Wow, talk about twists and turns. Twist after twist. I was hooked right from the start. A great thriller ride for sure.

Thanks Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.

All thoughts and opinions are my own and aren't influenced by anyone else

⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a pretty dark & twisted story. Lauren meets Jay at a music festival and decides to move in with him after knowing him for a really short time. Jay’s friends and his cabin in the woods make Lauren feel extremely ‘on edge’…but she figures it’ll all ‘feel like home’ soon enough. Jay isn’t who he seems to be, but then again Lauren really isn’t either. An interesting read by this debut author. Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC. #booksbyashleynicole

The Perfect Girlfriend is a thrilling read! The story was different than I thought it would be, but I was pleasantly surprised by the twist and turns. Lauren is a complicated character, and the author has done a brilliant job of layering her motivations as the book unfolds. Hayley Smith wrote a fantastic debut novel. I was invested from start to finish. My only critique is there are too many descriptive sex scenes in the book. Those parts nearly leaned towards pornographic.

I received this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
✅Psychological thriller

Lauren moves in with Jay to a cottage with minimal connection to the outside world. She’s okay with that though no one knows where she is and she wants to keep it that way because she has secrets of her own and can’t risk anyone finding out.

I have no words, this was a fast paced thriller I didn’t get bored reading it.I was slightly confused as to why her main priority was making the house her home when she had an underlying agenda. I was also expecting one more twist at the end but it never happened so it fell a little short for me. However it was a great read and kept me on my toes

Initially, I thought this book would be a pretty much predictable. Definitely not. I really enjoyed our female main character and I sort of really enjoy jay at first. Strangely. I know. Here and there I wails notice things before the main character that would just draw me in even more. Such a page turner!
Respectfully, the only bad things I can say about this book was that I felt that it could have been a lot shorter and not carried on. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed how it turned out and Rick’s character really surprised me. Highly recommend for a quick read.

Lauren is a mess. She meets Jay at a music festival and they hit it off. She quickly moves in with him and wants to be the perfect girlfriend. Of course everyone has secrets. Can she remain the perfect girlfriend?

I really enjoyed this one! For a debut author I found this really well written. I could really connect with Lauren. I will add there are some trigger warning for abuse and SA. But the story really had me hooked! I could feel Lauren’s feels!

I really enjoyed this book. The initial hints of domestic violence and the naivety of Lauren had me shouting at the book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ would recommend

Will be looking out for more of this author’s work!

* ARC from Netgalley *

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC copy for review.
A fantastic book with lots of sub plots going on.
Lauren our MC meets Jay at a music festival and within an extremely short timeframe moves in with him. He lives in a remote property off the grid completely. I was left reeling as to why anyone would move in with someone after almost the first few meets yet this becomes apparent as we read more about Lauren's past.
We also discover things aren't as they appear with Jay.
This book was well written with a good plot that kept me reading it page after page. I can say it gripped my attention because I wanted to know what secrets they were both hiding.
The author has developed the characters well and even though I hated Jay from the off as he comes across as a selfish and narcissistic man, I also was not too keen on Lauren to start with. By that I mean she just seemed irresponsible leaving everything behind to run off to be with a man she didn't know, no support system around her and living remotely with not even WiFi or outside communication. That's just asking for trouble. Yet, as we learn more about her secrets I warmed to her.
If you like an intriguing plot with a few twists then this book is definitely for you.
Kerry Kennedy Author

It's 5am in NY and I am just going to bed now because I stayed up all night finishing this book, reading it in one sitting. I could not put it down. What a dark, twisted, chilling story. Such a unique storyline and done so well. Loved this and can't wait to read more by Hayley Smith.

Lauren meets Jay at a music festival. Lauren’s life has been in shambles lately after her best friend unexpectedly passes away and a married man that she’s been seeing for years has left her. Shortly agreeing meeting Jay she moves in with him. After being disconnected from the outside world she begins to learn that Jay is hiding a lot from her, but she is also hiding things from him.
When I first got the book I thought it was going to be about something a little different just based on the title. It was a nice mystery with somethings that you just wouldn’t expect. Thank you to the Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @bookouture for sending over an early release of this for me to review.

The Perfect Girlfriend by Hayley Smith.

Lauren is lost, she’s been emotionally and physically abused by my sister’s best friend’s dad for the last 15 years and her best friend has just committed suicide. To say things aren’t great would be an understatement.

Until one weekend, Lauren meets Jay at a festival she is playing with a band in. Within 2 weeks Lauren is living with Jay.

But is Jay really who he thinks she is? What is behind the door of the locked room and why is her dead best friend’s bracelet under his bed?

For me, this has all the makings of a great plot but it just became a little bit too far fetched and I began to get really frustrated with the main character Lauren and how gullible she seemed. I wanted to give her a good shake and tell her to stop being a mug 😂☕️

#bookreview #bookreviewer #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #read #reading #readmorebookseveryday

This is a little formulaic but well worth the read.
The book is well written and the off the grid cabin feels very eerie.
I look forward to another book by the author.

Initially, I was flummoxed! Lauren moves in with Jay, a guy she met at a music festival and hardly knows. Jay lives in a
ramshackle cottage on an estate where they can be semi self sufficient, but that comes at a price; no wifi, no mobile signal, no landline….. no way of calling for help. WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT???

So many weird things were happening, Rick’s reaction to her, a child that speaks to nobody but her, Lauren alluding to having fallen out with her friends and family… In my head, I was screaming at her to get the hell out of there and couldn’t fathom why she wasn’t doing just that, BUT…

Gradually, the author starts to drip feed snippets of Lauren’s past and her semi hidden existence starts to make more sense - what is she hiding?

And when the twists start… OMG!!!

Everyone has their own agenda and nothing is going to stop them. Intense, gripping and chilling as hell!

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Hayley Smith and Bookouture for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you so much NetGalley for bringing this book and this author into my life! I can’t say enough about how amazing and riveting this book is! It is utterly fantastic. Storyline was so well written, characters were flawless. Amazing! Amazing indeed!

The Perfect Girlfriend was a debut?! Incredible…I truly cannot believe this was a debut.;
This was well written, engaging, kept me guessing and fully invested until the last page.
I really enjoyed it and while I may have guessed something here or there, I thought the twists were well played.

This is a easy to read page turner.

Lauren meets Jay at a music festival. They have an instant attraction and spend the weekend together. She moves in with him to his isolated (dilapidated) cottage. 🚩there’s no wifi or cell reception. Lauren has a past but for him she will be “the perfect girlfriend”. But Jay isn’t what he seems either…

This book was creepy at times and thrilling. The twists were good and some I didn’t really see coming. For this to be a debut novel, I was impressed! I can’t wait to see what else this author writes.

⚠️ Please note there are some tigger warnings you should look at before reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for sharing an ARC copy with me. This is my voluntary, honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. I believe this is the author's first book. This book was good in many ways (interesting concept/premise, good tension building, good pace), but I found it a bit lacking in the actual mystery/thriller department. The main characters are Lauren, who comes off as a damaged woman with a lot of questions surrounding her past. These things are revealed about her in an almost painfully slow manner. I think it was the reason I found things a bit confusing for the first part of the story. We have mentions of "Nell" and "Martin" for ages before we finally find out who they are and the effects they had on Lauren. Lauren herself, as a character, came off as a bit more malleable than I think she should have come off...I guess the author wanted to show just how much influence Jay could have on someone. That brings us to the other main character of Jay...we know he's living the "off-grid" "sustainable" lifestyle out in this ramshackle cottage surrounded by gardens and brush and has no cell signal, no land-line and no neighbours nearby. Jay comes off as a "hippy" type who goes to music festivals in his ancient camper van etc. Then there are an array of other secondary characters...the very mysterious "Ruth" or "Ruthie", which is one of the reasons some of the tension building works, but it was a bit of a letdown once we finally "meet" Ruth. We find out that Jay's friends are mostly awful, selfish people who are also easily influenced by Jay. I liked the concept of the story and found it original and unique. I liked that Lauren has secrets of her own and her own motivations for moving in with Jay (after literally just meeting him and spending a few days with him at a music festival). But, I didn't like how Lauren was portrayed overall. The stuff with Nell fit into the story, even though it took forever to find out who she was...but the stuff with Martin just didn't add a lot in my opinion. I can see how it was meant to show us how broken Lauren has been etc...but it seems incomplete somehow. I like that Lauren eventually came to her senses (even though it was rather abruptly when she'd been going along with everything up until then), and decided enough was enough. She finally remembered why she was with Jay in the first place. The "resolution" of the issues with Jay were a bit unsatisfying, but ultimately, it was the right ending I think. I am impressed that this is the author's first novel. It was a big story to tell and overall the author's writing and pace is good. I'd be interested in reading any future novels by this author to see how her style/voice progresses. 3.5 rounded up to a 4 because there were some good parts to this story.

Lauren has secrets. Jay also has secrets. They have not known each other for very long, and yet their relationship seems perfect. Lauren has moved into Jays little cottage, no phones, no internet, and no neighbours nearby. They grow vegetables and keep chickens, and life seems to be everything Lauren needs, leaving her past in the past. And yet, Lauren knows all is not what it seems with Jay, she knows he has secrets, yet she cannot delve too deeply in his secrets without revealing her own. And that would never do.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the twists and turns in the plot kept me guessing up until the end. I read it in two sittings, I couldn't wait to find out the truth. A great read.

I found this book's premises quite unique among other mystery books out there and it is hard to believe that this is a debut book.

The beginning is a bit surprising but then later I understood. Many decisions made by the heroine were cringing but I guess one can get tangled in wrong things and make many wrong decisions when young, and it is hard to know what is right.

It is an interesting mystery and although I guessed some things early, it was a fun ride.

Thanks to Negalley for a free copy in exchange of an honest review.