Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, I am SO disappointed in this one! This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of 2023 and it was a major letdown. The writing felt extremely basic and juvenile, almost like a debut. The voice in this was very similar to the author’s other book The Perfect Marriage, which I also had issues with.

All of the characters were either so bland or so stereotypical that I literally didn’t care for a single person. Everyone was shady and not in a fun way, they just felt as if it was forced. Both of the main POVs were not terribly interesting either. For the first 90%, the book felt like it was trying to be a suspenseful romance and then the last 10% went so far off the rails that it just didn’t work.

Interesting premise, but poor execution. 1.5 stars rounded up to 2 for NetGalley.

I knew as soon as I heard about this book, I had to apply to get the ARC. I loved both the Perfect Marriage and One of Us is Dead so I had high hopes. You start off with what seems like a nice stereotypical movie romance. Girl going away to relax and decompress meets the attractive ranch/farm owner and they fall in love. Well, that wasn't the case in this scenario. From the very beginning, I knew something bad was going to happen. Even though there were little bits of cliff hangers and *gasp* moments, the book was slow for me.

I wanted to love this as even a popcorn thriller. You know fast entertaining reads. This is unfortunately not good. It’s bad writing with skeleton characters with an obvious plot twist that we’ve come to expect from the author.

I have absolutely loved Jeneva Rose and her past books. I had a difficult time staying through until the end, but I still enjoyed the plot and then ending took me by surprise. The setting of this one was interesting and I felt like I could put myself with the characters.

Once finishing this read I honestly just love all of Jeneva's books. I love them all the same i feel perhaps the perfect marriage. Even though there are too many things happening in this book including haunted house theme, massacre of animals, attacks of wild animals, creepy townies, secrets of dysfunctional family, crazy ex one-night stands, you just learn to handle them by wearing your big girl pants! You don’t have a moment to breath out, because tension keeps escalating! Each of the characters is creepier than the other. They seem like suspects. None of them is trustworthy. You keep guessing which one is telling a little more truth. And let’s talk about two narrators: Grace Evans takes a break from her busy life in NY where she works in finance. She throws a dart to the map to decide her next trip and finds herself rent an Airbnb on a ranch in the middle of Wyoming: a cracking house carrying its own darkness, embellished with taxidermies, surrounded by wild animals which are ready to massacre the poor chickens. Grace shouldn’t have gone there! She should have run after spending a day but there’s a catch. The broken hearted, hot as hell homeowner Calvin Wells (second narrator) who likes to get his hands dirty, walking around shirtless, showing his six packs, is absolutely hard to resist. They get connected as soon as they spend some quality time together. But townies are not welcoming Grace with open arms. Grace wants to enjoy her limited time and return back but there are so many things make her alert instead of townies including absence of Wi-fi, a missing woman who also booked a room at Calvin’s place and lately her car stops working. As her last day approaches Calvin acts more dramatic as if he won’t let her go This is a MUST read. .

Grace Evans is looking to escape Manhattan and ends up in a rural part of Wyoming at an Airbnb, She meets Calvin, the owner and rancher and begins to learn that country life may not be so bad vs the rat race of the city. A slight romance begins, but then Grace starts feeling suffocated. Calvin is hiding something and she is determined to find out what that exactly is. There is no cell service in this remote location, The police start to investigate a missing woman that was supposed to have checked in prior to Grace. Calvin starts to monitor Grace's every move, but Grace is trapped.. Will she be able to escape or will she fall victim too Calvin?

Jeneva Rose is amazing! I started reading her once the whole "Scott saga" started on tiktok and now I want to read everything she writes! This one is a new top favorite and I know everyone (except Scott) is going to agree!

My Ranking: 4 stars

I was given a digital copy from NetGalley

There were several things that bugged me about this book BUT DAMN! It was good. I felt like she did an info dump with their descriptions right in the beginning so that was kind of annoying. But she made up for it with everything else. I was constantly suspecting EVERYONE. No one was safe in my eyes everyone was a suspect. But I will say I did not see that ending coming. I’m usually pretty good at guessing but this one I did not. I really liked both the Main characters. I would recommend this book and sell it in my store!

I so wanted to like this book because I really liked "The Perfect Marriage" by Jeneva Rose.

Sadly - this was a HUGE miss for me. I mean - how this can be called a mystery/suspense/thriller would be wrong in my humble opinion.

The way Grace chooses her vacations every year is she throws a dart at a map of the United States and she goes wherever the dart lands - and I mean wherever! This year, she decides to stay at an Airbnb in the middle of NOWHERE Wyoming .... and the male host is living there the whole time. I mean....how many women do you know that would do this???

Calvin is the host of this Airbnb and things are "off" from the get-go. Grace's spidey senses should have been going off big time (and she kept saying that she felt things were wack) and she should have gotten out of there from the time she felt things were just weird.

Now, this is probably me, but this book for the first two-thirds really read like a freaking romance novel. I mean so much of how gorgeous, blonde, blue-eyed, hot body, perfect Grace is and how much of a stud Calvin is.

So the whole "will they/won't they" got old and this just isn't the kind of book I signed up for. If I want romance, I'll read a romance book. (again, this is my preference).

The reason I rated this book so low was because of how predictable it was, corny, the "twist" wasn't really a twist (and it felt forced) and there were so many plot holes and things we never got the answers to.

I would have DNF'd but I kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. This is one you can pass.

I think Jeneva Rose is a fantastic person. I follow her on social media and find her hilarious, but this book was a huge miss for me. I feel guilty for the thoughts I am about to release, but here it goes.

The storyline was unqiue and held a lot of potential, but the execution fell flat for me. Told in dual POV, You Shouldn’t Have Come Here is a romantic thriller, following main characters Grace and Calvin. Grace has a tradition where each year she throws a dart at a map, and takes a vacation wherever the dart lands. Fate leads her to stay with Calvin at his rural Airbnb in Wyoming. The pair develops a relationship while spending time camping and fishing, but both characters are highly suspicious of each other.

The first 60% of this book I was bored to tears. I would have DNF’d it, but I have a severe case of fear of missing out, and I know this one will be a hot seller when it’s released. The later parts of the novel finally start to pick up in intensity. I know some readers will enjoy it, but it missed the mark for me. The dialogue felt immature, and while I love an unreliable narrator, I didn’t believe or appreciate either of the characters' actions or motives.

I do applaud the *big twist* at the end. That was gutsy of the author and certainly not expected- so unexpected that it felt like it belonged in an entirely different novel.

Reading is such a subjective experience and I may be in the minority in my dislike of this novel. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was very slow and nothing really happens until like the 80% mark. The ending was pretty good but not really that surprising.

I loved this book! I will definitely recommend it. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I've read and enjoyed most of Jeneva's work and have really enjoyed how mystery/thriller focused they are, so I was so excited when she announced she was releasing another thriller with a killer premise.

From my perspective this one felt like it fell victim to mismarketing a little bit, and was much more romance heavy than I expected (or honestly wanted) so that threw things off for me majorly from the start. This is likely an unpopular opinion though, purely because I'm really not a fan of romance in my thrillers unless I go into the book expecting it (e.g. Verity) and am able to adjust my mindset going in.

If you have enjoyed Jeneva's previous work and like romance in your books, definitely check it out! Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for my review digital and physical copies!

5 Stars!! Jeneva Rose is an outstanding writer who puts her heart and soul in each book that she writes. You shouldn't have come here was a page turner and a book that was hard to put down to even get some sleep. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Reading You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose felt like I was watching a horror comedy or horror parody film. This was a quick read, and I enjoyed the alternating POV of our two main characters, Grace and Calvin. This was the type of story where every chapter you’ll be thinking: GRACE, NO! GET OUT OF THERE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! Grace books a remote Airbnb in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming for a vacation (sketch) and finds out on DAY ONE that there is no cell phone service or WiFi and there are reports of a missing woman in the area. The small-town feel was spot on and full of unreliable and weird townies.

Between a lot of over-the-top horror/comedic elements in this book, the first half is filled with a lot of slow burn moments and a lot of internal thoughts from Grace and Calvin about their feelings for one another. They are definitely that couple you would not want to hang out at parties with. As a reader who loves both romance and mystery/thrillers, I felt this was a good mix of romance and suspense, but the creepy atmospheric setting really stole the show. Similar to how I felt about certain plot twists and the ending of The Perfect Marriage, Jeneva Rose will dazzle you with lots of twists and turns in You Shouldn’t Have Come Here. I’ll definitely be recommending this book to patrons and book club members when it releases in April 2023.

After loving The Perfect Marriage, I’ve been eagerly waiting for Jeneva’s next thriller to shock me like that one did. This one, while mysterious, wasn’t what I was expecting. It was more of a romance than I ever would’ve thought based on this being marketed as a thriller. I’m very mixed on how I felt about it because of what I thought I was getting compared to what I got.

i couldn’t put this down and was really into it!! but i think it ended too quickly without much explanation. i would’ve loved a few more chapters seeing THOSE two with their real personalities 👀

🌳YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE COME BERE by Jeneva Rose🌳

📆Pub date: April 25, 2023
➡️Swipe for synopsis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Read if you like:
💔Romantic suspense
2️⃣Dual POV
🌳Remote setting

I am super conflicted about this book because while I was intrigued and really wanted to see the ending, I can’t say I enjoyed the journey or the end. It almost felt like the whole story was a waste because the ending was soooo out of nowhere and none of the character development or context clues would have led to that ending🙃

There was a very unnecessary plot-line of a character off their meds that did not sit right with me. I am honestly tired of authors using mental illness as a plot device to make a character seem “crazy” or untrustworthy. I do see why people liked this book because it was a quick, easy to digest book. But it just didn’t work for me🤷‍♀️

Thank you @netgalley and @blackstonepublishing for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!

"It was a spark like when you jump-start a car. The two cables. They're electric."

Are you looking for more riveting writing like the above quote? Do you enjoy trope-filled romance thrillers? Can you ignore plot holes and get down with a naive ditzy protagonist who ignores red flags?! If you answered yes to any of those questions this book might be for you!

Unfortunately, I am apparently a snob who can't handle these things without gagging muse.

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here is the third book I have read by Jeneva Rose and unfortunately, I think it will be my last. I didn’t care for either of the other two books I have read by her and this one actually would rank lower for me than the other two. I think she is a great person. I love all her social media so I really wanted to enjoy her books more.

There is one particular trend in thriller books that I absolutely cannot stand and I can’t go into it because it would be a massive spoiler and this book actual does it in two ways. There were giant plot holes that I kept waiting on a resolution for. The last chunk felt like a completely different book. The whole book kind of took its time and even though I wasn’t the biggest fan, I was engaged. There was actually a scene at a party that was super unsettling in such a fantastic way, I thought the book was going to lean more heavily in that direction. It just didn’t and it ended up going in a direction I didn’t enjoy.

I know people are gonna love this book and I am definitely going to be in the minority in disliking it. This author just doesn’t work for me and that’s fine! Reading is so subjective. I just now know not to read anything else from this author.