens who find their paths intertwined when an anonymous texter threatens to spill their secrets and uproot their lives.

PRIVATE NUMBER: Wouldn’t you look better without a cheater on your arm?
AMANDA: Who is this?

The daughter of small town social climbers, Amanda Kelly is deeply invested in her boyfriend, real estate heir Carter Shaw. He’s kind, ambitious, the town golden boy—but he’s far from perfect. Because behind Amanda’s back, Carter is also dating Rosalie.

PRIVATE NUMBER: I’m watching you, Sweetheart.
ROSALIE: Who IS this?

Rosalie Bell is fighting to remain true to herself and her girlfriend—while concealing her identity from her Christian fundamentalist parents. After years spent in and out of conversion “therapy,” her own safety is her top priority. But maintaining a fake, straight relationship is killing her from the inside.

When an anonymous texter ropes Amanda and Rosalie into a bid to take Carter down, the girls become collateral damage—and unlikely allies in a fight to unmask their stalker before Private uproots their lives.

PRIVATE NUMBER: You shouldn’t have ignored me. Now look what you made me do…

What I thought:

Where do I even start with this? I went into this book expecting a crazy twisty thriller book. And while it did have quite a few twisty moments the book itself wasn't really twisty. It had a lot of awful things going on, just nothing "scary" per say. I know this is a thriller and not a horror, and there is a difference. But it's still not... exactly a thriller. At least not to me. Just because there was a mystery and it had a crazy texter doesn't make it a thriller. 

Cover:

The cover with the eye is really pretty. I love the colors of it and the bokeh. My only problem with it is it's very 2009. I used to take photos just like this back then, and the editing is very early 2000's.

Story:

The story isn't super unique, it's a typical PLL story, which has been done a hundred times before. There's nothing that makes this one stand out amongst the rest... PLL even had the gay character and the character with the cheating boyfriend. So it's nothing spectacular. It's like an off brand PLL. 

 

Pace:

I think the pace was well written. It's a very quick read and I like these types of books to just get to the point and not be slow burners. It was bam bam bam from the moment the book started and when reading thrillers that's just how it should be.

Writing:

The writing wasn't bad. The girls both had different personalities almost as if written by two different people. There wasn't a lot of world building, but honestly in this book there doesn't have to be. 

I think the author also did a wonderful job in writing Rosalie and the PTSD and trauma that she's been through. I could feel her hurt and her emotions. 

Characters:

Like I said, the characters are written well. I love Rosalie. She's badass and I feel like she really grows. I can't stand Amanda. I know she's supposed to be the stuck up b*tch who ends up having a heart, but I feel like she really didn't grow much. I hate Rosalie's parents, I hated Amanda's parents, I hated Carter. Like really hated Carter. So if the author wanted to write characters that we hate... She succeeded.

World building:

Not well done, however like I said I don't think that's really important in a book like this. 

Ending:

The ending was pretty great. It had me on the edge of me, I didn't know what was going to happen next, Rosalie was a badass like usual, and I felt like it fit. The only thing is I don't remember who "did it" so that might be a problem. 

Narrator:

They did a great job.

Overall:

I gave it a 4 star but it's more of a 3.5. 

Alternate covers:

Possible books of likeness:

Author's info:

Kit Frick is the author of B&N YA Book Club pick and Thriller Award finalist I Killed Zoe Spanos as well as the young adult thrillers See All the Stars, All Eyes on Us, and Very Bad People, and the poetry collection A Small Rising Up in the Lungs.

Readers interested in signing up for a monthly newsletter including book news and giveaways should visit her website at kitfrick.com. Kit doesn't accept GR friend requests but you can still follow her here for updates or connect with her on Twitter and Instagram, where she is most active.