I didn’t like Behind Her Eyes. But I loved Cross Her Heart. I must be following a pattern because this book misses the mark for me.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the early release copy. I was so excited to receive it. I love this author, however I found the story line did not keep my attention. I got bored with the southern talk with the old rich men and their wives. I found I didn’t just didn’t connect. I wanted to love it, but I just didn’t. Readers who enjoyed the authors previous work should definitely give it a shot. I will pick up her next release despite not connecting with this one.

I really wanted to love this book! I loved Pinborough's previous works but this one just didn't do it for me. Too many unlikable characters and a slow plot.

Sarah Pinborough's latest psychological thriller kept me guessing until the very end. Set in the homes and country clubs of Savannah's elite, this mystery completely surprised me.

Marcie Maddox is a younger second wife whose life revolves around proving to the other women in their social circle that she's worthy of their friendship. But when Jason's boss, the recently widowed Willliam, returns home from a European trip with a much younger, much sexier and much more outrageous new wife, Keisha, it throws Marcie for a loop. She worries her husband has the hots for the newcomer and that she'll lose her place in the group she fought so hard to be a part of. It's only a matter of time before tragedy strikes and everything and everyone Marcie holds dear could disappear.

The author writes characters who jump off the page and the dog-eat-dog world of Savannah high-society was exciting to read about - it sometimes felt like a Bravo show crossed with Dynasty which, to me, is a huge compliment! The relationships between the characters were constantly shifting and as a reader, I often felt as off-kilter as Marcie did, never quite sure of what might happen next. The resolution to the mystery and the ending truly shocked me and I went back to a few earlier passages to re-read them looking for hints of what was to come. I did think the book felt a bit long at times but the ending was well worth the wait.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow and the author for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

GO IN AS BLIND AS YOU CAN. I BEG OF YOU!
And for that reason alone– this review will be short and sweet.

It took me two different times to actually sit down and finally get into Dead to Her. I’m not sure what happened, but my mood just wasn’t letting me get into it. But I kept telling myself how much I enjoyed Sarah’s other stories and her writing so I knew I could do it. I am SO glad that I pushed myself with this one because when I actually sat down and read through the first 3/4 chapters, I could not put the book down.

It had some elements that were far-feteched, of course. But the writing and the execution was A plus work. Sarah Pinbourough blows my mind with her 3rd person POV and her excellent story-telling.

Look, this book is out there. It’s a trip. If you aren’t used to things that take you out of your normalcy and comfort zone, this one might be un-enjoyable for you. I get that and I see it. But I liked it because it was a challenge. It was something that I went in blind to and ended up being completely caught off guard and it was awesome. I had a great time reading it and thankfully the end was not disappointing. It was all worth it.

I started reading Dead to Her and I was immediately intrigued by the fast pace and the pages flew by. However, things started going downhill about a quarter of the way through. I hated the characters. All of them. Most of the book is spent inside Marcie's head, not really a place I wanted to be. It all became really repetitive. Too many unlikeable characters and threads that seemed to go nowhere until the end. It gelled together somewhat by then, but I just didn't care at the point.

Honestly, I nearly DNF this one. I was upset because I so enjoyed Behind Her Eyes. This one didn't work for me on any level.

I’m a fan of Sarah Pinborough’s writing, but this one just didn’t work as well for me as her other books. I almost DNF’ed it around the 20% mark, but something happened in a scene with Keisha and Marcie that made me intrigued enough to keep reading. Although the book did get better after that point, it never fully worked for me. Almost every character was awful, which made it hard to care about - or root for - any of them.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion

William Radford, IV lost his wife Eleanor to cancer. Without waiting, he met and married a young, African American woman, Keisha, age 22, that he met in London. Back in the U.S., she is meeting her husband’s long-time friends. Eleanor was loved by their friends so they are rather shocked at his quick marriage.

Keisha has a lot of energy, an outgoing personality, and tries hard to be accepted by William’s friends. His co-worker, Jason and wife Marcie, are doing all they can to befriend the girl and introduce her to their wealthy friends and way of life.

Marcie is a second wife to Jason and wants to hold onto her marriage. She worries a lot about him being true to her.

Keisha and William’s private married life is difficult for her to handle but she tries her best to be who he wants her to be. If only he would just die and not make her do that stuff!

William and Jason want Marcie to take Keisha under her wing and show her how to be a southern hostess. While they seem to get along, things are not what they appear to be.

When William suffers a devastating medical incident, it appears that someone wants him dead. Who and why? It appears that everyone is hiding a secret of some kind and looking for revenge.

Well now. This book has a bit of something for everyone. In true southern small town form, we have cattiness, people with more wealth than couth, and so many secrets and oneupmanship going on that it’s right heady. Come check it out. I found it a really good read.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really DO love a good "love to hate" book character⁣⁣. But to be completely honest - I disliked just about everyone in Dead to Her.⁣⁣⁣ 😆 The old money boys and real housewife-ish trophy wives were horrid as far as humans go. But it can be FUN to hate!⁣⁣⁣
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⁣⁣I loved Cross Her Heart so I was really excited for this! We follow the "second wives club" Marcie & Keisha are both wife number 2 of their wealthy Southern elite husbands. And as stinking-rich Southern charm goes, they definitely have to earn their places, prove themselves society ladies, while avoiding haunting ex-wives - both dead & alive.⁣⁣⁣
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⁣⁣When Marcie starts to question her husbands secrets and wandering eye - which drifts exclusively towards Keisha - this is where things start to get a whole lotta crazy.⁣⁣⁣
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⁣⁣It’s a unique and unusual storyline - which is appreciated for entertainment factor, but I found it a bit confusing at times (who ARE all these snooty people?!) The ladies both have their own secrets revealed in a slow middle-of-the-book, but what follows is certainly some fun erratic behavior, including a bit of voodoo vibes, leading to a clever and puzzling reveal at the end!⁣⁣⁣
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⁣⁣Although not my favorite of hers, I will def check out old (Hello, I need you Behind Her Eyes!) and whatever new comes next. She definitely puts a refreshing, unique spin on thrillers, when many seem to be getting more formulaic & predictable.⁣⁣⁣
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⁣⁣Or maybe I'm just getting infinitely smarter.⁣⁣⁣ 😆

Scandal, vivid characters, and a touch of voodoo are the main players in this book about Georgia's social elite. While the characters in Dead to Her aren't especially likable, they're certainly interesting, with mysterious backstories that are revealed in tidbits throughout the book. The first half of this book zips along as character relationships are established and the scene is set for disaster ahead.

Unfortunately, the second half of the book doesn't keep the same pacing. I spent a lot of time wondering when the real plot would develop, and when it finally did it was kind of a slog to to solve the story's main mystery. Much of the time is spent in protagonist Marcie's head and she considers a number of questions about the scenario over and over and over, and you simply wish that she'd finally get some answers. The last chapters of the book run through a number of theories before finally giving you the big reveal. I liked how it all wrapped up, but I wish that the energy from the early part of the story carried through to the finale.

Let me just preface this review by saying domestic thrillers? Not really my thing. I knew that going into this book, but I've only really read one or two and I wanted to give them another try. I've also heard good things about Sarah Pinborough and was excited to try her as an author.

I would say this was overall an enjoyable read, but was, at times, a bit of a struggle to get through.

I feel like the first third of the book was, honestly, pretty unnecessary. This did NOT need to be 400 pages like whatsoever. I really thought things were going to pick up at the halfway mark, but that was not the case. It didn't pick up until the last third or even quarter of the book. The pacing was a bit off to say the least.

And I won't give any spoilers, but at the climax there was a lot of back and forth of what the reader was meant to believe and I really did not enjoy that part. It felt very clunky and convoluted. I also guessed the conclusion pretty early on, so maybe that had something to do with it.

There was also this cast of 'privileged white woman adding commentary on the privilege of white women while writing a character who is a privileged white woman' over the whole thing that was, I don't know, maybe meant to Mean something, but I sort of found the whole thing laughable.

Really though, as I was reading this, I wasn't having a bad time. I was interested to see where the story was going, what would happen next, etc, etc. What really got me was the ending, which is the name of the game with thrillers, I guess.

This book was trying to be smart. It was trying to be really, really smart, but it failed in that. And when you fail in your main objective as a book, that is detrimental to the reading experience.

That's my main gripe with this book. Yeah the plotting was messy in places, the pacing was...interesting, Pinborough lacked nuance in her addition of social commentary to the plot, but overall those things are whatever if a book delivers, and this just didn't. This was meant to be a thriller and I simply didn't find myself thrilled.

It's hot, it's steamy - it's the location - not the book.

With elements of black magic and a mystery, this book would normally be right up my alley but it kind of fell flat for me. It's probably going to be a best seller but for someone who is not me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you NetGalley for my arc. I unfortunately really did not like this one. I really didn't enjoy reading about rich people and their problems. It just wasn't enjoyable

(cue any music you associate with batshit crazy here......I've been brewing the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil")
Yep, my head is pounding. A full cast of characters. Several tiers of family histories. Lies. Betrayals. Secrets. Manipulation.
I can tell you that I almost did not read this book. I started it, as I love the author, but when I read about the very "old money" and those who want to be a part of that, I pull back. It just doesn't interest me. Was I surprised to be very drawn after reading about 10% of this book? Yep again.
New money. Old money. Affairs. Deceit. Lust. Power. It's all here in a large cast of characters. Who is actually being gaslit? Is it me, the reader? Oh, please don't manipulate me!
Nope, as promised always, the story is laid out, the action makes sense, the characters fully present. The specter of ghosts just around the corner.
A really delicious read all around. No spoilers, and you can read the actual thumbnail somewhere else. If you enjoy a good ride, climb on board and buckle up.

I had such high hopes for this book. I loved the author's book behind her eyes so I was excited for this one. Sadly this one did not live up to the hype of the first.

The first half of this book was decent. I enjoyed finding out about Keisha, a trophy wife, who had recently married William Radford IV. She meets another trophy wife who seems wonderfully happy.

I was happily reading this book until all of a sudden a strange plot line happened. Needless to say I was definitely not into this. A very unbelievable and confusing development with characters I couldn't get into. Definitely not the thriller I was expecting.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

"That's why secrets normally stayed secret. Secrets broke things."

Steamy Savannah, Georgia, fabulous mansions, old money, social standing and self-indulgence. It's a world that is dominated by men who have certain types of wives. When an old scion, William Radford IV, gets himself a hot new wife after the death of the elegant Savannah belle, Eleanor, the tongues can barely stop wagging. Gossip is currency, and William's friends are both contemptuous and jealous of the lovely Keisha -- who's barely into her early twenties. "There's no fool like an old fool," they all say behind their social niceties. No one is quite as concerned, however, as Marcie Maddox. Marcie is also the second, younger wife but she displaced the former by having an affair that led to a divorce for Jason Maddox. When Marcie notices that Jason seems a bit too taken with Keisha, the claws come out. But then, to her surprise, she and Keisha find that they have quite a bit in common and become close. It's their need, their wildness, their hedonism that might upend it all. Things start to unravel almost immediately and everyone in their close circle will be affected. NO SPOILERS.

Although this was definitely not the twisty, shock-of-a-lifetime thriller that was BEHIND HER EYES, it was entertaining though a bit more "racy" than I like with far too much focus on lust and sex. The shifting narrative between Marcia and Keisha's points of view was seamless, but it lagged in places even though there seemed to be almost too much going on. Lots of different themes within this novel but the overlying tension was weakened for me a bit because I really didn't care of any of the characters! It was quite a collection of pathological personalities and as the end came closer I discovered that I had guessed it out quite correctly. I'll still check out the next book by this author as the stories are unique in their own way, but the more I read, the less likely it is that I'll truly ever be totally surprised by a twist.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this e-book ARC to read and review.

I am so conflicted with this review of Dead to Her. There were parts of this book that I really liked but there were also parts I didn't. So I'll just go with the middle of the road 3 stars. I think I wasn't a big fan of the black magic/voodoo and part of the book seemed to drag in the middle. I did enjoy the beginning and ending however and I never guessed who done it! Pinborough is one of my favorite authors and although this wasn't my favorite book of hers I will still look forward to reading her writing. Its just so hard not to compare to Behind Her Eyes!

3.5 stars.

Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough was a tough read for me. I have read other books by Sarah Pinborough and really enjoyed them so I was hopeful for this read however it didn't fully do the job. Overall I enjoyed the individual character development, the change of perspective from Marcie to Keisha, and the ending was fire! However, the plot really didn't do it for me. Was I supposed to be into the steamy hidden romance, the money thirsty young wife, the voodoo magic, or the constant "I hope he dies". Overall, not a bad read, just wish the entire book held more clarity in plot and had reflected the intensity of the ending.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced read in exchange for this review. This book was hard to get through, which is unfortunate as I am a Pinborough fan. I just didn't want to read about spoiled, rich people and their problems. Oh well, next time!

This was quite the read. It will twist you around many times making it a challenge to guess the spoilers. The book is centered around the social elite in Savannah, Georgia which is one of the reasons this book drew me into it. I know this area well enough to relate to much of the descriptions and locations from personal experience. The two main couples are both deeply flawed in many ways. There are Jason and Marcie who are the good looking couple who both have messy past histories and who wed after an affair that rocked Savannah society. The other couple is William and Keisha, he is a wealthy widower who barely mourned his wife's passing before finding a new wife in the UK with stunning Keisha. There are issues with her as well of course because she is much younger than William, from a different country and also is black. This is all shocking to the Country Clubbers who don't even yet allow the wives/women to hold primary membership .
There are twists and turns throughout and there are components of magical thinking with voodoo playing a role in the theme. Overall, I enjoyed the story and plot. The characters seemed flat at times and were all unlikable. Only a few of the supporting characters seemed to be written as decent people. The pacing also was great at the start and the end but lagged in the middle stretch.
3.5/5
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