Reviews

You Shouldn't Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose

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jennifertheadult's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

gaby_readsss's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose 🥀 🔪🏡

This book has cemented Jeneva Rose as one of my favorite authors. You Shouldn’t Have Come Here is the second book of hers I’ve read and it was an exhilarating read that kept me hooked from page one! 🫣

There was something I particularly loved about this book. At first it read as one of those small town romances where our main female character goes on a getaway and meets the handsome country boy. Everything feels right until it doesn’t. You quickly get enveloped in a sinister and dangerous environment that shifts the entire tone of the book. As both a romance and a thriller reader, I found this to be a perfect combination of my favorite genres. 🩷🔪

The “cute” obsession quickly turned into “creepy” obsession. At times, I found myself wanting to root for Calvin and thinking, “Oh maybe he’s not so bad after all”. I was gaslighted too, but boy was I wrong about him. About a lot of things… 😬🫣

You should have seen my reaction when reading the last pages of this book. My jaw was on the floor. I was grossed out, shocked, and thinking, “What in the f*ck!?” 😨 I had my theories, but honestly didn’t see that level of batshit craziness coming.

I’ve read other reviews where people think the writing is awful and cringe, like how Calvin continuously describes Grace’s eyes as “Blue, blue eyes”.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I feel like that should tell you how weird and creepy his character is. Nobody talks like that. I feel that the author was trying to point out his obsession with Grace by how much he repeated it in his head. (These are just my thoughts and it’s okay to have different opinions about books though 👍🏽).

There’s some things I would have liked to know the answer to, like what happened to Charlotte and how much did she know?, or why didn’t the police guy found the horrible things inside Calvin’s house after being there like four times?! Still, I really enjoyed this book and would consider it a new favorite thriller book of mine. A sequel would be great!

I would recommend this book if you like:

romance but make it thriller and creepy
the show You on Netflix
short books
cliché tropes in thrillers: no wifi, car breaks down, isolated location… but oh, so many twists!

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️ (2/5)

Content Warnings

c_marie_writes's review against another edition

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4.0

I rounded this one up from 3.5 stars, because it was slightly better than just ok. The writing was easy to read, the story definitely had some nice twisty parts to it, but the ending just didn't click for me.

Grace/Avery was definitely an interesting character, even though no one seemed to really specify why "she shouldn't have come there". I was sort of waiting, and waiting, .... and waiting for something to come out as to why some many people in that small town said that. (Or maybe just Betty a couple times)

I suspected Calvin pretty much right off the bat, and his relationships with his family and friends just all seemed fake to me right away.

All in all it was a pretty good book, but not quite enough.

And who the heck stays in an AirBnB room? I've only ever stayed in ones where you get the whole thing to yourself. This one felt more like a traditional bed and breakfast... just saying.

drbookbabe's review against another edition

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3.0

The overall storyline was good. However, it was very cheesy, and there were so many analogies to describe how the male character felt about the female character. It was too much. I enjoyed the book and it was pretty fast paced. I kind of figured how the book was going to end, but I thought it was going to have more of a connection than it did, so it did keep me guessing. Overall, 2.5, but rounding to 3 stars.