So, the author said on IG that she was fine with my review at that time of "WOW! Dang!" I was worried anything more would give away some of the twists. After finishing, I think my brain is still catching up, kind of like how your body is still wobbly after getting off the rollercoaster. But I think I can add a bit more now. This book was the perfect blend of teen angst tv show nostalgia combined with behind the scenes drama and of course the darker stuff. The only thing that chinked the armor was how immature Ivy presented. I tried to keep in mind that she had been homeschooled while she pursued her acting career and that her social interactions were limited and stunted. It was the only piece of this puzzle that was a hard fit but that didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the book!!

Hello, Juliet is a tense and gripping thriller that compellingly explores the dark side of fame and celebrity culture. Ivy Westcott, once the star of the hit 2014 television show Hello, Juliet, has spent the last decade living a quiet, private life—far from the glaring spotlight that once destroyed her. Branded “Poison Ivy” by the tabloid press, she learned the hard way just how toxic and dangerous celebrity can be.
When offered the chance to return to Hollywood for a secret reunion episode, Ivy reluctantly agrees—motivated in part by the promise of much-needed income to help cover her mom’s medical costs. But what begins as a nostalgic return to her acting roots quickly spirals into a nightmare. On the familiar studio soundstage, Ivy discovers the body of her former best friend in her old dressing room—and soon finds herself the prime suspect in a chilling murder investigation.

Read this if you like:
-dual timelines a decade apart -nicely illustrates how the characters’ past experiences connect to their current struggles, making the story more interesting and layered
-short chapters with cliffhanger endings which further add to the tension and suspense of the book
-use of mixed media (newspaper articles, social media posts) add dimension to plot and enriches the narrative structure
-Hollywood setting that shows both the glamour and its dark side
-themes of family-mother/daughter dynamic, price of fame and celebrity, friendship and betrayals, reinvention and identity including coming to terms with your past public persona, gaslighting
-twists and turns with red herrings and a satisfying well done ending

My rating 4.5 out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this eARC that will be published April 29 2025.

I love books with dual timelines and the narrative between past and present in Hello Juliet was no exception. Little tidbits of information were scattered between the two and you really had to think if you were going to try and piece the story together. Even with all of that in mind I still never saw the twist coming. This book really shows the good and bad of Hollywood life especially for younger people in a very interesting way. I loved every bit of this book!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

I devoured this book! And ended up with deep 90s/2000s teen TV show nostalgia (Buffy, Felicity, I’m looking at you!) and some serious sleep deprivation - cause I simply had to know what happens next!

10 years ago while starring in a hit TV show Hello, Juliet, Ivy’s world imploded. Now an invitation to film a reunion show might upend it once again. Someone is dead and Ivy’s need for answers and all the buried secrets make for some fun reading.

I love what a wild ride this one was. So much drama and hidden agendas, romance, jealousy, insecurities - reminded me so much of tabloid/paparazzi crazy focused on certain TV stars way back when. Totally worth pre-ordering and bingeing once you get your hands on it!

My @thrillerbookloversthepulse peeps and I agree that Samantha Bailey has another hit on her hands! Super grateful that I got an ARC of this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Samantha M. Bailey book, and this did NOT disappoint. Thriller fans, you all are in for a TREAT! If I had more time in the last couple of days, I would've devoured this book in a few hours.

Ivy Westcott, a former actress on the hit teen drama, Hello, Juliet, is the subject of hate after a massive, public fallout with her former castmates on the TV show. Dubbed Poison Ivy by former fans, she flees LA to live a life away from the screen, now struggling to make ends meet to care for her ailing mother, who struggles with chronic illness and can't afford to find a specialist for higher care. After a TV exposé paints her in a bad light, she gets an offer to do a top-secret 10th anniversary reunion episode with her former castmates--her found family--and make a little extra money to help her mother get the specialized care she needs. When she and Jesse Rafferty, former castmate and Ivy's ex-boyfriend, show up to the studio to find their castmate, Lauren Malloy,--Ivy's best friend on set--dead, old drama from their Hello, Juliet days resurface as they try to put together the pieces of what happened to Lauren.

The story switches between the past and the present, with the past being Ivy's time on the set of Hello, Juliet in 2014 and the present being the investigation behind Lauren's death ten years later in 2024. I haven't read a thriller in a while that pulled me in like this. There's something about the writing and the story that Samantha Bailey creates to pull you into the world of Hollywood and LA's glitz and glam with celebrities and the lives they live off-screen. You're dropped right into the drama from the very first chapter! The writing pulled me in and kept me engaged the entire way through, all while having a fast-moving plot to keep me turning the pages to find out what happened. Reading about Ivy's life on-screen and off-screen and seeing those lines start to blur between fiction and reality as the fictional storyline of her character on the show became real life was so cool to read.

One thing that I absolutely need a thriller to do is keep me on my toes, and I was not disappointed with how many twists and turns there were to the plot! It felt like every chapter, there was another piece of the puzzle being revealed, and it wasn't even anything I was expecting, which I was super pleased about. This is probably one of the first thrillers in a long while that I've read that was so intricate and kept me guessing until the very last few chapters. Once you think you know what happens and who did it, you're immediately proven wrong! I'm the kind of person who usually has a couple of working theories on what happened by the halfway mark of a thriller, and although I had an inkling that something was fishy the entire time with a certain character who will not be named for the sake of avoiding spoilers, what I didn't expect was how intricate their role was in the story.

The only thing I would take a star off for is that I didn't feel all of the characters got their time in the spotlight, and I wish we got to read more about Ivy's castmates, Lauren, Jesse, and Caleb. The found family trope was present in the story, but it didn't always feel like Ivy was super close to them (besides Lauren). I think it would've been cool to see brief POVs from each of them during their time on set and off-camera. We see Ivy's interactions with them since the entire story is written from her POV, but it would be nice to see things from Lauren, Jesse, and Caleb's POVs. Considering how intricate the plot already is, I can see how adding in other POVs would probably overcomplicate things, but I also feel like the information we learn about the other characters is very surface-level. Like okay, Jesse likes to play the guitar and write music, and Caleb likes to surf in his free time. That's all I could really tell you about the guys.

I love the plot of this one, I love behind the scenes with celebrities and what they go through. I was concerned for Ivy the whole time. The past always comes back! Lots of surprising twists!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow this one had me hooked from the start. Teen tv stars coming back together for a reunion show, but one is found dead in a closet. As the story unravels so many lies are discovered from years past. What is the truth? Who can be trusted?

Highly recommended!

A harrowing account of the life of TV stars, this book really made me think about actors’ lives after the cameras are turned off. Ivy is a young woman whose one desire is to “make it” in the acting world so she can support her mom after her mom has supported her all of these years. This book is a quick read and was very eye opening!!!

I love books set in Hollywood and bonus points if they take a look at the dark side of the industry and not only did this one do that, it did it in a very unique and intriguing way. It flips back and forth between present day as Ivy prepares for the TV reunion and the past when she was a budding actress and getting her first break on the set of Hello Juliet. Both timelines were engaging, in the past you’re trying to figure out where it all went wrong and in the present there’s an interesting murder mystery. I think that’s all you should know about the plot but it’s very well executed and the reveals and secrets were pretty damn shocking and surprising. Definitely a solid thriller that I recommend!

This was a great story that kept me up all night. If you like fast paced stories filled with some unexpected twists then this book is for you.

Many thanks for my gifted copy, My full review will be shared @coffee.break.book.reviews closer to publication day.

Thank you to my partners, Thriller Book Lovers The Pulse and NetGalley, and the author. I appreciate the gifted eARC! I am leaving this review voluntarily!

1. 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐬 • I think everyone grows up watching some teen drama that captures their attention. The look into the real lives intertwined with their acting lives gives this thriller an extra semblance of intrigue.

2. 𝐃𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 • I loved the way the timelines mirrored each other. When the past and present finally collide, the result was just what the reader needed to bring the story to a close.

3. 𝐀 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐲 • Ivy finds herself trying to figure out who she can trust in every aspect of this story. And it doesn’t fully come to a close until the last page turns. The story is shrouded in mystery!

4. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭 • Just when you think there is a character that is a truly genuine and kind person, things begin to unravel and so many questions abound! Just a bit of whiplash sprinkled in!

5. 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 • So many lives are destroyed at the hands of one person and Ivy will deal with the fallout every day of her life. Some do not make it out alive, some find themselves paying for their crimes, and some find a way to keep living.

Hello, Juliet is a dual timeline, fast
-paced thriller set in the glamorous and cut throat world of teenage television dramas. I was fascinated all the way through. The twists were superb. There was one loose end I didn’t believe tied up, so I gave it four stars but it was definitely a great book.

Hello, Juliet- Samantha M. Bailey
Pub Date- 4/29/25
Rating - 3.5/5 rounded up to 4
Thoughts - Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for this gifted advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. The premise of this book looked very interesting - young adults, Hollywood, and murder all come together so well in this new book by Samantha Bailey. Ivy Westcott returns to Hollywood after 5 years after the end of a hit young adult series called Hello, Juliet. Ivy lost her closest friends, her acting career, and so much more all those years ago. She comes back to LA at the request of her director, Mack, who wants to film a reunion with all the cast members. Little did Ivy know, she is stepping into a murder of her best friend.

I really liked the flip between past and present, divulging more and more information to the reader as the story progresses. Normally YA stories put me off since I can't relate, and while this one had certain parts where I rolled my eyes, overall, I was impressed. The ending is what sold this book to me - I was not expecting it to end the way it did, and I thought I had it figured out for sure. Definitely pick this one up April 29 for a fun ride through Hollywood!

For some reason, this is my first Bailey book. Now I get the hype! This was as addictive as chocolate! I flew through it! Anything with fame/celebrities always gets me hooked. When this started off, I thought I knew where it was going, and I thought it was pretty *predictable* but I was SO wrong, and I loved it. Booksta peeps don’t usually steer me wrong, and I knew that this was going to be wild. It was darker than I expected, which was a surprise. Now I better bump up those Bailey books I have on my shelf because I need more ASAP! Thank you @netgalley for my advance copy!

Thank you so much to Thomas & Mercer for the gifted book!

As far as the story goes, it was very fast and entertaining! I was shocked by the ending! Even though the middle dragged for me at certain points, the twists in the ending made up for it.

I did find most of the characters to be pretty insufferable, but I think that was the point- LOL!

Overall, a fun and quick read but not very memorable!

3.5 rounded up for GR

What is it about reunions? In this case, it's a reunion of the stars of Hello, Juliet, a drama about teens and Ivy, who left Hollywood, decides to join in because she can use the money but one of the other cast member is murdered and she becomes a suspect. This moves back and forth between the show and the present to tell a tale of envy and anger, among others things, that lingers. There are some good twists and (if you've watched these sorts of shows) a few chuckles. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Would make a good travel or vacation read.

I loved that this book takes place in Hollywood and you get to see what happened 10 years ago on the show and present. I loved the alternating time lines, it made me fly through the book. It’s definitely a fast paced, edge of your seat, entertaining thriller. I would definitely recommend!

loved this romance and finding love and remembering love before the one. love the friends and the chemistry between the couple was on fire and loved the banter. and trying to solve a murder

Ivy Westcott played famous the famous star and namesake of popular series Hello, Juliet but tragedy hit and caused Hollywood and fans to turn from her. Now she’s been called to a reunion but it starts with a dead costar.

If you enjoy behind the scene Hollywood stories, give this one a try. Personally I had a hard time connecting with the main character and it was difficult for me to tell the past from the present, but there was a good mystery behind the story. My favorite past was the paparazzi, TMZ like articles that represented the public commentary at the time.

“I chose that life the moment I auditioned for Juliet Jones and lost myself.”

Hello, Juliet comes out 4/29.

I’m always a sucker for a Hollywood story and this delivered on every count! As a kid who grew up on The OC and in the era of the teen drama, Hello, Juliet was absolutely a winner and I'd recommend this fun thriller to anyone who ever loved their teen drama stars!