At the rehearsal for a wedding at a fabulous Californian resort a man is dead and four different women insist that they alone are responsible.
Each woman’s story is alternated with a police interrogation in which Detective Ramone tries to sort through the confusing and contradictory accounts that each woman claim’s is the truth.
I was hooked on Pretty Guilty Women from the opening chapter, it was suspenseful and creepy. That feeling lessened a bit as I waited for the story to progress, but the pacing was good, and it held my interest throughout. I wasn’t completely surprised at the revelation of “who dunnit”, but it didn’t lessen the enjoyment of the book for me.
*I received a copy of Pretty Guilty Women from NetGalley and Sourcebooks in exchange for an honest review

This happens to be a favorite author of mine, and I was delighted when SOURCEBOOKS via Net Galley allowed me to read and review it in exchange for my honest review.

It was an interesting book, but not one of Ms LaManna's best in my opinion. The best thing was the way the story of each character was told, and the murder investigation was literally shoved to the back of each chapter. It did build an interesting tension, and kept me wondering exactly who was dead as much as why or who did it.

Characters were abrasive and foolish, certainly not as likable as I had hoped. Their life stories, while interesting, were filled with clinging to their pasts and wallowing in misfortunes years later. With the exception of the oldest woman, Lulu, I wouldn't want to even meet any of these women. The premise of the relationship of 4 college room mates was a good one, just these ladies were not friends material to the reader.

All this aside, there were several revealing moments in the book that many women could relate to. Relationships between daughter and mother, friends and strangers also created interesting dialog and were thought provoking.

A well written book that was more human interest than mystery, and not quite what I expected or wanted.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very engaging with an interesting plot about 4 women and secrets.

The author did a great job with the flow of the story.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Four women. Four confessions. One murder.

Emily, Kate and Ginger were all friends back in college and are reunited for their friend Whitney’s wedding. It’s been years since most have spoken to each other, let alone seen one another.

Emily is dealing with remnants of her past. One drink (or bottle) at a time.

Kate is the wealthiest one of all. Money can buy and fix everything right?!

Ginger has 3 kids and her life seems to be falling apart at the seams. See what I did there?!

Enter Lulu Franc. She’s 70 and she’s still got it! Lulu and the girls befriend each other at the bar of the resort they’re staying at for this elusive wedding. From sharing gossip to getting massages, these women have built a friendship. A few days later, they all confess to killing a man. The same man. All acting alone. Who’s being honest and who’s telling a lie?

“Lulu Franc: What does that matter? I already told you, I’m responsible. I bonked that man over the head with a wine bottle and knocked him right out. This must be the third time I’m telling you the same thing.

Detective Ramone: That’s funny, Lulu. Because I have three other women with the exact same story. Four confessions, all women claiming to have acted alone, and one dead body—the math doesn’t add up.”

Pretty Guilty Women is a page turner in this “whodunit” novel! For fans of Liane Moriarty, this one is a must!! I flew through the second half in ONE SITTING! I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy in exchange of an honest review!

If you enjoyed "Big Little Lies", then you will enjoy this book! It was cute and mysterious. I enjoyed the writing style and the stories about these women. I am now curious about Gina LaManna's other books! Thanks NetGalley and Sourcebooks for a digital arc of this title!

"Pretty Guilty Women" was a great suspenseful read along the same vein of "Big Little Lies." The story is filled with twists and turns (some easy to predict, and some that truly took me by surprise). In addition to the suspense, the book had some interesting insight on different mother/daughter relationships that gave the book more depth than some other similar titles.

Author: Gina LaManna
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmarks
Pages: 336

Four old college roommates, all who’ve grown apart, reunite as Whitney is to become the new Mrs. Banks at a posh resort wedding. They each have their own reasons for attending, aside from seeing Whitney wed. If nothing, it should be a relaxing weekend at the fancy resort.
Lulu is on her latest rich husband, a Banks relative, and they are coming up on their five year mark. She is sure that her husband is hiding something, and she plans to use this trip to find out what is going on and save her marriage. Something, however, goes terribly wrong at the Banks wedding. Someone’s dead. Four separate women confess to committing the murder alone. Why would the all confess? Who is telling the truth?
I’ve read several of Gina LaManna’s Magic & Mixology series books, so I was very excited to receive the ARC to this book. For some reason, I always enjoy reading a great thriller in the summer, and this one didn’t disappoint. I loved that, like her previous series, this is full of strong female characters. All of these characters have a great story and are well developed. Even if you don’t love them right away, you come to root for them in the end. By the end of the book, I wanted to hang out and have some wine with these ladies! The author used descriptions freely, but not so much that they got in the way of the story. The plot moved along at a steady pace, with no very slow places. This book felt very much in the same arena as Big Little Lies, Not That I Could Tell, etc, with that great blend of women’s fiction and thriller. If you are a fan of those, I feel that you would really enjoy this. I look forward to reading more from this author! (P.S. If you’re a fan of books with a lot of fun and magic- check out her Magic & Mixology series! I love it!)

Cute beach read or for light reading times. 4 former college friends get together at the wedding of one after not seeing each other for many years. The bride is too busy to meet with her friends, but the others connect for both good and bad memories. A woman at the bar, Lulu, joins them in a murder cover up that occurs prior to the wedding, though we don't know who was murdered/killed until much later in the book.
Pet peeve: Me and Cindy is not the correct way of saying Cindy and I and that drives me crazy. Next peeve was that there were way too many people involved and it is not the kind of book you can put down and then remember to keep the characters straight. It threw me off every time I picked it up.
All in all, not a bad story; it covered many areas without being deep.
Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is a well written and rather unputdownable new take on Big Little Lies. I guess this says a lot about the plot for anyone who's either read the book or watched the series. So, yes the necessary keywords like abuse and redemption are potentially there...

However, the inevitable question who's-dead is ever so exciting to guess and Gina LaManna's stellar character development leaves a load for imagination.

I rarely can say that I flip open the first chapter just to take a peek and before I know it am about 40% in. It's a cliche, in my opinion, with readers but, in the case of this book, it was actually true. Mainly because the chapters are devided by different perspectives and so the action moves ahead with the speed of a slow torture, dragging you in with each narrative on a very personal level.

Warning ladies: there's a lot of on-going drinking involved that might make you put this book down if only temporarily, to run down to the closest off-license for a Prosecco or red wine supply.

Very predictably and much anticipated I thought this would also make a stellar movie. My choice of cast:

LULU
Jane Fonda

GINGER
Olivia Munn

KATE
Emily Blunt

EMILY
Zooey Deschanel

Thank you SOURCEBOOKS for the chance to read this in exchange for my honest review. And I hope many more will enjoy it!

3.5 Stars. I really enjoyed Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna. The writing and storyline was very similar to Liane Moriarty, a favorite of mine. The premise was very simple: four women meet at a very posh resort for the wedding of a college friend (the only woman in the book who is never introduced to the reader). During the rehearsal dinner, a man is killed and all the women confess to the murder. There are twists and turns galore throughout this story which I love! I also enjoyed that the story was told through narrative, and also through the police interrogations. There were a lot of characters in this story but once I was thoroughly engaged they were all very easy to keep track of.

Thank you to the publisher and Nergalley for the advanced e-copy for an honest review. #netgalley #prettyguiltywomen

Unfortunately, Pretty Guilty Women ended in disappointment for me. It read well and the plot was interesting up until the end and then (as so many novels do this day) it just fizzled out. It had great potential, but the author simply didn’t follow through with an interesting ending, I though the plot was developed well enough and the characters were interesting, but when it came to where the story was really going it just fell very flat for me.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley.
Four women reconnect at a friend's wedding... but a man winds up dead at the dinner.
All four women confess to the murder... so who is truly guilty?

Overall, a good read but something just didn't sit right with me in the end.

loved this book!! Put this in your beach bag. I read this in one sitting. Quick read.
Loved the characters all four women.
Well done. Highly recommend!!!

The book starts out very interesting . Four friends from school reunitied at a Whitney's wedding.
Kate, Ginger and Emily were friends in the past but each of them are dealing with their own issues in life.
Kate - seems to have the perfect life but is desperate to have a child
Ginger - is a mother of 3 kids and is having a hard time connecting with them,
Emily - seems to be suffering from a mental illness, more or less depression.
Also in the mix is Lulu who is older than the rest and a little more wiser than the rest of them.

While they are all hoping to rekindle their friendship something goes wrong and a man winds up dead.
The kicker is though, all four women confess to his murder.

This book, oh this book started off so strong. It had Big Little Lies undertones and I was excited to keep reading, but then something fell flat. Its not a bad read. I'm glad I read it and I did enjoy it. Perhaps because I went into it thinking it was the next Big Little Lies, meant that I had really high expectations

A light and fun read, this book reminded me of Big Little Lies. A story of lies and deception, this novel has all the markings of a great beach read! Thank you Net Galley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ebook in exchange for an honest review. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

What an exotic setting for a murder! Serenity Spa & Resort is the perfect venue for what seems to be the wedding of the decade (and a half!). Only the bride and groom are not to be seen during the first two days before the wedding, and the story is not about them. We don't know that from the beginning, but we do know a man was murdered and 4 women, wedding guests and once best friends, claim to have done it. You can only make presumptions about the identity of the victim and the murderer, whether it was a murder or not, but the author masterfully plays the wild card in the end and overturns all your presuppositions. In the meanwhile, you are entertained with funny stories about new and old relationships, about not so perfect lives of five flawed women and their weaknesses and strengths.
Well, after a difficult start (due to my own mood , mostly), I managed to devour this book in one go. Perfect summer reading!

This was my first read by Gina LaManna. I really couldn’t keep up with all the different characters and their stories because it was so many. It’s not as I expected, although it does have some twists and turns but I caught myself just skimming through.

A man is dead, yet four women are all claiming to have been the one to kill him, with no help from any of the others. Who did it and why?

This book takes place at a Spa and Resort, the host for a luxurious wedding week where four college friends are coming together after years of being apart and they have no clue that by the end someone will be dead.

This book is divided into a few sections as we hear conversations between the police and characters as they question them on what happened that night and then are brought back to the beginning of the week as we work towards the climax.

This book was interesting because I found that I enjoyed it but I couldn't really connect to any of the characters so I wasn't as invested as I maybe wish I could have been. There were a few twists that took me by surprise and while it was a good book, it isn't one I am going to be constantly thinking about after putting it down.

A murder committed ... and four women owning up to the murder. Who is the real murderer? What happened?

This is not just a standard murder mystery where you are introduced to characters, there is a murder and someone goes sleuthing. In this case you don't get all the information until the end of the book. You are introduced to the characters involved when they are interviewed by the police detective and get some background information. Actually quite cleverly done.

I am a fan a Gina LaManna's books but this is a foray into a different genre for her. I like it. She has an entertaining writing style. The murder mystery as a whole did not really catch my interest. The relationships between the women in the book did. There also seems to be a message that the grass is not always greener somewhere else. Someone else's life could seem perfect and idyllic, but that is just not always true.

This book reminded me of "Big Little Lies"(just from the blurb) which is why I requested it. It's definitely beach read material. There are a lot of characters (so a lot of backstories) that you need to keep straight and pay attention. I went into this thinking I was going to love it and unfortunately I just "liked it." I felt like the book wasn't really about the murder, it was about the women's relationships. Though it was an easy read, I found myself skipping/skimming some parts just to get to some "action."

I didn't hate the book, I just wish it was a little different.