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Bad Intentions
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Expected 25 Aug 26Win a free print copy of this book!
17 days and 18:54:24
25 copies available
U.S. only
The next heart-pounding thriller from bestselling author Iliana Xander.
Josie Boots messed up. Really badly.
So she returns to her small hometown of Burnville to care for her ailing grandmother.
It's been twenty-five years since an unspeakable crime rocked Burnville.
Twenty-five years since her grandmother's trial.
Twenty-two years since her mother's death.
Six years since Josie was called the "bad seed."
Two months since she proved them right.
Josie just can't catch a break.
Maybe, finally, she can find peace in Burnville. But then a stranger shows up, promising to tell Josie all about her family's dark past. When Josie goes to meet him, a brutal crime happens right in front of her eyes.
Josie was born out of secrets, and they all start clawing their way to the surface. They say history repeats itself, except this time, the past isn't repeating, it's hunting her. And it might be deadly.
Josie Boots messed up. Really badly.
So she returns to her small hometown of Burnville to care for her ailing grandmother.
It's been twenty-five years since an unspeakable crime rocked Burnville.
Twenty-five years since her grandmother's trial.
Twenty-two years since her mother's death.
Six years since Josie was called the "bad seed."
Two months since she proved them right.
Josie just can't catch a break.
Maybe, finally, she can find peace in Burnville. But then a stranger shows up, promising to tell Josie all about her family's dark past. When Josie goes to meet him, a brutal crime happens right in front of her eyes.
Josie was born out of secrets, and they all start clawing their way to the surface. They say history repeats itself, except this time, the past isn't repeating, it's hunting her. And it might be deadly.
352 pages, Paperback
Expected publication August 25, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 301 reviews
July 16, 2026
Iliana Xander can write the craziest stories, and I will enjoy the experience every time. I went into Bad Intentions (mostly) blind, and was instantly trying to figure out what was going on. It starts as a bit of small town drama and suspense, and quickly devolves into a chaos circus with a backstory (complimentary). At no point in this story did I accurately predict where it was headed, and I really enjoyed the twists. The multiple POVs provided so much dimension to the story, and I appreciated seeing events from different perspectives throughout. That epilogue was the perfect final note, and is absolutely required reading.
Bad Intentions releases on August 25, 2026. Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for gifting me with an eARC (via Netgalley widget), all thoughts expressed are my own.
Bad Intentions releases on August 25, 2026. Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for gifting me with an eARC (via Netgalley widget), all thoughts expressed are my own.
June 6, 2026
I read ‘Love, Mom’ at the start of the year & absolutely ate it up! The bar was set high & Iliana Xander did not disappoint👏🏻
This thriller was addictive - I devoured it & struggled to put it down (even when sleep was calling my name🫠) Any book that has the ability to tug at my heart strings one chapter, then absolutely blow my mind the next is a 5⭐️ read for me!
Straight away, this book shocked me so I was immediately drawn in. The change of perspectives & timelines was executed so seamlessly that it was easy to follow. The twists though🤯 My mind was reeling!
If you love a psychological thriller where the secrets are continuously layered, tension builds & revelations make your jaw physically drop, this one’s for you📖
This thriller was addictive - I devoured it & struggled to put it down (even when sleep was calling my name🫠) Any book that has the ability to tug at my heart strings one chapter, then absolutely blow my mind the next is a 5⭐️ read for me!
Straight away, this book shocked me so I was immediately drawn in. The change of perspectives & timelines was executed so seamlessly that it was easy to follow. The twists though🤯 My mind was reeling!
If you love a psychological thriller where the secrets are continuously layered, tension builds & revelations make your jaw physically drop, this one’s for you📖
July 23, 2026
Recently “cancelled”, Josie Boots returns to her hometown of Burnville to care for her ailing grandmother, Karen. But once she’s back, the town’s old secrets start resurfacing, and it quickly becomes clear she’s not the only one who’s returned… 👀
While Josie’s cancellation certainly gives her another reason to come home alongside Karen’s declining health, it ended up being the one storyline that didn’t quite land for me. There was so much build-up surrounding what had happened that I was expecting a bigger payoff, but it never quite got there.
It was a little slow to get going, but at around the 30% mark everything started falling into place and the pacing took off. From there, I was hooked. The final reveals (and there are quite a few!) were executed fabulously, and I really enjoyed just how twisty this turned out to be.
If you’re after a thriller packed with family secrets, small-town drama and plenty of twists, I’d definitely recommend picking this one up. A fab popcorn thriller!
While Josie’s cancellation certainly gives her another reason to come home alongside Karen’s declining health, it ended up being the one storyline that didn’t quite land for me. There was so much build-up surrounding what had happened that I was expecting a bigger payoff, but it never quite got there.
It was a little slow to get going, but at around the 30% mark everything started falling into place and the pacing took off. From there, I was hooked. The final reveals (and there are quite a few!) were executed fabulously, and I really enjoyed just how twisty this turned out to be.
If you’re after a thriller packed with family secrets, small-town drama and plenty of twists, I’d definitely recommend picking this one up. A fab popcorn thriller!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
4.25 ⭐️⭐️ Wow! Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the pre-release read of this title! What a wild ride! My first Iliana Xander book and it did not disappoint 👏 The book was fast paced and nice short easy to read chapters. Told from different POVs with alternating time lines. You think you know and then BAM, you don't! Kept me guessing and kept me up reading way past my bedtime lol. Definitely recommend this book for a good, face paced thriller that keeps you wondering "who done it?".
June 26, 2026
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of Bad Intentions! This one was a win for me and earned a solid 4 stars. It hooked me from the very first chapter and kept me invested the entire time. I really enjoyed the dual POVs, they added depth to the story and kept the suspense building.
Rika ended up being one of my favorite side characters. She brought so much to the story, and her friendship with Josie added another layer that made the plot even more engaging. I also spent the entire book worried about grandma and desperately hoping she'd be okay… like that stressed me outttt. The epilogue is what truly ties everything together, so whatever you do, don't skip it. It reveals a key piece of the story that makes the ending even more satisfying.
Rika ended up being one of my favorite side characters. She brought so much to the story, and her friendship with Josie added another layer that made the plot even more engaging. I also spent the entire book worried about grandma and desperately hoping she'd be okay… like that stressed me outttt. The epilogue is what truly ties everything together, so whatever you do, don't skip it. It reveals a key piece of the story that makes the ending even more satisfying.
July 29, 2026
I enjoy these authors books, they are easy to read, fast paced, catchy thrillers with down to earth characters. Out of the three books i’ve read, this plot took me longer to get into. At the half way mark i grew invested in the characters and enjoyed watching the scenes unfold. An auto read author if you enjoy easy to read thrillers with twisty surprises
July 9, 2026
2.5⭐️ This was a little slow to get into and kind of felt all over the place. I wasn’t sure where this book was going, different things kept happening, time frames were back and forth without any warning, there was no rhyme or reason as to whose POV was next, it was just really messy. I feel like the ending pulled itself together to find out what actually happened, but then there’s just another piece of plot dropped at the end and then the end. Idk, prob wouldn’t recommend.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for my ARC!
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for my ARC!
June 28, 2026
Thank you to Net Galley and Poison Press for the ARC of this title.
I went into this one totally blind, not knowing what to expect. I loved the last book I read by the author so I had high hopes. The story intrigued me from the beginning. I was invested in Josie and Karen and what they were both hiding. It was a bit slow but the ending was full of twists and turns. Some were easy to guess but others were not. This was a quick read and kept my attention but not my fav. 3.5 stars
I went into this one totally blind, not knowing what to expect. I loved the last book I read by the author so I had high hopes. The story intrigued me from the beginning. I was invested in Josie and Karen and what they were both hiding. It was a bit slow but the ending was full of twists and turns. Some were easy to guess but others were not. This was a quick read and kept my attention but not my fav. 3.5 stars
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I’ve read Iliana Xander’s previous books and really enjoyed them, so I was super happy to be approved for this one.
Overall, this was a good read.
The pacing is a mix of slow burn and faster moments, which kept things interesting, even if it dragged a bit here and there.
As the blurb says, Josie returns to her small hometown after a series of misfortunes and while trying to take care of her sick grandmother. Growing up, she’s always heard whispers about her family. Everyone knows bits of what happened to her mother, her father is a mystery and her grandmother has a past that people don’t forget.
And of course… small town = secrets.
Everyone knows everyone, everyone has something to hide and everyone is willing to protect those secrets, no matter what.
Things take a turn when Josie is contacted by a stranger who claims to have answers. And from there? Chaos. We get stalking, murder and a lot of unhinged situations. At one point, everyone is suspicious and you can't really trust anyone either.
That part was really fun to read.
What frustrated me the most though… was Karen, the grandmother.
I understand she wanted to protect Josie and keep things hidden, but the constant refusal to talk, only to suddenly decide “okay, now we talk” after dragging things out… it got annoying. It felt like unnecessary tension at times.
While I found parts of the story a bit predictable, especially with the small-town setup, it didn’t completely take away from the enjoyment AND the final reveal was definitely on the more unhinged side, in a good way and that it really managed to surprise me.
Overall, a solid and entertaining thriller, perfect for a chill night.
⭐ 3.75–4 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the ARC!
Overall, this was a good read.
The pacing is a mix of slow burn and faster moments, which kept things interesting, even if it dragged a bit here and there.
As the blurb says, Josie returns to her small hometown after a series of misfortunes and while trying to take care of her sick grandmother. Growing up, she’s always heard whispers about her family. Everyone knows bits of what happened to her mother, her father is a mystery and her grandmother has a past that people don’t forget.
And of course… small town = secrets.
Everyone knows everyone, everyone has something to hide and everyone is willing to protect those secrets, no matter what.
Things take a turn when Josie is contacted by a stranger who claims to have answers. And from there? Chaos. We get stalking, murder and a lot of unhinged situations. At one point, everyone is suspicious and you can't really trust anyone either.
That part was really fun to read.
What frustrated me the most though… was Karen, the grandmother.
I understand she wanted to protect Josie and keep things hidden, but the constant refusal to talk, only to suddenly decide “okay, now we talk” after dragging things out… it got annoying. It felt like unnecessary tension at times.
While I found parts of the story a bit predictable, especially with the small-town setup, it didn’t completely take away from the enjoyment AND the final reveal was definitely on the more unhinged side, in a good way and that it really managed to surprise me.
Overall, a solid and entertaining thriller, perfect for a chill night.
⭐ 3.75–4 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the ARC!
June 17, 2026
Bad Intentions, a sort of mystery/murder mystery
After a viral video got her "cancelled" and her grandmother being sick, FMC Josie is back in her hometown of Burnville, somewhere she did not plan to move back to. There are so many secrets from her past, and since her Grandmother refuses to give the details, Josie makes the decision to meet a stranger to get to the truth. But, she never quite makes his acquaintance, and then the twists and turns keep coming until Josie finally learns the truth about what happened 25 years ago.
I really enjoyed the dual POV we get with Josie, and her grandmother. The super slow reveal of this murder mystery made the book unputdownable! I felt for Josie, because I too would want so desperately to know what actually happened with the rumors of her mom and grandmother and murder swirling about. Meeting an anonymous stranger at night seems a bit risky though, and poor Josie finds herself back on the same roller coaster her mom and grandmother were on 25 years ago. It seems like the ghosts of the past never really left, and are there to get their own kind of sick and twisted revenge.
Rika is a great character, and fast friend to Josie, someone she really needed to help her through the mess. As Josie gets deeper into the mystery, she herself ends up getting caught right in the middle of yet another murder mystery.
The end was quite interesting, as it revealed even more about one of the characters that nobody expected!!
Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press, Netgalley, and the author for a copy of this book!
Some fav quotes:
"It’s a split-second, I’m-going-to-leave-so-no-one-will-know-I-was-here-and-things-will-be-fine decision. The kind often made on reflex when you end up in crappy situations that might involve law enforcement."
"But this sound replaying in my brain is much worse. Because I wasn’t the one in the car. I watched it happen. That sound had texture. The slurping of the rain. The dull blow of the impact. And something else, like bones breaking, a person’s flesh being smashed, the insides being mangled. The skull cracking against the pavement…"
"Bad idea? Probably. But bad ideas are often something that we thought we could handle, only to find out later we didn’t even have a chance."
"I promised myself I’d never forgive the betrayal all those years ago. But the person I called is the only one who knows everything that happened that fateful night of the fire."
"How do you tell a dead body from a prop? The smell."
"Sometimes, beautiful things are born out of terrible secrets. Go figure."
After a viral video got her "cancelled" and her grandmother being sick, FMC Josie is back in her hometown of Burnville, somewhere she did not plan to move back to. There are so many secrets from her past, and since her Grandmother refuses to give the details, Josie makes the decision to meet a stranger to get to the truth. But, she never quite makes his acquaintance, and then the twists and turns keep coming until Josie finally learns the truth about what happened 25 years ago.
I really enjoyed the dual POV we get with Josie, and her grandmother. The super slow reveal of this murder mystery made the book unputdownable! I felt for Josie, because I too would want so desperately to know what actually happened with the rumors of her mom and grandmother and murder swirling about. Meeting an anonymous stranger at night seems a bit risky though, and poor Josie finds herself back on the same roller coaster her mom and grandmother were on 25 years ago. It seems like the ghosts of the past never really left, and are there to get their own kind of sick and twisted revenge.
Rika is a great character, and fast friend to Josie, someone she really needed to help her through the mess. As Josie gets deeper into the mystery, she herself ends up getting caught right in the middle of yet another murder mystery.
The end was quite interesting, as it revealed even more about one of the characters that nobody expected!!
Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press, Netgalley, and the author for a copy of this book!
Some fav quotes:
"It’s a split-second, I’m-going-to-leave-so-no-one-will-know-I-was-here-and-things-will-be-fine decision. The kind often made on reflex when you end up in crappy situations that might involve law enforcement."
"But this sound replaying in my brain is much worse. Because I wasn’t the one in the car. I watched it happen. That sound had texture. The slurping of the rain. The dull blow of the impact. And something else, like bones breaking, a person’s flesh being smashed, the insides being mangled. The skull cracking against the pavement…"
"Bad idea? Probably. But bad ideas are often something that we thought we could handle, only to find out later we didn’t even have a chance."
"I promised myself I’d never forgive the betrayal all those years ago. But the person I called is the only one who knows everything that happened that fateful night of the fire."
"How do you tell a dead body from a prop? The smell."
"Sometimes, beautiful things are born out of terrible secrets. Go figure."
July 30, 2026
🦋 T H R I L L E R T H U R S D A Y review 🦋 featuring “Bad Intentions” by Iliana Xander!
Josie Boots has a reputation around her small hometown of Burnsville, Pennsylvania as being a bad seed. Twenty five years ago a horrific crime shook the town that was directly linked to the three generations of Boots women.
Josie couldn’t wait to leave town to pursue her dreams of having a career in music, however a scandalous recording of her gets exposed and suddenly she is getting cancelled. She returns back to Burnsville with her tail between her legs to hide out, get some peace and also take care of her sick grandmother.
Upon her return, Josie receives some anonymous text messages from someone claiming to know all about her family’s dark past. Desperate to find out more about what happened 25 years ago, she decides to take the bait. Her grandmother had stood on trial for murder back then and Josie knows there is a lot more to the story beyond the whispers and rumours she grew up listening to.
💭 A tight lipped small town, a notorious family, generational trauma and resurfacing dark secrets … this thriller has it all! Josie has lived in the shadows of her mother and grandmother’s pasts and is trying to escape the reputation that follows her everywhere she goes. The big secret taunts readers as there is a slow burn to get to the truth. Murder, stalking, bad intentions and twisted revenge are all juicy themes in this novel that will make you feel stuck in the middle of complete chaos!
Thank you kindly to @ilianaxander.author @poisonedpenpress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on August 25, 2026!
Josie Boots has a reputation around her small hometown of Burnsville, Pennsylvania as being a bad seed. Twenty five years ago a horrific crime shook the town that was directly linked to the three generations of Boots women.
Josie couldn’t wait to leave town to pursue her dreams of having a career in music, however a scandalous recording of her gets exposed and suddenly she is getting cancelled. She returns back to Burnsville with her tail between her legs to hide out, get some peace and also take care of her sick grandmother.
Upon her return, Josie receives some anonymous text messages from someone claiming to know all about her family’s dark past. Desperate to find out more about what happened 25 years ago, she decides to take the bait. Her grandmother had stood on trial for murder back then and Josie knows there is a lot more to the story beyond the whispers and rumours she grew up listening to.
💭 A tight lipped small town, a notorious family, generational trauma and resurfacing dark secrets … this thriller has it all! Josie has lived in the shadows of her mother and grandmother’s pasts and is trying to escape the reputation that follows her everywhere she goes. The big secret taunts readers as there is a slow burn to get to the truth. Murder, stalking, bad intentions and twisted revenge are all juicy themes in this novel that will make you feel stuck in the middle of complete chaos!
Thank you kindly to @ilianaxander.author @poisonedpenpress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on August 25, 2026!
July 12, 2026
I received Bad Intentions by Iliana Xander as an ARC. Thank you to Iliana Xander, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
After returning to her small hometown of Burnville to care for her ailing grandmother, Josie hopes to finally find some peace. But Burnville is filled with dark secrets, and Josie’s family has been at the center of them for decades. When a stranger offers to reveal the truth about her family’s past, Josie agrees to meet him—only to witness a brutal crime. As long-buried secrets begin to surface, Josie realizes the past isn’t just repeating itself… it’s coming after her.
The first book I read by Iliana Xander was Love, Mom, and I absolutely loved it. I’m so happy to say that Bad Intentions did not disappoint. Just like her previous novel, this is a gripping thriller that is incredibly hard to put down.
Iliana Xander has a way of pulling readers in from the very first page. She masterfully drops just enough breadcrumbs throughout the story to keep you guessing while making it impossible to stop reading. Every time I thought I had things figured out, another clue or twist had me second-guessing myself.
This was one of those books that had me staying up way too late because I needed to know what happened next—and then reaching for it again first thing in the morning. If you’re a fan of fast-paced thrillers filled with family secrets, suspense, and twists, this is one you’ll definitely want to pick up.
After returning to her small hometown of Burnville to care for her ailing grandmother, Josie hopes to finally find some peace. But Burnville is filled with dark secrets, and Josie’s family has been at the center of them for decades. When a stranger offers to reveal the truth about her family’s past, Josie agrees to meet him—only to witness a brutal crime. As long-buried secrets begin to surface, Josie realizes the past isn’t just repeating itself… it’s coming after her.
The first book I read by Iliana Xander was Love, Mom, and I absolutely loved it. I’m so happy to say that Bad Intentions did not disappoint. Just like her previous novel, this is a gripping thriller that is incredibly hard to put down.
Iliana Xander has a way of pulling readers in from the very first page. She masterfully drops just enough breadcrumbs throughout the story to keep you guessing while making it impossible to stop reading. Every time I thought I had things figured out, another clue or twist had me second-guessing myself.
This was one of those books that had me staying up way too late because I needed to know what happened next—and then reaching for it again first thing in the morning. If you’re a fan of fast-paced thrillers filled with family secrets, suspense, and twists, this is one you’ll definitely want to pick up.
July 13, 2026
I expected this one to be more fast-paced, like Iliana’s previous books, but it was a much slower burn. It didn’t really pick up until around the 70% mark, and for much of the story I found myself wondering where it was heading. At times, the plot felt a little scattered.
Once it reached the final third, though, everything came together. The pace ramped up, and the ending delivered plenty of twists that made the slower buildup worthwhile. The story is told through multiple POVs and shifts between the past and present, which kept me engaged throughout. If you enjoy small-town crime thrillers with layered mysteries, this one will likely be right up your alley.
Josie Boots never knew her mother.
But everyone in the small town of Burnville had heard the rumours.
Raised by her grandmother, Karen, Josie has always wanted to know the truth behind the whispers.
Who was her father? How did her mother die? And what really happened twenty-five years ago that led to a local man found dead, and Karen being accused of murder?
The Boots family have a bad reputation. Karen has never revealed the family’s secrets – but Josie is tired of waiting. So when a stranger reaches out offering her answers, she jumps at the chance to meet him.
But in Burnville, when you start digging up the past, you risk setting the whole town alight...
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review
Publication date : Aug 25, 2026
Once it reached the final third, though, everything came together. The pace ramped up, and the ending delivered plenty of twists that made the slower buildup worthwhile. The story is told through multiple POVs and shifts between the past and present, which kept me engaged throughout. If you enjoy small-town crime thrillers with layered mysteries, this one will likely be right up your alley.
Josie Boots never knew her mother.
But everyone in the small town of Burnville had heard the rumours.
Raised by her grandmother, Karen, Josie has always wanted to know the truth behind the whispers.
Who was her father? How did her mother die? And what really happened twenty-five years ago that led to a local man found dead, and Karen being accused of murder?
The Boots family have a bad reputation. Karen has never revealed the family’s secrets – but Josie is tired of waiting. So when a stranger reaches out offering her answers, she jumps at the chance to meet him.
But in Burnville, when you start digging up the past, you risk setting the whole town alight...
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review
Publication date : Aug 25, 2026
June 29, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned press for this advanced arc! This book had me hooked from the start! I loved the chaos and the intensity! This whole book was a super trip down crazy lane! This is the first book I have read from this author and I will for sure be grabbing all the others.
Josie has made a huge mistake and ends up going back to her small town she grew up in to cower and reel from the backlash of being cancelled. Now that she is home taking care of her ill grandmother. Things start happening that pertain to her past, her mother grandmother had secrets and now Josie is having to watch her back as secrets start to surface.
This book was so good I soaked it up in one sitting! If you are looking for a fly by flash thriller. This is it!
Josie has made a huge mistake and ends up going back to her small town she grew up in to cower and reel from the backlash of being cancelled. Now that she is home taking care of her ill grandmother. Things start happening that pertain to her past, her mother grandmother had secrets and now Josie is having to watch her back as secrets start to surface.
This book was so good I soaked it up in one sitting! If you are looking for a fly by flash thriller. This is it!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
“Josie Boots messed up. Really badly… They say history repeats itself. Except this time, the past isn’t repeating… It’s hunting her. And it might be deadly…” 😱😱
After ‘Love, Mom’, I was really excited to read ‘Bad Intentions’. And again, Iliana Xander did not disappoint.
This book had me hooked from the very first page. I loved how the story kept revealing the long-buried secrets along the way.
‘Bad Intentions’ is an addictive, entertaining and suspenful read with short chapters. I really struggled to put it down. There were plenty of twists I did not see coming. Also enjoyed the multiple POV’s.
Thank you NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
After ‘Love, Mom’, I was really excited to read ‘Bad Intentions’. And again, Iliana Xander did not disappoint.
This book had me hooked from the very first page. I loved how the story kept revealing the long-buried secrets along the way.
‘Bad Intentions’ is an addictive, entertaining and suspenful read with short chapters. I really struggled to put it down. There were plenty of twists I did not see coming. Also enjoyed the multiple POV’s.
Thank you NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
August 3, 2026
Bad Intentions by Ileana Xander was a twisted, revenge-filled popcorn thriller that definitely kept me curious. The story had plenty of drama, secrets, questionable decisions, and moments that made me wonder just how far these characters were willing to go.
While I enjoyed the revenge aspect and the overall premise, some parts didn’t completely land for me, and I found myself wanting a little more depth and development. Still, it was a quick, entertaining read that kept me turning the pages.
If you enjoy messy characters, revenge stories, and bingeable thrillers, this may be one to add to your TBR!
Publishes August 25, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
While I enjoyed the revenge aspect and the overall premise, some parts didn’t completely land for me, and I found myself wanting a little more depth and development. Still, it was a quick, entertaining read that kept me turning the pages.
If you enjoy messy characters, revenge stories, and bingeable thrillers, this may be one to add to your TBR!
Publishes August 25, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
June 17, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC.
After reading Love, Mom last year, I was hoping Iliana Xander would deliver another great thriller with Bad Intentions—and she absolutely did. This was a fast-paced, gripping read from start to finish. The story is told through multiple perspectives and timelines, but it’s structured in a way that’s easy to follow and keeps the suspense building. I’m always drawn to small-town settings filled with secrets, and this one delivered exactly that. I highly recommend it!
After reading Love, Mom last year, I was hoping Iliana Xander would deliver another great thriller with Bad Intentions—and she absolutely did. This was a fast-paced, gripping read from start to finish. The story is told through multiple perspectives and timelines, but it’s structured in a way that’s easy to follow and keeps the suspense building. I’m always drawn to small-town settings filled with secrets, and this one delivered exactly that. I highly recommend it!
June 12, 2026
Iliana’s first two books were fast-paced popcorn thrillers so when I picked this one up I was hoping for the same read in a day type of book. Unfortunately, this fell more into the slow burn category for me.
Bad Intentions starts right in the middle of a pretty dramatic scene with little to no explanation. The rest of the book seemed disjointed with alternating POV and timelines without the time period listed in the chapter title.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Bad Intentions starts right in the middle of a pretty dramatic scene with little to no explanation. The rest of the book seemed disjointed with alternating POV and timelines without the time period listed in the chapter title.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
August 6, 2026
If you enjoy small-town domestic thrillers, you’ll definitely want to check this one out. Josie returns home to care for her grandmother, the woman who raised her. She wasn’t happy to be back in the small town she’d fled, but a sudden turn of events forced her to make the decision. It’s a bit slow-paced at first, but it picks up and throws you into a world of suspense that keeps you guessing. Once you start, you’ll find it hard to put down.
July 15, 2026
i tried very hard to enjoy this because the premise was really interesting, but it's a shame i ended up disliking a lot more aspects to the book than i liked.
the main thing that didn't work for me here is the writing. it was a bit too choppy for me to fully immerse myself into and the first half of the book was just going around in circles while somehow not adding anything to the plot. also, the way the 24-year-old fmc talks was really grating. her personality is pretty flat and the few times she did show some emotion, she would talk like a high schooler: "oh. my. gosh." or "are. you. kidding me?" it was insufferable.
i also didn't care for the way things were revealed towards the end. that kind of scene just felt a tad overplayed in the genre. the plot twists didn't really leave much of an impact and the last chapter especially seemed like it was just thrown in there. probably hoping for a shock factor but ultimately was just underwhelming.
i did appreciate the short chapters which made reading feel very fast, much like most thrillers do, and added a bit of excitement. overall, i don't really think i would recommend this. sorry.
thank you to netgalley and poisoned pen press for the arc! all opinions are my own.
the main thing that didn't work for me here is the writing. it was a bit too choppy for me to fully immerse myself into and the first half of the book was just going around in circles while somehow not adding anything to the plot. also, the way the 24-year-old fmc talks was really grating. her personality is pretty flat and the few times she did show some emotion, she would talk like a high schooler: "oh. my. gosh." or "are. you. kidding me?" it was insufferable.
i also didn't care for the way things were revealed towards the end. that kind of scene just felt a tad overplayed in the genre. the plot twists didn't really leave much of an impact and the last chapter especially seemed like it was just thrown in there. probably hoping for a shock factor but ultimately was just underwhelming.
i did appreciate the short chapters which made reading feel very fast, much like most thrillers do, and added a bit of excitement. overall, i don't really think i would recommend this. sorry.
thank you to netgalley and poisoned pen press for the arc! all opinions are my own.
July 24, 2026
This is a solid 4⭐️ read. I don’t think anything will top “Love Mom” but I did enjoy this one. Very fast paced and straight into the action, loved the little twists and turns as well.
June 28, 2026
Yet another winner from this author!
The smaller the town the bigger the secrets and that holds true for Burnsville. This book kept me guessing until the end and then the final chapter still has me thinking. Wow!
The smaller the town the bigger the secrets and that holds true for Burnsville. This book kept me guessing until the end and then the final chapter still has me thinking. Wow!
June 27, 2026
ARC from NetGalley
I ended up giving Bad Intentions 2.5 stars. This book follows a woman returning to her small hometown after being canceled online, only to get wrapped up in uncovering the truth behind a decades-old crime involving her own family.
One thing I really appreciated was the pacing. The chapters were short, which made it incredibly easy to keep reading, and I flew through the book in just a couple of hours. It’s definitely a bingeable read.
Unfortunately, the mystery didn’t quite land for me. I found the first few twists to be fairly predictable, so they didn’t have much of an impact. I kept waiting for a reveal that would genuinely surprise me, but I was able to see most of the major twists coming.
I also wasn’t a fan of the epilogue. After everything that happened, it didn’t feel like the strongest way to end the story.
I ended up giving Bad Intentions 2.5 stars. This book follows a woman returning to her small hometown after being canceled online, only to get wrapped up in uncovering the truth behind a decades-old crime involving her own family.
One thing I really appreciated was the pacing. The chapters were short, which made it incredibly easy to keep reading, and I flew through the book in just a couple of hours. It’s definitely a bingeable read.
Unfortunately, the mystery didn’t quite land for me. I found the first few twists to be fairly predictable, so they didn’t have much of an impact. I kept waiting for a reveal that would genuinely surprise me, but I was able to see most of the major twists coming.
I also wasn’t a fan of the epilogue. After everything that happened, it didn’t feel like the strongest way to end the story.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
⚠️ Spoiler warning! ⚠️
I want to thank Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy to review.
I don't even know where to begin with this one. The premise sounded like exactly the kind of thriller I usually enjoy: family secrets, murders, a small town haunted by the past. Instead, I found myself wondering whether the mystery would ever actually begin, and then once I realized there wasn't really a mystery I was just begging for it to be over.
The first thirty-five pages are painfully slow, and even after that the novel spends an incredible amount of time repeating the same information without adding anything new. At 17%, I realized I'd already read the same complaints, the same conversations, and the same observations multiple times. The writing feels circular, constantly revisiting ideas instead of moving the story forward.
Unfortunately, the characters don't help.
Josie is one of the most unlikeable protagonists I've read in a long time. She looks down on everyone from small towns simply because she moved to the big city a couple of years ago (and now she's back with her tail between her legs, mind you), stereotypes people constantly, complains about the same things over and over again, and somehow manages to act both superior and irrational at the same time. Her behaviour changes whenever the plot needs it to, so I never had any sense of who she actually was.
The relationship between Josie and Rika was equally frustrating. For two women in their twenties who are convinced they're superior to everyone around them, they spend an astonishing amount of time behaving like teenagers. Their constant drama quickly became exhausting. Even worse, the novel initially builds obvious sexual tension between them, flirting and all—only to later reveal they're half-sisters. I don't think that revelation has the effect the author intended.
The dialogue doesn't sound like anything real people would ever say. Characters constantly repeat each other's names during conversations, over and over again. Nobody talks like that.
Then there are the editing problems.
The novel mentions technology available in the early 2000s that simply wasn't available at the time. A minor but distracting issue. More frustrating are the continuity errors. Karen heavily implies at one point that Josie and Rika share the same father, yet later reacts with complete shock when DNA confirms exactly that. Either she knew or she didn't. It can't be both.
The mystery itself never worked for me because every supposed twist felt obvious long before it arrived. It reminded me of a novel desperately trying to become the next Gone Girl without understanding what made Gone Girl work in the first place.
The investigation also requires you to ignore... well... almost everything you know about police procedure. Apparently Steve, the chief of police, is perfectly happy to risk his career—and potentially prison—by illegally entering someone's home without a warrant, interrogating a suspect improperly, and even discussing planting evidence to secure an arrest.
The novel also relies heavily on shock value. There is an uncomfortable amount of slut-shaming throughout the story, and several sex scenes read like they wandered in from badly written fanfiction. The humour tries very hard to be clever, but more often than not it simply made me cringe.
And speaking of cringe... If Mallory had called Josie "Bootsie" one more time, I might have thrown my Kobo out the window.
The ending somehow manages to become even more confusing than everything leading up to it. We're apparently supposed to believe that a group of seventy-year-old grandmothers have enough firearms hidden in their homes to make Jack Bauer jealous. Karen's cancer seems to improve overnight simply because Derek dies. It is revealed that Derek is in fact run over with a car at the beginning, just like Josie witnessed, left for dead, somehow survives, and returns to Mallory's house to die there instead. How did he survive being run over by Donna's car? I genuinely don't understand the sequence of events or how things worked out or how some characters got to point A to point B and everything that happened in between.
I also don't understand why Karen and Donna stopped speaking for thirty years, because the explanation never really arrives. After Victoria and Alysha find Dougie, what happens exactly that Donna and Karen stop talking for years and apparently hate each other? I think the author wanted Victoria to end up dying and Donna blaming Karen and she wrote the first chapters with that in mind, but then she went with another idea and Dougie died instead.
Speaking of Dougie, his family is mentioned several times at the beginning and it seems like it's building up to them being a big part of the story because they hold a grudge, but nothing really happens, they don't even appear once.
Then comes the epilogue. Connor, who was mentioned in passing like once 150 pages ago and if I recall correctly Josie implied she would have tried to have sex with him if she weren't trying to approach Rika, suddenly possesses investigative abilities that seem to surpass the FBI simply because he works in IT. Somehow he discovers everything, somehow he knows Mallory was responsible, somehow he learns Derek is dead, somehow he finds out that Derek has fathered more children than Captain von Trapp had in The Sound of Music (the only part I find sort of believable), but it is never explained how he put two and two together. He just did.
None of it feels earned. Nothing ties together. Nothing really makes sense.
By the time I reached the final fifty pages, my main question was no longer "Who did it?" but "How much longer is this book?"
This wasn't just a disappointing thriller—it was the worst book I've read this year. I'm genuinely relieved it's over. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
I want to thank Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy to review.
I don't even know where to begin with this one. The premise sounded like exactly the kind of thriller I usually enjoy: family secrets, murders, a small town haunted by the past. Instead, I found myself wondering whether the mystery would ever actually begin, and then once I realized there wasn't really a mystery I was just begging for it to be over.
The first thirty-five pages are painfully slow, and even after that the novel spends an incredible amount of time repeating the same information without adding anything new. At 17%, I realized I'd already read the same complaints, the same conversations, and the same observations multiple times. The writing feels circular, constantly revisiting ideas instead of moving the story forward.
Unfortunately, the characters don't help.
Josie is one of the most unlikeable protagonists I've read in a long time. She looks down on everyone from small towns simply because she moved to the big city a couple of years ago (and now she's back with her tail between her legs, mind you), stereotypes people constantly, complains about the same things over and over again, and somehow manages to act both superior and irrational at the same time. Her behaviour changes whenever the plot needs it to, so I never had any sense of who she actually was.
The relationship between Josie and Rika was equally frustrating. For two women in their twenties who are convinced they're superior to everyone around them, they spend an astonishing amount of time behaving like teenagers. Their constant drama quickly became exhausting. Even worse, the novel initially builds obvious sexual tension between them, flirting and all—only to later reveal they're half-sisters. I don't think that revelation has the effect the author intended.
The dialogue doesn't sound like anything real people would ever say. Characters constantly repeat each other's names during conversations, over and over again. Nobody talks like that.
Then there are the editing problems.
The novel mentions technology available in the early 2000s that simply wasn't available at the time. A minor but distracting issue. More frustrating are the continuity errors. Karen heavily implies at one point that Josie and Rika share the same father, yet later reacts with complete shock when DNA confirms exactly that. Either she knew or she didn't. It can't be both.
The mystery itself never worked for me because every supposed twist felt obvious long before it arrived. It reminded me of a novel desperately trying to become the next Gone Girl without understanding what made Gone Girl work in the first place.
The investigation also requires you to ignore... well... almost everything you know about police procedure. Apparently Steve, the chief of police, is perfectly happy to risk his career—and potentially prison—by illegally entering someone's home without a warrant, interrogating a suspect improperly, and even discussing planting evidence to secure an arrest.
The novel also relies heavily on shock value. There is an uncomfortable amount of slut-shaming throughout the story, and several sex scenes read like they wandered in from badly written fanfiction. The humour tries very hard to be clever, but more often than not it simply made me cringe.
And speaking of cringe... If Mallory had called Josie "Bootsie" one more time, I might have thrown my Kobo out the window.
The ending somehow manages to become even more confusing than everything leading up to it. We're apparently supposed to believe that a group of seventy-year-old grandmothers have enough firearms hidden in their homes to make Jack Bauer jealous. Karen's cancer seems to improve overnight simply because Derek dies. It is revealed that Derek is in fact run over with a car at the beginning, just like Josie witnessed, left for dead, somehow survives, and returns to Mallory's house to die there instead. How did he survive being run over by Donna's car? I genuinely don't understand the sequence of events or how things worked out or how some characters got to point A to point B and everything that happened in between.
I also don't understand why Karen and Donna stopped speaking for thirty years, because the explanation never really arrives. After Victoria and Alysha find Dougie, what happens exactly that Donna and Karen stop talking for years and apparently hate each other? I think the author wanted Victoria to end up dying and Donna blaming Karen and she wrote the first chapters with that in mind, but then she went with another idea and Dougie died instead.
Speaking of Dougie, his family is mentioned several times at the beginning and it seems like it's building up to them being a big part of the story because they hold a grudge, but nothing really happens, they don't even appear once.
Then comes the epilogue. Connor, who was mentioned in passing like once 150 pages ago and if I recall correctly Josie implied she would have tried to have sex with him if she weren't trying to approach Rika, suddenly possesses investigative abilities that seem to surpass the FBI simply because he works in IT. Somehow he discovers everything, somehow he knows Mallory was responsible, somehow he learns Derek is dead, somehow he finds out that Derek has fathered more children than Captain von Trapp had in The Sound of Music (the only part I find sort of believable), but it is never explained how he put two and two together. He just did.
None of it feels earned. Nothing ties together. Nothing really makes sense.
By the time I reached the final fifty pages, my main question was no longer "Who did it?" but "How much longer is this book?"
This wasn't just a disappointing thriller—it was the worst book I've read this year. I'm genuinely relieved it's over. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
★★★★
“That was it. That was how we always thought of it—this is our town, we ran it, we protected it. Law and justice are not always the same. In small towns, we prefer justice.”
The Boots women are well known in their hometown of Burnville, as famous as they are notorious. Josie, the youngest of the Boots women, left Burnville to pursue a promising music career, but when a video shared on social media threatens to end it before it truly begins, she returns home to care for her grandmother, Karen "K," whose health has been steadily declining. K raised Josie after her mother died of an overdose 22 years ago.
Back in Burnville, Josie is determined to uncover the truth about the past, especially what really happened 25 years ago when K stood trial for murder. Almost immediately after her return, a mysterious stranger approaches her, promising answers. But it quickly becomes clear that Josie's homecoming has stirred up old secrets, and someone is desperate to keep the crimes they believed buried for the past 25 years from resurfacing.
“My story is that I was never there.
I was never there.
I was never there.”
I adored Love, Mom, so my expectations for this release were sky high!
I loved this female cast so much! Josie is deeply shaped by her past, the loss of her mother, and the rumors that have followed her family for years. Returning home might seem like giving up, but the notorious Boots women have never had it easy in Burnville. Beneath Josie's uncertainty is a quiet resilience that shines through. Karen, or K, immediately reminded me of Gemma Teller Morrow, a former bar owner with a no-nonsense attitude who refuses to take crap from anyone. Then there's Rika, a free spirit and the perfect complement to Josie. She felt like this generation's K.
The male cast, though... wow.
“Things were happening around him, accidents of all kinds to anyone who crossed his path.”
The male lead is incredibly frustrating to read about. Kudos to Iliana Xander for creating a character you can't help but hate while constantly wondering what everyone else sees in him. That's about all I can say without giving too much away...
I especially loved the female solidarity, the fierce commitment to looking out for and protecting one another, one of the few bright spots in an otherwise oppressive small-town setting. And those twists? They were so well done! Even in the final pages, I had no idea where the story was heading. Needless to say, I am already excited to see what Iliana Xander writes next.
Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Iliana Xander for a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
“That was it. That was how we always thought of it—this is our town, we ran it, we protected it. Law and justice are not always the same. In small towns, we prefer justice.”
The Boots women are well known in their hometown of Burnville, as famous as they are notorious. Josie, the youngest of the Boots women, left Burnville to pursue a promising music career, but when a video shared on social media threatens to end it before it truly begins, she returns home to care for her grandmother, Karen "K," whose health has been steadily declining. K raised Josie after her mother died of an overdose 22 years ago.
Back in Burnville, Josie is determined to uncover the truth about the past, especially what really happened 25 years ago when K stood trial for murder. Almost immediately after her return, a mysterious stranger approaches her, promising answers. But it quickly becomes clear that Josie's homecoming has stirred up old secrets, and someone is desperate to keep the crimes they believed buried for the past 25 years from resurfacing.
“My story is that I was never there.
I was never there.
I was never there.”
I adored Love, Mom, so my expectations for this release were sky high!
I loved this female cast so much! Josie is deeply shaped by her past, the loss of her mother, and the rumors that have followed her family for years. Returning home might seem like giving up, but the notorious Boots women have never had it easy in Burnville. Beneath Josie's uncertainty is a quiet resilience that shines through. Karen, or K, immediately reminded me of Gemma Teller Morrow, a former bar owner with a no-nonsense attitude who refuses to take crap from anyone. Then there's Rika, a free spirit and the perfect complement to Josie. She felt like this generation's K.
The male cast, though... wow.
“Things were happening around him, accidents of all kinds to anyone who crossed his path.”
The male lead is incredibly frustrating to read about. Kudos to Iliana Xander for creating a character you can't help but hate while constantly wondering what everyone else sees in him. That's about all I can say without giving too much away...
I especially loved the female solidarity, the fierce commitment to looking out for and protecting one another, one of the few bright spots in an otherwise oppressive small-town setting. And those twists? They were so well done! Even in the final pages, I had no idea where the story was heading. Needless to say, I am already excited to see what Iliana Xander writes next.
Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Iliana Xander for a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
disclaimer: this book was read as an ARC via NetGalley, thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and author. i leave this review of my own volition. all thoughts & opinions are mine.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 STARS
this was such an addicting read! it's told in 3 POVs in a dual timeline, highlighting all the ways that the past has affected the Boots women. Josie Boots moved back to her hometown to take care of her grandmother, Karen. after an online video got her "canceled" & finding out her grandmother has cancer, Josie finds herself back in the town that bullied & looked down on her for her family's past. 25 years ago, Karen Boots was a single mother and trying her best to make sure her daughter, Alysha, ends up better than her. until a man shows up in town and derails everything she'd been working hard for. now that same man, and the bad that comes with him, is plaguing Josie. both women end up with far more than they bargained for.
i respect Karen. while we can think about how she could have been harder on Alysha, you understood her reasons for why she chose to navigate things the way she did. she was a mother who really did her absolute best with the cards she was dealt. Alysha was a teenager who did whatever she wanted; reckless, not thinking of consequences or how it affected other people. i felt bad for how you can tell, even without her saying it, Karen carried an immense amount of guilt. it's in the way Josie explains her demeanor and how Karen chose to "mother" her.
i also felt bad for Josie. deep down, she was just a girl who wanted answers and not the vague answers Karen gave her. especially since Josie had to live in the shadows of both her grandmother's & mother's past, i think she deserved the clarity she so desperately wanted. but i mean... that wouldn't have made for an interesting story, right?
while i was locked in from the beginning, it's after the halfway mark where things really take a turn. everything you thought you knew you're now questioning. then it all smacks you in the face towards the end, and i verbally said "WTF!?"-way more than once. it's completely unhinged! you feel a ton of emotions in a span of a few chapters, and i had to pick my jaw off the floor. again, UNHINGED! it's a reminder to beware of how you treat other people & how you make them feel, because you'll never know if they have BAD INTENTIONS!
do i recommend? DUH. absolutely! Iliana Xander has another hit on her hands. i truly applaud her ability in creating a story that immerses you into these fictional characters' lives and plot twists that'll have you staring at the wall at the end of the book. literally, the last page!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 STARS
this was such an addicting read! it's told in 3 POVs in a dual timeline, highlighting all the ways that the past has affected the Boots women. Josie Boots moved back to her hometown to take care of her grandmother, Karen. after an online video got her "canceled" & finding out her grandmother has cancer, Josie finds herself back in the town that bullied & looked down on her for her family's past. 25 years ago, Karen Boots was a single mother and trying her best to make sure her daughter, Alysha, ends up better than her. until a man shows up in town and derails everything she'd been working hard for. now that same man, and the bad that comes with him, is plaguing Josie. both women end up with far more than they bargained for.
i respect Karen. while we can think about how she could have been harder on Alysha, you understood her reasons for why she chose to navigate things the way she did. she was a mother who really did her absolute best with the cards she was dealt. Alysha was a teenager who did whatever she wanted; reckless, not thinking of consequences or how it affected other people. i felt bad for how you can tell, even without her saying it, Karen carried an immense amount of guilt. it's in the way Josie explains her demeanor and how Karen chose to "mother" her.
i also felt bad for Josie. deep down, she was just a girl who wanted answers and not the vague answers Karen gave her. especially since Josie had to live in the shadows of both her grandmother's & mother's past, i think she deserved the clarity she so desperately wanted. but i mean... that wouldn't have made for an interesting story, right?
while i was locked in from the beginning, it's after the halfway mark where things really take a turn. everything you thought you knew you're now questioning. then it all smacks you in the face towards the end, and i verbally said "WTF!?"-way more than once. it's completely unhinged! you feel a ton of emotions in a span of a few chapters, and i had to pick my jaw off the floor. again, UNHINGED! it's a reminder to beware of how you treat other people & how you make them feel, because you'll never know if they have BAD INTENTIONS!
do i recommend? DUH. absolutely! Iliana Xander has another hit on her hands. i truly applaud her ability in creating a story that immerses you into these fictional characters' lives and plot twists that'll have you staring at the wall at the end of the book. literally, the last page!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I need to know how Iliana Xander manages to make her books so addictive. This is yet another example. Every time I get to around 20% of her books, I struggle to put them down. I have to because I need to do other things but the book is all I can think about. And it happens with this new novel as well.
I always repeat that after “Love, Mom”, it’s so hard to write a book that is as good or better. I’ve read many thriller books and I just find that one to be top 3, probably. But while I understand it’s hard to get to that level, I also know this is an author I can trust. I know her abilities as a writer and I don’t fear having to deal with a bad ending or with plots that make no sense. And that makes the reading process so much better and easier.
“Bad intentions” is another case of a book that starts with some action that makes you want to read more. Josie wants answers to all these mysteries that have affected her family for so long. Since before she was born, actually. And when she goes find those answers…she witnesses something else that complicates things quite a bit. It’s a perfect set up.
There is also her grandma’s illness, which adds a sense of dread whenever something happens around her. It really added to the overall tension of the book.
The structure is pretty straightforward but it works. We get the mystery, we get all the questions, …and we have to wait for the answers. While learning potential answers, we find more questions and a lesser author would not even bother to answer them all. But, again, I know Iliana Xander always makes the effort to make everything make sense. Without overexplaining the story. There is an aspect of info dumping at some point but then some of it is challenged by other information that other characters provide. It’s very well done.
But it is the pace that steals the show. And that is so key for a thriller. It helps with that making the book addictive aspect I’ve mentioned.
As for the mystery…it’s so complex in a sense that it’s hard to guess what really happened. I only guessed one minor detail, which I don’t think the author was trying to hide too hard. But the rest caught me more or less by surprise and I always enjoy that. Guessing everything after chapter 2 is boring. I want books to challenge me a little at least.
So that plus good interesting characters gives us a great book that I loved reading. I’ll continue to support this author because she knows how to write a book I’ll love reading.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I always repeat that after “Love, Mom”, it’s so hard to write a book that is as good or better. I’ve read many thriller books and I just find that one to be top 3, probably. But while I understand it’s hard to get to that level, I also know this is an author I can trust. I know her abilities as a writer and I don’t fear having to deal with a bad ending or with plots that make no sense. And that makes the reading process so much better and easier.
“Bad intentions” is another case of a book that starts with some action that makes you want to read more. Josie wants answers to all these mysteries that have affected her family for so long. Since before she was born, actually. And when she goes find those answers…she witnesses something else that complicates things quite a bit. It’s a perfect set up.
There is also her grandma’s illness, which adds a sense of dread whenever something happens around her. It really added to the overall tension of the book.
The structure is pretty straightforward but it works. We get the mystery, we get all the questions, …and we have to wait for the answers. While learning potential answers, we find more questions and a lesser author would not even bother to answer them all. But, again, I know Iliana Xander always makes the effort to make everything make sense. Without overexplaining the story. There is an aspect of info dumping at some point but then some of it is challenged by other information that other characters provide. It’s very well done.
But it is the pace that steals the show. And that is so key for a thriller. It helps with that making the book addictive aspect I’ve mentioned.
As for the mystery…it’s so complex in a sense that it’s hard to guess what really happened. I only guessed one minor detail, which I don’t think the author was trying to hide too hard. But the rest caught me more or less by surprise and I always enjoy that. Guessing everything after chapter 2 is boring. I want books to challenge me a little at least.
So that plus good interesting characters gives us a great book that I loved reading. I’ll continue to support this author because she knows how to write a book I’ll love reading.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3.5 stars rounded up
Iliana Xander is a standout when it comes to creating a twisty, suspenseful story that holds you until the end. Bad Intentions is no different in that regard. The story changes POV multiple times as the story unravels, mostly focusing on Josie. Josie has recently been canceled and uses her grandmother's terminal cancer diagnosis as an excuse to retreat from the public eye, returning to her hometown of Burnville, Pennsylvania. Soon after arriving, she begins receiving text messages from an unknown number asking to meet and uncover long-buried family secrets her grandmother has always refused to reveal. After witnessing a tragic accident, the mysterious messages continue, drawing Josie deeper into the mystery.
The author does so many things well in the story: amazing hook, strong character development, focused chapters. I also liked the alternating POV. While these chapters made up a minority of the book, they were well placed and allowed for the reader to easily learn about the past in depth. I don't think many readers would accurately guess the twists. I've read over 300 thrillers, and Iliana Xander is one of the best at catching the reader off guard.
I will say that the pacing of Bad Intentions is more all over the place. It starts off fast, then slows as the pieces start to come together, and speeds up again. I wish it was more consistently paced, similar to her other 2 novels (which are amazing, if you haven't read them yet). While I liked the alternating POV chapters, I think the past should be clearly marked in the chapter. Most of them start off as present time, and then drift through the POV subjects memory or retelling. Then there's times when the chapters immediately start from their memory. It also takes time to figure out what is going on. For a good portion of the novel, the reader is intentionally kept in the dark, even more so than Josie. While I understand the purpose is to keep the reader on their toes, I can't help but feel more keys reveals should've come sooner. Specifically, It would've been nice to have Josie's cancelled reasoning and at least the information that she already knew about her family. I think dragging those things out, slowed down the pacing a bit.
All that being said, this is still a solid thriller. While it isn't my favorite of Iliana Xander's books, it's memorable, entertaining, and filled with shocking twists. If you're looking for a suspenseful mystery that keeps you guessing until the end, I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review
Iliana Xander is a standout when it comes to creating a twisty, suspenseful story that holds you until the end. Bad Intentions is no different in that regard. The story changes POV multiple times as the story unravels, mostly focusing on Josie. Josie has recently been canceled and uses her grandmother's terminal cancer diagnosis as an excuse to retreat from the public eye, returning to her hometown of Burnville, Pennsylvania. Soon after arriving, she begins receiving text messages from an unknown number asking to meet and uncover long-buried family secrets her grandmother has always refused to reveal. After witnessing a tragic accident, the mysterious messages continue, drawing Josie deeper into the mystery.
The author does so many things well in the story: amazing hook, strong character development, focused chapters. I also liked the alternating POV. While these chapters made up a minority of the book, they were well placed and allowed for the reader to easily learn about the past in depth. I don't think many readers would accurately guess the twists. I've read over 300 thrillers, and Iliana Xander is one of the best at catching the reader off guard.
I will say that the pacing of Bad Intentions is more all over the place. It starts off fast, then slows as the pieces start to come together, and speeds up again. I wish it was more consistently paced, similar to her other 2 novels (which are amazing, if you haven't read them yet). While I liked the alternating POV chapters, I think the past should be clearly marked in the chapter. Most of them start off as present time, and then drift through the POV subjects memory or retelling. Then there's times when the chapters immediately start from their memory. It also takes time to figure out what is going on. For a good portion of the novel, the reader is intentionally kept in the dark, even more so than Josie. While I understand the purpose is to keep the reader on their toes, I can't help but feel more keys reveals should've come sooner. Specifically, It would've been nice to have Josie's cancelled reasoning and at least the information that she already knew about her family. I think dragging those things out, slowed down the pacing a bit.
All that being said, this is still a solid thriller. While it isn't my favorite of Iliana Xander's books, it's memorable, entertaining, and filled with shocking twists. If you're looking for a suspenseful mystery that keeps you guessing until the end, I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Some authors have an absolutely unfair talent for hijacking my entire day, and Iliana Xander has become one of them. I opened Bad Intentions thinking I'd read a few chapters before bed. Instead, my plans, my sleep, and any ounce of self-control completely vanished. I blame the author...and I regret absolutely nothing.
This is exactly the kind of thriller I crave—one that drops you into a mystery immediately, surrounds you with suspicious characters, and makes you question every conversation, every memory, and every seemingly innocent detail. The deeper Josie dug into her family's past, the more I felt like I was peeling back layer after layer of a decades-old wound that had never truly healed.
I absolutely loved Josie. She's messy, vulnerable, stubborn, haunted by mistakes, and trying so hard to outrun a reputation that follows her everywhere. She isn't a perfect heroine, and that's exactly why she feels so real. I found myself rooting for her from the very beginning, hoping she'd finally discover the truth that had been stolen from her for most of her life.
Burnville is one of those small towns where everyone smiles, everyone knows everyone else's business, and somehow nobody tells the whole truth. The atmosphere is wonderfully claustrophobic. Every encounter made me suspicious, every new character immediately landed on my mental suspect list, and I changed my theory so many times that I eventually gave up trying to outsmart the author and simply enjoyed the ride. (Spoiler alert: the author still outsmarted me.)
What really impressed me was how naturally the mystery unfolded. The revelations never felt forced or thrown in simply for shock value. Instead, every answer opened another door, revealing deeper family wounds, hidden betrayals, and long-buried secrets that refused to stay buried. The emotional weight behind the mystery made every twist hit even harder because I genuinely cared about what happened to these characters.
The pacing was another huge win. The chapters flew by, constantly tempting me to keep reading. Before I knew it, I was hundreds of pages in, mentally negotiating with myself about when it would be responsible to stop reading. (The answer, apparently, was never.) The tension kept building without losing momentum, and I never felt like the story wandered away from its purpose.
And then came the ending.
Let's just say I wasn't prepared. I thought I had everything neatly figured out, feeling rather proud of myself, only for Iliana Xander to casually remind me who was actually in charge. I love when a thriller surprises me without cheating, and this one absolutely delivered. Everything came together in a satisfying way while still leaving me emotionally rattled.
If you're a fan of small-town mysteries, complicated family dynamics, buried secrets, morally gray characters, and page-turners that refuse to let you put them down, Bad Intentions deserves a spot at the top of your reading list. Iliana Xander is quickly becoming one of those authors whose books I'll request without even reading the synopsis because she clearly knows exactly how to keep my heart racing.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for sharing this very intriguing page turner's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
This is exactly the kind of thriller I crave—one that drops you into a mystery immediately, surrounds you with suspicious characters, and makes you question every conversation, every memory, and every seemingly innocent detail. The deeper Josie dug into her family's past, the more I felt like I was peeling back layer after layer of a decades-old wound that had never truly healed.
I absolutely loved Josie. She's messy, vulnerable, stubborn, haunted by mistakes, and trying so hard to outrun a reputation that follows her everywhere. She isn't a perfect heroine, and that's exactly why she feels so real. I found myself rooting for her from the very beginning, hoping she'd finally discover the truth that had been stolen from her for most of her life.
Burnville is one of those small towns where everyone smiles, everyone knows everyone else's business, and somehow nobody tells the whole truth. The atmosphere is wonderfully claustrophobic. Every encounter made me suspicious, every new character immediately landed on my mental suspect list, and I changed my theory so many times that I eventually gave up trying to outsmart the author and simply enjoyed the ride. (Spoiler alert: the author still outsmarted me.)
What really impressed me was how naturally the mystery unfolded. The revelations never felt forced or thrown in simply for shock value. Instead, every answer opened another door, revealing deeper family wounds, hidden betrayals, and long-buried secrets that refused to stay buried. The emotional weight behind the mystery made every twist hit even harder because I genuinely cared about what happened to these characters.
The pacing was another huge win. The chapters flew by, constantly tempting me to keep reading. Before I knew it, I was hundreds of pages in, mentally negotiating with myself about when it would be responsible to stop reading. (The answer, apparently, was never.) The tension kept building without losing momentum, and I never felt like the story wandered away from its purpose.
And then came the ending.
Let's just say I wasn't prepared. I thought I had everything neatly figured out, feeling rather proud of myself, only for Iliana Xander to casually remind me who was actually in charge. I love when a thriller surprises me without cheating, and this one absolutely delivered. Everything came together in a satisfying way while still leaving me emotionally rattled.
If you're a fan of small-town mysteries, complicated family dynamics, buried secrets, morally gray characters, and page-turners that refuse to let you put them down, Bad Intentions deserves a spot at the top of your reading list. Iliana Xander is quickly becoming one of those authors whose books I'll request without even reading the synopsis because she clearly knows exactly how to keep my heart racing.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for sharing this very intriguing page turner's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
June 5, 2026
Thank you NetGalley for the Arc
Let’s start with the small-town drama because I am absolutely here for it. From the very beginning, this book pulled me in and refused to let go. Every character seemed to be hiding something, every interaction felt important, and the atmosphere had me questioning absolutely everything.
The twists just kept twisting. Every time I thought I had figured out what was going on, Iliana Xander proved me wrong. The plot was plotting, and I found myself constantly changing my theories as new information came to light. What I loved most was that the twists weren’t there just for shock value—they were well placed and made perfect sense once all the pieces finally came together.
That OMG last chapter? I did not see that coming. Not even a little. And then the epilogue somehow managed to top it. My jaw literally dropped, and I was left staring at my Kindle trying to process what had just happened. It’s the kind of ending that makes you want to immediately message someone who has read it so you can talk about it.
The suspense was perfectly paced, the secrets were layered, and the tension built with every chapter. Just when I thought I had uncovered the truth, another reveal would send me spiraling in a completely different direction. The small-town setting added so much to the story because everyone seemed connected, yet no one could be fully trusted.
I’ve loved every single one of Iliana Xander’s books, but I genuinely believe this one has taken the number one spot for me. It showcases everything she does so well: compelling characters, addictive pacing, shocking reveals, and a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end.
If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers that make you question everything, keep you up way past your bedtime, and leave you speechless by the final page, Bad Intentions needs to be on your TBR immediately. This is easily one of my favorite reads of the year and will be one of my top recommendations to anyone looking for a truly unforgettable psychological thriller.
Let’s start with the small-town drama because I am absolutely here for it. From the very beginning, this book pulled me in and refused to let go. Every character seemed to be hiding something, every interaction felt important, and the atmosphere had me questioning absolutely everything.
The twists just kept twisting. Every time I thought I had figured out what was going on, Iliana Xander proved me wrong. The plot was plotting, and I found myself constantly changing my theories as new information came to light. What I loved most was that the twists weren’t there just for shock value—they were well placed and made perfect sense once all the pieces finally came together.
That OMG last chapter? I did not see that coming. Not even a little. And then the epilogue somehow managed to top it. My jaw literally dropped, and I was left staring at my Kindle trying to process what had just happened. It’s the kind of ending that makes you want to immediately message someone who has read it so you can talk about it.
The suspense was perfectly paced, the secrets were layered, and the tension built with every chapter. Just when I thought I had uncovered the truth, another reveal would send me spiraling in a completely different direction. The small-town setting added so much to the story because everyone seemed connected, yet no one could be fully trusted.
I’ve loved every single one of Iliana Xander’s books, but I genuinely believe this one has taken the number one spot for me. It showcases everything she does so well: compelling characters, addictive pacing, shocking reveals, and a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end.
If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers that make you question everything, keep you up way past your bedtime, and leave you speechless by the final page, Bad Intentions needs to be on your TBR immediately. This is easily one of my favorite reads of the year and will be one of my top recommendations to anyone looking for a truly unforgettable psychological thriller.
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