3.5 rounded up for this fast, plot and character driven YA thriller. It’s easy to see this one as a movie. Jessa and her family live on the outskirts of town in what some consider a creepy house (hi Betty!). When her parents are out for the night, Jessa has a sleepover that gets derailed on many levels - a big storm, uninvited guests, and more. The atmosphere is perfect for a spooky season read. The best part was watching Jessa come into her own and find her voice. Her characterization as a “perfect” people pleaser that’s getting a little fed up with keeping everyone happy is spot on.

The teens acted like teens, not adults in their early twenties and it didn’t go too far over the top with the action. Reminded me of a stepped up version of the good old original Fear Street series. There is minimal language and overall I would say this works for upper middle grades as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.

Perfect Girl is a fun read! For a YA thriller it has the excitement to keep you reading. It was good I think it’s just important to remember that is it YA when deciding to read it.

Wow, that was a decent read for a YA thriller. It was definitely a very fast read having done so in one sitting!

The opinions expressed are honest and my own but I am thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this title.

This is definitely a YA book beyond the teen characters. I could visualize it the entire way through like a teen suspense flick. I enjoyed that the teens acted like teens. While there were suspenseful and sick (psychologically) moments it didn’t go overboard and was kept fairly clean.

It was a great read to break up a bunch of romance that I’ve read recently. So if you are a YA loving adult, while this one is on the younger part of the genre spectrum it was very entertaining and brought me back to memories of high school.

If you like suspense thrillers, put this in your TBR for November 19, 2024. I wish it was published the month before as it would have made a great Halloween release.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Jessa is exactly the kind of girl that I was so I could really relate to that part of the story. I read this book in one sitting because I kept turning the pages with out regards to the late hour. It is a great mystery and a tale of friendship and siblings.

Loved the thrilling and Mystery aspects of this book! I’m usually not a huge fan of ya books but I really enjoyed this one.

Perfect Girl is a quick, fun read with a thrilling climax! It follows Jessa, a rules-following "perfect" girl who seems to have her life together. But has her perfection caught the wrong person's notice?

I can't say too much without spoiling the excellent twist(s) within this novel. It starts at a sleepover in Jessa's house, where a power outage interrupts the standard teenage bickering. Can Jessa put her complicated feelings aside about her brother, crush, and best friends to manage a growing crisis? Can she put her own insecurities away? How much can this perfect girl be pushed before she cracks?

Perfect Girl takes the "nice guy" concept to the extreme. I enjoyed the characters' banter (it felt very true to the high school experience) and Jessa's inner monologue. I also liked how the romance between Jessa and Ryan develops. I almost wanted this book to be longer, though. The concept restricts it to a single evening, but it felt like Jessa got out of her pickle rather quickly. Despite this, Perfect Girl fits a lot into the story and wraps up nicely.

If you're looking for a not so scary but still gripping thriller, Perfect Girl is a great choice.

This was not at all what I expected, but quite a thrilling ride. Romance, mystery, and thrills rolled up in one great story. I read this as an ARC.

This book brought me right back to high school and the many sleepovers. The twists just kept coming and coming. I am excited to see what Tracy Banghart has next up her sleeve.

Jessa Morgan has always been the perfect girl: nice, polite, a rule-follower. Her friends and her brother make fun of her but she finds life easiest when she’s the girl her parents and society expect her to be.

One night her friends are at Jessa’s for a sleepover when a storm comes up and the power goes out. Her friends start to fight, guests show up and scary things start to happen. Someone has targeted Jess and she needs to save herself and everyone else. Can the perfect girl do it?

I don’t know, this is definitely YA for YA, not much for an adult here, even an adult who likes YA. It was OK, just….not much to it.

So I initially picked this up because of the cover and thought oh this would be a nice read but boy did it surprise me by being way more intriguing that I ever would've guessed.