Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi Ryan

INTRODUCTORY EXCERPT:

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 that feeds her story tips, but suddenly, the source starts 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? 

THE REVIEW:

This thriller was very easy to understand, in plain beautiful english. I was engrossed at the very beginning, the middle though, was a little dragged. I felt like I needed more ' meat to the bone'. However, I was back in the webb at the middlee and conclusions of the story. 

Lily was my favourite character, compared to career-hugging Greer and her suspicious source. In my opinion, the conclusion suggests that Greer, the obviously jealous producer/assistant, who feels unappreciated by Lily, may have a separate story of her own to tell.

I can relate to Lily though, when it comes to protecting her daughter. As a single mother myself, I totally agree with her choices in that area. It may have made her out to be icy cold to others though. I loved the fact that she got some closure in the end. 

This being my first time reviewing the works of this author, all in all it was a good story. Readers like myself who are always so sure about how the story was going to end, will be in for a rude awakening. I for sure was so wrong about the antagonist, but appreciated that surprisingly twisted ending. 

I'm looking forward to reading more from this author. 🌟🌟🌟

Thank you to Macmillan - Tor / Forge and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review. 

All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Happy Reading!

This novel seems to be one thing--and then becomes another in a series of twists and turns that were both organic, suspense filled, and made sense with the plot. Nothing in the plot was written by chance. I flew through this one, enjoyed the premise and the characters, as well as the dual POV's. The foils of Lilly and Gwen were perfect, as well as the build up of tension between Lilly's secret life as it begins to unravel through her anonymous informant.

While probably not a book I would read again, probably one I would recommend to a friend for a suspenseful, rich people drama book.

I was already a fan of Hank Phillippi Ryan’s novels, and this one met every edge-of-your-seat expectation.

A great tale of lost innocence and how it rolls through the rest of our lives. Lily Atwood is a TV journalist in a career where image of perfection is paramount and portraying perfection matters. But she misses her sister Cassie, who disappeared when Lily was only a kid.

As the story unrolls and secrets drop, this book kept me engaged through each of its twists until we find out what happened, and why the result may put Lily and her child’s life at risk now.

A super enjoyable fun read that helped me escape during difficult times.

The perfect thriller with some formidable women at the heart of it all - with some jaw-dropping twists and turns, I didn;t see the end coming! highly recommending to all the thriller-lovers out there :)

Gripping
This is a "I can't believe what could possibly happen next?" kind of mystery. Riveting, challenging, surprising...clear to the end.

I jumped at the chance to grab an advanced copy since her thrillers are so addicting! This is the perfect fall thriller - it is so suspenseful, fast paced, and it is so fun to unpack all the lies and secrets. ⁣I found a few pieces predictable but mostly just a very enjoyable read!

Huge thanks to my favorite audio production people at @macmillan.audio for always approving me and for always being on point with their audiobooks!!! I listened to this book last week HerPerfectLife and was immediately drawn in to the drama of Lily's missing sister. However, I didnt much like Lily. I mean, who values their #perfectlife over the struggles of their own family. And who believes a total stranger to be who he claims to be without researching that? I mean cmon shes in journalism. I guessed what was going on and lets face it, if this had happened in rea life? there wouldve been a much more violent and immediate ending so i call bullshit on the twist although everything leading up was well written and engaging but i just didnt like any of the characters, and for me, I like to feel like there's at least one protagonist; IMO they all felt like #antagonists but whatever. This story was just ok for me. I wasnt wowed by it. Sometimes bad things happen. Let them happen lol.
Omg who have I become? #ctfu

Lily Atwood is the most well-known anchor of her time. Everyone knows her name, likeness, and her say goes a long way.

What everyone doesn't know is that Lily has secrets. She will do anything she can to protect them.

When Lily becomes ensnared in a. case around her life, the stakes are high and some choices have to be made. Can she protect herself and those she holds dear? Or will her past explode into the open, shattering her curated image?

Her Perfect Life kept me guessing until the end. While the ending left me wanting more, I was intrigued, engaged, involved with the novel.

Is there such a thing as a perfect life? In the surface it looks like Lily has everything, a beautiful daughter, success in her career, she's a role model for TV journalists and a envied one, but deep down she's keeping a secret that if it comes out can tumble down her precious perfect life.

Author Hank Phillippi Ryan has done it again, this book, as with the majority of her books, will grab you since the first page and won't let you go until you reach the last page. Her writing is impeccable and the plot is believable.
The characters are well described and so complexed that you can find yourself relating to them.

This is a fast paced, suspense psychological thriller that won't let you down.

honestly, i think an issue with this book was the characters. like, i feel like they were so bland and that they didn't really work and they didn't feel like real people to me, which i feel like some characters can feel like real people, but none of these did. with that being said, i feel like they're dialogue and their actions were just so terrible. and i feel like none of them worked out well, and none of them can work. and i think that it was just so annoying and i think all these characters just made me so mad throughout the book. and i feel with all their reactions and their actions were just so weird and bad, which really just pissed me off.

and i also feel like that there was so much happening in here, and i feel like the plot of this book was just such a mess. like, i feel like so much happened and i think that there was so much going on and happening. like, i feel like the plot had so much going on and that there was just the main plot and then these sub-plots, which aren't an issue, but they were just a mess. like, i feel that there was just so much happening and going on, that none of this made sense.

i do feel like the writing of this book was honestly kind of good and i feel like the writing was done really good. but, i feel like with the plot and characters just didn't work and i think with how everything worked, i just didn't like and i think it could have all been handled better and have it worked together better.

In Her Perfect Life, Lily’s life appears to be perfect-- she is beautiful, has an amazing career, and has a daughter who she loves. Behind her perfect appearance lies secrets of her 18 year old sister who went missing years ago, never to be found or heard from again. Also, when her inside source, Smith, starts to be a little sketchy and her producer, Greer, goes missing, Lily begins to think not everything is what it seems. Does this have to do with Cassie, her missing sister?

Here are some of the things that I liked with this book. I also enjoy multiple perspectives when reading books. This book has multiple perspectives and dueling timelines (both past and present). I liked reading Cassie’s perspective to piece together the past and the present. I was very intrigued with Cassie’s story. I was so curious what happened to her. I will say though, I found it to be anticlimactic when I did find out what happened to her.

There were definitely twists and turns in this book that I didn't see coming. I Also enjoyed the reporter aspect of this novel. That was different from other books I’ve read. Seeing some of the ins and outs of how reporters get their sources and information was interesting to me.

Overall, this book was okay. I would have enjoyed a little more excitement and drama in the book especially with Cassie’s story. It kind of felt like she just got taken advantage of by the police and Lily kind of was unlikeable at times with her “perfect”ness.

I am a big, maybe even huge, Hank Philippi Ryan fan. Her mysteries are great, and her third-act twists are the stuff of legend. She’s an auto-buy author for me and I will read absolutely anything she writes! So it pains me a bit to say this this is not one of my favorites of hers. Her writing is always page-turning, and she could probably write a book about rocks and make it interesting. Unfortunately, I just didn’t connect so much with the subject matter, the family intrigue, or the initial “mystery” of this particular book.

This book has several narrators - maybe one too many for me - and focuses largely on Lily, an Emmy-award winning TV reporter with a long-lost sister and a secret and mysterious source. Suddenly, her source’s tips begin getting a little too personal about Lily in particular. I enjoyed Greer, Lily’s assistant and researcher, and her more down-to-earth narration the most.

I am unfortunately just not a big fan of the family drama type of thriller. Some of Ryan’s previous books have incorporated this element but there was always a larger plot-driven murder type mystery beginning at page 1 that captivated me enough to keep me invested in both storylines. That wasn’t as much the case here. I’m also a little more drawn to Ryan’s legal thrillers and this book is more of a family drama/newsroom type tale. The ending, though, as with all Hank Philippi Ryan stories, delivers.

So in summary, while the writing here is still a cut above other thrillers, and the pages still turn, I would instead enthusiastically recommend The Murder List to any first time Hank Philippi Ryan reader. Still a Ryan fangirl, but this one didn’t quite do it for me. Hoping the next book is more of a return to the more traditional plot-driven legal thriller type mystery I love from this author.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Tor Forge for the ARC from one of my faves in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. Keep hearing great things about this author. I’m not going to like every book I read unfortunately. On to the next

I knew when I started Her Perfect Life that I would need to settle in and prepare for a wild ride. And I was not disappointed.

Lily has the perfect life with her perfect job and perfect daughter. Then she starts receiving messages that could ruin that perfectness. How dare someone do that to #PerfectLily? As her life starts to unravel, secrets come to the surface and maybe the perfect sister she had been idolizing for all those years wasn't so perfect.

It was interesting to watch Lily struggle with getting to the truth, which could ruin her, or avoiding it at all costs, so she could continue with the perfect life she had created. Sometimes I just wanted to shake her! But seriously, who was working with her and who was working against her?

Her Perfect Life is another exciting thriller by Hank Phillippi Ryan. Her books are always a great escape and I'm looking forward to whatever she creates next.

This book was awesome! Originally the title and the description reeled me in, and honestly it was totally worth the read!

Her Perfect Life started out so strong. I had never previously read a book detailing the life of someone in the news but it seemed to be very realistic. I disliked Greer's character a lot; of course she wants/needs Lily to succeed but DAMN does she seem bitter as hell about it. I do feel bad for her in the end though because she was manipulated but BOTH of these women are in the business of journalism and NEITHER of them thought to fact check?! It was just too much to believe honestly especially when both women were portrayed doing well in their jobs in the beginning. Otherwise a decent read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced reader's copy. It was a good, interesting read with a few plotholes. Would still recommend!

I haven't read a thriller in way too long--I went through a big Gillian Flynn phase back in the day, and haven't really touched them since. Still, I was excited to get to dip back into this genre, and this was exactly what I was hoping for. Twisty, gripping, and compelling throughout. I had a great time, thank you so much!

Thank you NetGalley, author Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Forge Books publishing for giving me a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
4 stars
What makes she life so perfect on TV, but what might she be hiding when the cameras are off?
Lily Atwood, is a famous TV news reporter, along with her seven year old daughter, she seems to have it all. But what is hiding below the surface of her seemingly perfect life? How far will she go to keep her own secrets buried? Read this thriller to find out! This book will keep you flipping pages late into the night in order to find out Lily's secret! This was my first book by this author and it will not be my last. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future!

Investigative reporter Lily Atwood, seems to have what the title suggests - the perfect job, loving fans and a beloved 7-year-old daughter. Unfortunately, she also has secrets that might just bring it all down around her.

Lily's elder sister Cassie disappeared from college when Lily was a child, but she's never stopped wondering what happened. As Cassie's toxic history is revealed, Lily fears its effect on her own life.

The plot thickens and Lily does eventually see her sister again - in a dramatic conclusion that explains all.

This was my first book by this author but won’t be the last. A good amount of characters and mystery. Several story lines merging into a great ending. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.