Thank you @NetGalley and @DuttonBooks for sending me this Advance Reader Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. (Release Date | 03 December 2019)

SYNOPSIS | An anonymous cyber attacker releases 40,000 people's personal emails onto a public server for the world to read, all impacted individuals belong to Aldrich University as well as other prestigious schools like Harvard & Princeton (including students, staff, alumni etc). This event generates a lot of scandal and controversy and if that wasn't enough, a previously well-respected doctor (Greg Strasser) is found dead in his kitchen.

MY THOUGHTS | I requested this because there was a time in my life when I would religiously watch the Pretty Little Liars tv show and even though the plot was often silly (sometimes to the point of ridiculousness) it was still a guilty pleasure to binge watch. Reading Reputation felt very similar. There was quite a few characters and all of them have a secret to hide and sometimes the logic was pretty far-fetched and nonsensical. The main thing I didn't like about this was the fact that another character taking the blame for the murder so that someone else wouldn't be convicted (I just cannot get behind that storyline as forensics doesn't work that way - you can't just decide to take the fall!) and that the epilogue spelled out how every single character was doing in the aftermath. I felt like the ending was just very heavy handed and it didn't leave me any chance to formulate my own thoughts on the motives of certain characters or how they were trying to move on with their lives.

This book was amazing. Lots of times when you bounce between different characters and their points of view it can be hard to keep up. But Sara did a fabulous job with this book. I found it easy to keep track of each person. I also loved the fact that I did not see the twist at the end coming. I can say I had a suspicion for half of what the twist was, but I did not guess the other half.

You have Kit who has a pretty prestigious job, has a husband who is a surgeon and two younger daughters.

Then you have Willa who is Kits sister. Although they do have a good sister relationship, they don’t see each other often.

We then have Lynn who is very caught up with everyone else’s opinions of her. She is the type of person who wants to look like she has everything together on social media and in real life.

Now we have Laura who is a nurse at a local hospital. Her husband is a local cop and they have the cutest baby boy.

Lastly we have Rihanna she goes to the local college. She gets no help from her family and is trying to stay at the very prestigious college even though she’s financially strapped.

If you like a fast pace who done it type thriller you have that with this book. The chapters moved by so quickly and the book was done before I knew it.

3.5 stars

Reputation by Sara Shepard was quite an interesting story told from many points of view. At first, it was a bit confusing, but later I appreciated it.

I liked how each of the characters was involved in ambiguous relations with the victim, which intensified my curiosity and how subsequent facts influenced the fact that I was unable to identify the perpetrator for most of the book.

I really liked the motive of the private investigation and related road tripe, but the ending did not quite satisfy me and I wish the characters had a bigger impact on me.

However Reputation was a pleasant and interesting read, and even if it had its flaws, I spent a good time.

•Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a complimentary copy of Reputation by Sara Shepard in exchange for my honest review•

First Paragraph:

Maybe you got it at birth. Maybe you gained it through hard work. Perhaps you have yours because you’re charitable, or ambitious, or an asshole. It’s your reputation. Everyone’s got one. And if you think reputations don’t matter, you’re wrong.

Reputation by Sara Shepard is one heck of a soap opera read! While it isn’t a deeply thought-provoking book, it is certainly entertaining with trifling characters that I loved to hate – sometimes those are the best ones! AND … a hacker exposing everyone’s secret emails? Yes, please! It has all the hallmarks of a page turner – murder, mystery, indiscretions, juicy gossip, and red-herrings-a-go-go. Since I’m a fan of the Pretty Little Liars series, I was expecting the lies, the many twists, and cover-ups to be a tad over the top but this just made the book all that much more compelling to me. I didn’t go into Reputation with the expectation that it would be life-changing and deep; I read it for pure and unadulterated entertainment and I was not disappointed!

Reputation is an engaging page-turner with a thrilling mystery at its heart!

A big thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and Sara Shepard for providing Reputation for my honest review.

This book is one of my favorites by Sara. It was so different from PLL and I devoured this book. I can't wait for the paperback to add to my bookshelf!

Arc provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a juicy, salacious, entertaining story. It's very soap opera-y and dramatic, full of impossible characters and vicious situations, but it's an easy, welcome read. This one would be perfect for TV/movie adaptation!

As I read this new mystery from Sara Shepard I thought it could easily be transitioned into a mini-series. Little was I surprised when I read in the author's acknowledgments that she this particular booked had its genesis as a TV series. Unfortunately for me it still seemed like a novelization of a series that has already been aired. There were so many POVs and people were left hanging with quick resolutions in the Epilogue. I can't say I sympathized with any of the characters with the exception of Willa and Paul. It was like reading a soap opera with everyone's lives tangled together in one sleazy plot development after another. It was a hot mess.

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story was so twisty and bendy and everyone, and I mean everyone, had a secret! As soon as I thought someone was ok.. something came out! I couldn’t trust anyone. I loved it. A definite page turner that kept me guessing and just shocked at the reveal. There weren’t many redeemable characters but it didn’t take from the story for me. There was never a dull moment. I couldn’t put it down!

When it comes to reading a Sara Shepard book, I definitely expect some soapy, crazy drama and Reputation did not disappoint on that front.

The story follows the POVs of 5 women: Kit, Willa, Raina, Laura, and Lynn. It may sound like a lot of characters to keep track of, but I think Shepard did a really good job with it. Often times with this many characters I find I only like a couple and get frustrated when the POVs switch away from them, but I didn’t have that problem here. While I didn’t necessarily like all of these women, I enjoyed watching some of the petty drama play out. When that started to get a little much, it was balanced out with the development of the mystery. While I didn’t find the reveal of Greg’s killer to be all that surprising, there were definitely a good amount of red herrings that kept me guessing.

While the story did start out pretty strong for me, it seemed to lose steam a bit for awhile in the middle. Parts of it dragged on for a little longer than necessary and once some of the red herrings were revealed to be just that, I started to lose a little bit of interest in some of the storylines. I was also hoping for some kind of scandalous twist in the end, but it ends kind of quietly with basically everyone getting their version of happily-ever-after. It also tacked on some #MeToo lessons with a pretty heavy hand towards the end that I thought could have been incorporated a little more organically than it was.

Overall, I enjoyed Reputation. I have been in a bit of a book rut lately and this was the first one in awhile that I looked forward to picking up again every time I had to put it down. Though it did feel a little long in parts and it didn’t end as dynamically as I hoped, I enjoyed the soapy drama and I also liked how the mystery played out. I look forward to reading more from Shepard in the future.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3.5 Stars

Sara Shepard's newest novel is here!! Reputation is an adult thriller with plenty of drama, murder, and dark intrigue. If you were a fan of Shepard's previous novels such as Pretty Little Liars or The Lying Game, you'll be pleased with her newest foray into the mystery genre. The characters are excellent and the writing is perfection. Highly recommended to readers looking for their next favorite thriller. Be sure to check out Reputation today!

I was expecting this to be more fun -- yes, there were a lot of twists but not all of them really made sense. It was as if the author decided, the only point of this book is for no one to figure out the killer and I will twist the story in a million ways to accomplish that goal. Characters, motivations, and logic did not seem to enter in to the equation. Hopefully you have better luck with this one.

Reputation comes out next week on December 3, 2019, and you can purchase HERE.

I want to ask him about his divorce, but it's a level of intimacy I'm not ready for. In fact, even this-- letting a near stranger into my car for a long drive up north--is usually too intimate for me. LA Willa would never have done such a thing. The past shapes much of what that is, but it's also that I've been such a loner for so long, I'm more comfortable doing things myself. When I'm alone, I don't need to be anyone I'm not. I don't need to search for things to say. I don't need to have to anticipate reactions--or, in the worst-case scenario, be caught off guard by total changes in character.

Reputation by Sara Shepard (yes, that Sara Shepard, author of the Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game, along with a bunch of other YA novels) is her third adult novel. I haven’t read any of those, but I did enjoy watching Pretty Little Liars. All that drama, mystery, and fashion kept me entertained week after week.

Reputation is a fast paced mystery with lots of drama and a touch of suspense. And by suspense, I mean, the various characters kept repeating, almost as an afterthought, “There’s a killer still on the loose.” At no time was I feeling like the killer would strike again and I don’t really thought the characters felt that way either. They were more concerned about what dark secrets from their emails might come spilling out into the world.

I did enjoy the emails for Aldrich University, along with some other well known universities, getting hacked and put up on a server for all to see. I felt like it was very relevant to today’s society and it added an extra layer to the storyline.

There were some twists, but the only one that surprised me, although I wasn’t even really concerned about who made it happen, was in regards to the leaked emails. I was 40% into Reputation when I texted my podcast partner for Books Don’t Review Themselves, and told her what I thought about two main things that had happened. And although I was wrong in regards to who did one of the things, I did get the killer correct and I already knew the reason. Even with knowing the killer so early on it was still enjoyable reading the rest of the book since a new secret seemed to come out every other chapter.

If you enjoy Sara Shepard’s books, especially the Pretty Little Liars series, you’ll want to give this one a read.

Reputation, Sara Shepard
Aldrich University’s computer system has been hacked and everyone’s emails are suddenly public. Among the reputation-ruining scandals that emerge is an exchange between a surgeon at Aldrich Hospital and a woman who signs herself Lolita. Within days, the doctor is knifed to death in his swank kitchen. “Reputation unfolds from the vantagepoints of five women who were connected to the departed doctor. Filled with unexpected twists and naughty dalliances, which combine for a satisfying resolution. Available Dec. 3.

published in the Toronto Star on Nov. 23, 2019

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2019/11/19/arrivals-five-domestic-thrillers-you-wont-be-able-to-put-down.html

~ ARC provided by NetGalley ~

A nice little who done it. I like her adult books better than her YA ones. This one was written in different POV's and there was just enough teasing in each chapter that kept you wanting to know what really happened. ♡

What would you do if all of your emails EVER were available for anyone to view? What if it was all of your co-worker's email? Your friends? Your husband?

Aldrich University is destroyed by a hack that exposed secrets, cover ups and scandals. Emails are one things, but then Dr. Greg Strasser ends up dead and his wife is no memory of how she got home that night.

Told in multiple narrator voices, Reputation is a fast paced thriller that reveals one secret after another. Sara Shepard is a well known and successful writer, famous for her Pretty Little Liars series. I have no doubt that this will be her next best-seller and the next "Big Little Lies" on HBO soon.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was an entertaining murder mystery that would occasionally dip into deeper territory. There were a whole lot of characters to keep up with. Very Big Little Liesesque.

In Reputation, we see what happens in the tight-knit Aldrich College community when everyone’s secrets are laid bare. And it seems to bring out the ugly in everyone. Of course, I suppose why would we have secrets if they weren’t at least the slightest bit distasteful.
Kit Manning, adult daughter of the College’s President and head of fundraising and philanthropy at the college discovers that her husband, Dr. Greg Strasser, is not who she thinks he is when the community’s private emails are hacked and shared publicly.
But that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. Because Kit stumbles home one night after the college’s major fundraising event and finds Greg murdered in her kitchen. With no recollection of the night, rumors and doubt circle Kit and her family as they try to figure out what went so terrible wrong with their lives.
I’m not going to lie, I was waiting for some secret notes from “A” to appear. And while they didn’t, Shepard brings the same type of dark intrigue, mystery and deception to Reputation as she did to her famous Pretty Little Liars series. Even better? This one was actually written for adults so I don’t feel that guilt of an adult enjoying teen content.
Special thanks to Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. Reputation is out December 3, so you can enjoy this one with a cup of cocoa next to your Christmas tree

** I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

I love books by Sara Shepard. I've read a lot of her work, so when I saw this title available on NetGalley, I knew I just had to request it. But as I read it, I found that it was hard to keep track of what was going on with who. A lot of it seemed familiar. I think this would be a fantastic book for someone who hasn't read any other books by this author, but as a long time reader it fell a bit flat for me.

From author Sara Shepard, comes a new tale of gossip and scandal in the form of "Reputation." In this novel, readers see a wealthy college taken down by a hacker and the ensuing storm as various characters try to recover from their secrets being displayed on the internet for all to see. This book was like a train wreck, you can't look away until you know how everything will play out.

The best thing about this book was the overall feeling of anxiety and dread. Shepard creates an atmosphere of panic and maintains it throughout the whole story on multiple levels. Each character has their own issues to sort through, each more serious than the next. Yet, each one is important and each one is somehow connected. Scandal is a tangled web that takes down many in the fallout. Shepard manages to make even the mundane crimes treacherous when connected to the rest of the web.

We also see the scandal from multiple ages, which is interesting. Kit's daughters are also tangled in the mess, but they see it differently than the adults who have had their information leaked. As well as another college student. Each age has a distinct view of the email hack and what it will do to their "reputation." The truly impressive thing is that at the end, even the lesson is different based on the characters, of what reputation is and how you should consider your own reputation.

The only critique I had for this book is that at times there was almost too much going on. Some characters became jumbled in my head and I had to work to maintain which storyline was which. BUT some of that effect may have been due to the nature of reading on my phone and also reading very quickly. 

Overall, I was impressed by Shepard's ability to tell a new story, with similar themes to her previous books. Some authors tend to just retell the same story over and over, but this book felt distinct and unique from her other books. This is definitely a book for your TBR pile!

This is the second book of this author's that I read. While I can appreciate her knack for writing what sounds like interesting, thrilling books, there is just something about her writing style that doesn't really keep my attention.

This one was too over the top for me. I don't mind storytelling from multiple points of view. Some of my favorite books are written in this format. However, it just didn't work for me on this one. I couldn't stand any of the characters. I eventually just didn't care what happened to them in the end.

The book isn't a bad book. It has a lot of potential. I am sure there will be many that fall in love with it. I just wasn't really on board with this book.