Perfect Girl is a fast-paced story featuring several teens in a remote home during a tumultuous storm. Really, it's the perfect recipe for a teen thriller. Throw in a recent string of missing girls, an odd neighbor, and a power outage.

For me, the story was a lot of fun. The twists weren't super surprising, but I enjoyed the ride nonetheless..

I feel like this book is a great example of a YA book made for older YA who are newer to reading. It had that easier flow and sentences that are great for new readers and is also a good introduction to this kind of genre. Yet this book uses some more adult language here and there that makes it almost seem like it should be for some older readers at times. Books like this are great and do exist out there, but as a person who is a big reader, this book gave me whiplash.

At times it felt a little bit on the younger side of YA and then would suddenly drop the f-bomb, which just felt like it was contradicting the writing style.

I do like the concept of this book, and the idea of a killer on the loose looking for the perfect girl was super eerie. I don't want to spoil anything but the killer was such an interesting situation. However, I do wish we saw more character growth from the side characters, as they were shoved in and out of the story a lot with little progress.

Overall I think the concept and idea of this book were great. It started off pretty strong but got a little muddled and lost on its way there. There could have just been a few things cleaned up or further developed to make this a super compelling read.

Thank you to Macmillian for allowing me to read and review this book <3

This is a ya thriller, it was definitely fast-paced, I read it in one sitting. I loved the characters, I loved the diversity. Overall this was a great YA novel.

What a wild ride

First 50%- im mildly interested in what’s happening but im mostly just bored

Middle 50-75%- wtf is happening do I love this or hate this

Last 25%- wait this EATS, on the edge of my seat, invested in each character and what’s going to happen

I just wish that that first 50% has me more intrigued, I really was invested by the characters at the end but feel I probably missed a lot because the first half was lackluster

Perfect Girl is a young adult thriller. If this a genre you haven't read a lot of, I think you will enjoy it. It seemed very predictable to me, but I still enjoyed my time reading it and will look for more books by Tracy Banghart in the future.

I went into this without having read the synopsis, I just assumed it was a thriller when I picked it based on the cover. Well, to sum this up, rule following teen girl's sleepover goes massively ary when a big storm takes out the power and a creeper has decided she is the "perfect girl".
So this was all over the place with tropes and angst, lots of drama and archaic gender roles used by lots of characters- I would have assumed this was set in the 1980 but they had cell phones and were streaming movies, but otherwise some of the characterizations felt very outdated. The big mystery was weird and not super surprising, but still odd, and no real reason for it and basically all the action was the last 2 chapters of the book.
Overall I could not connect with the character, the plot had holes and strangeness and the main characters actions were very frustrating. I am sure there are some others who will enjoy this almost tribute to the old sleepover slasher thing, but it was not a book for me.

this one was much more wild than I thought it was going to be. there were also some deep issues that were covered well. really enjoyed this one.

this book is a thiller with twists that you don't see coming. I really like how this story went it was twisty and had some questionable characters for sure.

I thought this was like watching a 90’s slasher flick. I loved the haunted house aspect along with the teenage girl friendship dynamics.

Thank you Netgalley for an arc of Perfect Girl. I was intrigued by the cover, which was made me want to read this arc. I enjoyed it, it was a 4 stars for me and I would recommend reading it as well.

"Perfect Girl" is an exceptional thriller that will keep you on your toes. Banghart's writing style is addictive, and will keep you turning page after page. If you like crime TV shows (Criminal Minds, Bones, etc.), you'll enjoy this fast-paced, suspenseful read.

2.75 stars

Based on the cover and the blurb I was expecting this to be a YA "Scream" type slasher whodunnit, and it really was not that. We're following Jessa, who strives to be the perfect girl but also feels immense pressure, the night of a sleepover when her power goes out and things start going terribly awry. There aren't any red herrings or mystery to who is behind everything, and it feels like the main characters are never really in as much danger as the flashback side characters who went missing before the book started, so I wasn't as invested in the outcomes as I hope to be in thriller/horror books. 

It read like young YA, and I think a young teen just getting into darker stories would have a great time with it, but the amount of Serious Topics TM that just got a very light inclusion in here without much depth will likely frustrate adult readers. Which, fair, because this is not for us. The villain and methods were pretty creepy, but I was disappointed at the lack of background information or explanation for their motives. All in all, this wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't for me. If you know a kid looking to read something creepy without worrying too much if everyone will make it to the school dance afterward, this is for them. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Perfect Girl by Tracy Banghart has an intriguing premise, but it didn’t deliver for me. The characters felt underdeveloped, making it hard to connect with their journeys, and the pacing was uneven, with a rushed resolution. While there were glimpses of potential, the story lacked the emotional depth and impact I was hoping for.

Jessa is every parent's perfect kid. Responsible, polite, etc. She has friends over for the night, and all hell breaks loose. I don't want to say too much, as I would hate to ruin all the twists, but it was quite the adventure.

It was, I will admit, a little slow to begin with, and the jumping between time periods threw me a little, but once we got into the meat of it, I quite literally couldn't put it down. Like, read in one sitting, ignored minor responsibilities like cleaning for it.

I enjoyed the protag, I enjoyed her friends, the love interest was kinda meh but that wasn't super the point, at least not to my impression, so that's passable.

If you want a...not unconventional, but actually like super conventional protag that has to become unconventional to survive the night, this is a good option for you.

Good thriller read. Thought the story line was interesting and the author had me guessing on what was actually going on! Definitely had good tension and perfect creepy vibes! Also found myself wondering how I would react in the same situation!

The quote saying "cat and mouse game" is so spot on and that was what I read it for! I love a book with that 'trope', it's so much fun! This was so good and I'm buying it for a friend for Christmas!

This was so fun to read! Just when I thought I knew the answers, another twist would come. I loved the characters and I was never bored reading. Will definitely read more from Tracy!

Not bad. Good thriller for middle to high schoolers but wouldn't really recommend for older than that audience. The story wasn't bad and at times it was thrilling but there were so many side characters that it kind of took away from the mains story a little. Plus her big scene where she reveals why she can't be "perfect" fell a little flat because right after a side character makes fun of it and says she's needs to disappoint people. I think that scene should've happened a little earlier instead of where it did. Also I do believe maybe some more scenes with David or ashley while captured should've happened since while it's not bad that it was obviously meant to be him I feel like we knew nothing about it. And the ghost thing honestly was meh

The main character irritated me, but then I remembered that she obviously has anxiety, OCD, etc and that her mother and grandmother has created a lot of her internal problems (...I wanted contacts, but my mom said I look smarter in glasses). Once I started thinking about this, she became a better character to me. The story was a bit of a thriller and I think teens will appreciate it more that I did. I will probably purchase for my high school library.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the arc.

Jessa has always been the “perfect girl”, following all the rules, never shirking her responsibilities. But this perfect girl status now has her and her friends at the most horrifying sleepover of their lives.

First of all, the cover of this book is great. It got me interested right away. The book itself was definitely scary, and Jessa and her friends are characters to root for. While the story didn’t entirely grab me the way others in this genre have (maybe I called the twist too early?), the absolute creepiness of it all kept me reading and I’m glad I did.

If you are looking for a quick scary young adult read filled with compelling characters, I would recommend this book.