People’s Best New Books Pick The Wall Street Journal’s Best New Mysteries “Fans of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl will devour this fast-paced story.”–InStyle “Readers drawn to this compelling psychological thriller because of its shared elements with Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (2012) will be pleasantly surprised to discover that Mejia’s confident storytelling pulls those themes into an altogether … discover that Mejia’s confident storytelling pulls those themes into an altogether different exploration of manipulation and identity.” —Booklist (starred review)
2017’s Best Fiction Books —Bustle
12 Books Gone Girl Fans Should Have on Their Wish List —BookBub
No one knows who she really is…
Hattie Hoffman has spent her whole life playing many parts: the good student, the good daughter, the good girlfriend. But Hattie wants something more, something bigger, and ultimately something that turns out to be exceedingly dangerous. When she’s found brutally stabbed to death, the tragedy rips right through the fabric of her small-town community.
It soon comes to light that Hattie was engaged in a highly compromising and potentially explosive secret online relationship. The question is: Did anyone else know? And to what lengths might they have gone to end it? Hattie’s boyfriend seems distraught over her death, but had he fallen so deeply in love with her that she had become an obsession? Or did Hattie’s impulsive, daredevil nature simply put her in the wrong place at the wrong time, leading her to a violent death at the hands of a stranger?
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 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?more
I love writers who can evoke a sense of place, especially those writers who do it for my home state, Minnesota. Mindy Meijia does just that in this twisty mystery. A great debut.
Everything You Want Me to Be didn’t leave me with a jaw-drop, but it did leave me with the memory of a thoroughly engaging reading experience. I was hooked on this multiple POV storyline about Hattie, a literal drama queen who uses a small-town as her personal stage before and after her tragic end. The perspectives include Peter: Hattie’s high school English teacher, Del: the sheriff investigating Hattie’s death, and Hattie herself who takes readers from start to finish of her last year of life. I was expecting a cookie-cutter psychological thriller/mystery from yet another writer inspired by the fairly recent blockbusting successes, but I got a complex tale that geniously mirrors events and themes in the MacBeth play that Hattie and her peers were preparing for. I was slightly disappointed in who the actual culprit was but it was a well-written ending that allowed the reader full access to how everything went down. I really enjoyed Everything You Want Me to Be and would recommend it to fans of the genres listed. Check it out!
Note: I have seen this title listed under the genre of young-adult and would have to disagree with that. There is non-graphic sexual content and I personally feel the reading experience is intended for adults even though one of the main settings is high school.
Fast paced and compelling, Everything You Want Me to Be is a terrific thriller about the murder of high school senior and budding actress, Hattie Hoffman. Told from the points of view of Hattie, Del (the town sheriff who has known her all her life) and Peter (the high school’s new English teacher), the novel explores Hattie’s complicated personality as it unravels what happened on the night of her murder. The character study is fascinating as the plot moves along at a pretty good clip, showing us who Hattie was and what she was willing to do to get what she wanted.
Everything You Want Me to Be runs along a similar vein as Gone Girl, but Mejia has her own unique voice that makes this a standout. Loved it!
Hattie is a senior in high school. She is also a talented actress and her ambition is to move to New York after graduation to pursue that ambition. But it seems she doesn’t act only on the stage, she plays many different parts to please others. The parts she plays range from good daughter, bright student, great friend and seductress. Before graduation Hattie is found brutally stabbed to death. The story of her life, and the events leading up to her death are told from three points of view, Hattie herself, Peter, the married schoolteacher she is in love with and Del the sheriff. The author had an excellent writing style which made the book addicting. The story is a bit deeper than an ordinary murder mystery, but no less enjoyable.
Excellent; well-written.
I received an ARC of Everything You Want Me To Be from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This book is everything you want a psychological thriller to be! It is engrossing, twisty, and suspenseful. I was pretty confident I knew who the killer was but the author had surprised me when the murderer was revealed. The writing in Everything You Want Me To Be is flawless and brilliant. This book was very hard to put down and by far exceeded my expectations. It probably is one of the best in the genre and a must read. Run, don’t walk to a bookstore to get your hands on this twisted beauty
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.
Everything You Want Me to Be gently sets its hooks without you even noticing. Before you realize it the story line grabs hold and won’t let go. The 3 perspectives give you the life of Hattie Hoffman, Peter Lund, and Del Goodman. Granted everything is focused on the last 6 months of Hattie’s life, but each of these characters is living an empty existence. Hattie is the consummate actress. She is a chameleon in a young woman’s body. Peter is a new teacher that is tethered in what has turned into a loveless marriage. Del is the sheriff who knows everyone but doesn’t appear to be close to anyone.
Mindy Meija brings each of these characters to life. Hattie, the teenager, who thinks she has it figured out but in reality is as lost as any teenager ever born. What teen has ever known what love is, can be, or will be is showcased in Hattie’s role playing to get what she wants. She’s a child who thinks, like every teenager, that life is a certain way. Her fantasy is clouded by the hapless teacher, Peter. He is lost in small town Pine Valley. His wife, once vibrant but now sad and lonely, has turned away from him to embrace her roots. Peter searches for the contact he misses with his wife, stumbling into an online affair with Hattie. There is life in these individuals. Desperation to find what they think they are missing. The alternating perspectives give depth and vibrancy to both Hattie and Peter. Del’s character has flesh and bones but he is there mostly to connect the gaps between Hattie and Peter. If there is a sequel Del is the anchor that will allow this to happen. The glue that is Del would be worth following into any sequel. Mindy Meija has me hooked as an author.
I wish to thank the Author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for this honest review.