All Eyes on Us

by Kit Frick

Pretty Little Liars meets People Like Us in this taut, tense thriller...

“If you like your YA thrillers smart, suspenseful, and full of complex characters, then you'll love All Eyes on Us” Karen M. McManus, author of One of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret
 
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…
 

Genres: LGBT, Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Lesbian, Contemporary, Queer

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 4, 2019

About the author

Kit Frick is the author of multiple mysteries and thrillers for teens and adults including B&N YA Book Club pick and Thriller Award finalist I Killed Zoe Spanos and the forthcoming adult mystery The Split. Her other books include Before We Were Sorry (previously titled See All the Stars), All Eyes on Us, Very Bad People, The Reunion, 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 Instagram.

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick is a young adult mystery/thriller. The story is told from a dual point of view style with alternating the chapters between the two female leads, Amanda Kelly and Rosalie Bell.

Amanda is one of those girls that seems to have her future all laid out for her and a perfect life. Amanda has been in a relationship with Carter Shaw for years and they have been that golden couple in school. Carter’s family is incredibly rich and it’s assumed Amanda and Carter will marry someday leaving Amanda to protect that future and overlook Carter’s wandering ways.

Rosalie Bell is a girl from a neighboring town that happened to cross Carter’s path and catch his eye. Rosalie knows of Amanda’s existence but overlooks it to date Carter with her own agenda in mind. You see, Rosalie is actually in love with another girl but her overly religious parents would not approve so she’s only using Carter to keep them happy. This puts Rosalie and Amanda in the path of an anonymous texter who begins to threaten them both.

All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick was a solid young adult mystery read. The story had plenty of action and plenty of suspects to wade through as the suspense began to build. For me this one ended on 3 1/2 stars due to the fact I had my suspicions early on but I do think it was worth the read otherwise.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little light on the drama I was hoping for, but an okay read I suppose.

Amanda was perfectly nasty to start with but Rosalie was dealing with real trauma and I'm gonna be honest, I wasn't ready for it. I was totally expecting some petty teenage drama with a side of rich-people problems. NOT THE CASE.

Here's the deal: Amanda is the typical mean queen B and Carter is her arm candy. He's the typical, 'most popular guy in the school' and he and Amanda are destined to get married, be rich and do lots of important rich-people things together. Only Carter is cheating on Amanda with Rosalie, who in turn is only using Carter to pretend that the conversion therapy she was forced to undergo really worked. (Don't tell anyone she has a secret girlfriend.) But someone knows their secrets and is now threatening them with anonymous texts Pretty Little Liars-style.

So let's start with the princess herself, Amanda:
- Shallow
- Cares more about appearances than feelings
- Secretly just wants her mum to love her
- Doesn't care about Carter's cheating, as long as he stays with her
- Spiteful on the surface but crumbling from the pressure of being perfect

Then we have meek lil Rosalie:
- Is a lesbian
- Is part of a family and religious group who believes this to be a 'sinful choice' that must essentially be tortured out of her
- Is deeply traumatised by the 'conversion therapy' she had to undergo
- Is actually a fkn BADASS despite it all
- But kind of a dick for using Carter without him knowing the truth

And our golden boy himself Carter:
- Cheating douchebag
- Nice to everyone on the surface
- Suffering from the pressure of keeping up appearances
- Secretly devoted to fun-girl (?) Rosalie
- Still a cheating douchebag

There are THEMES here, too, that go deeper than the nasty teen drama I wanted to revel in. Let me spoiler tag them just in case:


-Alcoholism
-Religion vs sexuality
-Emotional abuse
-Stalking


But let me talk about the big one, and that is Rosalie's horrible, horrible situation.

I find it so tragically sad that there are people in this world who truly believe that someone's inherent nature can be so wrong it justifies torture. And Rosalie isn't just dealing with persecution from the general public, or even the close-knit religious community she's part of - her own parents are so afraid of her being attracted to the same gender that they think it's okay to have her tortured. And that's exactly what conversion therapy is. TORTURE. Inflicting harm on another human being until they do what you want them to do. It just makes me so sick to think people actually do this. The bond between a parent and child should be sacred and full of unconditional love and instead I have to read about Rosalie being mistreated by her own family. It hurt my heart so much.

I picked this up for a light, trashy read and then that. So let me just take a moment to say to all the people reading this review who feel like they are unloved because of characteristics of who they are: YOU DESERVE TO BE LOVED NO MATTER WHAT AND DON'T LET ANYONE EVER TELL YOU OTHERWISE.

Okay so now moving on.

The text from 'Private Number' were so sad and pathetic. Like, please watch a few seasons of Pretty Little Liars and learn how to threaten someone properly. Also prank them properly. This was far too light on with the threats.

Then the side cast of characters didn't get a huge amount of screen time so it all fell a little flat. I wanted more people with secrets and behind-the-back whispering and fights and rumours and just MORE. Alas, this was all pretty tame.

Altogether it was like a bland, washed out attempt at copying PLL. It wasn't quite clever enough, or twisted enough, or deep enough. This needed to contain either more savagery or deeper people to really suck me in. Rosalie's situation made for an interesting angle but overall it wasn't really enough to save the premise of the story.

Still, a quick enough read to keep you entertained for a day or two.

[Kit Frick]

Update 6/4/19: All Eyes on Us is out in the world today! So excited to introduce you to Rosalie Bell & Amanda Kelly. But beware, S O M E O N E ' S W A T C H I N G ...

It's true--All Eyes on Us is my second stand-alone YA thriller with S&S/McElderry Books, and it's coming your way in summer 2019! Here are a few reasons I'm excited to share my second book with all of you:

*Girls taking charge of their destinies in the face of immense--and immensely unhealthy--pressure from their families and communities: In All Eyes on Us, we meet Amanda Kelly, the daughter of status-hungry small town social climbers, and Rosalie Bell, the oldest daughter of a family in the Fellowship of Christ fundamentalist denomination. The girls' lives seem quite different at first blush, but both are torn between their true selves and the expectations hanging over them.
*Dual-POV: the narrative alternates between Amanda and Rosalie as their stories intertwine until they eventually come together to face the stalker who threatens to uproot both their lives.
*Through Rosalie's storyline, All Eyes on Us takes on the unscientific, ineffective, and deeply harmful practice variously known as conversion therapy, reparative therapy, ex-gay ministry, sexual reorientation, and Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE). Lawmakers and advocates at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Human Rights Campaign, and elsewhere are working tirelessly to ban conversion therapy nationwide and internationally, but there is still a long way to go. All Eyes on Us will include a resource section for LGBTQ+ community members, allies, and advocates who want to join the fight to end conversion therapy.
*Did I mention All Eyes on Us is a thriller? The novel tackles some very serious topics within the framework of a suspenseful narrative that I hope will keep you turning pages. A few things you can expect: girls kicking serious ass; a stalker with a private number and major grudge against local golden boy Carter Shaw; an on-page, interracial f/f relationship; parents who make massive mistakes; lavish galas and church basements in small town West Virginia; unlikely friendships and hopeful futures.

Content notes: intense flashback scenes depicting abusive conversion "therapy" tactics; homophobia; parental alcoholism; bullying/threats of violence

[Jamie Rosenblit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year, Kit Frick burst onto the scene with her stellar debut See All the Stars. Now, she has returned with All Eyes on Us and there is no sign of a sophomore slump here! All Eyes on Us delves into the subject matter of LGBTQ relationships and the issue of being yourself when it is unwelcome in your family (to the point of conversion camps, nonetheless.) or being who your family wants you to be - being forced to date the wealthy boy so you can continue to put on a show when your own wealth is gone. Interspersed throughout the YA struggles we find Rosalie (our LGBTQ character) and Amanda (our former wealthy popular girl) receiving threatening anonymous texts. Told through multiple perspectives, we get all the fun and glitz of Gossip Girl and all the scheming and OMG-Gasping moments of Pretty Little Liars.

Well done on book #2, Kit Frick. I'll certainly be looking forward to book #3.

Thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

[Dahlia]

I will never stop laughing at myself for getting so mad at how "obvious" the answer was and then just...being wrong. Good job, me. Also, really happy they re-did this cover, as I think this one is a way better fit for the content and I hope it gets the book more eyes. I think I recommend this to fans of PEOPLE LIKE US? That's where my brain was going.

[Kelsea Yu · Rating 5 out of 5]

FINALLY! A diverse YA thriller that I can wholeheartedly recommend. I suppose I should add a disclaimer here that I have not read ALL of the YA thrillers, so there may be some wonderful diverse stories I’ve missed, of course. (If you know of any, LMK -- I want to read them all!) But from my previous personal experience, I’ve noticed that the thriller genre as a whole (YA and adult) has been rather lacking in diversity.

Because of this, I went into reading All Eyes on Us with both a lot of anticipation and an equal share of trepidation. What if this book just wasn’t as good as I’d hoped?

Thankfully, my fears were allayed quite quickly. The book drew me in right from the start. The title is written into the story early on and begins to take on further meaning as the plot progresses. I loved that! It’s always a bonus when the title is meaningful within the context of the story. And the characters and setup? I can tell you I’ve read a TON of thrillers in the last few years (I should count them up, but I’m guessing somewhere around 100) and this premise was truly unique. Not an easy feat these days.

All Eyes on Us is told from two perspectives -- AND, rather refreshingly for YA, they are NOT the perspectives of two characters you’re intended to ship together. Neither are they best friends or direct enemies. As it turns out, they’re two teenage girls dating the same guy.

I will admit that this had my eyebrows raised -- and it will probably cause some readers to hesitate when they hear it. There is cheating in this story. It’s a thriller and no, it’s not exactly condoned, but at least one character who is a cheating party is set up as a sympathetic character. If that’s an absolute no for you, then here’s your heads up. But if you’re willing to accept imperfect main characters (which, truth to be told, is almost every thriller MC) and let them show you why they’ve become who they are (someone willing to cheat), I think you’ll be in for a real treat.

All Eyes On Us goes deep -- especially for a thriller. Kit Frick manages to walk that line between the fun mystery that thriller readers seek and the depth of a well-thought-out YA contemporary that addresses very real issues. Namely, the book shows us the harmfulness of conversion therapy and also serves to highlight what happens when teenagers are put under way too much familial pressure.

(As a side note, I’ve seen some mention of the conversion therapy portions feeling extraneous or going too in-depth. And while I absolutely believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion and we won’t all agree on what’s “too much”, I didn’t personally find these sections gratuitous. I thought the scenes were written with exactly the right amount of detail for readers to imagine how horrific it must be for kids and teens who are put through exactly this kind of “therapy” -- it fit well within the bounds of YA thriller territory and offered readers a chance to understand what it must be like and why it needs to be stopped.)

I enjoyed the fast pacing and the mystery and creep factor of the anonymous texter. This story was an enjoyable who-dun-it that kept me guessing throughout! The ending was fairly typical for a thriller, but that’s almost certainly a perspective gained through reading WAY too many thrillers. I think experienced thriller readers will enjoy the wrap-up and new thriller readers will LOVE how it ends.

I highly recommend this incredible novel and can’t wait to read Kit Frick’s next book -- and her previous book, which is now on my TBR!

4.5 stars!

Advanced copy provided by Simon and Schuster through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Please note that this review is of the finished book, which I received for an Instagram book tour (no review required). All opinions are my own.

[BookNightOwl · Rating 4 out of 5]

All eyes on us is a young mystery thriller about two girls dating the same boy. This kept me interested and I there were some things I didn't agree with but I did like the characters and that made up for it.

[charlotte, · Rating 2 out of 5]

On my blog.

Rep: lesbian mc, Latina lesbian li, gay side characters

CWs: graphic descriptions of conversion therapy, homophobia

Galley provided by publisher

Like the fool that I am, I went into this book believing the two girls in the blurb to be the endgame of this book. They are not. About 80 pages in, when I realised this, my motivation to read it plummeted. And that definitely did affect my rating of the book, but there were other things I was less than comfortable with (one other thing really. But it was pretty major).

All Eyes on Us is told from two points of view: Amanda’s and Rosalie’s. Amanda is the golden girl dating the golden boy, Carter. Rosalie is also dating Carter, but to get her fundamentalist Christian parents to stop scrutinising her after four years of conversion therapy and praying after she came out to them. Then Amanda starts getting these text messages from an unknown number, telling her that Carter is not all he seems.

Except the one thing I struggled with is that Amanda already knows that Carter is cheating on her with Rosalie. She also knows he’s done it in the past. So actually what we ended up with was less two girls who don’t know they’re each being cheated on (even if one of the relationships is a sham), and more of Amanda hating on Rosalie. Amanda has never met Rosalie, Carter is clearly the person in the wrong here, and I know that, sure, Amanda may be struggling to be wholly nice about Rosalie because she loves Carter, but. But. It’s 2019 and I don’t feel like reading a book where the character I’m supposed to feel sympathetic towards is actually horrible to everyone around her, even her supposed friends.

And then there’s the problem of Rosalie’s plotline. Rosalie is a lesbian. She came out to her parents four years previously leading to lots of prayers and some conversion therapy. Which we get the occasional graphic flashback to. Now here’s my first issue: if these flashbacks had been explicitly framed as some kind of trauma, maybe PTSD, then I could have stood them. I may have missed some subtext here, for sure, but it just felt… gratuitous almost. It’s clear her parents are homophobic, she says that a lot in the narrative, she mentions the conversion therapy. One thing I do not need is the graphic descriptions of it. I struggle reading books about this, even when the author is themselves part of the LGBT community, even when it’s something they’ve experienced (possibly that’s when I struggle most), so to have these scenes added, essentially just to show us her parents are homophobic and actively harming her? That felt unnecessary.

But really, this is what Rosalie’s side of the story revolves around. She’s dating Carter to keep her parents away (while also dating Paulina). She has the opportunity to leave her house, become “extradited” by her church, but she won’t because of her little sister. The private number plays on this by threatening to out her, and by telling Amanda to out her. (The one good thing about this storyline is that she doesn’t get outed, Amanda doesn’t do it, and the private number also suddenly seems to drop that plan.) I never felt like it got more in depth than this. Granted, I didn’t have that much of a clearer picture of Amanda’s motives, and she didn’t feel particularly fleshed out either, but it’s a tiring narrative to read. At this point, I only take the conversion therapy/religious family narratives from ownvoices authors, because it feels kind of like an overrepresented narrative (mostly because it’s all straight authors seem to be able to write about when it comes to lesbian characters especially, but I digress). Why not make Rosalie dating Carter about compulsory heterosexuality? Discuss that instead. But no, it’s just this tiring and overdone plotline for Rosalie.

Despite all that complaining, I did like a few things about this book. The writing is very readable, almost compulsively so. I definitely did not see the twist coming either (though I did pick one person who was involved, I didn’t pick the other, and the actual perpetrator was a HOLY SHIT moment). Finally, this is only the second book I’ve read this year that actually has the main character call herself a lesbian (and given the number of f/f books I’ve read, that’s depressing).

But ultimately, it was just that storyline with the lesbian character that disappointed me.

[Danielle (Life of a Literary Nerd) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't you hate when you finish a book and you don't know how to feel about it. Like it wasn't bad, but you didn't really care about it enough to be good either, so it's just okay I'm done with that - onto the next book. That's kinda how I'm feeling after finishing All Eyes On Us.

I liked Amanda and Rosalie's character progression, but I thought the mystery was pretty obvious and I never really enjoy religion in books - expecially if it endorces conversion therapy (majoy trigger warning). I also wish we got some more closure. I feel like the Amanda's interactions with the police just fell off the face of the Earth near the end of the story. And I was kinda confused by Amanda's mom's storyline. Overall an okay read, but it's not one that's going to stick with me.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm almost surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. Sure in the beginning one of the MCs are her mom made me want to rip my hair out and scream, but the MC got better. This book has a shit ton of character development and I'm here for it. What starts as a catty girl fight/pretty little liars/gossip girl mix eventually leaves everyone feeling empowered and with a general feeling of how shitty men are. I like that vibe 😂

While I guess quite a few of the mystery elements, I was surprised still by a couple. I'm finding I enjoy queer thrillers quite a lot.

TW: homophobia, conversion therapy
Rep: lesbian MC, gay side characters

[Rachel Solomon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to read an early version of this, and it is EXCELLENT.

[Melanie (TBR and Beyond) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wouldn’t you look better without a cheater on your arm?

Trigger Warnings: Conversion Therapy, Religious Fanaticism, Homophobia, Parental Shunning, Alcoholism, Threats of Outting and Violence.

I went on a splurge at the bookstore in June and kind of was grabbing at stuff, whatever looked good to me.  Screw the Goodreads ratings - I was just buying blind.  This one was on the books that I hadn't heard of prior but looked like fun, so was my blind buy worth it? Well, Kind of.

All Eye on Us is a different kind of book and I'm not entirely sure that the author even completely knew what she wanted to write.  This books follows two young girls of completely different backgrounds and we switch off and on with their POVS.

The first girl Amanda is your typical rich snob that is trying to make a perfect life with her douchey boyfriend Carter.  This is much more a financial and social relationship than anything else and both their parents have been pushing it on them their entire lives.  Honestly, if you've seen Gossip Girl - whenever Amanda's POV was up, I couldn't help but see Blair, so take that how you will.   Then we have Rosealie, who comes from far less money and her family is INTENSELY religious.  Rosealie makes most of her decisions based on fear due to her parents disapproval.  Rosealie happens to be a lesbian and when she tried to come out to her parents at a young age, she was sent to conversion camp.  She now has a girlfriend in secret and dates Carter (yep, that Carter) in public for her parents approval.  Amanda and Rosealie's lives are about to become entangled even more than just dating the same idiot when they start to both get threatening text messages.

This book started out quite slow and honestly had a lot of pacing issues through-out.  I felt like it didn't know if it wanted to be a tense thriller or a hard-hitting contemporary novel.  I really did find it interesting and horrifying learning about Rosealie's past with conversion therapy, but it kept coming and going and didn't always fit the flow.  It almost felt like two different books at times.  I would read both those books but having them trying to flow together at the same time was a little distracting.  I think the slow pace will throw a lot of people on this one - I mean it takes a LONG time to really build up that tension and I don't really feel it ever hits a boiling point - not really.

The mystery wasn't bad, I didn't figure it out.  Near the end you will laugh for sure.  I can't say anything but it was cleaver I will say that.  I just wish we could've stayed on the thriller path at least for half the book solid. I did like the characters - well the main girls.  The writing was pretty good and I would definitely read this author again.  I enjoyed the book, but it just didn't come through on all things for me.  If you are interested in this one, I'd probably say pick it up at the library and try it first.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first maybe 15% of this I really hate it and I thought of DNFing it because I just could not stand the characters and I was like what is even the point of the story. But as it went on I really got to like the characters more and I was intrigued and I also liked the representation and what that character went through. It’s not that thrilling or anything so don’t go into it expecting that but it is a good time and there’s some good discussion.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bruh this was so fucking stupid. Like I'm cracking up just thinking about it again for this review because it was so batshit.

All Eyes on Us begins with social climber Amanda getting a text about her boyfriend Carter cheating. The girl he's cheating on her with is named Rosalie and she gets anonymous texted too and soon they are both being threatened to take Carter down.

Like wow hello this is my boyfriend Carter and his girlfriend Rosalie and then Rosalie's girlfriend is here too!! This book tried SO FUCKING HARD to do something and all it ended up doing was be a hilarious mess.

I was so confused at the dynamic in the beginning like Amanda was with him and knew about him cheating but then the other girl was literally a lesbian not interested in men anyway??? She was using him as a beard so she didn't have to go back to conversion therapy but it was all so goddamn bizarre?? Half of the book could have been solved by the two girls simply talking to each other instead of the endless miscommunication.

The ending and who the baddie was just made me even more confused to the point where I legit almost peed myself laughing because WHAT. WAS. THE. POINT. None of it made sense in the end to do any of this like everything that happened was for nothing and it's funny but not funny haha, funny go fuck yourself for wasting my time. The drama wasn't even good and it wasn't even thrilling oh my god. Random people would get drugged for no reason and hit by cars and it was so dumb.

I haven't been rating novels much this year but I think this one earned the one star.

[Melanie Brinkman]

Keep your eyes open. You never know who's watching.

Amanda knows the exact course of her life. Soon she'll graduate, and eventually become the future Mrs. Shaw. Her family and her boyfriend Carter's are small town royalty, and she knows they're meant to be. But that doesn't mean Carter thinks the same way.

Rosalie walks a fine line. Hiding her relationship with her girlfriend from her family and community isn't easy. Pretending to date Carter is the safest option until college, even if it kills her on the inside.

When an anonymous texter threatens to out dangerous secrets about both girls unless they take down Carter, they become unlikely allies in an effort to stop everything from imploding.

A story of secrets spilled and kept. Two teens connected in a game where losing will literally ruin their lives.

Trigger warnings for alcoholism, underage drinking, homophobia, conversion therapy, threats of outing, classism, financial woes, cheating, and violence.

Arrogant, snobby Amanda seemed to live the glizty life of the rich. From the towns local high society to her high school peers, she was used to having everyone look at her. Maintaining her image wasn't easy for the popular girl, as she was pressured by everyone, even her own family. Bold, she stepped on anyone that got in her way, but when she met Rosalie as the anonymous texter's dangerous acts coalesced, her personality definitely softened a little. I truly empathized with her, but perhaps not as much with Rosalie.

Nervous, caring Rosalie was constantly on edge. Living in a heavily religious family and community, she had to hide her true self from those she loved and those who claimed to love her. As the young girl relived memories of horrific conversion therapy sessions and contemplated what bringing her truth to the light would mean, my heart ached for her. The anonymous texter's involvement in her life kept her understandably frantic, but she also gained a great deal of courage. Rosalie was under so much pressure, and I admired her strength.

Ah what games we play with our hearts. Amanda and Carter. Rosalie and Carter. Figuring out who really felt true feelings for who was a crucial part of this story. The community's golden boy/ a frustrating cheater, I never saw the appeal of him. However, one of necessity and one of safety, his relationship with both girls was twistedly necessary.

Perhaps just as detrimental to Amanda and Rosalie's growth was the the influence of their families. Neither one of our main characters came from happy, healthy households. Toxicity surrounded both girls for different reasons, and both of them we're forced to keep up a charade of lies and secrets because of it. It was crushing, but ultimately realistic as Amanda and Rosalie longed for familial love, that seemed so far out of reach. Although they were heavily, terrifyingly influential in the girls development, I wish the families would have been more fleshed-out, and not just props to help further the plot.

Just how long will we play into the narrative that has been created for us, and at what cost? Alternating between Amanda and Rosalie's voices, came an engaging story of reputations, expectations, secrets, and truth. Part mystery/ thriller, part hard hitting contemporary, All Eyes On Us gabbed my attention from page one. While elements from both genres added suspense and emotional depth respectively, it never all quite meshed cohesively together. Slow to start, then taking off at certain moments with burst of speed, Kit Frick's prose kept me guessing all throughout and cleverly surprised me with the identity of the anonymous texter. A well executed who done it that was hard to read at times, it tackled topics like homophobia, conversion therapy, alcoholism, financial pressures, and the extreme pressures of trying to keep all your secrets locked up. This wasn't the book I thought I was going to read, but it's one I'm glad I did.

You might want to look at All Eyes on Us.

[Sam (she_who_reads_) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really solid young adult thriller! I listened to the audio and it was extremely well done- I found the pacing to be spot-on, and I was always compelled to keep listening to find out just what was going on. I guessed part of the ending, but there were definitely elements I didn’t see coming! If thrillers are your thing (either ya or adult) then you can’t go wrong with this one. Super entertaining, well written, with some really great rep! Will definitely be picking up more from this author.

[kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 63%

The cover is gorgeous but I honestly got bored and didn't care enough to finish. I'm more shocked I made it this far.

[Natascha · Rating 4 out of 5]

All Eyes on Us ist eigentlich ein ziemlich klassischer YA-Thriller, der aber durch gut eingesetzte Wendungen und tiefgehende Probleme der Protagonisten überzeugen kann. Zwar tauchen auch hier ein oder zwei Klischees auf über die man aber schlussendlich sehr gut hinwegsehen kann, weil die Mischung an Charakteren trotzdem sehr vielfältig und realistisch wirkt.

Obwohl der Kreis der Verdächtigen sehr klein ist und man während des Lesens so ziemlich jede Konstellation im Kopf durchgeht, gelingt es Kat Frick am Ende doch überraschen ohne jedoch dabei auf eine im Hintergrund lauernde Person zurückzugreifen. Natürlich darf dabei auch eine gewisse Dramatik nicht fehlen, aber diese ist so eingesetzt, dass sie wieder übertrieben noch an den Haaren herbeigezogen erscheint.

Für mich eine echte Überraschung, die mir zeigt, dass es auf jeden Fall versteckte Perlen im Bereich der YA-Thriller gibt.

[OutlawPoet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be honest - I almost stopped reading this.

It takes a long time for this to become anything resembling a suspense thriller. It starts out teen angst...soooooo much angst.

I liked our lesbian character. I didn't like the straight girl so much, though she eventually had some redeeming qualities.

Finally (finally!!!) we got into the thriller territory and I was curious enough to read on.

I was quite surprised by the 'who' reveal. I didn't see it coming and was very pleased.

So, all in all, an uneven book but it had enough to get me to the end.

[Derek Milman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolutely riveting thriller: queer; complex characters; beautifully atmospheric; a plot so perfectly twisty it is nearly poetry. I had a hard time putting it down. Every time I thought I figured out the answer, I was proved wrong yet again. Cannot recommend enough.

[katelyn ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ngl watching pll made it so easy to figure out who “PRIVATE” & amanda’s personality literally made me want to chuck my book at her head, she’s so bleh

[Via ;) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I’m in one of the biggest reading slumps I’ve ever had so that’s why I rated this book pretty low.

[Atlas · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're at the center of everything. All eyes on us.

* * * *
4 / 5

I'd describe All Eyes On Us as a cross between Pretty Little Liars and One of Us is Lying with a dash of The Thousandth Floor. This deceptively simple book packs a lot in and is entertaining, with lots of the drama and the glitz and glamour of the wealthy alongside plot twists.

Everyone wants my attention the second we hit the doors. That's the price of being Amanda Kelly

All Eyes On Us alternates between Amanda Kelly, devoted girlfriend to real estate heir Carter Shaw, and Rosalie Bell, the girl that Carter is cheating on Amanda with. The twist? Rosalie is a lesbian and is using Carter as a beard to protect herself from her hardcore Christian parents who will send her back to conversion therapy at the slightest suspicion. The two girls have difficult enough lives without a mysterious person sending them texts, demanding that Rosalie tells Carter that she's been sneaking around with Pauline behind his back, and that Amanda breaks up with him.

Amanda is probably the less sympathetic character of the two, but once the book peels away the glitz of her life to reveal the rather more depressing reality, she grew on me. Her parents are going broke and her alcoholic mother is pressuring her to stay together with Carter despite his pattern of cheating on her because his family is rich. Amanda essentially has the weight of her family's future pressed onto her. But she's also quite judgy and looks down on her the lower class people that her friends associate with.

I close my eyes and the girl inside beats her fists against my rib cage, desperate to get out. Just a few more months, I promise her. Just until we're safe 

Rosalie is more obviously sympathetic: as a young teenager she came out to her parents and they responded by sending her to a conversion camp. She wants to flee her extreme Christian fundamentalist family but can't, mostly because of her younger sister. Instead she sneaks around with her girlfriend Pau behind Carter's back and counts down the days until she can leave for college. My one complaint here is the Pau is a bit of a flat character - she smokes cigarettes and is a bad girl, but there's not really that much to her. She mostly serves to act as another suspect for the texter mystery.

All Eyes On Us was a fun read with a lot of depth. Looking back, the mystery was easy to guess, which is exactly how these books should be.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of All Eyes On Us.

Read this review and more on my blog: https://atlasrisingbooks.wordpress.co...

[Kate (Feathered Turtle Press Reviews) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m slipping through the crowd, making eye contact and smiling, when my phone chimes. Instead of the usual message preview, the words Private Number light up the screen. I glance around, then step out of the hall and into the entryway. Perched on the lip of the Shaws’ stone fountain, my red Louboutins flashing against the blue marble floor that looks like the ocean, I open the text.

New Year, New You. Wouldn’t you look better without a cheater on your arm?

– Effectively suspenseful and thrilling
– Characters are easy to empathize with
– Characters and motivations are realistic
– No huge logic jumps or unrealistic character transformations in the reveal
– Beginning when it seems like girls are pitted against each other kind of meh
– Author put a lot of research and consideration into depicting Rosalie's experience


– Some telling over showing
– Some "feels" in prose at key points
– Switching between calling parents Mom/Dad and Linda/Jack

There's not much to say about All Eyes on Us. In almost every sense, it's.... adequate. 

All Eyes on Us is primarily a thriller. It never strives to excel in the genre or exceed expectations. However, it never falls short of what it promises. So in this regard, it is solid and satisfactory, but never extraordinary.

The one place All Eyes on Us shines is in its character presentation and growth. Chapters switch between first-person narratives of golden girl Amanda Kelly and desperately closeted Rosalie Bell. Amanda is nearly utterly unpleasant at first: who cares about some rich girl with boy trouble? But the reader warms up to her once her stress at home comes to light. Amanda's once rich parents are struggling behind the scenes to climb back to the top after the recession, she faces pressure from her disillusioned and alcoholic mother—who never gave up their rich lifestyle—to stay together with and eventually marry Carter Shaw. The Shaws have real, reliable money.

On the flipside, we have Rosalie. Rosalie is instantly a sympathetic character. With working-class roots and an upbringing in the cult-like Followers of Christ branch of Christianity, she is both relatable for her humble origins and easy to feel for in her suffering. She's dating Carter as a smokescreen, assuring her parents the abusive conversion therapy she twice endured worked, while dating her real girlfriend, Pauline, in secret. Rosalie hates living a lie but convinces herself the sacrifice is worth it to avoid revealing the more painful truth.

Although the author put an enormous amount of consideration and research into Rosalie's situation, she does come down a little too hard about her living a lie and suffering sometimes, and it feels a twinge inauthentic in those times. But overall, she wrote a relatable character with a hopeful narrative.

Again, it's an adequate thriller. It doesn't grip early enough and although it's engaging and page-turning in a casual way, it's never something you'd sacrifice sleep/eating/socializing to finish. The high point is that it feels realistic: the secret admirer never does anything too outlandish or unbelievable, there are multiple smart red herrings along the way, characters never make any poor jumps in logic and when the secret admirer comes to light, their motives are suitably sympathetic but never to the degree the reader would prioritize them over the girls. In the beginning, it does suck a bit at first when it seems like Amanda and Rosalie will be working against one another, but they eventually team up—and in the finale especially—they're a pretty awesome team.

The author's writing style was, again, adequate. It's readable, both sophisticated and conversational, and genre-appropriate. There are a few instances of telling over showing, but they never bog the book down. Likewise, there are some filter words—mostly feels—at some key points, but they never do any massive damage to the narrative. My biggest complaint in this department is how the author kept switching between calling the girl's parents by mom/dad/mother/whatever and their given names. In terms of style, it's something a good editor should've caught, and generally, it's just weird hearing Amanda say Mother in one sentence and Linda in the next. Likewise for Rosalie to say Dad and Mom in one breath and Richard and Julia in the next. Pick one that makes sense for the relationship, please.

The setting was, well, adequate. It was more Pennsylvania than not, I suppose and you definitely get a feel for the areas the girls are from and in individual settings. A couple of scenes stood out, but overall, it was functional but not exceptional.

When it comes to representation, I feel like the author did do a pretty good job of the stuff she did incorporate. Alcoholic parents, parents who place pressure on you, going through a traumatic experience, etc. And I do feel comfortable with how Rosalie's experience was handled, even if was a bit heavyhanded at times. As much as she's gone through, her character arc ends on a positive note. I do wish there were more characters of colour involved. Pauline and her family are excellent, but definitely on the sideline and Amanda's friend is Japanese but... not Japanese? As in, it's great there is an Asian character, but she's Japanese in name in only—the author could easily control+f "Japanese" and replace it with Russian or Jamaican or Cambodian and nothing would change.

All Eyes on Us is a decent thriller and nice for a change of pace. But I wouldn't label it a "must read" or prioritize it. It's completely fine, but not exceptional. 

[Lydia Hephzibah · Rating 4 out of 5]

a pretty solid ya mystery/thriller! I did guess the ending quite a bit before, so it didn't pack nearly as much punch as it could have, but I don't know if that's because it was too obvious or I just read enough of this genre for it to be clear

thanks to Netgalley for an eARC!

[Iris]

I... I can't decide whether this book sounds horrible or amazing.

[Karen Barber · Rating 3 out of 5]

All Eyes On Us focuses on two girls - Amanda and Rosalie - who seem very different, but who have a lot more in common than they realise...Carter Shaw, son of a local businessman.
Amanda is part of his social circle and their families have been pushing for them to be a couple since they were little. Amanda's life is mapped out for her. College with Carter, a long engagement and then children, turning a blind eye to Carter's indiscretions because that's what's expected of her. For years, she's gone along with this but when Amanda starts to receive anonymous text messages she begins to question the wisdom of her life choices.
Amanda knows Carter has not always been faithful to her. She knows he is currently seeing Rosalie on the side. But what neither she nor Carter knows is that Rosalie is actually using Carter as a cover for the fact that she is a lesbian and her fundamentalist Christian parents can't accept her choices. Forced to hide who she is, Rosalie decides to use Carter as her cover, while seeing her girlfriend in secret.
The messages that both girls receive are meant to be vaguely threatening, but there's a limit to what people can do if you don't succumb to their threats. Unfortunately, in the vein of the Pretty Little Liars characters, the girls in this respond to the messages and threats and start to let them rule what decisions they make. This is frustrating and leads them into quite unrealistic scenarios.
The book is a bit slow to get going as we establish the characters of Amanda and Rosalie. There's a lot of focus on the parents of Amanda and Carter which makes little sense at first, but we do realise its significance eventually. My biggest gripe was with the character of Carter who was, in essence, a serial cheater and not a particularly appealing character.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my thoughts.

[Ellen-Arwen Tristram · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really pleasant surprise - a YA thriller that is also diverse! I don't think I've read another quite like this before if I'm honest! I haven't come across Kit Frick before, but definitely going to keep my eyes out.

The story centres on Rosalie and Amanda - who are both going out with Carter. And, oh yes, they know about it. It's not a problem for Rosalie: she's only going out with him to keep her parents convinced that their conversion therapy worked. But Amanda has plans - life plans - for the pair of them. What is Carter doing mucking around with Rosalie? She can cope with him cheating, but does he actually... like her?

Then everything is thrown up in the air when both girls start receiving anonymous text messages. They start as just catty insults, but things quickly escalate. Although Amanda and Rosalie originally assume that it's their 'rival' trying to derail them, it turns out they have to work out who 'private' is together.

I loved both the PoV characters in this book - they couldn't be more different, but it was a pleasure to get into their heads. A clever thriller that keeps you guessing - the ending surprised me, but was completely brilliant.

Trigger warnings for conversion therapy; homophobia; religious homophobia etc.

[By Book and Bone (Sally) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read! All Eyes on Us has an intriguing mystery and two solid POV characters. I've seen some likening it to Pretty Little Liars, which I only watched two episodes of and hated, so I don't know. It certainly has the air of a Karan McManus novel but is not specifically a murder mystery.

All Eyes on Us takes the YA mystery and seeks to deepen the experience by focusing on two characters who are tangentially related and have very different kinds of difficult situations. Though I have to point out that Rosalee has 10 times the trauma. A lesbian character who has gone through several instances of conversion therapy and has to live constantly on edge with the worry that her fundamental Christian parents will realise that she's still not straight, is a bit more dire than a nouveau aristocratic teen girl bending under the ridiculous nonsense her parents expect her to do (like get married at 18 ). Amanda is a great character, it's just an odd pairing.

[Julie (Bookish.Intoxication) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw this title, from Kit Frick, I knew I had to read it. I love her writing style and the way that she writes real characters. This book was no exception.

Incredibly entertaining, it kept you on the edge of your seat. A boy who has everything, who wants for a life of anonymity, a girl with so many expectations from her parents to make them millions and a girl who is pressured by her church to suppress and forget the person she really is. This trio of characters makes for an incredibly read.