Jessa, the "perfect" daughter, sister, and friend is preparing for college and has a sleepover while her parents are off at the ballet. They make an exception to her having a sleepover, as a mysterious serial killer has been lurking around and has taken six girls in the neighborhood lately.
Jessa invited one of her friends who has seemed distant lately, Tiny. During a 'fight', the power goes out and Jessa must navigate the night to survive with her friends, while no longer being "the perfect girl". That's what ends up making Jessa the perfect target, because she is the "perfect girl" after all.
With time not being on her side, a thunderstorm raging outside, through the darkness, she has to learn to fight with all she has to be "rude" in order to stay alive.
I definitely suggest NOT reading it when you're alone, especially in the middle of the night, so you don't get rattled by noises/voices in the house or just plan to stay up all night and read the entire thing in one sitting, like I did!!
I love survive the night stories and felt like the author hit the nail on the head with this one. I enjoyed the before POV, since we mostly see everything from Jessa's POV.
I think it lacked somewhat in the before parts and also the fact that Jessa was more worried about kissing a boy in the middle of the woods ALONE while her friends are missing, because #priorities.

"Life of a chaos demon is tough."

"Fine by me. I'd rather be a b**** than your perfect girl."

"You are safe. You are strong. You are beautiful, inside and out."

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for a digital copy of this wonderful thriller! I thoroughly enjoyed it so much and look forward to reading more by this author.

You boil with feminine rage, and then feminine pride, as our main character Jessa defies the constraints of her life to bust out and save herself and her friends.

Jessa is the good girl. She never breaks rules, and the adults in her life have trapped her inside expectations as being the one with the plan, the clean one, the polite one, and even when she's unhappy or uncomfortable. Her brother, Josh, the boy, gets away with being lazy, rude, and messy, and every time he does something wrong they BOTH get a new rule even if Jessa hasn't earned the restriction. She loves her brother but it definitely builds tension between the two of them...also because she has a crush on his best friend.

Her parents bend the "no friends when we aren't home" rule (Josh's fault) to let her have a sleepover when she would've been home alone. Especially because girls in a town not far from them have been going missing. At her house in the middle of nowhere. With faulty internet. And neighbors she doesn't know well if at all. Obviously, things are going to go badly...stalkers, power outages and a massive storm, stress, drama, and Jessa obeying when she should be questioning.

Once this really gets going the tension ratchets up until I was barely breathing I was waiting to figure out what the heck was going on. It's got a decent mystery, a haunted house, a great monologue when things finally snap, and true blue girl's girls friendship.

Note: Josh is oblivious, not overtly a butthead, and he very much loves and respects his sister. He's just a teenage boy who doesn't get it, or know how to express it yet. He learns better.

This is a fast-paced, easy to read YA thriller that took me just under 3hr to read. The stormy night and secluded house is a good backdrop for the mystery, and there were several other elements that added a little depth to the story.

It's not particularly scary (or even graphic), but I think it hits the mark for the target audience.

Overall: 3.5 stars (I liked it)

**Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

My Top 5 Reasons to Read Perfect Girl:
1. Exploring the ebbs and flows of friendships.
2. Lots of jump scares and thrills, including a ghost named Betty!
3. Truth or dare…
4. When a storm knocks the power out, all bets are off for the sleepover.
5. A super fun, engaging book with the right amount of horror that will delight readers of all ages!

This is a YA thriller about a sleepover that goes very wrong.
I was enjoying it in the beginning, although you are halfway through the book before anything scary happens. When that part hit I just thought it was okay.

🎀Book Review🎀
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Summary- Jessa has been raised to be the “perfect girl.” She is unfailingly polite, never rocks the boat, and always follows the rules—no matter what. Her friends love to give her a hard time for being such a goody two-shoes, but Jessa likes it this way. She knows what's expected of her, and she's happy to be the person her parents (and society) want.

When a freak storm takes out the power during a sleepover at Jessa’s creepy, old house, things go south before the pizza gets cold. Her friends are at each other’s throats, unexpected guests keep showing up (some more welcome than others), and it’s not just her brother serving up jump scares. A killer looking for the perfect girl has targeted Jessa, and she’ll have to reject everything she’s been taught if she wants to keep herself—and her friends—alive until sunrise.

Who knew perfection could be so dangerous?
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Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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My thoughts- Thank you @netgalley and @macmillianchildrenpublishinggroup for the advanced copy, this one releases next week. It was a perfectly fine YA thriller that was super predictable. My main issue with YA mysteries is that the main character is often naive and self righteous, this one is no different. I found Jessa to be just so annoying, I was siding with Tiny the antagonist most of the book. It was fun but the villain definitely needed a little more backstory, it was a bit ridiculous at the end. But I was engaged and wanted to finish this one!
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QOTD- do you read YA books ?! What is one that you definitely recommend ?
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What does it mean being the perfect girl. No one thinks that you would ever step out of line. To be fair most of your life this has been true. The one to always mess up has been your brother. Yet with girls going missing in town, it seems better to stay with others in large numbers, so when Jessa’s parents allow her to have some friends over while they aren’t at home, she is going to make sure it is a fun but perfect night. Yet a storm and some unexpected guests have other plans for the night.
This is a lovely fast paced horror novel. It is not super dark and hits all the right notes for someone looking for a horror novel without all the gore. The antagonists hit all the right notes and come of as just the right amount of crazy. I think that teens are truly going to love going on this crazy ride.
Thank you so much to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Such a scary good book!

It really makes you think about how sometimes people can be nice to a fault and what happens when you are too nice and polite to the wrong person. Especially when you put other people's feelings first consistently just because you don't to be rude, even if that person gives you a weird feeling.

That's exactly what happens in this book and the consequences are potentially deadly when you are too nice. You learn from her mistakes that, yes it is good to be a kind person, but it is also important to speak up and stand up for yourself, even if it means you are "rude".

Such an amazing book and will recommend to everyone!

This was such a fun read for me. I liked how mysterious & spooky everything was at the beginning of the book, however, I think it wasn't higher up on the list for me because it talked about COVID and quarantine. There's nothing wrong with that, I just personally don't like it being brought up in my books.

In this, we follow Jessa, the perfect girl. Polite to a fault, she's struggling to make decisions about her own life without feeling guilty. When she has a sleepover with her friends without supervision for the first time ever, she's visited by a classmate thst seems to know a bit too much about her. A huge thunderstorm hits her small hometown and knocks out all of the lights, she'll have to leve behind her politeness to survive the events that transpire next.
I think it was wonderful social commentary on not only societal expectations of women and how they don't even begin to match mens, but also how feminism can be dangerous when it isn't used with an intersectional lens.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tracy Banghart for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Perfect Girl coming out November 19, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I’ve read books by this author before and I really enjoy her writing. I know this is YA and the characters are in high school, but the characters felt a little younger than HS. There was a lot about Jessa crushing on Ryan and being embarrassed if anyone said anything to him. Then the not wanting to make a mess was a whole thing. I was just expecting a little more. I enjoyed the creepy haunted house and the horror vibes. I liked parts of the book, but I just wanted something different. I would read more books by this author.

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN! It reminded me literally of Scream with teenagers having a sleepover and their teenage angst and drama but also being kidnapped and hunted. It was a super fast read. I finished it in one sitting, no regrets. It was very YA but still such a good time.

What a wild ride! Reading this felt like watching an old teenage slasher movie. I read this in one sitting and couldn't put it down. It read more like a horror book than a thriller, but I loved the girly spin on the usual scary storyline. If you need a quick, creepy book to get you out of a reading rut this is it! I gave it 4.5 stars and rounded it to a 5 because it was a little predictable, but I liked it so much anyway.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I read this! I had to read it in one setting because I had to know what was going to happen. The perfect book to leave you guessing and to give you some jump scares along the way.

This was a good popcorn thriller book. It wasn't super fantastic, but it did its job.
Our "perfect" main character Jessa has some friends sleep over while her parents go out overnight. Jessa loves order and following rules. She hates when her friends call her "perfect" or things like "Judge Jessa." Jessa doesn't think she's perfect, she just likes following rules. When that night there is a big storm that knocks the power out, the girls think someone might be creeping around outside, and Jessa realizes there might be someone out there who enjoys the fact that she is perfect.
Jessa has some pretty stressed friendships. She hasn't really spoken to her friend Tiny in a while because she has an older new boyfriend she would rather hang out with. Alexis and Kellan are both sleeping over as well who are closer with Jessa. The atmosphere is pretty tense, especially when Jessa's bother Josh shows up at home with his best friend and her crush Ryan. I feel like the issues everyone has kind of amped up the spooky atmosphere, especially due to the fact that girls had been disappearing recently around their area. Thinking back, I did really enjoy the night going from bad to worse instead of going from good to bad. It really added to the thriller-y aspect of the book.
While the plot was a little predictable, it was still good. I'm used to finding out whodunit close to the end, but we found out relatively early and then had to hope that *person or persons unknown* would get away. It was also a unique (to me). The reasoning, the culprit(s), the method, while they didn't wow me, I did say "huh, that's interesting. I like that."
The pacing was well done. It was fast paced throughout. I didn't find myself thinking anything was lagging, slow or unnecessary.

The pacing was slow and made it a little hard to get through. I think the action should be more prominent, and maybe the reader could be thrown into the danger and fear more, and a little sooner. The characters mixed well together, and other than the pacing, the suspense was tangible, especially with the “false alarms” in the beginning leading into the tension and action. I think the mix of characters and possible suspects along with the looming crime in York builds sufficient tension. Though the story was a bit predictable at times, this is somewhat expected for a YA thriller. Over all, a good build up, good group of characters and call backs throughout the story that help build tension.

The mystery was a little bit predictable, but the tempo was high and captivating, and the pressure-building left you breathless! It was definitely an enjoyable popcorn thriller you can consume in one sitting, enjoying a thrilling night! Okay but this book definitely highlights one of my genuine fears of being abducted or attacked. And while this centers around high school kids, this is still a very real fear of mine that has me kind of always questioning who and what to trust, both in life and also in this book. I kept internally yelling at characters trying to get them to stop making dumb decisions while simultaneously believing that in a fight or flight situation I’d probably legit freeze and therefore be the first to die. And while thrillers don’t guarantee happy endings, I did have hope. I’ll leave it at that as I don’t know how to avoid another spoiler.

Thank you to the author for tossing in some 90s nostalgia. Buffy was one of my favorite movies growing up. This book was overall a quick and easy read that I found hard to put down. It touched on some tough but very real topics that not just high schoolers but people of any age may be able to relate to and it was nice to see Jessa’s character progression and how she was able to allow some mess into her life. I think maybe my one issue is that the characters went through this really traumatic situation together and there’s only the briefest mention of Jessa going to therapy but not a lot about how everyone was able to move on.

Perfect Girl by Tracy Banghart was a great book to help me get out of my reading slump! I found the writing to be very enjoyable and quick to get through. Before I knew it, I was already 50% into the book after reading for only a couple hours.

We follow Jessa, the perfect high schooler who has her whole life planned out. When her parents are out of town for the night, Jessa and her friends find themselves stuck in a storm that took the power out. No service, their phones are dying, no one is getting along, and to make it worse? Unexpected guests keep showing up. What could possibly go wrong?

Jessa was very likable. I felt like she showcased feelings and struggles that can resonate with many. I will admit, at some point to the end I kept yelling at my kindle because Jessa just kept being polite and respectful instead of standing up for herself but I do understand that this was a part of her character.

There was a small group of side characters that were enjoyable but ultimately not my favorite. At the beginning it seemed like each character was getting some development but I feel that it got lost a bit along the way. Additionally, there was a subplot of romance that was cute but overall I didn't care for too much.

The pacing of the story was pretty good, the first 40% was build up to the climax where we got some fun and interesting scenes. Almost every chapter ends on a mini cliffhanger so it keeps you very entertained and wanting to learn more. There was one scene of the group playing truth or dare where school sh***er drills were mentioned as well as mentions of covid throughout the book which took me out of the story sometimes.

I did find our bad guy to be very predictable and easily noticeable (to me) with the way they were written in. Given the small cast, some of the dialogue from said character, and descriptions about them, it just seemed very in-your-face even with the twists that were meant to throw you off. I want to mention that there were a few “before” chapters that we have sprinkled throughout the story and I see how they were wrapped up and connected but at the end of the day, they weren't needed.

Lastly, the ending seemed a little too neat and quickly wrapped up. I don't want to talk about this too much as I don't want to spoil anything but it just wasn't realistic at all and once again, while I understand that it wrapped up another little side story that was brought up throughout the book, it felt a bit out of place.

Overall, if you're looking for a quick, fast paced, fun young adult thriller I would recommend you give Perfect Girl a try!

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

A well-written thriller with biting social commentary. While I wish the pacing had been a bit different, the overall themes was executed so well it mattered very little.

A smart, fast-paced read with complex, dynamic characters and an intriguing plot. Will definitely add to my classroom library.