Thank you to @Berkley Publishing and @Net Galley for the eARC of My Summer Darlings by May Cobb. I was so excited to read this book because I loved The Hunting Wives by the same author.

Kittie, Cynthia, and Jen are lifelong friends living in a small Texas town. They sip wine and gossip....all the the things that BFF's do together. When Will, handsome and single, moves to this small town the trio of women are curious. Jen, recently divorced decides that he may be a good candidate to date. And wouldn't you know, he does show interest in Jen. Problem is........Kittie and Cynthia are smitten with Will too! Of course, all three of these women are keeping their obsession to themselves.

But soon, things start to get messy........one of these woman will get swept off her feet by Will and make a decision that ultimately changes her life forever............

There is a twist at toward the end of this story and that's when things start to get exciting! For the most part, this is a binge worthy read.......but it fell a little flat for me. I'd still recommend this one for a summer read!

My Summer Darlings releases on May 17, 2022

The Hunting Wives was one of my favorite reads of 2021, so when I saw May Cobb was coming out with another book this saggy bottom girl ran like she won a lifetime supply of Taco Bell to try and snag an ARC.

Thank you so much @netgalley and @berkleypublishing for noticing how many denials are on my account and providing me a copy out of pity.

GR's Synopsis:

Three lifelong friends plus a dangerous, sexy new stranger in town add up to a scorching summer of manipulation, obsession, and murder, from the acclaimed author of The Hunting Wives.

A woman in the forest thinks she’s going to die.
I know he’s coming back for me.

Jen Hansen, Kittie Spears, and Cynthia Nichols have been friends since childhood. They are now approaching forty and their lives have changed, but their insular East Texas town has not. They stay sane by drinking wine in the afternoons, dishing about other women in the neighborhood, and bonding over the heartache of their own encroaching middle age and raising ungrateful teens.

Then Will Harding comes to town, moving into one of the neighborhood’s grandest homes. Mysterious and charming, he seems like the answer to each woman’s prayers. He’s a source of fascination for Jen, Kittie, and Cynthia, but none of them are ready for the way Will disrupts their lives.

As Will grows closer with each of the women, their fascination twists into obsession, threatening their friendships and their families. When he abruptly pulls away, each woman scrambles to discover the source of his affection. But what they’ll uncover is far more sinister and deadly than any of them could have ever imagined.

Kelly Synopsis:

A group of BFF's are going through a midlife crisis, start vying for the same man and things go to shit.

This was a super quick read. I plowed (no pun intended and definitely too far, Kelly) through this book in a day.

This is another Real Housewives, Sex In The City domestic thriller. Like The Hunting Wives, the characters made me want to throat punch them, but that's what makes Cobb's books so addictive!

If I had to compare the two, I still prefer The Hunting Wives in that I think there was a little more story development and I felt much more disdain for those crazy bags, but this was still a great bingeworthy read!

May Cobb is now an autobuy author for me. Props for this cover, as well!

What a bingeworthy read! I was instantly drawn in from page one and finished this one in two days. Obsession, manipulation, conniving, and murder. It was very well written and executed with a great ending. May Cobb has given everyone the perfect summer read! Thank you to Berkley Pub and NetGalley for my ARC!

I definitely didn't see some of the twists in this book coming, Jen surprised me that's for sure. I wasn't a huge fan of Chloe throughout the book and the ending cemented that feeling for me, but Jen pleasantly surprised me and I had a hard time putting this book down once I got into it. I enjoyed the narration being broken up into shorter chapters and multiple POVs a lot

This was a highly anticipated book because I really enjoyed The Hunting Wives. Sadly, it was kind of a letdown

I was extremely captivated from the beginning since it starts in the present and then goes back in time.

After reading for a while, I started to get more and more irritated with the main characters and their disgusting behavior. While the whole point was that Wil was manipulative, the degree of manipulation and how quickly the women gave in just didn't seem super realistic to me

It was almost like we were revealed too much of the big ending before it happened. Now I will say, the ending was action-packed, but it was extremely quick--still not enough for me to bump it up higher than 3 stars

My review is probably going to be an un-popular opinion, I just couldn't get over the characters

My Summer Darlings is a must for anyone looking for a juicy, page-turning summer read. There's nothing quite like revisiting childhood friendships as an adult, and May Cobb captures those intricacies perfectly here.

Pour a glass of your favorite chilled beverage and settle in for super-steamy and suspenseful tale that will keep you guessing until the last page.

Recently divorced, Jen moves back home with her son to her small town in Texas to be around her two best friends. Cynthia and Kittie were always way more glamorous than Jen, but have always included her in their group. When a stranger, Will Harding, moves to town, everyone wants him. He is gorgeous, sophisticated, and rich. Jen immediately sets her sights on him and they start dating. Soon, the three women suspect that Will might be hiding something.

This book was just okay. It was pretty slow until about the last fourth of the book when it finally started picking up. Until then, it was just a lot of trivial drama that the women brought on themselves. I felt really bad for Jen the whole time and I absolutely hated her friends. Jen was the only likable character in the group. Usually this doesn’t bother me, but this time it really did. If you are into super dramatic extramarital affairs, then you may love this. If not, I would just skip it. However, I did find the ending really entertaining.

This book is messed up! It has been one of my favorite reads in a long time. I enjoyed how she developed each character and there were plot twists through the entire story. I would highly recommend this book. I also was a fan of the Hunting Wives.

May Cobb has a way with writing unlikeable characters. This story was scandalous and witty. It was a fun read and I enjoyed it!

I loved the hunting wives by this author. This one was part romance part thriller. Lots of wine, scandals and questions. I think I had too high hopes for this one. The characters were unlikeable & one of the issues that people had with her first book also appears in this one.

Jen, Kittie, and Cynthia have been friends since they were young. As they are all almost 40 years old now and they have still maintained their friendship bond. They are still all located in their small hometown in Texas which seems to be permanently stuck in the past. They pass the days by drinking wine and complaining about the neighbors, their age, and their spoiled teenagers. Until a new neighbor named Will moves in. All 3 women are somehow fascinated with Will. How far will this fascination go?

This is my first May Cobb read and I really loved it. It was a fun and entertaining story that keeps you wondering about Will’s motives. It was very well written and executed with a great ending. I am such a fan that I now want go back and read THE HUNTING WIVES which is May Cobb’s last book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

This was a slow starting thriller that paid off in the end. I loved Cobb’s previous book The Hunting Wives so I was happy to have more of the same. Desperate Housewives drama mixed with some murder makes for a delightful book. I’m usually not a fan of more than two points of view, but it’s done very well in this book. Highly recommended for a great summer read.

Oh my. What a bingeworthy read! I was instantly drawn in from page one and couldn't stop turning the pages to find out what was going to happen. Told in multiple POVs and timelines, all you know is this group of close-knit (but might I add backstabbing friends) each have their world turned upside down by a mysterious, handsome new neighbor. Obsession, manipulation, conniving... and murder. May Cobb has given everyone the perfect Summer read! I was lucky enough to read early!

My Summer Darlings starts out a bit slow, giving us an in-depth look into the lives of our main characters and how they met, but does pick up around 32% when the drama FINALLY comes banging (😉) in. From there the book hooked me in and gave me major Desperate Housewives vibes with it’s bitchy backstabbing main characters, sexy mysterious neighbor, torrid affairs, and murder plot lines.

Like Hunting Wives I thought I had everything all figured out, but May threw me for a loop with the mother of all plot twists, and I did not expect the book to play out the way it did. Talk about unexpected!

Overall I really enjoyed the book despite it’s slow start. My only other complaint would be the numerous POVs, I’m not really a big fan when they jump from character to character, but once shit hit the fan I was too invested to care.

Thank you Netgalley & Berkeley Pub for the opportunity to read this one!

May Cobb knows how to spin a salaciously sinful story of misbehaving women and the sins of temptation.
.
Just like in #TheHuntingWives we follow a group of unapologetically devious women. In this romp, friends since high school Jen, Kittie and Cynthia spend their afternoons by the pool with a drink in their hand and gossip on their lips. Bonding over middle age, raising teens and general unhappiness they sip wine pushing down their unhappiness. Until Will arrives in town.
.
Handsome, cultured and the focus of their desire. All three women are drawn to this man throwing all caution to the wind. Nothing is as it seems and once again Cobb wrote an ending that I did not see coming at all. I was furiously flipping the pages to get to the ending in this fast paced thriller. This is equal parts thriller and desperate housewives.
.
Desperate, devious housewives at their finest, or is it their worst? Either way this book goes down as smooth as a cocktail on a hot summer day poolside.
.
Huge thank you to @berkleypub and @NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review
.
Get this on your radar for May 17th.

May Cobb’s third novel does not disappoint! MY SUMMER DARLINGS is like the Real Housewives meets Dirty John meets endless cases of wine, and I was here for all of it. Cobb could’ve taken her three protagonists and easily turned them into stereotypes given their lush lifestyles and (mostly) unhappy marriages, but instead she gives us women with depth, intelligence, and desires that often cloud their judgement. You know—like real life but with dark and fun twists which will keep you reading into the wee hours and dreaming of a hot stranger promising to whisk you away to faraway lands. Simply ignore the red flags and he’s prefect—just like this book, which is certain to be a summer hit!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

What happens in A neighborhood when three friends sit and talk by their pools discussing everyone else when along comes A man named Will Harding who is sexy and mysterious and A catch.
Sit back and enjoy reading what happens when all of them want him even the married ones. If you like a book filled with sex,secrets,and Lies you will like this one.

This is less of a murder mystery and more of a “who’s sleeping with whom” domestic thriller, but once again, May Cobb elevates the genre with her fun characters and suspenseful writing.

I’m generally less a fan of the “who’s sleeping with my man” thrillers. Murder. Give me all the murder, from page one. And Cobb does bring the mystery from page one, alternating a mystery captured women’s narrative with the intrigue of the romantic dalliances of the women in the exclusive Texas suburb, all of whom seem to be chasing a mysterious and gorgeous new single male neighbor named Will. Will has no problem flirting with and romancing all the local ladies (married or not). The alternating narratives from the three female friends, all of whom are obsessed with Will in their own ways, are fun and juicy. When there was a little too much romantic entanglement and not enough murder for me, I could forgive it, because Cobb is such a fun writer and right when I was wanting a little more crime, she would switch back to the narration by the mysterious captured woman in the woods. And the ending was worth the wait.

So, while I didn’t love this one quite as much as the Hunting Wives, it was an extremely well-written and fun, scandalous, well-executed read. Four stars for sure. I would just humbly request (at the risk of sounding twisted, but we are all friends here) a little higher ratio of murder to sex in Cobb’s next effort.

Thanks to Berkeley and NetGalley for the ARC. I will be excited to read Cobb’s next thriller.

Oh wow the scandal! *gasps*

✅ Hot and toxic new neighbor guy.
✅ Lots of secrets and affairs and oh la la.
✅ Childhood friends.
✅ Family drama-rama.
✅ Marriages and divorces.
✅ Murders?!

ALSO I WAS ON EDGE W THE WOMAN IN THE FOREST. Who is she…is she dead…what happened…WHAT. 😱

This was such a fun one! We follow three women, all close friends, and they all have their own chapters. The alternating POV is done super well, you won’t get lost. Trust me!

We get glimpses into present day and the timeline unfolds.

…this was good!! I LOVED the hunting wives by this author and super excited to say I loved this one too. It comes out 5/17/22. If you liked the first, I think you’ll like this.

Tysm for this ARC. I literally squealed when I got this. 🤣🥰

May Cobb's My Summer Darlings falls somewhere in the middle for me; it was an okay read. Great characters and premise!