This book initially caught my interest because of the similarities to the Slender Man case, in which two young girls attempted to stab their classmate to death in hopes of impressing a fictional character. Wilson does a good job of building intrigue around a fascinating premise, but overall it fell flat for me. Alice was a large part of that. I tried really hard to like her, or at least care about what was happening to her, but I just felt strangely detached from everything. The secondary characters were surprisingly one-dimensional and the writing was lackluster. The ending was far-fetched and so drawn out that I started skimming just so I could finally reach the end. It had great potential, but just didn't hit the spot for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Any book that includes advice from a penguin is alright with me! And when the penguin warns "If you get the sudden urge to start trusting someone, be smart and do away with it" you know there is going to be some serious wickedness in there! This book lived up to that expectation. Alice's father authored a series of graphic novels about an enigmatic bar tender who subtly convinced people to commit crimes in order to be rewarded with their most desired wish. And, like people blame video games for in current times, a couple of young girls think the offer is real and end up attacking Alice. As a grownup, Alice starts receiving signs that someone knows who she is and is stalking her. The writing is tight and suspenseful. Even entertaining my wildest theories I couldn't unravel Mr. Wilson's wicked twists and turns. Each discovery seemed to uncover another lie, betrayal, or layer of mystery where you ultimately find out that the penguin was right!

It's no secret I'm not a thriller kind of girl, given that I'm usually able to guess the course of events right from the beginning, but this one certainly didn't follow the stereotypical stalker narrative, and we don't get the token defenseless main character in Mister Tender's Girl. Uh-uh.

As hard as it is to empathize with Alice, she's a unique protagonist for this genre, and even if the majority of her decisions are hard to follow - of course I am not the survivor of a violent crime committed by teenagers high on shrooms - some characteristics make an awful lot of sense and give her true recognition value, for instance her reoccuring panic attacks and compulsive martial arts training.

The two things that kept the read engaging besides her were a) the many interesting, dysfunctional relationships, and b) my own helplessness while trying to guess who's behind the psychological terror inflicted on Alice. The blurb already gives a taste of the complexity of the plot, and Wilson introduces us to numerous possible culprits and subplots. The solution was unnerving, as the entire novel was, and I guess that's the goal of every suspense author.

What gave me a headache despite the positive aspects of the novel was how hard this particular author tried to be gritty. The grittiness did separate this book from the usual "women's thrillers", but it was mercilessly overdone. The protag's calculating, violent way of dealing with her problems earned this book quite a few eye-rolls from me. I do realize though that if this character had been written as a male protagonist, those actions to me at least would be nothing out of the regular, so I'm grateful for the gender-roll defying protagonist. In any case, maybe I'm just not used to this kind of psychological suspense. Sure, if thrillers were closer to reality, the victim would simply have informed the police and be done with it, the way I surely would have done, but then again, my life isn't the most likely to be adapated into a book.

Speaking of which, now that I'm going back to the blurb for my review, it's the first time I notice that Mister Tender's Girl is allegedly "inspired by a true story", and it honest to god makes me wonder just how close to that inspiration this plot is, because that would be one macabre true crime story for sure.

Mister Tender's Girl is a well written dark, suspenseful thriller. Right from the beginning the story pulls you in. It held my interest throughout and kept me guessing until the end.

Alice Hill was 14-years old when she was viciously stabbed in the park by twin girls who claimed Alice was a sacrifice for Mr. Tender, a graphic novel character created by Alice's father. Mister Tender was a handsome, charming bartender - part human and part demon, and he was excellent at lending an ear and convincing his customers to do bad thing. "How far would you go?" would be his question. After her attack, her father had ended the series and refused to draw the character again. Years later, living in a new country under a new name, Alice receives an unfinished Mister Tender graphic novel in the mail. A past she thought she had ran away from, Alice finds out someone has been watching her all this time.

Great characters and a great plot. I highly recommend this book. Look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for supplying me a copy of Carter Wilson's "Mister Tender's Girl" in exchange for an honest review.

Mister Tender’s Girl by Carter Wilson is a thriller that is loosely inspired by a true story. Now having vague memories of the event I believe this book was based on I had a feeling that this would be one good read that I would enjoy and thankfully I was not wrong.

The story starts off introducing Alice Hill who bears the scars from an attack over a decade before not only on the outside but the inside as well. At just fourteen two girls whom she’d thought were friends viciously attacked Alice blaming the fictional graphic novel character called Mister Tender that Alice’s own father had created.

Now after years of battling her demons where she’d hit rock bottom with drugs and addiction Alice has finally straightened out her life owning her own home and coffee shop. But just when she begins to feel she has things worked out her world is again rocked when reminders of Mister Tender begin to show up and Alice realizes she has a stalker that knows her every move.

From the very beginning this book was one that was completely gripping as the intensity slowly ramps up for the main character. The more you learn about Alice and her past along with her present the more intense the story becomes waiting to find out just who has been stalking Alice and following along with her life over the years.

The only reason for me this one did not rate at a full five stars was the ending left a little to be desired. Everything wrapped up quite nicely with what is sure to surprise readers as far as the who and why’s are concerned but it felt as if it lacked a bit of spark overall in the total execution, if that makes sense. Overall though the book certainly had my attention and kept the pages turning so I’d definitely check out something else by this author in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

There were so many aspects of this book that I really, really liked. I loved the anagram, that was way cool. The website and the stalking gave the book a major creep factor which was right up my alley.

However, and this is not a bad thing towards the author - just a heads up (imo), tiny warning. A small part of the book dealt with self harm (cutting) that came in towards the end. That just makes me super queasy, I just don't get that, not at all. I realize it's a thing but I don't care to read about it while I am wanting to be entertained. Fortunately, that was a very small part. I just wanted to warn those of you who feel like me and would appreciate the heads up.

This was my first book by this author and it definitely won't be my last. My aversion to a detail he chose to use did not alter my feelings for the rest of the book.

Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Net Galley for introducing me to this author by providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Fourteen-year-old Alice Hill was a victim of Mr. Tender, which is ironic because Mr. Tender is a fictitious character in a graphic novel written by Alice’s loving and benevolent dad. He’s a bartender who likes to ask people, “What would you be willing to do to get what your heart desires?” Obsessed by the idea of pleasing Mr. Tender and goaded by a supposed message from him, Alice’s friends – twin girls her age – attempted to kill Alice with a kitchen knife.

Fourteen years later we meet Alice, who has survived but at a terrible price. She experiences severely disabling anxiety attacks and mourns the loss of her family. After the knifing, her mother blamed her father and moved Alice and her brother from London to the U.S.A. Her father has met an untimely death in London, and now Alice finds she has once again become a target.

This is a true thriller full of scary events and situations that make you glad you’re not Alice. At times, though, it can be hard to read about her anxiety attacks and the depths to which she has fallen and continues to fall. Drugs, alcohol, death, and more become almost routine to her as she tries to put an end to her continued persecution. Some of the dysfunctional people around her begin to tip their hands early, but not all. It’s hard to call this an enjoyable book, but it was definitely one I could not put down. A little slow in the beginning, it eventually took off and is worth wading through to get to the good parts.

I was given an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very interesting and unusual book. I didn’t see a lot of the twists coming, which is always a pleasant surprise. It uses the Slender Man tragedy as a jumping off point, but the novel really makes this story it’s own. Well written and the characters are very real. It’s a good book for people who really like to read as well as people who read occasionally for light entertainment. – one small piece of information, although the protagonist is a British female, the voice of this book is very American and masculine. That does not take away from the book but it was definitely not expected and it took me a while to figure out why I was discombobulated by the voice.

Well, this book made me lose a lot of sleep: had. to. finish! An intriguing dark tale, full of twists & turns that will pull you right in & make ya say “What the....?” Check this original thriller out, y’all.... it’s worth the loss of sleep!
Thanks to netgalley & the publisher for giving this opportunity.

Oh. My god. This book was not at all what I was expecting. I could not possibly express that enough. It was so much more.
The characters, the crimes, the stories, but mostly the writing! Beautiful but not pretentious in its presentation, this book is the book I wish I had written. I sincerely thank Carter Wilson for giving us this book! I'm having both my book groups read it as soon as it comes out.
Much much thanks to herbalist and the publisher for the chance to review this early.

*4.5 stars

"If you get the sudden urge to start trusting someone, be smart and do away with it," advises Ferdinand the Penguin in the epic adventure story Reginald Hall tells his children, Alice and Thomas, each night as he tucks them into bed.

From that story which he called Chancellor's Kingdom, he creates a series of popular graphic novels based on an evil character in his fable. The character is named Mister Tender; he is a charismatic and handsome bartender who pours his customers their drinks while slowly learning their deepest secrets, what they most desire. And then he asks, "What would you be willing to do for it?" And their answer inevitably is, "Anything."

And then there comes the terrible evening when fourteen-year-old Alice goes into the park with her friends, the Glassin twins. The girls stab her nearly to death and later claim they were told to commit this dastardly deed by Mister Tender, who promised them they'd be famous. The girls are judged sane enough to stand trial and are sent to prison.

Alice survives, barely, but has terrible scars, emotional as well as physical. Her mother decides to leave her husband and England behind and takes her children to live in Boston to start a new life where no one knows them. Reginald never writes another book and is ironically fatally stabbed outside his publisher's office.

With her inheritance, Alice, now twenty-eight, has opened a coffee house in Manchester, NH. Her carefully-constructed life begins to slowly start unraveling however when she discovers that someone is stalking her and knows intimate details of her life. He calls himself Mr. Interesting and has even created a website devoted to Alice. One thing Alice knows for sure: she will never again be a victim!

When asked if his story is based on the Slender Man stabbing which occurred on May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Carter Wilson says "it was inspired by that. When I first read the news article about the Slenderman crime, I got about two paragraphs in when I stopped reading, because I knew I wanted my next book to be framed around that idea. Mostly, I wanted to explore what that girl (the victim) turned into as an adult. How did she cope with what happened to her? That turned into the major theme of MISTER TENDER'S GIRL."

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an arc of this thrilling new novel.

Its so hard to review and describe this novel! I would just have to say wow and wow. This book was a thriller but was so much more. It seemed so real and disturbing and it was hard to sleep while I was reading it. The visicousness of the classmates who attacked Alice was awful enough but then her inability to escape her past 10 years later was even worse. This story was so intense and mind blowing at times and that was a good thing. I will not spoil this novel but I will say that I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good thrill ride and who wants to be on the edge of their toes. Carter Wilson knows how to lure the reader in to a new world. I would like to thank net galley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. I truly enjoyed this story and I think it would be the perfect story for anyone who needs to escape and who likes to be scared. A true 5 stars out of 5!!

It’s a shame this book contains so much profanity that is sure to turn many potential readers off. The cursing runs the gamut from the f word to words that people who have faith in God find offensive. That includes me. At times, it was very much overdone.

The story itself is actually well-written; it drew me in from the beginning, I really came to like the main character who was a victim at a young age and came from a dysfunctional family. It had many of those, “oh no!” moments where you really feel sorry for this person who has struggled to pull her life together after.


As the story continued, I came to suspect a certain character in the book and did not find the ending surprising.

Alice may have survived the attack but she's living - or surviving- with the aftermath. This well written and nicely paced psychological thriller spools out details of what happened when her classmates stabbed her in the name of Mr. Tender. This loosely follows a real case. And now, all these years later, she's got a stalker. Her family has fallen apart (really fallen apart) but she's holding it together- she's got a small business and her own rituals. It's hard to review this sort of book due to spoilers but it's really good. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'd not read Wilson before but he's definitely got a good touch, not only with plot but also with his smooth writing. This is a page turner.

Phenomenal!! Plenty of intrigue, suspense and horror. Received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. First heard of the book from BookishFirst reading the First Impression and was hooked. Didn’t win the Giveaway from BookishFirst, but requested from NetGalley and received. Started off as the same premise of the real life stabbing of young girl by two friends in the Slender Man case, but quickly morphed into its own story. I feel for Alice who is a loner with no one to turn too. The family dynamics is crazy. Her brother is non-functioning, her mom is barely keeping it together and her dad died tragically the way she was attacked. We don't meet him, but his spirit had to be destroyed knowing that the character he created is what a psycho used to attack his daughter.
Mantra and advice from Ferdinand throughout the book, “And what did the Penguin always tell you, Alice? Don’t trust anyone”. Ferdinand is the Penguin in the bedtime story that Alice’s dad tells Alice and her younger brother Tommy, in his story of the Chancellor’s Kingdom where they fly to safety on the Penguin’s back. Alice is a owner of a coffee shop who keeps to herself but soon realizes that there is an online community of crazies that have been secretly watching and following her even after she fled England to Manchester, NH. She doesn’t know who to trust as in the Mantra, don’t trust anyone Alice. Alice just about loses her mind following leads back to London to where she was stabbed, visiting the sick twins and other clues. At different points throughout the book, I thought I knew who it was, but was surprised at every section. Excellent. I really enjoyed this book.
Phenomenal!! Plenty of intrigue, suspense and horror. Received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. First heard of the book from BookishFirst reading the First Impression and was hooked. Didn’t win the Giveaway from BookishFirst, but requested from NetGalley and received. Started off as the same premise of the real life stabbing of young girl by two friends in the Slender Man case, but quickly morphed into its own story. I feel for Alice who is a loner with no one to turn too. The family dynamics is crazy. Her brother is non-functioning, her mom is barely keeping it together and her dad died tragically the way she was attacked. We don't meet him, but his spirit had to be destroyed knowing that the character he created is what a psycho used to attack his daughter.
Mantra and advice from Ferdinand throughout the book, “And what did the Penguin always tell you, Alice? Don’t trust anyone”. Ferdinand is the Penguin in the bedtime story that Alice’s dad tells Alice and her younger brother Tommy, in his story of the Chancellor’s Kingdom where they fly to safety on the Penguin’s back. Alice is a owner of a coffee shop who keeps to herself but soon realizes that there is an online community of crazies that have been secretly watching and following her even after she fled England to Manchester, NH. She doesn’t know who to trust as in the Mantra, don’t trust anyone Alice. Alice just about loses her mind following leads back to London to where she was stabbed, visiting the sick twins and other clues. At different points throughout the book, I thought I knew who it was, but was surprised at every section. Excellent. I really enjoyed this book.

I don't think I've ever used the word "exquisite" when describing a book, but that's the word that comes to mind now. This book is exquisite in all respects.

The writing style: perfection. I was lost in the words. I wanted to read faster, to find out what happened, but I also wanted to read slower, to savor each phrase.

The characters: each one is complex, unique, and oh so real. I cared what happened to them. I felt their pain, their hope, their fear.

The plot: are you kidding me? Wow! I read more than 100 books a year, yet I have never read anything that even comes close to this story. It's intense, believable, powerful, and unputdownable.

This book is so much more than a typical thriller. The subtleties in the content bring the story to life far beyond a mere reading experience.

An excerpt from Mister Tender's Girl was available as a First Impression on the BookishFirst website. I read it, thought "Oh my God!", and immediately went to NetGalley to see if it was available to request. It was, and I was fortunate to receive a review copy. So thank you to BookishFirst, NetGalley, and Carter Wilson for this book. It blew me away.

Alice has one mission in life and one mission only. She just wants to live and forget about the horrid past. She wants to forget that she was almost murdered by two obsessed fans of a graphic novel written by her father. She learns that she can't always run away from the dark past. Sometimes it lingers.

I really enjoyed the story. It was intense. It was provoking. It was thrilling. It's amazing how somebody can go through so much in their life and still find the will to keep on living. Find the will to fight through the panic attacks and just keep on journeying forth. I found the realistic touches around all of the ordeals in the book amazing! I was even a bit uplifted and inspiring.

I have to be honest though, I didn't care for the first part of the book. I felt it was very sloppy and not written out well. It's hard to connect with anything in the first part of the book. I was in love with the idea of the story though and I decided to keep reading it. Even though I wanted to put it down several times. I am glad I resisted. I'm glad I kept reading.

I do recommend reading this book. It's very intense and thrilling. You'll be guessing until the very end. I feel like this book could use a bit of a polish and connection in many places. But all in all, it's a terrific book. Definitely worth the read for thriller and horror fans. I guess I should say it's great for mystery lovers as well!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read Mister Tender's Girl. For those who have followed the story of the Slender Man, this book will get you going.
More a YA but scary and dark.
good read.

Wonderful book! I really enjoyed it! It lived up to my expectations! I loved Alice; she was such a complex character who knew what she wanted and what it took to get it. Full review to come.

Edit:

Obligatory Statement: I received an e-arc of this from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. That was a roller coaster of a novel.

I had read an excerpt of this novel on BookishFirst and I was just hooked. I really wanted to know how this book character inspired the stabbing of Alice. The best part of this story since of course, it was a thriller, was how the main antagonist related to Alice which I am not going to spoil but I will say that I definitely did not see it coming.

Alice as the main character was interesting and knew what she wanted in life. And that was to live a quite normal life with her coffee shop and to have no one ask her about Mister Tender. But hey we can't always get what we want. Now, one issue that I did have with Alice was her nonchalant way of dealing with a characters death. I understand that we all have different coping methods but I was expecting a bit more humanity. Her mother was a bit overbearing at some points, but I mean Alice was almost killed once and then Alice's father was also killed so it makes sense. Now Alice's brother, Thomas, was spunky and I do feel bad for him because he is ill and his mother does not let him do a lot on his own.

Now for the one character that never speaks, Mister Tender does play a large role in the book as he is somewhat of an antagonist. I do also wish that there were excerpts of the comics that were included in the book. This visual imagery would have been nice to get a visual idea of what the Alice and the author characters are looking at and it makes the story feel more tangible. However, I did read an ARC so maybe in the finished book, there will be the comic panels.

I am sorry that this review seems a bit sparse but I don't want to spoil anything because it would take away from the thriller aspect of the book.

Thank you again to the publisher for providing me a copy to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review. I have mixed feelings about this book and would give it a solid 3.5 stars. I found it a bit slow to start, I was then completely engaged and wanted to find out what happened, and then ultimately let down by the ending which fell flat for me. Mister Tender's Girl tells the story of Alice, a woman whose life has been shaped by her father's graphic novels and the aftermath of a horrific event. The premise was great and there was definitely a twist I did not see coming until right before - and the fact that it is based on a true story makes it all the more fascinating. I did like that Alice was multifaceted - she was a victim who clearly struggled with PTSD, but also a woman with strength and purpose and a desire to no longer be a victim. On the whole, an interesting read and I am glad I read it - just wish the ending was a little more satisfying for me.