3.5⭐️

Small town drama with some intense thrills? Sign me up!

*I will say if you are a parent, go in with caution (see TW below)*

The drama aspect of the book was enjoyable but it got very serious and very dark. It seemed to take a while to get to most of the action, although bits and pieces were given along the way.

I’d call this a domestic suspense with a thrilling ending - if that’s your thing, pick up this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Viking Penguin books for giving me a copy of this novel!

TW: child endangerment/violence (slightly extreme so go in with caution as these things happen to a baby), some strong language, drug abuse, alcoholism, self-harm, violence, abuse

If you're a fan of domestic suspense that grabs you by the collar and doesn't let go, Andrea Mara's "It Should Have Been You" needs to be on your radar! Imagine this: you're a sleep-deprived new mom, you're a little fed up with your seemingly perfect, queen-bee neighbor, and you decide to vent in a private message to your sisters. Sounds harmless, right?

Wrong. So incredibly wrong.
Our protagonist, Susan O'Donnell, makes the ultimate modern-day blunder: she accidentally sends her juicy, gossipy message—full of unvarnished opinions and private tidbits about her neighbors—to the entire local community WhatsApp group. Talk about a mic drop moment, except it's more like a grenade.

What starts as a cringe-worthy social faux pas quickly spirals into a terrifying nightmare. As the rumors fly and threats emerge, things take a chilling turn when a woman is murdered. And the kicker? The victim lives at the exact same address as Susan, just in a different part of town. Cue the cold sweats! Was Susan the intended target? Did someone make a fatal mistake?

Mara masterfully weaves a tangled web of suburban secrets, online surveillance, and the insidious nature of community gossip. You'll be glued to the pages, desperately trying to figure out who's trustworthy (spoiler: maybe no one!) and what hidden darkness lies beneath the manicured lawns and friendly smiles. This book is a wild ride through the perils of social media and the shocking consequences of a single, catastrophic mistake.

If you love a good "what if" scenario combined with a pulse-pounding murder mystery, "It Should Have Been You" delivers in spades. Get ready to suspect everyone, including yourself, and maybe double-check who you're texting before you hit send!

This one starts with Susan sending a text message full of gossip and rumors to a whole neighborhood thread. After the text was sent, the drama starts in this "picture-perfect" neighborhood. A domino effect that starts with the death of a neighbor that happens to have the same address as Susan 👀

This one is full of secrets and different POVs. It is very fast paced, and the chapters end on cliffhangers that make you keep reading. I could not figure out who was behind the drama but when it was finally revealed it was so shocking!

This was a quick and twisty thriller, perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell. When a new mom accidentally sends a scathing text message meant for her sisters to her entire neighborhood chat group, the fallout is immediate and intense, but Susan could never have imagined it would end with not one, not two, but three murders. How much of what happened to the three victims were a direct result of Susan sending that text, and was she the intended target after all?

I appreciated the setting of this story, because it's one I think that anyone can relate to. The first half was a little bit slow for me, getting used to the multiple POVs, but it really picked up in the second half. I read Someone in the Attic earlier this year and absolutely loved it. Andrea Mara is quickly becoming not only an auto-buy author, but a favorite thriller author for me as well.

Definitely recommend this book!

I loved the premise of the book and it started out great: a message meant for the protagonist's sister is unleashed by mistake on a neighborhood app, setting off a chain of chaos, including a few murders. However, I found the multiple POVs and storylines slowed the book down for me. I was more interested in Susan's POV, and I felt that Venetia needed to be more developed in order to justify her extreme behavior. However, it is very well written, so someone who enjoys multiple POVs and a slow burn read might really like it.

I really did like the beginning of the book. It was quick, fast paced, easy to read and similar reading to Frieda Mcfadden (another thriller author). The only concern I have for this book is around the middle mark (50%) it was getting way too long for a thriller and kept dragging the story which lend me into a slump. There was a total of 8 point of views!!! Why??!! It was leaving me confused about who was who and why is there so many people involved in this story.

This was an ok read the prologue was amazing and is what really made me want to read this book. I struggled with this one and wanted to put it down more times than I can remember. It was slow to start and I don’t feel like it captured me until I was 70% into the book and the last 10% was the best. Thank you for letting me read this book for an honest review

My favorite part of this book was that I couldn’t put it down. You never knew what was coming next. Unfortunately I didn’t like the end at all.

I was so excited to read this! The description alone had me hooked! Let me tell you….the crazy things that happened in this book!! I didn’t see them coming! Emotions went from being sad, to mad to just WOW!! This is a MUST READ!

I think enough time has passed without me picking this up to safely say that this will be a DNF from me. This was not my vibe - too much neighborhood drama and not good drama either.
This was not a good thriller for me, just not interesting and fizzled out for me way too soon.

Ever accidentally sent a trash-talking text to the person you were talking about? If not, you’ve probably come close. Susan wasn’t so lucky. Her slip-up kicks off a series of deadly events and uncovers juicy secrets in her Oakpark neighborhood.

I flew through this one! It’s fast-paced with multiple POVs, and while I guessed a few of the twists, others caught me off guard. Overall, this was an entertaining read!

Thank you, NetGalley for the arc!
Pub Date: January 13, 2026

Grateful to have been able to read this book for free courtesy of NetGalley. Too many killings for my liking, every character was conniving and trigger warning (child abuse) really did me in.

If you love domestic thrillers fueled by real-world tech chaos (hello, WhatsApp scandals), neighborhood secrets, and adrenaline-charged pacing—this one’s for you. It Should Have Been You is compulsively readable, sharply observant, and relentless in its twists. Just brace for a bustling cast, emotional crescendos, and a bit of “how did that happen?” along the way.

An addictive blend of sharp writing and non-stop suspense, this thriller commands your attention from page one. Each twist is more satisfying than the last, building to a conclusion that’s both shocking and pitch-perfect. A total knockout that thriller fans will devour.

You ever send an screenshot of something talking crap about someone to the person you were talking crap about? Yikes. We’ve all been there. Andrea Mara does a great job layering in secrets and tension, and the emotional stakes feel real throughout the novel. That said, the pacing felt uneven. Some parts dragged and didn’t fully hold my attention, but the ending brought things together in a satisfying way. Definitely worth a read for fans of slow-burn psychological thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I was so excited to read this book because I had heard several good things about it! It did keep me engaged and at times it had me really on edge. However, there was just so much going on and it felt like a little too much at times. Overall, I did enjoy it for the most part though. Will definitely check out more books by this author.

Love how twisty and fun this was!!! Really exceeded my expectations! I liked the social media influence in the story. It helped make everything very relatable. This was my first Andrea Mara book but I’m excited to read more by her.

This book had me captivated from the very first pages – I could not put it down! Haven’t we all sent a text or screenshot to the wrong person/group? I was panicking right alongside Susan, and the story took lots of twists and turns that kept me needing “just one more chapter” to find out what would happen next. I loved how the chapters shifted to different perspectives, unraveling secrets and expanding the ripple effect from the very beginning. This was my first read from Andrea Mara and I cannot wait to pick up more of her stories. Thank you to Vikin Penguin and Netgalley for the ARC!

Although I really like how quick of a read this book was, in the same breath, it was a hard read. There were so many characters and different stories that were back and forth that it was hard to keep up.

This novel was so much fun! It was twist after twist and I never could have guessed what was coming next. The chapters were from different perspectives which helped to weave the web of secrets, lies and affairs and made each chapter more gripping than the last. The idea that everything started from sending a text in the wrong group is realistic and added an additional feeling of unease that really helped to set the tone for this book. This is the first story I’ve read of Andrea’s, but I’ll definitely be checking out more!