All Eyes on Her - Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

You heard the story on the news. A girl and a boy went into the woods. The girl carried a picnic basket. The boy wore bright yellow running shoes. The girl found her way out, but the boy never did….

Everyone thinks they know what happened. Some say Tabby pushed him off that cliff— she didn’t even like hiking. She was jealous. She had more than her share of demons. Others think he fell accidentally—she loved Mark. She would never hurt him…even if he hurt her.

But what’s the real story? All Eyes On Her is told from everyone but Tabby herself as the people in her life string together the events that led Tabby to that cliff. Her best friend. Her sister. Her enemy. Her ex-boyfriend. Because everybody thinks they know a girl better than she knows herself.

What do you think is the truth?

"The world sees what it wants, and makes sure everyone else sees it, too. If you want to know the truth, you really have to burrow. And most people don't have the energy for that."

What I liked most about this book is the format - it is written from many POVs but none of them are Tabby's. Also, there are police reports, interviews, news articles and other things which make it seem like you're investigating the case yourself and questioning these people. That part is fun but the rest...not so much.

Honestly, I hate it when I can't root for anyone and this book didn't have even ONE likeable character.

They are all back-stabbing selfish people who do shady stuff. Literally none of them had any normal relationships with each other and it frustrated me to no end. The book is basically a summary of bad decesions made by teens and even worse consequences. It's all about popularity, sex and generally being a horrible person. 

Also, let's talk about Tabby for a moment. She is supposed to be the main character even though we don't "hear from her." I think I can summarize her character in one image:

She does shady stuff then hides it then pretends it didn't happen then wonders why anyone would think she isn't this wonderful innocent girl. She's manipulative and I don't understand why anyone would like her. She has only one friend who is as horrible as her, a younger sister who suffers because of her childish antics and a dead boyfriend with whom she had a toxic relationship before he died. 

Basically everything about her is annoying BUT did she kill her boyfriend? Well, you kinda get an answer in the end, but you also don't. Which is also frustrating but I guess that was the point. The underlining topic of this book is that you can never trust what they say online, but you also can't trust people in general - they assume things, they gossip, they say things in a way that makes you think something happened when in reality it was something else entirely. 

There was also an additional point made in this book that I found intriguing - is being a rude person a crime? Is she automatically guilty because she was the popular girl who liked to party and wear as little clothes as possible? What makes her a bad person and can we judge her? I think that's also something that bothered - all of these people constantly judged everyone but at the same time wanted to be them. I'm telling you, it was all so toxic. Not to mention the excessive swearing. All in all, I'm trying to forget I read this book.

 

Also, I think I'm gonna move the "cover judging" part under the rating because I feel like it should be visually seperated from the rating. Basically, I write a review then there's the star rating confirming my opinions and THEN the bonus content - me criticizing covers for absolutely no reason besides that it's fun :D

I believe this cover actually suits the book very well (and no, I don't mean it in the sense that it is as horrible as the book 😏). It's a closeup of a girl's face and that is exactly what this is about - people watching this pretty girl closely and trying to get into her personal space and know all of her secrets. Bonus points for the blue eyes because they are mentioned a million times in the book ;)