Perfect Little Monsters is one of those books that manages to be incredibly intriguing even before the reader's eyes fall on the opening line. The title, the cover, and the premise all promise a story that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

Cindy R. X. He's debut, at its core, is a classic whodunit story. A murder occurs, and we are presented with a list of suspects, each with their own motive. This is where Perfect Little Monsters departs from the realm of the familiar and takes the reader on a thrilling journey that becomes more complicated with each page. I was genuinely struggling to predict what would happen next because, after being blindsided by the plot a couple of times—in a good way—I simply had to admit defeat and allow myself to drift with the narrative until I reached the last page. Not many stories can keep me guessing until the very end, so kudos to the author for pulling this off.

One thing I feel like I have to acknowledge is the way Cindy R. X. He tackles heavy and complex topics in this book, such as mental health, self-harm, and bullying. I appreciate how she didn’t shy away from these topics and decided to commit to them, giving them the respect and care they deserve. This also goes hand in hand with how three-dimensional the characters are. I don’t think the portrayal of such heavy topics would’ve been possible, or done justice, if the characters didn’t feel as real as they did.

Overall, Perfect Little Monsters is a wonderful debut by Cindy R. X. He. It’s a tale that will gladly challenge you to outsmart it because it knows that it will keep you guessing.

If you struggle with bullying, ED, "mean girl" mentality in general, I wouldn't recommend this. There absolutely is unnecessarily unkind behavior in here, which is not untrue of the world, but can feel triggering for folks who experienced this for real. Just keep that in mind. Not all of us can predict everyone's triggers but I can see this as incredibly frustrating and triggering for people. Anyway, I thought Cindy R X He did a great job in unveiling this murder mystery. I am curious to see what CRXH does next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Perfect Little Monsters by Cindy R. X. He

Perfect Little Monsters is a “One of Us is Lying”esque type book. Queen Bee Ella is murdered at a pool party. Whodunit? New girl, best friend #1, best friend #2, boyfriend, secret lover… They all had motives and they all had secrets.

Told in dual POVs and timelines proved to be an interesting take on this storyline. I can’t really explain why without giving the ending away. I was fully intrigued with this book. Kudos to the author for not having Dawn and Raquel be the police in the story, even though they were doing some of their own investigating. What they did was believable - and that’s a breath of fresh air for young adult mysteries. What did bother me a bit, and tends to be a common theme throughout ya books, is the level of bullying portrayed by these teens. It just seemed exaggerated.

Even though the ending was a bit far-fetched and I had to pause a second to consider the direction it went, I found it to be a worthwhile read.I will recommend this book to my high school students.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect Little Monsters, by Cindy R.X. He
3.5-4/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TRIGGER WARNINGS-
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Murder, drinking, bullying, suicide, ED, death

The school’s queen bee is murdered at her own house party and her friends, boyfriend and the new girl are all suspects.
It’s written in multiple character pov and dual time frame, (present and three years ago). It definitely keeps you guessing as there are plenty of people that could be suspects. Very engrossing and the twists and turns keeps you on your toes wanting to read more.
I loved that the author offered TW on the first page and that there were inclusive characters-ex: a character with autism.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for giving me an E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review written by a student.

Dawn moves to a new school after a terrible accident. She does not struggle to make friends, but at her first party, things took a turn for the worse. Dawn is a suspect in her friend's murder and in her attempt to find an alibi, she ruins things for herself, at school, with her friends, and with her boyfriend Issac, but none of this matters to Dawn. Perfect Little Monsters had many twists and turns, resulting in lots of theories. The ending was unexpected.

Synopsis:
Ella was the most popular girl, and for every kid who admired her, there was more than hated her. When she’s murdered, there is no shortage of suspects, and they all think she deserved it. The prime suspect is the new girl, Dawn. She was the last to give Ella a drink at the party she died at.

Dawn refuses to go down without a fight and is determined to clear her name. As she starts to dive into Ella’s past, she uncovers some enemies, and someone is out for revenge. She must figure out who killed Ella before the police pin the murder on her.

Thoughts:
This was a fun book to watch the week after we watched the new Mean Girls reboot.

This book is well paced and on the quicker side. I enjoyed that it kept me guessing the entire time! I think that this one did a good job of making me wonder who the culprit was the entire time, with plenty of red herrings. Looking back, all things were leading to the big reveal and the character who was the culprit, but I was so caught up in it that I didn’t see it coming – and that’s the way that I like it!

I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters in this one. I felt that they were well developed, despite being quite a few of them. It was pretty obvious that the book was centered around teenagers, because a lot of the behavior was juvenile. Sometimes this is a hard part about reading YA books as an adult because I have to remind myself, they are kids. I enjoyed reading about it, and it was a lot of fun.

Mental health was the main focus of this book, and despite the unhinged behavior present, I felt that the author did a good job of showing the different ways mental health can affect us. It’s not always a pretty journey, and we can often lash out. I don’t think that this book was perfect, but I think that it did a good job.

This book also dealt with teen bullying and suicide attempts, so please read with care.

Thank you to:
Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire @Sourcebooksfire and Netgalley @Netgalley for this e-arc. All thoughts are my own.

The most popular girl in school, Ella Moore, is murdered at her own party. There are numerous suspects and people that think she deserved to be murdered. The new girl, Dawn, is the police’s prime suspect. She was the last to hand Ella a drink the night she was murdered. All of Ella’s friends are eager to implicate Dawn, but Dawn is determined to clear her name. Dawn discovers that Ella and her friends all had a motive to kill Ella, but which one did it?

Cindy R.X. He does an amazing job with character development in the story. You really feel like you are there with the characters in the story. She does a great job of broaching some heavy topics including bullying, suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders. I read this book in less than 48 hours because I just had to know what happened. I did not see the twist coming at all and it was amazing! I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys YA thrillers! I give it 4/5 stars.

Mean Girls meets Heathers in this twisty murder mystery! A stunning debut - I can't wait to see what Cindy R.X writes next!

A perfect little monster is dead, and everyone looks suspicious—but the wrong person will go down for it if Dawn doesn't solve the murder first.

Completely bingeable, this YA dual-timeline psychological thriller, PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS, has past and present colliding in a shocking twist I did not see coming. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

This one is for you if you love:
- unreliable narrators
- revenge
- Mean Girls meets Girl, Interrupted
- books that keep you guessing until the very end

Mind the trigger warnings!
- suicide
- depression
- bullying

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! Available May 7, 2024

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

DNF at 41%

gratuitous depictions of bullying. felt unnecessary. ick.

Revenge at its best or worst? Told in alternating storylines, this is the tale of Hannah and Dawn. Hannah is being mercilessly bullied by the cool girls at her school, and Dawn is just trying to fit in. When the queen bee is murdered at a party--everyone is a suspect. Dawn sets out to find the killer. Lots of twists and turns and a surprise ending that I didn't see coming. Great read!

If you like YA & thriller then I would definitely recommend this book, but read with caution. I got an arc of it, which I really appreciated. Thank you netgalley for a chance to read this early. I really enjoyed the first half of the book. It was very well written, and a fast read. It did get a little predictable after a certain point and I was able to guess the plot twist, but thats a common thing with most thriller & horror. The issue I had with it was toward the second half though, where once again mental illness was the root of the problem. As someone who also struggles with mental illness and bullying, I feel like the ending was a little in poor taste. There's definitely better ways to end the story. If we are gonna go this route, let her win atleast haha. I did enjoy the writing, but it would have been a higher rating if not for the end.

This book was crazy! It was super intense and enthralling, I could not put it down. And the the plot twist at the end?! That was INSANE. It was so crazy I had to put the book down and just let my brain process it. It was so good and completely unexpected. I would definitely reccomend!

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Perfect Little Monsters was FUN. Such a fun twisty & dark thriller, and I loved absolutely every minute of it. The atmosphere, the characters, the dialoged, everything was done so well, it felt really cohesive and kept me engaged. I can't wait to get my hands on Ms. He's next book! A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

This was a fun and twisty YA thriller. Everyone's a suspect in this fast-paced story which seeks to investigate the death of Ella, the Regina George of her highschool, who everyone dislikes. She was poisoned, and the last person who was seen giving her a drink was Dawn (main character) so now everyone's suspicions lay with her. Dawn starts to investigate on her own because, even though everyone had some level of dislike for Ella, Dawn needs to clear her name and figure out who killed her.
This was a really solid debut! I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, but this was otherwise really twisty and well written! I was compelled by the mystery to flip those pages, and I liked Dawn's personality. I honestly found myself genuinely mystified at times, which doesn't happen much anymore since I've read so many YA thrillers!

New girl Dawn arrives at her new high school for her Senior Year. She is accepted in the cheerleading squad but she knows right away those mean girls are not going to be her real friends. Still, she tries to fit in and attends a party with the rest of the popular crew. And it’s all good until Ella, the Queen Bee of Sierton High, is found dead the morning after. She was poisoned. And the last person who gave her a drink was Dawn.
Now all eyes are on her so she starts her own investigation because, honestly, everybody hated Ella. So who killed her?

✨ 3,5 stars! ✨ I wasn’t a fan of the ending but I had lots of fun reading everything else. I understand this is the first book of this author so I will be waiting to read the rest!

What a fun, twisted read! I thought I had it all figured out more than once and was still wrong! Thank you, NetGalley, for the chance to read this early!

5 ⭐
There's nothing better than a book about getting revenge on the mean girl/s. Perfect Little Monsters was a rollercoaster of emotions and a page-turner. This was a pulse-raising story that kept me reading and intrigued---as each new detail emerged, and with each new chapter. I was shocked to learn who was responsible and why they were doing it like the twists and turns were crazy. This book left me speechless. It's the perfect revenge plot, and it has a great story line. And those last few chapter held the twist I didn't see coming. I can't wait to read it again next year when it's released.

What I Liked About It:
*the overall story
*the revenge plot
*learning the truth in the end

FAST READ with thriller vibes , twists & turns. Mean Girl vibes and high school bullying. The plot kept me invested the whole time and from the first page. I was definitely surprised by the truth of what actually happened. I was way off and left with my JAW on the FLOOR. Highly recommend.

It is difficult to review this book without giving spoilers. Did I enjoy the first three quarters of the book? Yes. Did I sense that there was something amiss? Yes. Was I disappointed by the last quarter of the book? Yes. Some may call this clever writing but I have read too many crime/mystery books to rate this more than a three star read.

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.