I really enjoyed this story! It was a light easy read and perfect to read over my week vacation. The authors writing style flows so nicely and is very easy to follow even though each chapters changes point of view. You'll enjoy this story if you enjoyed Big Little Lies as I feel like it gave me similar vibes. I am always impressed when I don't see a twist coming in a thriller as I read them all the time and sometimes feel like I am not easily phased by them, but the twist in this story was perfect.

The words I would use to describe this book are easy and readable - it was okay but I don’t think it added anything new or exciting to the genre. It provided what I needed in terms of a story I could just whip through without thinking too much about it and there were a few elements of surprise scattered throughout but overall the twists were pretty predictable. I found pretty much everyone in this book unlikable or irritating (other than Joe!) which is a shame, there were just too many naive decisions and poor choices picked over the blatantly obvious solutions. Not a book that will stand out for me but will give some of the author’s other work a try at some point!

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Turner's husband dies suddenly. She want to start fresh .She and her daughter move to a seaside town in Florida .Kate makes friends with three other moms, but their daughters dislike her daughter Alex. Bullying ensues, along with warnings to Kate about her new friends.
This book has lots of betrayal, lies and jealousy.
3.75 out of 5 ⭐️

The book was an easy read. It's the first book written by Margot Hunt that I have read and it was a decent one.
Tropes: Mean Girls murder mystery, bully

The book was a brisk read but some parts felt stretched out. It was engaging but soon enough I knew who killed whom. Even though I knew the end, the book managed to maintain my attention, and didn't feel like putting it down.
I like the end. The part when Emma enters Kate and Alex's house. It was an adequate twist. I wanted the revelation to the detectives about the murderer to be more dramatic but that didn't happen. It eventually worked out in the end.
All through the book, I felt that Alex's character was strong. Even if her point of view was limited her side of the story was more powerful and fun to read.
All in all the book is a promising murder mystery read, a little cliché but worth the read.

Lovely Girls is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Lovely Girls today.

Lovely Girls by Margot Hunt was well written and easy to read. This story follows Kate and her teenaged daughter Alex, who recently moved to Florida. Alex meets three girls who attend her new school and things do not go well. The three girls continue to bully Alex throughout until things spiral out of control. It's unclear throughout how things will end and who will end up responsible, but I liked that element of surprise. Hunt created well developed characters that you will love to hate. I highly recommend!

A solid read, but nothing crazy or anything that wow'd me. I do think I'm a bit of a tough reviewer when it comes to mysteries/thrillers; there's just so much that's been done already that it's hard to surprise or wow me at this point.

In the end, this is a very readable book, in that it's easy to get into, finish it, and move on. It does feel a bit predictable and surface level. I like for my books to have layers to it, and I felt like the characters in this didn't have much depth to them. However, I think that readers who want quick, suspensful novels will enjoy this one. It just felt like there was something missing for me, like I wanted more than someone checking off things for it to be a mystery/thriller, if that makes any sense?

Overall, this was okay for me. but I can see it working for other readers who want something easy and quick to read!! I'd still consider checking out this author again in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the chance to read this early in an exchange for an honest review!

Are you ever reading and realize you’re white-knuckling your book because it’s making you realize you have far less restraint than the main character 😅 I would’ve started throwing hands fairly early on in this book! But I digress 😂

With each twist and turn I was on the edge of my seat (figuratively. Literally I was jiggling my feet with increased intensity with each passing moment), desperate for some form of resolution and also for some form of justice. Horrifying. Riveting. Enraging.

For Kate Turner and her daughter Alex, Shoreham is supposed to be a fresh start. With Alex still reeling from the death of her father, and Kate struggling to come to terms with her own feelings, the beachside town seems like the perfect place to move forward.

While Kate is quickly welcomed into a trio of moms, Alex finds herself immediately alienated from - and tormented by - her peers. The discovery that the worst of the perpetrators are the daughters of Kate’s new friends throws their new life into an upheaval.

As the dark secrets of the mothers and their daughters grow more sinister, Alex documents her side of the story in her video diary. And when the malicious undercurrent of the town grows deadly, her videos may be the only way anyone will ever know the truth.

This is a relatively slim novel, one that hovers in the space between crime and thriller novels. It’s quite mesmerising, despite a plot that doesn’t hold major surprises.

Kate Turner and her daughter Alex have moved across the country for a new start. It’s more than the death of Kate’s husband that prompted the move; it’s the unfortunate circumstances of that death which made her feel it was vital Alex have a new start. Alex, however, is less than thrilled about the move.

Her resentment is only fuelled when within days, she gets on the wrong side of the local mean girls: Daphne, Shae, and Callie. The queens of the school, they’re also appalling bullies. Alex has little defence against them.

To complicate matters, the three girls’ mothers have been very welcoming to Kate. Daphne’s mother, Genevieve, was quick to hold out the hand of friendship, and with Ingrid and Emma, has welcomed her into their circle. Kate is cautious – their daughters give her a bad feeling – but also grateful. However, it’s not long before the mothers are making her almost as uneasy as the daughters.

It doesn’t take a genius to realise things are going to spiral out of control. However, it’s not so clear exactly what’s going to happen, or who is going to be responsible. There’s a lot of tension in the novel, particularly in the last third or so. And there are twists, just when you think you know it all.

I really enjoyed this novel. Yes, some of it was telegraphed well in advance. It still kept me reading and on tenterhooks. If in some regards it’s a familiar story, it’s still well told and hard to put down.

The characterisation is strong. I felt that perhaps Alex was a little cliched – but then, teenagers are, aren’t they? Kate was empathetic and interesting, a character to cheer for, and most readers will really care about what happens to her.

Plenty of readers will enjoy this. It’s most likely to appeal to crime readers, but readers who like character based stories, thrillers, or contemporary stories may also want to give it a try. I think quite a few would find they enjoyed this.

Lovely Girls starts with Kate and Alex, a mother-daughter duo seeking a fresh start after tragedy. After relocating across the country from New York to Florida, Alex and Kate have more to adjust to than just the climate and small town life. Instead of becoming fast friends with the local teen girls, Alex and her mom are ousted and all is not what it seems. We seem to think teenage girls are the worst kinds of bullies but their moms give them a run for their money. This story will have you gripped from beginning to end, waiting to see what happens next.
TW: bullying, statutory rape

Love love love this one! Margot hasn’t written anything I didn’t love yet! I definitely recommend this one!

I enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and held my attention. I will be reading more from this author :)

I really enjoyed how the author took time to build the struggles of Kate & Alex that helped understand their reactions to the mean girls. It was also interesting to see that while Kate was upset with the other moms behavior at times she was doing the same thing.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I tore through this book because I did find it quite suspenseful, but about 3/4 of the way through it started to feel even more implausible that it already had. I'd read more books by this author even though this one didn't do it for me.

Lovely Girls is a fast, easy read that follows Kate and her daughter Alex after they move to FL. Upon arriving in a new town, Kate makes fast friends with a trio of moms; however, their daughters immediately dislike Alex. The girls make the teens in the movie "Mean Girls" look nice. Are the moms really Kate's friends or do they have other motives? What happens when one of the girls is found dead? Overall, I didn't really find Lovely Girls to be much of a thriller or mystery. While it was packed with drama, there weren't that many twists or huge reveals. From the start, it was obvious what had happened, both in Alex's past and in the present. I did find the characters to be well-developed and interesting, even if the majority of them are quite diabolical. I enjoyed the chapters that were from Alex's video diary and thought they added to the story. In the end, Lovely Girls is a perfect, easy beach read.

Fast-paced and engaging. The Lovely Girls is a recommended purchase for collections where domestic noir and thrillers are popular.

I really enjoyed this read. It had a really good flow and held my attention. It was predictable but not in a terrible way. It’s a fun and quick read! I would definitely recommend.

i know this will be loved by some and disliked by others and I happen to fall in the I didn’t love it category. I am not a fan of the mean girl trope / bullying so this book just really didn’t do it for me. This was a page turner, just not enjoyable for the reasons I mentioned.

This Author is in my top 5 of must reads. Fabulous and thrilling, full of excitement! You need to read this right now!!!

I finished this book in 3 days. It was definitely a suspenseful read. Full of surprises. I work at a high school so it's always fun to read about that age range. I'm also a mother to two girls so this was relatable as far as moving to a new town and trying to make new mom friends as well as watching over who your kids make friends with. It was so nice to have a little romance included with the mom who starts dating again and trying to navigate that with a daughter. I enjoyed this book!