3.5 stars (rounded down)

Jessa is the “perfect girl” - always nice, polite, and follows the rules. She invites her friends over her a sleepover, and things go south quickly. Fights ensue, power goes out and then there is a killer out there!

The romance, while a subplot, was very cute. And it definitely was a creepy plot that made you want to keep reading.

Overall I enjoyed the book, but felt it ultimately missed the mark in some areas. I didn’t feel the character development of Jessa becoming “less perfect” was ever that meaningful. And while it wasn’t a huge deal, I kind of wanted the stakes to be higher with the killer.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Perfect girl was a very quick and easy read for me. I will say if you are a pretty little liars fan this book will be right up your alley. Perfect girl has the same vibes. The book was a little predictable for me.

Thank you for NetGalley for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book caught my attention from the very first page. It was a quick and easy read. Before i knew it, I was already at the halfway mark. I really enjoyed the main character Jessa and I found her to be extremely relatable. 5 stars!!

This was an excellent way of putting so many different types of horror in one book. I was hooked from the first page and couldn’t put it down!

First and foremost, a big thank you to both Tracy Banghart, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, and NetGallery for the advanced copy of Perfect Girl to read and review!

I was immediately intrigued about this book from both the blurb and the cover art. It literally screams campy 80s horror movie, which are my favorite to both watch and read.

The book kept me hooked from the first chapter all the way to the last page. I felt like I was watching a movie in my head while I was reading this book, which is how you know the author puts heart and soul into it.

The atmosphere was set perfectly. A high school slumber party on a dark and stormy night, but the slumber party takes place at a seemingly haunted house. Like... the perfect setting for a book like this. The pacing is fast enough where it keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time, but not so fast that it feels rushed.

I normally feel like dual POV's aren't the best in books like these, however, I kind of ate my words with this one. The other POV's came in at the perfect time to push the plot forward and give the reader a chance to make predictions on who the suspect is.

Speaking of the suspects... wow. Although I was able to guess who it was pretty early on, it was still fun to be shocked by the twists and turns of the book. Again, the reveal is very reminiscent of 80s horror, which I was not upset about.

Although this is a Young Adult horror/thriller book, I think readers of all ages will enjoy it, especially around spooky season.

Jessa is polite. Maybe too polite. But that's her whole vibe. She's the perfect girl. Straight A's, the ideal friend. She's never disappointed her parents. So when she asks to have a sleepover the one night they're out of town to see a show, her wish is granted. And what could go wrong on a dark and stormy night in a haunted house designed for a horror movie (multiple entrances and exits, all windows, in the middle of nowhere)?

A lot, obviously. Which is what make's Tracy Banghart's The Perfect Girl so fun.

At the sleepover, Jessa and her friends hit the classics. They watch a movie, they have pizza AND popcorn, and they have a pillow fight while setting up their basement slumber party. Every scene is a romcom girls' night until the power goes out and the girls have to venture upstairs in the dark, where they bump into.... Jessa's brother and his best friend, who is also Jessa's crush!

From there, Perfect Girl takes a turn away from the bubblegum fun teen movie it could have been towards the horror genre. With no power, no internet, and rapidly dying/dead cellphones, the girls (and the boys) turn to truth or dare to calm their nerves. There's surely no harm in going outside in the raging storm on a dare. That is, until one of the girls sees footprints that weren't there before.

New guests arrive to the party and as the tension ratchets up, Jessa and her friends must confront their fears, changing relationships to each other, and identities (hey, Perfect Girl!) to survive the night. The killer searching for his perfect girl just might have found her, but the perfection he dreamed of may not be all it's cracked up to be.

I LOVED this book. From effective flashback chapters showing the other girls missing at the hands of the serial killer to a haunted house payoff at the end of the book, Banghart knows her tropes and how to employ them to great success. Jessa may have shed her perfect girl persona at the climax to make a beautiful mess, but Banghart has pulled off a tidy and engaging feat in Perfect Girl.

5/5 stars! AND THIS BOOK IS OUT TODAY! SO BUY IT!

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I had such a great time reading this book - that being said, before I jump in to the full review, I am taking away a star just due to the predictability of it all.

This is one of those “I can’t put this down because I NEED to know what happens next” books for me. Albeit a little predictable, the twists and turns did keep me on the edge and wanting to keep reading. If you’re looking for a cozy thriller (my fave) then this is the book for you! The sleepover, storm & power outage gave me Pretty Little Liars vibes, which I was obsessed with. It made me feel super nostalgic, like I was watching a 90’s thriller at a sleepover back when I was a teenager 😂

All in all, I really enjoyed this one and would absolutely recommend to anyone looking for a quick read cozy thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the ARC! 🖤

If I'm being honest, this book started off slow. Something felt off with the pacing, but I couldn't stop reading it. I kept forgetting the character's names and I didn't really know where it was going. I loved the way it ended, and I think that was what saved it. If the whole book had been written like the ending, I would've given it a solid 5 stars. The side characters were lowkey annoying and I wish they had more of a backstory rather than just adding to the plot a little bit. Overall, if the ending hadn't been as good, it would've been 3 stars. Really bummed about this one because I wanted to like it :(

Rating: 4.5 stars!

4.5 stars? 5 stars? A sleepover, a storm bad enough to cause a power outage, a ghost, and a serial killer?! What is there not to love about this thrilling story! This book had my jaw dropping constantly! Highly recommend!!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3⭐️

Bella just wanted a little excitement. She got a fake ID, went to a club, and left with a boy. Now she is missing. The sixth girl to go missing. All because she broke the rules.

Jesse is perfect. Perfect daughter, perfect grades, even the perfect rule follower. She's never done anything out of line.

One sleepover and a game of Truth or Dare is about to change everything she thought she knew about herself, her home, and her neighborhood.

My Thoughts

It has a decent storyline, but the poor execution makes the tale drag. Filler words and sentences litter the pages, pulling the reader from what is important to what is mundane.

The post covid trope has become trite and rehashed. This book tries way too hard to be "relevant," with tiktok dances, emoji talk, and school shooting references.

The imiture writing style is better suited to a young teen. I'm not saying it's badly written, just very, very young.

The plotline takes off around the halfway point. Until then, most of the tale is just unnecessary character build-up. 100 pages of fluff, 100 pages of plot.

Unfortunately, there is nothing unique, new, or original about this book. Every twist, turn, and new motivation has clearly been copied from other popular books. I understand that there truly aren't any "new" ideas, but this just felt old, tired, and done before.

Don't get me wrong. It was well written. At no point did I consider DNFing. It held my attention even if it had been done before. It was a familiar story in a visit with friends kinda way.

It's very much horror for a tween.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire plot. While certain points were a bit predictable, that didn’t take away from my enjoyment at all! The writing flowed well and was easy to understand, while still keeping me engaged with the characters and the plot. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers and will be purchasing a psychical copy!

Perfect Girl by Tracy Banghart was a great YA thriller that hooked me immediately and kept me turning the pages.
This story is such a well-paced, well-written book that I couldn’t put down.
I was so hooked from the moment I picked up Perfect Girl.
I loved the atmosphere, the tension-filled sense of foreboding and suspense.
The author comes up with an extremely intriguing plot that keeps you hanging on the edge of your seat.
The mystery was well thought out and the characters were well developed.

Thank you to both Tracy Banghart and Netgalley for the gifted ARC of “Perfect Girl” in exchange of an honest review by me.

3⭐️
I enjoyed this one! I was quite fond of the characters and grew attachments to them throughout my reading experience. It was the perfect spooky read I needed for October. The only “criticisms” I have are the unneeded extra romance and the amount of Covid-19 references. I think having references of the pandemic is great but using past tenses is not the way to do so. A lot of people are still affected by it now at this very second. Also, there should not be as many as there was. Regarding the love interest, I loved Ryan (don’t get me wrong), but I felt like there was far too much focus on this crush they had going on rather than the spooky events at hand. However, I still really enjoyed the experience as it was a good read for Halloween and would totally read from Tracy Banghart in the future. If you like ghosts, evil people, halloween, and sleepovers, I would totally recommend this one!

(“Perfect Girl” comes out tomorrow, November 19th!!!)

I noticed someone compared this to Pretty Little Liars, and YES. It's thrilling, captivating, and enjoyable. I usually don’t like YA books, but this was quite fun. If you’re easily scared, it's probably not the best thing to read alone at night. Otherwise, it’s a nice whodunit book to cuddle up with and can be finished in one sitting! 🩷

Thank you Netgalley & the author for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, I really liked this. It read a bit like a movie, filled with tension and jump scares. It had my attention the entire time and I found it hard to put down. The romance as a subplot worked well. I enjoyed how the storm outside matches the action going on indoors.

What I struggled with was what I felt may have been the main message of the book. Jessa is the perfect girl, afraid to be messy or let anyone down. In fact, when she finds herself in danger, her confession is that she doesn't know if she wants to be a lawyer. I won't go into what ended up happening to her as I don't want to go spoilery. But I felt that it was laid out that what happened was the cost of her being too perfect. So, "be bad because if you're too perfect, xyz will happen to you?". That might be me reading too much into the text, but I struggled with it as a takeaway concept.

Overall, this was thrilling and engaging. A bit of everything from romance to nightmare fuel.

This was written in first person pov and the mc inner dialogue really turned me off at times. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue reading by the 25%, but I am glad i stuck it out bc the halfway point on was great and made up for faults i found early on. Everything came together in a really creepy and dreadful way, with a lot of feel-good self ownership by the end of it. I think this will a good read for a lot of younger people who struggle with self-identity.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading opportunity.

This had all the makings of being a great YA thriller: a girl’s night sleepover, a storm, unexpected boys showing up, and a killer on the loose. And in the end it just fell flat for me.

I loved the atmosphere, I loved the petty teenage drama going on between the girls, I loved the set up of the main character always being dubbed as “perfect” by everyone even though she doesn’t think she is. I thought it was a great setup.

But once we got into what being the “perfect girl” really means for the context of this book, and we changed locations, I just felt very uninterested. I wanted a teenage slasher book, and instead got something completely different. It wasn’t bad, just not what I expected.

Overall, it’s a 3 out of 5 stars. I was going with 3, but there was a lot of diversity in this book and I really appreciated that.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!

What will Jessa need to sacrifice in order to save her friends and herself?

Jessa is a young woman who has always adhered to the rules and played the role of the "perfect girl." One day, her parents went on a trip and allowed her to invite her friends—Kellan, Alexis, and Tiny—over for a sleepover. However, things took an unexpected turn when the power went out, and a game of truth or dare spiraled out of control. Jessa soon finds herself in a life-and-death situation that forces her to question her values. What will Jessa do?

This is the second thriller I've read, and I absolutely loved it. The narrative is intricately woven with unexpected twists and turns, keeping me on the edge of my seat. Several spine-chilling moments sent shivers down my spine. The underlying theme of the book—that no one is perfect—strikes a chord and resonates deeply with many readers.

Jessa, the protagonist, is a sweet yet courageous character, and I found myself rooting for her throughout the entire story. Her determination and resilience shine brightly against the darkness surrounding her. Kellan, with her vibrant and peppy personality, adds a lighthearted touch to the narrative, providing much-needed moments of levity. On the other hand, Alexis, while intriguing, only had a few opportunities for us to delve into her character, leaving me wanting to know more about her backstory. Tiny, on the contrary, has a sharp tongue and a biting wit, which made her a bit grating for my tastes.

This book is a perfect fit for anyone who enjoys a relatable thriller. It is filled with complex characters and an engaging storyline that grips the reader until the very last page.

Happy Reading, Paige ❤️ 📚

This book had me hooked. I kept trying to put the pieces together and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next in the story. Jessa feels conflicted with being perceived as “perfect” - by her brother, her friends, and her parents. Little does she know that someone else thinks she is the embodiment of perfection and will not stop until he has her. Unexpected arrivals happen all night when her brother and his best friend (Jessa’s crush) unexpectedly crash her sleepover with friends. To get through the night, Jessa has to figure out how to shed her perfect girl persona. I had to set this one down at bedtime to make sure I could sleep at night. Definitely worth a read. Thank you Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

PERFECT GIRL by Tracy Banghart

Pub date: Nov. 19th, 2024
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Rating: 4 / 5


Everything works out for the perfect girl... right?

Jessa Morgan never does the unexpected. She follows the rules, sticks to her plans, and never rocks the boat. Sure this has garnered a "goody two-shoes" reputation for her, but that's a small price to pay for security. When Jessa's given the rare go-ahead to have a sleepover without parent supervision, a would-be relaxing hangout quickly goes awry. Jessa didn't plan for this, but if she wants to survive the night, she'll have to trade in being the perfect girl for the final girl.

PERFECT GIRL is a fast-paced YA thriller that takes the reader on a movie-worthy, hair-raising trip. Jessa might seem like a boring "good girl" at first, but her growth as a character was as satisfying as it was engaging. Her relationships with the ensemble cast – her older brother, friends, and nearly lifelong crush– also add entertaining banter and heartfelt dynamics the story. As far as the thriller aspect, there are some more predictable plot points but also twists that add refreshing depth and tension to the book's events. Fans of read-in-one-sitting thrillers with female empowerment and some beyond the grave vengeance will likely enjoy Banghart's latest release.

Readers should note that the book includes possibly triggering content including abusive relationships, nonconsensual acts, and kidnapping.


(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!)