I love a good con artist story, and this was just the perfect fast-paced summer thriller I was hoping for!

WHAT TO EXPECT
-best friend con artists
-found family
-private island setting
-strong female protagonist

🎧I enjoyed the audiobook format, and would definitely recommend. I binged this fun summer read in one sitting!

*many thanks to PRH, PRH Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Book was great! Such suspense and twist and turns and couldn't put it down. I felt like I had to know how this was all going to come together!

“Not all open doors lead to freedom and adventure. Some lead to death. I should have known that all along.”

Wow, what a ride! I thoroughly enjoyed my time jumping back and forth between Leo and Summer's perspectives! Leo and Summer are thieves, and when Leo leaps at the opportunity to use her skills on a billionaire, she decides to meet up with him. The problem is that she doesn't come back. Summer becomes worried for her friend, and after hearing that Leo went to a private island with her billionaire, she decides to follow her. Little does she know when she arrives that the stakes are high and not everything is as simple as it first seemed.

I loved so much about this book, but especially appreciated the witty quotes and twists and turns. I did so many Kindle highlights for this one! Thank you to the publishers for my e-ARC. I will recommend this to many others!

I enjoyed this book! The pace kept me engaged and I hated when I had to put the book down for other things. Definitely worth the read!

I was totally drawn to this one because of the cover I love the bright colors and it was a solid thriller. I liked the way everything unfolded and it was a nice take on the remote location concept. I only wanted to know a little bit more about what made the bad guy tick, why did he do the things he did even if it was just because he could, but it seemed like a deeper drive and I would have liked to know more about him and his past. And maybe also what summers mom was up to.

Two con artists are planning their next scam. This synopsis alone attracted me. What turned me off were some of the weird sex scenes and some of the torture scenes. I ended up not finishing it. Just not for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Bantam Books for the advanced e-copy of this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, Bantam for an Arc.

Absolutely loved this book, it was definitely a quick binge worthy read. I was hooked right from the beginning .

This is a great suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride thriller! A pair of young women cons find themselves swept into the glamorous trappings of a billionaire’s private island, but there’s something sinister simmering beneath the glitz… the action gets going early on and the pacing kept the story moving in a very satisfying way.

A wild ride thriller that I couldn't put down. I loved the con-women main characters and the twists - reminded me a little of Glass Onion vibes.
The audiobook is also super well done.

I just wrapped The Guest and Stone Cold Fox and was looking for something similar when I found You Can Trust Me. This novel took the cake!

“Not all open doors lead to freedom and adventure. Some lead to death. I should have known that all along.”

This was a fun plot with unique characters and I just want to watch the TV show version of it now. Thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Leo and Summer through twists and turns.

Ok this book was the perfect end of summer thriller, mystery, rich people drama and death vibes read!

I think that going in fully blind is best with most thrillers and especially with this one. So many of the twists and turns were wildly surprising to me and caught me fully off guard. I enjoyed the pacing of this story, especially the pacing of when we got flashbacks and learned more about the girl's past.

I don't think this book did anything ground breaking that has never been done before, but it was a quick and enjoyable read that I would recommend!

A sharp and sizzling thriller!!

Summer was born in the back of a van. As a young child she drifted from campsite to campsite with her mother. Summer thinks she’s around thirty-two-years old but she doesn’t know for sure. She doesn’t have a birth certificate. She doesn’t know her real last name. She doesn’t know her mother’s last name either and she has no clue about her father. She once asked her mother what her birth date was, but her mother admitted she forgot.

“as far as the world is concerned, I don’t exist”

Summer hasn’t seen her mother in about fifteen years. She left when Summer was somewhere around age seventeen.

Summer had been on her own for around ten years when she first met Leo (short for Leoneli) when Leo was panhandling on the street. Leo is about six years younger than Summer.

Summer and Leo have a very tight bond. They are as close as sisters. They’ve been travelling together for five years. They live in Summer’s van. They have found non traditional ways of making money to survive.

“Get money, spend money, hide money, repeat”

Then Leo vanishes without a trace.

Where was Leo? Did she leave of her own free will?

A fast paced and intriguing story!!

I really enjoyed this book! After some of the emotional reads I’ve read lately this was a nice change. An exciting read with great characters. I flew through this novel in just a day. I did guess a few things but there were still many surprising revelations.

I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from Wendy Heard!

I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own

You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard is a thriller about Summer and Leo, two friends that are traveling together and conning rich men. Leo is invited to a billionaire's private island, but then she disappears. When Summer makes it onto the island, she soon realizes that some really shady things are happening there. And there are some major twists. This book was a fun read. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard
My rating:
4/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Leo and Summer both live in the back of a Land Cruiser. They both have a particular skill in being able to con someone, which they learned overtime in order to survive. When they have their sights on a specific target, they both attend a party that will change their lives.

I went into this one completely blind because I was emailed an invitation to read this on netgalley. I accepted and I am so glad I did! I really enjoyed this thriller.

I had a feeling that the story would go in the direction it did, and figured out the big twist rather early on. With that being said, I really loved the main characters and their sisterly type of bond.

I would absolutely recommend this one. This is the first time I have read anything by the author but this won’t be my last!

I loved the short chapters and how it was told in both Summer and Leo’s point of views.

Thanks netgalley and Random House Publishing for the invite to read this one! You can read this one now!

You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard is a fun, readable thriller with two strong female leads that I. really enjoyed and never found insufferable. Leo and Summer are two women with traumatic pasts who form a bond in the form of conning and stealing. They do what they need to do to survive by scamming and stealing, often setting their sites on rich men.

Leo and Summer were written so well, I enjoyed both characters immensely. I loved the mystery surrounding the island they both found themselves on, and the cast of uber rich characters really filled out the story. There were a few things that I predicted pretty early on, none of which took away from the enjoyment of the ride.

I loved this book! I will definitely recommend it. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

You can trust me is told from the two perspectives of two best friends who work the streets of L.A. as con women. When one goes missing during a con, the other goes in search of her. What’s happened to her best friend? What’s going to happen to her? Loved the fact that both of the main characters are powerful women who have survived their trauma and kept kicking butt along the way!

Two young con artists go for the ultimate long con when they encounter a wealthy and handsome billionaire in You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard.

Summer and Leo have been on their own for a while, and they manage to live within their means out of their car amidst the beaches and forests all across California. Part of the way they manage is by stealing and conning others out of money and then disappearing. It's an understatement to say they live an interesting life. But they're looking for the big win when they meet up with Michael Forrester. Will the win pan out?

I never read this author before, so I was interested to see if this thriller matched up to my expectations. It's different from many of the thrillers I've read before because you're approaching the story from the con artists' perspectives. You wonder if they will be outwitted for once yet you're rooting for the girls all the way, especially after you hear about their past lives and how it prompted them to embark on this peripatetic lifestyle.

I found the story intriguing and the pace rolls along at a good clip. You're given just enough back story about Summer and Leo to understand their motivations but not too much. I enjoyed their friendship, which seems more like two sisters against the world. You can sense the strong bond between these two throughout all the pages. I liked the back stories, too, and it made them more empathetic.

The glitter and glitz in the worlds in which they infiltrate were alluring, too. Once you get to the island, you're wondering what secrets and glamor could be awaiting everyone at Michael's island. The descriptions of the island are pretty incredible and really made me want to visit. It sounded like the ultimate pleasure resort that happens to be Michael's home.

A lot of action takes place, and, again, it moves at the right pace. You'll feel on edge as both girls encounter more than they bargained for. It's not terribly creepy but more puzzling and disturbing. I will say, though, that a few of the plot points I figured out before they were revealed. I kept reading because I enjoyed the writing, liked the characters, and wanted to see if I was right about the twists.

An issue that dissuaded me from giving the book five stars was the motivation behind one of the character's actions. I felt that could have been more developed. The ending wrapped up well, but I was looking for a little more intrigue on that front. Overall, I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to reading more from this author. It's definitely different from many thrillers I've read lately, so pick it up if you need a new spin on an old favorite.

You Can Trust Me is my first book by Wendy Heard and this book was definitely intriguing enough for me to want to read anything she’ll publish next. The story is about Summer and Leo who are scamming their way throughout California until one day it doesn’t work out so well. Leo gets tangled up with a billionaire and goes missing.

The premise of this story is so interesting to me. I love summer stories especially one with mixed together with crime. This book had me on the edge of my seat. I had no idea how it was going to turn out and I was surprised!

If you were a fan of Mia and Lucia in Season 2 of the White Lotus, this is your book. Two bohemian con artist women who only have each other to rely upon find themselves in a dangerous situation, and their unique skill set just might be key to their survival. Fast paced, thrilling read. I would recommend it to someone looking for a page-turner.