The narrator was amazing and gave the book just the right vibes. This book was ok. There were a lot of characters that I didn't understand what was the point in having, a lot of details that the author spent a lot of time emphasizing and got to nothing (eg the mc sister being all perfect and rich, all of the weird friends, Lolli, that guy she goes have coffee with), lots of unanswered questions, questionable decisions and a predictable plot twist. I didn't have it per se but I did find a lot of little things annoying.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

Thank you NetGalley for the audio copy in exchange for a honest review. Lauren meets Jay at a music festival. He quickly talks Lauren into moving in with him. Lauren is keen to move away after the alleged suicide of her best friend. The house holds secrets and lies about Jay’s past. This thriller has a very unexpected twist at the end.

The Perfect Girlfriend by Hayley Smith was such an interesting little thriller! I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator, Katie Villa, was just fantastic! She really kept the whole book going for me.
At first I was a bit apprehensive and wasn't sure if I'd like it but the narrator really sucked me in. It's a pretty fast read! The main character is annoying and super gullible! I couldn't believe all the things she allowed to happen. Red flags everywhere. Might be triggering to some domestic abuse victims so be careful!
I did find it fun and full of twists I did not expect. It was atmospheric and creepy. I also thought it was kind of brave of the author to touch the subject of domestic abuse.
I got really engaged with the story and wanted to know how it will end! It looks like it might be the first thriller book by Hayley Smith but I'm definitely interested in more stories by this author.

A dark psychological thriller. I can't decide if I liked it or not! There were so many times I was about to put it away and not finish when along came another twist that pulled me back in.

I loved the unexpected twists that fell after initial frustration with the main character. The twists totally redeemed the character and the story for me. Great narration that didn't detract from the story.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I am very harsh when it comes to rating thrillers, but this one was good. It had a few twists and turns. I enjoyed that Lauren and Jay met at a music festival. Unfortunately though, I struggled to connect with the characters throughout the book.

Thanks to NG for the ARC and the best of luck to the author.

Going to be honest, that was probably one of the most unbearably boring experiences I've had in a while. The book constantly gave me the feeling of being stuck at a dead end. It took a month for me to finish and not once did I find it fun or intriguing. Don't get me wrong, the potential of the plot itself is there but the execution left all of it very dull and lifeless. From the writing, characters and pacing. So much could've been cut down in the first half. The balance of details were off. Some parts were overly detailed and lacked in others.

I didn't care about a single character. Every one of them had the personality of a broken toaster. They, and the writing itself, provided no movement to the story to keep engagement. The way it sometimes takes shortcuts on having more dialogue and banter by instead, randomly stopping a scene where Lauren is asking Jay a question and then picking up with Lauren telling you what Jay had supposedly said. It made no sense. The interactions between Jay and Lauren became predictable in a way that it seemed as if there was a designated spinning wheel game with only a handful of ‘Jay reactions’ on it and the same ones kept winning over and over again. The repetition alone was killing me by the halfway point.

No thrills were had so I wouldn't consider this a thriller. The further I read, the more I feel as if this would be a book for those who are maybe romance focused readers trying to branch out to other genres? The story told more about the romance and the mystery aspect didn't really pick up much until way into the second half.


Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for proving a copy for an honest review.

'The perfect Girlfriend' is a perfectly decent audiobook! I enjoyed this psychological fiction enormously, finding the story unique and captivating and the narration very well executed.

The story is of Lauren, a young woman who is having a tough time, her long term relationship has ended and her best friend has died, presumably by suicide. Lauren has lost her teaching job and finds herself in a pretty bad place emotionally, when she meets Jay at a festival and starts a relationship, moving in with him with dizzying speed. This involves a cross country move for Lauren and soon she finds a number of anomalies in Jay's life. As the story progresses we discover that Lauren has a secret or 2 of her own!

This book is dark and twisty in all the right places! It kept me absorbed right till the end and I found the characters to be authentic and relatable.

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

This book started off so promising. A new relationship with a handsome & charismatic guy, a leap of faith to move into a cottage together that ended up being in the middle of nowhere with no call service, talks of ghosts & secrets, & then nothing came together for me. At all. It felt like the main character had no idea what she wanted & her motives for everything were unclear.. almost like the author wasn’t even sure. Unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Hayley Smith, & Bookouture Audio!

This #psychologicalthriller is full of so many twists that kept me wondering who to trust. Lauren thinks she’s found a happily ever after but soon discovers lots of secrets and they just continue until the twisty end! Excellent!

Katie Villa does an exceptional job at narrating the audiobook!

Thank you, Hayley Smith, Bookouture, & netgalley for my copy! All opinions are my own.

“After all, some dreams turn into nightmares, don’t they?”

Not very excited to have black hair right now.
This book wasn’t for me, unfortunately. The characters were unlikeable, boring, zero depth.
Lauren and Jay meet at a music festival, and Lauren moves into his run down cottage instantly. They’re having drug fueled sex constantly, Lauren is totally naive and her inner dialogue is just so…. Weird? Really juvenile. You find out later that she has a motive to be with Jay, but it still doesn’t make sense to me. Her actions don’t really coincide with this motive of hers, and I found myself seriously taken out of the story due to it. Lauren has zero backstory besides relationship trauma in the past, and I don’t see how any of that is relative when she’s trying to investigate an old friend’s “suicide”.
Overall, not for me. Boring, almost zero action, plot holes and character flaws galore.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with an audiobook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of these thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love books that make me feel crazy.
This book follows Lauren trying to escape her childhood groomer and find peace from her best friend’s sudden suicide. Wanting a change of scenery Lauren decides to give up her old ways of living and move in with Jay, a stranger she met at a music concert. Jay lives in a secluded off-the-grid house and Lauren sees this chance to become the perfect girlfriend for Jay.
Everything was fine Lauren was slowly adjusting but she begins finding little evidence of other women. She uses these to spark conversations with Jay of his past girlfriends trying to piece together his life and all the secrets he is withholding.
This story made me feel like the crazy new girlfriend because of everything Lauren is finding but Jay always has a story to back up everything to make him look like the sad and lonely victim. Something was off about him and once I read the ending it all made sense. The stories were not adding up but the good thing is Lauren finally got the closure and sense of belonging she's been craving for.
I would definitely be recommending this book!

Reading Between the Wines book review #81/115 for 2023:
Rating: 3 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book: The Perfect Girlfriend
Author: Hayley Smith
RELEASED on July 20, 2023!!! Get your copy!

Sipping thoughts: Can you say gaslighting?! Whew!! This one here about took me out because I just can’t take it when characters just make the craziest choice. It was hard to read what Lauren was putting up with but in the end, I understood her goal. Her secrets are as big as the terror she must endure. Quick read that will make you want to scream in anger.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @BookoutureAudio for an advanced copy of @ThePerfectGirlfriend.
#ThePerfectGirlfriend #HayleySmith #BookoutureAudio #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

This was a great audiobook. I got to listen to an ARC of it from NetGalley and the author and publisher in exchange for my review. The narrator was great, and she has a nice, soothing tone of voice that is not annoying nor anything. I listened to it at 1.25x speed, like I do all of the audiobooks I listen to.

The story is about a woman who is struggling at life and meets the man of her dreams at a festival, and she quickly falls in love with him and moves in with him. Of course, not everything is perfect, but Jay seems to be a little more sinister than she ever thought he could be. He is controlling, but why? Does he have secrets? Does she?
You’ll definitely want to find out hey radi t or listening to this one yourself! I highly recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley for an audio copy of The Perfect Girlfriend by Hayley Smith, it was a joy to listen to it throughout the days. Not to mention the narrator was great in it. It kept me engrossed and I wanted to know what was going to happen. The story made you question everything the more it went on. To the point you truly wonder if it was one thing. All I know is, never get in a way of a best friend who wants answers about her friend's death. I would say more but it all blends together and it is part of the charm of this mystery. I did love the ending though. So happy with the outcome.

Wow! It was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It has everything that I want in a story,edge of your seat., can’t put it down, twists and turns. The book is just plain addictive. Highly recommend to anybody who likes psychological thrillers. Also people who are in control situation. I have to say Wow! again. Thank you NetGally and publisher for providing this advanced copy of the audiobook to me. Really loved it.

This audiobook had some unbelievable twists that I just loved! What an anxiety-ridden listen this was!

There were a lot of twists in this book and it would keep a lot of thriller lovers in love with this book! I will say that this book had too much information at times that wasn't exactly necessary so it didn't hook me in for long period of times. The narrator did great in her narration but I will admit that there were times I couldn't figure out which voice/POV she was portraying at the time. It had some twisty turns that threw me off my guesses I'll admit but it was a very interesting twist at the end.

Surprises all around!
As I started this book, I wasn’t sure if it was really for me. I am so glad I stuck around because it was a good book. A meet cute, followed by homesteading, trying to solve a mystery and a surprise ending I wasn’t expecting..
Kudos to Haley Smith for taking us on a truly interesting winding ride!

I read a lot of psychological thrillers by all the big names and so it takes a lot to impress me, but this book did just that. Intriguing back stories with well created characters and a twist in the middle that came completely out of left field. The tension was well paced and did not fizz out at the end. There was only one male character who to me didn’t fit. Only popping up a couple of times to assist which seemed just too convenient. There are plenty of trigger warnings here around abuse particularly sexual and domestic abuse but all handled really well. This is a definite 4 star for me and I look forward to reading more from this author.