Review: Everyone is Perfect Here by Jane Haseldine

April 5, 2026Leave a comment

Release date: April 7, 2026

Publisher: Severn House

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

A woman’s life is upended when her past comes back to mess with her mind in this psychological thriller full of twists and turns.

There’s no such thing as perfect.

It’s been fifteen years since Carly Bennett’s mother was brutally murdered during a home robbery. Since then, she’s worked hard to build a normal life with a stellar career as an English professor—far away from the picture-perfect stepfamily that abandoned her at boarding school.

When a male colleague is found dead in Carly’s office—her name scrawled next to his body—everything she’s strived for starts to fall apart. There are eerie similarities to her mother’s attack, and Carly determines to find the truth.

Yet things take a bizarre turn when she suddenly experiences lost time, waking up in strange places, and flashes of dormant memories . . . memories that can’t possibly be real. Because, if they are, then she was there the night her mother was killed.

Could Carly have been responsible? Or is something more sinister at play in her stepfamily’s perfect world . . .?

This eerie domestic suspense is perfect for fans of Frieda McFadden and Lisa Jewell.

Review:

Everyone Is Perfect Here by Jane Haseldine is an engaging, twisty domestic suspense that leans heavily into family drama, buried trauma, and the lingering impact of the past. Told across dual timelines, the story follows Carly Bennett as she’s pulled back into the mystery of her mother’s murder, an event that shattered her childhood and continues to echo into her present. The past and present structure keeps the narrative moving at a steady, compelling pace, gradually revealing secrets that reshape everything Carly thought she knew.

Carly herself is an intriguing and layered protagonist, especially as her grip on reality begins to blur with unsettling memory gaps and flashes of something darker beneath the surface. The story thrives on that eerie uncertainty—what really happened, what can be trusted, and how much of the past has been buried for a reason. The pacing is quick and the twists keep things entertaining, making it an easy book to fly through, especially for fans of family centered thrillers with psychological elements.

While this one didn’t fully land as a standout for me, it was still a solid and enjoyable read. The exploration of trauma and complicated family dynamics adds depth, even as the story leans into more dramatic, twist driven moments. Overall, it’s a fast paced, intriguing suspense that will appeal to readers who enjoy unraveling messy family secrets with a touch of unreliability and tension.

Overall rating: 3.5/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.

Audiobook Review: Here Lie All the Boys Who Broke My Heart by Emma Simmerman

January 14, 2026Leave a comment

Goodreads

Release date: February 3, 2026

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Publisher: Harper Audio

Synopsis:

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder meets Tell Me Lies in this binge-worthy debut murder mystery about a college student whose senior year takes a deadly turn when her exes start turning up dead…

Every time a guy breaks my heart, I write him a eulogy in my journal. It’s kind of my thing—closure through creative mourning. They don’t actually die… or, at least, they didn’t.

Now? These guys aren’t just dead to me, they’re dead to everyone. And I’m the prime suspect.

With my senior year at Pembroke College—and my entire future—on the line, I’ve got no choice but to play detective. Unfortunately, that means teaming up with my long-standing frenemy, Asher, who is insufferable and somehow always there when I need him the least. We bicker, we banter, we occasionally almost hook up, but with the body count rising and my name all over the suspect board, there’s no time to get distracted.

Between college parties, messy exes, suspicious deaths, and a murder investigation I never asked to be a part of—one thing’s for this is not how I thought my last year would go.

Here’s to hoping I can find out who the real killer is… before someone ends up writing my eulogy.

Review:

Here Lie All the Boys Who Broke My Heart by Emma Simmeman is one of those audiobooks that grabs you immediately and refuses to let go. Narrated by Andi Arndt and Aaron Shedlock, this was an instant binge for me. Andi Arndt is a true comfort narrator—her voice is soothing, grounded, and somehow calming even when she’s describing murder, toxic relationships, and spiraling college chaos. She brings so much depth and emotional clarity to Sloane, a protagonist who is messy, flawed, and deeply cathartic to follow.

Sloane’s coping mechanism (writing eulogies for her exes as a form of closure) is morbid, creative, and surprisingly relatable. Many of these relationships were unhealthy and toxic, and the story doesn’t shy away from portraying that reality. When those exes start turning up actually dead, the book leans hard into suspense territory, with a smart, compelling mystery at its core. If you like college kids behaving badly, poor decisions stacking on top of each other, and consequences lurking around every corner you’ll like this and I can easily see why it’s being compared to Tell Me Lies and A Good Girls Guide to Murder.

The enemies to lovers dynamic between Sloane and Archer adds another delicious layer of tension that is banter filled, sharp, and just toxic enough to fit the overall vibe. These characters aren’t trying to be good people, and that’s what makes the story so fun. The energy is campy, juicy, and chaotic in the best way, with a solid mystery threading it all together. This audiobook fully embraced the mess, the drama, and the suspense, and I had a blast listening from start to finish.

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.

Review of All the Missing Girls

June 12, 2016June 13, 20169 Comments

People have been recommending this book to me for awhile now, so naturally I have been dying to get my hands on a copy of All the Missing Girls. Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC!

Synopsis

Nicolette Farrell is still deeply haunted by the disappearance of her best friend, Corinne. It’s been ten years since anyone has seen Corinne. Ten years that Nic has been tormented by guilt over her missing friend.

And now it’s all happening again.

There is another girl missing. Same town, too many similarities to Corinne’s disappearance to be unrelated. The same people are linked again, but this time the truth will be revealed.

Told entirely in reverse order, from day fifteen to day one, this novel asks the question; how far would you be willing to go to protect your loved ones?

Review

This is my first time reading one of Megan Miranda’s books and it’s safe to say that it won’t be my last. When I first heard that the story was backwards I was both intrigued and somewhat skeptical. I kept thinking, won’t that be really confusing? How can a book told this way make any kind of sense? Well rest assured, it works. It works better than I would’ve imagined. It kept me turning the pages as fast as possible and there were times that I was so intent in my reading a bomb could’ve went off and I may not have even noticed.

Nic was a character that I was rooting for the whole time. You could feel her pain and regret throughout and I so badly wanted her to find closure and be able to move on with her life. She is absolutely tortured at every turn by her painful past, yet you can feel how desperately she wants to move forward. Her relationships with everyone in her life are clouded with grief and sadness; Her father Patrick, her brother Daniel, her ex boyfriend Tyler, her old friend Bailey. Yet while I felt like I could relate to parts of this character, I also wanted to scream at her. She makes rash and dangerous decisions consistently, however there is something extremely raw and vulnerable about Nic that makes the reader want the best for her. To me, that is the mark of an excellent storyteller. To make the audience root for them even when they are frustrated by their choices.

Without spoiling the ending, I can safely say that I was satisfied. I always adore it when a writer wraps thing up with some kind of an epilogue or fast forward that ties things up and answers all those unanswered questions. Megan Miranda does not disappoint.

Overall rating is 4.5/5

All the Missing Girls is available on June 28 from Simon & Schuster.

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