I have read a couple of Megan's books and enjoyed each one. This was an interesting suspenseful book where I didn't know what to expect with each page turn. I enjoyed the dual timelines/mysteries and trying to figure out what happened.

Read if you like:
• Mysteries
• College Games
• Dual Timeline
• Secrets

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this Advanced Release copy. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

You Belong Here by Megan Miranda is a gripping read. The suspense builds steadily throughout, and the mysterious undertones kept me wondering what would happen next. The inner monologue of the main character added depth to the story, and I found myself really connecting with her journey. This was my first book by Megan Miranda, and I was thoroughly impressed by her storytelling. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of her books in the future. If you enjoy mysteries with a psychological twist, this one is definitely worth picking up!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Megan Miranda never disappoints! This is a slow-burn campus thriller that is spooky and chilling! Please read with the lights on!
The story is told in two timelines but with the same character, Beckett as a college student and later a mother. As a student she is woven into a traumatic event which leaves a shadow of guilt cast on her perhaps by association or her own involvement. Twenty years later her daughter Delilah starts college at the very same school and may be facing the remnants of the mystery of the previous tragedy. When Delilah goes missing Beckett fears the worst and must call upon those of the town who questioned her innocence all those years ago.
Needles to say this is a roller coaster of a mystery that makes Beckett question just how far she will go to protect her child! Once again Miranda tells a twisted tale not to be missed!

Another hit by Megan Miranda!
This book gripped me from the start and I couldn't put it down once I started it. Everyone who loves her books will want to read this one

Overall, I enjoyed You Belong Here by Megan Miranda. The setting was great, and the story was very atmospheric. There was something missing for me though that I can't quite pinpoint. I do recommend giving this one a try if you like Miranda's previous books.

Beckett left home and college her senior year for a semester abroad after during, what should have been nothing more than a prank, her roommate did some terrible. She's avoided returning home as much as possible over the years, but now her daughter Delilah is enrolled in the same school, and she's back to drop off her daughter. Beckett returns home, but starts getting strange messages. Then her daughter calls in the middle of the night, but all Becket hears is the wind whistling before being abruptly cut off. And then nothing. Now she's forced to return because she knows something's happened to her daughter and no one seems to believe her. Somehow her past has caught up with her and Delilah may be collateral damage.
There is just something special about Megan Miranda's thrillers. The premise of many of her books wouldn't pique my interest in the least by most other authors, but with Miranda I know I'm in for a complex and spectacularly plotted out story. Knowing how good she is with the twists in her novels, I thought I had pegged the culprit very early on, but was wrong. However, later in the book, and way before a lot had come to the surface, I mostly figured out what was going on. But that's mainly because I really tried to read between the lines, and am just getting better at solving these kinds of mysteries. And none of that took away from the constant tension and exhilarating pace at which the tale motored along. This was up there amongst her best thrillers. 4.5 of 5 stars.

✨️arc review✨️

Another hit by Megan Miranda!
This book gripped me from the start and I couldn't put it down. Definitely a great summer time thriller read.

I love Megan Miranda- she has a great way of sucking you in with suspense, details of places, and mysterious characters. This book would have been a 5 star read for me until about 65 percent into it, I was a little underwhelmed at the end but overall it was a quick read. I didn’t want to stop until I finished so I read it in one day!


3.75 rounded up

Beckett left her her hometown under a dark cloud. She had attended the university where her parents taught as professors. Her friend, Adalyn had set fire to a structure where two guys were killed, and Beckett was accused of helping her. As a result, Beckett was asked to leave the school. As a byproduct of everything, it was assumed that Adalyn was dead. So be went to London, and there she got pregnant with her daughter, Delilah. The father wanted no part of it so she came back and moved away from her parents. She declared she would never go back. In the meantime, Beckett had informed Delilah's father about her birth and he eventually moved from London to be near her. When Delilah turned 18, she decided to go to the university her mother had attended. Beckett's mother had convinced her to do so. She hadn't told her daughter about her past but everyone in town knew. At any rate, she drove her daughter to school. She stayed her parents house but they were packing up to go and do some work in Peru. Her mother didn't want her staying in the house. So she went back home.

Not long after Delilah started school Beckett got a call from her where she didn't say anything. Beckett was concerned and she called her back but got no answer. She tried to contact her several times to no avail. She decided to drive back up to see if she could find her daughter. When she got there, she phoned Trevor, Delilah's father, and he met her there. They stayed in her parents house. She was able to get the local police and the campus police to help her search for her daughter. The lead detective on the case was Detective Mayhew who had been the lead detective when the fire happened. Beckett knew he didn't like her.

While she was staying at her parents house, it was clear to her that someone had been there but she didn't know who. Eventually, Delilah showed up at the house and told her parents that she had been lost in the woods. She also said that she lost her telephone. Trevor had done a load of laundry and Beckett told him that she would put the laundry in the dumb waiter and send it up. When she looked in the dumb waiter shaft. She saw Delilah's phone at the bottom. It was at this point that she thought Adalyn was back because she knew where the key was for her parent's house. When Beckett first arrived at her parents house she went to where they hid the key and it was missing, so she had to climb in a window. Unfortunately, a woman's body had been found in the quarry and it turns out it was Adalyn.

Beckett had contacted her parents and let them know what had happened with Delilah and that she was staying in their house. So her father told her that her mother was coming. In the meantime, Beckett had searched the attic and found a duffel bag with $15,000 in it. When her mother arrived, Beckett told her about the money she found and told Adalyn had been killed. Her mother knew about the $15,000 and explained it all to Beckett. It seems that Adalyn had threatened to turn Beckett in and she was blackmailing her parents. They paid her off every month but when they went to Peru they decided they weren't going to pay her anymore.

One of the guys who was killed in the fire was named Chris. He had a girlfriend named Violet and Violet had gotten pregnant. When he was killed, Chris's parents sued and got a large amount of money which they gave to Violet and her son Bryce.

When Delilah told her parents about having been lost in the forest, she told them that someone was following her. Beckett had seen Bryce leave the forest and return to the campus, so she assumed he had been following Delilah. It didn't take long for Beckett to realize that Bryce was Chris's son and assumed he was out to get Delilah because of what had happened to his father and the fact that Beckett had been charged with helping Adalyn. When she went to talk to Violet about all of this, Violet got Bryce on the phone and he told his mother he had been on campus the whole time. Beckett knew that wasn't true and eventually she told Violet. Beckett feared for her daughter and wanted her to go back home with her, but Delilah refused.

Although I thought the characters could have been a little better developed, I really enjoyed this book and found it easy to follow the plot. The author bounced between the past and the present and I found this to be an effective strategy. Overall, job well done. I gave it five stars.

I enjoyed the book, but the characters were not very likeable. Some of the actions taken were pretty far fetched, and the appearance of one character really didn't make much sense. The daughter character wasn't very well sketched out, i never felt like I knew her or knew what she was capable of.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this uncorrected eproof ARC of 'You Belong Here' by Megan Miranda - expected release date of 07/29/2025

ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've read quite a few of Miranda's books and they're all OK, I think I've rated them all 3/5. This one falls in line with the others. It went on a little too long. At the end, I didn't understand the premise of The Howling or why Beckett ended up in jail for what Adalyn did. Or what Delilah did that was so bad that Beckett felt the need to go to jail to protect her. I'm not going back to re-read the last few chapters to figure out Beckett's actions, I'll just end it in confusion.

Megan Miranda is always an instant read for me. Her newest book "You Belong Here" is a suspenseful thriller that pulls you in with its twists.

Beckett Bowery has vowed not to return to her hometown of Wyatt Valley. Her parents still reside there and it is the place where she attended the local college. She has spent years trying to distance herself from a traumatic event that took place during her final senior year. Now, her daughter Delilah has applied and been accepted to the very same place that has kept her away for so many years. Beckett returns to Wyatt Valley and faces her past. This one is a page turner and kept me guessing until the very end.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of You Belong Here, by Megan Miranda, from Simon Element | S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Started out thinking this was a solid one-off with interesting characters and the appropriate kinds of twisty turns.

Alas, things got all convoluted-y, none of the characters were likeable in the end, and the way/s they interacted with each other just didn’t seem true to life.

Note To Future Kristi: Give Megan Miranda another chance, you’ve got a few of her books on your To Read list. Read her poolside.

DESCRIPTION
A decades-old secret that drove a young woman from her hometown now threatens her college-bound daughter in this twisty new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda.

Beckett Bowery never thought she’d return to Wyatt Valley, a picturesque college town in the Virginia mountains steeped in tradition. Her roots there were strong: Beckett’s parents taught at the college, and she never even imagined studying anywhere else—until a tragedy her senior year ended with two local men dead, and her roommate on the run, never to be seen again…

For the last two decades, Beckett has done her best to keep her distance. Then her daughter Delilah secretly applies and earns a full scholarship, and Beckett can only hope that her lingering fears are unfounded. But deep down she knows that Wyatt Valley has a long memory, and that the past isn’t the only dangerous thing in town…

Solid character building with the story flipping from past to present day. Typical plot of a mystery with some well paced reveals. It will leave you wondering if the past is repeating itself. It's not my favorite of hers, but it's worth the read.

You Belong Here
by Megan MIranda
Pub Date: July 29, 2025
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
A decades-old secret that drove a young woman from her hometown now threatens her college-bound daughter in this twisty new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda.

Beckett Bowery never thought she’d return to Wyatt Valley, a picturesque college town in the Virginia mountains steeped in tradition. Her roots there were strong: Beckett’s parents taught at the college, and she never even imagined studying anywhere else—until a tragedy her senior year ended with two local men dead, and her roommate on the run, never to be seen again…

For the last two decades, Beckett has done her best to keep her distance. Then her daughter Delilah secretly applies and earns a full scholarship, and Beckett can only hope that her lingering fears are unfounded. But deep down she knows that Wyatt Valley has a long memory, and that the past isn’t the only dangerous thing in town…
Megan Miranda is a master of the campus mystery genre, and You Belong Here is no exception. Fans of dark academia and literary mysteries will be drawn into this atmospheric college town where Beckett Bowery’s past might just be repeating itself. The split timelines, the rivalry between the town and the college, and the vivid sense of place kept me thoroughly captivated.

However, I did have one issue with the book: the ending felt a bit rushed. The setting, the complex mother-daughter relationship, and the intricate mystery are all wonderfully developed, but then, in the final pages of the book, the story accelerates toward a conclusion that, while satisfying, felt too quick.

I don't think there is a book by Megan Miranda that I haven't enjoyed so I figured this new one would be just as good, and boy was it! Twist after twist kept me guessing until the very end.

Beckett Bowery thought she'd left her troubled past behind when she left Wyatt Valley, but when her daughter Delilah earns a scholarship to the same college, old fears resurface. A decades-old tragedy still looms over the town, and Beckett knows that the past—and its secrets—might now threaten Delilah's future. Megan Miranda's twisty thriller explores the haunting impact of long-buried secrets.

Vowing to never return to her hometown of Wyatt Valley, Becket is shocked when her daughter Deliah chooses to go to college there. Dragging up hurts and secrets from the past, Becket must come to terms with the fact that Wyatt Valley and the incident that caused her to flee the country are no longer a bad memory but now a living nightmare.
This book has a little bit of a slow burn in the middle, but I felt the story did redeem itself with the ending. The characters all pretty much come to the table with some sort of agenda, who’s hiding what? Who can I believe? As the story builds, so does the mystery.
This was not my favorite Miranda book, but I am loyal to the author and I will continue to read everything she writes.
Thank you NetGalley and Simon Element for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

Relatively entertaining. The story dragged from about the 15% point until about 65% when it picked dup again. Once it became time to tie things up and have an ending there was a sudden rush to closure. So, overall it was entertaining enough but, with half of the book dragging a bit, it got quite slow. The characters were realistic. I felt the dynamic between and her mother was a bit glossed over given the abrupt and sometimes acerbic interactions.

Megan Miranda is one of those authors who I will immediately buy their book without having a clue what it is about, so I was super excited to get to read this one early. This is another solid, twisty, atmospheric thriller! Beckett has been avoiding her college hometown after her best friend was accused of setting a deadly fire and subsequently disappeared. But when her daughter ends up attending the same college and goes missing during her first semester, Beckett is forced to go back to campus and to deal with her past. I agree with other reviewers that parts of this book were a little slow, but stick with it, it gets there. There are a lot of twists so while parts of the book and certain characters might seem maybe unnecessary while reading, it all comes together in the end. I enjoyed the autumn academia vibes and family drama as well. I maybe wish we got a little more of the backstory during Beckett’s college years, but no real complaints here. Overall a fun read!

Thanks again to Simon Element and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book!