This was a great story, very believable. The events were paced well, and the characters well developed! It was a great read. Thanks to the authors and publishers for making it available!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for gifting me with an ARC of An Anonymous Girl. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

Having read and loved The Wife Between Us, I was super excited to read the newest offering from the dynamic writing team of Hendricks & Pekkanen. These ladies know how to craft a twisty thriller with humor and believability. Jess a twenty-something Philly native ( Go, Eagles) is a struggling makeup artist now living in NYC. With limited funds and fewer job opportunities she sneaks her way into a highly paid “morality” study ( do you see the irony, already???) to earn some extra cash. The study soon consumes Jess’s life as she reveals more & more about herself.
There were some really interesting plot twists early on which kept me glued to the pages. This was a solid thriller with strong writing, fascinating characters, and a gripping storyline.

This was a very intriguing book. I’ve never read anything like it before. Deception, betrayal and lies is what this book is about. Everyone tells them. Most are little but it’s the big betrayals and lies that can harm many. I received an advance review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

💻 📱💻BOOK REVIEW!!!💻 📱💻
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

💻 Thrillers come in all shapes and sizes. You’ve got the “Oh hey! I’m just gonna stab you in the face real quick, then lock you in a cage and maybe for good measure I’ll bury you alive” thriller. You’ve got the “I’m so sick and twisted, that I’m going to mentally torment the crap out of you until you go insane” psychological thriller. Lastly there’s the “dainty thriller”...not the most sane humans who make some pretty poor choices, but not too far off from how your most insane friend might act one day. An Anonymous Girl is a dainty thriller.

📱Jess is a 20-something, Manhattan-living, freelance make-up artist. She could use some extra cash so she sneaks into a morality and ethics study with the elusive Dr. Shields. The study forces Jess to recall some of her poor choices and a history that she’d rather leave in the past. The study takes a turn when Dr. Shields begins to slowly immerse herself into Jess’ life and has her push the ethics envelope quite a bit further in exchange for a buttload of cash. Jess slowly comes to realize that this ethics study might actually be one of the most unethical things she’s ever taken part in. Even more unsettling, Jess gets the feeling that this may not be a study at all...that perhaps she is merely a pawn in Dr. Shields’ sick little game.

💻 The first half of this book was “eh”. A bit slow and uneventful. Sadly, you needed to put in zero thinking effort to figure out exactly what was going to happen and why. Everything was laid right out there for you. The book was enjoyable and I 100% needed to see how it all played out...but it just was not the thrilling “I sawed your leg off and drugged you for fun” thriller that I adore.

An Anonymous Girl
by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
due January 2019
St. Martins Press

Grabs you by surprise, this twister of a psychological thriller does not let you go. It will bind your mind and start a spiral inside that will never stop turning.
Jessica is a 20-something freelance make-up artist, trying to make ends meet. She overhears one of her clients tell a friend that she is going to blow off a survey she was going to do for $500. She's just too busy. Jessica decides to show up for the study...its difficult to walk away from an easy 500 bucks. How hard could it be?
The oddly mysterious Dr. Shields assures her of complete anonymity and a generous compensation for answering a few questions for a psychological study on ethics and morality. It is just a quick few questions....a 500 dollar check..... and it's over....sounds simple....right?
Maybe...
Is truth just another question of your own morality? Or are our morals our truths?....
Maybe not....but maybe
Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen create a circumstance and characters that consistently make you feel their motivations and lives..their emotions. You find yourself lost in the twists and turns of their psyche.
I was lost in this wonderful novel. Its mesmerizing and so so good.
Pre-order it now. Thanks me later.
And while there check out her other two novels.
Thank you to the authors, St. Martins and #netgalley for the opportunity to read this pre-release novel.
#AnAnonymousGirl #netgalley
I think this is going to be a series....but not sure....keep an eye out!

UHM... WOW.

I haven't read the other book by these authors, but now I'm feeling pretty enticed to go check it out. These two authors have some kind of magic in their brains and fingertips to come up with and produce a story like this.

This is the kind of book you devour quickly because you just have to know what's coming next. The characters in this (Jess, Lydia, and Thomas) are all so well built and intertwined that it's pretty damn hard to guess ahead correctly (which is something I usually pride myself in being able to do). It's near impossible to really predict anything happening here, and the authors are always a few steps ahead of you (much like Lydia is with Jess and Thomas) to always keep you just enough in the dark. The relationship between Lydia and Jess is alluring immediately and makes the first part of the book feel like it will all go down a completely different path ([ I was getting total Chloe vibes, a movie with Amanda Seyfriend that you should check out after reading this book because you'll completely understand what I mean, I promise (hide spoiler)]).

But of course the authors flip the script on you in some really suspenseful ways which I am not going to spoil because this book still doesn't come out for another 2-3 months (I'm not doing the math but if you really want to, then be my guest) and some readers have got quite the wait for it. BUT ITS SO WORTH IT. You will eat this book up so fast that you will be sad that it's over and you'll look back and marvel at how these two magical authors really set you up from the first sentence and yet you loved every minute of it.

These are the kind of suspenseful stories that I love. 6/5 if it was possible.

I dont even know how to write a review for this book because I am STILL THINKING ABOUT a few days later! I have always been a huge fan of Sarah Pekkanen, so I decided to request this on a whim. I chose not to read any previous reviews or even the inside of the book cover, because I wanted to go in blindly. And boy, am I glad that I did!

This story is so uniquely-unique. The way the characters developed and the innate desire to keep reading just so you could learn more is a quality that every book should possess. I loved how the chapters jumped between characters so you could see immediately how the situation affected both parties. I truly felt anxiety reading through some of the sections because I wanted to offer advice and suggestions to both of the female narrators.

I absolutely loved this story...and I really didnt want it to end. BRAVO!

Authors Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen come back with another suspense novel! I don't know about you all, but I absolutely loved their first novel, The Wife Between Us. When I found I got access to this, I was extremely excited and could not wait to dive right in. The best thing about these two authors is their ability to create twists and turns that are entirely unexpected. In The Wife Between Us, we were still getting surprised in the epilogue! 

However, that was not my experience with this book. Suspense built the book, but it did not sustain it. 

I read this book in all of 24 hours because I could not wait to see what was going to happen next. I'll admit, there were some pieces that came as a shock around the halfway mark of the novel, which is why I continued pressing through so quickly, only to find out there was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

That's not to say this isn't a great novel - it is, and there were elements that were suspenseful, it just felt as though the end of the story was not necessarily shocking, and was a letdown to the rest of the novel, where we thought we were onto something. 

Still, the writing was good, and I enjoyed the characters, but it was not as clever as their first novel.

Jessica, a struggling make up artist in New York City gets more than she bargained for when she maneuvers her way into a psychology study run by Dr. Lydia Shields. Jess is desperate for the extra money to help her family out. It was amazing what she would do for the money.

The book is told in opposite POV’s from Jess and Dr. Shields. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

I absolutely loved the main character and the lengths she went to in order to help her family out. Interestingly enough, I enjoyed the lengths Dr. Shields went to as well to learn certain truths.

I have always loved the books by Sarah Pekannen.

An Anonymous Girl, follow up novel to The Wife Between Us, also written with Greer Hendricks was just amazing and was as well written as their prior novel. I only wish I could give it more than 5 stars.

Thank you St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Guilt is always the heaviest thing I carry."

Perfect pacing for a psychological thriller, but don't expect any *mind blown* reveals.

There are many, many things right about An Anonymous Girl. The writing is suspenseful and the pacing of the story really picks up in the second half of the book. I felt my blood pressure rise as Jess, the main character, became more and more unsure of her safety.

Characters are smart and calculating. Drama is built upon characters thinking through all their options and making the logical, and best, choice. You won't encounter a character doing something stupid or ignoring advice just to put themselves into a more dramatic situation. If anything, Jess is smarter and self-preserving more than most thriller characters. Or genre characters in general. She can see the chess pieces moving and knows she needs to do something to protect herself. Her self-reliance made me care for her and feel invested that she not become a victim.

I went into this book expecting a thriller along the lines of Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train. But it's not that. None of the information is hidden or revealed later. You'll have most of the information to solve the mystery yourself (and you will). That's not bad, I was just expecting some big reveal and it never happened. But I still got a psychological thriller that kept me up way past my bedtime because I couldn't stop reading.

Story: 3 stars
Character Development: 4 stars
Writing/Prose: 3 stars

Better than The Wife Between Us, thanks to a much tamer and less obnoxious blurb that doesn't oversell the plot or characters, but has some pacing and length issues. It also felt like quite a few of the psychologist's chapters were inserted simply so every other alternated, even when it didn't add anything to the momentum or plot. But engrossing, overall, and original.

Jessica Farris, a makeup artist in New York City, sees a chance to make some additional money by joining a research study on morality. Since Jessica helps with her disabled sister Becky’s expenses, she lies to the research assistant to get in, figuring this will be an easy $500. The questions are more intrusive than expected, but Jessica – AKA Subject 52 - is determined, and so she continues even after the survey grows personal and she meets with Dr. Shields. The things Jessica is asked to do are strange, but after Jessica’s father loses his job she feels even more pressure to help with Becky’s needs.

It’s really scary how quickly the study goes from the remote to the personal, and how easily Jessica was roped in to follow Dr. Shields’ instructions. Was it just the money, or was it that she told her deepest secrets to the doctor? This was a fascinating read, with a storyline both captivating and intriguing.

I LOVED this book! It took me some time to finish it, but only because life got in the way. I never would have seen the ending coming. It was kind of hard to follow since each chapter went back and forth, but the plot was great! Highly recommend!

Another great book from this author team! The pacing was done well and kept me interested and moving the whole time. I liked the duel perspectives even though it takes a little getting used to. It was the right amount of dark and twisty and believable.

This was an amazing thriller with just enough twists and turns. This is the book that you will keep reading long after you need to be doing something else. I legit could not put this down!! Although I adored these authors first book so I’m not entirely surprised. The unreliable narrator is my personal favorite type of thriller and this book does it perfect!!! I would highly recommend this book to my fellow book lovers.

Jess is afraid her life isn't going to work out. Instead of a career on Broadway as a makeup artist, she's earning a meagre living doing one-on-one makeup for wealthy clients. Jess helps to support her special needs sister and she could use extra cash. During an appointment with a vacuous undergrad, the woman reveals that she's going to blow off a chance to be a well paid subject in a research study and Jess decides to take her place.

The study, which deals with morality, begins as expected with survey questions but soon Jess finds herself being given real world missions by the doctor heading the project.

Jess enjoys the extra money but begins to suspect that there is something not quite right with this arrangement.

It's a page turner and would appeal to people who enjoy domestic thrillers.

I had read The Wife Between Us and really dug it, so when I saw An Anonymous Girl I definitely wanted to read it. As written in the blurb, we meet Jessica, a makeup artist, who takes care of her family which is hard to do without extra income. So when an opportunity arises, she sneaks herself into a study to earn some extra income. Thus starts the relationship between Jessica and Dr. Shields.

Dr. Lydia Shields is purposely vague and aloof, almost to the point of being cold. She knows how exactly to read people so that she can best help them, after all, that's what therapists are trained to do. However, after Jessica gets through the first stage of the study that Dr. Shields has layed out, they are onto a new phase, one in which involves Jessica meeting the good doctor face to face.

As the requests from Lydia become more bizarre, Jessica is starting to wonder where exactly the doctor is going with this study. Surely the things she's being asked to do can't relate to the questions she was asked at the beginning of the study. Doubt is starting to creep in, on both sides. Is Jessica telling the truth, as required in the study? Is the doctor playing a dangerous game with Jessica's life?

This was such a fun read. I liked how the authors told the story in alternating points of view so we could get the full picture. I liked how you weren't exactly sure what was going on while being fed just enough information to keep you tearing through the pages to find out what was going to happen. An Anonymous Girl is an excellent read and I thoroughly enjoy these two authors coming together.

An Anonymous Girl is a psychological thriller that has more twists that a roller coaster. This book will keep you guessing till the end of the book. The characters are enthralling and the plot is great.

I haven't read The Wife Between Us and after reading An Anonymous Girl I don't think I will. This was just ok for me. I found myself reading quickly, waiting for what all the 5 star reviewers loved. I didn't understand why the characters in this book did what they did. I'm one for suspending belief but the story has to be worth it. This is the kind of book I forget about as soon as I'm finished.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Intriguing, gripping, suspenseful, nail-biting with twist after blissful twist. The main characters are flawed and utterly human. I am new to this genre and am now a convert! Extremely well written. A bit confusing in the beginning as the deliverer of the monologue changes from chapter to chapter, but once you figure out the format, all is good. Will definitely go and read The Wife Between Us as soon as possible.