Rating: 3.5

This was a perfectly average thriller. Nothing shocking happened. It was well-written and entertaining and very dramatic. Though the drama annoyed me a little bit. I don't understand why Kate thought it was ok to be friends with the parents of the girls she wanted her daughter to stay from. And the other moms kept saying that they were bullied when they were young, but never spoke about it in detail. What happened that was so bad that they thought it was ok to raise their daughters to be bullies?

This was my first Margot Hunt book so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The description made the book seem interesting, a quick thriller read that I could plow through in-between heavier reads. That is what the Lovely Girls ended up being - just fine, not my favorite book of 2023, but decent enough.

The thriller trope of nasty teen girls/adult women motivated by their own selfish gain seems to have taken hold of the domestic thriller category. The Lovely Girls walked the line of contemporary fiction (people living their lives and interacting with each other is one of the main plots of this book) and thriller (a crime was committed but why?), however, the story felt rushed and half-baked at points. I wanted to know more about the motivations of the parents and how the daughters really interacted outside of the small snippets we see from Alex's perspective. The story quickly jumps from something bad is going to happen to resolution, with odd little asides that do not advance the plot thrown in.

Ultimately, if you need a quick beach read, I think the Lovely Girls would be a good choice. Quick, fine writing, and an okay storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect from my first Margot Hunt book, but I really enjoyed Lovely Girls. This is the true definition of a page-turner. The chapters are short, so you will constantly be saying "I can fit in just one more chapter." I read this book in the span of a day. In Lovely Girls, we switch between Kate's point of view and her relationship with her daughter and the mothers of some of the girls at her daughter Alex's new school. We also see some snippets of Alex's video diary throughout, and the bullying that is described is heartbreaking. I can't believe how manipulative and rude the mothers were to Alex and Kate, but there is nothing more entertaining to me than mom drama! The book takes a bit of a turn from a bullying/moms being rude thriller to a murder mystery. Someone has been murdered, and Alex is the main suspect. Some of the decisions Alex made were aggravating, and she had a piece of evidence that could have fully exonerated her, but she sat on it because she thought the police could figure it out themselves... I mean what? Other than that, I really enjoyed this page turning thriller!

Thank you Margot Hunt, NetGalley, and Amazon Publishing for the opportunity to read this book early.

This was my first book from this author and I honestly really loved it and would be recommending it to all from avid readers to casual readers. An excellent mean girl story that is intertwined with thriller and murder mystery

Mean Girl trope coming in hard…both the high school and adult variety.

Are mean girls a result of their upbringing, or are they born that way>?

This was an interesting read. One that was well written and enjoyable, but I’l; be honest the mean girl trope isn’t a favorite of mine and I found myself growing ready for this to end.

3.5/5

As a straight up popcorn thriller this one was alright. I enjoyed it in the moment and found it to be entertaining but will I remember it later? Probably not but that’s ok with me because sometimes a book being good in the moment is really all I need. Most of it was fairly easy to predict too, especially if you read a lot of thrillers but there was definitely still something that compelled me to keep turning the pages. There’s something to be said about an author that has that ability despite a plot that’s not super exciting. I was pretty confident this would be a three star read until the last chapter and the way it ended makes me want to bump it up a half star. In the end this would be a easy one to devour over a weekend, or better yet on vacation as it’s mindless entertainment.

High school is hell enough on its own but add in a seething group of mean girls? What’s the worst that could happen?

This was an absolute roller coaster or a ride.

Enabling parents, preconditioning toxicity, a town that thrives on nothing but gossips and back to back drama.

This was an even paced read, it brings you in rather quickly and doesn’t release its grasp until the last page.

Thanks to NetGalley as well as Thomas & Mercer for this read. I really enjoyed reading that book. I like the life lessons and the entire book from front to back. I do not want to give anything away. At one part of the book at about 30 percent I was wondering is this going to go anywhere enjoyable to read and next chapter it did. It was a book that I think will stay with me for a bit as it did not wrap up rushed but it was well done at the end. Thanks for the read.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

What’s worse... Mean girls or their mean mothers?

If ever there was a perfect time for a fresh start this would be it. And Kate intends on making that happen. She just lost her husband in a car accident that also involved her daughter, Alex. Kate is determined to turn things around and start anew.

Maybe a quiet suburb in Florida is just the place. Unfortunately Alex immediately gets on the wrong side of the popular girls who vow to make her life miserable. But in a strange twist, Kate feels like she actually hit the jackpot, being accepted by the mothers of these mean girls.

A well-crafted thriller that managed to evoke a lot of emotions. I hate mean girls! Who doesn’t? And I equally loath reading about them! But I persevered and kept going, hoping that karma would eventually win out in the end. Did it? No spilling-the-beans here! You’ll have to read this book to find out!

The fourth book I’ve read and enjoyed by Margot Hunt, and anxious for the next release!

A buddy read with Susanne!🤓📚

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer

Kate Turner and her daughter Alex are attempting to start fresh in Florida after the death of Kate's husband (Alex's father). Moving from Buffalo is supposed to give them both a new start. Kate quickly makes friends with a trio of local moms, but their daughters dislike Alex immediately. When Alex displaces one of the girls from the lead spot on the tennis team, tensions rise, and Kate realizes that her daughter is a victim of bullying.

LOVELY GIRLS is a quick read that captures your interest from the start. I'm not sure it covers any new ground, but it certainly keeps you reading. It opens up with a dead body and then we hear the story from Kate's point of view and Alex's video diary.

The mean girls in GIRLS are way mean. Wow. And their moms are just as bad. Be prepared for some immense bullying and intensity. GIRLS takes everything to the extreme to the point that you are very afraid of everything and about what will happen to Kate and Alex. (And scared to send your children to high school, in my case.) As the action unfolds, we learn more about Kate's complicated relationship with her late husband--as well as how Alex related to her father. The book gives us an in-depth look at how women raise their daughters, as well as how kids treat each other--and how parents affect that treatment.

GIRLS gets crazy at the end (okay maybe it's crazy for a while) but it's an addictive train wreck kind of insanity.

Lovely Girls is my first Margot Hunt novel and I’ll be sure to read more of her works. The story unfolds from mother and daughter points of view across two timelines. This method of storytelling really works for this particular novel in that the reader is immersed in the different perspectives.

The characters are developed enough for a YA/teen novel. And Hunt manages to deftly capture the bullying nature of the “lovely girls” clique of Daphne, Callie, and Shae. So much so that I really despised each and everyone of them, including their parents. On the flip side, there are the victims Alex and her mother Kate. I didn’t quite care for them either due to their laid back nature. I just wanted to reach into the novel and give them a good shake! But that just means Hunt did an excellent job in Alex and Kate’s character building.

The plot is fairly straightforward, but there are some twists that were mildly surprising. But the ending was as expected.

Overall, Lovely Girls was an impressive read for a new to me author. Four glowing stars.

I received a digital ARC from Thomas & Mercer through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for an early copy of Lovely Girls. Before I give my review please read chapter 45, theres a mistake in there with the wrong girls name. Otherwise, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bullying is such a tough subject to read about, its heartbreaking what people do to one another. This was wonderfully written, I felt for the main characters (mom and daughter), I felt like I was in the scenes with them. Great Read even though some parts were tough to see in your mind since bullying is a Horrible act.

Wow! Mean Girls times 100! This was an entertaining book about some really terrible people. No spoilers, but I sure was rooting for their downfall! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The age old question - are Mean Girls created, or are they raised to be mean?

This was a quick read, easy to follow and somewhat predictable. I did enjoy it nonetheless.

Thankful for the advanced copy!

Honestly, not a bad book, but at times you wonder where Hunt is going with things because some of the plot takes a while to get going. But I did like the dueling points of view of Kate and her daughter Alex. Hunt is able to give you a sense of how messy and vindictive teenage girls can be and how the parents of said girls are not far behind. The main reason why I gave this 4 stars is that the book's ending came out of nowhere and didn't really feel realistic. We already got so many twists and turns in this one, I didn't think the last one was really necessary.

"Lovely Girls" follows Kate and and her daughter, Alex. Kate has moved them both from Buffalo to Florida so that Alex can start again. You don't know what happens outside of Kate's husband dying in a car accident, but you know that part of the need for the move was for Alex to get a fresh start. Kate takes Alex to her first day of school and in the end meets the Queen Been moms and their offspring. Though Kate is warned off on hanging with the women, she does anyway because she misses having friends and someone to talk to. However, she quickly realizes that the teen girls are not nice (in essence truly mean girls) and she realizes that the leader of the pack, Daphne, is bullying her daughter Alex.

I found Kate very naïve at times. She really just doesn't seem to get that moving her daughter away for her final year of high school may not work out. She starts to tentatively see someone, but she still is caught up in her dead husband and how their marriage turned sour.

Alex I thought had a clear eyed view of people and the teen girls she was going to school with.

The other characters are interesting. I thought the whole thing about these Queen Bee mothers teaching their daughters to be bullies because they didn't want them to be victims was an interesting choice.

The writing was good with the book jumping back and forth between Kate and Alex. The flow was a bit up and down though. There's a reveal, another reveal, and then a twist which was fine, but in the end the book did feel a bit unfinished to me.

This is the typical teenage mean girl clique trope. But this one is one that takes the trope and adds so much more! The length these girls go to is astonishing! Lovely Girls is a very enjoyable, easy to read book. It was very easy to be sympathetic to Alex, the teenage girl that is being bullied. While the scenarios of bullying are specific her and her circumstances, it easily brought me back to the days when I was in high school and being bullied. My only issue with the book is that it did take a little long with the setup and getting to the point. When it did finally reach the point, there was a climatic scene and then it just all wrapped up so easily, and so quickly. I would have liked more after that moment. I would recommend this book to any thriller/mystery reader.

This book was fine but not great. I feel like the mean girl troupe has been overdone. This book didn’t seem to bring anything new to my reading journey. Hunt tried to put in a few surprises, but they were all predictable for me.

Nothing is worse than starting over….or is it? Margot Hunt has done it again with a refreshing unique novel that is an absolute must read thriller! Highly recommend.

This was a fast read, it felt like it was written for a younger audience. Mean girls, mean Mothers , a new family in town with a tragedy in their recent past. Somewhat predictable but not necessarily realistic. While we somewhat get the why of what happened, we don't really get into the minds of characters to make it believable. It was somewhat a mystery and somewhat a family drama 3.5

I really enjoyed reading this book, from the first page to the last. It kept me guessing, I did manage to guess right on one of my theories, but it had me pretty much fooled. The pace of the book was good, and so was the story. Really good read, I recommend it.