The Perfect Girlfriend: A Novel

I really, really wanted to like this book. The blurb hints at a dark, thrilling read, and the beginning has some promise. Unfortunately, that promise wasn't fulfilled, at least not for me. We have the unreliable narrator, and Juliette is certainly unstable, but it's way too easy to figure out the why of it all from the flashbacks we're given. We're practically spoon-fed this one, so any twists in the story really aren't surprising. I will say that the scenery of the many locations visited is good, and the details work for giving the reader a picture of so many far away places. What didn't work for me was the sheer amount of detail given about everything else. And I do mean everything. The more I read, the more tempted I was to just skip to end to see how it played out. That's a big no-no for me, but now, I really wish I had done exactly that. Then we have the whole stalking thing, and yes, Juliette is clearly troubled, but her plans and actions for most of the book are just pathetic and weak instead of the dark and dangerous woman I was hoping for. We do get a bit more grit toward the end, but by then, I was just over it and it was too little, too late. Finally, we come to the non-ending of this one. I can get behind a good jaw dropper, and I don't have to always have a justice is done, happy ending, but this one isn't that. It literally just stops - like I was wondering if there were missing pages - which turned my disappointment into a feeling of just being cheated. Maybe, I fell for the hype and expected too much from this book, or maybe it's just not for me, but I can't say that this is one I'll be recommending.