A great book until the end, which was a bit rushed.

Well written. I thought I had it figured out and I had it wrong. I like that. It's a solid read.

I did a top five thrillers I can't wait to read this summer as part of my Sweet Summer Reads Series and The Perfect Stranger was absolutely a part of that! Thanks for the advanced copy!

While this isn't high art, it's a very strong piece of the densely-populated genre of mystery fiction, which is not typically my preferred fare. I enjoyed it immensely, and it was nice to take a break from heavy-handed literature. Each chapter is easily digestible and the pacing is great. There's nothing extraneous here.

Miranda does a great job creating a well-rounded protagonist in the unreliable narrator, Leah. The plot keeps twisting around, and while there was one particular "revelation" that I saw coming from the beginning, the book kept me on my toes for the most part. This book is a great example of something that would be enjoyed by fans of Gone Girl, but isn't a clone (like Girl on the Train, for example). Rarely do I find a book that I'm upset when I finish, as I'm generally ready to start a new journey after spending 8+ hours in one story, but in this instance, I was surprised when it ended-- which could be because the ending is rather abrupt. It felt like the author made her point and then just stopped writing, but I don't think that's a bad thing as there's nothing worse than rambling on simply because you A) feel compelled to wrap everything up into some neat little package, or B) feel like you need to follow the classic story structure in which we have a certain number of pages tying things up.
I would highly recommend this as a beach read, to fans of chick lit and mystery fiction alike.

Loved this book looking forward to what this author has coming in the future.

I think the best way to describe this book is "unputdownable"! I just about went crazy anytime I couldn't read it, but I just HAD to know what was going to happen next! The writing was great, as was the use of an unreliable narrator. It was super suspenseful, which I love! The only problem I had with it was the ending. I hate when there's no resolution! I'm sure some people are fine with it, but it drives me insane! But, I imagine that's the feeling the author was going for! Overall, I really liked the book. I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars and would (and plan to) recommend it to others.

People who loved Girl on a Train or Gone Girl will find this book right up their alley. For me, I liked it, but I found our heroine to be weak. Lots of inner dialogue made this a slow read for me, but it did pick up near the end.

The mystery is good, but the way it was written makes it hard to discern what really happened and I felt Leah's own back story is alluded to, but never truly defined and the resolution with Paige was bizarre in relation to the rest of the story.

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book definitely kept me guessing! So many twists and turns that sometimes it was hard to keep it straight but if you keep reading through the little bits of confusion, it becomes clear. I still have a bit of confusion about some of the "why's" in the book, but doesn't really matter. Still a good book that kept my interest. I can almost guarantee that there will be at least SOME part of the ending that you won't be able to figure out!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and to Netgalley. This is the second book by Megan Miranda that I have read. I found that the story was interesting enough to make me want to finish the book, but it didn't really draw me in. I didn't feel much of a connection to the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley, the Author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

Very enjoyable book. I don't think I loved it as much as the author's first book, "All the Missing Girls", but I still enjoyed it. As I read the book, I was always trying to get a step ahead of the author and figure out what was going on, and I pleasantly did not figure it out until the end and was quite surprised. It kept me guessing and reading well past bed time. I found the ending great, I loved it. I felt it was the perfect ending to the book.

Will definitely read her next book.

Journalist Leah has to leave Boston due to being accused of libel and harassment of a professor. Emmy has recently returned from a Peace Corps trip and is seeking a new home, as well, due to problems in her most recent relationship. The two women have decided to move together to rural Pennsylvania where they can start anew. Leah takes a job as a teacher and Emmy cleans hotels and houses until she can find something that she is more interested in doing. At the same time that a young woman that looks eerily similar to Leah is beaten into a coma and left for dead, Leah finds that Emmy is missing. Emmy must use her former investigative skills to help local detective, Kyle, find her friend but soon finds that what she thought she knew about her friend may not be true.

This book was okay. There were some twists and turns but the ending was pretty predictable. It was easy and quick to read but there was a lack of excitement to the book. There were times when I doubted my initial instincts and was hoping for a certain outcome but it didn't work out that way. While the characters of Emmy and Leah were interesting, it wasn't enough to make up for the lackluster story line. I still had times when I enjoyed the book and think that it would be good for fans of suspense but realize that this is not the best suspense or thriller out there.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and to Megan Miranda for the opportunity.

I was enjoying The Perfect Stranger until I got to the ending. Things were moving along and you could feel the tension building, but then everything just...fell apart. I couldn't follow the narrator, I was questioning everything, I kept having to think back to what I read previously about a character or story line and then the book just ended! I kept waiting for something big to happen, but the ending was so anticlimactic! I was left with a lot of questions and disappointment.

Fast-paced, expertly plotted and utterly compelling, An absorbing read from start to finish, The Perfect Stranger is one of the best suspense novels I've read this year. Highly recommended.

This was the first book I've read by Megan Miranda. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and found myself turning the pages quicker and quicker as it built towards the conclusion. I enjoyed the main characters and the traits they brought to life as well, and overall thought it was a well written story. The only thing I wished for was perhaps a more satisfying ending, or reasons why, which left me feeling slightly underwhelmed in the end.

Have you ever read a book because everyone else did and THEY loved it? Then you read it and think, "meh?" That's how I read Megan Miranda's first novel, All the Missing Girls. EVERYONE seemed to love it so I just had to read it. And I felt only mediocre about it.

This is Megan Miranda's next book and when I saw it on the new releases in Netgalley (thank you for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review) I requested it (because I knew it would be one of THE books to read this year), and was thrilled to have gotten approved. I just finished reading it, and......meh.

My complaints are similar to those of her first novel. I have issues connecting to her characters. How many times was Leah going to mention how scary it was that people could see in her windows but do nothing about it? The only one I really enjoyed was Kyle and he didn't really become involved until over a third of the way in. Her plot was suspenseful but then the ending happened, and it was SO far fetched that I felt like I had been tricked. Given that I couldn't stand Gone Girl or Girl on the Train, (similar in how nothing is as it seems and it seems just so implausible) I guess I shouldn't be surprised by how I feel about this one. If you loved Gone Girl, The Girl Before, or The Girl On the Train, pick this up. If you're in the minority with me, and didn't enjoy those, then pass this one up.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1827981511

The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda is a mystery novel, filled with twists.

First, I'd like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Leah Steven's journalism career comes to a crashing halt due to her over-zealous pursuit of the truth, so she resigns before she gets sued. When she runs into her old friend Emmy Grey in a bar, Emmy suggests they get out of town together. Emmy has just broken up with her boyfriend, and she too could use a change of scenery. She convinces Leah to move with her to a small town in Pennsylvania, where Leah gets a job teaching high school. Emmy works some odd jobs, but since they are night shifts, the two end up seeing little of each other.

When a young woman is assaulted and left for dead, Leah realizes that it has been days since she has seen Emmy. Her relief that the woman is not her friend is short-lived. The victim who was assaulted bears a striking resemblance to Leah, and rumors start to circulate that she and the person that committed the crime were having an affair, and the victim should have been Leah. Leah's students are all over this. The police are also suspicious. To make matters worse, Emmy really has disappeared, and when Leah files a missing persons report, she realizes how little she really knows about Emmy. And it looks like that may be the way Emmy had it planned. Everything is in Leah's name. There is no record of an Emmy Grey - anywhere, ever.

As both Leah and Detective Kyle Donovan start looking into Emmy's background, it becomes evident that even Kyle questions her existence. It doesn't help that Leah is trying to keep her own past a secret. And this is a book about secrets, secrets and lies.

This was a really good mystery. Yes, it was easy to be suspicious of Emmy and her intentions early in the novel, but it would have been hard to anticipate the direction things went. I loved the character traits that Megan Miranda gave to Leah, the obsessiveness, determination, cleverness, but I wonder if she could really have been so naive. As well, the author really cast suspicion on everyone, so that at one point or another, I wasn't sure you could trust Emmy, the detective, the school principal, a couple of the kids she taught, or Leah herself.... She really kept you guessing.

Megan Miranda has my vote. I'll read whatever she comes up next. Thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Thank you to the publisher, Simon and Schuster, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel!

****4 STARS****

PRAISE for Megan Miranda and her latest novel, The Perfect Stranger. I got introduced to this author last year, when I got the opportunity to read and review, All the Missing Girls. Both novels were hits for me but for some reason I really connected more with the characters in this novel.

The Perfect Stranger starts out introducing us to Leah Stevens, who is on the run from her former life when she runs into a long lost friend, Emmy Grey. Both have hatchets to bury, so to speak, and Emmy convince Leah to move in with her, but Emmy isn't who she seems.

A short while into their newfound friendship and roommate status, a girl who looks a lot like Leah gets attacked and Emmy goes missing. As Leah sets out to find her roommate, her friend, she wonders if she ever really knew this Emmy Grey. Is that even her name?

With twists you won't see coming and wondering what is real and what isn't, Miranda keeps you guessing until the very end and boy is it good!

HIGHLY recommend this suspenseful novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat!!

I'll start by saying I simply adore Megan Miranda. "All the Missing Girls” was a 2016 highlight for me — favorite book, bar none. I waited with greedy anticipation for “The Perfect Stranger” for months and dug in as quickly as humanely possible.

Brief plot run-down: We meet former journalist Leah Stevens, who got too personally tangled up in a story and was forced out. After a chance encounter with a summer roommate of eight years past, who also happens to be in run mode, the two decide to relocate from Boston to Western Pennsylvania, where Leah gets a teaching job. She’s still trying to acclimate when a woman who looks just like her is attacked and left for dead by the lake. Then her roommate, Emmy, goes missing. When she reports it, of course, things get interesting/complicated because it turns out there’s no record of Emmy ever existing. Cue Leah getting, again, really tangled up in the pursuit of the truth and figuring out who Emmy is/was … and if their encounter was really so chance, then or now.

I didn’t dislike “The Perfect Stranger,” but it doesn’t live up to its predecessor in writing or story quality. It was at times clunky and felt forced and unrealistic — Leah was this distressed and that close to someone she knew for mere months? (Though she’d have a quick response: “I can only explain it this way: that I knew her deeply, if not thoroughly; that a four-month relationship can supersede all the boyfriends, all the friendships, that came after and lasted longer, that our friendship was born from the one time I’d stepped off track, done something unexpected that did not follow the predicted steps of my life. And for that reason, it shone brighter, and so did she.”)

Though I understand building suspense by slowly revealing snippets of Leah’s backstory and what led her to Pennsylvania, I felt confused more than a couple times trying to piece things together. The sub-plots are interesting but lose some of their power as they’re dropped in ever so sporadically and piece-meal. It took me more than 200 pages to actually feel invested in the characters and the outcome of the story (which landed with a bit of a dull thud after such a long buildup.)

Still, it’s entertaining enough, and worth checking out if you enjoy Miranda’s books. I adore her so much that I almost feel guilty stamping less than 5 stars on “The Perfect Stranger.” Megan, you keep your spot on my favorite authors list, and I’ll be right here waiting for the next one!

Thanks much to Netgalley for the opportunity to review.

Actual rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed All the Missing Girls so I was excited to read this book. This was an ok book. There was a lot of mystery that keeps you in suspense. A fast read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for supplying a copy of Megan Miranda's "The Perfect Stranger" in exchange for an honest review.

This book probably makes more sense if you've read the previous book. It was interesting enough for me to go back and read the first one and then read this one.