I really wanted to give The Perfect Life a great review, the synopsis sounds amazing and I couldn’t wait to be blown away! Yet it falls flat. You’ve got a strong but slow start but I felt let down by the time I got to the “drama”. It just isn’t enough. This book has too much going on and yet it’s missing the ingredient to bring it all together.

I wish Natalies chapters had either been left out or more added. It’s not enough to add real substance to the story. In fact it left a lot of unanswered questions.

I’m really upset to be giving The Perfect Life a low review, I was ready to be wowed! A sorry 2/5.

The Perfect Life by Susanna Beard was a good read. The plot was fresh and interesting. Who can you trust when you win the lottery? The Jessops will have to find out. Fleeing with a bunch of friends to another country with millions of pounds seems crazy but makes for a great thrill ride. The characters are well developed, especially the man character. The twists are exciting. The ending was satisfying.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

A fascinating and original take on how a life can change in an instant following an unexpected lottery win. How can you tell who your real friends are, when your life has been turned upside down - this is the question that is the epicenter of this excellent novel.

I must say this is the first book I've read that I went in blind besides reading the other reviewers comments about the book and I didn't like that. This book overall was ok nothing great I guess I would say average.

I wouldn’t describe the book as having an “electrifying finish” as it was describe in the title and description. For a thriller it was a slow burn with none of the action taking place until about 65% through which is pretty slow and people might give up at that point.

I didn’t find the flashbacks helpful to the plot at all and I skipped over most them because I already had a good idea who it was early on.

I would describe this book more of a slow burn beach read, having released any early than spring or summer might hinder the success of the book.

I did enjoy the book but before the action I was about to give up.

Couldn't put this book down and had my heart in my mouth practically the whole time...loved it.I
When Heather wins the lottery, all 29 million pounds of it, she is terrified of the consequences for her and her family. And she was right! I totally empathized with her, if it happened to me I would be too - $1,000,000 would be fantastic, 29 mil would be overwhelming and scary.
They decide to leave London on an extended vacation in Spain with family and friends, telling them of their sudden influx of money and sharing some of it with them. Hopefully by the time they get back, the media and the trolls will have gone to the next story.
But it's not easy to run away without consequences and a nightmare comes to life...
Great read. I loved Heather, her family and her best friend and the twist in the end. Highly recommended.
Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the eARC.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book at around 25% due to triggering content. The main character, Heather, struggles with bulimia, which is vaguely hinted at in the beginning but not outright established until a quarter of the way through. When I requested the title, there was no synopsis, so I went in blind; however, seeing that there’s now a synopsis, I notice that there’s no mention of bulimia there. I think it’s good for readers to know this is an aspect of the novel before they start it, as the subject can be upsetting for personal reasons.

However, I would like to review the other aspects of the book (as far as I read) because only talking about the triggering aspects seems unfair,

Firstly, I liked the lottery plot. I haven’t read a book with that plot device before so I found it to be fresh and interesting, I also enjoyed Heather as a character. However, the other characters didn’t seem as well developed as Heather, except for possibly Natalie - because some of the book is told from her point of view. I found this to be confusing and at times irritating. Some of the book is in 3rd person, focused on Heather, while every once in a while there’s a 1st person chapter from Natalie’s perspective. I’m not sure what the rationale behind this was, but I found it to be jarring. Additionally, it seemed as though Heather’s portions switched between present and past tense too frequently, which added to the confusion.

Overall, I was fairly neutral on this read until I got to a plot point where I knew it was in my best interest not to continue. I’d be interested to see if some of Beard’s other work is more up my alley, and possibly finish this title when I’m in a better position with my own mental health.

Good but not extraordinary. There were no synopses of this story, so I went in knowing nothing of this story. So I'll leave it as is. I will not state a summary. The characters were ordinary. The back story was ordinary. There was nothing over the top or fascinating jumping out of the page. The ending was wrapped up in a nice little bow. I think the ending and the main point of the story had no link to each other. It seems very disconnect. There's a nice message there not over all, I'm not impressed.

Thank you to Joffe Books and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Heather buys her first ever lottery ticket and wins the jackpot. Her and her family do not want any publicity but someone knows and sends abusive messages to Heather. They go on holiday with their nearest and dearest and things take an even more sinister turn.
A good book which makes you think about what you would do if you were in a similar situation

Electrifying psychological thriller that amazed me as a reader. I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery. It’s the perfect middle ground between a psychological thriller in a mystery that everyone will enjoy