Member Reviews
I enjoyed The Hunting Wives. It was a fast read, entertaining. I didn't figure out the ending too easily. Solid novel.
A compelling look at what happens when Mean Girls turn into Mean Women... privilege combined with sociopathy in a wealthy Texas suburb. The main character is a bit of a cypher--she has everything, but it isn't enough and her immediate need to be accepted into this group of Mean Women is hard to understand. But the story is so fast-paced and well-written, readers won't be able to put it down.
THIS. BOOK. WAS. SO. AMAZING!! It was creepy, unpredictable, and odd, but in the best possible way. Basically Sophie moves back to her childhood hometown with her husband and son Jack to live a more relaxed lifestyle away from the city as she raises Jack. However, she does not get that relaxed life she had planned on once she meets Margot, the town’s popular socialite. Margot and her friends live pretty fabulous lives and they call each other the Hunting Wives. They hunt for many things... When a highschooler ends up dead there’s an investigation and one main suspect.
There were so many twists and turns in this novel and it was exactly the thriller that I needed in my life. Marriage, adultery, friendship, crushes, parenting, this book has it all. It kept me guessing till the very last page. I really dislike when suspense novels have so much filler in the story. May Cobb did a fantastic job writing this novel in a way that each action had a purpose. There was a reason behind everything that happened and there definitely was not “filler” with no purpose. Thumbs up for May Cobb!
I buddy read this with two friends and I can’t count the amount of times I was like “WHAT?!, OMG.” Definitely keep this on your radar for pub date. I’ll honestly probably read it again, it was that good. Easy 5 stars, no question.
What a group of women! I couldn't keep up with them in real life, the boozing and carousing. It's all just fun and games until someone get's murdered. Who did it? Wait a minute, it wasn't me!
Treading into dangerous territory with a lust that can't be denied. She didn't plan to let her obsession take her to jail but that may be where she ends up. Who can be trusted? Who's cheating who? Yes, a lot of unanswered questions that do get answered at the finale but up until the end, It wasn't what I expected! I do love to be surprised.
The clothes, the jewelry, the lavish lifestyle for a group of women with time and money on their hands. It might take her down but she can't resist. A just for the record, who's bi, who's lesbian and who's straight?
A fun read.
SCANDALOUS! JUICY! SEXY! THRILLING! TWISTY! SHOCKING! CAPTIVATING! ADDICTIVE!
Do I have your attention yet?
Seriously, you need to read The Hunting Wives! It’s all those things AND A BAG OF CHIPS! Dare I say it? This might be my favorite book I’ve read in 2020.
Sophie leaves behind big city life in Chicago to raise her son in a small town in Texas. Of course, it’s human nature to think the grass is always greener but before she knows it, Sophie is straight up bored. Looking for a way to spice things up, she sets eyes on Margot Banks, a sexy, enthralling socialite and quickly becomes enamored and quite frankly obsessed with her.
Margot is the leader and head mean girl of an elite club of mothers that call themselves The Hunting Wives and they get together to literally shoot the shit and drink, like copious amounts of alcohol. It’s all fun and games until someone loses their life and you get blamed for it, right SOPHIE? Ugh, you should have just stayed home with your practically perfect husband and adorably cute son and not taken your wonderful life for granted! Not so bored now, are ya?!
LOL, if you couldn’t tell, Sophie annoyed me so bad but yet I was really hoping for a good outcome for her. I love when an author can make you having feelings at completely different ends of the spectrum. A lot of the ladies in this book were characters that I loved to hate! It was just so entertaining following their stories and trying to guess who the killer was.
One of my favorite things is to finish the very last word of a book, close it, and think “wow, I didn’t see that one coming.” No better feeling than total, utter shock.
Covid lockdown, the nasty election and a recent breakup had me thirsty for some escapist fun, and boyyyyy did The Hunting Wives deliver. I could not put this thing down once I started, and it was the perfect book to get my mind off things. It's a deliciously trashy and super fun beach book that feels a bit like Real/Desperate Housewives meets Wild Things meets Mean Girls meets Big Little Lies, with a touch of Single White Female thrown in for good measure.
Wannabe Instagram mommy influencer Sophie O'Neill isn't a particularly likable narrator, but the mess she finds herself in once she gets involved with a gang of hard-drinking socialites after moving from Chicago to a small town in Texas is completely engrossing.
Cobb's writing isn't flashy, but she's good at painting vivid little details and knows how to keep the plot moving with all sorts of surprises and sleazy subplots. The ending was completely unexpected and the epilogue ties up all the loose ends in a satisfyingly manner.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.
🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5 stars
I have said it a million times, but all I need is a mystery set in a suburb and I am happy. The Hunting Wives is a mashup of Mean Girls and Real Housewives with murder thrown in. I loved the premise and how gripping this book is from page one.
The Hunting Wives is about Sophie, who moves to a small Texas suburb in hopes of giving her child the childhood she dreamed of. However, Sophie soon grows bored and that boredom leads to a fascination with Margot, the rich queen bee of the town. Margot invites Sophie into her group, The Hunting Wives, and Sophie’s life soon begins spiraling out of control. Then a teenage girl winds up dead and Sophie finds herself at the center of crime.
This was such a bingeable read, which I always love. If I had one complaint, it was that Sophie’s consistently terrible decision-making skills drove me up the wall. Woman was a hot mess. However, The Hunting Wives is my favorite kind of thriller - dark, shocking, addictive. Fans of Robyn Harding and Shari Lapena need to add this one to their TBR.
ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Full review to be posted closer to release date.
Holy cannoli y’all, I don’t even know where to begin! The Hunting Wives was wild from start to finish, and I have never come across such an unexpected twist of an ending. Mind blown.
I thought that I would love this book, but I didn't. I loved the idea behind the book, but it just could not keep me focused. The issue I had is that the main character, Sophie, is just too unlikable for me. It made the first half of the book really difficult for me to read through for when it started getting exciting. It is a good thing that I made it though the first half, because the second half was fun. I still do not like Sophie. I think that I am not suppose to like her or maybe there was too much focus on her flaws to make her more relatable as the hero of the book. Honestly, I would have loved part of this from Margot's POV, even though it would have not been the same book; she is far more interesting. I do know that a lot of people are going to love this book, and I understand why, it just was not for me.
I devoured this book in one day. Just look at this tag line for the book.
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“The Hunting Wives share more than target practice, martinis, and bad behavior in this novel of obsession, seduction, and murder.”
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Addictive, salacious, obsessive, full of gossip and unpredictable this book kept me guessing until the very end. @May_Cobb brilliantly created a world in which some very bored and, if we will, desperate housewives push every single boundary in their every day life, all in the name of boredom and adventure mixed in with some #fomo
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Sophie, fresh from Chicago, craving a #sloweddownlife in Texas, realIzes maybe a slowed down life isn’t what she wants after all. It turns out she might be a little more like her restless mother then she thought and restless in this idyllic life.
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That is until she meets Margot Banks, a socialite and queen bee of the neighborhood moms. This small group of moms turns out to be in a secret clique and they call themselves the #TheHuntingWives
Sophie quickly finds herself entangled in late night target practice, heavy drinking and partying at bars like single women. Sophie knows better, she knows she shouldn’t participate but wanting to be included and her growing obsession with Margot starts to shade what’s right. Quickly a growing obsession with Margot turns to full blown obsession and the careful world she built begins to tumble. It’s just harmless fun right?
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Until, the body of a teenage girl is found on the land where The Hunting Wives meet and she somehow becomes embroiled in a murderer investigation and her life has completely spun out of control.
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This book is 100% addictive. I read it all in one day and could not stop. This dark and perfectly witty book needs to be a tv show or movie! I can already picture it on the big/small screen.
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Thank you to #NetGalley and #Berkley for an arc in exchange for an honest review
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Put this book on your radar now! It will be out May 18, 2021 and I know this addictive book will be all anyone is talking about.
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Side note how perfect is this cover?!
Woaahh! I’m blushing, hyperventilating, chanting for those black wives ( they didn’t kill their husbands yet to be exonerated as black widows but I can see their smoky dark soul at each chapter! ) !
This is ballistic, explosive, scandalous, extremely naughty, mind blowing and entertaining! I’m warning you guys, get ready to collect your jaws which will be dropped,keep your eyes safe which will be popped out and keep your mouth shut which will stay open in awe at several times during your reading!
This is ultra entertaining mash up of middle aged version of Heathers, Big Little Lies, Desperate Housewives!
Our anti-heroine who we will love to punch , shake some sense into her is Sophie O’Neill married with adorable, too good to be true, angelic husband Graham (you wish he can grab his 10 years old Jack, running away without looking back after reading naughty adventures of his dearest wife! Oh Sophie, you don’t deserve this charming guy, you bitch! ): she leaves her glorious, ultra busy career in Chicago to move a small town in Texas with her architect husband who gets a big promotion ( did I mention this guy is too angelic to be doormat before? Okay, I repeat again! He’s too good for her and I wish I matchmake him with other books’ sweeter heroines! )
She starts gardening, jogging in the woods, sharing nature and family photos on Instagram, writing her lifestyle blog, meeting with her high school friend Erin for drinks! She’s so happy with her full filled new life! Nope, I lied: she is bored to death and her self sabotaging tendencies to destroy her marriage which she inherited from her dysfunctional relationship with her mother drag her into new obsession: Margot Banks: alluring, rich socialite of the town!
She’s voluntarily drawn to her inner circle: a group of mischievous wives who love target practicing, martinis, gossiping! They called themselves: Hunting Wives: instead of tracking innocent animals like royalty members did in Crown series, they hunt for fresh male species!!( I chose “ Jenny’s got a gun” from Aerosmith for the background music. )
Now visualize those cutthroat bitches who drinks like a sponge, flirting notoriously with guys, interacting with under aged boys! Did you get the picture clearly?
In normal condition a descent heroine should say goodbye to those vicious Cruella De Vil-s ! Did Sophie cut the connect with them as soon as she witnessed how they cheat on their husband, living outrageously because of boredom of small town life? No, absolutely not. She tried harder to become a part of their delusion and guess what: a young teenager found death: one of them could be cold blooded killer!
News fresh dear Sophie: you’re under the murder investigation and your sweet life filled with your self absorbed lies can be cracked into million pieces! You should have run when you had a chance!
I’m going back and forth between four and five stars! This book is so provocative and I hope David E. Kelly- Susan Bier to read the book and turn into blazing series instead of dealing with Big Little Lies third season ( with few years younger ensemble casting )
I am so sure as soon as releasing of the book: so many people will talk about it! Some people find it outrageously provocative and criticize the characters to ruin the sacredness of marriage! But in my opinion: this book is so brave, so riveting and so smart. I love to hate each of Hunting Wives! They were not only flawed but self absorbed, irritating, capricious, mean, cruel! But I didn’t expect to love them! I wanted to see how the karma will work to give them what they deserve! I focus on my fun, turning the pages and enjoying the WTH ending truly!
Because of the author’s audacity to create a provocative story about dysfunctional marriages, wealthy notorious wives’ dramas I’m rounding up my 4.5 stars to 5!
I had so much fun and I need to see this book’s adaptation on TV!
Special thanks to May Cobb to give so much fun with her brilliant mind!
So many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.
First off I have to apologize for my super early review but I couldn’t resist starting this one almost as soon as I got it in my hands. And then I figured I would read it earlier than I have any business doing but hold off on posting my review until, oh I don’t know maybe two months early instead of six 🤣 But as soon as I finished this one I knew I had to get it on everyone’s radar because I predict this one will be huge and I highly recommend getting a preorder in!
I feel like this is the thriller I’ve been waiting for, it felt so fresh and exciting and not just the same old overdone story with slightly different changes from ever other thriller out there. If you’re a fan of the Real Housewives this is a must. It had that same gossipy, scandalous feel but it was way sharper and smarter than any episode of RH. Add in a murder to the mix of housewives behaving badly and seriously, what more could you want?! This was also incredibly sexy and naughty to the point that I had no idea what the characters would do next. This was WILD y’all, between the questionable choices the characters continuously made and a twisty and tightly wound plot I was obsessed with this one from the first page to the last. Highly recommended by me if you can’t tell 😉
Intriguing story of a group of women whose pursuits turn murderous. I enjoyed this book very much, the characters were relatable and the ending a surprise. I highly recommend this read.
Dangerous and sultry escapism at it's finest. Nobody will confuse this for Pretty Little Lies, but it has it's own sort of ADORE-esque charm that some will appreciate.
I NEVER read this far ahead but with election news taking over our lives I needed something good and juicy. Oh boy, did this deliver! Meet the Real Hunting Wives of Texas. They are ruthless, conniving, sassy and up to no good. I totally binged this 2021 release and have zero regrets. Phew! What a ride! Do not miss this pool side page turner.
The Hunting Wives is an addictive thriller that grabs you from page one! Sophie O'Neill left behind an envying career and the stressful, competitive life of Chicago to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town where she once lived for a couple of years as a teenager. It seems like she has a perfect life with a beautiful home in an idyllic community. But Sophie realizes that life is now too quiet and predictable and she's feeling bored and restless. Then she meets Margot Banks, a glamorous socialite who is part of an elite clique secretly known as the Hunting Wives. Sophie finds herself completely drawn to Margot and swept into her enigmatic world of late-night target practice and dangerous partying. As Sophie's curiosity gives way to full-blown obsession, she slips farther away from the safety of her loving family and deeper in with these treacherous people. When the body of a teenage girl is discovered in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet, Sophie finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and her life spiraling out of control. She will do whatever she needs to do to make sure she can come back to her family.
The Hunting Wives by May Cobb is written as if the characters from Big Little Lies and Desperate Housewives moved into the same upscale, twisted neighborhood. These characters would be right at home on the Real Housewives. It’s a gripping, compulsive read filled with wealth, power, and deadly secrets that will make your jaw drop. This sizzling novel is filled with unpredictable twists and unforgettable characters, and is impossible to put down. Put this book on your TBR 2021 list!
Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars
Whew what a wild ride. Sophie O'Neill, her husband and young son leave Chicago and move to Texas. Sophie gets involved with a group of women who have tons of money and questionable morals. Sophie falls deeper into a path of self destruction the more time she spends with the group.
Loved the book while disliking all the women in the Hunting Club. Sophie's husband, son and best friend are extremely likable.
This was a bit of a wild ride that I read in almost a single sitting. Bored with their lives, a group of housewives meet up on Fridays to shoot skeet and drink wine, and sometimes engage in other forms of 'hunting'. Sophie is the newbie of the group, who has developed an obsession with Margot, the group leader. Infidelity is rampant and pretty much all of the characters are horrible people (minus the husband, kid, and best friend). When someone is killed on Margot's land, Sophie finds her life falling apart more and more as her obsession spirals out of control and her new friends turn into her enemies. I had no sympathy for Sophie whatsoever. I felt like she deserved everything that happened to her because she continued to make really dumb choices. This was well-plotted and definitely page-turning, but the numerous page breaks were a little much. Also, the author set this in Mapleton, TX. Which has nothing described in this book and only has about fifty people living there. And Margot's husband is a member of the Piney Woods Country Club, which is in Nacogdoches, about an hour from the real Mapleton. So I don't know why this wasn't just set in a fictional town or at least somewhere that matched its description. Regardless, this book was a lot of fun and I think people who enjoy thrillers will devour this one.
This book reeled me in from the very beginning. Although I had a difficult time actually liking the main characters, specifically Margot and Sophie, I was still deeply invested in their lives, which is a testament to the author's writing ability. I kept finding a few minutes here and a few there in order to read this book. I wasn't 100% expecting the ending, but I think th author did an awesome job of wrapping everything up nicely. I will look for future titles by this writer, and I look forward to sharing this book with others!
The Hunting Wives was un-put-downable, with perfect pacing and a collection of characters I enjoyed loathing. It was thoroughly entertaining and had just a touch of Lifetime drama.