Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Everything You Want Me to Be. This is my honest opinion of the book.

High school senior Hattie Hoffman is found stabbed to death on the opening night of her high school play. Sheriff Del Goodman, a family friend, vows to find her killer, but quickly discovers a convoluted web to untangle. Written from the perspectives of Hattie, Del, and Peter, the English teacher, Everything You Want Me to Be gives reader a look back at Hattie's last year.

Although the story was written in multiple points of view, it strangely was not disjointed. The plot unfolded, with the final reveal somewhat telegraphed, yet still interesting. Hattie Hoffman is a hard character to like, but the author does a good job of painting the picture of a teenager who does not think things through clearly and implodes her life as a result. Readers who like YA mystery/thrillers will enjoy how the story is spooled out, a little at a time, in order to build the suspense and mystery.

I had seen this book everywhere and was thrilled to be approved for a copy! The story is clever and full of twists and unexpected turns. Fast-paced and well-plotted. Definitely a satisfying read!

Hattie is a high school senior who thinks she has discovered the key to success in life--be a great actress, and play the roles each person wants from her. But then she is murdered, and secrets of her inner life, and the small town she lived in, are revealed.

Mejia uses three narrators to tell the story, and she uses them well. Each storyteller-Hattie herself, the town sheriff, and the new English teacher-bring something new and important to the tale. And each of the three are hiding things, big and small, that makes a reader wonder just how much they can be trusted.

The structure of the book works really well as well. While the book itself opens with Hattie's murder, Hattie tells her story from many months before. Readers know where her tragic tale is going to end, but Hattie does not, and this builds up a sense of foreboding and suspense.

The twists are well-plotted and the mystery is an intriguing one.


There really wasn't anything I didn't like in this book.

The only thing I would say is that, in my opinion, I didn't find it as good as works by Gillian Flynn, for example (an author Mejia is already being compared to). This was a good book, I just didn't love it as much as some of my absolute favorites. It's a book I really enjoyed reading, but don't see myself needing to own or re read.

I would definitely recommend fans of psychological thrillers pick this one up. It's a well-told, complex story with an excellent mystery woven in.

A student is brutally murdered, and the town’s sheriff vows to find the killer. The more he investigates the death, however, the more questions arise. He realizes that the girl, hailed as a great actress, may have kept the majority of her life off stage. Author Mindy Mejia takes readers into a small town and its scandals in the heart-wrenching novel Everything You Want Me to Be.

Hattie Hoffman knows she’s meant for something more than what her small town of Pine Valley, Minnesota, can offer. As a high school senior, she feels like she’s at a turning point in her life. Once she graduates, she’s leaving southern Minnesota behind and moving to New York City. It’s only in NYC, she knows, that she can find what she was meant to do.

She already has an inkling. She’s spent so much of her life playing a part: the obedient daughter; the gracious best friend; the model employee in the town’s drugstore. If she can play so many different roles every day, surely she can put that talent to good use on stage.

When the new English teacher, Peter Lund, comes to town, Hattie realizes she’s met a kindred spirit: someone who doesn’t belong in Pine Valley. Peter feels it too. He came back to Pine Valley as a kindness to his ailing mother-in-law. His wife, Mary Beth, is a townie and slips right back into life as a farmgirl, but Peter feels increasingly estranged from her and the girl she was back in Minneapolis.

Peter and Hattie inevitably get close, so when Hattie is found stabbed to death on the night of the big school play sheriff Del Goodman begins digging into the people around her. That includes Peter and also Hattie’s boyfriend, Tommy. The difficulty gets compounded by the fact that Del has known Hattie’s family since before she was born; he thinks of Hattie like a daughter.

It’s excruciating for Del to look her parents in the eye and share the details of her murder. He starts to pull apart the various facets of Hattie’s life and then must go back to her parents with her secrets. The adults who care so deeply about her realize they only knew the parts of Hattie that she chose to share, and if they want to find her killer they will need to understand all of her.

Author Mindy Mejia creates vivid characters. Hattie is definitely a young woman of this day and age but one who feels the trappings of small-town life. No matter how far the digital revolution carries the world, people in close proximity to one another will still take a scrutinizing interest in their neighbors. Mejia charts Hattie’s discomfort with the scrutiny in a delicate manner.

Peter’s anguish and inner conflict ring true to real life. While readers may not approve of his actions, they may sympathize with his plight. Mejia creates enough space around Peter to allow for that sympathy, not an easy task for an author.

Mejia has her hero in Del, the father figure who must keep fighting and doing his job to find justice for Hattie. Del balances his own grief with his job in an admirable manner that doesn’t come across as fake; again, Mejia sets up a complex character with success.

If the book can be faulted anywhere, it might be in the fact that Peter wishes to distance himself from small-town life and then lands right in the middle of a stereotypical small-town scandal. His conscience won’t leave him alone about it, however, and therein lies Mejia’s saving grace for Peter and the book. People from all walks of life, Mejia seems to say, are prone to stupid mistakes when they’re not thinking clearly.

Also, the big reveal of the killer’s identity comes across as a little clumsy, which is a shame given how cleanly the rest of the book is plotted. The murder itself and the way authorities find out both feel a touch serendipitous, and readers may feel cheated on that point but by then they may be happy just to know who actually did it.

The book alternates between Hattie, Peter, and Del’s points of view, teasing out the thriller aspect and leading and then misleading readers in the best ways possible before reaching the end. Everything You Want Me to Be Borders on Bookmarking it.

This book was very interesting and held a lot of intrigue for the reader. Hatty is a senior in high school and is involved in acting. She is a great actress but she has been acting for what seems like her entire life. She plays the role of good daughter to her parents, good friend to her peers and instead of being who she truly is, she plays out the roles that people would like to see. When a new teacher comes to her school, Hatty is infatuated with him. Her life changes as does his upon their meeting. When Hattie is found dead the small town is abuzz questioning who did this to Hattie. The book is filled with twists and turns and leaves the reader in suspense up to the end. I definitely recommend this book.

Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia is a 2017 Atria/ Emily Bestler Books publication.

Very suspenseful, atmospheric, and absorbing.

This is a cleverly written novel of suspense featuring not one, not two, but three first person perspectives.

Hattie has grown up in Pine Valley, and is bursting to break free. She has played a variety of roles in her life, and can easily transform herself into the person people want her to be. She’s a good daughter to her parents, a good friend, a sweet girlfriend, a good student…

But, when she is found brutally stabbed to death, the shocking facts about her secret life come bubbling to the surface and will shock the town and devastate lives for a long time to come.

Peter, who is Hattie’s high school English teacher, gives us his perspective, as he explains how he came to live in Pine Valley with his wife, Mary.

Mary’s mother is gravely ill, but she refuses to sell the farm, leaving Mary no choice but to stay and take care of her and the farm. Peter, however, feels like an outsider as Mary’s focus on her mother’s health becomes morosely obsessive, leaving little room for Peter.

Del is the head of Pine Valley law enforcement and walks us through the investigation into Hattie’s murder. His story is raw, and conflicting as he must maintain professionalism while delivering bad news to one of his best friends and grieve the loss of a girl he watched grow up.

But, the most haunting voice is Hattie’s, who tells us her story posthumously. She’s a chameleon in many ways, a teenager with a bright future, a little too advanced for her small-town classmates and friends, who needs more a challenge. She has big dreams and hopes and nothing is going to get in her way of what she wants...


For me, this story was deeply absorbing and hard to put down. The focus is firmly on the characterizations, but that doesn’t compromise the mystery and suspense elements. There is an understated quality to the story, as it moves toward what appears to be an inevitable outcome. I was so consumed by the characters’ emotions and actions, I never saw the twists coming. But, once they start, they just keep coming, with one shock wave after another.

This is the first book I’ve read by Mindy Mejia and I have to say I’m pretty impressed. I loved her writing style and her ability to pull me so deeply into the story, building suspense at just the right pace. I love it when a book is unpredictable and challenges me, really making me work for it, and just when I think I have it all worked out, pulls the rug out from under me.

Good stuff! I recommend it to all mystery, suspense and thriller fans!

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

I was seeing some Twitter chatter about this book from trusted sources. I was intrigued by the cover. So, I hopped over to Netgalley and requested it. And then was quickly approved!

At first, I was kinda of meh about this book. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it.

About the time one of the secrets was revealed was when I started getting into the book. It wasn’t the secret exactly because it was a secret that could be assumed or somewhat easily guessed. But it was how Mindy Meija decided to let the reader and one of the characters know the secret- that was what intrigued me. Because it left open a whole bunch of possibilities about how Hattie’s life ended.

What I liked:

The cover. It’s not pretty. Not beachy. But it is intriguing.

Hattie. You know you ought to kinda not like her. She’s rarely revealing her true self- she’s playing a part. And yet, you can’t help but like someone that does all this- not for sinister motive, not to hide that she killed someone or is a true sociopath- but to just get through life, get through to the point that she can hug her mom and dad and say good-bye to small town life and go and drink up all the color of the world she wants!

Del. He could have been written many a different way. But the way Mindy Meija chose to write the character, how he handles his job and the way that he takes care of his friends- well, he’s the kind of guy you want in your corner.



Bottom line: Everything You Want Me To Be and I may have not gotten off to the most wonderful start, but it was worth sticking around for and seeing how the book played out. Recommended.



*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*



** Everything You Want Me To Be is a January 2017 #FuturisticFriday selection from Traveling With T.**



Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

High School Senior Hattie Hoffman has spent her whole life playing different parts: good daughter, good student, good girlfriend. That changes the summer before Senior year, and by the end of the year, Hattie Hoffman is dead.

Del Goodman, detective and family friend of the Hoffman’s vows to find Hattie’s killer, but the more things he uncovers about her death, the more questions that arise as well. Who was the real Hattie Hoffman?

Everything You Want Me to Be is a suspenseful and powerful portrait of a young girl trying to figure out who she really is in the world while letting go of the person that everyone else wants her to be.

Told in alternating POV’s and shifting from past to present leading up to Hattie’s death, there are many twists and turns, some more surprising than others.

Mejia’s writing and character portrayal of Hattie makes her come to life and really connect with her.

Definitely a book to pick up. Solid 4.5 stars.

We all have secrets. Something we’ve done that’s shameful. Something we hide away from the world so people only see the person we want them to think we are, as opposed to the one who committed that awful act or gave into temptation of some kind. For most of us, it’s something personal and private. Shame isn’t something easily or willingly shared, after all. But sometimes, the ugly things we do affect other people and that’s when things get complicated. It’s that shared and collective understanding of committing a humiliating and/or immoral deed that makes Everything You Want Me to Be so gripping and powerful.

But beyond simple empathy for the circumstances, the other compelling ingredient in this novel is the beautifully honest characters and dialogue. The three primary characters Del, Hattie and Peter are each flawed to some degree but also self-aware enough to be conscious of when they fail in both their thoughts and actions. They all spend much of the novel hiding their true thoughts and motivations, even from the people they care about the most. At times, they question if they’re even being honest with themselves.

Although my overall experience with this novel was unquestionably positive, I do have a couple nitpicks to point out (because that’s just what I do):

Peter’s disillusionment with his wife and mother-in-law was a bit irritating. They’d been together for seven years. Did they never visit his wife’s parents? Did she never tell him about growing up on a farm, including the butchering of animals? I think the author wanted to portray him as someone who is fundamentally a decent guy who just made some poor decisions that ended up escalating out of his control because he felt alone and out of place. Unfortunately, most of his feelings of loneliness and abandonment are based on his own self-centered point of view. He clearly feels bad about his actions but never enough to stop himself.

Looking at the the opposite point of view, it seems a bit odd that Mary would withdraw from her husband so completely in such a short amount of time. The stress she felt at trying to deal with a difficult situation would account for some of it but her indignation that her intellectual husband wasn’t trying hard enough to adapt to a simple life on the farm seems a bit unreasonable. For a couple that had been together for seven years, it often seemed like they barely knew each other.

The final confrontational scene between Hattie and her boyfriend didn’t ring true for me. One of the fundamental aspects of the entire story was Hattie’s ability to understand who people wanted her to be and then play that role perfectly. Her complete failure to manipulate that critical situation seemed wildly inconsistent with her character.

Despite my minor quibbles, this was a wonderfully authentic and emotional story with a deliciously slow build of tension. As the drama unfolds and secrets are revealed across a fascinating time-jumping storyline, the three protagonists are slowly drawn together in a shocking and heartbreaking ending that will leave you feeling drained, shocked, frustrated and ultimately saddened.

3.5 stars.

I literally just read this entire book in a non-stop 7 hour reading sprint and I didn't even mean to. It was extremely addicting.
I honestly wish that it had ended differently, and I was expecting an even more sinister end to the story. However, with that said, the ending somehow still seemed a little predictable too.
Although I did have some issues with it, it was enjoyable and had me hooked from beginning to end.

Full of twists and turns this book is very addicting. Hattie Hoffman is a senior and a naturally talented actress. She molds herself according to who she is with and becomes what she thinks they want. Normally the circumstances before the murder would leave me a little freaked out. But I swear the author manages to make the characters sympathetic. The mystery is who kills Hattie and why.Just when you think you have it all figured out , you don"t. Page Turner.

Everything You Want Me to Be

I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley. This does not prevent me from providing an honest review.

The residents of the small farming community of Pine Valley, Minnesota are shocked when an unrecognizable corpse found in an abandoned barn turns out to be high-school senior Henrietta "Hattie" Hoffman. With a successful opening night of the spring school play, MacBeth, featuring Hattie as Lady MacBeth, no one would have expected such a thing.

The book's narration moves back and forth in time, taking the reader through the events that lead to Hattie's demise as well as the investigation that follows. There are three narrators.

Hattie's acting talent appears to be linked to her instincts about fashioning herself into whichever version of herself suits her situation--hence the title. She's an actress in all parts of her life and a people pleaser. The problem is figuring out her genuine self.

Naturally, Hattie has certain secrets. She forges an online relationship with a man she never expects to meet in real life. And by chance she realizes she already knows him. Drama ensues.

I kept thinking of the Fine Young Cannibals song: "Ever fallen in love with someone, ever fallen in love, in love with someone, ever fallen in love, in love with someone you should'n'a fallen in love with?" That's the catalyst for what happens. Both parties shouldn't fall in love with one another, but they do, and it's tragic.

I read most of this over the course of two days, becoming completely immersed in the book's world. One small criticism I have is that two suspects are sent to the Mayo Clinic to leave sperm samples in order to establish a match with semen found on the crime scene. Okay, in every single episode of Law and Order SVU where a match like that needs to be made, a cheek swab for a DNA test is sufficient. What the heck with requiring a sperm sample?!?!? Nonetheless, recommended for people who enjoy a mystery with some star-crossed lovers in the mix.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Atria books for the Advanced Readers Copy of this book. I had seen so many good write-ups for it that I had to see for myself, and it really was as good as everyone said. This thriller was so layered and the characters so nuanced that I couldn't decide who to like or who to feel sorry for. And when the end came, the killer wasn't who I was expecting it to be, so bravo! I'll be recommending this to just about anyone who wants a good read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley although between work, home and the holidays I didn't get it finished before the release date. I was eager to read even if just a few pages each day. Immediately I was drawn into the mystery surrounding the murder of Hattie Hoffman. Who could hate her so much to do those things to her, and why? And a bigger question that most who knew her should have been asking was "Did I really know her?" See Hattie is an actress and it seemed that she acted throughout her life, not just in the theater, but also in everyday life. She performed and became the girl everyone wanted instead of just being herself.

I enjoyed the 3 person POV we get in this book. The back and forth in time from the moment Hattie is found to times over the last year of her life. It gives that extra build up you feel in a really good mystery that has you screaming "What happened?" I loved the twists and turns and while the ending wasn't as shocking since I had figured most of it, I still enjoyed how it all fell into place.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and Atria Books for this opportunity.

Wow! This is quite the rollercoaster! Told from three different voices, the life and death of Hattie is meticulously dissected to find her murderer. Hattie is quite the actress and very manipulative. The high school English teacher is caught in her web and the sheriff just wants to solve the case of who killed his best friend's daughter. The story is very fast paced, keeping the reader engaged to the end. Highly recommended!

Mindy Mejia’s EVERYTHING YOU WANT ME TO leads us to deadly dark secrets and lies of a small rural town. The good daughter, turns up murdered, leaving the town in shock. Haunting, twisty, and psychologically rich the author will keep you guessing until the end.

Hattie Hoffman is living in a small rural town in Minnesota. She attends a small high school, Pine Valley. Like most teens with ambition and dreams, they cannot wait to escape the small- town community for the big city.

In this case, Hattie has set her mind on New York City, for an acting career on Broadway. If she needs to use a few people along the way, she will manipulate to her advantage. She has played lots of parts, in her life trying to be what everyone wants her to be.

Told from three POVs, we hear from Del, Hattie, and Peter. A young girl’s dreams, loves, desires, and ambitions. Her secrets. Her last year of high school, which is to be special, turns into a deadly nightmare.

Peter Lund, her English teacher, is a bad marriage. His wife is not the nicest woman and too focused on other things to satisfy her hubby. Of course, an affair begins between Hattie and Peter. The two keep their secrets, and throw everyone off course, while Hattie begins dating the high school jock, Tommy.

However, she never truly warms up to Tommy (if you know what I mean), because she has her sights set on bigger things and getting action elsewhere. Hattie was going places and Tommy was not. We also are introduced to parents Bud and Mona and fishing buddy, Sherriff, Del.

As the book opens, Hattie is planning her escape. The play was finished and she has her bags packed. She has written her note and planned her meet up at the barn. On the night she plans her getaway, she has all her cards lined up perfectly. However, her well-laid plans do not go as intended.

She is stabbed to death in the Erickson barn. Brutally murdered. She also had sex before the murder, not rape. The town is shocked. Del, the family friend is leading the murder investigation and the suspicions point to Tommy and Peter. However, could it be someone else? What about Peter’s wife, or someone else? The parents are devastated. Did they really know their daughter?

Hattie had spent her entire life playing parts, being whatever “they” wanted her to be, focused on everyone around her while inside she felt like she was sitting in the exact same spot. She was her parent’s only daughter. Who could have murdered Hattie Hoffman?

The child who was going to succeed and make a new life away from Pine Valley and marry some hotshot lawyer and come home for the holidays with a kid or two. She was not supposed to the child who was going to die. They had worried more about their son Greg, who went to Afghanistan. A life cut short.

From the Dairy Queen to other small town characters, high school, a marriage, a farm, and three main characters with events leading up to the murder. From a girl who worked at the local CVS photo counter, a dangerous affair, to high school theatrics - a girl who wanted what she wanted. A man caught in the middle, and a Sherriff, father, and mother, seeking the truth.

A contemporary young adult suspense, ideal for those who enjoy a little Macbeth and Shakespeare mixed with mystery.

Depending on the reader, each person will have their own person they may have more sympathy for than others. I enjoyed the book version, much more than the audio version. Del’s narrator was very poorly done. However, recommend the book and ideal for book clubs and further discussions. An author to follow!

A special thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy for review consideration.

JDCMustReadBooks

Fast-paced and enjoyable mystery with several good twists and turns, about a teenage girl named Hattie who is murdered, told from the perspective of the detective (and family friend) investigating the murder, and from the perspectives of Hattie and her English teacher in the year leading up to the murder. In addition to being a good mystery, it was also very interesting as a psychological portrait of Hattie, who as the title suggests tries very hard to be everything everyone in her life wants her to be, in a fascinating but kind of disturbing way - not really a sympathetic character but the book makes you engage with her nonetheless. I thought I had figured out the mystery fairly early on, but was actually surprised by the ending, in a good way. I can see this book being a big bestseller. 4.5 stars.

This was a story of Hattie a master manipulator with many faces and essentially the dangerous path to her murder. Great debut from the author she kept us guessing till the end. Very entertaining and enjoyable.

Hattie Hoffman had spent her entire 18 years trying to be everything to everyone in the novel titled Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia. When with her family she is exactly what they expect and the same goes for when she is with her friends. In her life, she is the best actress. And that is what she strives to do when she graduates from high school, go to New York to be an actress. But her plans get derailed when she becomes infatuated with a man she meets in an online chat room. Then she is found stabbed to death in a deserted barn following the night of her appearance in the high school production of the play Macbeth.

The story is revealed through the viewpoint of three characters Hattie herself, Peter Lund, the high school English teacher and sheriff Del Goodman. Each of these narrators offers a different look at Hattie and her world. And from the outside looking in, it seems that Hattie has the perfect situation. But through her actions, Hattie becomes the character that elicits both endearment and aversion.
This murder mystery, character study, and psychological tale is a sad one. Many lives are destroyed. A web of love, innocence and deceit shatters futures. As the story unravels, the mystery of Hattie’s death comes to a swift and unexpected conclusion.

Mejia drew me into the story so that I became distressed at Hattie’s and/or Peter’s behavior when new situations arose. I found myself trying to will the characters to make the right decisions as relationships began to evolve and I realized what consequences might result from their wrong choices.

Character development makes the book a good read and Hattie’s brutal and mysterious death keeps the reader guessing. I would recommend this book as an engaging character study with a mysterious outcome.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book.

The story starts with Hattie running away from home, to start a new life. The only problem is she didn't think her plan out too well and encountered problems which made her desert her plans, but the next day we find out she had been murdered and that is how I found out the story was a Murder-Mystery, not romance book which made me a bit sad but I also love crime solving book, so I was also happy.

Hattie has always been good at acting how people in her life expect her to, she had everything down to a perfect T. No one really knew who the true Hattie was and I don't even think she knew who she truly was aside from knowing she was a sensational actress. She was scary in the fact that she is so cunning and manipulatively without seeming to be, to her victims which set her out as a spectacular character.

The narrators are Hattie, Sheriff Goodman, and Peter Lund.

Yes, Hattie is dead, but we really need to know her story to understand the lead up to her death, because it has been ruled out that Hattie had been killed by someone close to her.

Sheriff Goodman was key in figuring out who had killed Hattie and why. For it was a personal case to him for he's best of friends with the deceased father and had known her since she was little. He was good and true to himself and his job.

Peter Lund, I didn't get his role in the story until later. His story is a bit predictable.

Out of the three point of views the story mainly follows, I found myself disliking Hattie the most.

The ending and finding out who did it, who killed Hattie didn't come as a surprise or shock to me in the end and the ending felt kind of rushed, I don't know.

I would like to say this book was alright, but it didn't give me the certain thrill I get from reading crime-solving and mystery books. I couldn't connect with characters and I had to force myself to go all the way with the book. Ms. Mejia did a good job with writing this book and I am very sure that a lot of people will find this book extremely wonderful and everything, but it was just an alright read for me.