I loved the garden witch Harriet, but I disliked how the minor characters had chapters that contributed so little to the story. Still, it has a really unique plot and premise and was good kick-ass feminine fun.

This is probably one of the most talked about books on Instagram in the past couple weeks, so I was super excited to read it.

I read The Mercies and Hour of the Witch earlier this year thinking they were about witches killing men but they were mostly women accused of witches and prosecuted which left me angry, so imagine my excitement when I learned this book is about feminists revenge and witches killing men!!!

I really enjoyed the first half of the book, it was intriguing to read about Nessa, Harriet and Jo's stories, their abilities and the murder mystery they're trying to solve. But I gotta say the book kind of lost its steam towards the end, the last 20-30% of the story kind of kept repeating similar stories and just dragged, there were also some loopholes and loose ends that were not addressed.

I still enjoyed it overall and would recommend to everyone because it's pretty unique and god we just need more angry feminists books!

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the free e copy in exchange of my review!

Thanks to William Morrow for the advanced copy. This was a great time to read a book about badass women who kick butt and don’t let the men around them take advantage of them (considering what’s going on in the US). I also loved the theme of post menopause being a time for women to find their superpowers instead of withering away. Minus a star because it ran about 50-75 pages too long.

Unfortunately I I only give my feedback based on the synopsis and cover because the ebook won't work for me. I've hit download and send ro kindle and net galley shelf I don't know how many times but it won't pull up the ebook it says it's a broken link.

Anyway, I feel for the right crowd this book will be a major 5 star read. It deals with three woman and the undesired need of a man in their lives. Huge feminism and woman empowerment read. Based on the cover I feel like maybe quite possibly there will be some "witchcraft" of some kind but for good and not evil. Deep purple like that always gives me witchy vibes.

If I am to get the opportunity when the book is released physically to read this I will do so with a warmth in my heart because ot saddens me that I couldn't get the link to work. When I do get a physical copy either as purchase or on loan I will gladly revisit and do a formal review after reading.

Therefore my guess on the star rating would be 4.5 almost 5 I feel this story may lack just a little of something but I am unsure of what.

Miller conjures a tale of righteous retribution delivered by three unlikely superheroes, all middle-aged, slightly menopausal women. Harriet Osborne, unceremoniously dumped from her hard-earned executive position, now spends her time cultivating long-neglected Wiccan skills. Fitness trainer Jo Levison has the ability, when provoked, to deliver third-degree burns with a molten hot flash. Nessa James has a gift for seeing and hearing dead people, or more specifically, murder victims crying out for justice. The engaging plot unfolds when Nessa and friends follow the ghostly voice of a girl who leads them to her discarded body. And Nessa sees the ghosts of other girls there too, also missing, who the local police simply dismissed as runaways. The women don’t buy it, and the creative, home-grown justice that follows is oh so satisfying. This is a very unusual story where tragedy and humor collide, and the revenge is honey sweet. A very fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow & Company, and Kirsten Miller for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book could not be published at a more perfect, more relevant time when woman and control over their own lives is under such unprecedented attack.

The Change is a story about three women of menopausal age who, quite frankly, have had enough of men making them invisible. Artfully balanced with a sense of mystery and magical realism, these three women embark on a mission to uncover the secrets and lies that envelope their small, wealthy town.

Full of humor, wit, and a strong sense of feminism, this novel is for every woman over the age of 40 who has ever been belittled, assaulted, or made to feel inferior to men. It’s time we rake back control. It’s time for The Change.

4.5 stars

The Change is a magical book for women to take to the beach this season!

In the oceanfront community of Mattauk, three different women discover midlife changes like no order. After Nessa James's husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn't take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead--a gift she's inherited from her grandmother. Advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. Now she hasn't left her house in months, and she and her garden have both supposedly gone to seed. But Harriet's life is far from over; she and her plants have taken on a new kind of life. Last, but certainly not least, gym owner Jo Levison has spent thirty long years at war with her body. The free-floating rage and hot flashes that arrive with the beginning of menopause feel like the very last straw until she realizes she has the ability to channel them.

Nessa leads them to a girl buried in a trash bag off the beaten path. The police have written her off as a prostitute and druggie. But her ghosts keep telling Nessa that isn't the case. Their investigation into the girl's murder leads to more dead girls and to the town's most exclusive neighborhood. The men there manage an obscene amount of money while keeping their families at arm's length. The women must reveal the truth before they, themselves are killed.

I really liked the supernatural feminism of this book. It reminded me of Such a Pretty Smile except that The Change is much clearer about the story and how it relates back to feminism. Such A Pretty Smile left me confused. Also, The Change does have good men peppered it in with the many shitty men. This makes its point a little more hopeful: women still have to take up for themselves but not every man is trying to tear her down.

I have actually read Kirsten Miller before. I found a copy of The Eternal Ones at the Dollar Tree and was quite fascinated. I haven't gotten to read the sequel. Where that book had more of a YA while The Change is pure adult. This book may virtually be better than The Eternal Ones. But I sincerely enjoyed both.

This is a great feminist book sprinkled with magic and a few good men. I would absolutely suggest you throw this book into your beach bag this summer.

3 women each navigating a midlife crisis work together to solve the crimes of a Long Island town -- seems like a book right up my alley! I wasn't sure how I would feel about the superpower/magical aspects of this book and I ended up not minding that so much! I love the premise (Go Feminism!), but as I kept reading I found myself skimming the book to finish it faster. I tried to figure out why I felt this way, because this book has gotten such high ratings and is recommended by many Bookstagrammers I love! I think in the end, the dialogue between the characters slowed down the storyline and was somewhat unrelatable (as in it didn't feel that's how normal people talk to each other) for me.

✨ Review ✨ The Change by Kirsten Miller

YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!

Wow! This is one of my favorite books of the year so far and I loved every minute of it. THE CHANGE follows three middle-aged women on Mattauck, a Long Island community, who have started manifesting decidedly witchy powers. When they discover the bodies of lost girls, they start using their powers to try to find the killer and to set things right in the wake of a wealthy patriarchal system that abuses and discards women.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: magical realism / fantasy, literary fiction, thriller/suspense
Location: Mattauk (Long Island)
Reminds me of: The Collective, Notes on an Execution, When Women Were Dragons, The Power (But this book does it even better!)
Pub Date: Out Now

This book was the testament to female rage I've been looking for! Miller's evocative writing will make you rage and laugh and cry with the ways she explores the depths of patriarchal power (you'll laugh as she finds such fitting ways for the characters to emasculate some of the men challenging them - the neighborhood lawn enforcer was one of my favorites!). I think it executes a story of angry women who then go on to make positive changes because of that rage in an impactful way.

I also loved how this tackled the "Dead Girl Industrial Complex" by critiquing a system that loves talking about murderers but doesn't love talking about the girls that they harmed. Interjecting narratives about trauma inflicted on side characters throughout the story is a brilliant way of showing the far reaching impact of men's actions and abuse.

Miller's writing is funny and emotional and full of the rage these characters manifest. Pick this book up ASAP for a journey you won't soon forget!

Thanks to William Morrow and @bibliolifestyle for a copy of this book!

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This fast paced read centered around 3 woman "of a certain age" is like a darker Practical Magic meets Big Little Lies. It is so quick and witty and entertaining that it is hard to put down.

Recommended for readers who will enjoy cheering for some bad A women putting the world right.

This book was incredible. Three strong women that had it rough in different ways. Each woman had her own unique story in this book . They all band together and solved cold cases of dead teens. The way the got retribution for these girls was amazing . This book is definitely a keeper. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves suspense and plenty of drama.

This was such an entertaining, witty, and often poignant read! I really loved the three main characters and had so much fun going with them on their journey to discover their purpose. Jo, Harriet, and Nessa are all intelligent, accomplished women and yet they struggle to be given the same consideration and respect as the men in their lives. Unfortunately, something a lot of women can relate to. It was so satisfying to see them come into their power and take their revenge!

It took me a bit to get into it but once they story really took off, I had a hard time putting it down! This was a unique and empowering read that I’ll be thinking about for a long time!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

The Change by Kirsten Miller is a fantasy book about three women in their forties with recently discovered powers. When teenage girls start going missing in their town, these women band together to try to solve these cases. They are able to use their special powers to help them find the people that are responsible. This story was so unique and unputdownable, and I absolutely loved it! Highly, highly recommend this fun and important read! Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Three uniquely different women, with personalities of strength honed from living lives that were continually wronged. One beautiful setting: the lovely little community of Mattauk, New York. And sprinkled throughout: the ghosts of restless young women whose lives were cut short. They want closure and absolution, and they won’t rest until they get it.
Nessa, Harriett, and Jo stumble together and find themselves tasked with the duty to help these young souls. As they investigate and piece together clues that have been well-protected by the community, their own lives are clearly at stake.
This is a wittily written who-dun-it with colorful characters, a beautiful setting, and a realistic plot. The author’s uncanny sense of humor keeps the book entertaining, and the mystery is enough to keep you turning the pages late into the night.
Sincere thanks to William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date was May 3, 2022.

There are so many things to love about this multifaceted deep-dive into the third act of a woman’s life, about who women are when they decide they no longer need and/or want men in their lives, about what being a woman is at the very root of all things, and how desperately needful it is to remind ourselves everyday that there are more women than men on the Earth and, just like with most base creatures who huff and puff and make a lot of noise, men really do have more cause to fear women, if only we would remember that and use that power more often.

When I say “multifaceted”, I really do mean it. I have always loved a book title simple enough it lends itself to conveying many vector points in the text. “The Change” could refer to any and/or all of the following things (I suspect, given Miller’s sly writing style, that it’s the latter): all the characters have either just gone through or are going through menopause (sometimes called The Change), Harriet’s garden is always changing, the way all three women have changed over their lives and how it shaped them into the people they are in present-day, all three main character’s personal lives are in a state of flux and they have all made some recent personal decisions or changes, or it could even be referring to the overarching change to the way things have been done that the three main women in this story decide to enact that the title is referring to.

This is one of those books that’s long (close to 500 pages), but doesn’t feel it, and the pacing is like the steady heartbeat of someone who’s been walking at a brisk pace. It’s a mystery novel, in part, but definitely not cozy. No one sits down for long in this book, unless they’re sitting down planning, making, or discussing mischief. Or maybe partaking of illicit substances. This book, and the people in it, keep moving. Keep talking. Keep thinking. They have a lot to do, a lot to see, a lot to say, a lot to think about, a lot to plan, a lot of things to put into place, a lot of players to put into action, and then a whole lot more stuff to do when their latest set of actions sets off, reactions happen, and they have to run around and figure out next steps.

I have read a few good books about smashing the patriarchy since I started doing this back last August. There are only three that made me clench my fists together, shake them in victory, and growl like I had just come out victorious from an arena fight. This was the third one. By the time this book was over and every single person–Every. Single. Person.–who was responsible for the horrors perpetrated prior to the events of this book and during this book had paid their due, I started to feel a little bit better about the fact I’m in perimenopause myself. I have a good few decades left to live, myself, and those decades are meant to be lived however I see fit. Anyone else who thinks they know better can turn around and walk away. I have better things to do with my time.
Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me early access to this title in exchange for fair and honest review.

Compelling beginning that really hooked me in. All the micro and macro ways women are abused and used really resonated and it felt suffocating and yet also relieving to see them laid out so eloquently back to back. It’s like breaking down every instance and I justice shows you how monumentally fucked the society we have accepted and live within really is.

The magic powers and fantasy aspect was interesting in how it augmented and reflected each woman, however once the murder mystery entered the plot, it seemed to take a huge backseat, which felt odd. The magic is used almost in a perfunctory way to move the murder mystery plot forward, showing us how the women can afford to be involved and make progress in the case.

The murder mystery that comes into play makes the middle feel quite a bit slowed down and uneven. The mystery requires us to spend time with each woman to see how they can contribute to solving the case, with or without powers, while also trying to continue the commentary and examples of the patriarchy which is sometimes dones with flashbacks to previous moments. This ends up feeling a bit muddied and like too much is trying to be fit in. It’s like a run on sentence that truly doesn’t end page after page because there’s so many antecesores hanging off of it. At every discovery or detective effort, there has to come a page of paragraphs dissecting how this ties back to women being denied, abused, and discounted. While I take no issue with the observations provided and the example moments used to show how women are harmed turn after turn- they’re spot on, the incessant toggle between murder plot and commentary, made it confusing to focus.

I also could have done without the romantic subplot for Nessa. I can see how and why the author might include SOME men with redeeming characteristics and qualities to show it’s not a truly “fuck all men” book, but it felt unnecessary. Even with Jo and Art, at first she lays out all the ways their partnership isn’t equal, only to later show us the many ways he actually does support her, it felt like a shift between extremes.

Overall a bingeworthy read and highly entertaining — it’s new and refreshing and a bit genrebending. It deserves the critical praise, though to me, is not quite the juggernaut and five star favorite I expected.

Their powers have brought them together. Nessa has the power of sight, Harriet is the punisher and Jo is the protector. Guided by a ghost Nessa and her friends find a dead body of a teenage girl. When the police don’t want to investigate it, Nessa, Harriet and Jo take matters into their own hands and uncover they have a serial killer in their town killing teenage girls.

I really enjoyed this one! I hope @netflix starts knocking on her door. Karen Miller plotted out the whole storyline perfectly. Not only does she give us strong and unique main characters but I loved how we also get the stories of the secondary characters. This book has it all.

I would also like to say, I like how she kept the feminism down to earth and didn’t make it into a dramatic anti-male bashing spectacle.

The Change is a story featuring magical realism, murder mystery, and powerful women that are just learning exactly what power they hold. It was absolutely incredible to read!

I think I was put on this world to read The Change. I think I needed to hear the message and I think every woman needs to hear it, too. The main characters are relatable to the point to where I think any woman could find a bit or a piece that resonates with her.

I loved that all three women are different and powerful in their own ways, but they’re all equals. I need Harriet to PLEASE adopt me. I want to be a part of their coven.

The imagery and storytelling in this book are incredible. When Jo is shouting at Franklin and the line is “…but she had fury on her side,” I could perfectly picture her as a ball of flame. And the image of Harriet smiling with red teeth from her beet juice will live in my dreams forever in the best way.

The writing was well-done and had great tone and pacing. The advertising scene with Harriet and Chris was *chef’s kiss* perfect.

With a great twist (or two or three) and an even better resolution plus a diverse and powerful cast of characters, The Change is a 5/5 for me. I just finished and I’ve already told three people about it!

Women in my age group, dealing with all that midlife throws at you, realizing this next chapter of our lives isn't the end it's a new beginning, who are sick of the way society has allowed many sexist practices to continue, with a suspenseful who-done-it?! Count me All In! I devoured this book. This is a suspenseful, fun, and harrowing read; while parts are magical realism / fantasy, and even perhaps wishful thinking, the atrocities that take place indeed happen in the world every day to women. A needed, fun, and sobering read.

THIS. BOOK. I wasn't sure about the fantastical element of it, the thoughts of people possessing powers, but WOW! I loved every second of it. Fantasy isn't usually my thing, but trust me when I say, you will want to read this book.

The story centers around 3 women, Nessa, Jo, and Harriet. All 3 woman are living in the small town of Mattauk, where everything is seemingly perfect. What ends up evolving is how these women discovered themselves through their friendships and trust in one another. Nessa has the power to hear the dead. Jo is fiery strength. Harriet works with nature and all of its power. Combined, they are going to solve the town's problem of disappearing girls. The reader is drawn into investigation and taken along for an intense ride.

Each main characters' back story really draws you in and you really relate to what each person is going through. The women are made into such extremely likeable, admirable characters. Information crucial to the overall mystery and the women are delivered throughout the book, where you're having an ahah! moment constantly. The author writes in such as way where the book is extremely enjoyable and quick to read. You can't put it down! Highly recommend this to anyone who loves true crime, Law and Order:SVU, and women who save the day.