Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Holy crap! I enjoyed this book. Susan accidentally sends a screenshot with a rant about someone (spilling some tea about Celeste) and the consequences are much more than embarrassment. And all of it in just a week.

This plot and writing were good. I had a hard time with all the POVs, especially as they kept switching from past to present, but it all connected in the end AND was satisfying.

I’m not going to lie, I thought it was going one way and it didn’t. Although, you could predict some of it. It still was a satisfying read.

I loved the relationship between Susan, Leesa, and Greta. It was refreshing to read about such a deep love, not just a romantic love.

I gave it a 4/5 just because of what I mentioned about the POV’s.

The last paragraph had me sighing in relief.

I’ve accidentally sent a message to the wrong person, but luckily just suffered embarrassment. Readers look at that text before you send it!

Enjoy the read! <3

Anything and everything that can go wrong (and then some) goes horribly wrong after a woman accidentally sends her snarky commentary on a screenshot of a neighborhood What’sApp group message to the wrong person. This is my absolute NIGHTMARE, and Mara did an amazing job capturing that panic (and then ramping it up like nine hundred notches to turn one dumb mistake into the worst-worst case scenario possible). Truly a cautionary tale for people (oh, hello!) who love nothing more than sharing screenshots and talking shit. The address being 26 Oakpark gave me a little extra jolt every time I saw it because I live in Oak Park, which made it extra fun.

This was completely wild, and I loved it even more than Someone in the Attic. Mara fans are in for a real treat!

“It Should Have Been You” was a WILD ride! It was so twisty and I really never knew where we were headed next—in a good way! I love that the author planted seeds along the way that made you think one thing would happen, but then would lead to something completely different that still made sense.

Sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with so many different characters and narratives, but I really didn’t struggle with this one. I think she did a good job of setting each one up, so when we got to their perspective, we knew who they were.

Even though the plot was out of control, I felt like the ending was realistic enough and tied up every loose end.

This was my first read by Andrea Mara, and it definitely made me want to pick up another one of her books. Thank you for giving me the chance to read this one early! I was hooked the whole time.

Have you ever sent a message to the wrong person? And the message was about that person?

Susan is home on maternity leave, sitting on her house looking at her neighborhood Whatsapp group. She does what a lot of us have done, she takes a screen shot and sends it to her sisters to complain and vent about the poster. But Susan accidentally posts the screenshot and the nasty, revealing message in the neighborhood group instead. The message revolves around Celeste, her husband, and her kids. Revealing secrets that now the entire neighborhood knows about.

When Susan wakes up the next day, the messages to her have gotten worse and death threats trickle in. But what shocks everyone is the news of murder. A murder that Susan thinks she might have caused with her message and a case of mistaken identity.

This is a wild one. There are a fair amount of characters but I didn't find it difficult to follow and keep them straight. Of course there are webs and splinters caused by this text being sent out and multiple lives are effected and dissected in this who-dun-it. Absolutely lots of guessing and twists involved here which I loved. Do you need to suspend your belief a little bit? Yes, but essentially this is a message about how one small mistake can have very big consequences.

Andrea Mara's It Should Have Been You is a compelling psychological thriller that delves into the complexities of modern communication and its potential consequences. The plot centers around Susan, a secondary school math teacher who inadvertently sends a critical message about a neighbor to the entire community WhatsApp group. This seemingly minor mistake ignites a chain of events that unravel the fabric of their tight-knit neighborhood, leading to escalating tensions and unforeseen outcomes.

Mara's portrayal of suburban life is both authentic and engaging, capturing the nuances of everyday interactions and the undercurrents of secrecy that often lurk beneath the surface. The narrative structure, shifting between various characters' perspectives, provides a multifaceted view of the unfolding drama, allowing readers to understand the motivations and emotions driving each individual.

The pacing of the novel is adept, with an initial buildup that establishes character relationships and setting, followed by a crescendo of suspense as the repercussions of Susan's mistake become more pronounced. This progression keeps readers invested, eager to see how the situation will resolve.

However, some readers might find the multitude of perspectives initially challenging to navigate, as it requires attentive reading to keep track of each character's storyline. Additionally, while the plot is engaging, certain developments may feel slightly contrived, stretching the boundaries of believability.

In summary, It Should Have Been You is a thought-provoking thriller that explores themes of privacy, community, and the unintended consequences of our digital interactions. Mara's skillful character development and exploration of contemporary issues make this novel a worthwhile read for fans of psychological suspense. While it may present some initial challenges due to its narrative structure, the payoff is a gripping story that lingers in the mind long after the final page.

Ahhh this was so good!! Twisty, fact and addictive!! Thank you NetGalley and publisher for early arc of the book! I had fun reading this one!

This book was definitely a page turner and had me intrigued since the very beginning. This book felt more like a mystery to me, with a dash of thriller involved. It was about social media, which consumes a big part of people’s lives these days. I am guilty of sending the wrong message to someone else, so I felt for the main character. I think this book was well written, easy to read and flowed well. However, I did feel that the characters were lacking depth and it did lack focus at times. It did feel realistic to me, due to the modern world of social media. Overall, I found this to be a reasonable read and recommend it to anyone that is looking for an easy to read mystery with some thriller in it!

It Should Have Been You is about a woman named Susan, who accidentally sends a very secretive message to a local community group. The message was supposed to be sent to her Sister. This message contained secrets within the community and put a lot of people on blast! When she went to go delete it, it was already too late. People had screenshotted it and even reposted it in other groups! She starts receiving death threats. The very next day, a woman was murdered! As this story unravels, almost everyone that she mentioned in that secretive message becomes a target for being a murderer. Susan wasn’t the one murdered, but was she the one who was supposed to be? Does this story have a happy ending or do more murders take place? I rate this book a 3 out of 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Andrea Mara, Transworld digital publishing, and PENGUIN GROUP | Viking Penguin Pamela Dorman Books for this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review of this book!

I am a first time reader of Andrea Mara's work. After devouring this novel, it won't be the last. This was a great psychological thriller. Entertaining, twisty, and fast paced.
There are many point of views and some time differences that made it a little hard to keep up with but nothing that spoiled my reading experience. I must say this story makes one realize what gossip can do to the young and mature. I will recommend this to others.
Thanks to the publishers for an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I really enjoyed it. Now excuse me while I look for more books by this author!

I was hooked on this book from the beginning. Imagine... sending a private text message to everyone in your group. You not only have the horror of the mistake you made, but the fallout as well. The book had many twists and turns, and just when I thought I had it figured out, I was almost right... and wrong.

The only issue that I really had with this book was with the setting. In the story, there are two housing developments with the same names and same street addresses within 5 miles of each other. The story was set in Ireland, so maybe that could happen.

Other than that, small (but significant detail), the book was very good.

Thanks to Net Galley for an advanced copy.

Wow! This story has many twists and turns, folds in on itself, branches out and left me surprised at the end. It's a gripping story, with numerous misadventures triggered by one text accidentally sent to a group. Susan is the unwitting common denominator in the multiple levels of mystery throughout the community. This book is hard to put down, and the short chapters encouraged me to keep going, late into the night.

Well first I want to thank the author and NetGalley for the advance copy. This was such a good book. I was reading it every chance I got and didn't want to put it down. Especially after that message Everything I was looking for was in the book. The twist and it kept me guessing. The only thing I didn't like was that there we so many character I kept getting lost on who and who was related and all that but after a while you know who is who. But overall it was a really good book definetly recommend it and will be reading more from the author. It was such a great read! Once again thank you to the author and NetGalley!

This is one of the books that I wish I could go back and read a second time. Very well written and deep characters with a twisty story line.

It Should Have Been You will prey on all of your social fears while keeping the narrative relevant and personal. Have you ever sent a text to more people than you meant to? Have you ever sent a text to the wrong person? Have you ever had an entire community turn against you because of it? It can happen to the best of us, and when Susan, a local teacher sends out a public message that was meant to be private, a domino effect upends her life and alters the dynamics of her entire community.

I liked how the story became more complex with many plot lines, how the author skillfully pandered to our fears of slipping up and being "seen" badly, and how it kept me guessing. The things that held the book's potential back were undeveloped plots (with the teenagers), the fact that a couple of the adult plot lines felt a little hollow, and the fact that the book took a long time to get going.

I still recommend this read because it is a solid thriller with a lot of good things about it. Thank you to NetGalley and Transworld Publishers for being generous enough to send me an e-ARC!

Thanks to Netgalley and Transworld Publishers for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.75 stars, Rounded Up.
When Susan accidentally sends a scathing text to her neighborhood group chat instead of her sisters, she sets off a chain of events that she never could have predicted. The next morning, three people are dead. Should one have them been Susan? In the aftermath, a tangled web of characters try to make sense of what has happened--and more than a few of them are more dangerous than they seem.

I had a hard time with this book. It felt like it was *almost* there, but maybe needed another edit or two. I flew through it quite quickly and it never really lost me. There are numerous characters, but I always felt as though I knew who was speaking and had a clear sense of why. Still, while this book does hold readers' attention, it leaves a lot to be desired. With so many POV characters (at least 8 from what I can remember), we get very little depth from each perspective. People--especially children--act uncharacteristically and, while some suspension of disbelief is required for mystery novels, this book took it a few steps too far. The writing and story are intriguing, but the result is a bit chaotic, predictable, and hollow.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Penguin for the ARC of this book.

It was a simple mistake, anyone could have made it. But the consequences of that mistake turned into a nightmare. In Andrea Mara's domestic thriller, you see multiple POVs of how an accidental text affects the lives of many. From start to finish, I found myself obsessed with how it all ended, who did what, and what the final outcome was. There were so many twists, some predictable and some not, but all in all, this murder mystery had me SAT.

When one woman accidentally sends a private message meant for her sisters to the entire neighborhood group chat a series of tumbling blocks occur that cause secrets to be exposed and enough anguish that lives are lost.
This book was a wild ride that captivated me from the first page. All kinds of scenarios played out in my head as I read and I adored how the author was able to have multiple stories going on at once. It was easy to follow as she switched between the characters and I couldn’t put it down!!

“It Should Have Been You” is about Susan a second grade teacher who is on maternity leave that makes a gravely mistake. She is exhausted from getting up with the baby several times every night and she has just sent a text, meant only for her two sisters, to the wrong group on WhatsApp. This group message includes the entire neighborhood, even the person she is gossiping to her sisters about. Her mistake has life altering consequences for many families, but the most devastating is the death of four people. This is a fast-paced, engaging thriller that keeps you guessing from beginning to end. I trusted no one and was always on edge waiting for the next twist and turn to come along.

This book had an interesting premise, and parts of it were twisty and suspenseful. But there was SO much going on, that the plot and pacing really suffered, and it was a bit difficult to keep everyone and their issues/problems straight.

It started off very intriguing: Susan sends a snarky and rude text to her sisters. Only she realizes too late it did not go to her sisters, but instead to everyone in her very large neighborhood WhatsApp group. The fallout is swift, many people are affected, and Susan is mortified. But when people end up dead, Susan is afraid her text might have even more serious repercussions, and she may be in danger herself.

When the book kind of lost its way was when ALL of the different POVs/characters came into play, with all of their various plot-lines. So much was happening that the way everything "tied together" felt at times much too convenient, and at times even implausible. I had to suspend belief much of the time just to try to stay engaged in the story, only to be pulled out again when another POV came into play and I had to remind myself who this was and why they were mad and how that tied in to Susan's main storyline.

I do not think I would recommend this book. I could not connect to any of the characters, because there were so many of them. I do feel that if the whole teenager plot had been left out the story would have been tighter, more engaging, and much better--more time could have been spent focusing on integral characters.

I fell in love with Andrea Mara when I read "Someone in the Attic" and I was so excited about "It Should Have Been You". I was NOT disappointed!

I love Andrea Mara’s writing. This is my fourth book by her and I can’t get enough. Told by multiple POVs which keeps everything tense. Gossip and murders abound. Who is hiding what? Read It Should Have Been You to find out, Thanj you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.