You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose made it on one bookseller’s Best Mysteries of 2023 list, so I was curious. My take: this book will NOT be for every thriller reader. It’s a classic love-it-or-hate-it book! Is it for you? Check out my Review of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here with marked SPOILERS and the ending explained!
Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:
Review of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose
- What is You Shouldn’t Have Come Here About?
- You Shouldn’t Have Come Here: a love-it-or-hate-it book
- Negatives of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here
- Positives of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here
- SPOILERS for You Shouldn’t Have Come Here and the ending explained.
Published on April 25, 2023 by Blackstone Publishing
I read you Shouldn’t Have Come Here in October 2023.
What is You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose About?
The story begins as overworked New Yorker Grace Evans arrives at her Airbnb on a ranch in the middle of Wyoming. She meets her host, the handsome Calvin Wells. His ranch is beautiful, but lacks cell phone service. Then the police stop by looking for a missing woman. Grace has the feeling that something isn’t right. (Uh, yeah!)
As Calvin shows Grace around the ranch, they flirt and are obviously attracted to one another. (Even after the missing woman? Yes.) But as Grace’s departure date nears, things between the two start to get weird. Calvin’s friends and family think Grace is up to no good and Calvin fears that Grace is hiding something from him.
You Shouldn’t Have Come Here: A love-it-or-hate-it book!
The first thing I did when I finished You Shouldn’t Have Come Here was check the Goodreads rating. I was extremely puzzled that You Shouldn’t Have Come Here had been put on a major booksellers “Best of 2023 list.”
My conclusion: You Shouldn’t Have Come Here is clearly a love-it-or-hate-it book.
At the time of this review, it an overall 3.3 Goodreads rating. 45% of people gave it 4 or 5 stars, while 47% of people gave it 2 or 3 stars. (We will leave out the 1 star people. Why did they finish it?)
Why were readers opinions so divided about You Shouldn’t Have Come Here?
People look for different things in a book. I am not a book snob. In my reading life, I have read everything from paperback Harlequin romances to James Joyce. My goal for Jen Ryland Reviews is to help you find the books that are right for you.
So I have to be honest and admit that I did not enjoy this book. But I’ll tell you why YOU might (or might not) like it.
Negatives of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here
I found You Shouldn’t Have Come Here a hard to categorize book. It’s not really a mystery, or a thriller, or a romance. I guess I would call You Shouldn’t Come Here romantic suspense with a surprise ending.
I don’t mind genre-blending books, but You Shouldn’t Have Come Here takes the longing of a romance and then, instead of giving you a happily ever after, gives you a bizarre twist. The book lacks the suspense and plot of a thriller and the emotional resonance of a romance.
Most of the book was Calvin and Grace hanging out and admiring each other. If you like that part of a romance (the part that gets put into a cute couple montage in a rom com) you might like the book! But watching a looooonng couple montage gets pretty dull after a while.
You Shouldn’t Have Come Here is a dual point of view book. This was not the best choice because Grace and Calvin spent all their time together and neither had anything original to say. They took walks, they went fishing, they cooked for each other. They thought about how attractive the other one is. It went nowhere. Again, ALL the information was saved to dump at the end.
The story is pretty bare-bones. There is really no plot to speak of, only a handful of characters, and the whole book is set on an isolated ranch. Grace shows up in Wyoming for no particular reason. Calvin wants to sleep with her. Calvin’s friend Charlotte is clearly jealous. Calvin’s brother is fairly disapproving. We don’t really learn what makes any of them tick.
Nothing happens until the VERY end. I mean really nothing. Even people who liked the book mention this. You’re just hanging on the ranch with this small group, waiting around for the final reveal.
Positives of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here
The ending is definitely surprising. Some people found it surprising in a good way and others (like me) found it surprising in a way that wasn’t set up beforehand or explained afterwards.
What Was The Ending of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here?
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You Shouldn’t Have Come Here is what some thriller fans call a “quick and easy read.” There are a lot of thriller readers who love and seek these books out. I LOVE a good popcorn thriller, but I still think this book is lacking suspense completely.
If you are looking for popcorn thrillers, keep an eye out for my post recommending some that I think are actually good!
In the end, I felt let down by You Shouldn’t Have Come Here. It’s possible that my expectations were raised too high by that “best of” award.
If you DO like a quick and easy read with strong romance vibes and don’t mind patiently waiting for an ending that will surprise you, definitely check this one out!