Thank you to Atria / Emily Bestler Books via NetGalley for the opportunity to read [b: Everything You Want Me to Be|29276588|Everything You Want Me to Be|Mindy Mejia|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472193605s/29276588.jpg|49516689]. A free Kindle e-book in exchange for an honest review.

[b: Everything You Want Me to Be|29276588|Everything You Want Me to Be|Mindy Mejia|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472193605s/29276588.jpg|49516689] by [a: Mindy Mejia|6451908|Mindy Mejia|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1462758702p2/6451908.jpg] is a stunning novel, and it is well written.

Characters are realistic to a small town farming community. Teenage angst. High School teachers. Local law enforcement blend together with the problems of self-actualization. The tapestry is woven skillfully. Self-justification is another sub-topic that tells an honest narrative of how people are.

Often in fiction, we crave the happy endings. We want the evil doer to get their just rewards. We want to rely on the integrity of characters. Like in real life, we crave them to be ethical, and above human failure.

[a: Mindy Mejia|6451908|Mindy Mejia|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1462758702p2/6451908.jpg] throws it all into a salad bowl and gives it a good shaking up.

I cannot get this novel out of my brain. There are sneaky twists and turns, and I did not guess who-done-it.

This is a good read, and I will recommend this for our library collection. ( )

Interesting story, not a full blown mystery in that there were a small pool of suspects for the murder. The story is well told and the ending, while surprising, was not out of the realm of believability.
( )

Everything You Want Me to Be opens with seventeen year old Hattie Hoffman running away from her parents, from her small town, and toward a future in New York City. She is a talented actress, and the title is a nod to what it means to be a people pleaser, someone who understands who they’re expected to be to everyone around them to make them happy. Hattie is so wrapped up in playing roles that there is almost no indication who she actually is. The bulk of her story is told in hindsight, following the discovery of a bloated, stabbed corpse in an abandoned barn.

Del, the investigating officer, is a longtime friend of Hattie’s father, and when the body is found, he knows that the unrecognizable victim has to be Hattie. He dedicates himself to bringing Hattie’s killer to justice, revealing uncomfortable truths he reluctantly shares with Hattie’s parents whose daughter wasn’t quite who they thought.

Peter is a man trapped in a small town and a loveless marriage. He teaches English, and Hattie is his most prized student; brilliant, incisive, and interested in the same things as he is. When a happenstance online meeting pairs him with an unknown “local,” a strong bond reluctantly draws Peter into an illicit affair—with his student.

From Hattie’s perspective, Peter is the one person she can and wants to be herself with. Her love for him unfolds so powerfully and beautifully that it renders her death all the more tragic. Peter knows Hattie is dangerous, but is desperate for something good in his life, and for his part the affair is handled tentatively but passionately. I never doubted their mutual infatuation for a second. But could he have killed her…?

There was a point in the novel that I was sure I knew who did it, but kudos to the author for carefully crafting a story that could have gone anywhere. The writing is top notch. Plot is amazing, character is as strong as I have ever read, and the pacing is perfect. I’m in awe of this book, of this author’s talent, and this is among probably my favorite reads ever. I can’t recommend it strongly enough. Five stars can’t do a book this good justice. ( )

A bit of an odd duck of a murder mystery/thriller. Some very flawed characters who I ended up sympathizing with, some good, salt-of-the-earth Midwesterners, including the detective, who I didn’t, and a heart-wrenching ending, despite the fact that we know our girl is dead from the get-go. That ending, though—it really made me feel the loss of all our girl’s promise and potential in a way I usually don’t for the victims of mysteries. ( )

The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman is such a bittersweet story. I found the hardest thing about reading this book was that I liked Hattie so much. She was such a likable character, such a sweet girl, full of life and with the whole life ahead of her. And, then she was brutally murdered. Someone took her life, but why?

For sheriff Del Goodman is this case especially hard, he has known Hattie all her life, her father is a good friend to him and now he must find her killer. I loved that the story is told from three different perspectives, Del's, Hattie's and Peter, Hattie's English teacher. By giving Hattie a voice does the story come to life, this is not an anonymous dead girl, this is a girl that dreamed about Broadway, about becoming a star. It's the saddest thing reading this book, knowing that she will never ever fulfill her dreams.

I have to admit that the ending took me by surprise, I had the killer all figured out when the truth came out and I was astonished. It was not at all whom I had thought it would be.

Mindy Mejia has written a heartbreaking thriller with strong characters and a great ending. I look forward to reading more from Mejia in the future! PS. Love the cover for the book!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )