Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia
Published: January 3, 2017Publisher: Atria BooksPages: 340Received: from publisher for honest reviewNo 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?
Wow! That's the first thing I need to say, just wow. This thriller will have you guessing and second guessing on who did it. One minute you think you've figured it out, then BAM, a twist, then slowly you think you finally have it figured out and BAM another twist. You will keep flip flopping.
It's told from multiple points of view - Hattie, Sheriff Del Goodman and a third POV. I enjoyed how it was told using current day POV from Del, flashbacks from Hattie and a mix of both for the other POV. I wasn't sure at first, but it just worked so well to unfold the story and reveal what happened to her.
Del is a great sheriff, he takes his time gathering details and info instead of charging in like his deputy wants to do. He absorbs every detail from conversations no matter how small. I enjoyed watching him work on this case, considering his best friend is Hattie's father.
The third POV... ugh. I don't even want to discuss it because I feel like it could spoil things.
And my God, Hattie! What a character to read about. I didn't know whether to think she was a sociopath, had multiple personalities or was just a teenager trying to please everyone by being who she thought they needed her to be. Since she was a great actress, it was hard to tell sometimes and even now, I'm torn between my thoughts on her.
I don't even know how to describe how I feel about why Hattie died. I know who did it and how it happened, but I'm curious if her life would have been different if she had made different choices or if others had made different choices as well. Who was the real Hattie anyway? She was a teenager filled with angst, older than her years in a way and filled with aspirations, but there was just something about her that makes you wonder if you really ever knew the real Hattie. "You're no worse than me. That's all that matters."
And even the supporting characters added to the story and make you question what you think really happened. Her best friend, her boyfriend, her parents and her English teacher all add something to the story, whether it be more about Hattie or details that you try to use to figure out the murder.
Pick this up if you enjoy a good mystery or thriller. Get lost in Hattie's story, just like Hattie got lost in her many roles.
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