The Change by Kirsten Miller is an interesting mix of witch craft, female revenge fantasy and true crime.
Three middle-aged women, Harriet, Nessa and Jo, all in the midst of menopause or “the change”, forge an alliance that is predicated on their common pasts of being wronged by men. They align this common goal of advancing woman power.
There is a lot going on in this story, from the introductions of each woman and her back story. You will learn how each woman was wronged and ends up being a chosen one.


As I read descriptions of this book I heard it compared to Witches of Eastwick and Big Little Lies. While it definitely gave off vibes, I feel like this book deserves to stand on its own. I almost wish it had Witches of Eastwick vibes, but it didn’t really haven’t read anything like it. Unfortunately, this book was not me for. It was very heavy on the feminism realm and as we have learned, putting every man down is not what feminism even is. I was uncomfortable reading parts that made think of the Epstein trial.
Without getting too deep into this one, I will say the themes are quite deep and drug out. This book is almost 500 pages long and there were several parts that were unnecessary and could of been condensed.

Thank you so much to William Morrow for the chance to read and review this book prior to release.

This book was SO good. Unique, compelling, propulsive. The three main characters were well fleshed-out and had fascinating relationships with each other, and the chapters that almost served as asides about supporting characters gave so much more depth to the story. If I had any complaint, it would be that a few loose ends felt like they didn't quite get tied up--but on the whole, I absolutely loved this. Feminist revenge fantasy is apparently one of my favorite weirdly specific genres, haha, and this is a prime example. I definitely plan to buy a finished copy when it comes out!

Thank you so much to William Morrow for the chance to read and review this book prior to release.

The premise of this book sounded so fun and exciting and I've seen some stellar reviews, so I had very high hopes. Unfortunately, I am just not the target audience for this one. I can see this being really popular and know it will have great success.

For me, the constant use of the F word and even C word started to distract from the plot too much.

I wish the author great success, but unfortunately won't be able to recommend this one to my followers.

This book is out on May 3rd!

Nessa, Jo, and Harriett meeting was not by chance; their differing powers brought them together. Because of Nessa’s ability to sense and see spirits, she stumbles upon the body of a young girl. But who is she? What was her name? Nessa quickly realizes she is not the only young girl who has died here, but that a serial killer is to blame. Will they catch him before he kills again?

The story really captivated me, and I loved the character development for Nessa, Jo, and Harriet. However, I was definitely expected a twistier, fast-paced story and this was very slow and dragged on at times. I felt like there were whole sections that were almost unnecessary to the story and that could have been cut or condensed to really propel things forward more. I also felt like there were a few unexplained holes (ie., Amber). In the end, I did really like the story and highly recommend it, but at the same time I just can’t help but wonder how it could have been even better with a little harsher editing.

This book started out strong but it plateaued as it went along, it was too long and could have been tightened up to be a lot more effective. The premise was good, three friends with different powers are out to get justice/solve a mystery. Lots of bad guys, lots of basic feminism, men stealing women's ideas and men abusing and murdering girls, who are mostly forgotten. and a lot of violence is the answer to violence 3.5

4.5 stars! This book had it all. Mystery, humor, some kick ass women who don't let anything stop them and the delicious revenge on power hungry rich men! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The female lead characters were all strong women and its rare to read a book with female characters in their 40s/50s who are still vivacious and full of life. These characters prove life does not end at middle age; sometimes it's just getting started!
Thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for the ARC. Can't wait to read more books from Kirsten Miller.

The Change by Kirsten Miller
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“A gloriously entertaining and knife-sharp feminist revenge fantasy about three women whose midlife crisis brings unexpected new powers.”
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This book was SO “FOR ME”.
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I loved this book.
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Hilarious. Witty. Snarky. I mentally clapped many times.
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And the punishment fit the crimes. 😈
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I loved all three of the main characters. I also appreciated all the short back stories for the numerous other women throughout the story.
Although, Harriet was a particular favorite.
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I can’t even organize my thoughts into a cohesive review because I just loved it so very much! 💜💜💜
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This was part mystery and TONS revenge fantasy. I didn’t even know how much I needed revenge fantasy in my life until I read this book, but it was amazing.
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5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Superb. I will want to reread this. I can’t say enough about it.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Wildly entertaining, unputdownable, riddled with themes and deeper meaning - The Change has it all. This book was SO much fun but also resonates so deeply. It has such a fun and twisty mystery to follow - but its truly so much more than that! The characters feel so REAL despite their witchy elements, and you find yourself reading this book at such a quick clip to learn more about them, their experiences, and the mystery they are trying to solve. Multi-dimensional female characters always make me happy and this book doesn’t disappoint. A must read for 2022.

4.5 stars

Those of us who have read stories that focus on women's revenge in the past know that they typically follow the same progression - woman is burned by society, woman reflects on what went wrong, woman proceeds to tear it all down. It's a formula that I will gobble up any day and one that The Change utilizes brilliantly, just with the absolutely delectable bonus of the women in question having developed different magical powers to fight the patriarchy.

Having that dash of fantasy sprinkled in elevates this story in so many ways from prompting questions about the morality of their use to confronting the historic "othering" of women as witches to providing a literal example of women coming into their power. There is certainly a danger when introducing a magical element that everything will then automatically become easy for the characters, but Miller does an excellent job of building tension throughout. I fully anticipated needing almost a week to finish this book, but I absolutely devoured this in 3 days! If that's not an indication that you should pick this up, I don't know what is.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

“Justice may be relentless…but she’s also hobbled by rules… That’s why I choose vengeance. She’s the only mistress I serve.”

GODDAMN. This is the book I’ve been waiting for. Three perimenopausal/menopausal women discover they are evolving and developing new powers. Nessa can hear and see the dead. Harriet has just left her job in advertising and fully embraced her wild, witchy self. Jo has discovered previously untapped physical strength arising from her rage and hot flashes. When the three women discover the body of a dead teenage girl who has been discarded like trash near the exclusive beach used by their town’s 1%-er residents, they are determined to find out what happened to her. And the other girls. Because *of course* there are other girls.

•-•-•-•

I cannot even. I love every.single.thing. about this book. Reading it was how I imagine middle-aged white dudes feel when they read about Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne. These are the heroes I want to read about — smart, funny, unapologetically feminist, badass women out for vengeance against the worst of the worst — terrible Epstein-style men — and also the on-paper-less-terrible, but no less infuriating, daily bullshit women put up with from mediocre dudes. They channel their righteous fury into action, and I am HERE for it. They don’t worry about being nice. They don’t back down. They just get shit done. Hell. Yes. Thank you, Kirsten Miller, for writing exactly the book I needed to read.

Total revenge fantasy of my dreams! I got some serious first wives club vibes at first and it got even better and deeper as I read. This is a longer one but I enjoyed the vignette style. The concept of this supernatural at times but loved the female empowerment!

This book had revenge, a little bit of magic, and some kick ass women. However, it seemed thrown together at times and not well planned. The mystery was there, but how they solved it felt…messy and not because they were amateurs. One person had powers that were well defined, one had powers that weren’t but it worked, and one felt lumped in with the rest. The writing was good and the pacing was good. It was just those story elements not quite working together that made the book feel sloppy to me.

Upgrade
Blake Crouch
Ballantine Books
Publish Date: July 12, 2022

This is the first book I have read from the Sci-fi thriller author, Blake Crouch. It did not disappoint.

The book opens with Agent Logan Ramsey and his partner Agent Nadine Nettmann of the GPA (Gene Protection Agency) on a night raid of a suspected gene altering lab in a darkened basement. (Gene altering is a federal crime.) As Logan steps into the suspected lab, shards of ice are ejected towards him, infecting him with foreign genetic information that can edit and rewrite his DNA. He becomes very ill and is hospitalized. But, he starts feeling stronger and more intelligent than before the ice attack. He is undergoing a human upgrade thanks to his brilliant mother’s plan to save the human race by increasing the brain power of unaware citizens through upgrade injections. She espouses that if humans are smarter, they will understand they are destroying the planet. Unfortunately, earlier experiments of hers had cost millions of lives. So, there’s that to consider.

But, she not only infected her son, she also infected her daughter, Kara. Mom wrote, “This gift is a genetic upgrade that ramps up our cognitive performance so that we might, collectively, let the engines of reason guide our behavior instead of the cushions of sentiment,”(p. 280 on EArc). “So, my children, know that you are the next step in human evolution…you hold the fate of our species in your hands” (Ibid., p. 284).

So begins the struggle between Kara and Logan about using the upgrade on the human race or destroying the material in the case of hard drives. She is for it. He is against it. Kara starts shooting at him and he gets shot but also gets away in Mom’s old pickup truck. The game is afoot.

The pace of the book is extremely fast and the science information was at times overwhelming to me, but I usually don’t read science fiction. The character development was spot on and the writing keet me turning the pages.

I think you’ll like this one. I give it 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to #NetGalley and #BallantineBooks for the eArc. The review is unbiased and my own.

Im so happy that someone posted about this book on one of the netgalley facebook groups im apart of!! This was one of my favorite books this year! and I will absolutely be buying a physical copy once its released..

This is a story about three women, each of them having their own gift, who come together to solve a horrible crime that has taken place on their home turf.. I loved all three of our main characters... But Harriet is my favorite.. in fact I want to be Harriet when I grow up.. She is the vengence that comes to all who deserve it.. Meeting out her own form of spectacular justice that is poetic.

Nessa is the first to figure out something is going on.. She can hear a dead girl calling to be found, Nessa then finds Jo and Harriet and they all go looking, not realizing that they are going to uncover a whole lot more that one dead young girl.... They dig into the underbelly of the town and all the secrets it holds, and uncover them for all the world to see..

I can't wait to see what Kirsten Miller writes next!

The Change by Kirsten Miller is an interesting amalgam of witchery, female revenge fantasy and true crime.
Three middle-aged women, all in the midst of menopause or “the change” as it is was once labeled, forge an alliance that is predicated on their common pasts of being wronged by men and their common goal of advancing woman power.
The writing is excellent, and there is a lot going on in this story, from the introductions of each woman and her back story, to their meeting and camaraderie, to their common purpose to solve a murder and expose wrong doing in an exclusive enclave run by thinly disguised Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell characters.
While the plotting and skillful storytelling was strong, the book felt too long. The feminist revenge vibe at times felt forced. The use of expletives was more frequent than necessary, given the obvious talent of the writer in drawing interesting characters and their settings.
Nonetheless, I would look for more writings by Ms. Miller.

If you like strong, in your face, feminist tales, tinged with magic, this book is for you.

Thank you to William Morrow/Book Club Girl and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my unbiased review.

I received an ARC of, The Change by Kirsten Miller. I could not finish this book. Not my style. I did not like what little I read.

Set in the Long Island town of Mattauk, The Change features three women who band together to overcome evil in the community and take down the patriarchy! Nessa, who is a retired nurse, has inherited the gift of hearing the voices of the dead and seeing their ghosts. (as the book says, “the gift comes when the curse leaves”) Harriet has just left a career in advertising and her marriage. She has retreated into her house while nature takes over her former prized garden and house. Jo also left her career behind and is constantly having hot flashes. She soon learns she can channel that heat into a force for good.

As the story progresses and our three heroines discover the body of a young girl in a garbage bag, they begin a journey to uncover what has been happening to the young girls in their community. The police are not supportive, if anything they are a hindrance, so these women are truly on their own. As they each realize the full power of their gifts, they help these young women and their families while punishing the predators.

As I read descriptions of this book I heard it compared to Witches of Eastwick and Big Little Lies. While it definitely gives off those vibes (and if you are into those stories you will certainly enjoy The Change) I feel like this book deserves to stand on its own merit. I really haven’t read anything like it and I mean that in the most positive way.

This book is just so superb! The three heroines, Harriette, Jo and Nessa, were written with so much depth and personality that I loved all three of them. Of the three, I related most to Jo and the struggles she has had with her changing body throughout her life. When she had the realization that her body was not her enemy I was literally pumping my fist in celebration for her. Also, it was so refreshing to read about women in their 40s who are badasses. Not just some paper-thin characters in a cozy mystery who are written like they are 70 years old instead of 40.

Do not let the length of the book (480 pages) intimidate you. The pacing and the pull of the mystery make it so the pages really fly by! The plot kept me engaged and I like how we went back and forth in time, seeing the past events of these women's lives and how these events shaped them into who they are today. I was drawn in by the mash-up of murder mystery and magical realism. I don't think I have ever seen that done before and Miller does it so well! All while addressing themes of feminism, gender inequality, sexual abuse, menstruation and menopause. This book was cathartic, empowering, heartbreaking and infuriating, but overall it was an astonishingly well-written tale that I wish every woman would read. 5/5 very well deserved stars!

If I HAD to make a criticism, and this is really nitpicking, I would say maybe the villains were written a bit heavy-handed. Some of them came across as moustache-twirling Scooby-Doo villains.

Trigger warnings for sexual assault, abuse, and rape. Not graphic but they are a big part of the story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers at William Morrow & Company for granting me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Publication is set for May 3, 2022

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC!

Next, this was a fun read very heavy-handed with feminist themes (not necessarily in a bad way). Why does the media only care about missing rich white girls? Why is society so reluctant to punish powerful men for their cruelty? Classism, racism, and sexism join hands to traumatize and even murder girls in order to uphold the fragile egos of rich men, and this book demonstrates that well. However, the most compelling part was the friendship between Jo, Nessa, and Harriet-- Harriet is my absolute favorite!

This novel asks us to think critically about the way the world works and how the justice system is built to favor very specific groups of people. It has a lot of heart and ambition, and it's mostly successful. I know how the world treats women, or at least some women, because I have my own experiences and those.of people I love. I didn't learn anything new and didn't see the world in a new light.

But now I know I want to be Harriet when I'm older.

4/5

Holy Harriett, what did I just read???

I loved this story from the minute I downloaded it to the minute I finished the last page! Was it totally far fetched and unusually wild? Yes, yes it was and I'm here for it. This book found was all over Instagram's #bookstagram and I just had to read it.

When Jo's hot flashes were being described I thought "YES" this is exactly what has been happening in to my 50 year old body for the last two years. When she wanted to burn the house down, I totally got it.

I loved the friendship of Jo, Nessa and Harriet and the relationships they had with their daughters. We don't talk about this stuff nearly enough but we need to.

Gave me Jeffery Epstein vibes. So gross.

What can a group of women do when they embrace who they are from within and ignore what others say they are? The Change addresses that woman by woman and in a group of women friends. When one woman hears voices from beyond, her friends don't say she's crazy but help her embrace her gift. When Harriett loses her job and her husband, she lets her yard grow at will. Most of the neighbors and her ex-husband think she's either dead or a witch. Her friends encourage her to embrace what others see as odd. One by one this group of friends grab and embrace special gifts and use them to benefit other women, especially those women who are not heard and even not seen by society.