I read and LOVED "Someone Had To Do It" last year so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read "Perfect Little LIves" early. We follow Simone, as she tries to uncover the truth of the fateful night her mother was murdered. With a deep exploration of how Black men are treated by the criminal justice system and how the authorities go above and beyond when a white woman goes missing or is murdered, this book had depth as well as thrills.



Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for my copy of Perfect Little Lives!

🥳 Happy Pub Day to the Authors ! 🥳

Ok so I rounded this review up from a 2 1/2 to a 3 ⭐ because I did like #PerfectLittleLives more than I did not but it also bothered me . Having a hard time writing an honest review that makes sense & isn't completely scatter brained .

Ok so i did like the character of Simone & her boyfriend Reggie . Their relationship seemed real , anyone can relate to that .
I loved both the characters of her parents.
I loved she's a bookworm .
& Is a strong independent woman dedicated to helping her dad . No consequences.
The rekindling of an old friendship is always nice as well .

Things I didn't like :
The overtones of racism . White people are so annoying ... White people do this ... White people lie ... White privilege . White devils blah blah 🙄
Why in 2023 am I reading a book about black/white racism being shoved down my throat pretty much the whole book.
If we as a society want to be equal & all get along all that "their all the same" bs needs to stop . Authors pushing that narrative definitely is not going to help .

I also didn't like the romantic thriller with a touch smut this book was giving . Pick a theme & let's roll with it.
I could tell this book was written by 2 people .

Thank u #NetGalley for the Arc .

Simone’s mother was murdered when she was just a teenager. And Simone’s dad was convicted of the murder. Now, ten years later and Simone discovers that her mother had an affair with a renowned judge and was pregnant at the time of her death. Simone will move heaven and earth to find out who really killed her mother, even if it means losing everything.

This book was a bit slow for me. And I believe it is because this book could not make up its mind what it wanted to be. It is all over the place. It just felt disjointed and very contrived. I did like Simone, or rather she tugged at my sympathies. Simone is the reason I did not dnf. She is a strong young lady with a powerful motivation.

Need a quest for the truth tale…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Perfect Little Lives by Amber and Danielle Brown.
Simone life is changed when her mother is murdered and her father is charged for the crime. Ten years later she is living a quiet life but then Hunter from her childhood next-door neighbour is back. When he reveals that his father and her mother were having a affair she is determined that his dad is the murderer. Can she prove it?
A good read. Good story I just didn't like the characters. Had a theory but was sort of right. 3*.

Amber and Danielle Brown return following their debut, Someone Had To Do It, with their latest, PERFECT LITTLE LIVES —the perfect tale of secrets, lies, and betrayal in this gripping domestic thriller.

ON ASHER LANE, SOME SECRETS ARE WORTH KILLING FOR…

Years ago, Simone's mother was murdered when she was only thirteen, and her father was convicted and in prison. Her dad wants her to forget Asher Lane, which means forgetting about her friend, Hunter.

Barely scraping by, now, ten years later, she reads and writes book reviews. She lives with her successful attorney (Goldstein & Wagner) boyfriend, Reggie. She has not told Reggie her dad is in prison.

She feels it is easier to pretend he is dead (hence her story of going to the cemetery) than to share all the ups and downs of retaining a lawyer and running out of money to keep them on board. She would love to ask for his advice. She did not want her dad's conviction to scare Reggie away initially and she knows her dad is innocent. But now it has been almost a year. She did not want this coming between them.

She had reached out to the Innocence Project but was turned down.

Then she runs into her old childhood neighbor, Hunter, and learns Hunter's father was having an affair with Simone's mother.

Hunter's father is a renowned judge with everything to lose. Simone does not believe her father murdered her mother, and if he is innocent, she needs to find out more about Hunter's father. She is determined to find out who killed her mother.

All she wants is for her father to be free from prison.

Simone enlists Hunter’s help in investigating his family—whether he realizes it or not. But is she so desperate for closure that she'll risk imploding her carefully rebuilt life?

I am not a romance fan, as I mentioned in another review today, and I skipped over all the sex scenes; however, this was my first book by the authors, and I enjoyed the mystery, crime, and suspense part.

PERFECT LITTLE LIVES is part mystery and part romance with twists, secrets, and lies from the past while fighting for a man's innocence. Character-driven, I enjoyed the discussion and commentary on race related to the criminal case, complexities, and how each is perceived. I also liked Simone's tenacious fight for her father to the end.

Thanks to Graydon House and NetGalley for a digital advanced reading copy for an honest opinion.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pub Date: Dec 5, 2023
Dec Newsletter

This book kept me engaged with gritty, realistic details.

Simone's father has been in prison for thirteen years for the murder of her mother. Simone is determined to prove his innocence at all costs and set him free. Simone crosses paths with her childhood best friend and becomes more and more convinced that his father is the real murderer.

I found it interesting that this book was written by two authors, and at times felt like I could tell the writing styles apart.

I enjoyed the plotline and the amateur sleuthing, but there were points where Simone became completely obsessed and unhinged with her tactics.

I love a good spicy scene as much as the next person, but at times, it felt like there were gratuitous sex scenes to fill space, for no reason. There was one in particular where it just didn't fit the scenario, but I can't explain it without spoilers. That was my only complaint is that there were a few things in there that weren't entirely explained or made complete sense.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to other thriller lovers.

The amazing cover and back cover copy grabbed my attention and made me want to read this book. If you like spicy thrillers then this book is for you. I like milder spice books so it was difficult for me to read especially when the beginning was almost all spice and only a little thriller. This changed later in the book and became more thriller focused. I loved the plot idea and the surprises but would have preferred less spice.

it gave exactly what i needed it to! it had me scared to get out of bed in the middle of the night! but in a good way that thrillers should?! there were even moments that had me staring at my kindle like... WHAT? and i love when a thriller gets me to do that because not every one does!

I found the blurb very interesting and had high expectations. Unfortunately the story didn't keep my attention as I felt it a bit forced.
Not my cup of tea
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Perfect Little Lives by Amber and Danielle Brown is a so-so dark romance and light mystery novel.

The description is of a daughter, Simone, working to exonerate her father who was wrongly convicted for her mother's murder. Simone is 23 years old, just managing to get by, and an unlikable character. Her relationship with her boyfriend Reggie is dysfunctional and an investigative journalist wants to write about her mother's murder. Then she runs into an old neighbor, Hunter, and learns new information that might end up exonerating her father.

I pushed through Perfect Little Lives but was ready to toss it out after the first few pages. This was not a good choice for me at all. I would give it one star except it will appeal to some romance readers and I managed to finish it. If you like suspense and mystery novels, seriously look elsewhere. This is more a whining, toxic, crude, dysfunctional relationship problems kind of novel with some social commentary and a predictable mystery. Additionally, it is geared to young, new adult audience.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Graydon House via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

DNF. I had a difficult time actually getting into this book. Tried multiple times but couldn't get attached to the characters and the writing style was not my thing.

This was a detailed, quick read with lots of little twists that I enjoyed. I appreciated Simone’s desire to exonerate her father and her tenacity to stick to the truth. With a little spice thrown in and a number of suspects, I was a fan!

This was a story that going into seemed like it was going to be good but once you get into it, it does not hold your attention and doesn’t make you feel connected to the characters. The mystery aspect of it was not as good as i would have hoped for but it wasn’t all too bad.

Thank you for the ARC!
I really enjoyed this book , the story was great . It was a little hard for me to keep my attention on it . But overall it was good !

Overall I enjoyed the story. The characters were well-developed and an interesting twist at the end. It was a bit confusing with the back and forth timeline but not enough to take away from the story.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me, but it doesn’t mean it’s not for you! I don’t look for smut, but if it’s done right, I’m there for it in a thriller. The book started with smut that just didn’t fit and was too much for me. I also had a hard time with the mfc, I found her to be kinda annoying, victimized and pointing the finger at others with no actual evidence given. The ending was a bit predictable, but it was wrapped up nicely and I did enjoy the ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC!

Thank you Netgalley, Graydon House, and Amber & Danielle Brown for the advanced copy of Perfect Little Lives in exchange for my honest review.

Any time a book has multiple authors I'm always a little weary of whether the writing styles will mesh and if the storyline will flow well, and I felt like the authors did a great job with this book!

I read a few early reviews that stated this book had a hard time "picking a lane" but I have to say it's one of the things I enjoyed most about it. It kept me on my toes the entire time and I didn't predict any of the major twists.

I will definitely be reading more from the Brown sisters (twins!) in the future.

Perfect Little Lives will be on US bookshelves December 5!

This was unfortunately a miss for me! I loved the cover and the FMC’s name Simone…and I even somewhat enjoyed the unique first chapter about her relationship with her boyfriend…but everything else didn’t come close to hitting the mark.

I wasn’t even sure this was a mystery or thriller after the first part which was more romance, and then it felt like it was thrown in and the whole book changed course. It was like the book just wasn’t sure how it was supposed to merge the two, so it tried to be both, and I don’t think that was effective.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. This book couldn’t decide if it was mediocre romance or mediocre thriller. Either way, it wasn’t grabbing my attention nor was I able to gather what I was supposed to care about from the start. The POV was annoying and I wasn’t invested. I just couldn’t make myself keep reading. I wish they would have picked a lane (romance or thriller) and leaned heavily toward one. To be honest, I was more interested in her crummy love life than anything. DNF

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I haven’t read any of these authors’ other works but saw this on NetGalley and thought it sounded good. Unfortunately that was not the case. I went into thinking it was going to be a mystery/thriller book but got done with the book thinking it was supposed to be some sort of romance book with a mystery subplot. I thought it was very predictable and I don’t even know how to explain my thoughts on the first chapter. I didn’t understand what the purpose of it was. It felt out of place for the rest of the book. Beware if you do read this book that it isn’t much focused on the thriller aspects.