What drew me in: the pink cover, the premise of a "perfect girl" (aka overachiever rule follower) and the idea of a YA horror/thriller. This book delivered on all of them, but in a sort of underwhelming way.

I'll start with the things I did like: the book was a very quick read, taking me less than 2 hours, so it's a very easy thing for someone to pick up and read in one sitting. I loved that the main character being an overachiever and rule-follower who really relied on her glasses (very relatable on all those fronts). I also found the inclusion of so many characters at this sleepover interesting, as we got fun sleepover vibes. Lastly, I love that this was a YA book as I feel like many horror/thriller books are for adults--this was slightly less scary and is a good fit for the teenage demographic.

My iPad formatting made this book 206 pages, and it took over 70 pages for all the characters to get to the house where the majority of the action takes place. The whole build-up of Jessa and all her friends making plans to meet and the side plot of flashbacks of another girl made the start feel really slow. Once the night started, it didn't feel very thrilling or adventure-y, people just kept getting lost and Jessa ran around trying to find them.

The side plot with the Bella flashbacks felt a bit irrelevant. It really set the tone for the story to be dark and creepy, but didn't have much to do with the main plot. I think it could have made for a great reveal if Bella identified some major characteristic of our antagonist that allowed to reader to figure out who the abductor was before Jessa did.

Otherwise, some of the points of the climax felt super stereotypical/cliche/random (the supernatural element especially!) and that took me out of the story. That being said, I was still very invested and read the whole book in one sitting. I recommend this for any YA thriller readers who want a quick and enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley + Macmillian for the ARC

This was a fast-paced YA thriller that I couldn’t put down once I started reading. There were some predictable parts and some “too convenient” parts, but I really enjoyed it overall because it was nothing I couldn’t overlook.

I have mixed feelings about the flashes with Bella. On the one hand, they took me out of the story, but then it made sense when it came together in the end.

Perfect Girl was such a fun read. The story line was filled with action, mystery and a little bit of flashback. I loved that it took place on a stormy night, no power or phone lines, and during a sleepover with 4 friends. Jessa was a fun mc and I loved how we were privy to her inner dialogue and always struggling to live up to everyone's perfection standards. The story had a little bit of romance, but not so much to distract from the main storyline.

It was perfectly geared towards a YA reader, but still enjoyable for adults. Definitely recommending this one to my HS nieces.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review was shared 8/4/24 on Goodreads.

3.5⭐️

ARC kindly provided by publisher via NetGally in exchange for an honest review.

this was a fast paced and well written YA Thriller. i’m a bit of a scaredy cat, so this was this perfect level of intensity for me and had me on the edge of my seat!

Book:
PERFECT GIRL by Tracy Banghart
Thank you Netgalley, the publisher, and Tracy for the ARC (Nov 19)

Review:
5⭐
Talk about an edge-of-your-seat thriller. What a book. Tracy killed it with this. Mystery, thrills, psychos, it was all top-notch.
PERFECT GIRL follows Jessa, known as a perfect girl One night, while her parents are away, Jessa has a sleepover with her friends. With missing girls from a town a half an hour away, it's better to stay together. And then the unthinkable happens, unknown visitors, creepy people,etc.
To me, this book is the epitome of a great mystery---though this could be described as more thrilling. I really liked the before chapters that were interwoven with what was happening in the present Also, I totally called the whodunnit before the whodunnits did more.
The added pov really added to the story.I loved how the characters were portrayed in the beginning, and how the characters were newly portrayed at the end---how everything rounded on itself around people not being who you expected. Definitely a must read.

Well that was certainly interesting! A super fast paced YA book, Perfect Girl focuses on Jessa overcoming her internal struggle with being perfect as her and her friends find themselves in a struggle to survive.

This was a bit up and down for me. I’m not a big fan of books that make too much of a point to talk about the time period they’re set, and by the 3rd chapter or so I was very sick of the way covid was mentioned so much. It got better over time, but I didn’t love it.

The mystery of the missing girls and the situation with Jessa’s friends was honestly pretty interesting if not super surprising once things started to unfold. I think a lot of budding horror/thriller fans would enjoy this.

4.5 stars rounded up. This isn’t my normal genre to read, but I really enjoyed it. I was kept on the edge of my seat, even if some of the twists were somewhat predictable.

I’d say the writing and dialogue sounded cheesy and immature, but that’s kind of on brand as the main character is 16.

Despite that the book DID entertain me and if I was like 13-15, I would have REALLY enjoyed this book.
I would say this book would do very well targeting a middle school - early high school level of reading.

This book was reminiscent of early 2000s sleepover/horror movie plots and was a fun little throw back. Reminded me of a mixture of the movies Scream and Sleepover.


Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review 🫶🏼

2.8/5⭐️

I had no idea what to expect going in when I got approved for this ARC, but what I ended up getting was a fast-paced thriller with an enthralling plot. Yes, it does have heavier themes, but this very much reads as a YA novel. The teens acted like teens, not adults in their early twenties, and it didn’t go too far over the top with the action. I thought this was such a great, fast read. It was easy to follow, and I loved the thrilling elements that kept me on the edge of my seat. I found myself wanting to keep reaching back for the book every time I had to put it down, which is always a good sign that I'm loving it. Overall, I absolutely loved this read and will definitely check out more of Tracy's books in the future!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book!

This books was great! The characters and the plot are well written and interesting. The story is interesting and I would definitely read it again.

I enjoyed The Perfect Girl. To be honest, when I first requested it I wasn't aware it was a YA novel. It surprised me though in the best way! I could see it on the big screen. It reads faced paced and is entertaining! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

Jessa Morgan is known as the polite, organized, ultimate yes-girl. Perfect Jessa, never does anything wrong, and that’s how she likes it. The keeper of peace.

Jessa invites her friends over for a sleepover when her parents are attending a party in town. It starts to storm really bad and the power goes out. Jessa is doing all she can to keep the peace with her friends, but some things they just need to get off their chest. Unwanted guests start showing up, and when Jessa finds herself in a situation where she has to decide if she should be herself or put the good girl aside and stand up for herself in the name of life or death.

I love YA, and even though I didn’t hate this book, I did find myself forcing myself to reach for it. Every time I’d start reading it, I’d start to get more into it, but then I’d break and it’d take me forever to pick it back up.m. I gave it 3 stars. I just felt like it was extremely slow in the beginning. With Thriller/Horror, I always expect there to be a WOW within the first couple of chapters. It took some time, but I’m glad I stuck it out. I enjoyed seeing how everyone came together in the end after such a time they went through. Their bonds were unbreakable by then and it was nice for redemption!

Thank you Feiwel & Friends, as well as NetGalley for the ARC of Perfect Girl by Tracy Banghart. All words and reviews are my honest thoughts.

Teens sleepover goes seriously wrong. If you love classic horror movies you'll really loved this. The characters were all interesting and well written. I liked the focus of Jessa and how being “perfect” affects her friends as well as herself. The writing is very good. This was a quick and easy read that I recommend.

Many readers will relate to Jessa and her anxieties, her identity as a perfect girl. The one parents like. The one teachers trust. But there's always someone who *doesn't* like the perfect girl. That is relatable too. This thriller is a fast-paced read with a satisfying end to the mystery.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

Jessa has always been polite and a rule follower, raised to be the "perfect" girl. She is happy to play the part that her parents and society want her to as a goody two-shoes. A freak storm causes the sleepover to go south when the power goes out. Her friends start fighting, there are unexpected visitors and lots of jump scares. A killer who was searching for the perfect girl has targeted Jessa and now she must change everything about her self to stay alive until morning.

First off the description and cover of this book caught my interest straight away. I liked the idea of a play on the "virgin" stereotype often found in horror movies. This was a very quick read and easily bingeable. There is a lot of character development with Jessa that makes her more relatable including dealing with her internal anxieties. There are a lot of characters added to the story so you don't get to feel as connected to most of them and it can get a bit jumbled at times. this is a fast paced thriller with an interesting story line that I enjoyed reading.

Perfect Girl follows Jessa, who is seen as (for lack of a better fitting term), a perfect girl. She is internally struggling with the pressures and expectations put upon her due to this, which I really appreciated and related to. One night, Jessa hosts a sleepover with her friends in their secluded home & as the night goes on, people are at each others throats & it spirals from there.

I thought this was such a great, fast read. It was easy to follow and I loved the thrilling elements that kept me on the edge of my seat. I found myself wanting to keep reaching back for the book every time I had to put it down, which is always a good sign that I'm loving it.

My only critique is that the twist (to me at least) was one that I ended up guessing earlier on which was a bit disappointing. This could very well be due to me reading a ton of thrillers so I will absolutely not fault this book or the author for that. Overall I absolutely loved this read and will definitely check out more of Tracy's books in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

This book have me the most unhinged mean girls vibes and I loved it. I know it’s YA but didn’t read as such which I definitely appreciate!

Jessa Morgan is the Perfect Girl between her demeanor, life goal, and grades. She’s been privately having a bit of a crisis about it, but all of her fears are brought to the forefront when what should be a perfectly normal a sleepover is taken over by a storm and strangers.

There’s no comp titles in the summary, but I would compare this to a Criminal Minds episode from the victim’s point of view. I had a really fun time. I found Jessa’s internal anxieties that drive her deeply relatable, especially when I was her age. Banghart writes her voice very distinctly and while I was reading I felt like I was a teenage girl again with teenage girl problems.

Inconsistent characterization really ruined my enjoyment, most of which is because I feel like a lot of interesting character beats were set up that just fizzled into nothing. It feels like Banghart has too many characters to juggle so a lot of development gets dropped in exchange for plot. Jessa and her older brother Josh are set up as a golden child vs scapegoat and they have plenty of sibling arguments, but nothing ever comes of the way their parents pit them against one another. I found Tiny to be a frustratingly inconsistent character, to the detriment of her internal logic that left her feeling like more of a powderkeg than an actual person. Alexis is disappointingly out of focus and I think might be the only one who has literally zero development, though that’s hardly her fault since most of her page time is spent either unconscious or near it. Kellen gets a lot of development early on, but it ends up feeling like that’s just so she has a (plot permitting) reason to fade into the background for most of the second act. Of our main pack of teenagers, only Jessa and Ryan feel like actual people.

I still found this book an entertaining way to spend an afternoon. If you’re in the market for a blood-pounding YA thriller, I think Perfect Girl will scratch that itch for a lot of people.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for the eARC.

“I’d rather be a bitch than you’re perfect girl.”

Same. It’s actually so crazy to think of the pressure we get from our parents, or that is sometimes self inflicted, to be perfect all the time. I get it and can relate in a way but am also so glad that as the 4th and youngest in my family, my parents were like “you’re good right?” Any pressure throughout the years was definitely self inflicted on my part and luckily I learned to give myself grace for not being perfect.

Okay but this book definitely highlights one of my genuine fears of being abducted or attacked. And while this centers around high school kids, this is still a very real fear of mine that has me kinda always questioning who and what to trust, both in life and also in this book. I kept internally yelling at characters trying to get them to stop making dumb decisions while simultaneously believing that in a fight or flight situation I’d probably legit freeze and therefore be the first to die. And while thrillers don’t guarantee happy endings, I did have hope. I’ll leave it at that as I don’t know how to avoid another spoiler.

Thank you to the author for tossing in some 90s nostalgia. Buffy was one of my favorite movies growing up. This book was overall a quick and easy read that I found hard to put down. It touched on some tough but very real topics that not just high schoolers but people of any age may be able to relate to and it was nice to see Jessa’s character progression and how she was able to allow some mess into her life. I think maybe my one issue is that the characters went through this really traumatic situation together and there’s only the briefest mention of Jessa going to therapy but not a lot about how everyone was able to move on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for this advanced copy!

A faced paced YA thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat till the very end.

I really enjoyed this book, while I thought it might be a little to YA for me at the start I was pleasantly surprised with the plot once it picked up. The characters all have their own personalities and the pace of the story was very good and keeps up with those of best selling thrillers I’ve read. I would highly recommend this book. I read it in less than two days!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the digital ARC copy all opinions are my own.