This book was a hard one. A child loosing their mother is terrible. Finding her body and being told she was murdered is horrific. Watching them arrest your dad with no evidence leaving you an orphaned is unacceptable. This was Simone’s life. It wasn’t always this bad. Before this tragedy she had her best friend. The neighbor from next door. A few years older and always out to protect her from mean kids and being out of place in a rich white neighborhood. Her dad is serving life and now that she’s an adult she’s trying desperately to prove he didn’t do this! One day she accidentally runs in to her hero from childhood, her best friend! And the things she finds out puts every relationship she has from work to friends and family to the ultimate test. Will any of them survive her vigilance to get justice for her father. And finally have the closure she thinks she desperately needs? You should read this and find out! I want to thank NetGalley and Harlequin for allowing me access to this EARC!

"Perfect Little Lives" is an absolutely stunning and captivating read, showcasing a fantastic narrative voice that skillfully weaves an enthralling story. The book's ability to maintain a high level of tension, even when the main question is answered relatively early on, speaks volumes about its brilliant storytelling.

The characters in the novel are deeply human, flawed, and capable of significant mistakes that inflict harm upon each other. However, they are also bound together by an intense loyalty and an unwavering pursuit of justice that stems from familial devotion. The cast is compellingly portrayed, making the reader emotionally invested in their journey.

While the book's strength lies in its character-driven narrative, it can also be its drawback. The apparent revelation of the culprit before the first act concludes might frustrate some readers. Yet, this decision could be seen as a reflection of social commentary and commentary on societal assumptions, rather than a pacing or plotting error. Despite this, the novel remains a compelling and thought-provoking read.

The story delves into social commentary with a somewhat heavy-handed reveal of workplace conflict. Although there is an attempt to introduce another supposed reveal, it might not hold the impact the author intended due to its predictability. Nevertheless, the skillful plotting that treats something expected as a twist, rather than resorting to incoherent surprises, is commendable and showcases the author's respect for the readers.

"Perfect Little Lives" is undeniably compulsively readable, fueled by righteous fury that simmers beneath the surface. This gripping novel should not be missed, as it leaves a lasting impact on the reader's mind and heart.#PerfectLittleLives #NetGalley

I enjoyed the plot and the writing, but I felt that the frequent, graphic sex scenes were overkill and kind ruined the story.

I received this as an advanced copy from NetGalley

Simone lost her mother 10 years ago, and her father is in prison charged with her murder. She runs into her former neighbor and best friend Hunter, which rekindles her determination to figure out who really killed her mother. She discovers her mother was having an affair with Hunters father,

How far will she go to find evidence that will clear her father? This is a great story, I have to admit I figured out who the murderer was pretty early on, but still was a great story!

Wow wow did I ever love this book! It was smart and twisty and had me guess who did it until the very end. I thought the authors point of view tell this story was super fresh and unlike anything I’ve read before. Simone was such a dynamic, real and rawly honest story teller sharing her experiences from the murder of her mother to her father being found guilty of doing it and being in prison. I was totally absorbed in the story and could not wait to finish it to find out the ending

Perfect Little Lives is a stunning, captivating read with a fantastic narrative voice. That it so effectively builds tension even when the answer to the biggest question becomes obvious—fairly early on, in fact—speaks to its brilliant storytelling. Populated by a deeply human characters who fuck up massively, hurt each other, but are bound by the fierce loyalty and burning rage for justice of familial devotion, the cast is always compellingly rendered.
The singular drawback lies in this same strength, however; the fact that the culprit is extremely apparent before the first act is over, but our narrator forges straight past the eighty percent mark as if this is not the case, is mildly infuriating in a less poignant way than the rest of the novel is. While this is not necessarily a pacing or plotting error, as it gestures towards social commentary that is somewhat heavy-handedly alluded to in a workplace conflict reveal shortly before, it's likely to frustrate readers (particularly when paired with another supposed reveal that insinuates another obvious aspect is meant to be a twist, which makes it seem less that the dragging-out of the other is less a characterization choice and commentary on societal assumptions and more an attempt to surprise readers, which it does not). That said, it is still infinitely preferable for something that does not feel like a twist to be treated as one than to be blindsided by something narratively incoherent for the sake of an unforeseen twist, so I respect the plotting more and not less for it.
Compulsively readable while simmering with righteous fury, Perfect Little Lives is not to be missed.

(Note: this review will be shared on Instagram at @stellatalksbooks a week prior to publication, approx. 01 Dec. ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.)

The premise was pretty straightforward, but there was a lot of filler that in my opinion didn't do much to move the story along. It was an okay read but nothing particularly memorable.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had some good moments and sone decent red herrings. I just generally didn't care for Simone which made it hard in parts to.continue reading. The premise was good and the writing was not bad. I will try this author again . Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Perfect Little Lives by Amber and Danielle Brown
Publisher Harlequin Trading
Release Date December 05, 2023

I honestly could not finish this one. There was honestly way too many details that were very unnecessary and the story dragged on for awhile. There were quite a lot of inconsistencies as well. I could not finish after about 40%. The character of Simone was almost too naive and just had no clue. She felt as though she knew who the killer was and no matter what she was going to believe it.

2 stars

Thank you you to NetGalley as well as the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

Oh my GOD. This book has me speechless. The twists, the turns, aahhhhh!
I can not stop thinking about this book. I finished it in 24 hours and wow. It has me turning the pages like no other.
I could not get enough! I personally loved how easy it was to read. The story line and characters were great!
I would read it again for sure.

This wasn’t badly written but I just didn’t like being in the mind of the main character and couldn’t get into the story. There’s a little too much vulgarity for the sake of vulgarity from the first page, the MC annoyed me, and it wasn’t a story I enjoyed.

I had a hard time with this book. I found Simone, the main character to be extremely gullible and stuck in her beliefs of who was guilty that she couldn’t see the obvious. Also there were some inconsistencies with age gaps between Simone and her childhood best friend Hunter. It changed from 3 years to 5 and it was also strange that a 13 year old boy would be best friends with sn 8 year old girl. Also the book started out with quite a bit of unneccesary sex. The storyline wasn’t bad, just didn’t care for writing style.

This was not it for me. The story dragged a bit, in part because it was peppered with a good deal of what read as literary smut— I was anticipating a thriller but found many detours unnecessarily describing the characters’ sex lives, which felt pointless to the overall story. On top of this, the casual writing left a lot to be desired and some of the chapters/wording felt repetitive at times— after being barely 1/4 through the book the phrase “took/take a beat” was used at least 5 times. The ages between Simone and Hunter changed throughout the book too; first being four years apart, then being 8 and 13, then being 11 and a senior at prom. I also found this close childhood friendship of a boy who is 4+ years older than his girl neighbor to be uncomfortable and wondered why the author made such an age gap. I trudged through the story because I wanted to find out what happened to Simone’s mom, but I could do without all of the unexpected (and unneeded) sexual innuendos. The content was not what I was expecting, based on the description.

Perfect Little Lives has a quickly paced plot with some interesting twists. I whipped through this in a day and really enjoyed the suspenseful nature.

Great characters and a tense narrative makes this a great read for the beach this summer!

My thanks to Netgalley for this DRC.

Thank you NetGalley and author for this ARC!

I had a hard time with this book. I put it down a few times and had to talk myself in to picking it back up again. Not awful just not great.

I couldn’t even get through the first chapter because the MC was so irritating. I don’t understand why I need such a detailed description of her blacking her bikini line.

Perfect little lives are perfect until there’s a murder in the exclusive cul de sac of Asher Place. The police determine that the murder was a crime of passion. An old story, a husband discovers his wife’s infidelity and kills her in a rage. The husband is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. The couple’s teenage daughter, Simone, now effectively orphaned, is convinced that her father is innocent.
Simone believes that the cops to the easy way out. It’s usually the husband in these cases. A conviction also got rid of an unwanted black family in lily-white Asher Place. Simone has fought a losing battle for her father’s release for thirteen years. The effort drained the family’s bank accounts and most of her earnings.
If her father is not the murderer, who is? Simone discovers that her mother had carried on a long affair with Scott Bishop, a neighbor. Further, her mother was three months pregnant when she was murdered. Did Bishop kill her because she wouldn’t get rid of the child? The pregnancy provides a plausible motive for Bishop, but also one for her father.
We’re treated to multiple suspects, possible malfeasance by the police, even a diary that might hold the key to the murder. Each theory crumbles when Simone follows it. A true-crime documentary about the murder portraying Simone’s father as the enraged murder is nearly complete. In its current form, the film will confirm for the public that the cops got the right man.
In Simone, the Browns have given us a modern woman. She is completely comfortable in her own skin both as a woman and as a black woman. She fearlessly confronts the suspects although she has no weapon or martial arts training. She accepts her sexuality with the same clear-eyed view. She is both a vulnerable person and a fanatic crusader. Wow!

Simone’s mother was murdered when she was a teenager and her father was convicted of the crime. She went from living an affluent lifestyle to living paycheck to paycheck. She doesn’t believe her father is guilty and won’t give up until she gets answers on who killed her mother and why. This book had an interesting plot and characters. However, I felt there wasn’t suspense and it didn’t really get me hooked. There didn’t seem to be any twists or turns that would keep readers turning the pages in my opinion.

I was hooked because the twists kept on coming and I never expected them. The reason this book was a 3 star for me was because I was a bit turned off by Simone because she is so naive and gullibale. You're telling me for a decade she was content with life and believing her dad killed her mom yet seeing her handsome childhood neighbour and a nosy reporter all of a sudden sparked a "maybe my dad isn't guilty?" I also don't think her age really WORKED for the premise- she's 23 and doesn't have a lot of life experience and is living like a 70 year old lady. I think if she was a bit older it would've made her a bit more wary of life and added more substance.

While this was an enjoyable read with just enough of a twist (from a different direction than I expected, which is a nice touch), the MC had some...issues. She's inconsistent in a way that's difficult to pinpoint - I guess in terms of her ability to interpret the world around her?