Girl Well Read

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow Paperbacks for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Our "perfect" girl is Zoe Maisey, a 17-year-old musical prodigy. Zoe and her mother Maria have been ostracized from their former community after Zoe was found guilty of a drinking a driving accident that claimed the life of three teenagers, including her best friend.

Zoe has served time in a juvenile rehabilitation facility and Maria is determined to not only put the past behind her, but to keep the tragedy under wraps from her new husband, Chris, and his teenage son, Lucas.

Ready to embrace her "Second Chance Life", Zoe has recommitted to music and is giving a recital that Maria has been planning for months. But tragedy strikes again and by the end of evening on the day of the recital, Maria is dead and the thread holding everything together begins to unravel.

Because of her past, Zoe fears that she will be the prime suspect. Everyone—police, family, Zoe’s former lawyer—including Zoe, tries to piece together what actually happened. What Zoe knows for sure that the truth can be deceiving and the closer we are to someone, the less we are willing to see.

Told in multiple points of view—Zoe, Tessa and Sam—Macmillan's novel explores the complexities of relationships. The characters were well-developed and engaging. While not a seize-you-by-the-throat, heart palpitation thriller, The Perfect Girl is more of character study/psychological thriller and incredibly clever. Macmillan's pace is spot on, she reveals just enough to secure interest and move the story. She tasks her reader with unravelling the dysfunction—it's a slow burn, but worth your patience.