“The Perfect Ones” by Nicole Hackett was not quite the book I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a mystery/thriller. This book did have a mystery, but it wasn’t quite as thriller as I thought. Without giving away too much of the plot, five Instagram influencers are on a trip in Iceland when one of the five goes missing. The story is told through three points of view - the missing woman, her friend, and a woman the missing person wants to emulate (I’d saw admire, but that’s not quite correct). I actually forgot that there were two other women on the trip .. they really don’t matter. The only person I had any connection with was the friend - Celeste - and her concerns about her autistic (probably) daughter. The other two women I just couldn’t wrap my brains about their worlds and why they’re influencers at all. I found the writing/pacing a bit slow - especially since the timeline bounces around a bit (three months before, present, the day before) between the individuals. I did, however, like the conclusion - nice touch there Ms. Hackett. It was an okay read - but I do wish that it had been more thriller-like than it was.

The Perfect Ones is about three influencers, Holly, Celeste & Alabama, whose paths cross on a promotional trip to Iceland. However, they already know about one another in the world of Instagram and influencing. But are those mere projections or instant judgements? How much do jealousy, envy, and desperation guide their actions? All of this comes into question when Alabama is missing.

The Yaays: The pacing. Nicole Hackett has done well in deconstructing the three pivotal characters across a linear timeframe centred around months and weeks before and after the Iceland trip. The detailed narratives of the Icelandic landscapes deported me to the beautiful country. I appreciated the connections made between scenery and deciphering the inner thoughts/motives of the characters, which was a cherry on top, especially in the realm of influencing and social media. Also, The tense interactions between all three characters were well written.

The Nays: The ending. Certain breakthroughs appeared promising, but the final climax was underwhelming. For me, it somehow fell flat. I felt I was told that I landed at the end of the book rather than being guided there.

Thank you, NetGalley & Crooked Lane Books, for giving me an ARC. This honest review is left voluntarily.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

This book is about three women striving for perfection and popularity as influencer’s on the internet. Each woman has her flaws and secrets not shared with their followers. They all go on a trip to Iceland and one of them disappears under mysterious circumstances. This story follows these women before and after the incident. All their secrets are exposed.
Each woman has her own time line in the book which is confusing initially . A slow burn, but an interesting read.
4 stars

Instagram influencers are in Iceland. Each has their own reasons why this trip was necessary , to their brand, to them succeeding in this cutthroat business. One of these women goes missing. The others are left to find answers and face a few truths.

This book had it all for me, but somewhere along the pages, it lost its appeal. Everything started to blur in my mind, making it difficult to separate the different characters that, to be honest, felt they were all the same. At a point, I couldn't care anymore what happened to Alabama.
The way that it is written was a bit confusing to me. Not only all the characters would become one in my mind, but the jumps in time were also just too much.

I did enjoy the insight it gives into the life behind staged Social Media content and the real people behind the accounts, but the thriller part and the getting involved with the mystery were just lost to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

The Perfect Ones is an intriguing mystery about a demanding influencer that goes missing on a group trip in Iceland.
Thank you Crooked Lane Books for the digital review copy.

Before and after timeline of a woman who’s gone missing while on a trip in Iceland. The chapters alternately relate each character’s life. Apparently I’m in the Baby Boomer group, far removed from what I believe are the Millennial women featured in this mystery. Hollie, Alabama and Celeste are Social Media influencers. These women post their lives online for followers and ‘likes’. They only reveal their best lives, nothing about troubled marriages, difficult young children, insecurities, pudgy tummies, flabby arms, cheating and jealousy. The women were varied and each has her own secrets and genuine traits. There were jaw dropping scenes and threads left tangled.
The book exposes the perils of perfection, the consequences of displaying everything online. The plot lends itself to self-reflection and hard questions about what is really important. I haven’t read this author previously, enjoyed the story’s concept. The expected publication date is May 02, 2023.
Thanks to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy of “The Perfect Ones” by Nicole Hackett and to Crooked Lane Books. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without compensation.

This was a very good book. I loved how the scenery of Iceland played such an important role in the story. The relationships between the characters were interesting and the end includes the perfect amount of resolution and mystery.

Twisty, and unputdownable, with its Iceland setting that shimmers off the page. The hook is immediately compelling: influencers meet for a sponsored trip, and one of them goes missing... Stellar writing, and I was invested in the characters, and the secrets and lies between them. Definitely a must-read!

Hollie is a successful influencer, with over 1 million followers on Instagram, a gorgeous husband and an apparently enviable life. Celeste is also a successful influencer, but behind the scenes she is increasingly preoccupied with her five-year-old daughters' issues and persistent feelings of rage against her husband. Celeste's friend Alabama wishes she were a successful influencer and wants nothing more than to emulate Hollie's success. For very different reasons and bringing with them very different problems, the three influencers at the centre of this story travel to Iceland on a promotional trip. While there, disaster strikes when Alabama goes missing.

The Perfect Ones is told from the perspective of each of the three women, with the time period skipping between before and after Alabama's disappearance. I found the opening of this book very gripping. I've read a few books recently involving influencer culture and The Perfect One seemed to be explore how motivations and desires differ within the influencer community. However, I did find that the book got a bit lost towards the end. The final denouement was a bit underwhelming given how it had been built up out and, honestly, for a bunch of influencers, they didn't really seem to spend much time on their phones or taking photos. In particular, although Celeste was one of my favourite characters in the book, I did not buy her being a successful influencer at all.

This was a good summer read that would have been great if it had stuck the landing a bit better.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy of this book.

I was excited to read this book because the idea of influencers on a trip sounds like there would be lots of drama. I liked each character individually, especially the backstory and the parts of the book that reveal their inner thoughts. Unfortunately, I didn't love the way the characters interacted with each other. The interactions didn't make sense, and I wasn't a fan of the ending. Thanks for the advance review copy. Although I didn't love this story, the writing style was good, and I would consider reading another book by this author.

Influencers and a trip gone wrong. Sounds like a modern day dream book to me! I really enjoyed this and all of the twists and turns that came along with the story. If you think you know, trust me you don't.

This book was unbelievably intriguing and suspenseful! Be prepared for twists and turns. You may think you’ve got it all figured out but you likely aren’t expecting these kinds of plot twists!

This book sounded like exactly what I love to read. I was so excited for this one. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. I wasn’t a fan of the writing or the way things were explained. I couldn’t keep an interested in the story and I found myself bored at times. I put it down around the 40% mark but by the time I thought I was ready to come back to the book, I just couldn’t get grabbed this time either. Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. Out of respect for the author, I will not be posting a review on social media.

I felt like this is more like a slow-burn thriller, not a fast-paced one.
The beginning felt slow-ish, but it did pick the pace up by the end of the book, yet it still did not feel like a fast-paced read.
The feminist in me was not loving the female characters of the book, nor their relationships, and the way they treated each other. Also, I usually look for something relatable in every book I read, in every character there is. In this book? Unfortunately, there were none. Nothing relatable. At least not for me.
The twist at the end was sort of redeeming though, it made the whole book somewhat so much more enjoyable. This definitely was an ok read in the end.

I normally love novels like this. They are my guilty pleasure and influencers are so interesting to me.
But I couldn't relate to this at all. I felt nothing for any of the characters or the setting.

This was a very good plot. Very modern and new. It was an interesting plot. I enjoyed watching it play out. There were lots of twists and turns. Just when I thought I new what was coming they threw a ball changer. Very well written.

A group of influencers invited on a sponsored trip which suddenly goes awry when one of the dies...this storyline peaked my interest from the start. I found it slow off the start but then developed into an interesting read (especially towards the end). Overall, it's a quick and easy read. The author does a great job in keeping you guessing. When I thought that I'd figured it out, it would turn out that I was very wrong. Would recommend.

Thanks to Crooked Lane & NetGalley for the ARC.

I was initially intrigued by the plot: a group of influencers go on a PR trip in Iceland and one goes missing. I loved the Iceland setting particularly because I loved my trip there a few years ago. But, I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likable or super compelling and I predicted the ending SUPER early so it ended up falling flat and being pretty anti climactic in my opinion.

Still a pretty easy read, with some interesting social commentary. Gave me sort of a “Big Little Lies” vibe with being a slow burn suspense more than a fast paced thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Damn, talk about drama! This had it in SPADES! Couldn't put this down and was shocked by the outcome. Really enjoyed this from start to finish!