No one knows who she really is…

Hattie Hoffman has spent her whole life playing many parts: the good student, the good daughter, the good girlfriend. But Hattie wants something more, something bigger, and ultimately something that turns out to be exceedingly dangerous. When she’s found brutally stabbed to death, the tragedy rips right through the fabric of her small-town community.

It soon comes to light that Hattie was engaged in a highly compromising and potentially explosive secret online relationship. The question is: Did anyone else know? And to what lengths might they have gone to end it? Hattie’s boyfriend seems distraught over her death, but had he fallen so deeply in love with her that she had become an obsession? Or did Hattie’s impulsive, daredevil nature simply put her in the wrong place at the wrong time, leading her to a violent death at the hands of a stranger?

Full of twists and turns, Everything You Want Me to Be reconstructs a year in the life of a dangerously mesmerizing young woman, during which a small town’s darkest secrets come to the forefront…and she inches closer and closer to death.

Evocative and razor-sharp, Everything You Want Me to Be challenges you to test the lines between innocence and culpability, identity and deception. Does love lead to self-discovery—or destruction?

If you are a huge fan of psychological thrillers like I am, you know that sometimes we struggle with finding “that” book. You know what I’m talking about, the one that keeps you turning the pages so fast you see sparks. It’s also the one that keeps you guessing until the very last page. The struggle to find that book is real my friends, but struggle no more – this is “that” book.

Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia is the kind of book I immediately tell all my bibliophile friends about. From the first page this book got my attention and kept it. It is deliciously descriptive and so well-written that I couldn’t tear myself away. It is one of those books that you just can’t put down.

The story is presented from 3 different points of view. First by Hattie Hoffman, who is our 18 yr old protagonist, then by Del Goodman, who is a good friend of Hattie’s father and the town sheriff in charge of Hattie’s murder investigation. Last, we have Peter Lund, who is a recent transplant to the small town of Pine Valley, and the High School’s new English teacher. Through their eyes the story unfolds and thrusts the reader forward with all it’s suspenseful twists and turns.

You see, our girl Hattie loves to act. She has big dreams of leaving her small town and becoming a star in New York City. But, she doesn’t confine her acting abilities to the stage. Hattie is the girl everybody wants her to be; the good daughter, the model student, the best friend. She plays all her roles to perfection. And when she is found stabbed to death, the whole town is turned upside down that something like this could not only happen in their town, but to their golden girl.

There is so much to this story and the people who tell it. I could excitedly go on for an hour about it and tell you how fabulous it is, but instead I’ll just tell you this…..READ IT!!!!! I know about 3 other people who have, and we all agree that it is not to be missed.

Mindy Mejia is a fantastic storyteller. This lady knows her stuff! This book is SO good!! So if you love to be taken on a literary roller coaster ride you need to go out right now and find this book. And then you can thank me later.

I received an ARC through NetGalley for my honest review and would like to thank the publisher for allowing me to review this fantastic book. I will definitely be watching to see what Mindy Mejia comes up with next.

Grade: 5 out of 5