So the cover and synopsis is why I requested an ARC but I was beyond disappointed with this book. It was slow moving and predictable, which is never good for any book.. Once it got to the big twist/reveal, I just did not care anymore because I was looking for more from this book that I did not get. 3 days I can never get back. Cannot recommend this but other people may like this.

All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to Netgalley, Sam Hepburn and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 2/15/21

I so tried to get into this story but it just didn't hold my attention. I'm sure it's a delightful novel but just not for me.

I am so happy I was able to read this book! This one starts a bit slow, but trust me, hang on. The suspense will have you feeling like you’re on a rollercoaster. Great twists throughout. Definitely recommend!

I just love the way Sam Hepburn writes so I jumped all over grabbing this book as soon as I saw it! Her Perfect Life is even better than Gone Before, which I loved! It was absolutely unputdownable as I tried to figure out the thoughts and motivations behind Gracie, Tom, Juliet, and all of the side characters! My hand kept flying to my mouth as the pieces dropped into place. I wanted to run back and read through parts again to see the clues that I missed! The ending was different from books I’m used to reading and I totally loved it! I totally recommend this book!

Huge thank you to Bookouture via NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in advance in exchange for my totally honest review.

Lots of twists and turns. If you liked Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, then you will likely enjoy this one. A bit slow paced in places, and I found some of the characters confusing and blurring together but ultimately suspenseful and a good read.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for an early copy of Her Perfect Life. I have to say I didn’t love this, it was very confusing. The ending came as a very good surprise, even the last page was great but unfortunately the book was nowhere near what it could have been by the way the ending was. I’m sorry it just felt like I wasted a few days of reading.

Well written, full of suspense. Good characters, interesting storyline.
A little slow at first but then it gets better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

First of I want to say a huge thank you to the publisher Bookoutute, the author Sam Hapbune , and to NetGalley for inviting me to join the blog tour for this book as well as letting me read and review it.This is the first time I read anything by this author and after reading this I can't wait to see what more she comes up with. Even though I've read other books that have this same trope, it never gets old at least to me, because each author brings something different to the table. And this author did just did just that, right from the start there was something about her main character that made you want to trust her but at the same time you didn't. Which is why I liked her a lot. As for this story it has everything in it that made it a good thriller to read as well as what I like in ones that was some what twisted and they are : heating, stalking, obsession, manipulation, murder mystery, obsession and violent tendencies, as well as secrets that need to be kept. With that said I'll leave it at that and with a question and that is what more can you want in a book that will keep you on the edge of your set.

Jaw dropping and heart stopping. This book started a little slower than I usually like but the characters were so well done and real they grabbed my attention. The storyline is unique and branches out to have the reader wondering about several different story angles. I found myself wondering where this story was going to go and which part would end up being the climax. As it picked up pace and went full steam ahead into the ending I thought I knew what was coming but holy crap was I shocked. This book had one of the best endings and plot twists ever. It left me reeling. Absolutely floored. This is a fantastic read!

This book had a bit of unexpected twist near the end, but once it appeared, I understood before one of the characters did what was going on--at least most of it.

The characterization was well done. Juliet comes across as an angry, vengeful woman who feels she's been cheated in many ways. The husband she was separated from wasn't the prince she had thought he was, her apartment wasn't anywhere as nice as she expected it to be be now, and she hasn't been able to get her business off the ground. She thinks it's all Grace Dwyer's fault because Grace didn't give her a chance. Grace comes across as bland as vanilla pudding from the start. Everyone loves her and she always knows what to say.

It's not the most thrilling psychological thriller I've ever read, but the plot was original and it did make me nervous for a certain character.

WOW! Great suspense novel with a lot of twists and turns. Even though I guessed the ending, there were so many things I never saw coming.
Gracie Dwyer seems to have it all. Perfect husband, beautiful step- daughter, gorgeous house, and a career that has brought her both fame and money. Juliet remembers Gracie from six years ago when she denies her a job she so desperately needed and wanted. Juliet's obsession becomes toxic as she latches on to Gracie and her family, secretly spying trying to find something to use against Gracie to ruin her. Juliet want Gracie's life, but at what cost?
The first chapter started out slow and a bit confusing, I almost put it down. So glad I kept reading.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Her Perfect Life by Sam Hepburn was a bit of a slow burner for me. Having loved previous books by this author, I was left disappointed by this one as it just did not engage me in the way that Ms Hepburn's writing typically does.

Gracie Dwyer is a woman who has it all. With an attractive husband, a charming child, and a beautiful home, hers is a life to be envied. When Juliet, a single mother whose circumstances could not be more different, meets Gracie for the first time, she recognizes the opportunity for a reversal of fortune. But as envy rears its head, the cracks begin to show and we are reminded, yet again, that nothing is ever as perfect as it seems.

An intriguing premise that was undeniably well-executed, this one, for me, failed to ignite any real spark, though I suspect that I will be the outlier here.
I look forward to reading whatever comes next from the talented Sam Hepburn. 3.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC.

Wohooo this one was a winner! Such a good thriller and definitely held your attention the whole way through!

**spoilers**

Very few books stump me, and I am so shook that I didn't see the ending of Her Perfect Life coming. A friend and I read this book around the same time, she finished before me, and with every chapter, I had a new theory I was texting her -- and none of them were right.

Synopsis: Gracie Dwyer has it all: the handsome husband, the adorable child, the beautiful home, and the glittering career. All in all, the perfect life. You see the juxtaposition with her newest friend, Juliet. Juliet doesn't fit into Gracie's perfect life equation, but she keeps helping her out when Juliet is down on her luck. Is there something tying these two women together? As you read Her Perfect Life, you will wind down the rabbit hole of possibilities on where Juliet and Gracie's lives intersect and why.

While there are a few holes in the plotline and questions left open, honestly, I kind of like that with this book -- it just fits. My biggest unanswered question - why is Gracie still getting letters? Who is the stalker or is it just her keeping up appearances? I don't think it's her keeping it up because the final diary entry is under a new name.

The format on Kindle is a little wonky. Clocking in around 400 pages, this actually feels like 600 pages reading on the kindle.
Read if you like:
Plot twists
Physchologal thrillers
An ending you will never guess
A serious page-turner

Trigger warnings: death, stalker

**I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I didn’t see that coming! This book had it all, deceit, love, friendship, cheating and betrayal. Fast flowing and impossible to put down. I can’t wait to read more by Sam Hepburn.

This book was soooo slow to start. It started to get better as it went along,, but had way too many characters and storylines to keep track of. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.


2.5/5

Her Perfect Life is a domestic psychological thriller following two women - Juliet and Gracie. Juliet is a down on her luck single mom struggling to make ends meet and keep going for her daughter. Gracie, on the outside, has the perfect life. She has a successful career as a celebrity chef, a loving family with her husband and daughter, and a beautiful new house. However, behind closed doors her life isn't so perfect. Juliet and Gracie meet while watching their daughter's dance class and find themselves becoming friends. As their relationship develops, they start opening up and sharing their backgrounds and personal troubles and the two discover just how closely their lives are intertwined.

I really enjoyed the characters of both Juliet and Gracie. I found them both to be dynamic, interesting, and complicated characters which made me want to root for both of them. The book is told through alternating POV chapters between these two and initially I had a hard time because both of them sounded so similar. Their circumstances and plots were very different, but their voice through the first 25% of the book was so similar that it felt like I was just reading about a single character. However, once they started interacting with each other, I found their voices to be much more distinct. Them meeting is also a catalyst for some of their personal insecurities to start showing up which I think was integral to developing them more as distinct characters. With Juliet and Gracie being so different, I think it would be easy to have one character be obviously worse than the other, but I think there's a really good balance presented. We get the good and bad of each of them, from both their own and the other perspective. I didn't find the other side characters as well developed and there were so many of them that I honestly would get them confused if they were just mentioned by name. I am very bad with names in real life and all the characters did have a purpose for being in the story - I don't think any of them could have been cut - so this might have just been a personal issue.

The relationships between all the characters were really interesting as well. Gracie with her husband, Juliet with her ex, Gracie and her best friend, and of course Gracie and Juliet. Each had a different dynamic and I thought it was really interesting to see how the characters changed depending on the situation. Juliet is emotional, hot headed, and scared of her ex but with Gracie she is vulnerable and in need of a friend. Gracie with her best friend is confident and carefree but with her husband she is a bit paranoid and standoffish. There are more side characters such as the in-laws and the nanny as well that are all intertwined. Again, these relationships and the way they're developed throughout the story do a fantastic job at creating well rounded characters.

The plot got off to a bit of a slow start. We find out a big conflict right in the beginning but it gets pretty much brushed aside almost immediately and the rest of the set up (about 25%) is mostly domestic stuff like picking up kids from school, finding a new house, going on job interviews, etc. The plot and tension really pick up once Juliet and Gracie meet but getting through that first chunk was a bit of a slog. Looking back, I think the beginning served for a good set up showing how different these two women are but I would have liked the plot to get moving a little more quickly. The rest of the plot moved along at a good pace that really kept me engaged once I got past that slow beginning portion.

Of course, this is a thriller, and all thriller readers want a good twist. I thought the twist was built up really well through Juliet's investigation and trying to find what Gracie was hiding. I found Juliet's investigation to be really methodical and well laid out, but I found it mostly information gathering and then she puts it all together at the end without too much speculation or red herrings in the middle of the book. I could see part of the twist coming, but was wrong about which characters were actually involved. I don't mind being wrong about twists in thrillers (I actually prefer to be) but when I reflected on the plot of the book, I couldn't really see any threads that would lead to the ending. To be fair, the other characters were just as surprised so the twist character did a good job of hiding what they had done but the fact that I couldn't go back and pick up on little things made the reveal feel a little 'gotcha'-y. It wasn't bad enough to affect my overall enjoyment or rating, but it is something I could see some readers disliking. It also could be that I just didn't pick up on smaller details so maybe this is just another personal issue.

What did bother me was the ending, literally the very last page of the book, where a plot point that I assumed was resolved with the big twist ends up still being a problem. Granted, maybe I was wrong to make such an assumption but I really think the plot and structure of the book was pushing the reader toward that thought of X being resolved because Y was resolved. However, this turns out not to be the case and one of the big conflicts of the story comes back right at the end and we are left with a cliffhanger. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't mind ambiguous endings or endings where not everything is tied up in a neat little bow. If the book ended with the character wondering if X was still going to be a problem down the line, then that would have been perfectly fine. But this sort of ending where we get smacked over the head as if the book is saying "look! look! X is still a problem!" is too heavy handed for me especially when this isn't being marketed as any sort of series. Will we ever find out what the resolution to this plot thread is? Probably not, and that would not bother me if the ending wasn't so flashy with the reveal.

I really enjoyed Hepburn's writing style particularly when it came to the inner thoughts of these characters. I find it really fun to be able to look back at the beginning of the story and see, in the structure of the prose, how the characters are changing. I think this difference was particularly striking in Juliet's chapters where, by the end, we're getting these long rambling paragraphs as she is trying to connect all the dots of her investigation. The writing really focused on the characters more so than the surroundings but I still had a good picture in my head of the different settings we get throughout the book. I prefer a writing style that isn't super flowery while still being interesting and dynamic and I think Hepburn did a good job straddling that line for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced e-copy of Her Perfect Life by Sam Hepburn.

If you are looking for a book full of twists and turns then this is the book for you. It’s a little slow starting out, but once this book gets going, it does not stop.

I could not predict where this book was going and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I received a complimentary copy of Her Perfect Life from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

WOW! My mind was blown by this plot twist. I had the situation figured all wrong. Some girls have all the luck... while others make their own! It was no wonder why a hot mess like Juliet, a washed-up public relations manager, would be envious of tv baking celebrity Gracie Dwyer and her perfect life. Even I was jealous of Gracie--with her successful and hunky husband, her amazing business, home(s), and the opportunities afforded her. This was a truly engaging novel that really shocked me with a wild turn of events. Well done.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I received this book "Her Perfect Life" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. This book was okay. A slow starter for me. I didn't connect with the characters and the story was a bit predictable. There were twists and turns and I didn't expect the ending.