You Look Beautiful Tonight

A Thriller

By: L. R. Jones

Narrated by: Andi Arndt

A secret admirer’s devotion turns deadly in a twisting novel of psychological suspense.

Mia Anderson is an invisible woman. An unremarkable thirty-two-year-old Tennessee librarian, she’s accustomed to disappearing in a crowd, unseen and unheard. Then she receives an anonymous note: You look beautiful today.

It doesn’t stop there. The attentive stranger—a secret admirer named Adam—has plans for Mia. With each new text comes a suggestion for her hair, clothes, or attitude, and for the first time in memory, Mia feels noticed. Slowly, she develops a confidence in herself she’s never had. But Adam has a surprise coming…and Mia finally sees him for who he is and what he’s prepared to do for her. Even kill.

Fearing she could be implicated in the murder, Mia’s forced to turn to the stranger in the shadows watching her every move. Adam’s game of cat and mouse begins with Mia as the prey. In order to survive, she must also become the predator.

©2023 by Julie Patra Publishing, Inc. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“In this devilishly twisty standalone…Jones reveals her characters’ secrets and motives slowly, expertly ratcheting up the pace before an explosive conclusion. This white-knuckler is not to be missed.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Suspenseful

This was an interesting book. Never knew which way it was going lots of twist and turns . Great ending .

Not what I expected

I didn’t want to finish this title but didn’t want to waste a credit so I did. I’m glad I did the ending is the best part and so unexpected.

Great story, with a weak twist

The first half of the book is rather slow, daily life stuff. You get hints and glipses that something is wrong with the setting early on, but once the second act starts in full force, everything feels lightning fast.

The mistery is interesting at first, with the reveal of the dark side of Mia's secret admirer shifting the story into something very different from the first half. After that, the mistery switches to who might be the secret admirer, but it's not difficult to deduce who it is. When the reveal came, I was waiting for some sort of double fake out, but then it was really what I thought it was and everytthing suddenly ended, all the loose ends tightly shut.

The narration is excellent. Each character feels like they have their own voice.

I liked the story, but the twist didn't feel like a twist at all, rather, I was wondering how Mia didn't pick up on all the clues (there were many).

If you want to read a story with excellent prose and interesting characters, this is the story for you. Just don't expect the ending to surprise you a whole lot.

Very enjoyable

This story drags a bit in places, but is overall a very good read. I have to say that I did not see the end coming. I’m always disappointed when I can unravel the plot too easily, and that certainly didn’t happen here.

Twisted but good

I enjoyed the audio book and the whodunnit storyline. The heroine was not strong but loved her friends and family. She was easily fooled into believing things detrimental to her. Her best friend has a strong personality but stands by her, trying to expand her horizons. Jack is another good friend whose friendship seems so natural. But as Adam plays tricks and starts his murder spree, Mia’s confusion increases but she also starts standing up for herself. It’s a mix of personal growth spurred by threats and murdered. Healthy? Ha!!

I did enjoy the book and was surprised at the end.

Good narration.