This was such a dark and at points disturbing read that peels back the layers of family, society and class. I was hooked all the way through,

4 ✨

Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings has honestly given me the biggest book hangover ever. I am slumped and it’s all because of how amazing this book was. From start to finish, this book had me hooked. I was honestly a fish on a hook that couldn’t get away. The multiple points of view were *chefs kiss* and the how the timelines follow was amazing. The book was extremely well glamoured and made all the characters seem so beautiful and like butter wouldn’t melt but after it had all worn off, you got to see their true characters and colours. This book had me hanging onto every word and I loved each and every character.

Victoria moves to London for University in the early 2000s, she wants to reinvent everything including herself and most importantly her past. In the present day, she is still dealing with what happened during her time at uni. Clearly, she never processes the trauma, which to us as readers are unaware of in the beginning. I’d like to say, this was very well written and had you on the edge. Obsession is her downfall and now she has to face her old friendship group after 25 years. As the book continues, it becomes clear how Victoria’s mind is spiralling and she becomes an unreliable narrator as you lose the trust in her. Her state of mind is unstable and it makes you think if what she is saying is even true. However, just when I was about to give up all hope on her, a MASSIVE plot point is given to us readers and completely alters any perspective I thought I had. The author set this up amazingly, leaving little bread crumbs that all make sense after it happens but at the time you don’t really think twice about it.

This book has been compared to Saltburn a few times and honestly, I don’t think that does this book any justice. It’s 100% better than the movie and the execution is 10/10.

This is my first book by Amanda Jennings and it definitely won’t be my last. I’ve already got this book preordered on Amazon ready to have the physical copy displayed on my shelf to constantly remind me what a rollercoaster of a book this was and how much I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for providing me a copy of this arc in return for an honest review.

Victoria is an artist living in France, who has been commissioned by Ingrid, a famous British film star, to paint her portrait as a wedding gift to her soon to be husband. Ingrid is so impressed with the final piece that she insists that she fly Victoria over to London to attend her wedding in person to hang the painting and present it to her during the wedding. There is a slight catch to this request though for Victoria, as Ingrid is engaged to Julian Draper, who just so happens to be an old friend of Victoria’s from her university days and someone who she really would rather not see ever again. While Victoria is scanning online articles about Julian she comes across a picture of Nick, someone she hasn’t seen in over 11 years and clearly has some history with.

The story is set over two timelines, with one timeline in the here and now and the other timeline starting back in 1999 where Victoria is leaving behind her life in Manchester and heading to London to join the Queens School of Architecture, prepared to reinvent everything about herself and leave her past firmly in the past in an effort to fit in with the trendy people she meets within her first few days.

The way the author crafts this group of characters throughout the book is absolute perfection. I felt like I knew them and that they were people in my own life. Even though the story is told predominantly from Victorias POV, the background and depth given to each character makes them all equally important to the story. I enjoyed this story and the writing so much I didn’t want it to end. I could have read this story even if it was double the length as the writing is so captivating and engaging.

There is a really strong message portrayed through this story that wasn’t really apparent until the last few chapters. A story of strength, realisation, and acceptance. I finished this book feeling empowered and deeply satisfied with how things had concluded. I would throughly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a dual timeline story with strong female characters. I hope this gets made into a short series or a film!

In the late '90s, Victoria left her troubled home behind for a fresh start at university in London. Eager to reinvent herself, she quickly falls for Nick, who sweeps her into a world of privilege and wealth, introducing her to a new circle of upper-class friends. But life takes a darker turn, and the new beginning she craved doesn’t unfold as planned.

Fast forward 25 years: Victoria, now living in France as a successful artist, is commissioned to paint a portrait for the wedding of Hollywood star Ingrid Olsson. To her surprise, Ingrid is marrying Julian Draper, someone from Victoria's university days, dredging up painful memories she'd spent years trying to bury. As the glittering wedding approaches, and old friends resurface, Victoria must confront the unresolved trauma of her past—wondering if this time, someone will finally pay for the dark secrets they all share.

The book alternates between the late '90s and the present, offering dual timelines and multiple narrators, which adds depth and intrigue to the story. Victoria’s narrative, tinged with feelings of not belonging and self-doubt, makes her relatable, though there’s a lingering question of whether she’s an unreliable narrator. The other characters, whether charming or despicable, are richly fleshed out, making the story compelling from every angle.

There’s also a secondary storyline of a young girl caught up in the wedding, beautifully written with a poignant exploration of parental expectations. This layer adds emotional weight to the book, balancing out the mystery with raw, human emotion.

The book is a slow burn, filled with tension, sadness, and moments of horror. But amidst the darkness, there is beauty—often found in unexpected places, far from the usual glamorous circles. The mystery at the heart of the book is subtle, with the tension slowly unravelling, and the ending is deeply satisfying, especially for those who love seeing women supporting one another and abusers getting their due.

I highly recommend this book to fans of dual timelines, slow-burn mysteries, and powerful stories of women reclaiming their power. A compelling read with layers of emotional depth and tension.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.

Wow i devoured this, the writing and story are incredible, the timelines flowing seamlessly. A really great book i could imagine the whole story vividly its so believable in its telling. Overall its excellent.

This book is fabulous. It moves backwards and forwards with ease and where I sometimes find this hard to keep up with it was easy with this book. A small cast of characters who have been through a lot. It almost made me regret not going to uni and I can see it being made into a film. The perfect book for a rainy autumn afternoon.

A great psychological read, it reads fast and does keep you gripped
Full of gaslighting and emotion
Flitting between timelines of the past and present you captivated by this group of friends and enemies through the eyes of the main character Vix (Victoria) fitting into a group of elitists and how she manages to deal some awful situations.
There are characters that you will hate and some that you like or admire.
Loved it and will be reading this authors back catalogue and her future books

Would recommend

In the late 90’s Victoria is off to university in London. Having lived in Knutsford with her now imprisoned father, mother and mentally ill brother.
She wants a new start and finds it in a boarding house near the uni. She meets Nick who introduces her to people in her course. He also names her ”Vix” which is exactly the kind of new start she needed.
Unfortunately, everyone she meets from her course are privately schooled, upperclass and cliquey.
The story is told from the 90‘s and now, where Vix, now Victoria lives in France, and has been commissioned to paint a portrait of a film star for her upcoming wedding. As it happens, the film star is marrying someone Victoria knows from University and has some very unresolved anger with. Making all of this more difficult is the Bride’s insistence that Victoria come to her wedding and help present the portrait.


There is another narrative of a young girl who ends up involved in the forthcoming wedding and this was written with such care and beauty I could almost feel the weight of her mother‘s expectations.

The story is rich with the constant feeling of not belonging, while Vix is relatable you become sure she may be an unreliable narrator. All of the characters are well described, fleshed out and whether repulsive or wonderful they are written beautifully.

There is a mystery in this book, but I’m not sure it was typically so. It was a slow burn, a very sad and horrific at times one at that. But this book has beauty, rarely in those that are the typical beautiful people.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy dual timelines and multiple narrators, and readers who love to see women supporting women in the end, and abusers receiving no favor.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, which this is.

This could be up there as one of my favourite books of all time.

‘Beautiful People’ by Amanda Jennings has left me in a complete state of shock and I can already feel the weight of the book hangover this is going to leave. From start to finish this book was completely captivating, with multiple points of view and timelines to follow that beautifully weave together to create harrowing reveals. Once the initial glamour of this book and all of its extremely well written characters has worn off, you begin to see the darkness at the core. I genuinely haven’t felt as much emotion towards a book like this in a while, I felt such an attachment to these characters, I shed a few tears and was hanging onto every word - I didn’t want this to end!

As Victoria moves to London for University in the early 2000s, she wants to reinvent everything about herself and her past. In the present day, she is still dealing with the events that took place during her terms at uni, clearly never processing her traumas (which are initially unknown to us as readers) as she has to face her old friend group after 25 years. Obsession is her downfall. As this book develops, it becomes clear how Victoria’s state of mind is severely spiralling and you begin to trust her less and less. Just when I was ready to completely deem her as insane, the biggest, and most effective reveal is given - completely altering all perspectives. The distorting of Victoria’s narrative leaves you doubting right until the reveal, especially with all the small clues scattered throughout.

I’ve seen comparisons to ‘Saltburn’ when discussing this book and you can see how Victoria’s character has been influenced by Oliver’s behaviour - especially surrounding the way she speaks of her family. To me, Victoria is like how Oliver presents himself in front of others, and Mikey is his actions behind closed doors. I would love to see a film or tv production of this book but I just don’t think they would do justice to the imagery Jennings conjured in my head! Initially there were so many other books I was going to compare this too but now I’ve finished it, I don’t think anything else can compare. And honestly, I think ‘Beautiful People’ executes its ideas a lot stronger than ‘Saltburn’ or any other derivative materials did. Yes, shock factor comes into play but there is so much more than that beneath the surface.

‘Beautiful People’ is tender, heart breaking and full of obsession and revenge. My first book from Amanda Jennings and it’s left me desperate to read more.

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for this arc !!

** All opinions are my own **

This book holds a rather slow pace from the get-go, but I was able to tolerate it as the story kept me hooked from pretty early on. Set between now and around the millennium, it follows Vix at both times in her life, neither really being the best, but she must reflect on her time at university with her friend group to be able to face them at the so-called “wedding of the century” presently set. She has lived the past 25 years of her life thinking one thing when in reality, she is about to find out the truth of what really happened all those years ago.

A beautifully twisty psychological thriller with characters I really related to.

Its a interesting tale of memory and perception, of truth and lies and a story of friendships forged in fire.

The past present vibe works really well and Beautiful People has terrific writing and a real emotional core that is clever and very real

Overall a terrific read. Very much recommended

Firstly a big thank you to HQ for my early access in exchange for a review . Disclaimer I’m a massive fan of Amanda’s writing , I reckon I would enjoy reading her shopping list .!
This is an intoxicating and evocative read that encapsulates themes from society and media and the fall out from them.
Written in alternate narratives and timelines this keeps the pace flowing and captures the reader . Especially as the narratives are from females of a different era to each other .
I loved vix who is a complex layered individual that as the book reveals has a tough background.
Assumptions are made about characters from the start but these lead to being inaccurate as we learn more .
What happens when 2 worlds collide and you’d do anything to fit in to fast forward having the tough event of again having the worlds collide . How do you deal with that both as a young woman on the brink of rediscovery and independence and then again as a woman with a new found confidence and career .
Highly recommend this incredibly written book that is thought provoking , inspiring and important .
Themes of that powerful first love , moving to uni , jealousy , dysfunctional families and identity.
A must read for 2024 and I wish Amanda every success with it .

This is a dark thriller which is also a good read.

Crossed between saltburn and Ripley (imo) it tells a tale of Rebecca, who starts life with nothing, from a broken home who wants more for herself.

In order to change her life she has to make friends with people she wouldn't have normally come into contact with but falling in love changes that.

This tale turns dark and sinister, and I loved how Victoria sees things differently about those around her and what she does next.

Possible spoers

3.5 stars

A fast paced read that I flew through. Definitely my favourite Jennings book.

Atale as old as time, poorer new student at uni falls in with rich glamorous lot and changes herself to be more like them.
It wasn't long before I was seeing Vix as an unreliable narrator, and one of them always adds intrigue, because you can't trust anything.
There were plot lines you knew were coming, but they were good non the less.
Interesting cast of characters, and I did raise a smile or two at the wild excess!
Enjoyable