"I don't want her to grow up with only the voices of the Fellowship and our parents in her ears... most of all, I don't want her to grow up to be afraid of me"
All Eyes On Us by Kit Frick promised to be a mix between Pretty Little Liars and People Like Us. I don't usually like books that compare themselves to something else because surely they are not original and they are piggybacking on something else. However, from time to time, I am in the mood to revisit plots similar to other ones.
The TV show Pretty Little Liars-never read the books-was a hit, but it was also messy. All Eyes On Us has a clear plot with some surprises.
The story follows Amanda and Rosalie in alternate chapters. Amanda is the popular girl at school, who acts more mature than her age and has her life paved in front of her. What people don't know though, is that her family is just keeping appearances of being wealthy. Amanda also knows that her boyfriend, Carter, is cheating on her. Rosalie comes from a religious family who are deeply rooted in the Fellowship of Christ denomination. She is also casually seeing Carter for her own agenda: she had previously been sent to a conversion camp and is traumatised by it. Rosalie wants to protect herself and her (cute) relationship with Paulina; she doesn't want to lose her parents or her little sister but it feels inevitable. She never wanted to hurt anyone, but inevitable, people end up being hurt.
Both Amanda and Rosalie start receiving anonymous text-and sometimes paper-messages from Private, who wants them to humiliate Carter before his birthday, or else things will turn sour. Things do in fact turn sour. The two girls, especially Amanda, are reluctant to work together, but that too, feels inevitable.
As I mentioned, this book has a clear plot and sub-plots. It keeps you at the edge of your seat trying to see who did it because sometimes it felt too obvious and you just want to solve the mystery and see the motivation behind it.
I liked the characters in this book. They are all flawed, and the parents are all bad at parenting. It's heart-breaking how the protagonists cannot rely on them, because their words or actions will be turned against them. There is more than one type of violence represented in the book. There's a lot of toxic adulthood thoughts too, but in a way, both Amanda and Rosalie are growing in their own skin: one by figuring out what her identity is and one standing up for it and living her truth.
Let me say that Pau is the most supporting girlfriend ever. They are super cute together and from what I read, I like Paulina's aesthetic too. Rosalie has several flashbacks and the trauma is deep. What she had and has to go through is horrific, and knowing that this is reality for some people, it's just sad.
Amanda is both too much of a grown up in her actions and not a grown up at all, because she is set to live her life according to other people's needs and expectations. At times, she is really mean, but she does eventually realise this. While Rosalie acts out because she's scared, Amanda acts out because she's hurting.
One thing that really surprised me was that I rarely blamed Carter. He's not just the cheating boyfriend or the white over-privileged poor-him wealthy career-already-held-for-him star. He had a lot of expectations placed on him, ones that are toxic and are destroying his own happiness. Yes, he does act like an asshole sometimes, but so do the other characters. He acts compassionate, understanding, confused...and so many other emotions.
Of course, there is a plot twist. Thinking who was Private was too easy. The conclusion to the mystery of who did it and why was done well. Paulina and Rosalie are still the best couple.
I'd recommend this book if you like stalker mysteries, unlikely alliances between 1 gay and 1 straight character and characters growing to be more courageous.
