[REVIEW] Everything You Want Me to Be

title: Everything You Want Me to Be

author: Mindy Mejia  
genre: adult, mystery, thriller
published: January 3rd 2017 by Atria Books
my copy: paperback, 352 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

Full of twists and turns, "Everything You Want Me to Be" reconstructs a year in the life of a dangerously mesmerizing young woman, during which a small town s darkest secrets come to the forefront...and she inches closer and closer to her death.

High school senior Hattie Hoffman has spent her whole life playing many parts: the good student, the good daughter, the good citizen. When she s found brutally stabbed to death on the opening night of her high school play, the tragedy rips through the fabric of her small town community. Local sheriff Del Goodman, a family friend of the Hoffmans, vows to find her killer, but trying to solve her murder yields more questions than answers. It seems that Hattie s acting talents ran far beyond the stage. Told from three points of view Del, Hattie, and the new English teacher whose marriage is crumbling "Everything You Want Me to Be" weaves the story of Hattie s last school year and the events that drew her ever closer to her death.

Evocative and razor-sharp, "Everything You Want Me to Be "challenges you to test the lines between innocence and culpability, identity and deception. Does love lead to self-discovery or destruction?"

Intriguing. Unputdownable.

I've been eyeing this book for so long just because it's one of those psychological thrillers I'm so keen on reading. Multiple POVs? Non-linear storytelling? Death of a beloved and perfect girl? YES PLEASE!

Everything You Want Me To Be kind of reminded me of Girl in Snow which I read mid-2017. Both books are about the death of a high school student who seem so perfect. However, Everything You Want Me To Be executed this plot well. And I mean legit well. This is told in three points of view -- Hattie, the murdered senior; Del, the detective solving the case; and Peter, Hattie's English teacher. 

I've only ever read a few psychological thrillers but I'm really expanding my palette as I have several titles lined up on my tbr. However, I can safely say that Everything You Want Me To Be didn't really offer anything new about the overall feels of the books in the same genre. Describing this genre really goes down to: the intriguing mystery --the death and the who and why--, the oh-so groundbreaking revelation (which would obviously make or break the story), and how each character or POVs molds the victim of the story.

The mystery was a real page-turner. I was intrigued by who killed Hattie. Hattie, everyone's perfect girl who apparently merely plays the role each person in her life wants. The slow revelation of Hattie's life and the things she does that others do not see was very interesting. I have to admit that I partly saw the revelation but it didn't ruin the book for me.

Everything You Want Me To Be really blew me away with the ending. It was the one that  sealed the deal for me. Let's talk about the revelation first! The build up for that revelation was really well thought of. All the things that lead up to Hattie's death and why it happened really worked out so great! I'm a fan of Mindy Mejia now. All the actions each character did toward Hattie's death gave way to that flawless revelation. Now that ending, literally those last couple of pages was amazing. I LOVE how it just worked out so well. That ending gave me a little hungover that I HAD to tell someone immediately!

OVERALL, Everything You Want Me To Be throws the usual perfect-girl mystery into a heartfelt story. While it had the usual revelation of this perfect girl being completely flawed, it had its beautiful moments which the ending nicely wrap up. 

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