You may think you know what is happening in The Perfect Girlfriend, a new psych thriller by Hayley Smith, but really…you don’t.
Even if you think that Lauren is impetuous and everything is moving super-fast, and it’s hard to keep up with her relationship, it still won’t make sense to you. Until the author is ready for you to know what’s really going on.
I both liked that and found it challenging.
I liked that the author strung me along. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I like to try to outguess an author when it comes to plot twists.
However, the danger in this was that I found myself not liking Lauren that much. She was almost too much of a “free spirit” for me. As I read, I understood that she was written in a specific way for specific reasons. But taken at face value, I couldn’t get behind her.
That made many of the book’s early parts difficult for me to get through. I couldn’t connect, I didn’t like her or Jay, and their lifestyle annoyed me. Especially as they were supposed to be bohemian, but Lauren kept buying stuff for the house.
I mean, I get it, but there was just a disconnect in some parts.
Roughly halfway through, we start to get the backstory that shines a light on some of Lauren’s actions. But there are still more aspects that just didn’t work for me. Those mainly have to do with Lauren’s dreams (or memories, or whatever they are).
You’ll find out what they actually are when you read the book.
Add in a creepy girl with weird family dynamics, mystery people and relationships, and lots of secrets, and it makes for a whole lot of weird that I wasn’t always on board for.
That said, the author still had me turning pages to find out what was happening. While some of the resolutions seemed “too easy,” I did ultimately enjoy The Perfect Girlfriend, and I’ll look for the next psych thriller from Hayley Smith.
