The Perfect Home by Daniel Kenitz is a quick and easy suspense that you will want to keep reading and not put down.

Wyatt and Dawn are the faces behind the home-reno reality show Perfect Home. The show is going well, Dawn has an interiors store that does well, and the two seem to be doing well as a couple until they want to start a family, with no luck. After a barage of testing, Wyatt decides to go his own route with some sketchy (and illegal) fertility drugs. And they work! Dawn delivers healthy twins...but that's when things go from bad to worse. After noticing some drastic, and scary, changes in Wyatt, Dawn takes the twins and tries to find help only to have Wyatt turn the tables on her - making her look like a postpartum crazy person. Now the media is involved and Dawn has to prove that she's not the crazy one...or is she?

While the idea of this story was intriguing, the comparison to Gone Girl again fell flat. There were a few similarities, but it can't compare. I was a little underwhelmed. There was no last minute twist to surprise the reader, the things that happened we could see coming, and everything seemed a little far-fetched.

I did enjoy the relationship Dawn formed with Tim and I enjoyed the dual POVs, even though Wyatt's POV was creepy and manipulative and plotting. I didn't love the gaslighting throughout or the comparison to Gone Girl. While it was an easy read that kept my interest thoughout, I was hoping for more so I am giving it a solid three stars.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you Scribner for the opportunity to read and review The Perfect Home on NetGalley. Unfortunately, this was an utter miss for me.

DNF -- juvenile dialogue (writing)

Really foul language 26% (my breaking point)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

What looks perfect can hide something terrifying beneath.

Reality TV stars. A dream home. And a secret so dark it’ll shake you. 🏡💔

Daniel Kenitz delivers a sharp, suspenseful debut that pulls you into the dangerous world of curated lives and broken truths. Told from two gripping POVs, this domestic thriller had me hooked!

🧠 Themes of:
🎭 Media manipulation
👶 Motherhood & protection
🧬 Toxic ambition
💔 The cost of fame

Dawn is a protagonist you root for—flawed, strong, and real. Wyatt? Chilling. Manipulative. The perfect villain.

🔍 A few twists were predictable, but the emotional stakes and fast pace kept me invested to the end.

🖤 Recommended for fans of Gone Girl or The Last Thing He Told Me.

I was absolutely sucked into this book from beginning to end. Great, fast paced read that really pissed me off at point because guys suck. Read in one sitting, I had to know what was going to happen. A great read if your looking for something fast paced and leave you intrigued!

This book was ok, but no big surprises or twists. The synoposis pretty much is a clear picture of what happens. The characters are all unlikable, I didn't feel connected to any of them. The writing style held my attention and I liked getting the point of view of Dawn and Wyatt. Dawn made some really dumb decisions and I really wanted to yell at her and tell her to think. I liked the idea of the book, the reality TV couple isn't as happy as they seem. The description of this being Gone Girl meets Fixer Upper is what drew me to this book to begin with. If you like reality TV or house remodel shows, you may like this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

I lost interest in this book pretty early on. None of the main characters were very compelling and the fact that I didn't care about any of them made me feel as if I didn't want to continue with reading the book.

ust like it's cover, this was an eye rolling, over the top domestic thriller/drama that just fell flat. Two dimensional characters that you can't even love to hate, the execution of the storyline and plot was uninteresting and I just didn't care how any of it ended. A no for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for a digital copy in return for an honest, unbiased review.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a fun, decently twisty and suspenseful domestic thriller. It does require you to suspend your disbelief at times and the husband and some of the supporting characters were unlikable, but it was an entertaining book overall. I feel like HGTV fans would really get a kick out of it.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

The premise of this book was definitely interesting, however the characters and the story were not. I felt that this book was intensely repetitive and completely predictable. I felt like Dawn would have had to be completely blind and stupid to not recognize that something was going on with her husband. I would have really liked to see her as a stronger character and to take less of a victim role. I will not be recommending this one. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

DNF - didn't work for me, just couldn't get into it. I didn't feel connected to it and it wasn't quite living up to my expectations

Ughh... This one did not work for me at all. I felt like it missed sharing some important facts and things happened that made me question if my intense dislike of it was due to me personally or the way the story was unfolding. Unfortunately, I don't think I will remember much in a few days.

This novel is being marketed as “Fixer Upper meets Gone Girl,” a comparison that, frankly, does it no favors. There’s no home renovation to speak of, nor is there a missing woman at the heart of the narrative. The promotional tagline feels more like a misguided attempt to shoehorn the book into a trend than an accurate reflection of its content.

As a thriller, it sits uncomfortably between tones—part fast-paced, over-the-top drama, part serious domestic suspense—and the result is a narrative that feels thematically disjointed. At times, it veers into melodramatic territory with a relentless he said/she said structure, while elsewhere it strains for gravitas that it doesn’t quite earn. The story also suffers from noticeable repetition, which further undercuts its momentum.

While I wasn’t personally disappointed by the lack of home improvement content (as someone who doesn’t watch those shows), I did hope for a plot with a bit more substance and originality in its execution. The premise had potential, and to the author’s credit, it was refreshingly different. Unfortunately, that potential wasn’t fully realized.

The characters, rather than feeling authentic, came off as exaggerated caricatures. The repeated emphasis on the male protagonist’s attractiveness and the female lead’s supposed lack of beauty grew tiresome quickly. The male characters' behavior bordered on implausible, while the female protagonist’s passive acceptance of being treated poorly became increasingly frustrating. Her "friends" offered no support, and not a single character displayed redeeming qualities—save for the mother, who, even then, ultimately betrays her daughter’s trust.

One strength of the novel lies in its commentary on the manipulative nature of reality television and media influence, which was both timely and insightful. Beyond that, however, the book didn’t work for me. A compelling concept undermined by inconsistent tone, underdeveloped characters, and a lack of narrative cohesion.

"The Perfect Home" reality TV couple are living in an anything but perfect home IRL as Wyatt tries experimental fertility drugs which have deadly side effects.

I liked that the book was written in Wyatt and Dawn's POV, it made the story interesting as the reader tries to piece together the mysteries before the characters can do. The novel goes even further in the dual POV theme by showing how news and media outlets can also curve a narrative. I found the use of TV and media in this story to be really well thought out and impactful to the plot.

A big issue I had with this book is the lack of in-depth explanations and (I assume) research on the authors part to nail the more serious topics in his book (i.e. abuse and illegal drugs). The abuse Dawn experiences is all told as exposition, we don't ever really see Wyatt abusing her. There is a "threat" on set at one point but I read that as Wyatt cautioning Dawn to be careful, I was genuinely surprised that that scene was later used to account signs of abuse in their marriage. I was hoping the twist at the end would reveal that both parties were false narrators and that is why the examples of abuse were vague and at times not realistic at all, but no they were meant to be taken seriously.

The experimental drug bit was poorly incorporated. How is a drug that--according to a major US news outlet--is close to impossible to research online in the United States yet Wyatt can order them easily and Dawn can do an ominous Google search about them?

I also found the ending to be really rushed, I would lose track of where a character was, what they were holding, and what they were doing. I read back to see if I missed a setting que but found that the text was just jumping around.

I was really excited for this one but it didn't live up to the hype for me. The idea of the home renovation reality tv show gone wrong was super appealing but I felt like the characters and story fell flat.

I really enjoyed this reality tv thriller set in Nashville, Tennessee. The couple, home renovators and tv stars have two different agqendas. The wife is struggling with a weight gain after birthing twins, husband Wyatt is all wrapped up in his career. Notice it is his career, not theirs. As the story is told we find out Wyatt has all kinds of hidden relationships and has been planning some changes in his life. Being a husband to his present wife and father to his twins may not be part of his plans. The story is well told, the characters well developed and it is just a fun an entertaining read. Thanks to #NetGalley#ThePerfectHome#DanielKenitz for a fun and fast moving story.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review "The Perfect Home." I am not sure that I would list this book as a thriller it is more of a chic-lit read. I am not a big fan of this genre but if I was I would enjoy this book. It reads easily and is fast paced. A definite beach read.

My opinion doesn't matter and I nearly died but sure, let's hurry up and read books for a publisher who doesn't care anyway. I'm just going to stick to the books I know I will like and stop wasting time and money on things that don't matter.

I enjoyed the drama in this one. This is a domestic thriller that started a bit slow but picked up and just kept getting better. I loved the intensity and the setting of Nashville.

Fantastic read! Kept me on the edge of my seat! I can’t wait to read more by this author!! I really enjoyed all the twists and turns along the way.