Andrea Mara doesn't faff about in It Should Have Been You. By page 35 we know that Susan sends a message which is filled with secrets, that was meant for her sister, to the community WhatsApp group. Shortly after, a lady with the same address as Susan is found dead in her house. But that's certainly not where it stops. The revelations keep coming, thick and fast.

An utterly popcorn-worthy, jaw-dropping read with a speedy pace.

It Should Have Been You starts with a bang, with an attention grabbing, gripping opening line. Then the story backtracks a few weeks, to show the events leading up to this dramatic moment.

Susan O’Donnell is currently on maternity leave from her job as a teacher. She adores 4 month old Bella, despite having some difficult times following the birth. One evening she is distractedly scrolling on her phone, when she spots a group message from the local Queen Bee. Celeste is one of those women who seems to have everything, or likes to project that image. What happens next is a simple mistake, a momentary lack of concentration. This one action, sets in place a chain reaction of darker and darker events.

I was drawn in by the premise of the book, it’s deliciously horrifying. I think many of us will understand the panic, caused by thinking you’ve sent a message to the wrong person. That feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach. Years ago, a friend of mine did exactly this. Sent me a text about her ex-husband, but as his name was just below mine, it went to him instead. The fallout from that wasn’t pretty, but it’s not a patch on how this books plays out thankfully.

As the book progressed, I became increasingly uncomfortable. All the characters were compounding bad decisions, with dreadful decisions. Emotions running high, secrets and mistrust clouding judgement. Clearly none of the characters understand that two wrongs don’t make a right.

It is a fraught, tense read, which gripped me until the end. I wondered how badly the spiralling situation would end. 4.5 ⭐️rounded up.

OMG what a book! I love Andrea Mara books but this one is the best I've read! Literally couldn't put it down, lots of twists and turns to keep you engrossed! Highly recommend this book!

Have you ever sent a WhatsApp to the wrong person? Fed up with a sanctimonious fellow school mum, Susan does just that. She only means to vent to her sisters but instead fat-fingers her grievances to the whole neighbourhood group. It doesn't matter how quickly she hits delete, things like that always get out. Susan's careless words have a knock-on effect that ends with people dead and her family in danger.

This is a twisty thriller of mistaken identities and an almost Shakespearean comedy of errors. Every action has an unintended consequence for this tightly-knit family that finds they don't know each other as well as they thought they did. I love outrageously improbable thrillers like this. Yes, there is a certain amount of 'convenient coincidence' that you have to be OK with to let the story come together but I've always been willing to accept that in exchange for a wild ride. The only thing keeping this from being a solid 5 stars from me is that I found the set-up a little slow to get going. Perhaps that was unavoidable as there is a large cast of characters that need to be introduced organically to the plot. The pacing ramps up, though, and I flew through the final 100 pages!

Another fantastic read by Andrea Mara. I was hooked from the first page.
Susan lives in Oakpark with her husband Jon and four month old daughter Bella. You have the usual mix of neighbours. Some nosey, some who think they are better than everyone else. So when Susan sends a message bitching about the neighbours to what she thinks is her two sisters' group chat, she has no idea the repercussions and chain of events that follow when she discovers that she has actually sent it to the Oakpark chat group. Whoops!
This draws you in straight away. I loved the short, snappy chapters. It keeps you reading to find out what happens next.
There are plenty of interesting characters, and we hear from each one as we go back and forth. As each drama unfolds, we get a bigger picture of what leads to each conclusion.
Tense, gripping, everything you expect from Andrea. Loved it
Thanks to Netgalley and Transworld Pulishers/Bantam for the invitation to read this.

Susan a sleep deprived teacher and first time mum sees a message on her neighbourhood whatsapp group that annoys her specifically Celeste who seems to have it out for her. Intending to send a message to her two sisters to complain about Celeste, her husband and her kids, she soons releases she has sent it to the public group. Deleting it quick after isn't enough, it has been seen by everybody and turns into a viral moment that soon gets out of hand. Soon after the woman who shares the same address as Susan is found murdered as well as two other people who Susan who mentioned in her message. Did the murderer get the wrong address and was Susan meant to be the victim? Soon everything gets out of hand and trouble brews with everybody.

It should have been you is a suspenseful mystery that was full of twists and turns, everytime you think you have sussed it out i was proven wrong and at the end i had an idea who the murderer was. Some events i predicted whilst some came as a shock to me. Full of mystery that will keep you guessing to the very end. I finished this book in a matter of hours and enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and Transworld Publishers | Bantam for the copy of this arc in exchange of my full honest review.

4.5 stars

I was hooked from the first page and couldn’t put it down!
Andrea Mara expertly took an easy mistake anyone can make and turned it into a nightmare. Imagine that sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize you’ve send a message into the wrong group chat. Then your message goes viral, screenshotted and shared online, spreading through your small community with deadly consequences.
Fast paced and addictive, this story was full of twists and turns that kept me guessing right up to the end.

Andrea Mara is the queen of the domestic thriller. This one was a twisty outing filled with unlikeable characters. Smart twists, excellent writing! Mara is one to pick up.

Andrea Mara is one of my absolute favourites,and never fails to draw me in by the first chapter. If she put a book out every month I'd buy it!
Anyway,onto the story...
We've probably all been there at this stage of fast paced or tired typing...and sent a message to the wrong person. Sometimes it's harmless..then there's examples like Susan - A teacher intending to send a scathing message about a parent to one of her sisters on WhatsApp..but instead,sends it to the neighbourhood group,which said parent is part of! No amount of back peddling is going to fix this. That night,a brick is thrown through Susan's window. Just kids being vandals...or something more sinister? When a woman is found dead things start to look the latter,especially since this woman has the same address as you in a nearby part of town(You always get her post by mistake).
Surely one awful message can't have triggered these life threatening events?
Not to give too much away but this is the queen of the hook and twist so be prepared....and enjoy!

Absolutely amazing! I loved, loved, loved every second. I really can't speak highly enough of this. Its so well plotted out and brought to life. The characters are well fleshed out and given oriental personalities. It's a premise I hadn't ever come across before and it starts with a bang and keeps you hooked throughout. What a delight this was to read

Wow! This book is superb!!

Susan is a new mum, on maternity leave from her teaching job, she is never far from social
media to brighten up the monotony of her days! Susan mistakenly posts a rather scathing message regarding a neighbouring family to the neighbourhood group instead of the intended recipients (a private chat with her sisters!). Ouch!! Unfortunately embarrassment and her utter mortification aren’t the only consequences of this error- as a chain of events is set in motion that leads to a worryingly high body count!!

This book is so gripping and very well written - I honestly couldn’t put it down and inhaled it in record time!!

This one comes very highly recommended from me!

My thanks to NetGalley

Jeez, this book almost gave me heart failure!! I was sucked in right from 'I have to kill my sister', the first line of the prologue.

Short chapters and a mix of point of views made for a propulsive read. I made the mistake of starting it at bedtime on a weeknight and let's just say I wasn't the most productive at work the next day!

I love an unsettling read and this book has that in spades...... the everyday domestic life backdrop creates a 'could be me' feel, adding to the tension!!!

This one's not for the faint hearted and I loved it!! The twists and turns in this story are unreal, my advice to you is buckle up and enjoy the ride!!!!

4.5*

This was an absolutely phenomenal read. I was so gripped throughout and I absolutely love this authors writing!

Throughout the book, I was constantly guessing and could not guess what was going to happen next. There were so many shocking twists, especially the darker ones towards the end. There were also some rights parts towards the end which were difficult to read but also added so much depth to the plot. They were crazy!!

Such a good book! Thank you for the ARC.

5⭐️

Another 5⭐️ book from Andrea Mara 👏🏻 👏🏻

I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough! Poor Susan sending a screenshot to the wrong person and all hell breaks loose in the town!
Everyone has their own secrets and I loved how it came together at the end. Lots of twists and throughout this book. Andrea Mara is one of my favourite authors and she did not disappoint.
Thank you to netgalley & Transworld books for allowing me an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Such a clever premise! We all know the irritating neighbourhood groups, be it whatsapp or online, so from the beginning it hooks the reader. It's a great read for thriller fans. So many twists and turns and red herrings! Every time I thought I had it figured out, something else happened to change my mind. Yet, it's all really believable. You can see how events just gather momentum and go out of control. The characters are fantastic - from the three sisters, to the nieces, the husband, neighbours and other characters along the way, all feel very real and all have their own motivations and interests. I really enjoyed it.

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

Susan is home from her teaching job on maternity leave and when she feels that she has been chastised in the neighborhood what's app group, by Celeste, she intends to complain to her sisters privately about Celeste and her difficult children and her philandering husband, but instead sends her rant to the group text. The next thing she knows, the woman she saw Celeste's husband with and her husband have been found murdered and a woman who has the same address in another part of town has also been murdered. Was someone trying to murder Susan and got the wrong woman?

4.5 stars.

There was a lot going on in this book and it made for a really good read. The only thing I didn't love was the story with the teenagers. I didn't think it added a lot to the overall story. I kept turning the pages to find out how these two murders could have happened in response to a catty but overall not that shocking group message. There was a whole lot to the story and it all wrapped up pretty tidily. I have mostly really enjoyed this author's work and look forward to reading more.

A very twisty novel. A message Susan intends for just her 2 sisters goes to the whole neighbourhood group and is then shared to a wider audience. The repercussions are enormous. I haven't read any previous Andrea Mara novels but intend to remedy this. A really good read.

This is a fabulous multi perspective read which starts with a simple mistake when Susan accidentally sends a text intended for her sisters to a local neighbourhood group and the repercussions are astounding. Although the story is based around Susan primarily there’s a lot of voices in this and they do a fantastic job of adding perspective to it all

We've all done it, sent a message to the wrong group and had to deal with the embarrassment... But what would you do if the consequences are much more serious than being embarrassed? This tense and gripping thriller looks at how one mistake can have such a big impact on so many people. So many twists and turns and shocks, it was brilliant! Such a good read.

Wow, I really loved this book. I raced through it and was completely hooked right from the start. Loved the multiple POVs, it really kept me guessing, although I did guess the final twist before the end. Some of the scenes with the baby had me squirming a bit but I think that added to the overall tense feeling to the story! Highly recommend this to anyone that loves a good thriller.