Bad Like Us

by Gabriella Lepore

Overview

Two friend groups collide when someone turns up dead over spring break in this heart-thumping YA thriller for fans of One of Us Is Lying and We Were Liars

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781335453877
Publisher:	Inkyard Press
Publication date:	03/05/2024
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	441,457
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Gabriella Lepore is a YA author from South Wales in the United Kingdom, where she lives with her husband and two kids. When she isn’t reading or writing, she can usually be found exploring the coastline or perusing a bookstore. She enjoys autumn days and cups of tea and is always searching for the next mystery. Visit her at www.gabriellalepore.co.uk or follow her on Instagram @GabriellaLepore_Books.

Editorial Reviews

12/04/2023

High school senior Eva Porta is looking forward to a relaxing spring break getaway at a classmate’s private seaside cabin in woodsy Tillamook County with eight friends. Despite Eva’s best attempts to let loose, have fun, and get closer to her crush Colton Demarco, the trip is immediately plagued by romantic drama and tensions from a recent academic cheating scandal. Incessant and intrusive Instagramming from Piper Meyers, the most glamorous and connected of the group, intensifies the existing conflicts. When one of the friends turns up dead under suspicious circumstances, Eva finds herself desperately untangling a sordid web of secrets to uncover the killer hiding in their midst. Though the overarching narrative is sometimes bogged down by a too large cast and inconsistently developed motivations, Lepore (The Last One to Fall) keeps the reader guessing by juggling multiple perspectives, flashbacks, and fictional interstitial audio transcripts and news articles, and lightly touches on issues of economic privilege, jealousy, and social media overconsumption in this fast-paced, dramatically executed locked-room murder mystery. Most of the protagonists read as white except for classmate Alice, who is Black. Ages 13–up. Agent: Whitney Ross, High Line Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Bad Like Us

"Gabriella Lepore’s Bad Like Us is a juicy, claustrophobic entry into the canon of contemporary young adult thrillers. Short chapters, alternating points-of-view, interview snippets, and saved video confessions will have you racing through the pages of Bad Like Us, piecing together and peeling back the layers of this intricate who-done-it on a spring break gone wrong." —Sarah Henning, best-selling author of the Sea Witch duology


Praise for The Last One to Fall

"Full of twists and turns, The Last One to Fall kept me guessing until the final pages. A delightfully deceptive, cleverly crafted mystery!" — Chelsea Pitcher, author of This Lie Will Kill You

"A one-sitting read for teens who love a whodunit." —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for This Is Why We Lie

"Starts with a shock and keeps you guessing to the end. Moody, atmospheric, and swirling with secrets, you won’t know who to trust the entire time—and you’ll cling to every word of Lepore’s gorgeous writing."—Diana Urban, author of All Your Twisted Secrets

"This fast-paced novel will keep teens guessing until the very end… Perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying, this is highly recommended for thriller shelves."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

04/01/2024

Gr 9 Up—Nine teenagers spend part of spring break at the remote Oregon coast lodge owned by one teen's uncle; the property is undergoing renovations, so they have the run of it. The book is alternately narrated by Eva and Colton, with interspersed content from text messages, police interviews, and transcripts of videos for social media, as well as flashback scenes. While starting out tense, with Eva hearing a scream near a dark cave, followed by a news article that an unnamed teenager was found dead and another was arrested, the book immediately jumps back to the start of the trip, making the first third more teen drama than mystery. Some may find the characters and their relationships hard to keep track of initially: Eva likes Colton, her friend Danny's twin; Danny used to date influencer Piper, and now she's dating Javier, but Danny might still like her. Still, readers will catch on and become invested in the happenings. The pace quickens when the narrative returns to the present, and readers are thrown into a whodunit where everyone seems to have secrets about that fateful night. Pages flow quickly in the second half, as tension builds with storms causing roadblocks, and the teens considering who among them is a murderer. Most characters cue white; Javier is Latinx, and Alice is Black. VERDICT Fans of Karen M. McManus will find much to enjoy here. Recommended for thriller/mystery collections.—Amanda Mastrull

School Library Journal

2024-02-03
A trip to a private resort sounds like a great spring break—until someone dies.

At an Oregon beach resort, nine high school seniors from Seattle come together for an exclusive vacation. Eva and her friend Alice aren’t so sure about hanging out with popular girls Piper and Karly. But their friend Danny, Piper’s ex-boyfriend, seems to be in good spirits. Danny has invited Colton, his twin brother, and his friend Miles. Two of Colton’s friends are there, too—Noah and Javier, who’s also Piper’s current boyfriend. Tensions flare among the web of friends as they settle into the secluded beach lodge. As the group are drinking by the firepit one night, Eva goes for a walk on the beach and hears a “bloodcurdling sound.” The next morning, one of the friends is found dead—and the police think it was murder. Each of the eight surviving teens has something to hide, and if tensions were flaring before, they’re blazing now. Unfortunately, the characters are flat and feel reduced to their respective secrets; Piper and Karly are caricatures of vapid cliquishness, and the other characters’ interests are only briefly mentioned. Eva and Colton, who share the first-person narration, are the most fleshed out. Their alternating chapters are broken up by texts from various group chats, transcripts of Piper’s vlogs, and interviews with the police. Most characters are implied white; brown-skinned Javier is cued Latine, and Alice reads Black.

A fun but ultimately forgettable vacation thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

Full of twists and turns, The Last One to Fall kept me guessing until the final pages. A delightfully deceptive, cleverly crafted mystery!”

author of This Lie Will Kill You Chelsea Pitcher