#ATBR2019 – The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton

Phew! Playing some catch up on some reviews and books!

Thanks to Graydon House for the free advanced copies in exchange for our honest reviews.

THE PERFECT GIRLFRIEND – Karen Hamilton (Releasing March 26th, 2019)

Check out the #allthebookreviews thoughts below 🙂

Chandra’s Thoughts: 3/5 stars

Well, WOW. My crazy has NOTHING on this woman. She’s about as bat shit as they come and quite frankly, that makes for quite a ride in this quasi-domestic, very much psychological, thriller.

As we only get one perspective, through Juliette/Lily’s eyes, we get snippets of her past while her present is focused solely on getting her ex, Nate, back because THEY BELONG TOGETHER.  It’s FATE. “If you love someone, set them free.  If they come back, they’re yours. If they don’t, make them.” I’ll give her one thing, she’s consistent and once she’s focused, there is NOTHING that will stop her.

I actually love books like these.  The obsession, the thought process they go through that justifies their crazy.  There’s no one more determined than a woman (or man) who has their eyes set on someone.. at least not in this book.  Here’s the thing though, I love to hate on characters and I love to LOVE the crazies…. but I couldn’t find one redeeming quality in Lily/Juliette.  Nothing.  Even with the past, I didn’t feel for her.  Maybe this makes me a hardened and jaded person but it is what it is.  The “reveals” that came really didn’t come as a shock and while you reap what you sow, no one deserves the love of this woman. (*wink*)

There’s a little bit of disjointedness and repetition in the book that made it seem to drag in certain places and I found my attention wavering.  However, I do thoroughly enjoy books like these.  Always have and always will.  I just wish I had a little bit of connect.  Either way, 10/10 I will read this author again.

My Thoughts: 3.5/5 stars

I’m a huge fan of the stalker sub-genre when it comes to thrillers. This is such a real topic and so many people, unfortunately, experience this on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes they’re people you know and other times they are complete strangers. THE PERFECT GIRLFRIEND by Karen Hamilton gives us a story of Juliette’s obsession with Nate.

Juliette is a flight attendant and the best part about it? She can be close to Nate and follow him wherever he goes. She knows that they are meant to be together and she will stop at nothing to rekindle their relationship. After all, they are MEANT to be together! Nate just doesn’t realize it.

The level of obsession that Juliette possesses is impressive and once this woman has her mind made up, there is no stopping her. Who doesn’t love a character with this next level crazy? We’re mainly set in the present day, with her pursuit of Nate, but we do get some flashbacks here and there. Hamilton does a great job sprinkling in some reveals as the novel progresses, so I did enjoy that!

The only real drawback, for me, was that there were some parts that dragged on. A couple disconnects, but otherwise I loved the book. If you’re looking for a solid stalker thriller meets psychological suspense, then I would highly recommend it!