The Sunday Girl follows Taylor, an abused woman who wants to get back at her ex-boyfriend Angus for posting a sex tape online. But she’s not sure how to go about doing it, and she isn’t sure if she’s ready to let him go. With chapters framed as days of the weeks, we follow Taylor in her quest to get the revenge she thinks she deserves.

It would be easy to get mad at her about her lingering love for Angus, but one has to look at how abuse changes a person’s way of thinking over time, and we see that in Taylor. But I didn’t love Taylor’s character, and it wasn’t necessarily because she was still in love with Angus. At times, she was too pushy, (when Charlotte was trying to set up a dating profile for her), and Taylor’s entire way of thinking was obsessive. It was too much for me.

But the thing is, once I started the story, I didn’t want to put it down. Because the more that was revealed, the more enjoyable the story was; it was a well-written story. While our cast of characters was fairly small, they were 3 dimensional, and they all had a role to play. Overall, a fairly fun read.

I enjoyed this book so much I often had to tell myself to breathe because I was holding my breath!! I was so engrossed. The Sunday Girl is a book about a relationship of abuse and power and also of revenge! Taylor loved her boyfriend Angus but they had a tumultuous relationship. He was abusive but she often made excuses or thought of all the good things he had done for her and decided to stay with him. He breaks up with her and then downloads a sex video of her onto the internet. She vows she will get revenge. She plans and carries out many things that she hopes will ruin Angus. That is where the fun begins and things get VERY interesting to say the least. Is revenge always the best thing or can it come full circle back to you? I loved all the twists and turns of deception and revenge. Still sitting here with my jaw dropped.!!!!!!

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed my experience reading this psychological thriller. The writing flower very well and it definetly kept you wanting more. Quiet the page turner! I loved the "Art of War" inspiration. In this book we follow Angus & Taylor. Taylor is seeking revenge on her cheating ex boyfriend after he puts a sex tape of them on the internet. They eventually reconcile but boy how the tables have turned. This was a great read!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A diabolical man meets a woman who at first accepts his sexism and then begins to match him action for action. This is a dark novel that is hilarious in the depths this twisted couple goes to in order to exact revenge on her part and to regain control on his.

The Sunday Girl was a quick read (thank you quarantine) that took me on a wild but fun ride of revenge. Quick warning to those interested in reading: this book centers around domestic abuse and certain situations are described in full. If that is something that makes you uncomfortable pass up on this one please.

Taylor and Angus’ relationship is tumultuous at best. He betrays and tortures her in the sickest ways possible. I absolutely couldn’t stand his character and was rooting for Taylor the whole time. This story is definitely about how relationships with domestic violence are hard to simply leave and how much a woman must fight to protect herself. Taylor’s struggles were so real and I felt for her the the whole time. This book definitely makes a statement about domestic abuse, and if it’s a subject that you’re comfortable with reading, I highly recommend this one! Pip Drysdale’s writing is phenomenal. It flows perfectly and I was never bored once while reading this one.

A solid 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A guy once cheated on me while I was in the hospital, so reading about Taylor’s ex, Angus, made me feel better. Angus is physically and emotionally abusive, does drugs, frequents hookers and may be involved with actual criminals. Taylor just ended their relationship and is now licking her wounds while her career and her whole life suffer. When she reads Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, she comes up with a revenge plan, which Taylor herself describes as dominoes falling one after the other. In an interview at the end of the book, the author explains how she was trying to reflect how even strong, smart women can fall into abusive relationships. I honestly didn’t think that Taylor was that sharp and her actions through most of the book showed it. Still, I liked her and wanted her to accomplish what she was planning. She's persistent and, when her plans misfire, she improvises. Angus was a little too one-dimensional, but works well as a villain. In the end, it was the tightly woven plot that kept me reading compulsively and at the edge of my seat.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Sourcebooks Landmark!

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆/5 Stars!! (Rounded up to 5 stars)
What an amazing first novel for Pip Drysdale! A gripping and fast paced hold on the your seat novel right from the beginning to end!
I loved the style of writing and the use of quotes from The Art of War giving you an insight to the chapter ahead. It was all very well written and captured the personality and nature of the characters so well, I felt like I knew them!
The story whilst a thriller also told a story about being trapped in an abusive relationship and the reality of how hard it can be to leave and to what lengths it takes to escape that world of abuse.
An absolute fantastic read which has left me wanting to read more from this author!

Thank you to Pip Drysdale, Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmar for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is a first novel for Pip Drysdale, but you wouldn't know it. She writes with the assurance of an experienced author, with a confidence that I haven't seen in many recent debuts. From the beginning of The Sunday Girl I knew I could relax, knowing that I was in good hands: she knows how to tell a story. And what a story it is. 

To be honest, I don't think the blurb does it justice. It sounds like a typical revenge tale, and in a sense it is. But it's not only that. (After reading the book, I find the Bridget Jones mention absurd.)

Angus isn't simply a "bad bad man": he's an abuser. Taylor is his victim. This becomes clear fairly quickly, so I don't see this as a spoiler alert. Within the first chapter, we read how he manipulated Taylor into recording a sex tape of her in a threesome--one that she did not want to do, one that was entirely his idea--and after they broke up, he posted it on the internet . . . with her full name included in the description. That's emotional abuse.  

While I'd fully expected his betrayal to be of the run-of-the-mill adultery type (as horrible as that is, of course), I hadn't expected this. Neither had she, apparently.

Drysdale flipped my expectations for a betrayal. She took my expectations of a simple petty revenge tale with an unsympathetic protagonist and jerked them out from under me.

By the end of the first chapter, I was on Taylor's side. While I normally don't sympathize with those bent on revenge, Drysdale made me sympathize with Taylor after this revelation of her ex's humiliating betrayal. Once something's on the internet, it stays on the internet forever. When Taylor says that she's spent her life trying to be the good girl--the kind, tolerant, forgiving girl--and she'd finally had enough, I wrote in my notes, I don't blame her, actually! 

For people who've come out of abusive relationships, this might reopen some wounds. For the rest of us, this story can help us understand why the Taylors of this world do the worst possible thing when faced with abuse: stay. 

I found Taylor sympathetic, even when she was doing the wrong thing. She's been betrayed by many men throughout her life, starting with her father. (That's a doozy, too.) 

While she could've been a flat-out nasty character, full of anger and hostility, Pip Drysdale makes her more nuanced than that. Everything she does makes psychological sense, at least to me. She's justified Angus's actions for so long that it's hard for her break free from his hold on her. Her heart and head fight one another: her head argues for cool logic, but her heart wants to heal the wounded spirit of her ex-boyfriend. 

The story held me in its grip. Feeling a bit burned out on reading, I opened The Sunday Girl and resolved to read only a chapter or two, enough to keep my Kindle reading streak going. That chapter or two stretched out to reading the entire book in two days.

The plot moves slowly at first, then picks up speed until we're inexorably rushing forward to the inevitable conclusion. To borrow an analogy Taylor uses in the book, once the dominoes start to fall, there's no turning back. Drysdale works in trivial details earlier in the book that only become significant in hindsight. 

This was a five star read for me. The book hit all the points I love about great books. Emotional impact. Nuanced characters. Interesting plot. A story with significance, one that helps illuminate the challenges of our modern life. The Sunday Girl was all that and more for me.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for a copy of The Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale in exchange for an honest review. (The review will be posted on my blog on April 20, 2020.)

What a great book. Your next great read. What would you do if someone took over your every thought and knew everywhere you were and what you were going to do

What a nail biter! The tension is high and the suspense nearly unbearable as Taylor tries to exact revenge on her boyfriend, using the Art of War as her starting point. I love that each chapter starts with a quote from that book, which gives you an idea of what might be lying in wait in the next few pages. This was a clever and well-crafted plot. Would definitely recommend to people who enjoy smart psychological thrillers.

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

The Sunday Girl tells the story of Taylor Bishop who has been dumped by her long-term boyfriend Angus Hollingsworth and who decided to stop being nice and get revenge instead. We follow her clumsy attempts at revenge and rekindling a romance. and watch the mechanisms of a master manipulator all play out.

Reading reviews for this book I was really excited to read it. Having now finished it, the book was well written and reasonably gripping. I particularly enjoyed how the author played with Angus's character, revealing bit by bit how psychotic he was. Taylor's character while no doubt an excellent depiction of both how a woman scorned and an woman abused may irrational react, wasn't a character I was compelled by personally.

This is a well told page turning story, my one caveat is that if you find it challenging to sympathize with characters that put up with abuse or oneupsmanship, you may not find this book is quite right for you.

I got a free advance reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. Thanks NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark!

The Sunday Girl started off as a typical “ex looking for revenge” book. Taylor Bishop is the ex in question and she has been betrayed by her ex boyfriend, Angus Hollingsworth. I though it was just a case of infidelity until it was revealed that a sex video was involved. A sex video which Taylor did not want to film in the first place was uploaded by Angus to a porn site. Unfortunately, this is something that many women now can relate to. Revenge porn is quickly becoming a way for men to get back at their exes in the 21st century. Taylor finds the book, The Art Of War, and starts plotting her revenge. Somehow, though, the tables are turned and she finds herself fighting to see which one of them will get the upper hand in the end.

Revenge porn, to me, says something about a man. If a man is willing to use revenge porn to get back at his ex, he could never claim to have loved her. That is one of the most disgusting things to do to a woman. So I was solidly on Taylor’s side from the beginning. Furthermore, when she began revealing more of what had been done to her in the relationship, I started to hate Angus even more.

I was extremely upset when after all that and after she had made up her mind for her revenge, he was able to worm his way back into her life. But I think all women have made some very stupid decisions when in love so I could understand.

The rest of the book was extremely exciting. I literally could not put it down until it was finished. As much as I wanted to throttle Taylor for accepting Angus back, I genuinely liked her and needed her to win their fight.

This was a genuine thriller and anybody who likes that genre would love this book. I can see this being a very intense movie.

Suitable audience: This book is aimed more at adults. There are some very mature themes in this book.

Recurrent themes: Betrayal. Infidelity. Abuse. Murder.

Violence:
Sexual Content: Masturbation. Sex videos. Very rough sex.
Profanity: Multiple uses of profanity
Religious Themes: None
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: Drugs are mentioned throughout this book. So too is alcohol. Marijuana smoking is also mentioned

TW - domestic abuse

Woweeee.
This was a very exciting read. If I could give this more than five stars, I would. I felt EVERYTHING!
What an actual whirlwind. I genuinely had to put this down a few times just so I could breathe. The tension was so high, I spent most of the time holding my breath.
I look forward to reading more from this author.

Taylor's life is thrown into a whirlwind after she finds out her boyfriend Angus has been cheating on her. Her plan for revenge is told throughout this fast-paced novel, which had me constantly wondering what would happen next.

I enjoyed this thriller and have always been intrigued by a well-done dive into domestic abuse. Taylor's mistakes proved realistic, and Angus was a suitably horrible antagonist. Drysdale kept pace throughout the novel and made for an enjoyable mystery.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for providing me with this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pip Drysdale deals with domestic violence issues in this edgy pageburner with a sensitive, intelligent novel portraying one woman's struggle against abuse. This time the protagonist, Taylor Bishop applies the ancient "Art Of War" to extract her ultimate revenge on a remorseless ex-lover. It's not a recommended solution but certainly makes a good, quick read

Yowlers!! Fantastic read. Started just a little slow but by a quarter in I COULD. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN. Great twist in the middle & overall great suspense read. ✡️✡️✡️✡️✡️

This book had me hooked from the very first page!! The tie in of the Art of War book with quotes as the guideline for the premise was really great,

The story of Taylor and Angus and how cunning she has to be to outsmart how awful he is was very well written, I felt like I could see inside Her mind , and I literally read this in 2 days it was amazing!
This is an author who I would look up and read everything else by - so I really look forward to what she does next! 5 stars plus!

I loved the premise of this book- Bridget Jones + Art of War + getting back at the guy who wronged you? Yes, please. The execution, however, fell flat. Instead of rooting for the main character, I found myself screaming at her, “what are you doing?” There was nothing light or fun or Bridget Jones-ish about it. I do like the author’s style of writing, and I’ll definitely read more of their work. The plot of this one, however, was not my jam.

I loved this book. From the very beginning, I was immediately hooked. Stayed up all night to finish it and am glad I did!

I received a free ebook copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I could not put this book down! I was immediately drawn into Taylor and Angus's story. I loved The Art of War references, and how the book somewhat revolved around that.

This was a book I could not put down and had a huge twist I did not see coming at all.

Overall this book has become a favorite!