Her Perfect Murder

By: AJ Faris

Narrated by: Juli Brooks

Lexi felt so betrayed that she snapped.

And it changed the entire course of her life.

Twenty-eight-year-old Lexi could have had it all, if it weren’t for that fateful night 10 years ago when she was charged with murder.

Now she’s back in her close-knit hometown, Garrison, with a tarnished reputation and a criminal record to match. Her sole mission is to shed her past and learn to live her new life. After all, she already served her time. She spent a decade grieving over what happened to her best friend, even if the details are unclear.

But now that Private Investigator Zac Booth is in town, her plan of moving on is completely derailed. He’s supposedly in town looking into a disappearance from more than 10 years ago. Lexi doesn’t see how she could possibly help. She doesn’t want anything to do with another mystery, even if Zac is undeniably attractive. In fact, he’s the first attractive man she’s seen in a decade who wasn’t telling her to get back to her cell.

Either way, she can’t help him...or can she?

The more she tries to escape the past, the more she learns that her past is not at all what she thought it was.

©2022 AJ Faris (P)2023 AJ Faris

Critic reviews

"Her Perfect Murder is a must-read for fans of romantic suspense and mystery novels. The perfect balance of compelling characters, intricate plot, and vividly portrayed scenes will keep readers engaged and invested until the final page. Highly recommended." (Literary Titan)

An enjoyable 4 1/2 star read

Her Perfect Murder, my first read from author AJ Faris. An enjoyable 199-page read. If you like Audrey Walker or Ava Burrows you'll like AJ Faris.” I received a free Kindle copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review." The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. I look forward to reading more from this author, my next read Don't Look Back: A Psychological Thriller. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

an almost perfect murder?

a woman serves time in prison for murder. upon her release she is forced to relive the the trauma in her own life to help a detective solve a different girl's disappearance. never realizing that case and her own troubles were explicitly interwoven together.

Buckle up for a wild ride!

Her Perfect Murder was my first exposure to A J Faris’s writing/storytelling. When I was offered a review copy of the audiobook for Her Perfect Murder through StoryOrigin, I accepted it based on the title alone. To be honest I’m glad I didn’t read the description because I would not have wanted anything to prepare me for the story I was going to hear. I enjoy murder mysteries and psychological thrillers so listening to this book was great. The overall storyline is one that is sad yet hopeful until it isn’t and once it isn’t this story takes on a new tone that is dark and gritty. I believe I’m going to be looking for more audiobooks by AJ Faris in the future and especially if they are narrated by Juli Brooks. Speaking of Juli Brooks’ excellent narration skills – she took an excellent story and kicked it up a level or two all the while giving each character distinct voices.

Really good book!

This was an excellent audiobook, and I really liked the narrator! I wasn’t sure how this would come to a conclusion, and I was so hoping for a certain ending. I don’t post spoilers, so that’s all I’ll say about it, but I’m a fan now. Great writing!

Crazy Good

Zac and Lexi

Crazy Good

First time listening to author AJ Faris work and boy am I glad I did. Zac and Lexi's investigation of a 10 year old cold case and how it fit in with present incidents was spine tingling and really held my interest. Couldn't make up my mind who the killer was! Juli did an excellent job of narrating.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Twists & Turns

This book had me so whiplashed with all the plot twists and crazy turns. My jaw was dropped throughout the whole thing. You think you know where the story is going and who did it, but then BAM! something else happens and now you’re blaming someone else. A good mystery read!

Good Psychological Thriller

I was very entertained by this story. After returning home from prison, Lexi wanted to just live quietly with her head down and no trouble, but someone just won't let the past die and kept causing problems for her. From the opening paragraphs until almost the end I was absorbed, but there were some unbelievable elements that left me feeling a little flat at the end. Juli Brooks' narration was good, and her performance added to my enjoyment of the story. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

3.75 stars: book & audio; 5 stars: performance

*3.75 stars: Book; 3.75 stars: Audiobook; 5 stars: Performance*

This is a standalone story by (based off her Amazon Page) a new author. I read and listened to the audiobook. I am giving the 3.75 stars to the book and the audiobook for the actual story. I am giving the performance of the narrator, Juli Brooks, 5 stars.

Juli Brooks did a great job bringing this story to life. She was able to hold my attention and deliver a great story.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of this story and seeing how the mystery unfolded. I definitely wasn’t expecting that ending. I was rooting for Lexi to be able to finally enjoy her life after all she had been through. I wasn’t a fan that she waited so long to figure out who and why Zac was pushing her to talk to her about her past. For someone who just wanted to live her life, she didn’t really try hard to live. She seemed to be stuck in her past and do nothing to change it until the “big reveal” at the end.

I would’ve liked more history on Zac as well. I appreciated his dedication to his job and wanting to keep Lexi safe, but I didn’t really connect with him. There was still too much mystery to him for me. The relationship between him and Lexi went from 0 to 60 in no time, but I didn’t really feel their connection either.

The plot had good bones, but there were some things that made me a little confused. Some characters were thrown in that weren’t mentioned again after their appearance, which caused some confusion as to why they were there in the first place. Some of the time frames didn’t add up with certain events either. I also think that this story could go through another round of edits.

While this story wasn’t a favorite of mine, I would be willing to give the AJ Faris another go. Even though there was things I didn’t like about the story, it still held my attention.

I received an advanced readers copy of the e-book via Hidden Gems and the audiobook via StoryOrigin. These thoughts and opinions are my own.

A simple murder that's so much more

Received as an audio review copy from Story Origin, this is an honest review. Beautifully narrated by Juli Brooks, this is one of those mysteries the further you got into the story... they way more complicated the murder and its truth is. All Lexi wants is to leave the harrowing past of being the murderer of a friend behind her and make peace with it. Living in a small town doesn't mean a quiet life and with being desperately hounded by a private investigator Zac Booth; Lexi's forced to seek out the truth of people she put so much trust into that whom were willing to betray Lexi but also make her pay for something Lexi could be truly innocent for.

A worthy, intense journey.

Highly recommended.

A psychological thriller.

I was gifted an Audible version of this book from the author through Story Origin.

I would call this a psychological thriller. It really messed with my mind. Such interesting characters, a complicated plot, but not enough steam. A sweet, slow romance. Learning her past was not at all what she thought. His past heart break making him the sweetest person. Solving the multiple mysteries. An unexpected ending. All so very entertaining.

The narration need more expression. 4 stars for the narrator.