I feel like there was way too much going on with not enough information. The ending was okay, but nothing spectacular.

THE PERFECT HOSTS
HEATHER GUDENKAUF
November 4/25

Madeline and Wes Drake are looking forward to their gender reveal, which will go off with a bang! Well, at least Wes is looking forward to it, Madeline thinks 200 people coming just to see a truck blow up pink or blue is a little overboard.

Everything goes bad when the truck explodes and then a second explosion comes from the old barn behind the party, causing injuries and one death.

Who set the second explosion? Who were they trying to injure or kill? And who are the two mysterious women who suddenly appear?

Heather Gudenkauf, author of so many NYT bestsellers is going to have another hit on her hands with THE PERFECT HOSTS.

Heather Gudenkauf writes another page turning, can’t put down suspenseful thriller that will keep you hanging until the end. Thanks for the ARC - a definite 2 day beach read!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this prior to release. I love everything Heather Gudenkauf has put out. This was an another thriller with some “twists”, some you saw coming and some are left unresolved. My biggest gripe about this book is there are so many characters with motive you don’t really like any of them or really get to know any of them that well other than the secondary character’s story running alongside the main story. This book could have run without the secondary main character story, the bad person in the book is established as a bad person anyways and to never get closure on the storyline seems a little silly to include it. As I said, the book was fine. I’ll always read what Heather puts out, I just felt like this one tried to throw you for a loop and failed

There were some plot elements that were never explained properly (or addressed at all), and parts of the story were just a bit too absurd and ridiculous for me to believe, but I did find myself eager to know how the mysteries would wrap up and who was responsible for everything.

A gender reveal party gone wrong… This one is full of suspense and tons of drama, lies and betrayal!

I thought the pacing was good and was able to read it pretty quickly. The plot was intriguing, but a little far-fetched and quite a bit going on. I wish there was a little more character development. I also wanted a little more at the end about Juneau’s case.

Overall this was an enjoyable read, but didn’t love it quite as much as I’ve loved some of her other books.

Heather Gudenkauf is always good for an emotional thriller. This one ties in the backstory of a decades-old mystery with a new crime taking place during a baby shower. I loved to see the characters deepen and develop as the mystery became more fraught, and I found myself completely taken along for the ride. Another winner!

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read an advance copy of The Perfect Hosts, and I am very happy that I was able to do so. The story held a lot of the twists and plot development that Gudenkauf is known for, but at the same time, this book had a very different feel. The location in Wyoming and the cowboy-themed references, especially in the beginning at the gender-reveal party from hell, felt like a departure for the author. However, by combining the past and the present for the ATF agent Jamie Saldano, it further ingratiates the reader into the story, because we want to know what happened to his sister all those years ago. The author provides a balance for those stories, but in the end, I felt like the conclusion to Jamie's sister's story did not receive the development that it should have, and the murder at the gender-reveal party was slightly rushed, too. Nevertheless, I look forward to reading whatever Heather Gudenkauf has in store for her readers next!

A gender reveal gone wrong, to the point of death for one of the guests, is a unique premise for a book. I enjoy mysteries with a police point of view and rich people behaving badly so I was into this plot. In fact, the storyline of the investigator Jamie was one of my favorites. I was eager to find out what happened to his missing sister. There were a lot of characters and backstories to keep straight but the author handled them well. I was able to follow the different paths to the conclusion and it kept me guessing about the wrap up. This is a solid mystery and overall a fun read. Thanks to Heather Gudenkauf, Harlequin Trade Publishing | Park Row, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I typically love Gudenkauf books, but this one left me wanting more especially with the ending. I felt like we spent a lot of time on the storyline of Jamie ( which I enjoyed), but the end payoff of the story was not there. It ended abruptly and I was left wanting more.

Madeline is excitedly awaiting the birth of her first child. When her husband Wes insists on a grand gender reveal party, however, she’s less than enthusiastic. But she knows how important her husband's image is in their small community, so she reluctantly agrees. What she didn’t agree to, though, was murder. That’s exactly what happens when the gender reveal goes wrong. As investigators comb through the crime scene, secrets begin to surface and Madeline realizes that her husband had a lot more going on than she realized. This was a good story, intriguing and easy to read. A nice little twist towards the end!

A gender reveal gone bad? Eh interesting was not really for me, I had to push myself to finish it but I don't think I would buy or re read it I just wanted to finish it. I have enjoyed plenty of her other books The Over Night Guest is one of my top yearly reads.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as Gudenkauf’s last one. The premise is intriguing, albeit rather far-fetched: a lavish gender reveal party in which a woman is killed by an unexpected explosion—at the same time as the expected explosion that reveals the gender of the protagonist’s baby. Because the events take place at a large party, there are a lot of characters. There is also the backstory of one of the investigators that creates a parallel mystery. As a result, the story is complicated, and there are many twists. All in all, it was an enjoyable thriller, but a bit clunky. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC and the opportunity to provide an honest review.

This was quite suspenseful. Plenty of drama!! The intensity definitely increases the further into the story you go.

I found myself more drawn into Jamie’s story and his sisters missing case. I wanted to know more about that and him. I felt like his character was well developed and easily cared for him. But the other characters didn’t feel fully fleshed out.

I felt like in the start of the story, it just starts. I didn’t have any inclination of who these characters were. Their backstory, their feelings. Their relationships. What’s going on. I think I needed more in the beginning to get into the story. It was hard to get fully invested or to understand much because I didn’t know them. Even by the end I had no idea how far along the main character is. Seemed pretty far along but generally a gender reveal is done earlier in the pregnancy so it was kind of weird.

I think the plot was good. The twists were good. But the character development was lacking.

A gender reveal party turns deadly in this thriller by Heather Gudenkauf. When Wes and Cordelia Drake invite two hundred friends to their ranch for a gender reveal, no one expects the color canon to misfire and their midwife to die. Was it an accident? Is someone at fault? Agent Jamie Saldano finds a web of lies and deception when he arrives to investigate. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book is jam packed full of secrets. From the beginning, you don’t know who to trust. There are two main mysteries that we are out to solve. They seem fairly distant and I kept waiting for them to intersect. Unfortunately, I saw the first big reveal coming and the second seemed sort of like a cop out even though it was shocking. The women definitely stole the show in this one (Sorry Jamie, I do still like you). I really appreciate how all of the loose ends got tied up and how there weren’t many unanswered questions. The Perfect Hosts is action from beginning to end and I loved the ranch setting

The Perfect Hosts promises Gudenkauf at her twistiest, cresting atmosphere with high-stakes drama and a killer secret at its core. Ideal for fans of tightly wound domestic suspense and southern gothic events—or anyone curious about a gender reveal gone catastrophically wrong. The early praise is strong; time will tell if the payoff lands across a broader reader base.

Let me know if you'd like a focused summary once real reader reviews roll in!

I loved this book so much! Madeline Drake and her husband Wes planned to have a huge gender reveal party when an unimaginable event happens. This requires the ATF to get involved and help solve a murder.

This book had a lot of twists that weren’t expected and a great outcome after what’s happened. There is some domestic violence in the book, so if that’s a trigger then I might skip it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advance readers cops. Publication date- Nov. 4th, 2025.

I enjoyed this book and it kept my interest. It had twists that I did not see coming. I debated between 3 and 4 stars- as I said it kept my interest and had good twists, yet there was just something missing for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5 stars)

Heather Gudenkauf delivers an atmospheric thriller in The Perfect Hosts, blending eerie isolation with classic psychological suspense. The setup is intriguing - a couple offering sanctuary that slowly unravels into something far more sinister - and the tension builds steadily, until it doesn't.

I appreciated the moody setting and the subtle commentary on trust, trauma, and survival. Gudenkauf’s writing is sharp, and the pacing mostly held my interest. Some twists felt more convenient than chilling, and I found myself wishing for deeper character development in places.

That said, the ending took a turn I didn’t expect, and I have to give credit for a final twist that genuinely surprised me. It added a punch of shock that left me rethinking some earlier moments in the book.

I’d recommend it to those who enjoy a suspenseful story with secrets lurking just beneath the surface, and a payoff that sneaks up on you.