What happened to Leo? Summer, the girl who knows her best, will do anything to find that out.

Summer and Leo met on the street, and learned how to run cons together. All was going well until Leo became the girlfriend of a rich man, Michael, and then disappears.

I loved the alternating chapters told by Summer and Leo and kept reading to find out what happened—a thrilling ride.

You Can Trust Me was such a fun, fast paced thriller! My only struggle with this book was that I didn’t want to do anything else but read this book all day! If you watched the White Lotus season 2 last year; this book kind of gave me vibes of Mia and Lucia which was really fun to read. This was one of the best, keep you on your toes thrillers I have read in a long time! I look forward to reading more from this author!

WOW. If you're going to read this, set aside the full day so you don't have to stop reading. I was ADDICTED. This is told from two POV, a few days a part, and wow, that's all I'm going to say so I don't ruin it.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

You can't trust anyone. This is the perfect easy, beach read. It is quick, doesn't get too deep and just is a fun adult thriller. It may still ready a little YA but, very good!

Summer and Leo are best friends and would do anything for each other. Summer, abandoned by her free spirit mother as a teenager, took Leo in when she found her panhandling one day. From that day forward, they have survived by doing petty crimes and trying to con the rich together. So, it was no surprise when Leo, eager for a big score, latches on to the tech billionaire, Michael Forrester. It is also no surprise when Leo is swept away to Michael’s private island. But, when Leo doesn’t answer any of Summer’s texts and when she doesn’t return from the island, Summer gets worried. Summer’s plan: to infiltrate the island, look for Leo, and get out. While infiltrating the island is easy, finding Leo isn’t. Met with more questions than answers, Summer intensifies her search. What happened to Leo? Can Summer find her? Will Summer (and possibly Leo) be able to escape the island?

I am a big fan of psychological thrillers. They make up about 75% of what I read (the other 25% is split between romances, dystopia, mystery, and different genres). So, when I kept seeing You Can Trust Me floating around the blogosphere, I knew this book would be right up my alley. I am glad I read this book because it was a great read!!

You Can Trust Me is a fast-paced book set mainly in Los Angeles and an island off Catalina Island’s coast. The fast pace of this book suited the storyline. Why? Because You Can Trust Me takes place within a week of Leo disappearing. Any slower pace would have ruined the storyline.

You Can Trust Me has dual 1st person POV storylines. The storylines break into Summer and Leo right from the beginning. But then the author does something interesting. She goes back a few days to detail what Leo was doing while keeping Summer’s POV in the present. I liked that. It upped the thriller aspect of the book and kept me guessing what would happen next.

You Can Trust Me has two major storylines and one significant secondary storyline introduced about halfway through. The two major storylines are centered around Summer and Leo. The author details their backgrounds and how they ended up together. Then the storyline splits between Summer’s search for Leo and Leo’s time on the island. The back and forth between the two storylines was almost exhausting in places, and I was on edge, wondering if Summer would find Leo.

The author introduced the secondary storyline halfway through the book. I didn’t think anything of this storyline until it exploded towards the end of the book. There was a point where I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was absorbed when Summer and Leo’s storylines were merged back together.

I liked Summer, even if she did some questionable things. I did find her backstory very sad. She was born without a birth certificate, and her mother refused to tell Summer her last name or anything about her (the mother’s past). Summer was left to fend for herself when her mother abandoned her when she was sixteen. Without a birth certificate or a last name, Summer had limited choices of what she could do to support herself. Becoming a petty criminal was the most straightforward and obvious choice. So, I understood why she felt she needed to do something when Leo disappeared. Going to the police wasn’t even a thought. She was going to save her friend.

I liked Leo, too. Her backstory was even more tragic than Summer’s. Leo lived with an overwhelming sense of guilt. She was the last person to talk to her sister before her sister was found dead in a forest. She blamed herself, and it did seem like her parents blamed her too. Leo’s way of dealing with her trauma was to leave. I liked Leo’s enthusiasm for the crimes that she did with Summer. She was desperate to get a big score, so she took the chance with Michael.

I was very cautious about Michael. He seemed almost too good to be true. I am going to leave it there because, well, anything else about Michael will be a huge spoiler.

The psychological thriller angle of the book was well-written, and it kept my attention. I invested in both Summer’s and Leo’s stories.

The mystery angle of You Can Trust Me was terrific. Again, I can’t go into why but I will say that a couple of massive twists surprised me towards the end of the book. I was internally screeching when the author revealed everything; that is how explosive everything was.

The end of You Can Trust Me did disappoint me. After everything that happened, it was a letdown. I was expecting some closure with a couple of the storylines, but the only closure I got was with Summer’s. Again, I can’t go into details because of spoilers but arrrggggh!!!

I would recommend You Can Trust Me to anyone over 21. There is language, moderate violence, and moderate sexual situations (the actual sex scenes were fade to black).

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam, NetGalley, and Wendy Heard for allowing me to read and review You Can Trust Me. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

You Can Trust Me is about the bond of friendship between two different ladies and how they pull through a difficult time together. Both Summer and Leo are con artists who are constantly looking for opportunities to take advantage of. When the beautiful Leo meets the well-known millionaire Michael Forrester, she manages to wow him with her attractiveness, and he subsequently extends an invitation to visit his private island. At that point, she vanishes, and Summer is forced to take charge of the hunt for her friend who went missing. She makes up her mind that she will locate her friend regardless of the circumstances.

The narrative is told in the first person from the perspectives of both of the main characters. In addition, there are two different timeframes. In the beginning, I felt that this book would not work for me because I am not a huge fan of multiple perspectives and different timeframes, but I am delighted to say that I did not experience any difficulties or confusion while reading this intriguing thriller. I found it to be really engaging. The reader was given a look into these ladies' pasts and why they are the way they are by learning their backstories, which were both entertaining and vital.

I feel the fast pace of the story contributed a lot to making it quite entertaining as well as having an effective impact. To be honest, it is really hard nowadays to find a good mystery thriller, as most of them disappoint. I’m glad I decided to read this one. If you are looking for something interesting, entertaining, and fast-paced, then this would be a good choice.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam & NetGalley for allowing me to read this book

I unfortunately did not like this one, I actually had to DNI. It didn’t grab my attention. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for a thriller, I think I was expecting something else, but it was not for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the Wendy Heard to allow me the opportunity of getting this advanced copy.

You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard

Summer and Leo are thieves. Leo meets billionaire Michael and sees dollar signs. She meets up with him at a hotel then disappears. Summer gets worried when she doesn’t come back. She hears that Leo has gone to a private island with Michael and sets out to look for her. When she gets to the island, she gets more than she bargained for.

The book is told in a couple of timelines and from both Summer and Leo’s perspectives which I liked. It gives some of each of their backstories and their take on the current adventure. Leo and Summer are thieves living off the grid and grifting their way up and down California.

I love both characters even though they stole and set men up for the most part. They may have met their match when Michael comes into the picture but the past and present collides, and both come to grips with their lives up until this point. I really enjoyed this thriller. I cared about both Summer and Leo wellbeing throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for a free copy of You Can Trust Me for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

This was a great thriller that gripped me right from the start!

Summer grew up as a nomad who was eventually abandoned by her mother. She meets Leo at her moment of desperation and helps Leo live a better life. One where Leo is no longer starving.

The two begin traveling up and down the California coast in their Land Cruiser. Needing some more funding, Summer sets up her night of pickpocketing while Leo sets up a big con with billionaire Michael Forrester. But things don’t go according to plan.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into this, but I loved the ride. Figuring out who to trust and what happened to these two women was incredibly tormenting. I couldn’t wait to get to the end. Thrillers have often fell short at the end for me, but this one did not! I look forward to more from Wendy Heard.

This was such an awesome thriller. It was a new, fresh premise that I haven't seen and most of the twistiness I did not see coming! I loved both Summer and Leo's perspectives and even though they were grifters and inherently trouble, I trusted them as narrators.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I had been in a thriller rut and this book turned it around for me! I loved the dual timeline that helped to build the plot and the suspense. Even though I did start to put things together by the end, I still enjoyed it!

Summer and Leo traveled around California, doing small-time grifts and thefts to pay their bills. Leo hoped for a big score, charming billionaire philanthropist Michael Forrester into inviting her to his private island. She was hoping for photos to sell to paparazzi or jewelry to steal but instead disappears. Trying to find her, Summer goes to Michael’s island. No one has seen Leo and she's not anywhere. There's only one way on or off the island, so Summer is now trapped there and possibly caught in her own schemes.

Summer was raised by a free spirit mother who camped out and traveled around; she doesn't have a birth certificate or identification and doesn't even know her own birth date. She grifts and pickpockets to maintain living in a van, and Leo joined her in that lifestyle. The two acted like sisters, so Leo's sudden radio silence worries Summer. The island has its own network, cut off from the rest of California, with all electronic devices confiscated. We see her entry and search, intercut with Leo's story to heighten the suspense.

The glitz and glamour of the rich and powerful are what draws in Leo and Summer, but this is a world that has a dark undercurrent. Even the "nice" ones still have a dangerous side to them that's revealed when challenged. The rich are used to getting what they want, and it takes determination to survive that. Summer is clever and will stop at nothing to find Leo and the truth of the weekend on the island. Some questions are never answered, but we know the important answers by the end of it. A tense and well-crafted story from start to finish.

If you like quick reads with unlikable characters and easy to figure out plots, then this book is for you. It’s hard to root for the main characters when both are con artists who don’t hesitate stealing from people. The mystery of the past and how it relates to the present is too easy to figure out about half way through. I was hoping maybe there was some kind of good twist but I was disappointed when there wasn’t.

Wow this book was a rollercoaster. It was tense and filled with suspense, so many twists and turns, and several I never saw coming. ⁣
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We follow Summer and Leo, two con artists who target a billionaire, who doesn’t turn out to be who they were expecting. ⁣
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Summer is so intelligent and intriguing, always thinking ahead and questioning everything. She doesn’t trust anyone but she adores Leo. Most of this book is present day but we get some flashbacks to see why they are the way they are and their history. ⁣
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Leo is beautiful, more quiet, and used to be an athletic country girl. She always has a ton of fight in her and becomes equally as interesting. ⁣
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I had no idea where this story was going at times that I couldn’t stop reading just to see what was going to happen. I was on the edge of my seat. ⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
Add this to your summer TBR! I am picky with books that involve LA, in any form, and I LOVED IT!

The story bounces back and forth from Summer to Leo’s POV and they are both done flawlessly. The narration is easy to follow and both POV are equally as good! There’s a little spice and sass 💁🏼‍♀️ from both characters that made me instantly like them both. I liked that both women went through some difficult things and taking from the Hollywood wealthiest was their survival technique.

I finished in 🎧 book in one drive from LA to San Diego! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you Wendy Heard, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for an honest opinion.

This story follows 2 women, Summer and Leo, who rely on each other’s friendship to get by in life. They have a special bond and would do anything for each other. They live in a Land Cruiser and go place to place pickpocketing and conning rich people. That is, until one day, a con job goes too far and Leo disappears. Summer follows Leo’s footsteps to a private island where she thinks something might have happened to Leo. The story goes on to show just what Summer is willing to do to try and save her best friend.

The story starts out strong. It drew me in and held my interest throughout the book. I liked how the story was told in the present and in the past with POVs from both women. It really helped to build the story. I also enjoyed the setting on the private island.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. 4/5 stars. I would recommend this one to anyone that enjoys a good thriller.

This is a story about two friends who live a nomadic life, drifting through California stealing from rich men, Summer through pickpocketing and Leo with her skills at seducing older men. But their scheme goes awry when Leo goes to one of the men's private island with plans to contact Summer the next day, but then goes missing. Summer must go to the island and find out what hairbrush to her friend.
The gorgeous cover of this book drew me in, then the nonstop action kept me fascinated. I was drawn in by these two unique characters and couldn't wait to find out what happened next. I highly recommend this unique thriller!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was my first time reading anything by @wendydheard After reading this book, I’m so glad I was recommended it by the publisher
This book is perfect. The set up, the pace, the suspense, the ending. I read it in one day because I was hooked from the beginning. Summer and Leo take us on a wild ride as they work together to con a billionaire on his private island. It’s amazing.

YOU CAN TRUST ME follows two women con artists that have worked together for a while as the team up to com a billionaire. One of them disappears when she travels to a private island with him and we follow along to see how/why this happened and if she can be saved. I have really enjoyed the con artist themed books that have come out in recent years, and this one was good too! The back and forth timelines/perspectives made for an intriguing read that kept me guessing. This wasn’t wildly twisty, but it kept my interest and was super readable. There were a *few* times I’d say you need to suspend reality to enjoy it, but it wasn’t outlandish in its plot. I think this is a perfect thriller to add to your beach/pool reading this summer!

I want more from my characters. If you live by the con you should be smarter. If you are a tech giant you should be smarter. Too many things seemed contrived and then it all became really obvious and predictable. I need to get out of this slump.