Perfect Little Lives

by Danielle Brown and Amber Brown

ON ASHER LANE, SOME SECRETS ARE WORTH KILLING FOR...

Simone's mother was murdered when she was thirteen. When her father was convicted, everything changed. Overnight, Simone went from living in a wealthy white neighborhood to scraping by.

Ten years later, Simone has given up on her dreams and lives a quiet life, writing book reviews and getting serious with her boyfriend. But with a true crime documentarian hounding her for a scoop and a surprise encounter with her childhood next-door neighbor, Hunter, the past seems set on haunting her. And after Hunter reveals that his father and her mother had a years-long affair, Simone is determined to find out who really killed her mother.

Simone is convinced that all evidence points to Hunter's father, a renowned judge who had everything to lose if his affair-and his nascent love child-came to light. Playing the game from all sides, Simone enlists Hunter's help in her investigation into his family-whether he realizes it or not. But is she so desperate for closure that she'll risk imploding her carefully rebuilt life?

Praise for Someone Had To Do It

'Sexy, thrilling and provocative' Heat

'Fresh and, at times, exceptionally funny dialogue, as well as the lively characters, add to the book's fast pace' Courier

'A promising writing debut' Daily Mail

• ISBN10: 0349433240
• ISBN13: 9780349433240
• Publish Date: 21 December 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Piatkus Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Marketed as a  "A dark and riveting page-turner with an intelligent twist.", Perfect Little Lives sounded like the perfect read.  As I am often on the lookout for a gripping thriller, I couldn't wait to dive into this latest offering from sisters Amber and Danielle Brown.  Perfect Little Lives delivered a mash-up of thriller, suspense and romance. 

Perfect Little Lives, introduces the reader to Simone, a book reviewer, who has dreams of becoming an author. She lives with her boyfriend Reggie, an attorney. She appears to have her life in order. However, with all her focus being on proving her father's innocence, her life is slowly spiralling out of control. The murder of her mother resulted in her father being charged and found guilty. Simone, however, believes someone else is responsible. Despite the lack of evidence to back up her theory, she remains resolute in her quest to uncover the truth. Then the unexpected occurred. Her childhood friend, Hunter, came back into her life, and with his return came some interesting information about her mother and his father. Information, which had her zeroing on Hunter's dad as the main suspect in mother's murder. 

The story failed to deliver on its promise of a dark and riveting page turner. The premise was great, but the execution was flat. The plot was all over the place. It was as if the authors could not make up their mind whether this should be a thriller or a story about Simone's love life. The thriller aspect of the story provided average entertainment, however, the story would have been better off without the inclusion of the poorly executed love triangle. 

While I shared empathy for Simone's mission to demonstrate her father's innocence, I was not a fan of her personality. If naive, clueless, judgemental and manipulative were a person, then Simone would definitely be that person. Also, lies were second nature for her. She was not above manipulating persons to get what she wants.  Funny enough, she didn't even recognize the truth while it was staring her in the face. It was this truth that took away from the thrills. Figuring out who murdered her mother, which occurred in the first twenty-five percent of the story, was a no-brainer.  My desire to learn if Simone will figure it out was what kept me reading. 

The story was filled with several inconsistencies and gaps which spoiled the flow of the story. Also, the ending was anti-climatic. The story ends without readers made aware if the killer gets their just dessert. 

Overall, Perfect Little Lives had the potential for an exciting read. Unfortunately, it failed to deliver the expected thrills and page-turning experience.

This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading