BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of I Need You To Read This, by Jessa Maxwell, from Atria Books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Sigh. Another “meh.”

Partly because the characters were all flatter than flitters, and partly because it was all so achingly predictable. Who knows, though? Maybe if I were 18 instead of 58 I would’ve loved it (do 18-year-olds today still read books?); once again it’s probably me that’s derivative instead of the work of fiction.

In the for-what-it’s-worth category, I kept picturing the Regina character as the actress Hannah Waddingham, who played Rebecca Welton on AppleTV’s Ted Lasso. So maybe somebody keep that in mind if this book gets optioned for a streaming series.

Description
The author of the “clever, atmospheric, and creepy” (Andrea Bartz, New York Times> bestselling author) The Golden Spoon returns with a sly and addictive new mystery about an advice columnist searching for answers about her predecessor’s murder.

Her most important letter might be her last…

Years ago Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. Now, aside from trips to her regular diner for coffee, she keeps to herself, gets her perfectly normal copywriting job done, and doesn’t date. Her carefully cultivated world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance, and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times.

When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to actually get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position and quickly proves herself skilled at solving other people’s problems. But soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis’s murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. Including her boss, editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, who has a habit of staying late at the office and drinking too much.

As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface and Alex suddenly finds herself trapped in a dangerous and potentially deadly game of cat and mouse that takes her all the way from the power centers of Manhattan to Francis Keen’s summer house, where her body was found and where the killer may just be waiting for her.

Do you need to read this? 🤷‍♀️. I think it would be a great intro to thrillers book for someone, but it definitely didn’t knock my socks off.
The premise is good, the friendships are lovely & supportive and the use of the columns to provide backstory is clever. The chapters are short so I can definitely see this being a “read in one sitting” book, if you’re into it. I did enjoy Jess’s Maxwell’s writing style; I’m sure I’ll read other books by her in the future.

I wanted to be on the hype train for this book, but something just felt missing for me. I found 80% of the story to be relatively slow, then everything happens all at once in the last 20%. The scenes that are supposed to be suspenseful just weren’t. The roles of some characters seemed obvious from their initial introductions so the twists didn’t seem too dramatic. I know stories aren’t supposed to be 100% believable, but there were a lot of plot holes - I.E the way Alex discovers crucial information was way too convenient. If we’re discussing murder weapons in the hallway, wouldn’t that make us an accessory after the fact? 🤔
As for Alex? For someone who feared for her life/discovery, she sure does make a lot of dumb decisions along the way.

TW for domestic violence.

4 solid stars! I throughly enjoyed this thriller. It is well written and a quick read. I had thought I had figured out the whodunit but then there were several twists I didn't expect. I could easily relate to the main character Alex. She was likeable and strong. I enjoyed the secondary characters-Janice and Ray from the diner. Unlike others I enjoyed the Dear Constance letters. I felt they were an important part of the plot and character development. I highly recommend this one and look forward to more from this author.

I’m giving this one a generous four stars. After loving Maxwell’s The Golden Spoon (so delightful!), I had high hopes for I Need You to Read This, but it didn’t quite hit the same vein. Don’t get me wrong—it’s entertaining, but Alex, our main character, was more than a little annoying with her wild leaps to conclusions. And one of the twists I saw coming from a mile away.

So here’s the gist: Alex Marks gets hired as the new Dear Constance advice columnist at a big New York paper. The kicker? The last columnist, who Alex idolized, was murdered, and the killer's still on the loose. Alex, who’s got her own secrets, decides who the likely villain is and sets out to prove it. Oh, and throughout the book, we get letters from a mysterious “Lost Girl” written to Constance, adding more intrigue.

It’s a quick read, for sure, but not as much fun as I hoped. Plus, it touches on some heavier topics that seem at odds with the tone of the book. However, I will continue to read Maxwell's future books. She is a good author to creates fun plots.

Such a good thriller! With twists that I didn’t see coming. I loved the back and forth of the column then the narrative

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This is HOW you write a thriller. I LITERALLY could not put this book down. It was so addictive!! Once I started this book, I had to know how it would end. Jessa Maxwell is a genius author and I think she is going on my favorite authors list. I also did listen to a bit of the audiobook and I must say that Carlotta Brentan did a great job bringing this story to life, and I think she made it much more dramatic!

One of the best books of 2024 in my opinion!

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Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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loved Jessa Maxwell's first novel The Golden Spoon - it was just pure entertainment and like book candy - like Agatha Christie's And Then They Were None mixed with The Great British Bake Off (which I then proceeded to binge after reading). It was just so much fun!

So I went into this one excited to see what she had in store for us next. This is another entertaining book - taking place in the newspaper publishing world. A popular columnist - think like a Dear Abby - is murdered and her new replacement starts thinking things may be a bit fishy at the office.

This was fast paced and fun - I didn't enjoy it as much as I did The Golden Spoon - and definitely worth reading. I did guess the twist quite a bit in advance, and the writing was just pretty good, but overall, I had a great time reading it and absolutely will read whatever Jessa Maxwell writes next.

4.5 rounded up. Alex is upset after her favorite advice columnist, Francis Keen, is murdered. She can’t believe they would try to replace Francis as Dear Constance less than a year after her death. Alex impulsively applies and to her surprise, is hired for the job. Alex hesitantly accepts, and her concerns are exacerbated when she begins receiving anonymous threats from someone who seems to know about her past. She also finds a potential threat to Francis in her old office, leading her to investigate Francis’ murder further. With new people in Alex’s life after being hired, it’s hard to know who she can trust, and who is dangerous.

This had me on the edge of my seat! I read 50% of it in one sitting, and probably would’ve done that for the whole book if time had permitted. I connected to the story right away, as someone who had a dream job growing up of being an advice columnist (one of many dreams). I appreciated how the murder of Francis and the threats to Alex worked together to create an exciting investigative story. Some things were obvious to me, but some were not. I definitely appreciate when a book can throw me or make me consider multiple suspects. I really sat back and enjoyed this ride!

I'm so disappointed as I really wanted to love this one. I thought the write up sounded interesting and I loved the book cover. Unfortunately Alex's adventure was lack luster and there were parts to the story (Raymond and his previous partners wife) that really didn't seem to add anything at all. In road to the end just seemed to wind on and was very anti-climatic.

Although it was fast-paced (hooray!) this novel was extremely predictable.

There were moderate amounts of intended suspense, but they weren't really suspenseful because it was so obvious where things were going.

The book reminds me of Freida McFadden's books, which could work for you if you're a fan of hers.

This follows her usual formula: a lonely, adrift woman without strong ties to her family, must find her inner courage and be strong because a big scary man is threatening her.

I thought it had the potential to be great, but it fell flat for me and was just ok.

Thank you to #netgalley for this ARC of #ineedyoutoreadthis

I was very excited for this murder mystery x literary fiction style of book, but I think my expectations fell flat. I thought this would be fast paced and exciting, like Only Murders in the Building meets Iman Hariri-Kia's A Hundred Other Girls. This book did exactly as the summary stated. There were no twists, or surprises. It was simply exactly what it promised. I rated this right in the middle, because to me, it was mediocre.

I really liked Jessa Maxwell’s first novel, The Golden Spoon, so I was happy to get my hands on her follow-up, I Need You to Read This. I am glad to report this was another fantastic read!

A mystery-suspense-thriller with a cast of interesting. quirky characters, this novel was a quick and satisfying read, leaving me eager for Jessa Maxwell’s next book.

Years ago Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. Now, aside from trips to her regular diner for coffee, she keeps to herself, gets her perfectly normal copywriting job done, and doesn’t date. Her carefully cultivated world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance, and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times.

When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to actually get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position and quickly proves herself skilled at solving other people’s problems. But soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis’s murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. Including her boss, editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, who has a habit of staying late at the office and drinking too much.

As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface and Alex suddenly finds herself trapped in a dangerous and potentially deadly game of cat and mouse that takes her all the way from the power centers of Manhattan to Francis Keen’s summer house, where her body was found and where the killer may just be waiting for her.

I Need You To Read This by Jessa Maxwell was a standard thriller.

Premise: After the advice columnist Francis Keen was murdered, Alex, who has been a fan for years, applies to be her replacement. While working at the Herald newspaper, she starts investigating what happened to Francis and who could be involved, while dealing with secrets and a past of her own.

I liked the newspaper setting with the “Dear Constance” letters weaved in. Besides that, the plot was just okay. The twists were fairly predictable, the characters felt like cliches, and storylines were common to other thrillers. I kept reading to know exactly what happened to Francis and by the end, I enjoyed the quick read, but there was nothing unique or extra shocking to make the book memorable.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I need you to read this was good, but predictable. I left it thinking that it could have been so much better if every author didn't think they needed to have big twists and reveals. The reveal was obvious throughout and I felt that the characters could have had much better interactions and been more compelling if we weren't all pretending we didn't know what was going on. We could have really gotten to know them instead of waiting for the reveal.

In the beginning of Jessa Maxwell’s I Need You to Read This we are introduced to Francis Keen, long time writer of the Dear Constance column in the New York Herald newspaper, only to witness her last moments, as she is stabbed to death in her beach home.

Some months later the story picks up with Alex Marks, a seemingly shy woman with few friends who moved, some time ago, to the Big Apple to start life over again. She works from home writing promotional copy for a pharmaceutical firm. One morning she learns from one of the regulars at the diner where she usually has breakfast that the Herald is recruiting to replace Francis Keen as writer of the Dear Constance column. At home that evening, over a lonely bottle of wine, she impulsively goes online and completes the application for the job, which requires her to write a response to a sample letter to Dear Constance.

Despite the long odds, Alex gets the job. She was an avid reader of Dear Constance, so she finds it comes easy to her to find the right responses to letters - ones that Francis would have written - and she is, it turns out, a pretty perceptive individual able to read people quite quickly.

But she is troubled that what happened at the beach house is still a mystery that’s not been solved. No one has been charged with Francis’ murder. As she begins her new career at the Herald she learns more about Francis, the details of her life, and the people who were closest to her. She finds herself compelled to try to uncover who murdered Francis.

As Alex begins to gather clues, she starts to receive cryptic and threatening letters as details of her own past begin to emerge, a past that she’s been running away from since moving to New York. There is danger for Alex coming not just from her sleuthing into Francis’ murder but from her own secrets.

Jessa Maxwell has written a tight thriller/mystery that moves quickly and carries you along. I read the book in two sittings and found it entertaining and well done. Still, there were a few quibbles I had with the book.

One was that the scenes at the Herald all seemed off somehow. Some of that was purposefully done to add drama (and some red herrings) and keep you on your toes as a reader, and I respect most of that. What I found less than convincing at the Herald was the character of Alex’s boss, the editor. He’s of a type - a throwback to an older generation of newspeople who I don’t think you find in newsrooms these days. He seemed to me to be too much of a stock character.

The other quibble had to do with Alex’s back story and why she was running away and hiding from her past. I just felt that the difficulties she got into in that back story didn’t really fit with the Alex of the Herald - an instant success as an advice columnist due to her ability to size up people and to display an innate perceptiveness into human behavior. I don’t want to give too much away so I’ll just say that I found that disconnect to really detract from the believability of the book.

But, that’s probably too heavy an analysis for what is meant to be a fun summer thriller - and despite those quibbles of mine I did enjoy the book.

I loved this! I was not expecting my a book set in a newspaper office to be so compelling and suspenseful, but Maxwell has done an excellent job here. This is a great suspense/mystery if you don’t want to go too dark, but still like surprising twists and turns.

From start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery suspense thriller. I found the plot, the setting, and past letters to Dear Constance, an advice column in the newspaper interesting enough that I wanted to know how it all ended. While it was predictable, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of seeing how it all unraveled. I will note that the characters were all one dimensional, but I enjoyed the parts where it came together for our FMC that added some depth to the story.

I Need You To Read This is the second book by Jessa Maxwell and it's just as good! | loved The Golden Spoon, so when I saw she released this book I was so excited to read it!
I Need You to Read This is a quick, twisty thriller. I felt instantly connected to the main character, Alex. If you haven't read either of Jessa Maxwell's books yet, this is your sign to pick on up! I Need You To Read This was just released this month and you don't want to miss it!

this page turner is a must read! Alex has a past she wants to keep hidden. She gets a new job that the former holder was murdered. she becomes ensnared into trying to find who committed the murder. Lots of twists and turns, mayhem and unpredictable outcomes! I loved this book so much!

Not my favorite. I’m used to a thriller main character making stupid decisions but this girl was a new level of dumb-dumb. I knew where this book was going pretty early on and so it just felt like a slow march to an ending I wasn’t going to like. Interesting concept for a thriller, not well executed.