I have a complicated relationship this book.

I liked the fact that we have an unlikeable and unreliable main character. Jessica is ambitious, superficial, bitter, jealous... She cares about what people think of her and her status. She has dirty secrets. She's above all a bitch. There were times when I was rooting for her success against the other bitches and others when I was somewhat satisfied when she failed because I hated her hypocrisy. She complains about how she was cheated on and that *that* guy broke her heart but you quickly learn that she's the one who cheated first. Like, come on... Own your shit.

I appreciated the dynamics between the characters. I wish they were explored more however. The author jumped too fast into the future for me to believe in their relationships. For instance, you meet the characters in one chapter and, in the next, they're already long-time couples and friends... I wanted the author to show me how these characters came to love each other and why. I wanted to see what they found in each other. The dynamics were so intricate that I'm frustrated I didn't get to see more.

The plot was a 50/50. The idea and the plot twists were great. The progression and the execution, not so much. As the story progresses, each friend is accused of Heather's murder, and some of their secrets are revealed. My problem with this is that you can see the pattern and the lack of subtlety. If every friend is accused and found innocent, then you know that as long as the whole group has not been through the same scrutiny that the killer is not one of the previous suspects.

That's how I knew Jessica was not the stabber, even if I thought it was her. Mint had been left aside and that was suspicious, especially as the cheating and betrayal had not been revealed yet and that his attitude at the restaurant was strange.

The very last twist was excellent.

My other issue with the plot is that we don't get to know Heather that much. But the few glimpses we have didn't make me like her one bit. So, even though I wanted to know who the killer was out of pure curiosity, I didn't care about her murder being solved. The murderer could have gotten away with it and I would have congratulated them.

Then, there Eric's plan to catch the murderer and the investigation he did. Totally unrealistic. For one, the group of friends didn't have to listen to him and reveal their secrets. Eric was no threat. So why not just leave and not answer his questions? That was pretty dumb. Also, Eric discovering secrets, documents or making connections the police wasn't smart enough to do was too big. Heather was a rich girl and you're telling me that her family didn't pressure them to solve the crime? Or hire private investigators themselves? All I'm thinking is that the group of friends could have simply left the party and everything would have been fine for them 🤷

I think my favorite thing about this novel is how the characters love the light as well as the dark within their love interest. It added to the dark academia vibes.

For me, this novel falls into the same "exception" category as We Were Liars and The Secret History: I have issues with it but the flawed characters and their messy relationships will always stick with me.