This is a new favorite thriller. I don’t say that lightly, as it has to really slap for me to stay interested these days. This did exactly what I needed. It was so compulsively readable + juicy from page one & gave subtle Lucia & Mia White Lotus season 2 vibes - but make it LA edition.

The story starts off with Summer and Leo, a sexy duo who live off the grid as grifters and con artists all down the coast of California. They con rich men and chosen marks with their seductive looks and practiced charm. (Plus a bit of calculated pick pocketing)

The story has dual POVs and flips back and forth between the two best friends as they are hurled into the exclusive world of tech billionaires. But of course things aren’t quite what they seem, and a mystery develops with high stakes and danger ahead. I refuse to give anything else away because I enjoyed the suspense and various turns this book made and would be a terrible person to ruin it for other readers. 😌 Just know, it’s good.

I loved the themes of found family in this one and the sisterhood that developed between Leo and Summer. I really felt for the characters and was fully immersed from start to finish. I officially want to read all of Wendy Heard’s backlist. I’m a fan.

4.5 stars rounded up. What a fast paced and captivating story. From the very beginning, I was all in, ready to know what was going to happen next. Nomadic, con-artists looking for their next big score from LA's richest. If that doesn't sound interesting enough, one of them goes missing after having a date with a billionaire and the other ends up on his private island looking for her. It's the perfect summer, popcorn thriller with a "locked door" setting, a beautiful island with only yourself to trust. It's told in 2 POVs and the switching is timed perfectly. I figured pretty much all of the twists out but the story was so engaging, I didn't care, I still HAD to know how it would all end. The ending was very satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a story! This was such an engaging read for me. Summer and Leo are a great pair and Summer was a character whose mind I really felt I understood.

I was into the book from the very beginning. I love the way the author crafted the story and the shifting POVs worked really well. I had a sense of “something isn’t right” pretty early on and I found that to be impressive on behalf of the author to be able to make me actually physically feel that, like a pit in my stomach. The story unfolded beautifully and I just couldn’t put the story down until I know what happened to everyone.

There was one loose end that I wish I had more information on, but not a huge deal! This was definitely a 5/5 for me and I’ll recommend it to tons of different readers. This would make a great book club pick. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review You Can Trust Me. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

From the first few chapters, I thought I was going to be reading another book about con artists and how these two girls live their nomadic lives. To some extent I did, but You Can Trust Me was a lot more than that. Told in alternating POV's and unfolding over mostly a long weekend, both sides of the story slowly build to the twist. I had guessed the twist, but not to the extent that Heard created; which felt exaggerated and a little to much for me. You Can Trust Me would be a book to grab when you're looking for an easy read that will keep your attention.
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Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Listen up readers. There is a method to reading this book.

Step 1. Get a nice cup of green tea with roasted dandelion, add lemon.

Step 2. Get your favorite pillow, so you can make frequent adjustment changes.

Step 3. Make sure you have your most favorite of blankets with you, temperature drops at night you know!

Step 4. Flop down on your favorite spot on your couch, get comfortable, arrange blanket and pillow. Are you comfy enough? You sure?
OK! So open the book and dive right in.

Step 5. Don't move until you have finished the entire book.

This was the method to madness with Heards spellbinding thriller.
The lengths that one would go through to save a friend.
Then the amazing ending, that ending. HOLY COW!! Yellow dress and ALL, This guy was beyond PSYCHOTIC,
Even the title is creepy when you finish the book and think about the yellow dress, what it signified. 😲🤯

Extremely well written!!

Thank you, NetGalley/Wendy Heard /Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam/ For this "INCREDIBLE" eARC in advance for my honest review. My opinions are of my own volition.

I always love a good con story. Throw in a dang good mystery, and I’m sold. Both of the main characters were so easy to love, and hate. Their friendship was so interesting, because they leaned so heavily on each other, even though deeply down they hated each other but needed to other one.

My only complaint was that it was almost too young adult for me. The writing was amazing, but it was on the line for being an adult book.

Love the cover, love the story line. Highly recommend this one!

If you are looking for a fun, fast paced psychological thriller to get lost in then you should definitely read You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard. The story is told between both main characters, Summer and Leo. I love when you get to read from multiple viewpoints. This was definitely the kind of story that you wanted to be able to. I was easily absorbed into their world and especially their time on the island. I couldn’t wait to see how it all played out. It is the type of book that you can picture as a movie. Grab your popcorn and dive in! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for the ARC!!

I really enjoyed this book. It was the first one that I read by this author. I would recommend to others who like mystery books.

"You Can Trust Me" by Wendy Heard is the perfect summer beach read. It is entertaining with lots of twists and turns, interesting characters, and a healthy dose of girl power. This book is a great way to spend a lazy summer afternoon.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Leo and Summer live a life of adventure in the back of a Land Cruiser, traveling the California coast like nomads. Summer is an expert pickpocket, which she learned at a young age, growing up with her hippie mom in San Francisco. She and Leo are con artists putting themselves in danger for the next big fish!
They decide to con a billionaire, but when Leo doesn't return from a trip with said billionaire, Summer must find her friend!
Summer has a strong literary voice that draws you into her world of deceit. Leo's story is intriguing as well but I found Summer to be the dynamic character to follow. The book took me on the ride of my spring! I was never sure which way to look and my head was spinning. The story is filled with tension and suspense!
4 stars for Wendy Heard!

A solid 3.5 stars for a great summer thriller read. This story follows two best friends and grifters, Summer and Leo, as they go after their next mark. Things go wrong when Leo disappears, and Summer sets out to infiltrate the exclusive world and private island of the billionaire Michael Forrester to find and save her friend. I don't want to give away too much because there are a fair number of twists along the way, but this was a quick and fun read. I really enjoyed the relationship between Summer and Leo and only wish we had gotten as much background on Leo.

This is the first book that I have read by this author, and I look forward to checking out their back catalog. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A fun popcorn thriller for summer! This was easy to read, with lots of twists and turns. I would have liked a little more development with Michael’s part of the story but overall enjoyable

A quick plot that flips between narrators and timelines, You Can Trust Me had me hooked and interested right from the beginning.
Summer and Leo are bound to each other like sisters. They only have each other and when Leo disappears with billionaire, Michael Forrester, Summer does what she needs to figure out where Leo is. As the plot quickly unfolds, we find out not everyone is who they say they are.
Good head. Recommended.

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam in exchange for my honest review

I just finished reading "You Can Truse Me" by Wendy Heard. Thank you to Random House Publishing and Net Galley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fast paced and adventurous, sometimes hard to read, story about two friends, Summer and Leo who live life on the edge, scamming people for money so that they can survive day to day in Californie. Both women have heartbreaking backstories that make them rootable, expecially Leo. Summer scams people by picpocketing them, and Leo who is beautiful and has lots ;of sex appeal, goes after rich men with lots of money and when they fall for her, she takes off with something of theirs that she can use to cash in. Leo decides to scam a local billionaire named Michael Forrester, so she arranges an evironment for him to notice her. When he does, Michael not only invites her to a private party (with Summe3r), but after invites Leo to his private island, which Leo agrees to (because the sex is great and he seems like the perfect target) But...then Leo and Summer lose contace with each other which worries Summer so much that she arranges a trip to this mysterious island to search for Leo.
What happens at the island is where the mystery begins. We find out alot about Michael and Summer and Leo and how they are all connected. There were parts of this book that were uncomfortable to read, but it does set up who these characters really are. I will say this...things are never what they seem.
What I loved about this story was the genuine relationship between these two women and the lengths they will go to to protect each other. It was nice to see that their loyalty to each other never wavered. I also really liked their backstories. It made me want them to be happy and safe.
What I didn't like were some of the uncomfortable scenes that took place on the island. To say anymore would be to give away too much of the story.
It turns out, as the title suggest, the only person or people you can trust is yourself and your true friends. I recommend ths book because of the strong female camaraderie and love between the two main characters. I also loved the ending. I will say that every character in the end got what they deserved...including Summer and Leo.
Happy Reading.

Leo and Summer are best friends, living out of the back of a converted vehicle along the coast of California. Summer is a veteran pickpocket, supplementing their cash by relieving others of theirs while Leo plays the part of sugar baby to rich men. Then Leo disappears after a weekend with the private billionaire Michael Forrester. Summer finagles herself an invite to the exclusive investors weekend and goes on the hunt to find her missing friend, all the while wondering if maybe, this time, Leo has left her behind to fend for herself.

I LOVED this book. Summer and Leo are those party girls you wish you were, or at least wish you knew. The twists and turns in this one are delightful, and keep you guessing what is going to happen next. Leo is dead, no she isn't, wait, where is Leo? Friends become enemies only to be friends again. This is probably my favorite of Wendy Heard's books so far. She just keeps getting better and better.
This is definiately a book you want to pick up if you love rich people behaving badly, good for her, private islands, and well paced and plotted thrillers.

Incredible read! The bond between Summer and Leo is a strong and beautiful friendship. I loved the twists and turns of this story. Superb! First book I have read by Wendy Heard and it will definitely not be my last!

Summer and Leo are two young women living on the California coastline, sleeping in their Land Cruiser, and surviving on wit, cunning, and grift. Summer is a skilled pickpocket, and Leo is a master at manipulating men with her charm and beauty. When Leo sets her sights on tech billionaire Michael Forrester for her next big score, they both get more than they bargained for. Leo goes missing from Michael’s private island, and Summer must infiltrate the echelon of the ultra-rich to find her friend.

I was riveted by this sizzling summer thriller! The character development is on point; while Summer and Leo aren’t exactly likeable, their backstories make them sympathetic, and I loved their closer-than-sisters friendship. The luxe island setting is creepy as hell, with electric fences and no way off the island until the conclusion of the weekend. This book is a real page turner, action packed and relentlessly paced. Totally bingeable and perfect for enjoying by the pool this summer!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me an advance copy of this book.

A fast paced fun thriller, with the friendship of two women more like sisters, working their next con on the multi rich Michael. Even though this book played out pretty predictably, I found the writing style and pacing of a thriller intriguing enough to keep the pages turning for me.
The only thing that really bothered me about it, was the dumb decisions the main character Summer kept making, even though she kept being portrayed like she should be such a smart character. Like the type of character in the horror film who seems to keep wanting to go into the basement or up the stairs and not out the front door or into the running car.
It was a fun mystery thriller but don’t plan to grab this one if you’re looking for any twists that would surprise you- 3.5 stars- if you’re looking for an easy beach read for summer- this could be the one for you!

You Can Trust Me is the second book by Wendy Heard that I've read this year. She jumps from YA to adult thriller/mystery and did it with 2 female main characters that I wasn't too sure about.
Leo and Summer are two women that con their way out of life. Summer is basically a professional pick pocketer and Leo has learned a bit from Summer to be in the long con game with rich men. But these two work together to survive. They live out of their car that they've made into a home, all while trying to give off the 'rich California vibe' for their cons.

Told from both Leo and Summer's POV and from their past and now present lives, we slowly uncover what happened in their pasts that made them into the people they are today. How they became homeless, how they used their "skills" to lie, cheat and steal to survive and how these two needed each other more than they knew.

While I wasn't 100% sure about either of these characters at the beginning, the past allowed me to understand them better and to root for these girls that had their youths taken from them in very different yet drastic ways. Once these two are in the game of a long con for Leo, I was curious how Summer would react and she did not disappoint. Two women taken separately to a secluded California island have to learn to survive and use their 'skills' they were given without technology on their side. When Leo has picked her mark and then goes missing, the story turned into something much darker and sinister than either of them could've imagined. How far would each of them go for each other?

This story started off with a slow build that got me intrigued by the two women, even if I wasn't too sure about either of them. I got to know their game and plan, but didn't necessarily like them. Once the marks and island came into play, I couldn't put this book down. I had to know more and had to know how it would end. These two women were stripped of their power when it came to the island and the people that were there with them, but I couldn't look away and had to know how they were going to pull themselves together and find what they needed in order to make it out alive.

A thrilling and exciting ride that I didn't want to get off of, You Can Trust Me is an action-packed story of friendship and morals with a twist. It will keep you on your toes and have you rooting for these "Robin Hood" type characters to make it out alive and successful.

Summer and also live on the road; no home, no responsibility, and nobody to answer to make them the perfect pair. But when they set their sights on a tech billionaire as their next conquest, they realize they are in over their heads. A weekend on a private island reveals secrets and connections nobody ever saw coming, and they might not make it out alive.