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Mia
Not yet published
Expected 11 Aug 26Win a free print copy of this book!
10 days and 11:57:42
10 copies available
U.S. only
A stylish, unsettling work of psychological suspense about an American woman, adrift in Mexico for a year, whose chance encounter with a glamorous older expat spirals into obsession and betrayal.
There’s no one, there’s only you.
When Sally, an American living in San Miguel de Allende, meets Louise outside her children’s school, she’s eager to immerse herself more deeply in the life of the city. In Mexico for just a year with her husband, an architect, Sally is entranced by Louise—her elegance, her harshness, her stories about Burroughs, Ginsberg, and Kerouac—and the two quickly become inseparable. Soon enough, Louise has begun calling her Mia and, at first playfully, then in earnest, introducing Sally as her daughter to a growing circle of friends.
By turns enthralled with the possibility of a new identity in Mexico and troubled by Louise’s magnetic hold over her, Sally attempts to keep the relationship a secret from her husband. As the specter of Sally’s troubled childhood looms, and Louise’s self-mythologizing tightens its grip, the two women test the limits of reinvention—until their fictions threaten the security of Sally’s flesh-and-blood family.
A taut, beguiling work of psychological suspense, Mia is a mother-daughter story turned on its head and a high-intensity fable about the limitations of playing a role that doesn’t belong to you.
There’s no one, there’s only you.
When Sally, an American living in San Miguel de Allende, meets Louise outside her children’s school, she’s eager to immerse herself more deeply in the life of the city. In Mexico for just a year with her husband, an architect, Sally is entranced by Louise—her elegance, her harshness, her stories about Burroughs, Ginsberg, and Kerouac—and the two quickly become inseparable. Soon enough, Louise has begun calling her Mia and, at first playfully, then in earnest, introducing Sally as her daughter to a growing circle of friends.
By turns enthralled with the possibility of a new identity in Mexico and troubled by Louise’s magnetic hold over her, Sally attempts to keep the relationship a secret from her husband. As the specter of Sally’s troubled childhood looms, and Louise’s self-mythologizing tightens its grip, the two women test the limits of reinvention—until their fictions threaten the security of Sally’s flesh-and-blood family.
A taut, beguiling work of psychological suspense, Mia is a mother-daughter story turned on its head and a high-intensity fable about the limitations of playing a role that doesn’t belong to you.
320 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication August 11, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.
Mia captures the intoxicating thrill of being offered the chance to become a different version of yourself.
We follow Sally, who’s living in Mexico and quietly wrestling with her own mommy issues—because do those ever really go away? When a mysterious older woman, Louise, claims a bracelet that may or may not be hers. It's a small, brazen moment sparks everything.
Louise is magnetic and unsettling, and you feel the pull right alongside Sally. As their relationship deepens and identities begin to blur, you can’t help but wonder what you would do in her place. Would you step into the fantasy? Would you let yourself be renamed, reshaped, reimagined?
What makes this story so compelling is how seductive it makes reinvention feel before slowly revealing the cost. The mystery of Louise lingers, but the real tension comes from watching Sally teeter between the life she has and the life she’s being invited to play.
Mia captures the intoxicating thrill of being offered the chance to become a different version of yourself.
We follow Sally, who’s living in Mexico and quietly wrestling with her own mommy issues—because do those ever really go away? When a mysterious older woman, Louise, claims a bracelet that may or may not be hers. It's a small, brazen moment sparks everything.
Louise is magnetic and unsettling, and you feel the pull right alongside Sally. As their relationship deepens and identities begin to blur, you can’t help but wonder what you would do in her place. Would you step into the fantasy? Would you let yourself be renamed, reshaped, reimagined?
What makes this story so compelling is how seductive it makes reinvention feel before slowly revealing the cost. The mystery of Louise lingers, but the real tension comes from watching Sally teeter between the life she has and the life she’s being invited to play.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book was a wild ride and super addicting. I was on edge waiting for things to explode at times, trying to figure out what the deal with Louise is. I was sweating as a watched Sally try and hide things from her husband. This book will make you feel frustrated, confused, afraid, angry, and thrilled and for a psychological suspense book it really is a giant mind game. It’s haunting but in the best way possible for the reader. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Mia was an interesting and slightly unsettling read. The story focuses on the complicated relationship between two women living in San Miguel de Allende , Mexico., and it slowly pulls you into the psychological tension between them. It’s more of a quiet, character, driven story than a fast thriller, but I found it thoughtful and a little haunting. It definitely stayed with me after I finished.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews