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Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi Ryan
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Her Perfect Life Book CoverTitle: Her Perfect Life
Author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Forge Books
Release Date: September 14, 2021
Pages: 336

The next thrilling standalone novel by USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan.

Everyone knows Lily Atwood―and that may be her biggest problem. The beloved television reporter has it all―fame, fortune, Emmys, an adorable seven-year-old daughter, and the hashtag her loving fans created: #PerfectLily. To keep it, all she has to do is protect one life-changing secret.

Her own.

Lily has an anonymous source who feeds her story tips―but suddenly, the source begins telling Lily inside information about her own life. How does he―or she―know the truth?

Lily understands that no one reveals a secret unless they have a reason. Now she’s terrified someone is determined to destroy her world―and with it, everyone and everything she holds dear.

How much will she risk to keep her perfect life?

Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi Ryan

So this thriller is what I call the Slow-burn kind. It slowly reveals, it will slowly drop bread crumbs and clues with each passage.

With the dilemma that was being dealt with though, I felt too slow and caused me to loose my commitment to working through it. I had to set this book down so many times, as I felt like I was making NO progress.

So to understand my feelings here is a summary of what Her Perfect Life is about.

Lily Attwood is the towns most famous and most perfect news reporter. She has a reputation of being thorough in her job. She is good at catching the bad people and exposing lies. And social media wise she portrays a perfect life, coining her personal hashtag #PerfectLily.


For a while now, Lily has had a mysterious source feeding her the stories and secrets she has uncovered on the news. All while knowing this mystery man might want a favor returned after helping her reach such stardom.

All this to say that Lily has a very important history. Lily had an older sister, Cassie go missing when Lily was about 8 or 9. Cassie was in college during the time.

In Her Perfect Life we get multiple points of view. We get Lily’s day to day, Lily’s producer that works alongside her everyday, and Cassie’s past POV. Each chapter will alternate in between these POV’s, which in general I like and don’t mind the switch up of narratives. But from my experience with Her Perfect Life the POV’s were cut off too soon, not enough was given to invest in these individuals. I found myself slightly invested in Cassie’s past, as she was cut off so much I was not sure what was the ending to her story arc.

I do think this was my individual experience with this book, the thriller-love language just did not match my own. ( I want to make that a thing, Thriller-Love Language)

Overall Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillipi Ryan has a lot of potential to incite mystery and thriller lovers, I can actually see translate better on T.V.

Being perfect has its price! Told is 3 voices, Phillippi keeps us entertained with her newest novel. Years ago, Lily’s sister disappeared from her college campus and was never found. All grown up now and in the limelight with her news reporter job, Lily has never stopped looking for Cassie. Lily leads a perfect life, everyone knows and loves her. She will go to great extents to keep her 7 year old daughter, Rowan safe, even if it means keeping secrets. With her producer, Greer, Emmys are won and Lily’s fame keeps growing...but what would happen if her life wasn’t as perfect as it seems? When a mysterious source has some unusual requests, Greer goes along with them to protect Lily’s reputation, but who is Mr. Smith and why is he so interested in Cassie? Fast paced and fun, the pages practically turn themselves.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

Unfortunately, I tried to read this book twice and was unable to finish both times. I think for me the progression was a bit slow. However, I do love books from multiple perspectives. I will try again to get through this!

HPR does it again with this book, which earned a star from Kirkus - not an easy task. I was immediately drawn into the story of Lily, an onscreen journalist known throughout Boston, who is hiding the secret of her missing sister. Lily also has a daughter, Rowen, whose parentage is uncertain. If the word gets out about Lily's secrets, it could destroy her career. Lily's producer, Greer, is pulled into the situation when a trusted source - a private investigator - begins to expose Lily's secrets to her. In flashbacks, we see Lily's sister, Cassie, in college, learning about her own traumatic past and what led to her disappearance. The tight, short chapters lead the reader on a winding and thrilling roller coaster. What left me thinking about the book, though, was the ending and a particular character. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I definitely want to discuss this with someone who has read it!!

This was an ok read for me,wasn’t keen on the main characters which didn’t help nor some of the seemingly silly decisions they made but it was an ok read

It's all about secrets and lies. Lily, a journalist, has kept the identity of her daughter Rowan's father secret for reasons that you, like me, don't hold up. She's been making hay out of leads provided to her by a source known as Mr Smith but now that source is stating to mutter about Lily herself. At the same time there's the issue of Lily's old sister Cassie, who went missing from her college 25 years ago. What really happened to her? Is she alive? Is Greer, Lily's producer, really as much in Lily's corner as she appears? So many questions. The perspective shifts between the players and both strands of the story will eventually merge. No spoilers from me. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A fast paced read.

I've read Ryan's last two thrillers and both times I couldn't predict what was going to happen. Her Perfect Life was no different - I did not see the big twist ending and had no idea what was going on until everything was revealed, which I'm sure was the plan.

Her Perfect Life is told in multiple POV's with some flashbacks from one POV. Lily is a successful tv journalist, Greer is her producer, and Cassie is her long lost sister who went missing when she was 18 and Lily was 7. When Lily starts getting tips from Mr. Smith, an anonymous person who helps her with stories, she becomes even more successful. But when Mr. Smith starts to bring Lily and Greer into the investigation into Cassie, and reuniting Lily's daughter with her father - the situation gets a lot more personal. What happened to Cassie all those years ago?

I will always read Ryan's thrillers/mysteries. They are exactly perfect for me, not too dark, edge more to the domestic side, and always have an unforeseen twist. I'm not afraid to sleep at night afterwards but they make me stop and think back through the story to see what foreshadowing I missed that got us to the end result. This book is also coming out at the perfect time, with spooky season starting soon.

I did feel like the end wrapped up more quickly than it should have, from all POV's. I would've liked an epilogue to see where everyone is say 6 months later. But I am historically a huge fan of epilogues so that may just be a me thing!
**Thank you to Forge Books and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review**

I was so excited to get an early copy of this, because I've loved other Hank Philippi Ryan books, but this didn't live up to my expectations, unfortunately. 

Synopsis: Lily Atwood has a perfect life - she is a famous reporter, raising a 7-year-old daughter - but her deep secret is that her big sister disappeared when Lily was a child and they never found out what happened to her. Then a mysterious source reaches out to Lily and implies that her sister is still alive but in danger, and they need to work together to save her. 

I really enjoyed the first half. It's fast, and the alternating POVs and flashbacks are great at building suspense.

But about halfway through, you find out what happened to Cassie, and it just didn't make sense. 
I stuck it out because I was really hoping I was just missing something, it'd come together later. And there are some twists later that definitely surprised me, and helped a bit with the logic, but I still felt like there were too many plot holes that were just not addressed. 

My other issue is that all the POVs didn't seem necessary. It added an extra mystery to incorporate, but that mystery didn't add anything to the primary storyline. When it all came together, I felt like that POV and story was just a distraction from the main story. 

Also - why is it that everyone in that family had the same middle name? That just struck me as weird haha.

Lily Atwood is a woman who has everything. She’s beautiful. She’s smart. She’s achieved fame, fortune and more than her fair share of Emmys. She has a darling daughter who is her whole world. And now, her perfect world is about to come crashing down as secrets from Lily’s past come back to haunt her. Why is someone doing this to her? The bigger question is who? The biggest question of all? How far will Lily go to protect everything she cherishes? Another tightly woven suspense novel from Hank Phillippi Ryan.

This was certainly very entertaining and definitely my worst nightmare if I had a secret. I think the scariest part is that it felt very realistic and I feel like that’s how show biz actually works.

Her Perfect Life (Hank Phillippi Ryan) is about a TV reporter, her daughter, and her missing sister. Lily hasn't seen her sister in years and doesn't know if she's dead or alive. Ms Ryan tells the story from a couple of different points of view and some back and forth in time. As the past catches up with Lily she has to decide what she really wants in her life. I want to thank NetGalley and Forge Books for an early copy to review.

It was light, quick read, but well-paced and well written. And the fact that I just couldn't seem to make myself like the main character, didn't hurt my enjoyment of the book. It's a perfect weekend, please-don't-make me-think-too-much read.

Lily Atwood is a celebrity journalist and is known as the #PerfectLily among her fans. She's happy with her career and her daughter, Rowan. However, Lily secretly wishes to be united with her elder sister, who went missing 25 years ago. Will she accept her beloved sister when she returns with her dark past?
The blurb of the book is what attracted me at first. The beginning of the book is also quite gripping and interesting. As the story proceeds it seems a little dragged off from the main storyline. So I did lose some interest there but I'm glad I did finish the book. The ending was totally unpredictable and worth my efforts. The narration is made by Greer, who is Lily's colleague and well wisher. The perspective of Lily, Cassie and Greer are covered in the book. The concept of sibling affection is very beautifully presented in the book. As a fan of fast paced gripping thriller, this book didn't quite work out for me but if you're a fan of dark thrillers this may be the book for you.

RATING 3.8🌟/5🌟

Well, I have to say I’m a bit on the fence with this one. I really wanted to love this book, but it fell a little flat for me and I’m not exactly sure if I can explain myself.

Lily Atwood has it all, or so it would appear. She has an awesome career as a reporter, makes good money, has a beautiful little girl named Rowen, but she doesn’t have a husband. Of course, does a woman really need to have a man to be fulfilled? Absolutely not, but Rowen’s father was the love of her life and she would have been happy to have him had he not been married from jump street. Hmm?

Life goes on and Lily is quite happy until she receives a message from her source who gives her great stories to report. It’s because of that source that she has stayed relevant for such a long time and won Emmys for her award-winning journalism. So, when Smith calls to tell her something pretty serious about her daughter’s school, that most definitely got her attention.

A very close confidante and coworker of hers, Greer, looked out for Lily. She knew that the life Lily projects to the public wasn’t as “perfect” as she would have everyone believe. Lily wasn’t a stranger to the media. When she was about the same age as her daughter, her elder sister went missing. Lily and her mother were heartbroken over the loss of Cassie. Cassie was eighteen at the time and off to college and supposed to be living her best life, but wouldn’t you know it, life always has a way of turning an individual completely around. Her sister made headlines and was the talk of their town. Lily’s mother was stricken with a grief that only a loving mother could experience.

The police investigated. The school investigated. Neighbors speculated and then there was Lily and her mom who knew something wasn’t quite right, but all they could do was go on what they were advised by authorities and the media.

So, imagine Lily’s surprise when she learns that the past she’s often tried to forget is rearing its ugly head staring her straight in the face. What does this Smith possibly know about this and why was Greer behaving so strange all of a sudden? These were the questions Lily had and as you continue reading the story, the pieces of the puzzle will begin to fall in place.

Umm, ok, so I summed this story up as best I could without giving away any spoilers. You’re asking yourself why am I on the fence? For starters, I found the story not as exciting as I had hoped it would be. Another issue I had is I figured the story out in part, but what bothered me the most is how redundant the story was. How many times can you continue to say the same things and still be at the very point as where you are? Confused? Ok, that’s part of my dilemma.

A great deal of the story seemed repetitive. What was described as mystery, to me, felt like it was overly done. I love mystery, but when you keep dangling that carrot and I’m not able to take any nibbles eventually I’m going to lose interest and that’s exactly what happened with this story. Every chapter had me right on the edge, and then each chapter afterward kept redoing the same thing and I’m like wait, what? It was literally the same. Where is the mystery in that?

The story is well written from a technical standpoint and pretty easy to follow, but the characters felt a little amateurish and not all there. I found the dialogue was a repeat of the same ole same.

At the end of the day, this story just wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I tried to love it—I truly tried. I didn’t hate the book, but I couldn’t find anything that piqued my interests. I couldn’t get into this author’s flow of storytelling. It most definitely wasn’t for me. And, as I’ve advised my readers for years, it’s perfectly ok to not like a book or feel a certain way about it. No two readers will read a book exactly the same. It didn’t do anything for me, but that doesn’t mean you will share the same experience. My motto is never to advise any potential reader not to read a book. And I also advise you give the author a chance by reading the words they slaved over even if you find yourself struggling. I give respect no matter what!

I DNFed this at 69%. I somehow made it to 50% with ease, but after that, it was a chore. The plot made no sense to me, and the motives/actions made no logic.

“Her Perfect Life” by Hank Phillippi Ryan
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release date: 9/14/21
Ebook 📱

This was a super fast read that kept me interested. A couple reasons that it’s not a 5 star read. 1. I didn’t love the plot line of keeping Rowen’s father away. I didn’t feel like it fit that well and wasn’t twisty. 2. So many unlikeable characters. I wanted to like Lilly, but she seems so egocentric.
Otherwise the books gave me a twist of mystery, family values, and how fame guides each choice you make.

Lilly Atwood is an Emmy winner television reporter. Her producer Greer helps get her the best stories and she presents them. Lilly has a way of making each story grande. Lately she has been getting stories from a secretive source Mr. Smith. Lilly looks like she has the perfect life. Fame, fortune, and a sweet smart seven year old daughter Rowen. What most people don’t know is her sister Cassie disappeared at 18 when Lilly was 7. Lilly wants to know what happened to her sister, but also doesn’t want her secrets ruin her career. Secrets begin to unravel and the closer Lilly gets to the truth the more her personal world is falling apart.

I've been thinking about my review for this book for a while. I love Ryan, but this book? Not so much. A 3.5 rounded up to a 4. It was fast paced and well written, but I felt ambivalent about the characters (make me love them or hate them, please!). I couldn't connect with them and found them annoying. The plot seemed unlikely and far fetched, relying on the characters being unbelievably naïve and I just couldn't buy it. And I realize I read an ARC, but when ages, time past, etc. are inconsistent, it makes my brain stutter. It yanks me out of the story to do math. Please don't make me do math.

"𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛."

This cover? 😍 Fabulous. Love it.

That said…the book itself didn’t quite live up to the HPR standard and I had a hard time getting into it. 😬

Some of the dialogue felt choppy and other portions were needlessly over-described.

I struggled with the characters as well. With none of them being likable, it was hard to care what happened to them. The back and forth from first (Greer) to third person (Lily & Cassie) narration wasn’t my favorite either.

I’ve enjoyed prior novels from Ms. Ryan, but unfortunately this one wasn’t my favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the gifted eARC.

Her Perfect Life is yet another magnificently written novel by Hank Phillippi Ryan. Ryan is the Queen of suspenseful thrillers and this one is at the top of the list! Written in multiple point of views, the characters are very well developed with many layers to expose. The story is like a thrilling roller coaster with many twist and turns. You will not want to get off this tumultuous ride! The plot is fast paced yet slow enough to devour each and every unpredictable page. It will keep you guessing to the very end. This is my favorite book of Ryan’s and her best as far! If you are looking for a highly deceitful page turner then this is the book for you!! Ryan will not disappoint!

Thank you NetGalley, Hank Phillippi Ryan and Forge Books for an advanced copy of this exhilarating novel in exchange for my unbiased review.
#herperfectlife #hankphillippiryan #forgebooks. #arc

Have you ever dreamed of having a life in the spotlight? All of the glitz, the glam, the money, the recognition. Do you think it is worth it, that the pros outweigh the cons? For Lily Atwood being on tv and appearing to live the perfect life is a never-ending juggling act. Of trying to keep her fans happy and her 7-year-old daughter safe. Is all of her false bravado and cheer a way to protect herself?

Lily is constantly thinking of her older sister, Cassie. Who disappeared without a trace, when Lily was 7 years old. Did Cassie just walk away from everyone and everything in her life, was she abducted, or is she dead? No one knows about her sister; this is one secret she keeps and that all of her other secrets are built upon. Does anyone truly know Lily Atwood? When a mysterious source comes forward with a new story, Lily's life is spun out of control. How does this man know her deepest darkest secrets. Secrets that Lily has kept buried for years. He threatens to complete destroy Lily's perfect life.

Her Perfect Life is a knot of confusion, that needs to be picked apart little by little, as more details comes to light. You will keep flipping the pages, wondering who did what, why, and your mind will spin out of control trying to work out the knot. Lily was a hard character to connect with, she is a woman of mystery. Someone who keeps to herself, yet is in the spotlight. You never really know what is real and what is false. The ending I must say was the best, it took me by complete surprise! I absolutely love when you think you have a book figured out and it heads in the opposite direction. Thank you to Hank Phillippi Ryan, Forge Books and NetGally for allowing me to read this perfect book!