So Happy Together by Olivia Worley Review

This review contains minor spoilers - no major plot points are revealed!

The summary for this novel really caught my eye, and since my thriller to, well, everything else ratio has been seriously lacking, I figured now was the time to finally move this from TBR to read. The summary really drew me in, and you can honestly fly through this book no problem - more than likely a same-day start and finish can be in your future. The pacing is well-managed and keeps the reader engaged while adding in elements of surprise and twists that allows the plot to move forward without falling stagnant. The more you learn about Jane, the more you realize that she is not at all what she appears to be - the same goes for Zoe and Collin, and as readers watch their twisted dynamic escalate to unimaginable means, we are thrown into a whirlwind tale of disastrous means.

We see Jane's obsession with Collin right from the beginning, and sure, thinking you had something special with a guy only to have him end things with you and start something serious with someone else almost immediately after can be shocking, but Jane was taking her plan to get him back to another level. And by another level, I mean straight-up stalking. Girl, whatever gets the job done! But her plan to get him back goes array in the most unexpected way possible and she suddenly finds herself embroiled in Collin and his girlfriend, Zoe, lives as Zoe's latest friend. With this friendship comes the unraveling of everyone's perceptions of one another as dark truths are revealed and moralities are put to the test.

I love how complex our big three in this book were - Collin, Jane, and Zoe all have such interesting character developments throughout the book. There are times where you think you know exactly where each of them will end up, only to be thrown off your trail in the very next chapter when something truly unruly is discovered. Whether it is the death of a side character, a secret past revealed, or further entanglement into each other's lives, the author is able to create a sense of unease for the reader as they grow more concerned for how everything will play out. Especially when things go array and plans are set in motion to take down Collin, we see these characters go to new levels of unhinged.

Every character had a dark side that was just waiting to be revealed - whether it was already on the surface or waiting to be revealed, the author maintains reader attention and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I am not a frequent thriller reader, so when I do dive into the genre, I like to make it count - and So Happy Together has certainly made the cut. I look forward to reading more of Worley's work and explore her realm of mystery.

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If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You by Leigh Stein ARC Review

This is a spoiler-free review! If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You was published on August 26, 2025 and is now available at select book retailers.

I would first like to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review. A combination of literary fiction intertwined with mystery and thriller, Stein's novel pulls the reader in as a viewer in this influencer-centric search for a missing Tarot card reader who vanished without a trace. This book is weird, gothic, and obsessive - every character has a compulsive attribute about them as they work towards fame and attention. You can see that when the attention or focus is not on one of them for too long, they begin to unravel at the seems. The internet is a compelling place that can have sinister consequences when one strives to do whatever it takes to stay on top.

I wish this book was a little weirder - the author really could have pulled through on that end and made the characters and subplots more erratic and disorienting. The mysterious and eeriness that surrounded Becca's disappearance was definitely hovering over the book throughout, but it felt underwhelming in what my expectations were going into Stein's work. Her disappearing certainly haunted the narrative, but with a "haunted" mansion being the center of the story and the main location of the book, it would have been great to see the author really turn the story more twisted for the characters and for the house.

The house feels like it is its own character - it carries an energy that overtakes the page, and the characters seem to treat it as a great entity rather than a 10,000 square foot house. There is a mysteriousness to it that consumes its residents and draws outsiders to want to look in and see what stories and secrets it holds. The energy given off by the house definitely adds to the uneasiness felt throughout the story as the search for Becca continues and answers are sought out. Considering one of the main focus points is to preserve the house for its next heir, it is always lingering in the background, whether the characters are using it for their videos or the owner is attempting to acquire more money to restore the mansion.

Dayna and her rabbit, Owen Wilson, take center stage in this gothic tale as she returns back to the hype house after a not-so-mutual break up with her boyfriend through a Reddit post. Her career in journalism has been not quite a flourishing as she had hoped, and moving into the hype house in order to help its owner save it from decay could be her ticket back into the game. You could tell that Dayna's influence in the house creates some tension between the influencers there, as they fight for her attention - or more so, for Owen Wilson and using him in their videos. Attempting to profit off of Becca's sudden disappearance through a social media campaign, Dayna's presence seems to be the thing that ties everything together once Olivia, Becca's biggest fan, comes to live in the house.

Stein's work poses an interesting combination of modern internet influencers with the gothic nature of the unknown and uncertainty. The pacing moves quickly and draws the reader in as they are sucked into the search for Becca, but also become an inside viewer to the realities that these influencers live in order to make content, at whatever the cost.

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The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

I have not felt a thrill like this since season two of Tell Me Lies aired - this was exactly what I was looking for: messy friend group, insane secrets, competitive friendships, and absolute chaos. As the reader, you are immediately thrown into craziness, and spend the entire book watching as the characters take everything one step too far, while simultaneously avoid being held accountable for their actions. Clare, our very unreliable narrator, is thrown into a world where she is clearly the outsider, yet longingly wants to be part of an inner circle that will never accept her.

Her co-dependency on Tabitha and their slightly more than platonic relationship is the driving force for Clare's eagerness to join a friend group full of people that truly do not even like each other. As she reinvents herself in order to please those around her, secrets are revealed and dig their claws into her life, desperate to come out yet aggressively pushed under the surface in order to salvage her standing in the group. The group will be accepting one moment, then cold and distant the next - while Clare pretends this does not interfere with her internal drive for acceptance, it is visible to the group, ensuring their hold over her actions.

Tabitha very clearly will die if she is not the center of attention, and it is clear from her actions and deep-rooted desire to be the leader in every situation. While she does hold the power, the others are not immune to the desire to be in charge - you see them conform to her will, yet are quick to side against her the minute she leaves the room. Their toxic tendencies make this an exhilarating read, keeping you on the edge of your seat solely to see what insane side plot they will come up with to descend upon the locals.

Watching Clare slowly unravel and reveal the most insane and chaotic information about herself was like watching a car wreck in action but in slow motion. She is absolutely unhinged, and with her as the narrator, we are thrust into her line of thinking and deranged logic she places behind every one of her choices. It was hilarious to watch Tabitha match her freak, and then totally go off the rails when she realized Tabitha is just as unpredictable as herself. Everyone is manipulating everyone in subtle ways, and the consequences of their actions causes such a severe snowball effect.

Finn's presence as a side character provided the outsider's view, especially when he and Clare essentially began on the same social standing when the book began. His commentary on the group before Clare slowly became entangled with them only intensified as he watched Clare become one of them. However, it seemed that while Clare longed to be a part of their group, she was still quick to dismiss the closeness she shared with them when conversing with Finn.

This was juicy and addicting... every chapter had me sucked further into the madness, and as the characters turned sour, it only draws you in more. Watching their slow descent into revealing their true intentions behind every carefully thought out action was like seeing into their mind and understanding how their brains functioned. Darwent's ability to create three-dimensional characters while only giving the perspective of one is worthy of the highest of praises.

For fans of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Bunny by Mona Awad, and Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering, this book captures the intense and intimate relationships that entwine a deeply dysfunctional friend group that has dire consequences on their lives. I absolutely loved the complex character development and conflicting actions made by the characters, and cannot wait to see what Darwent has in store in her next work.

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A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham Review

This review does not contain spoilers for A Flicker in the Dark. Trigger warnings include self-harm, suicide, sexual assault, drug use, and murder.

I personally was not a fan of the author's style of writing -- I found that it read a little choppy in the beginning and felt as though the main character was throwing facts and information at you that were not relevant to the story that they were trying to tell. Rather than reading with a flow, it read more like you were in someone's head trying to follow a thought process about something that even they did not understand what was going on or what was necessary to the plot. The story did not pick up for me until about two thirds of the way through when the story really started to evolve.

However, it is definitely a quick read -- you are easily drawn into the world of our main character, Chloe, a medical psychologist with a serial killer as a father. She quickly becomes involved in the search for girls who are going missing twenty years after her father was arrested for the very same thing. Told through both twenty-year-old memories and present time, we see Chloe's development from discovering her father was doing wicked things to her life decades later being thrown right back into the ring.

We get an inside look from Chloe on what these girls were like before her father murdered them as the book progresses -- each of the girls with their own stories, personalities, and stand-out traits that have stayed with Chloe over the years. 

Willingham gives us an inside look at Chloe's relationship with these girls -- how well she knew them, if they were friends, if they only talked to her because they liked her brother -- the more we read on, the more we see how they influenced her as well. Additionally, we are able to see the events that took place leading up to Chloe's father's arrest and how he came to be identified as the one who murdered these girls.

The journalist looking into these new copycat killings definitely causes an internal battle for Chloe as she is basically forced to relive her father's killings all over again, but as if she is aware of what is happening the entire time. He comes into her life the month before the twenty year anniversary of the first girls' disappearance, and is there to stay until these killings are solved -- and he makes it very clear to Chloe that even if she does not speak to him, he will continue to look into the new murders.

Chloe's relationship with her brother, Cooper, and with her fiancé, Daniel, are complicated to put it simply. It feels as though she never shows her true self to anyone, not even herself. We learn more about Chloe and her complicated past as the story progresses, and with it I found myself viewing her as an unreliable narrator. She puts herself in unnecessary circumstances and continues to make every possible wrong move, convincing herself that she is doing the right thing.

I personally found this book a little predictable, but I have always been good with guessing the ending to things, especially horror and thriller movies. The author was able to tie up all loose ends, and in my opinion, I think the main character had the ending she deserved for herself. I would recommend this book to fans of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and Bleeding Hearts by Dana Louise Provo -- read my review, here.

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The Housemaid by Freida McFadden Review

This review does not contain spoilers for The Housemaid. Trigger warnings include domestic abuse, violence, and crime.

There are a ton of writing cliches littered throughout this book - even in the first chapter, we see a "I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding" line from our main character, Millie.

I also Google Translated the Italian landscaper, Enzo, said to Millie, and it was obvious that our lead was in danger from the beginning. And it is clear that Millie thought just the same, and did just that as well. The second she realized that Enzo had told her "danger," she should have turned around and ran away from that family as fast as she could.

Nina and Cecelia freak me out -- Nina definitely keeps information from Millie and chooses what she knows. Keeping vital information from Millie and causing rifts early on in Millie's employment can only lead her down a dark road. The way that Nina interacts with Millie when they are in front of other people astounds me. Even if you are not too found of someone, I could never imagine talking about them right in front of their face and speaking so rudely to someone that you originally said was so amazing.

I found myself constantly feeling bad for Andrew during Part I of the book -- he clearly was not happy in his marriage with Nina and it become glaringly obvious as you get further into the book. However, in the second half of the book, my pity for him turned to suspicion, especially after the countless warnings Enzo gives Millie.

We have a change in perspective as Nina's point of view takes the lead in Part II of the book, where we are able to see the early stages of Nina and Andrew's relationship and marriage. It completely changed my stance on the characters, as we are introduced to the other side of the story we had only expected. Enzo's character development and Nina's background are given top priority in these chapters, and it was very interesting to see their dynamic play out.

Part III takes us back to Millie's perspective and shows the progression of her time in Nina and Andrew's house, and we also maintain a glimpse into Nina's perspective as the conclusion fast approaches. McFadden does a pretty good job of developing all three of the main characters and their personalities as the tone of the book shifts the more you read. Millie and Nine have their ultimate "girlboss" moments that were mildly unexpected, but certainly well-received.

In all honesty, when I was a few chapters in, I wasn't too sure if I was going to enjoy this as much as I did. The writing was a little iffy for me, but with the short chapters it became a very quick read and I found myself flying through the book in no time. The plot takes a moment to heat up and I had to push myself in the beginning to keep going, but I'm very glad that I stuck with it to the end.

I would recommend this book to fans of Verity by Colleen Hoover -- you can read my review, here -- and Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage, as well as fans of psychological thrillers. If you have not read the two mentioned books and enjoyed The Housemaid, then I definitely recommend picking them up!

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