I really loved this one, but I also went into it blind! If you go in expecting a thriller, you'll be disappointed.

If you expect this to be a cozy mystery with a twinge of hopefulness, you'll really enjoy this!

When the writer of a popular newspaper advice column is murdered, Alex applies for the opening on a whim. After all, the column means a lot to her and why not? When she gets the job, she starts to feel a connection to the woman she replaced and desperately wants to find her murderer. But when Alex starts receiving threats, she wonders if her own past is catching up to her. Or maybe she's in danger because she's gotten too close?

This was a super fast read, and very similar to Agatha Christie in pacing and style. While I did find it a bit predictable (I read a LOT of mysteries and thrillers, so it's hard to stump me now), I still found it extremely entertaining and well written. Even though I had a theory and was sure I was right, it was still engaging and fun to read through to the end to see if I was right and how we got there!

My only complaint is that I wish we had more of the advice column bit, because hearing Alex's advice to the folks who wrote in was a great addition to the story. I loved reading "Lost Girl's" story through her letters to Constance as well--it was a great way to provide the backstory without making it seem like a flashback, and keeping with the general narrative.

If you're looking for a great cozy mystery, this one is absolutely for you!

LOVED! Another hit for me from Jessa Maxwell. I loved The Golden Spoon, and really enjoyed this one as well. This time she takes on the world of newspapers. Although the ending is a bit predictable and very detail-oriented readers will pick up on who the villain is early on, I still really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. I rarely found myself reaching for the book to continue reading it, and it wasn’t the thriller that I expected it to be.

4/5

Alex is living the smallest life possible in the biggest city in America hiding out from her past, until one day a chance encounter and a bottle of wine inspire her to go after her dream job - writer of Dear Candence, a year after the murder of the beloved prior columnist.

With a twist of luck she gets the job, and she’s determined to do the previous writer proud; but is this job truly what it seems? When her boss begins acting shady and her assistant convinces her he’s dangerous she starts pulling at the thread meanwhile her take on the column makes her an overnight success. With her new bold life propelling her forward she’s follows the clues to just what happened to her predecessor.

I loved the FMC, but found a the plot a bit more predictable than I wanted it to be.

Alex is a freelance writer with a secret. She loves the advice column in the newspaper. Months after the writer is killed, Alex sees that the newspaper is looking to hire a new advice columnist. Not thinking she would get the job, she applies. What happens next is a slow burn.

Although I did think the premise was decent, and the twist was interesting, I did not think there was much substance to the writing. The book was not very long, but it could have been even shorter. I thought there was a lot of filler in the pages and not a lot of character development or plot movement. All of the action comes at about the last 5%-10% of the story. We are invested in who killed Francis, the advice columnist, for the whole story. It ends up being a very minor part of the book and I feel like it was kind of gloss over.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for these ARC an exchange from my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for an honest review. This book kept me turning pages from day one. It ended with twists I did not expect. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves action and twists. It did not have a dull moment in it. #netgalley

I Need You to Read This
by Jessa Maxwell
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGAlley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.
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…
I think this book suffers from incorrect advertising - it's billed as a mystery/thriller, but is more of a cozy mystery: light and breezy, which is not how I like my mysteries/thrillers to be. If this book were a movie, it would be a Hallmark one.

Unfortunately, I feel the same about this book. Additionally, the pacing is brutally slow, the character development lacking (which is even more painful in a slow burn of a book), and the ending anticlimactic and almost embarrassing. This one was not a hit for me.
3 stars

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up.

Thank you Simon and Schuster/NetGalley for the ARC! I really enjoyed The Golden Spoon so I was very excited to hear about Jessa’s latest. While this wasn’t as fun as The Golden Spoon (what can beat a baking show x murder?) — I do think Jessa stepped up the twists and harder topics.

Some of the chapters seemed a bit unnecessary, ex: the chapters having to do with Raymond’s confession seemed to have no real point in the end. Did we ever find out if Sam is okay? Etc.

I overall really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. I really appreciate shorter chapters and a likeable FMC. Would recommend this as a lighter palette cleansing thriller!

Loved the golden spoon but struggled with this one. Not my favorite. Very slow story. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

A slightly disappointing second novel that followed much of the same path as Golden Spoon, though with fewer perspectives which I appreciated. That book was slightly confusing with all the jumps each chapter.

I agree with others that this wasn't entirely a mystery or entirely a thriller. Needed to be nudged into one or the other category rather than the random midpoint it settled into. Much of this book felt that way, slightly unfinished. The backstories to the secondary characters from the diner just kinda meandered and there was never any resolution or real commentary on them. Would have been better without at least one of them. Even the resolution of the novel was half hearted. It just felt like this was rushed out after her first novel did so well.

Up front, I have to say this didn’t strike me as a thriller. I did not receive any thrills, and I think if it was listed as a pure mystery, maybe even with some slice of life elements, I might not have been as dissatisfied.

After submitting an application in a (slightly tipsy) act of loyalty to her all-time favorite & recently murdered advice columnist at The Herald, Alex Marks is hired in her dream job: the new writer of Dear Constance, AKA the replacement for the aforementioned recently-murdered columnist. Almost immediately it becomes apparent the position is less than a dream: her boss semi-accosts her drunken in the hallway, the receptionist hates her in a knockoff “Emily Blunt in Devil Wears Prada” way, she’s working 12 hour days, and there are rumors of sexual assault surrounding the editor in chief. Oh, and the previous columnist’s murder is still on the loose, and possibly sending Alex threatening letters.

Things that I liked! I liked how Jonathan talked about how much he loved Francis, that felt so genuine. I super related to the part at the beginning where she mentions buying fancy soap to try and feel like a normal adult, she’s real for that. Also, I like the moment toward the end when it really dives into Alex’s emotional connection to Dear Constance and Francis. Some elements of that were really so touching, though I do feel like that particular emotional beat could have been used more effectively from the start of the book to make that scene at the end even more impactful.

Generally, the concept had potential to be thrilling and twisty, but it turned out slow and predictable for me. Part of the general slow, dragging pace can probably be contributed to the constant interruption of the mystery for non-plot driving scenes.

For one, the Dear Constance letters that I think are meant to add to the mystery but are a bit too obvious to accomplish that. The letters are also VERY long and don’t read like advice column entries, because they’re supposed to be conveying backstory, but it makes the detours that much longer.

Second, Alex also has a blooming romance with a banker who works across the street from her, and there are several flirting scenes and date scenes that really wrench the rhythm away from any tension that might have been building.

Third, one of Alex’s slightly goofy diner buddies ends up having a tragic backstory reveal, which felt so random and out of place & I’m not sure how it contributed to the story or characters.

I think this would be good for people who like mystery that’s not going to make them actually scared. There is for sure a market for that!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I truly enjoyed Jessa Maxwell’s sophomore novel– no slump for this murder mystery/thriller authoress! Tense from start to finish, I was holding my breath for Alex and her investigation into the death of her favorite columnist, as she also seeks a path forward from a dark past.

Alex fled her old life and wound up in New York where she answered an ad from the Herald newspaper to replace Francis, who was the voice behind the Dear Constance advice column. Francis had been murdered but the murder had never been solved. For years, Alex had admired and even idolized Francis. So it was not surprising when Alex decided she wanted to solve the murder.

Initially, she thought her boss, Howard, was the culprit. After all, her assistant, Lucy, had told her that Howard had cornered her and other girls in the mail room for sexual favors. Had he found out that Francis knew about his escapades? And if so, did he feel he had the silence her?

Francis had been stabbed with a knife. Alex had snooped in Howard's office and found a sheath that had housed a knife but the knife was missing. So she decided to go out to Francis's beach house where she had been killed in search of the knife. She asked Lucy to drive her there. Little did she know that Lucy had secrets of her own.

The author wrote this story in such a way that it was easy to get wrapped up in it. All of the characters were believable and it was easy to identify with Alex. Most of the players were well developed except maybe Tom, whom Alex met at the coffee house across the street from work. If his role had been eliminated, it wouldn't have hurt the story at all. Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed this book. I gave it five stars.

Thank you Netgalley for an arc of I need you to read this! I loved this book. I was on the verge of a book slump and I need you to read this pulled me right out of it. It was a fun entertaining thriller. I will say that I thought the twist on who was sending the notes to Alex was obvious and I did guess it early on; but it did not effect my enjoyment of the book. I definitely want to read more by Jessa Maxwell!

This was an interesting premise for a thriller and I enjoyed the side characters from the diner. The book fell flat for me and I was more interested in the drama of the plot coming from the murder of Francis Keen and not Alex’s personal life. 3 stars! Thank you Atria Books, Jessa Maxwell and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

First and foremost, thank you so much Netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc.


This was a decent thriller that kept your attention the whole time. It had its moments of predictability, some moments of cringe, and one moment that was flat out ridiculous (Tums with a cocktail? Really?) but all it all it was a good read and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good thriller page turner. 3.5 stars rounded up.

I honestly didn’t enjoy this book. It felt slow to me and it just wasn’t something I wanted to continue reading.

After The Golden Spoon, I was eager to read Jessa Maxwell's latest book, I Need You To Read This. A young writer becomes the advice columnist for a popular NYC newspaper after her hero is murdered. But she's running from something in her past. A new boyfriend appears, plus some curious colleagues, not to mention the former copy and a waitress she sees daily at the diner. How's it all connected? Clever and fun, I enjoyed this mystery. It's less about the protagonist trying to solve the murder as it is to get used to her new job, but the clues keep popping up. It keeps readers guessing, and when the truth comes to light, it's a nice surprise and a bit of an obvious guess all the same time. Looking forward to the author's next book already.

2.5. this book was mostly a fairly interesting if not really tense character study for a lot of it, but the ending sadly went off the rails. it was both super predictable and very, very goofy - while clearly trying to be quite serious. still, at the end of the day, I do think the protagonist is enough to carry it, and the message it leaves you with in the last few paragraphs is quite moving. this is extremely tepid as a thriller, though.

I really enjoyed this authors first book and was excited to receive this ARC! This type of book is my favorite - a suspenseful thriller, but not too scary that I can’t sleep at night. The main character is a young woman who applies for a job writing an advice column after the original writer is murdered - and she decides she is going to try and find out what happened. I was definitely surprised by a couple of twists and felt as paranoid as the MC most of the book! A fun read.