Thank you so much to Amazon for the gifted book!

I was so excited to read this one as I am a huge fan of Greer Hendricks!

This is a very short story and I was hoping this could be a quick read to get me out of a little reading slump; it definitely did that!

It was fun and short and while it didn't have much depth, it was about what you'd expect from a story of this length!

Overall, not memorable, but good for what it was!

Overwhelmed by life and career, Anne gets a lifeline: a high-profile ghostwriting job for wellness guru Melody Wells.
Anne begins to believe a better life is within reach, especially when Melody helps her land a dream apartment.
But as strange events unfold, Anne starts to question what she’s really signed up for.

I went into this with high hopes​, especially because I really enjoy Greer Hendricks writing.

​The premise was intriguing, and ​almost immediately the build-up had me hooked. ​It seemed like it was leading to something big​, but when the climax hit, it just didn’t land the way I’d hoped.

It felt rushed, like all that momentum fizzled out instead of delivering a satisfying punch.

This is honestly why I struggle with a lot of short stories. There’s often just not enough time to really dig into the characters or create the kind of emotional connection that makes the twist or resolution hit hard.

That said, it wasn’t a bad read. The writing was solid and the idea had potential. It just didn’t stick the landing for me. An okay story overall, but not one I’ll be thinking about for long.... actually that's not true one thing that will stick with me is my confusion over the layout of this apartment.

I feel like this could have been a full-blown novel and would have been entertaining. Engaging enough for a short read, but ended abruptly and anticlimactically.

Thank you NetGalley and the published for this ARC - review live now on GoodReads and StoryGraph

This sounded so promising… a ghostwriter juggling too much, a mysterious wellness guru, and a dream apartment in Manhattan? I was intrigued. But honestly, it didn’t deliver. The writing was fine, and it was a super quick read (I finished it in about 30 minutes), but the story was BORING. It didn’t match the vibe of the synopsis at all. There wasn’t much suspense, the characters didn’t stand out, and the “unsettling” moments were barely noticeable. Overall, it just fell short for me.

Primo incontro con l’autrice, e direi anche ultimo. Ho trovato il racconto francamente mediocre. Certo, è un formato che non fa per tutti, ma qui in poche pagine si accumulano insieme banalità e insensatezze, a cui si aggiunge uno stile indifferente.
Non ho trovato nulla da salvare, e mi spiace, perché questi racconti sono sempre un’occasione di scoprire nuovi autori.
Sarà per la prossima volta.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ebook ARC of this title in exchange for my review.

I've read other books by the author, so I excited to read this one. I enjoyed the story overall, but I wish it had been a full length book. I felt like there were some missing elements that really left me with questions.

3 stars.

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Greer Hendricks, including this short story, The Sublet.

Anne is a ghostwriter, working on a book for wellness influencer, Melody. When Melody points Anne to an apartment to sublet with her family, with beautiful views of the East River, it seems almost too good to be true. But then some unsettling things happen, and chilling revelations come to light.

While this story was quick and engaging, I feel like maybe the ending was too abrupt due to the short story format. It may be more satisfying as a novel.

My thanks to NetGalley, Amazon Original Stories and Greer Hendricks for the opportunity to read and review this story.

Greer Hendricks never disappoints with giving the reader the feeling that there’s always something “just around the corner”. True Grady!! Just too short but another must read!!

This is my introduction to Greer Hendricks. I have heard all of my thriller booktubers rave about her but have just not gotten around to trying her. After reading this, I wonder what has taken me so long. I am so glad this was my introduction to her. It can be so hard to capture the suspense and the twists of a thriller in a short story because of the limited word count, but she did a fantastic job. The story hit the ground running and captured my attention from the opening. The unreliable narrator was fantastic. The twist was done perfectly. The hints were there all along, and they were perfect, as I hate when the twist comes out of the blue. I (and I imagine most readers) would begin to put it together just before the actual reveal, which is my favorite way. I get the pleasure of solving the mystery and getting the twist reveal. I look forward to reading her novels now and will no longer be putting her off.

For a short story this was pretty big on suspense. For the small amount of time we see the characters we learn a decent amount about them. I do wish this was flushed out to a full story .

Thank you to the publisher for the audiobook approval via NetGalley. My opinions are in no way influenced by receiving a free copy to read. I also had an ebook copy via Amazon First Reads but chose to listen to the audiobook thanks to my Netgalley approval.

I know it's a serious challenge and takes real talent to write short stories / novellas well and have the reader really care about them... and this just wasn't it. This was a must-read for me because I love Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen books, so with Sarah Pekkanen releasing full-length novels on her own, I was dying to see what this had in store for me with just Greer Hendricks at the helm.

This was just.... not good. In a full-length novel, sure. We would have had time to spend dilly dallying about. In a short story thriller? You HAVE to get to the good parts quickly. It took to long to even get to the sublet. I was beat over the head with "lavender" and this stupid guru woman. There was a wild twist at the end which was stupid because we didn't even have time to get to know what was going on and there wasn't enough time to be interested in the intrigue of it all. Like I said, it takes real skill and is very challenging to make a reader care that much in that amount of time, and I was not into it at all. I hated the characters, didn't feel for them or understand their motives, and just none of it worked for me.

The author wasted a lot of time with dumb filler that could have been better spent in better places. I'm also STILL confused about something... SPOILER. The main character said she had a hard time conceiving and finally she got her twins with IVF. She hadn't had sex with her husband in weeks to a month, and somehow she ends up pregnant at the end. But. How? Was this supposed to be a miraculous conception? Was this from her husband? From the pills? WHY was that even necessary? WHO CARES!! I must have fever-dreamed right over that explanation because I was too busy being disappointed in everything else.

Yes, this was free, but I still invested (a small amount of) time in it. I would have liked to enjoy it at least a little bit.

This is a short story so I look for great content on a short amount of time. I felt it delivered in the beginning, but was disappointed by the ending which I felt lacked something. There was simply some unanswered questions about what happened, and that made me a bit annoyed. But besides that, it was worth reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion

Typical of Greer Hendricks' style, this short story was exciting and left me questioning my own rational thought process. The way she crafted the plot elements, including the characters, told me she may have had personal experience with a similar "wellness" regimen being sold to her, like countless other women. I was intrigued and perplexed, on the edge of my seat for the duration of this short piece. I wish it was longer!

I've been in a reading slump lately and this was a nice quick read to get me back into the flow. I would have liked the ending to be a bit longer, but other than that, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

This was a fun and quick thriller. A great read.

This was engaging for a short story, but the ending was super abrupt.

I need to stop reading short stories because I always am left needing more of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the advanced copy.

I honestly wouldn't want to give any bad reviews to my favourite authors, but I'll chalk it up to the disadvantages of chunking a pretty interesting thriller plot into a short story. Only a handful of these attempts have become genuinely engaging.  

What disappointed me was how anticlimactic it was.  The build-up made me curious enough to see it through, but sadly, the way the story unravelled hinted at how the author just wanted to end things bland yet sufficient enough for the heck of it.  I know I shouldn't be harsh, but that's how underwhelming the plot is.

I’ll start off by saying this was a good short story but ultimately I was left a bit disappointed especially since I’ve read this authors previous works so I had high expectations. This had so much potential to be a 5 star read but it fell flat and lacked character development. Majority of the time was setting the scene but it needed more time to build suspense and expand the story. Honestly this should be a full length novel since the potential is evident but the short story format missed the mark. Too much is crammed in this short format and although it was a very quick read I was expecting the end to be satisfying yet it turned out to be underwhelming and left me wanting much more. Overall it was a quick read and I do recommend readers to give it a try but I believe with more editing and refinement this has the possibility to be a successful full length book!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

It's taut and well paced and just an excellent read. It works really well as a short story while keeping the suspense and uneasy feeling that you love in a thriller.

I read The Wife Between Us that was co-authored by this author and it was the best book I've read in a long time. So I naturally looked into her other work. I read this short novella and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My honest only complaint is that I wish it was a full book/longer. It was a tad slow starting but it engaged me quickly. I enjoyed the plot twists and creative ending.