I think the best way to describe this book is "unputdownable"! I just about went crazy anytime I couldn't read it, but I just HAD to know what was going to happen next! The writing was great, as was the use of an unreliable narrator. It was super suspenseful, which I love! The only problem I had with it was the ending. I hate when there's no resolution! I'm sure some people are fine with it, but it drives me insane! But, I imagine that's the feeling the author was going for! Overall, I really liked the book. I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars and would (and plan to) recommend it to others.

People who loved Girl on a Train or Gone Girl will find this book right up their alley. For me, I liked it, but I found our heroine to be weak. Lots of inner dialogue made this a slow read for me, but it did pick up near the end.

The mystery is good, but the way it was written makes it hard to discern what really happened and I felt Leah's own back story is alluded to, but never truly defined and the resolution with Paige was bizarre in relation to the rest of the story.

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book definitely kept me guessing! So many twists and turns that sometimes it was hard to keep it straight but if you keep reading through the little bits of confusion, it becomes clear. I still have a bit of confusion about some of the "why's" in the book, but doesn't really matter. Still a good book that kept my interest. I can almost guarantee that there will be at least SOME part of the ending that you won't be able to figure out!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and to Netgalley. This is the second book by Megan Miranda that I have read. I found that the story was interesting enough to make me want to finish the book, but it didn't really draw me in. I didn't feel much of a connection to the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley, the Author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

Very enjoyable book. I don't think I loved it as much as the author's first book, "All the Missing Girls", but I still enjoyed it. As I read the book, I was always trying to get a step ahead of the author and figure out what was going on, and I pleasantly did not figure it out until the end and was quite surprised. It kept me guessing and reading well past bed time. I found the ending great, I loved it. I felt it was the perfect ending to the book.

Will definitely read her next book.

Fast-paced, expertly plotted and utterly compelling, An absorbing read from start to finish, The Perfect Stranger is one of the best suspense novels I've read this year. Highly recommended.

This was the first book I've read by Megan Miranda. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and found myself turning the pages quicker and quicker as it built towards the conclusion. I enjoyed the main characters and the traits they brought to life as well, and overall thought it was a well written story. The only thing I wished for was perhaps a more satisfying ending, or reasons why, which left me feeling slightly underwhelmed in the end.

Have you ever read a book because everyone else did and THEY loved it? Then you read it and think, "meh?" That's how I read Megan Miranda's first novel, All the Missing Girls. EVERYONE seemed to love it so I just had to read it. And I felt only mediocre about it.

This is Megan Miranda's next book and when I saw it on the new releases in Netgalley (thank you for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review) I requested it (because I knew it would be one of THE books to read this year), and was thrilled to have gotten approved. I just finished reading it, and......meh.

My complaints are similar to those of her first novel. I have issues connecting to her characters. How many times was Leah going to mention how scary it was that people could see in her windows but do nothing about it? The only one I really enjoyed was Kyle and he didn't really become involved until over a third of the way in. Her plot was suspenseful but then the ending happened, and it was SO far fetched that I felt like I had been tricked. Given that I couldn't stand Gone Girl or Girl on the Train, (similar in how nothing is as it seems and it seems just so implausible) I guess I shouldn't be surprised by how I feel about this one. If you loved Gone Girl, The Girl Before, or The Girl On the Train, pick this up. If you're in the minority with me, and didn't enjoy those, then pass this one up.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1827981511

The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda is a mystery novel, filled with twists.

First, I'd like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Leah Steven's journalism career comes to a crashing halt due to her over-zealous pursuit of the truth, so she resigns before she gets sued. When she runs into her old friend Emmy Grey in a bar, Emmy suggests they get out of town together. Emmy has just broken up with her boyfriend, and she too could use a change of scenery. She convinces Leah to move with her to a small town in Pennsylvania, where Leah gets a job teaching high school. Emmy works some odd jobs, but since they are night shifts, the two end up seeing little of each other.

When a young woman is assaulted and left for dead, Leah realizes that it has been days since she has seen Emmy. Her relief that the woman is not her friend is short-lived. The victim who was assaulted bears a striking resemblance to Leah, and rumors start to circulate that she and the person that committed the crime were having an affair, and the victim should have been Leah. Leah's students are all over this. The police are also suspicious. To make matters worse, Emmy really has disappeared, and when Leah files a missing persons report, she realizes how little she really knows about Emmy. And it looks like that may be the way Emmy had it planned. Everything is in Leah's name. There is no record of an Emmy Grey - anywhere, ever.

As both Leah and Detective Kyle Donovan start looking into Emmy's background, it becomes evident that even Kyle questions her existence. It doesn't help that Leah is trying to keep her own past a secret. And this is a book about secrets, secrets and lies.

This was a really good mystery. Yes, it was easy to be suspicious of Emmy and her intentions early in the novel, but it would have been hard to anticipate the direction things went. I loved the character traits that Megan Miranda gave to Leah, the obsessiveness, determination, cleverness, but I wonder if she could really have been so naive. As well, the author really cast suspicion on everyone, so that at one point or another, I wasn't sure you could trust Emmy, the detective, the school principal, a couple of the kids she taught, or Leah herself.... She really kept you guessing.

Megan Miranda has my vote. I'll read whatever she comes up next. Thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Thank you to the publisher, Simon and Schuster, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel!

****4 STARS****

PRAISE for Megan Miranda and her latest novel, The Perfect Stranger. I got introduced to this author last year, when I got the opportunity to read and review, All the Missing Girls. Both novels were hits for me but for some reason I really connected more with the characters in this novel.

The Perfect Stranger starts out introducing us to Leah Stevens, who is on the run from her former life when she runs into a long lost friend, Emmy Grey. Both have hatchets to bury, so to speak, and Emmy convince Leah to move in with her, but Emmy isn't who she seems.

A short while into their newfound friendship and roommate status, a girl who looks a lot like Leah gets attacked and Emmy goes missing. As Leah sets out to find her roommate, her friend, she wonders if she ever really knew this Emmy Grey. Is that even her name?

With twists you won't see coming and wondering what is real and what isn't, Miranda keeps you guessing until the very end and boy is it good!

HIGHLY recommend this suspenseful novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat!!

I'll start by saying I simply adore Megan Miranda. "All the Missing Girls” was a 2016 highlight for me — favorite book, bar none. I waited with greedy anticipation for “The Perfect Stranger” for months and dug in as quickly as humanely possible.

Brief plot run-down: We meet former journalist Leah Stevens, who got too personally tangled up in a story and was forced out. After a chance encounter with a summer roommate of eight years past, who also happens to be in run mode, the two decide to relocate from Boston to Western Pennsylvania, where Leah gets a teaching job. She’s still trying to acclimate when a woman who looks just like her is attacked and left for dead by the lake. Then her roommate, Emmy, goes missing. When she reports it, of course, things get interesting/complicated because it turns out there’s no record of Emmy ever existing. Cue Leah getting, again, really tangled up in the pursuit of the truth and figuring out who Emmy is/was … and if their encounter was really so chance, then or now.

I didn’t dislike “The Perfect Stranger,” but it doesn’t live up to its predecessor in writing or story quality. It was at times clunky and felt forced and unrealistic — Leah was this distressed and that close to someone she knew for mere months? (Though she’d have a quick response: “I can only explain it this way: that I knew her deeply, if not thoroughly; that a four-month relationship can supersede all the boyfriends, all the friendships, that came after and lasted longer, that our friendship was born from the one time I’d stepped off track, done something unexpected that did not follow the predicted steps of my life. And for that reason, it shone brighter, and so did she.”)

Though I understand building suspense by slowly revealing snippets of Leah’s backstory and what led her to Pennsylvania, I felt confused more than a couple times trying to piece things together. The sub-plots are interesting but lose some of their power as they’re dropped in ever so sporadically and piece-meal. It took me more than 200 pages to actually feel invested in the characters and the outcome of the story (which landed with a bit of a dull thud after such a long buildup.)

Still, it’s entertaining enough, and worth checking out if you enjoy Miranda’s books. I adore her so much that I almost feel guilty stamping less than 5 stars on “The Perfect Stranger.” Megan, you keep your spot on my favorite authors list, and I’ll be right here waiting for the next one!

Thanks much to Netgalley for the opportunity to review.

Actual rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed All the Missing Girls so I was excited to read this book. This was an ok book. There was a lot of mystery that keeps you in suspense. A fast read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for supplying a copy of Megan Miranda's "The Perfect Stranger" in exchange for an honest review.

This book probably makes more sense if you've read the previous book. It was interesting enough for me to go back and read the first one and then read this one.

The Perfect Stranger
By Megan Miranda

A EXCITING THRILLER !

Full of twist and turns, this exciting thriller follows Leah Stevens a school teacher / former journalist in a desperate search for her mysterious and missing roommate Emma.

Megan Miranda takes the reader on a exciting thrill ride with
 "The Perfect Stranger".

5 Stars !

I received this ARC through Netgalley for a honest review.

I was totally blown away last year by ALL THE MISSING GIRLS. I knew this book wouldn’t be written in the same backwards fashion, but I still expected a lot. I was not disappointed.

This author has a talent for writing mystery. The story starts with Leah’s fixation on her free spirited roommate Emmy. Emmy and Leah are a good match. They work opposite shifts now and barely see each other. Perfect roommates, right? Leah is a girl running from a mysterious past. Now living in a sleepy little Pennsylvania town, this journalist-turned-school teacher is trying to forget what happened in Boston.

Like any great mystery, the layers of this story are peeled back slowly. Leah doesn’t realize at first it has been five days since she laid eye on Emmy. That same day, a local single female is found near death in a local park. When Leah reports her friend missing, we find that Leah barely knows Emmy. She can’t recall her last name, where she works, who she knows, or why the car she drives is in someone else’s name. Leah teams up with a local detective to try to find Emmy.

Leah is the classic unreliable character. We assume she is credible but everyone is skeptical of her for a reason, or are they? Since she is running away from something, I assumed she was guilty. The author doles out actual breadcrumb sized information about Leah so it was really hard to know if I could trust her.

I found this to be a pretty good mystery. The addition of students from her work was a nice touch. There is hardly anything creepier then high school kids with bad intentions. The romance sounded like a nice option as well. Alas, this is not a romance novel.

The main emotion I had while reading this was angst. Leah has done something wrong. She lives in an isolated location. She isn’t safe at work or at home. Someone(s) is watching her. No one is on her side. Also, this is all in first person so I internalized much of Leah’s thoughts. This story had me on pins and needles wishing for a safe place to go.

The author did a fantastic job of tying together two main plots. I was so eager to see how this story would end. This mystery could have gone either way. This didn’t end the way I thought it would. It did, but then it was so twisted. There was a few loose ends that I would have liked to see cleared up, but all in all this was a great mystery.

Wow!! I really enjoyed this book so much! It's been awhile since I've had a book I just couldn't put down and couldn't get to the end fast enough. I was so sure I had this figured out and was so sure my idea was the twist in the story and was completely wrong! A fast paced, perfect book for your summer time read!!

I received a copy of The Perfect Stranger through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Simon & Shuster and to Megan Miranda for the opportunity. I loved All the Missing Girls, so I was excited to read this book. Miranda is an excellent writer and storyteller, and her latest didn't disappoint. The main character, Leah, loses all credibility and, as a result, her job as a journalist in Boston. She and Emmy, an old friend she lived with for 4 months after college, reenters her life. Emmy is escaping a bad relationship and the two decide to move together to rural Pennsylvania. A woman who looks a lot like Leah soon winds up dead, and Emmy disappears three days later. Leah asks the police for help finding Emmy, but soon realizes she has no real proof that Emmy ever existed. The police think Leah is lying about Emmy's existence and they begin to suspect her of murder as well. Leah questions how well she really knew her friend. To get to the truth, Leah has to go way back and revisit old demons. An unreliable narrator, questionable co-workers, creepy isolated house in the woods, and a brilliant ability to keep readers guessing makes this novel very satisfying.

I found the story is very suspenseful but a little confusing at times. The authors gives bits and pieces of new information along the way to solving the mystery of whether Emmy is real or not. As a whole I believe the story unrealistic.

Thanks to a story she can’t corroborate but which resulted in tragedy, reporter Leah Stevens finds herself without a job or prospects. Seemingly fortuitously, she runs into an old friend she shared an apartment with in college. The friend, Emmy, suggests they become roomies again in a different town where they can both start fresh. Leah lands a job as a teacher but soon finds herself the object of a coworker’s unsolicited and unwanted attention. Then a woman who bears a striking resemblance to her is found murdered, the coworker is brought in for questioning, and Emmy goes missing. Leah reports Emmy’s disappearance but, in an attempt to hide her past from the detective investigating the case, she is evasive in her answers about both the coworker’s actions and her relationship with Emmy. As a result, Leah becomes the main suspect and, to save herself, she begins her own investigation.

I enjoyed The Perfect Stranger by author Megan Miranda with some reservations. There were times when it stretched my suspension of disbelief almost to the breaking point and I often found myself putting it down. However, there’s plenty of suspense and twists and turns and, if the plot seemed at times…unrealistic, these kept me returning to the book to find out where the story would eventually lead. Overall, not a bad read especially for people who enjoy psychological thrillers.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hello, all!
I just finished The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda. I received a copy from NetGalley. No review was required. But, I still thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

The Perfect Stranger had a great lure, mystery, intrigue, suspense. Unfortunately it didn't really deliver for me. It took me way too long to finish it. The story revolves around Leah Stevens who is recovering from a scandal at work. When Leah is at her lowest point and trying to figure out her next move, she comes back into contact with her old college roommate, Emmy. Emmy says she is bouncing back from a breakup, so she suggests she and Leah leave their troubles behind in Boston and share a house in the woods in Pennsylvania.

After they arrive and get semi-settled, a brutal assault takes place near the lake where they live. The victim: Bethany Jarvitz. Is the suspect a coach at the school where Leah teaches and has contact with? Is Leah in danger?

Then, Emmy disappears and it looks like she may be the next victim. Can Leah find her in time? What's Leah's role in all this?

Well, you can read to find out, but I found it very slow moving. However, some parts were good, and I guess since I wanted to see what happened, I stuck it out, but it just seemed to take too long. I thought the ending could have been written differently and then it would have been worth it. I was already looking forward to my next book.

I really am grateful to NetGalley! I am sure I will enjoy the next one I get a lot more!