And I can hear Switzerland’s national anthem, breathing in the mischievous and tempting chocolate smell and I can feel “let’s meet in the middle”, this is not my favorite novel but it’s also not bad book, I’m neutral kind of three stars are coming up!

Don’t get me wrong! I love evil women’s business rivalry books: nails sharpened, fists clenched, eyes squinted, all set for a big, nasty, unfair, dirty girl fight! So Devil Wears Prada meets Sex and the City and “Bold Type” waltzes with “Hills” and “City” and “Ugly Betty” kind of vicious, smart reads with mysterious and thrilling elements seem like a yummy combination for my literature test but I think mysterious and thrilling part were overshadowed in this book and I felt like I got trapped in Margot’s head and her emotional turmoil kept repeating itself, so much words flew in the pages to express one common feeling which slowed down the pace and I lost my interest eventually.

But to be fair, the second part of the book’s pace was faster and even though the progression of the story changed into different direction than I expected, it was still interesting and moving. So I gave 2.5 stars to the first half and 3.5 stars of the second half. My average is: 3 stars
Let’s take a quick look to the blurb to know more about three women’s intercepted stories. (I already admitted, I am not a big fan of Margot! Or the way she expresses her feelings!)

We meet successful fashion editor magazine Margot who is about to take her maternal leave and her best friend Winnie was also pregnant but she lost her child after giving her birth and now she isolated herself from the outside world and she doesn’t want to see Margot. And Margot also has insecurities to be replaced by younger woman with fresh vision and tons of ambitions to help her climbing career ladder. And Maggie comes into the picture as a candidate for the work, trying her best to take Margot’s place.
And poor Margot starts to deal with the cyber bullying: someone knows her so well and her secrets about her past!
So we read about those three women’s feelings and their anxious, paranoid actions, their fears and insecurities.
( We became something between their confession booth and shrink) I mostly understand their motives, their mistakes and the reason behind their actions but they really annoyed the hell out of me so many times.

Overall: I got bored at the first half and second half of the book was promising! I still had hard time to connect with the characters and I wish some chapters may been edited or omitted because I found it too much wordy for my taste and I expected some story more thrilling from the great start of the book but I got mostly chic lit, women’s fiction. I enjoyed the writing mostly but it’s still too light and not dark or intense enough for my huge thriller appetite.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books to share this interesting ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

The New Girl is a psychological thriller that has the fashion world as a backdrop, and centers around 3 main characters: Margot, her old friend Winnie, and the “new girl”, Maggie
Margot is on maternity leave Maggie is her “Temp” replacement who is getting a little too ambitious and comfortable in Margot’s position as an editor at a swanky fashion magazine. Winnie is Margot’s oldest friend, who has just lost her baby and abruptly ends her relationship with Margot. Throw in some cyber stalking and you have a very twisty thriller.

Insecurities, jealousy, cyber bullying and grief/loss are all on full blast in The New Girl. Part thriller, part cautionary tale and part Women's Fiction, this was a great read with well-written, relatable characters. slow burn of a thriller tons of twists and turns.

Enjoyed this story of a magazine fashion editor and her high school friend with a secret kept quite between themselves. Layer in 1 having a normal pregnancy while the other experiences the death of her infant and we have tension reminiscent of high school. Twists and turns make this a page turner. I enjoyed the descriptive writing. Overall a very good story that would make a decent movie too.

"How far would someone go to replace you? A new mother on maternity leave grows increasingly paranoid about her ambitious young temp in this Hitchcockian debut from the fashion editor at The Times "

How can anybody not pick this book after reading just those few lines? Not the whole blurb but just the above lines was enough for me. I was intrigued and fully invested!
And I wasn't disappointed!

This is a story of the lives of three women and how life happens to them. Their lives are changed forever as each one of them have fears, emotions and insecurities connected with one another.
It explores one woman’s fear and insecurities, the other's grief, and the secret that binds them together. It’s a complex look at the relationship between women and those around them.
Fears, Insecurities, jealousy, grief, self-esteem, and loss are all aspects which are woven in the story so well. This was a great read with well-written, relatable characters. I really enjoyed exploring into these women's lives and the author etched the characters out so well making them so relatable. The different layers and flaws to the characters made these women so interesting. Throw in the world of fashion and glamour and I was hooked! Part thriller this is a great women's fiction read.

I liked how the story was told by each of them and as a reader I could delve into their thoughts and actions. The pacing of the book was great. All in all a great story well told.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Margot is ready to take a year's maternity leave from her glamorous position at a fashion magazine. Her replacement (Maggie) falls into the position easily and thoroughly, much to the dismay of Margot. Is Maggie trying to take over Margot's life? Meanwhile, Margot's relationship with her oldest friend (Winnie) has come to a stop. Is there more to it? Told through the stories of the three characters, this is a compelling read about friendship, jealousy, cyber bullying, and insecurities. While the book started slow, with a lot of fashion talk, and second guessing oneself, the second half read quickly and was had me turning the pages to see what would happen. A good debut novel.

The New Girl by Harriet Walker explores one woman’s fear and insecurities, another’s grief, and the secret that binds them together. It’s a complex look at the relationship between women and those around them. There’s a lot going on in this book, Margot, the fashion editor of a popular magazine appears to have it all; she’s always impeccably dressed in all the top fashions, attends every show with only the best VIP seating, and is coolly aloof. Perfect in every way. At least to the outside eye. But when she becomes pregnant and has to find her replacement while on maternity leave, she chooses Maggie, a ‘provincial’ funny girl who always seems one step away from a major gaffe or an embarrassing stain on her shirt. Certainly, she won’t be a threat, right? But this all changes when Maggie begins to develop a sense of self-confidence and her true self shines through, suddenly, everyone loves Maggie and to a threatened Margot, Maggie is loved more than her. Is Maggie gunning to oust Margot from her coveted job?
Margot and her best friend from childhood, Winnie, are pregnant together and couldn’t be more excited to share this journey together. When the unthinkable happens, their worlds fall apart and some seriously messed up things start to happen.

The New Girl really shines the light on the power of social media and the power we’ve given it over our lives. Stalkers following our every move, plotting when to ‘bump’ into us -- think creepy yet oddly attractive Joe in You -- but Ms. Walker cleverly turns it around and shows how the average viewer of social media can let it affect our own sense of self and what we take away from a simple photo. Whole stories can be made from one single photo, depending on the viewer and their frame of mind, keeping in mind that adults are just as susceptible to online bullying and self-esteem issues as our younger counter-parts.

The tension builds slowly at first, setting up well-layered and beautifully flawed characters and then kept me engaged and on edge until the last page. This is a must read for those that love the genre, like myself, and for those that love the challenge of thinking they can figure out the who-dunnit before the end of the book. I betcha can’t!

A big thank you to Random House Publishing Group – Ballentine, Harriet Walker, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The New Girl in exchange for my honest review.

The New Girl by Harriet Walker is told by several different points of view and some back in forth in time. Ms Walker manages to mesh everything  together for a satisfying read...... and might have you wondering how well you really know your friends. I want to thank Net Galley and Ballantine Books for the early copy to review.

This is definitely chick-lit. The first quarter of the book has our main character second guessing herself (and others) and imagining various scenarios. Nothing – at all – is happening, except in the imagination of our protagonist. And then … we turn the page to find out that she’s ruminating about what to tell her psychologist and imagining how her psychologist will respond.

I’m sure this book will have wide appeal, but just not my kind of book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I’m sorry I couldn’t appreciate it more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Margot is about to go on maternity leave from her job as fashion editor of a magazine. Maggie is going to fill in for one year. Meanwhile, Margot’s school friend Winnie has just given birth to a baby that died shortly after birth and she no longer wants to see Margot.

This book was just ok for me. I didn’t hate the story and it went in a direction that I didn’t expect, so that was a positive. My issue was that it was way too wordy for me. There were very lengthy descriptions of Margot’s emotions and I got really bored with it. I felt that I could skim pages and not miss any actual content or story advancement. I think this was women’s fiction/light thriller and it was too much on the side of women’s fiction for me to really enjoy it.

This book is a really slow starter. It finally picks up about halfway through, but I found myself rather bored with it. It was well written and did have a pretty good ending.

You had me at "Hitchcockian", and you broke my heart you little liar (that's way too strongly worded, but I really love Hitchcock). I was beyond excited for this, but it was just petty and annoying. I don't love stories about catty ladies and this book had lots.

The coolest aspect of this was the social media and the look at how effective a like or a lack thereof can be at sending a message of some sort. <spoiler>I wish we had had a tad more insight into Winnie's pushing Margot away after the death.</spoiler> Otherwise, these characters and their motivations were well crafted and it was easy to take everyone's side and get into their heads about how they were feeling as the story went on.

This title instantly captured my attention and I knew that I was going to love it! Thankfully for me I did love it and I know y'all will too. The characters are very intriguing and interesting and y'all will want to read more once it is done!

I'm almost halfway through this book and I am so bored!
Margot is jealous of Maggie and Maggie was jealous of Margot. Blah blah blah.

I'm so annoyed over the constant reading of "Helen" and whatever happened to her long ago with Winnie and Margot, but it's dragging out so much I don't even care anymore.

I thought I'd enjoy this because I'm pregnant and the main character is too, but instead I hate everyone and am not interested.

The New Girl is a psychological thriller that has the fashion world as a backdrop, and centers around 3 main characters: Margot, her old friend Winnie, and the “new girl”, Maggie, who temporarily takes Margot’s job while Margot is on maternity leave. The book is slow in spots, but there’s enough intrigue to keep the pages turning. The dialogue is sharp, the characters well defined, and the author sprinkles in enough of a past mystery to build the suspense. Although for me the fashion industry details were boring, I’m sure it will appeal to other readers, and the book was good enough to hold my interest regardless. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

WOW! What goes around comes around, as they say. I can't stop thinking about The New Girl! Highly recommend!!

This was an incredibly complex tale of the complicated friendships that women share. Margot takes maternity leave from her position as a magazine fashion editor, and recommends an acquaintance to temporarily fill her job. At the same time, Margot's best friend, Winnie, loses her newborn baby son. We get to learn about a surprising event in Margot and Winnie's high school history. We get to learn about the entwining relationship between love, friendship, jealousy, and secrets.

This book will appeal to all women, I believe, and especially those of us with friendships that have survived through many varied tragedies.

A thrilling tale about identity theft (kind of) at its finest. This will entertain from start to finish and will not disappoint. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harriet Walker and Random House Ballantine Books for this ARC.

This was a great debut from Harriet Walker. I loved the ending, and cannot wait to read more from Harriet Walker!

Loved this thriller! This is one of those books that will enter your dreams and take over your thoughts during the day until you finish it. Told mostly from alternating perspectives, with a third perspective thrown in later, this book will keep you on your toes. Could not put it down and was definitely surprised by the end.