When ex-college roommate Emmy suggests that she and Leah start over in a small town in Pennsylvania, Leah jumps at the chance. Leah has burned her bridges in Boston as a journalist when an article she has written puts her career and the newspaper in jeopardy. When Emmy disappears and a local woman is attacked, Leah's boring life as a teacher comes under scrutiny. Does Emmy even exist and what proof does Leah have that someone is stalking her? Sleeping with the detective on the case is probably another bad decision, but Leah is determined to convince him that she is the victim and not the liar that he suspects she is.

I loved "All the Missing Girls" and could not wait to reading this book. It has been sitting on my TBR pile since the beginning of the year. And, like her other book, this one did not fail to disappoint.

This one had me going crazy. I was starting to wonder if there was an Emmy or not. I read the pages, Leah and Emmy had conversations. Were they her dreams or not? This was such a great suspenseful thriller. So many things stacked up against Leah. The author did an excellent job and I absolutely loved the ending.

I am definitely looking forward to Megan Miranda's next offering and will hungrily grab it up and make it mine.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Net Galley for approving and allowing me to read and review this thriller!

I loved the premise of the book. A friend that may have "invented" herself. I was second guessing myself throughout the book and this kept me turning the pages! It is a suspenseful and entertaining read. I enjoyed the character Leah Stevens and her "investigative" skills. There are so many twists in the story and all the characters had a sketchy past which made the book very addictive. I would recommend to anyone who loves an entertaining suspense novel. I am now a huge fan of Megan Miranda!

Lots of mixed reviews for this one, and I can see why. Parts of this book I enjoyed, but there were also sections that just didn’t work for me. I had high hopes, but it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Leah was a dogged journalist determined to get to the truth no matter the cost. Looking for a new start, she feels it’s time to cut her losses and move on. The true reason Leah left Boston remains a mystery for most of the book.

Emmy, Leah’s former roommate and friend invites her to accompany her to Pennsylvania. Unassuming and low-key, Emmy is a friend that leaves an extremely small footprint of her existence. So when she suddenly disappears, Leah has very little personal information to aid the police in their search.

The police are growing suspicious that Leah’s’ story isn’t making sense. They begin to question whether this Emmy is real or just a figment of Leah's imagination. Did you ever have an imaginary friend when you were little? Someone you would conjure up when you were feeling lonely or scared? Maybe it’s just as simple as that. Meanwhile the bodies are piling up and all eyes are on Leah. With no one, including the police believing her, she takes it upon herself to bring Emmy to life and clear her own name.

The web of lies is so intricate and convoluted that I actually got dizzy (maybe dizzy is a bit dramatic…let’s say highly-confused!) trying to keep it all straight. Had trouble connecting to the main character, Leah. While I was fond of the premise of the book, it seemed somewhat lacking in depth. Just had too many fragmented pieces that were lightly touched on, but never fully developed. Final thoughts: I thought it was good…just not great.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Megan Miranda for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To be posted on Goodreads under Kaceey 4/26-4/27

Megan Miranda is magnificent! THE PERFECT STRANGER is a riveting read and I plan to buy many copies for friends when it is finally published. Miranda creates a believable and sympathetic protagonist in Leah but makes the reader question whether she is a reliable narrator. Leah's backstory trickles out slowly throughout the book as the reader learns the life events that formed her and why she had to leave Boston. Miranda skillfully reveals how we can be blinded by our own perspective and how it can be used against us. It has been a long, long time since I have read such a creative and well-executed book in this genre. Can't wait for the next one!

This is the first book I have read by Megan Miranda. While the author is able to wave a suspenseful mystery the story gets lost as the author gets to wordy causing readers to get stuck in chapters wondering where the story is headed. The story is very slow starting and never really picks up any speed until the end. Leaving the readers very unsatisfied
The base story was interesting but gets lost when Leah non stops self analyzes everything. Some reason will connect with Leah but I was not one of them making it a struggle to read this book.
Most if not all the questions are answered at the end of the book which I am gratefully for because if I had any questions left over I couldn't care to find out in the next book.
I have heard many wonder things about this author and I will try and read her first book.

Advance Copy from Netgalley

A richly woven mystery with enough twists and turns to keep me turning the pages. The author does a great job of building the tension and making the reader question everything they think they know. Excellent read overall. On occasion, it dragged, but never for long!

After Miranda's first book, All the Missing Girls which blew me away, I had nothing but high expectations for this book. This book has no connections to the previous, yet still has an underlying theme of the darkness lurking at the edges of reality.

Leah Stevens is a crime investigative journalism, who had a falling out with her company because of libel charges that were put forth. So she decides to escape her past by moving into rural Western Pennsylvania with her mysterious roommate, Emmy. But the truth catches up with you and bubbles up to the surface, as Leah comes to learn again.

Two dead bodies are found in this town, which is a place for people to migrate to begin a new start. Leah decides that she wants to get involved in this case, because she has personally holding at stake, and also get involved with some insider information that leads her down a path or connecting the dots in this stories. I appreciate how the author gives us some snippets and mini-flashbacks, to give us clues. However, I think that it took our MC way too long to figure out this who-dun-it, and I started getting a little bit impatient and frustrated with the time frame.

I've never read a thriller like this before, because there was debate if the "missing girl" actually existed(was she an actual girl or just a figment of imagination), which I honestly felt like a cheap plot device or lazy writing. This was also written in chronological order in first POV, which has the standard format for thrillers that are exciting, yet in comparison to the unique format, this fell a little bit flat.

We are only in Leah's head, who is a likable but unreliable narrator, and has a scattered trains of thoughts and a mess in her life. After a certain point, I rather did not enjoy spending so much time from her perspective; it would have been much better to can an overall take-a-step-back view of the situation at hand. Honestly, at most points I viewed her as an untrustworthy source of information, because of course you can twist the facts like you want them and always view them through your lens.

With all of that in mind, Miranda still manages to deliver something deliciously mysterious. Her writing has the perfect mix of the past and the present, along with trying to overly-focus on the details that may link one case to another. She's just the author to take you by your hand at the start, and send you on a wild ride (or a wild goose chase) for an unidentifiable person.

The ending was also very disappointing, there was no huge confrontation in which everything got solved and the criminal got caught. Sure, I don't like tidy endings in most thrillers, but in this case I think that the author played it too safe and left it too open ended, ultimately leaving me unsatisfied with the outcome.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

Great sequel to All The Missing Girls. Leah Steven, having just lost her job as a journalist due to the possibility of a lawsuit, decides she needs a fresh start. After meeting an old friend while having a drink at a bar Leah finds out that Emmy is just coming off a. Ad relationship and is also looking for a fresh start. Together they leave Boston and head for Pennsylvania to start over. However shortly after moving a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Leah is found dead and just 3 days later Emmy disappears. Unfortunately the police are unable to find any clues about Emmy's mysterious disappearance or even that she existed at all. Miranda weaves this story together seamlessly keeping the reader guessing until the conclusion. Great characterizations as well as plot lines and intrigue. Leaves you wa ting to read more by Megan Miranda.

Some good plot twists and interesting characters will keep you turning the pages. At times you wonder if Leah is totally bonkers, but in the end, it comes together nicely. I did find parts of the story moving a little slowly, but not enough so that it made me not enjoy it. Another good one from Ms. Miranda.

**Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley in exchange of an honest review.**

3.5 Stars. I absolutely loved her book All The Missing Girls, and was hoping to love this one. I liked it, definitely didn't love it. I wouldn't say this a thriller at all, not really any twists and turns I didn't see coming, so I wouldn't say there were any. I read it in a day and a half, so it kept my interest, but I felt left down at the end. Like, That's it? It was a good Psychological mind games book. Not a thriller, and no surprises. Not for me anyway. It was a fun read.

4.25-4.5 STARS

When journalist Leah Stevens crosses several lines of professional integrity—and with the threat of a lawsuit looming overhead—Leah is unceremoniously forced out of the job she loves. So, after a chance encounter with a friend from her past, Leah leaves her life in Boston behind to follow her friend to rural Pennsylvania in search of a brand new start.

Just as this former journalist turned teacher settles into her new yet lackluster life, a young woman is attacked close to Leah’s home. Possessing an eerie resemblance to Leah, one has to wonder if Leah might have been the culprit’s true intended victim—especially since the main suspect in the girl’s attack is a man who has displayed an unhealthy interest in Leah from the very moment she arrived in town. But it’s the sudden, ominous disappearance of Leah’s friend & roommate—Emmy Grey—that has Leah on high alert.

The situation goes from disconcerting to bizarre, when the police fail to uncover any proof of Emmy’s existence. The lack of a paper trail, along with a lack of witnesses to attest to Emmy’s presence, sheaths Leah in a cloud of doubt and under an umbrella of suspicion. Complicating the situation even further, is Leah’s romantic involvement with Kyle Donovan, the attractive police officer who is investigating the recent attack while also searching for the elusive Emmy Grey.

The unique and intricate plot of Megan Miranda’s latest book, “The Perfect Stranger,” was an instant draw for me. Pulled in by the initial premise, I felt compelled to unravel the mystery that was laid out before me. Still, I found portions of the narrative to be choppy and confusing, making it difficult to remain fully engaged. And Leah, herself, was a bit of a conundrum, as was her strange connection to the girl without a past. Piece by piece, Leah’s secret torment was gradually revealed—a blatant attempt to add greater insight into Leah’s character. But, for me, she never quite made the leap beyond one-dimensional. Yet, despite it all, I just couldn’t put this story down. While not without its flaws, I found “The Perfect Stranger” to be a good, suspenseful read.

(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)

RATING: 2.5 STARS

I read Miranda's first novel, All the Missing Girls and liked it. While it was not the best writing (couldn't really connect or relate to the characters, and the suspense wasn't that great) the way that Miranda wrote the book in reverse was very interesting. The writing was okay in that they mystery was not bad and there was promise that with a bit of polish the next novel could really be good. I was eagerly awaiting to try her next novel, The Perfect Stranger. I have to say that the novel had the same issues as I found with the first book without any clever tricks.

There is Leah, the main character, who left her job as a journalist to become a teacher. It is hinted that it is not by choice. I could not come to like Leah even at the end. I found her a bit whiny and brash. Her roommate, Emmy has disappeared but she can't really prove that Emmy even exists. There is some stalking..which is easy to figure out who it is, but the motivation for it is a bit weak. Kyle Donovan is the detective in charge but he is not professional. He does whatever Leah tells him to do despite him being in trouble for this in the past. I didn't get the romance angle for them. I was done in several chapters in, but I thought there might be a twist so I kept reading. I try really hard to like Miranda's books. I do want to read one of her young adult novels as the angst might make more sense in teen books. A lot of people to seem to like this book, so again this may just be me.

This was a book that kept you guessing about what was happening and who to trust. The pace was quick. I really liked how the book ended. I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads.

Megan Miranda is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. The way she is able to evoke such great feelings of dread and threat with just the tone and pace of the writing is wonderful. I enjoyed this book a lot and appreciate NetGalley giving me an advance copy!

I really enjoyedThe Perfect Stranger by Mega Miranda. This was a darker mystery which I often enjoy.
Leah is an up & coming reporter who stops at nothing to get the story. When she goes to far she loses everything , her job, her reputation, her boyfriend and her best friend.
Leah runs into an old acquaintance who asks her to move away to a small Pennsylvania town. She goes with Emmy to make a new start . Leah & Emmy find an old house on the outskirts of town and Leah gets a teaching job . Before long a lot of strange events start happening that really concern Leah . Then Emmy disapears. Leah and Detective Kyle Donnavan start searching but Kyle starts to believe that Emmy doesn't exist.
There are a lot of twist and turns, mysteries & lots of suspence!
I recieved this book from Simon & Schuster on Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a little on the fence with this novel. After having read Miranda’s All the Missing Girls which was a dynamic hit, unfortunately, for me, this one did not command that same zest as her previous.

Leah Stevens was a journalist who was on the search for a new beginning. You could say she was in search of a story, but I don’t think Leah knew exactly how her story was going to end. She moved to rural Pennsylvania to begin teaching, while leaving her journalism in the past. But isn’t it strange how your past always finds a way to make itself current in your present.

Miranda takes the reader on a journey to Leah Stevens past for you to get a glimpse of what is currently happening to her. Leah’s roommate, Emmy Grey, disappears into thin air. The only thing she managed to leave behind were a few clothes and some personal effects in a box, but not much else. It didn’t help Leah when she goes to report her roommate missing that she truly didn’t know anything much about her roommate. She was even hard pressed to remember Emmy’s last name, let alone where she worked, who her family was or the like. So, when Leah explains Emmy’s disappearance to police officer, Kyle Donavan, instantly Leah’s story becomes questionable. How is it that you could live with someone and not know much about them? Hmm, I suppose there are many who could possibly answer that question, but unfortunately, Leah was not that one person.

Soon, Leah realizes that her journalism degree could come in handy and she uses it to start digging into the life of Emmy Grey. However, the more Leah digs, the more she discovers that all the things happening in this small town somehow makes Leah look guilty of something. And trust and believe, Leah had quite a bit she needed to hide, but it eventually becomes known. As you read the story, you’ll be glued to the pages hoping that all the scenarios playing out in your mind is somehow the correct one, but then you’re left scratching your head. Or, shall I say, I was certainly made to feel that way.

This story built up the pressure without release. I kept waiting for something sinister to happen, and what I came away with left me feeling a bit numb. And the ending didn’t help with my confusion. The best way for me to explain is to say after I finished the last sentence, I just stared off into space trying to figure out if I missed something. So, as any good reader would do, I went back a few chapters and re-read just to make sure I hadn’t in fact missed something. And I hadn’t made any mistakes. Miranda is such a good writer, please don’t misunderstand where I’m coming from. She wrote a good story, it’s just that I didn’t quite like the way the story built me up only to let me down. There appeared to be so much hype for this story, but it didn’t quite live up to what I was expecting. This was not a bad read by any means. I read it quickly—it just wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I understand writers need to change up their game, but to come off All the Missing Girls and then strike back with The Perfect Stranger, it just didn’t measure up. There is just no comparison. It’s almost as if two different authors wrote it. I’m not sure what happened here, but this story just didn’t do it for me.

Mello & June gives The Perfect Stranger three and a half strange stars. As I stated above, this is not a bad read. Miranda has proven she can write. It’s just I didn’t care for this story. I didn’t hate it and I didn’t quite like it which is why I say I’m a little on the fence with this one.

A book that keeps you guessing the entire time. Loved it. A great book club read.

I would like to thank NetGalley for providing me the ARC of this book.


there she goes again! Megan always manages to keep me on edge when i read her books! liked this one better than all the missing girls. i love the fact that there is SO MUCH going on with the book but it doesn't appear scattered or disorganized. love how twisted the characters are. would definitely buy this book once it is released and i will.keep.an eye out for her future books. five stars!!

Megan Miranda's debut novel, All the Missing Girls, was a smash hit last year and put her name on the map.

I somehow never got around to reading that book, though I do have it on my shelf. Instead, my first Miranda novel is her second outing, The Perfect Stranger. This one focuses on former reporter-turned-teacher Leah, who has recently moved in with an old college roommate and taken a teaching job in western Pennsylvania. One day, her roommate (Emmy Grey is her name) disappears . . . and it's almost as if she never existed at all. While that is going on, there is another mystery unfolding: a couple of people are found murdered in a nearby lake, and Leah seems to be the nucleus of all these strange happenings.

Truth be told, this novel's synopsis in any form is more exciting than the story itself. This one just plods, never finding its legs. The narrative has as much energy as I do after sixty minutes on the elliptical at the gym. Leah is a decent character, though, and I like that Miranda made her a teacher. I just like reading about that occupation; it's fun, for me. It doesn't particular serve or hurt the story in any way.

The Perfect Stranger just feels too safe. You can sense the author wanting to say more, do more; this story wants to be more, but it falls woefully short. It says nothing of import and leaves the reader sorely disappointed. I guessed the 'twist' (if it can be called that) at approximately the 5% mark. Oops. I haven't felt this let down by a novel since reading Ruth Ware's latest. Ugh.

I plan to read this author's debut novel at some point, simply because I always give writers two chances to impress (or disappoint) me. But that won't happen any time soon.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC (which I am just now getting around to reading and reviewing - sorry!), which was given in exchange for an honest review.