Not sure how I feel about Pinborough's new book (loved her last one) An intense storyline but did not feel for any of the characters. I still read the whole book because I had to know what happened!

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Dead to Her. I've previously read one book by this author and really enjoyed it, but Dead to Her just wasn't for me. I found the writing salacious, and I was pretty sure I had the culprit figured out, so there wasn't much of a twist.

I hope this book makes its way into hands of the right readers. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Another year, another book with a three word title with the word her in it and a woman on the cover…well, it must be time for Sarah Pinborough’s latest. And what a crapfest this one turned out to be. Mind you, Pinborough is the author who’s been through the gamut of it all, starting off in the Leisure Publishers’ stable penning British frights and moving on to YA, tv adaptations, crime and, of course, eventually…nay, inevitably…these female thrillers the world can’t get enough of. And sure, that’s where the money’s at, but for some reason that’s also where the quality started to decline. A gradual process that led to the cheesy inanity that is this book. Slow simmering plot, steamy and muggy like Georgia’s weather, which is to say not in a good way. Apparently, Pinborough visited the place and was inspired to write this…you’d think the place would be thoroughly unflattered by this literary ode to it, but who knows maybe the Real Wives of Georgia’s elite live just like that. The plot is actually about second wives, specifically. The ones who ditched their dismal circumstances and married up into society. The two of them get close to each other, then one of their dearly practical to have spouses drops dead and…oh, the suspense, the suspense. Ok, but seriously, nothing much even takes places for about first three quarters of the book, except for a lesbian affair so laughably corny, it seems like it was written by a horny teenage boy. When the suspense thriller thing actually kicks in, it’s almost as an afterthought and it’s difficult to care either way. And the prerequisite plot twists toward the end are as preposterous as the thing in its entirety. This was inevitable, Pinborough’s thrillers have had that stretch your credulity to the max quality all along and she’s been laying it on heavier and heavier, but with this one she has finally veered into the dreaded inanity territory. It’s silly and then it’s just stupid. The characters are ridiculous cardboard cutouts of moneyed elite and adjacent personnel. The main protagonists are…well, mainly they are hot, and it isn’t the weather. They are hot sexy ladies and, though Pinborough does give them backstories for layering, it doesn’t really do much but sets it up for the ending plot twists. The book is a Scinemax movie in the making. At best. Featuring the least credible lesbian relationship in recent literature, thrillers or otherwise. It almost seems like there is a deliberate idea to save a lackluster plot through lesbians and black magic. And the saddest thing about it is that it doesn’t work. And if you can’t make a thing good (or at least fun) through lesbians and black magic…well, then that thing is dead in the water. Not just to her, but to the entire audience. It’s all hugely disappointing, of course, because Pinborough can certainly do more and this is dramatically far from her best work. In fact, it’s the sort of thing that makes you rethink your estimation of her work’s quality in general. Am I reading her now out of some oldtimey author loyalty? I’m not sure, but after this book, her next one will certainly hold less appeal. This wasn’t a one off, this was an almost predetermined eventuality, following the trend while sacrificing quality. This is what writing for the paycheck looks like. It isn’t terrible, which is to say it is readable, it’s just wasn’t really worth reading. Pinborough is decent enough of an author to entertain no matter what, but this is her bottom of the barrel entertainment. To optimize enjoyment of this one set your expectations on dumb fun and maybe it’ll do. Otherwise, prepare to be disappointed and underwhelmed. Thank Netgalley.

It definitely has been a minute. Trying to find my groove again. Work, mom, read 😂 thanks to #Netgalley for my #arc #deadtoher #sarahpinborough was just what I need to escape the madness we call #christmas. This read was filled with twists. And an ending you didn't see coming. Highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a little mystery and mayhem in their own little private world. It was a page Turner that had me burning through it. Thank you Sarah for such a delicious book ❤️ how far would you go for your best friend?

I really enjoyed Behind Her Eyes by this author, so I was really excited to have a chance to read this latest novel.

This one was a little far-fetched for me. Remembering that I liked Behind Her Eyes, that seems like a strange statement but I really didn't care for all the woo-woo voodoo stuff in this one. Also, the characters were all pretentious, obnoxious, and unrelatable.

2 1/2 stars rounded up to 3.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review. I really wanted to enjoy this one more!

I had high hopes for this one! It had all the staples for a juicy book - money, young second wives, crazy jealousy, and status to die for. But right from being introduced to each and every one if them, I HATED all of the characters. Then you have this whole voodoo thing? Unnecessary sex scenes. (Orgies in the woods too). Plus for me this book felt like you were reading and reading yet you were getting nowhere in the story!!! This book is big pass for me.

I want to thank netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The story follows Jason and Marcie, Keisha and her much older husband William and their Southern, rich "country club" friends in the South. I have enjoyed Pinborough's work in the past, but this one just seemed to go onnnnn forever without any real substance! There were a few twists, but I eventually bailed even before the half way point because I just did not see it getting any better.

Marcie has everything she wants. She is the much younger second wife of Jason, and perhaps her life is a bit boring, but she has worked hard to get here and this is where she belongs. The past is always nipping at her heels though, and what she does not need, or expect, is much younger competition.
William is a recently widowed friend who returns from a trip to London with a new bride, Keisha. Keisha is young, carefree, and beautiful, everything that Marcie was when she met Jason. She also seems to spend a little too much time flirting with Jason, and that is where Marcie draws the line. It is bad enough to have to admit Keisha to her social circle and befriend her, there is no chance that Marcie will share her husband.
If you think you know where Dead to Her is going from the description, you are about to be surprised. I was unprepared for the jealousy, lies, twists, and turns that were ahead. A surprising number of characters are not very nice people with few if any redeeming qualities. Honestly, this book wasn't at all what I expected, and I veered between a 3 and a 4-star rating. Is it fair to compare this to Behind Her Eyes, which blew me away and was a 5 star read? Probably not. This one grabbed my attention in the beginning, didn't hold my interest in the middle, and ended fairly strong.

Dead to Her is told from the perspective of Marcie -- a beautiful Southern Belle and mistress-turned-second-wife. Marcie has worked her way up the proverbial food chain and is sitting comfortably at the top. But when her husband's best friend shows up with a beautiful new bride after a trip to London, Marcie feels like she's about to lose it all. How far will she go to keep the life she's worked so hard for?

I have read/enjoyed Sarah Pinborough's other books, so I was very pleased to receive an ARC of Dead to Her. This book certainly was different than Sarah Pinborough's past books, but it was a great read!

DEAD TO HER
BY SARAH PINBOROUGH

I was very excited to see a new novel written by Sarah Pinborough I can see mostly the reviews are mixed on this one. I am in the minority as I loved this book. It is about love. It is about revenge in the end. I found Keisha to be likable even though I didn't like some of the things she said and did. Keisha is only in her early twenties when William sweeps her off her feet having a whirlwind romance. William is in his early sixties. William's wife Eleanor isn't even cold in her grave before he romances Keisha and brings her from her culture in London to his high class social circles in Savannah. Keisha is introduced as wife number two for William. Keisha is very meek and uninhibited about being herself and does not worry about the so called high class wives think about her. I liked that part of her character. Keisha grew up poor and has plainly married William for his money. I didn't like that aspect of her personality. Sarah Pinborough has the ability to take detestable characters and have you see their humanity. Keisha is black and exotic and Marcie is jealous of her. Keisha is carefree.

Marcie doesn't like Keisha at first because she is jealous of her. Suddenly with Keisha in their circle Marcie isn't the youngest second wife anymore. Marcie wrongly suspects that Keisha is after her husband. When Marcie gets to know Keisha they form an unbreakable bond. Keisha must stop saying to Marcie that she wants her husband William to hurry up and die. Something bad happens to one of this foursome arrangement. There is voodoo in this story which made me uncomfortable. Sarah Pinborough is able to pull this off seamlessly. I will read anything she writes. As always there is Sarah's typical ending that makes you think. Sarah Pinborough is a talented writer and someone to watch.

Thank you to Net Galley, Sarah Pinborough and HarperCollins publishers for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. I loved it. All opinions are my own..

Sarah Pinborough writes FANTASTIC novels and this is proven through each book she releases. I'm always looking forward to them (especially the endings which are ALWAYS SHOCKING), and constantly waiting for her to drop hints for her next novels. Well, YOU GUYS THIS BOOK IS GREAT! I love a domestic thriller, but this was better than I expected! Way beyond my expectations. Spectacular!

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I wanted to love this but sadly, could not get through it. The plot sounded amazing! I felt like I was reading forever but not making any progress.

After last year's disaster, Cross Her Heart, I was highly skeptical that I'd ever read Sarah Pinborough's books again. Call me a hypocrite, because Dead to Her has brought the fire and Sarah Pinborough is back! If you enjoyed Behind Her Eyes, you'll definitely enjoy this book. While the pacing at times was slower than expected (my only issue with this book), the story was intriguing, original, and highly bingeworthy! I highly recommend this book for folks, like me, who are done with the same drawn out domestic thriller and is looking for something on the side of macabre and magic. In true Pinborough fashion, Dead to Her will be polarizing to readers and I can't wait to see where everyone ends up on the spectrum.

The book was hard to describe.it started off super slow but the middle and end were interesting. I could kind of see the twist coming but the end was still really good. Strange, but good. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

3.5/5

*Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!*

Y'all, Genuinely SO FUCKING GOOD! Twisty, and the story that just keeps going and going and going. Without spoilers: there are two main POVs, both are the second wives of powerful men in the South and both have secrets. I love that this book is set up so you get a big reveal and you're like oh yes, there it is! And then there's more. I read this on Kindle and had my progress turned off, and I legitimately thought I was reaching the end of the book when that turned out to totally not be the case!

Okay and now with spoilers: once a cheat, always a cheat really spoke to me, and I really enjoyed the way Marcie and Jason's previous affair was woven into her story and POV - she spent *a lot* of time talking about it and worrying over the ex-wife, which to be fair, is so deserved. I didn't care for Keisha initially, but she was fine. The two of them beginning an affair was the most interesting piece of the story to me, I didn't expect that at all with the plot so driven by the men in the background, so that was a fun reveal.

I also, per usual, didn't at all expect the turn of the villain reveal. It totally made sense, as Elizabeth was so present throughout, but I love that she turned out to be exactly as fucking crazy as the rest of them.

Would recommend if you like: The Wife Between Us, The Perfect Couple, Gone Girl.

Filled with secrets, voodoo, and orgies in the woods, Dead to Her is not for the faint of heart. Sadly, it also wasn't for me.

After being blown away by Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes, I was thrilled to snag an eARC from NetGalley. I jumped right in, even though my TBR told me to wait. I liked the main elements--gold digging second wife, a business in trouble, a voodoo priestess stalking characters, a woman cursed by a ghost. Unfortunately there were so many dangling threads that didn't need to be pulled to weave this tale.

And then there's the overt racisim in the plot--all the white people are insanely rich, all the black people are poor, criminal, servants, or involved in black magic. I get that the author is setting this in the American South, but still, this is a bit ridiculous given the population of that area is more than 50% black. Also, from my limited research any of this magic in Savannah is actually hoodoo and also, why would a British girl with Nigerian roots have the same experience of understanding this stuff as the Geechee culture of the US?

I liked the basics, I just didn't care for how everything fleshed out. 3.5 stars for the writing and glimmer of originality in the plot points, but this one is no dazzling diamond in the rough. My one moment of true appreciation where I saw hints of Pinborough's genius shine through the muck was in the epilogue. Don't skip it.

Marcie and Keisha, both from poor families, are second wives of older wealthy men. The similarities end there. Marcie, the older of the two, is finding that excitement is draining from her marriage to Jason, who seems distant and stressed. Keisha, a gorgeous model type African-American from London, is trying to fit in with her husband William’s Savannah society friends and not doing a very good job of it.

Marcie and Keisha become fast friends and here the story, in my opinion, goes off the rails. Keisha is haunted by a ghost, and although it is explained later in the book, it is an odd distraction. Voodoo and orgies become part of the plot which is also driven by Keisha’s alcohol and drug abuse. After what seems to be an accidental death is deemed a murder, the investigation involves both women. The unsatisfactory ending leaves you wondering what you just read.

Sarah Pinborough is such a wonderful writer that I can give her a pass on Dead to Her. Im looking forward to her next book. And 3 stars for this because go the quality of the writing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Pinborough and Harper Collins for this ARC.

I read Behind Her Eyes and I was one of those people that was not shocked by the unbelievable twist because the unbelievable twist was completely ridiculous to me. I remember turning the last page and feeling so unsatisfied.

So maybe it's my own fault that I requested this book knowing how I felt about her last one. This book, again, was a huge disappointment for me.

Unlikable wealthy people, gold diggers, unnecessary & cringe worthy sex scenes, and voodoo = My head hurts.

Sarah Pinborough has a huge fan following and I wish I could hop on board but her stories just don't work or me. 2 *I think I'm being generous* stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, and William Morrow for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Dead to Her” by Sarah Pinborough started out as the usual psychological thriller with the main character, Marcie Mattox, feeling usurped as the trophy wife in her Savannah, Georgia neighborhood with the arrival of Keisha.
I enjoyed Sarah Pinborough’s previous book, but this one was a little off for me.
The voodoo elements turned me off the story.
I was somewhat disappointed with the way the book ended.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

This is between two and three stars for me. For the most part I enjoyed it. This is about a group of coworkers/friends in Savannah society, the main characters being Marcie, her husband Jason, And Keisha, the much younger second wife of William, who also happens to be British and black. There are elements to the story like Keisha’s background and all the black magic parts that I felt like were unnecessary. But overall a decent mystery. I enjoyed this much more than the author’s last book that had such a crazy ending.