This book was a slow start and i almost DNF the book.

The connection between lost girl and Alex I made the connection early. Alex in the book was trying to figure out the truth about her mentor Francis. Some of the things were predictable and some i did not see coming so that was nice and made me want to continue on with the book.

After you get past the slow burn it is a good book.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a little backlogged with my ARCs but working diligently to get caught up. I really enjoyed the premise of this book! When Alex replaces the writer of the famous advice column, she gets caught up in a mystery to solve the former authors murder. There were parts that I felt were kind of predictable but others that I never saw coming too! I enjoyed following Alex along solving this mystery and I know others will as well!

A quit paced story with duel narration. An advice column can be a great asset to readers, but one reader needs a lifeline in more ways than one. Tightly plotted and engaging.

I really tried to love this novel, but it just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t seem to get on board with Alex’s character. However, still getting 3 stars because I do believe this book will have a lot who love it, just wasn’t my particular cup of tea.

A Thrilling Read with a Few Flaws

I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell is a fast-paced and engaging novel that follows an advice columnist on a quest to uncover the truth behind her predecessor's murder. The book has its strengths and weaknesses, but overall, it's an enjoyable read that will keep you guessing until the very end.

On the plus side, the book's plot is well-developed and suspenseful. The author does a good job of keeping the reader engaged, and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. I have never gotten a chance to read a book by Jessa Maxwell and I am happy that I had time today to try and get it done. I will say that I feel like this book has two interesting parallels: one being the columnist trying to solve the murder and the other being her story and why she moved. Both being wrapped up beautifully.

The characters are also well-drawn and relatable, and I found myself invested in their fates. However, the one thing I didn't like is the supporting cast. The only one I liked was her editor.

The book's pacing is a bit uneven in places. There are a few sections that drag on a bit, and the ending felt a bit rushed. Additionally, some readers may find the plot twist to be predictable.

Overall, I Need You to Read This is a solid 4-star read. It's a good choice for fans of suspenseful novels with well-developed characters. Just be aware that the pacing can be a bit uneven in places.

I was excited to read this book. Really, I was. But it kind of fizzled. The characters were underdeveloped. None of them felt important, believable, or even connected to one another. There was no emotional depth between anyone. And the settings? Aside from the three main ones (home, diner, work), every other location felt like a plot device instead of being naturally woven into the story. Like, are we really going to a hidden bar just to investigate, then being caught for an entirely differently reason unrelated to the plot? It felt forced.

The side characters didn’t help either—they felt like props, not like real people who were meaningfully tied to the story. Honestly, it gave off “theater play” vibes, like the characters knew there was a fourth wall. Maybe that’s just how mystery novels work?

Then there were the logic gaps. For example, where is HR in this office building? Where’s the staff team? Why is everything so siloed? I worked in organizational culture, so maybe that’s why it irked me so much, but it seems like the author hasn’t spent much time in corporate America. And don’t even get me started on the ridiculousness of someone driving from the city to the Hamptons to look into a house that’s part of a police investigation. Make it make sense.

As for the twists: I guessed one, missed another, and found the ending way too neat and tidy. This book had all the right pieces, but none of the glue to hold them together.

This book has an incredibly slow build,up.
Maxwell keeps Alex’s story shrouded in the shadows for most of the book. I did make the connection between Lost Girl and Alex early on.
Alex scuttled about while trying to unearth the truth about her beloved mentor Francis.
Some of the things were a surprise bit others were not.
My favorite characters were Janice and Raymond because although just ordinary they were also extraordinary.

Thank you to @Atria for the eARC and thank you to @simonaudio for the ALC! An intriguing and clever mystery sees a young woman apply for an advice columnist position in present day (vacant since the prior columnist was murdered) interspersed with a previous timeline in the form of letters to the former columnist. A compelling story that had me just as paranoid as the main character and eagerly anticipating what could possibly happen next. I enjoyed this thoroughly, the single POV paired with the letters kept things moving - this medium-paced thriller was highly compelling!

I loved The Golden Spoon and was really excited to read this one. A twisty page turn that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I couldn’t put it down. A very enjoyable mystery.

This story was intriguing and did keep me guessing. There is a little bit of romance, a little intrigue, and some mysterious situations. The only thing that took me out of this was that the main character was not always so smart and we as the reader were given a lot of obvious clues for things that the MC should have known. This is frustrating for me because I feel like I'd rather figure things out on my own instead of being given the same clues over and over. The character development was pretty good and the ending was satisfying.
I'll continue to try this author and hope she continues to develop great mysteries! Also, please consider checking content warnings before reading this one.

This was such an enjoyable thriller! I thought the author did a great job developing the characters and I really liked the storyline. The ending I did not see coming, which is always a huge bonus. I would definitely recommend this.

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 quiet 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 get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position 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 new boss. Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder and her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Alex, her past and present. Definitely a creepy- twisted read. When I found myself thinking I knew what would happen next, I was excitingly surprised that there were more twists and turns. I loved how it all came together! Thank You Netgalley and Jessa Maxwell for a very entertaining read.

Ohhh I flew through the book!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it! Alex Mark moved to New York City to have a fresh start and disappear from her old life. And she did...for a while...until her favourite columnist was found dead at her summer cottage and she impulsively applied for the replacement position. And now someone knows! As she's now behind the Dear Constance column, someone, out there, knows the truth about her past. It took waaayyyyy too long for the coin to drop about the 'Dear Constance' chapters and I literally gasped when I finally pieced it together! Kudos to the author for taking me on a journey I thought I had a decent hold on and spinning it on its head. The characters were nicely flushed out and quirky; the dialogue was right on par.

Many thanks to the author, Atria Books and Netgalley for an advanced copy for an honest review

This book felt like a completely different author wrote it compared to their last book. I didn't like this one at all because of that.

I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell is a poignant exploration of relationships, communication, and the complexities of human emotions. The novel intertwines themes of love, loss, and the power of words, showcasing how written messages can serve as both a lifeline and a source of misunderstanding.

I’m shocked at how much I adored this!! I was glued to my kindle. This was very different from Maxwell’s first book. Alex was a very interesting character. The twist revealed towards the end gave me full body chills. There were so many red herrings and I really wasn’t too sure what was going to happen but the pay off was worth it

3.25 ⭐️

This was my first Jessa Maxwell book and wow, she kept me turning the pages on this one! While this wasn't the craziest thriller I've ever read, some of the twists and turns in this book caught me off guard. Alex was interesting as the main character, which allowed me to really get wrapped up in this story.

Thanks Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC!

1.0

I need you not to waste your time reading this.

Not a single character would know common sense if it reared up and bit them in the ass. Alex has all the intellect of a dead goldfish, and for some reason the moment she stands out in public every man within 20 feet aggro on. (Seriously, she eats lunch at this fancy place to celebrate getting her job an some weirdo--completely unprompted, and this guy never comes up again--just walks up to her and starts hitting on her like it's a sleezy bar. And, despite it being an upscale place, where waiters sit you down, no one asks the weird guy loudly harassing the woman who walked in alone.) Her two diner friends—the only vaguely interesting characters in the book—are also flat (tragically retired cop and cool diner lady).

The prose is tasteless and basic. On occasion it slips from third to general 'you' second, which no one else probably cares about but it is a pet peeve of mine that drives me up the wall.

As for the plot, it is both contrived and boring. There are so many moments that had me rolling my eyes: the whole job-hiring process (god, she applies for an advice columnist job at 1 AM, drunk, and gets called back like immediately and hired five minutes into the interview... girl lol. And don't even get me started on her salary), the manic pixie dream boy she bumps into at the coffee shop, the nothingburger of the cool secret bar...

Oof, and the setting. It's New York in the 2020s but it really shouldn’t be. Everything about it would be WAY more believable if it was set in the 20th century, during the heyday of newspapers--where being an advice columnist would actually be, like, a valid job title and not a task crammed into the schedule of an already overworked writer.

The genre is thriller but the only thrill I felt was hitting that 100% read mark and finishing the book. Honestly, I only finished for two reasons: for the sake of my NetGalley review score (which, bless it, is a disaster) and because I was stuck without service on the subway and had nothing else to read.

The only vaguely interesting sections are the Dear Constance letters, which the main character wrote as a young woman, and even those feel out of place. They’re not written like a person telling their story. They’re written like a novel or a short story, neither of which reads as believable in the context of being (supposedly) a letter.

Anyway. I'm off to apply to a job while drunk and get a next-day six salary offer to do nothing but read letters and write vague shitty advice. Byeeeee

Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC via Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was good. It wasn't my favorite but not my least favorite. It was straight in the middle. 3/5 Stars

NetGalley copy: Enjoyed the story and the characters. Still very much wish there was more to the story line but ultimately it was a good ghostwriter wonder.