I normally despise novels with alternating first-person point of views because they slow down my reading as I would have to take pauses to remind myself every now and then that Character 1 is doing this chapter and Character 2 is doing that one. Before I get to the meat of the story, my patience runs out and I give up. When I read Gone Girl, a novel with narrative switches from the wife to the husband, I thought Gillian Flynn was brilliant. She was able to tell a story from two perspectives without confounding her readers who is doing what. You can tell the distinction between Nick and Amy. With Everything You Want Me to Be Mindy Mejia proved that not only two but three characters can effectively tell a story--all sharing the pronoun I. 
 In sociology class, I remember the term "impression management" as the act or skill of controlling the perception of people toward oneself. It argues that a person cannot be judged solely on one occasion because he/she has different roles. Role is the part that someone has in a family, society, or other group (Merriam-Webster). Our professor gave us this example: A person who is a terrible student at school, is not an immediate terrible son/daughter at home. Everything You Want Me to Be is an excellent study of this human nature. 
 The story, on the other hand, is really just a fresh take on unforbidden love. We've all heard about it in the news: former drops dead one day, fingers point to the latter. Although I had known what was inside Mejia's bag of tricks, I admit that the manipulation was downright stronger than I expected. One second she's proffering you confidence that yes you're right, but the next thing you know she's giving you an itch on your scalp that needs scratching. You read on, curious as hell, and the satisfaction that follows banishes that annoying itch. Once again, I'm grateful for being manipulated. (The irony isn't lost to me.) 
 Next to our murder victim Hattie Hoffman, I grew fond of Peter Lund. He is one of the three narrators of the story, and his chapters I enjoyed the most. His witty allusions of literary works perked up the book nerd in me. The other narrator Del was less admirable. He's a typical uncouth sheriff who thinks he has all the power in the world. His chapters made me roll my eyes for quite a lot of times. 
 There are times when the prose made me pause because of its Midwestern beauty. Everything You Want Me to Be is well-written, smart, and thrilling. Five stars!