Review: The Other Me by Sarah Zachrich Jeng

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Two lives. The one you wanted. The one that wanted you.

Her birthday should be like any other night.

One minute Kelly’s a free-spirited artist in Chicago going to her best friend’s art show. The next, she opens a door and mysteriously emerges in her Michigan hometown. Suddenly her life is unrecognizable: She’s got twelve years of the wrong memories in her head and she’s married to Eric, a man she barely knew in high school.

Racing to get back to her old life, Kelly’s search leads only to more questions. In this life, she loves Eric and wants to trust him, but everything she discovers about him—including a connection to a mysterious tech startup—tells her she shouldn’t. And strange things keep happening. The tattoos she had when she was an artist briefly reappear on her skin, she remembers fights with Eric that he says never happened, and her relationships with loved ones both new and familiar seem to change without warning.

But the closer Kelly gets to putting the pieces together, the more her reality seems to shift. And if she can’t figure out what happened on her birthday, the next change could cost her everything…

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

The Other Me publishes August 10, 2021. 

I thought The Other Me had an intriguing premise and while it was an entertaining read, I didn’t feel it fully lived up to it’s potential.

The story opens with Kelly going to her best friend’s art show, feeling a little disillusioned with her own lack of success. When she steps through a door to another room, she suddenly finds herself in a completely different setting. She’s inundated with memories of a life she didn’t live. And she just kind of goes with it. While I was really invested in wanting to figure out what was going on, I thought far too much of the book was made up of Kelly comparing her memories of this life to her “real” life and wanting to go back. Very little actual plot progression happened until the final chapters.

I also wanted a little more explanation of the futuristic, sci-fi things going on. There’s not a whole lot I can say about it without spoiling it, but I would’ve liked more time spent on it than the few flashes we get before the villainous speech towards the end. After that, I thought the ending was pretty anticlimactic and all the big lessons Kelly’s extolling are undermined by the changes she was able to implement in her own life.

Overall, The Other Me had an intriguing premise and some addictive writing, but I thought it was really repetitive and should have spent a little more effort on the sci-fi aspects of the story. I was also hoping for a more explosive ending. However, I did mostly enjoy my time reading this and will be on the look out for what Jeng writes next.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Review: The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It all happens so quickly. One day you’re living the dream, commuting to work by ferry with your charismatic neighbor Kit in the seat beside you. The next, Kit hasn’t turned up for the boat and his wife, Melia, has reported him missing.

When you get off at your stop, the police are waiting. Another passenger saw you and Kit arguing on the boat home the night before and the police say that you had a reason to want him dead. You protest. You and Kit are friends—ask Melia, she’ll vouch for you. And who exactly is this other passenger pointing the finger? What do they know about your lives?

No, whatever danger followed you home last night, you are innocent, totally innocent.

Aren’t you?

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review. 

The Other Passenger publishes July 20, 2021. 

When I pick up a Louise Candlish book I know to expect some addictive writing, stories of horrible people, and a great twist or two and The Other Passenger delivered on all counts.

I always have to commend Candlish’s writing. Though I did feel the story was a little longer than it needed to be, I had a hard time putting this one down. The plot also heavily involved the main character cheating on his girlfriend of ten years and even though I was disgusted by him – and most the rest of the characters – I still wanted to read it, which is not always the case for me. It did, however, bring my enjoyment of the story down a little.

There’s not a lot I feel like I can say about how the plot evolves without giving away some major spoilers. I will say that there were some fun twists. I had guessed part of the first twist, but there was another part of it that definitely surprised me. After that, I easily predicted the remaining twists, but I still thought they were well done and people who read less of this genre than I do might be more surprised than I was.

Overall, The Other Passenger had some fun – if predictable – twists and addictive writing, but the main plot line of infidelity brought my overall enjoyment down. I also thought there were parts that dragged on a little too long. This might not be my favorite Candlish book, but I will still be looking forward to whatever she writes next.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3.5 Stars

Review: Falling by T.J. Newman

Synopsis from Goodreads:

You just boarded a flight to New York.

There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.

What you don’t know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.

The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.

Enjoy the flight.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review. 

Falling publishes July 6, 2021.

T.J. Newman’s book journey is pretty much every aspiring author’s dream. After dozens of agent rejections, she gets signed by one that goes on to get her a seven figure book deal. As if that isn’t astonishing enough, she then sells the movie rights to the book in another seven figure deal. With that kind of hype, I had some pretty big expectations when I started reading Falling.

The story was incredibly fast paced. We mostly follow the POVs of the pilot, Bill, a flight attendant, Jo, the pilot’s kidnapped wife, Carrie, and an FBI agent, Theo – who also happens to be the nephew of the flight attendant, along with several others that are impacted by the terrorist threat. I thought the transitions between perspectives were well done and really helped move the story along. There are also several flashback scenes interspersed throughout the story that I wasn’t quite as impressed with, but some were definitely necessary.

I thought the characters were likable and easy to root for. While this wasn’t really a character-driven story, I did feel like I got to know and understand them. While I liked them, I didn’t always find them very realistic. With a couple of minor character exceptions, it was like they were all their very best, level-headed, most courageous selves. I think we would all like to think that we would respond well in a crisis, but I think it’s highly unlikely that there wouldn’t be at least a few cracks. Also, while on the subject of characters, I want to say that having one of the flight attendants nicknamed Big Daddy and constantly referring to him as just Daddy made me cringe every single time I read it.

With how much money this story sold for, I was expecting there to be a really fresh take on who the villains would be. I was waiting for some big conspiracy plot to emerge. I was a little disappointed that it ended up just being terrorists that hate America. And the twist on the “back-up” plan on board the plane was my very first guess.

Overall, I did enjoy Falling, but did I find it worthy of that jaw dropping deal? Not really. It was fast paced and entertaining, but even so, it took me almost a week to read it (which is several days longer than a book of this size normally takes me). I thought the plot was pretty formulaic and there wasn’t really anything fresh brought to the table. However, I do think it will make a great movie that I will definitely plan on watching.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3.5 Stars

Review: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Synopsis from Goodreads:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six . . . Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over–especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud–because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own–including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them . . . and what they will leave behind.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review. 

Malibu Rising publishes June 1, 2021.

It’s been awhile since I read a Taylor Jenkins Reid book. While I have really enjoyed some of her titles, the last couple weren’t for me (I DNF-ed one and had no interest in reading the other). There was something about Malibu Rising, though, that made me want to pick it up.

The heart of the story are the 4 Riva siblings – Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit – and this is where it really excelled. Pretty much any scene that involved sibling interaction, I enjoyed. On their own, I could take or leave, but I loved seeing them together, how much they cared about each other and were there for each other. They’ve been through a lot in their young lives and I was glad to see them stick together.

What I didn’t like, however, was pretty much everything else. I did not like the backstory of their parents, June and Mick. I can’t stand cheating and there was a lot of it in this book. I also get extremely frustrated with women who just continually take back cheaters and abusers. In addition to those characters, there are a lot of minor characters introduced as guests of the big party and I did not care about any of them. I’m not always a big fan of books about the rich and famous and there was a lot of time spent on these awful people. It was a lot of getting drunk and high and trashing the place and it just annoyed me.

Overall, Malibu Rising was just ok for me. I loved the sibling interaction and there’s no denying that TJR is a talented writer. However, I didn’t care for the drunken, drugged up party goers or the awful Mick Riva, and thought the story ended up being a lot less anti-climactic than the synopsis made it sound like.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Review: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. Raised by her grandparents–who now help raise her seven-year-old daughter, Juno–Jess has been left behind too often to feel comfortable letting anyone in. After all, her father’s never been around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn’t “father material” before Juno was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close, but working constantly to stay afloat is hard…and lonely.

But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands. At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98% compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Pena. This is one number she can’t wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Pena. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get to know him and we’ll pay you. Jess–who is barely making ends meet–is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the “Diamond” pairing that could make GeneticAlly a mint in stock prices, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist–and the science behind a soulmate–than she thought.

Funny, warm, and full of heart, The Soulmate Equation proves that the delicate balance between fate and choice can never be calculated.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

The Soulmate Equation publishes May 18, 2021. 

First, I want to address those “eugenics” criticisms. I’ve seen reviews that say using DNA to match people together automatically falls under eugenics, but I don’t really agree with that. I think there needs to be actual intent to (or results that) only match certain demographics of people with other certain demographics of people for it to be considered eugenics – which is obviously repulsive. It’s not what’s going on in this book at all, though. I do feel like the authors could have gone a little bit more out of their way to make this distinction more clear, though. And while we’re on the topic of science, I thought it could have been handled a little more thoughtfully than it was. There is a lot scientific terminology thrown out in short bursts and I found it all pretty confusing.

I also struggled a bit with the main character, Jess. She made so many assumptions on River before ever even talking to him, that it colored all of her interactions with him once they officially meet and she was so rude. She went on and on about how he was the worst when she was the one that was acting so horribly. It drove me a little crazy. As she eventually gets to know him and realizes she was wrong about him, I started to like her a little more, just to get frustrated again by how she reacted to the Big Conflict. The unevenness of her character really brought down my overall enjoyment of the book.

While Jess wasn’t my favorite, I did really like River. He made a couple missteps – including how he handled the Big Conflict, as well – but other than those he was pretty perfect. He was sweet and romantic and probably one of my favorite male characters Christina Lauren has written. I also enjoyed Jess’ grandparents and daughter. I thought they were all kind and supportive and I wouldn’t have minded seeing a bit more of them.

Overall, I enjoyed The Soulmate Equation, but I didn’t love it. While there was some good banter occasionally and I shipped the romance, my struggle with the main character brought everything down a bit for me. While this one may not be my favorite Christina Lauren book, I look forward to checking out whatever they write next.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Review: The Insiders by Tijan

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The Insiders is the first in a brand new, page-turning romance trilogy from New York Times bestseller, Tijan!

Bailey is as normal as could be, with a genius IQ and a photographic memory. But still, normal for her. Then, things happen—a guy breaks into her house in the middle of the night to take her hostage. She finds out her father is actually billionaire tech genius Peter Francis, the same guy she’s idolized all her life. She learns all this when she meets dark, mysterious, and electrifying Kashton Colello. He’s an associate of her father’s, and he gives Bailey two choices—go with him and meet her father or survive on her own because those kidnappers are going to try again. It’s a no-brainer.

After this, three things become clear for Bailey:

1. She’s living at her father’s sprawling estate, complete with bodyguards and the best security that money can buy.

2. She’s no longer an only child. She has three siblings and has no idea what to do with them and vice versa.

3. She is being guarded by Kash himself. Personally guarded. And there is a lot of guarding going on there and some of it is going to drive her crazy.

A complete outsider in a world of wealth and decadence, Bailey has to find her way within a family that has more secrets than she could have imagined. One of these secrets could be deadly…

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

The Insiders publishes May 4, 2021. 

This is an odd one to review. I really enjoyed the reading experience for most of the book, but I also kind of have a lot of issues with it. I’m going to go the list route on this one.

*For about the first 3/4 or so of the book, I could not read this fast enough. Tijan has a very addictive quality to her writing where I just need to keep reading. I found myself really enjoying it, even though basically NOTHING was happening, plot-wise.

*Though I do often find Tijan’s writing addictive, I always feel like it could use just a little more editing. I believe this is her first traditionally published book, so I expected things to be tightened up a little more than usual. For a little while, it felt like it was. However, as the book went on, it felt like the editing got less and less polished.

*Is it weird that I both shipped the romance while also not really believing in it? It was insta-lust. There wasn’t really any development before they jumped into an intensely physical relationship. They barely talked. There were barely any cute moments or banter. But I wanted them to be together. I liked how protective Kash was of Bailey. I just wanted them to have an actual conversation once in awhile.

*So what about the plot? It felt like there wasn’t one for most of the book. And then everything happened all at once in the final few chapters. And I wasn’t terribly impressed with the direction the story went. It seemed anti-climatic. I will say that I didn’t realize this was the beginning of a series when I read it, so now that I know that, it makes more sense that a lot of larger plot issues were just hinted at to set up for the future books. I just think the story could have been a little more balanced, though.

*Some other super random thoughts — *Kashton Collelo is a cool name.* *How was Bailey’s mom able to just leave her job and whole life to move in with her former baby daddy? And WHY? Nothing that woman did made any sense to me.* *It’s not a Tijan book without some crazy drama – enter Matt and his risque partying ways.* *Who’s that blonde girl on the cover? I can only think of one side-character that could possibly be and I barely remember anything about her. Definitely not prominent enough of a character to make the cover.*

Overall, I enjoyed The Insiders, but not as much as I was hoping to. The addictive writing couldn’t quite make up for the lack of plot for me. Still, I have no doubt Tijan fans will love it and I’ll look forward to the next book in the series.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Review: Bookshop by the Sea by Denise Hunter

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Sophie Lawson should be enjoying her sister’s wedding day. But nothing could have prepared her to see the best man again.

After her mother became bedridden and her father bailed on the family, Sophie found herself serving as a second mother to her twin brother, Seth, and younger sister, Jenna. Sophie supported her siblings through their college years, putting aside her own dream of opening a bookshop in Piper’s Cove—the quaint North Carolina beach town they frequented as children.

Now it’s finally time for Sophie to follow her own pursuits. Seth has a new job, and Jenna is set to marry her college beau in Piper’s Cove. But the destination wedding reunites Sophie with best man Aiden Maddox, her high school sweetheart who left her without a backward glance.

When an advancing hurricane strands Aiden in Piper’s Cove after the wedding, he finds the hotels booked to capacity and has to ask Sophie to put him up until the storm passes. As the two ride out the weather, old feelings rise to the surface. The delay also leaves Sophie with mere days to get her bookshop up and running. Can she trust Aiden to stick around? And will he find the courage to risk his heart?

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review. 

Bookshop by the Sea publishes April 13, 2021

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a Denise Hunter book, but I thought Bookshop by the Sea looked pretty cute. Her books are often hit or miss for me, but this one ended up somewhere in the middle.

I really enjoyed the beginning as Sophie and Aiden found themselves stuck together after seven years apart. I liked seeing them start to communicate and forgive each other. Once they hit that point, though, I kind of started to lose interest. I felt like the pace dragged and there wasn’t really much plot. I also wasn’t completely sold on them rekindling their romance. For one thing, Aiden is dating someone else for the first half of the book. He goes to great pains to say they’re not exclusive, but it still made him come across a little skeevy.

There was some added drama with Sophie’s family being basically awful and selfish people and Aiden dealing with abandonment issues. While I think there were some good lessons learned, it was all crammed into the ending, where everything was resolved surprisingly easily.

Overall, Bookshop by the Sea was just ok for me. It had a promising start and while Hunter seemed to know where she wanted all the characters to end up, it felt like the middle was kind of phoned in. While this one wasn’t really for me, I’ll still be checking out more from this author in the future.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Review: The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Public radio co-hosts navigate mixed signals in Rachel Lynn Solomon’s sparkling romantic comedy debut.

Shay Goldstein has been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for nearly a decade, and she can’t imagine working anywhere else. But lately it’s been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who’s fresh off a journalism master’s program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.

When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it’s this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it’s not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.

As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review. 

The Ex Talk publishes January 26, 2021. 

I really liked the premise of The Ex Talk. Fake Relationship is my favorite romance trope and I liked the twist to make it into a Fake Ex-Relationship. Add in my love of any book that includes journalists or writers and this book seemed like it was made for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but it still did have several enjoyable moments.

I liked Shay and Dominic together. There was some terrific banter between them that put a big smile on my face while I was reading. I really liked seeing them become friends and then become more. I thought they complemented each other well and I enjoyed every scene where they were cute together.

While Shay had likable moments, I found her frustrating most of the time. She was the definition of someone who keeps getting in her own way. She was very self involved and spent a lot of time blaming other people for her problems or her feelings. I especially didn’t like how she handled the big dramatic moment with Dominic.

While normally I love stories about journalists, it was just ok for me here. The book starts with Shay extolling the virtues of public radio and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. She came off as so superior and condescending. And then her great big idea to revolutionize public radio is a dating show? Really? There was a lot of the characters having these ideas that they thought were so terrific that seemed kind of lame to me.

Overall, The Ex Talk ended up being just ok for me. While I really enjoyed Shay and Dominic’s banter and their growing relationship, the rest of the story was kind of hard to make myself get through. Shay’s total self-involvement, the too frequent sex scenes, and the overall superior attitude of the characters really brought the story down for me.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Review: Shipped by Angie Hockman

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Between taking night classes for her MBA and her demanding day job at a cruise line, marketing manager Henley Evans barely has time for herself, let alone family, friends, or dating. But when she’s shortlisted for the promotion of her dreams, all her sacrifices finally seem worth it.

The only problem? Graeme Crawford-Collins, the remote social media manager and the bane of her existence, is also up for the position. Although they’ve never met in person, their epic email battles are the stuff of office legend.

Their boss tasks each of them with drafting a proposal on how to boost bookings in the Galápagos—best proposal wins the promotion. There’s just one catch: they have to go on a company cruise to the Galápagos Islands…together. But when the two meet on the ship, Henley is shocked to discover that the real Graeme is nothing like she imagined. As they explore the Islands together, she soon finds the line between loathing and liking thinner than a postcard.

With her career dreams in her sights and a growing attraction to the competition, Henley begins questioning her life choices. Because what’s the point of working all the time if you never actually live?

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review. 

Shipped publishes January 19, 2021. 

Shipped started off pretty strongly for me. It had some fun banter and reminded me a lot The Hating Game. The characters were likable enough and the cruise setting was a nice change of pace. However, I felt like the story shifted focus towards the end and I started to lose interest. It ended up being just ok for me.

I did ship Henley and Graeme. The Hate-to-Love trope was more one-sided, with Henley not liking Graeme, but at least there’s a valid – if misguided – reason for it. I thought Graeme was really sweet and I liked watching how Henley’s view of him started to change.

Where the book started to lose me was when it shifted away from the romance and got kind of preachy about environmental issues. There’s even a kind of lengthy note from the author about it, along with a call for donations. There were also a few other blink-and-you’ll-miss-it social issues brought up that nothing really happens with. Homophobia. Immigration. Domestic abuse. It felt like halfway through the cute romance, the author suddenly remembered she wanted to write something with a little more substance. The things that happened with Henley’s work situation also played out in a really unrealistic and kind of cheesy manner.

Overall, Shipped started off strongly for me, but I started to lose interest by the end. While I don’t have a problem with Hocking trying to draw attention to environmental and social issues, they weren’t included as seamlessly as they needed to be and it made the latter half of the book a little jarring. However, if you like a dose of environmental activism with your Romance, Shipped might be for you.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Review: The Perfect Guests by Emma Rous

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The USA Today bestselling author of The Au Pair returns with another delicious, twisty novel–about a grand estate with many secrets, an orphan caught in a web of lies, and a young woman playing a sinister game.

1988. Beth Soames is fourteen years old when her aunt takes her to stay at Raven Hall, a rambling manor in the isolated East Anglian fens. The Averells, the family who lives there, are warm and welcoming, and Beth becomes fast friends with their daughter, Nina. At times, Beth even feels like she’s truly part of the family…until they ask her to help them with a harmless game–and nothing is ever the same.

2019. Sadie Langton is an actress struggling to make ends meet when she lands a well-paying gig to pretend to be a guest at a weekend party. She is sent a suitcase of clothing, a dossier outlining the role she is to play, and instructions. It’s strange, but she needs the money, and when she sees the stunning manor she’ll be staying at, she figures she’s got nothing to lose.

In person, Raven Hall is even grander than she’d imagined–even with damage from a fire decades before–but the walls seem to have eyes. As day turns to night, Sadie starts to feel that there’s something off about the glamorous guests who arrive, and as the party begins, it becomes chillingly apparent their unseen host is playing games with everyone…including her.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

The Perfect Guests publishes January 12, 2021. 

The Perfect Guests is a steadily paced, twisty story. Unfortunately, I found the twists predictable and I think that impacted how enjoyable I found the overall story.

The story is told in two timelines, one following Beth as she arrives at Raven Hall as a young teenager in the 80s, the other following Sadie in 2019 as she arrives at Raven Hall to play a role in a murder mystery party. There was also a third, anonymous POV that speaks up every few chapters. I thought the multiple POVs and timelines were well done. Though I did think Beth’s chapters were a little more interesting, I was never that upset when it was time to shift over to Sadie.

There are many twists and turns revealed throughout the story. I thought they were placed effectively, but there was exactly only one twist that I didn’t guess far before it was revealed. I thought they were all really predictable to anyone paying attention and so I never really felt any tension or suspense. It made this feel more like a Women’s Fiction story to me than a Mystery/Thriller.

Overall, The Perfect Guests was just ok for me. I thought the multiple POVs and timelines were well done, but was a little disappointed in how predictable I found the mystery. If you’re able to just enjoy a story as it goes without trying to predict anything about the mystery, you will probably enjoy this one a little bit more than I did.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars