This was a wild one! I really enjoy this author and this book. It had lots of entertainment like the wealthy, second wives, aging first wives, mansions, social clubs and of course back stabbing! There were characters you love to hate and ones you wonder about. The first half of book was impossible to put down. The second was good, but did get a bit convoluted. There were many twists and turns I did not guess the ending. A recommended read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy of Dead to Her.

This book wasn’t really what I expected when I started. It’s not that much of a thriller and more a tangled love web. It has had themes of Voodoo which was unexpected. I wish there had been more to the thriller side of this. Not her best work, but I enjoyed her writing.

Marcie Maddox is lawyer Jason's second wife, she helped break up his first marriage by having an affair with him. She comes from humble beginnings and works hard to fit in with her new wealthy and elite Savannah social set.
When Jason's boss, recently widowed William Radford returns home from a vacation in London with a younger new wife on his arm, Marcie is concerned.
The new Mrs. Radford is a stunning and sexy young black woman named Keisha and Jason can't stay away from her.
When Marcie befriends Keisha to keep an eye on things, she starts to realize not everything is what it seems.
This twisty domestic psychological thriller doesn't have particularly likable characters, but they were intriguing enough to keep me interested. There was an abundance of sex and sexual situations, but it wasn't too explicit and I didn't find it offensive.
Throw in some voodoo and dark magic and the craziness ramps up!
This was an entertaining and exciting read.
Getting towards the end I thought I had figured out what happens and was feeling disappointed and then there were more unexpected occurrences and I was completely surprised!
Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers William Morrow for the e-ARC via NetGalley.

“His eyes were shining as he came and took her hand, his palms sweaty despite the AC, and she couldn’t stop herself suddenly picturing his damp, salty crotch, and the line of wet skin under the overhang of his belly.” I just couldn’t continue. This book is too Real Housewives of Savannah for me. I am really not the intended audience. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

I was really looking forward to this book. I have heard so much about this author, I actually have her other books and haven't read them yet. I couldn't wait to dig into this one. This is going to be a weird review for me, I had so many different "feels" on this one. I can literally break it down into sections....

The first 25% I am really liking it...I am thinking that this is the foundation for a great thriller. The older rich man snagging a younger poor wife. The country club all in a tizzy and gossiping. A potential affair in the making...yes! I was reeled in and ready...

Then the middle...the next 50%...I started to wonder..hmm should I DNF this? What is the plot? Is the plot sex? It read more like a steamy, romance novel (which is not what I was bargaining for when I picked this up). People were having sex- here, there and everywhere! Yeah not for me...I want the "killer thriller".

Then the last 25% well...things start getting more interesting..and then the last couple chapters, I am thinking YES! This is what I expected, full on thriller, twisted, evil...YES!! Except I had to wait for about 90% of the book to get to this point.

Honestly this is just my opinion. I have seen some great reviews out there. Just not kind of read. If I could just rate the last couple of chapters, well they were 5 star worthy for sure.

I wanted to like this one! The premise was great and I liked the southern gothic setting. However, none of the characters were compelling or likable and the weird voodoo subplots felt forced. This wasn't the domestic thriller I was hoping for.

Not my favorite book of hers. Unlikable characters. Kind of all over the place. Just wasn't as good as her others. Will still grab her books in the future though cause she can be really good. This one was just not it.

On the oof meter this book would be on the ooooooooof end. Like a run-out-of-breath type oof. The oofiest of all the oofs.

Ok let's start out with the Pros:


And now to the Cons:
The plot is sloppy
Utterly undeveloped and unlikable characters
No thrills
No chills
No mystery
Sex scenes that make EL James look like a Booker Prize winner

Next.


** Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review **

“Dead to Her” by Sarah Pinborough tells a troubled story of two complicated women. They meet at a company party in Savannah, Georgia. Marcie is watching her husband Jason flirt with Keisha, the boss’s new wife and thinking about the splintering of their marriage. Kiesha is from London, and the second Mrs. William Radford IV, the new wife, the black second wife, the ravishing young wife. Pinborough unravels the tragic stories of these two women.

Marcie feels betrayed, used. And yet, she had always had a wild streak and nothing could change that. She is Jason’s second wife, and she is determined not to be beaten. She also has secrets, ones that are suddenly unraveling little by little.Keisha is worried; she is isolated, and filled with anxiety and dark muddled thinking. She had hit the jackpot with William, a rich lonely American widower, well respected, and powerful. William wants to get a new life insurance policy and change his will, but there is another legal arrangement as well; she knows when he dies she will not get everything, but she will get enough.

The plot is conversation driven. There are little society gatherings, and lunches, trips to museums, and historic cemeteries. Then, Pinborough unravels that little society world of Savannah. Everything comes tumbling down. There is a wrecked business, a troubled partnership, and missed business opportunities. Murders are attempted and murders are covered up. Co-conspirators are everywhere, and everyone has a part to play.

“Dead to Her” is a story of betrayal, unlikely alliances, buried secrets, treachery, and voodoo. I received a review copy of “Dead to Her” from Sarah Pinborough and William Morrow Publishing. There is a lot of power in a dying wish, and there are some fates worse than death.

Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me. I was so excited to read the newest Pinborough novel, as I loved Behind Her Eyes and really enjoyed Cross Her Heart. I felt like this book suffered from a lack of focus. There were several minor plotlines happening in the book, and many of them didn't feel relevant. Even after finishing the book and understanding why they were included, I just felt like the payoff wasn't there.

The twists in this book felt minor, and it really wasn't what I was expecting when I picked it up. This was focused less on murder (which was mentioned in the blurb) and read more like a domestic drama, with some aspects of voodoo. There was also an orgy. Why? WHO KNOWS. It felt thrown in, rather than an intentional way to drive the plot forward.

Lastly, the characters were all horrible people. Look, not all thrillers have likable characters, but I want to feel like I'm rooting for *someone*, but with this one, I felt like no one deserved to win, so that made it harder for me to get invested.

All in all, I can't say I loved this one, but I do look forward to seeing what Pinborough writes next, considering I did enjoy her previous two books.

Ooof, this book was not what I was expecting. The story of this book was all over the place and was more of a smut read than a thriller read. This book is a domestic thriller involving prestigious families, black voodoo magic, a female female romance, and just a whole host of unlikable characters. If you want to hear my full review, I have a Spoiler Reading Vlog on my Youtube Channel: https://youtu.be/kAcnHv7hMts

This just wasn't as good as her previous thrillers. The characters were unlikeable and the plot was uninteresting. The reveal was lackluster for me. Maybe I'll enjoy her next one better.

This book has it all, the perfect hot steamy setting of Savannah, sexy beautiful people, lies, deceit, secrets, betrayal and mysterious characters

Sarah takes her reader into the world of wealth, greed, infidelity, and voodoo set in the high society of Savannah, Georgia. In her third novel Pinborough introduced us to Keisha a 22 year old former cocktail waitress married to one of Savannah's wealthiest. Quickly she becomes the talk of the town. Marcie Maddox in particular starts to envy her beauty when she starts suspecting her husband maybe having an affair with her. Marcie starts to befriend Keisha in an attempt to extract information and confirm that there's more to Keisha than meets the eye. The two women soon find out that they both are followed by a dark twisted past that comes to haunt them time after time affecting even those around them.

I was a huge fan of Behind Her Eyes. Because of that success, I was compelled to request Dead to Her. BHE was a book that was polarizing in the book community because It did have an element of supernatural that made the ending such a twist of faith. In this book, Pinborough added a dash of paranormal that influenced the ending a by a tad bit. This book was 100 pages too long and still felt like there was information missing. With every chapter read something new arose and a new element was introduced. At about 85% through I was getting exhausted of reading it and just wanted it to end. It does feel as if the book was written by a different author. From the beginning to the middle right until the end, it felt like 3 different authors.

The book kept my attention going for the most part. As you know thrillers can do. The writing was ok. At about the middle there were themes of voodoo and rituals that made the book turn from a thriller to the scene of a horror film. As the book progresses however, it started to become impatient with the enormous amounts of characters. Why, WHY, WHY is this a theme now? The past three new books I've read had a cast of characters that made me less interested in the story because it's hard to connect with so many people. Dear authors stop doing this. You are exhausting your reader and when twists come, no one is surprised because it had to be one of the 2348320 people mentioned. Another flaw that I found distracting was the introduction of characters without explaining who they were. It was as if she forgot to let her reader know and we don't find out until the very end more or less who is who.

This book didn't surprise me, left me a bit confused, and certainly let me down. I was expecting more from this author and expecting a nice twist at the end. Although there was a couple of twists, it just became on jumble confusing mess. Thank you to HarperCollins for providing me a copy of this book though netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

Review will be up on IG on 2/16/2020 and will be up on my website 2/17/2020

The description of Dead to Her obviously interested me. I often like books about the rich behaving badly, and they definitely did that in Dead to Her, to the point of ridiculousness. It just wan’t the fun, delicious sort of bad behavior I find so satisfying. The story revolved around Marcie, a 35-year old second wife of a managing partner in a Savannah law firm. Marcie had a past that she’d hidden from everyone. A past that I didn’t think was all that surprising, but was what kept Marcie always a little fearful. Marcie, who’s husband, Jason, was nearly 20 years older than her, literally had NO friends her own age. She hung out exclusively with women old enough to be her mother and then some. She flip flopped on her feelings every single chapter. To me, she was a hot mess and not in a fun way. Then there was Keisha, the hot young new wife of Jason’s partner, William. William, 65 and a recent widower, surprised everyone after returning from a trip to London with Keisha, a gorgeous, very young black woman. Keisha was the only one in the story who wanted to have any fun, but she was also a bit crazy, with a ghost of a young boy haunting her life.

The book took place in the present, but to me felt more like a demented episode of Mad Men. Women spent their days gossiping, exercising, shopping, drinking or doing a little charity work, always being on hand at home to keep their husbands happy. In the end, everything about Dead to Her felt just a little bit too clichéd.

Marcie came from nothing and wanted it all! It took time for this second wife to make her mark and climb the social ladder. She had a sexy husband, Jason who she acquired after an affair leading to an ugly divorce and he was about to be the owner of a company ensuring her status as the youngest wife of the elite. This was until Keisha showed up on the arm of the newly widowed William. Keisha was now a 2nd wife and younger and wilder than Marcie. Marcie couldn’t stand the look Jason gave Keisha. It was a look that she remembered him using on her in the very beginning.
The story weaves old creole magic, secrets of the past and present and good old fashioned revenge into a web of lies and deceit. It took awhile for the pieces to all come together right down to the last page!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Every time I read a Sarah Pinborough book I get excited for the twists and turns. She knows how to put you through the loop and make you question everything you just read, and this one didn’t disappoint!

This book was a roller coaster to say the least. I'm giving this book two out of five stars because of the very unlikable characters, the cluster of events going on, some being too far fetched for my liking, and just the whole "generic" thriller story/plot. I also guessed the person behind everything right when William was put into the hospital. Way too obvious in my opinion. The writing style was also below average. I do have three reading vlogs up on my channel, where viewers can watch and read along with me and discuss the book. Really sucks that I disliked it because the cover is gorgeous.

http://www.youtube.com/bethjune327

Marcie Maddox is Jason's second wife. She's younger than most of the elite set she associates with in Savannah, Georgia. That all changes when Jason's boss, William Radford IV brings home his own second wife. Keisha is even younger than Marcie. She's English, irreverent, and strikingly beautiful. Jason's been distracted lately, but he seems to have no problem focusing on Keisha. Suddenly Marcie finds herself feeling second best, and she doesn't like it one bit.

I hate to say it, but this book really just wasn't for me. The writing felt cheesy and stilted, and for most of the book, I just couldn't get into the plot. It had a slow start--we're introduced to Keisha, who has obviously married the much older "Billy" for his money, and we learn that Jason (and Marcie) have secrets of their own. But we don't get to learn any of these secrets, and so the plot is just a drawn out introduction to everyone, with constant teasing to these supposedly explosive secrets. I just felt like yelling, "get on with it already!"

Then things do finally move on, but they take some outrageous turns that felt a bit melodramatic and, at times, completely unbelievable. This is a really strange, weird read. There's voodoo and black magic, a lesbian storyline, and some very odd, often unlikable characters. I really wasn't invested in anyone. And while I am typically really excited for a lesbian plotline, this one felt forced, and the LGBTIA treatment of the characters was often pretty despicable: a gay party-planning couple is treated really derogatory and mocked, as well as portrayed in really stereotypical fashion, while lesbians are called "dykes" and just not really shown any respect at all. Ugh. Maybe I was being over-sensitive, but I wasn't impressed.

The book picks up a bit near the end, and there are a few good twists, but overall, not enough to redeem it for me. Others seem to enjoy this one, so take my review with a grain of salt, but this was a 2.5-star read for me.

Hmmm, let me say I was really looking forward to this book.
I have to give this two stars.
I’m really a little confused by this books message. By the story.
Because this is not a thriller. This is an adult contemporary with a ridiculous side plot that doesn’t even entertain you. And I’m still not sure of it’s purpose.
The characters, all of them, were detestable. Which left me with no interest in finding out how the book concluded.