Whew this was a long one! Full of female empowerment, I loved it! It did take a long time and there were parts that moved slower than others - guilty of skimming! - it was so rich and so full. In a nutshell, there are three main female characters that each have "gifts" and they come together to do good in the world.
Great solid read! Thank you for the ARC!

I wanted to love this book, but I didn't. I received this through an advanced reader's copy. <br /><br /> I found it hard to follow and many of the storylines seemed unfinished. There was nothing that pulled me in to the plot and encouraged me to keep reading. I felt the characters were underdeveloped. Three women are somehow connected, honestly struggling to remember how, and work together to solve a serial murder. Two of the three female leads are angry toward men. The one man who does work with them becomes a romantic partner. Much like this review, the book is disjointed, hard to follow and not very compelling.
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First of all, I fell in love with the cover of this book. It just drew me in, and really made me want to read this and purchase it. It would really stand out to me at a book store! The colors and the textures are just so inviting, and make me want to check this book out.

The Change is part mystery, part supernatural, and all feminist. I loved the "woman forward" book, and really loved how unapologetically feminist this book was. All the major characters were female, while males took a true back seat to all the action. The Change tells of three ladies, brought together by supernatural forces, to investigate the death of young women in their town. Nessa sees dead people, but they can't talk to her or tell her their stories. She just sees them, usually in their place of death, while they are still unsettled here on earth. She teams up with Harriet (an older lady, reinventing herself after a bad breakup) and Jo (the muscle of the operation) to solve the murders that seemingly keep popping up in their sleepy town.

This is one part mystery, one part supernatural thriller, and one part feminist commentary. This book does pull you in, especially if you are the target audience (female) and takes you on a ride that is fun and easy to read. I definitely would recommend this book!

I'm not going to lie, this is the most unique book I've read in a long time, but it's also one of the best. This book, although fictional, screams girl power. There is none like it on the market. There is mystery, quirkiness, and is just overall a great read. Do yourself a favor, and give this one a chance. It's great!

I. Loved. This. Book.
Three women live in a NY ocean area known as Mattauk, and become friends while entering their midlife ages. Nessa, Jo, and Harriett all have these special powers that help bind them together, especially in their pursuits to fix what is so wrong with quaint Mattauk.
When a missing girl is found alongside the local beach, the three ladies must come together, to save all of the other missing girls, and punish those who caused them to go missing in the first place.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a brilliant way to show the power of women. To show the world that as we age we only become wiser, stronger, and better as a group. I love that there was a mystery to this, it felt less sci fi because of that. Damn, this is a good one!

I’m kicking myself for not reading this story sooner. Usually thrillers/mysteries give me such anxiety, that I will read a couple of chapters and then go read the ending before going back and finishing the book. I realized after I read the whole book, that I actually didn’t do this which is so rare for. I was so captivated by Jo, Nessa and Harriet and their friendship that the mystery part of the story didn’t make me anxious at all. I absolutely loved them so much and it made the pacing go by fast for the story. Seriously in my top 5 books for the year.

For me this book came at the perfect time. Although you will love it year round, I found it particularly poignant for the month of October and in this political climate before Election Day. She writes 3 incredibly strong and very different women all around the same age but from very different backgrounds. I love that because of the differences, they create a bond like no other.

There aren't enough books out there focusing on these unflappable female friendships. So much of society tells middle aged women that their life should be slowing down but not Kirsten Miller. She has written characters whose lives are getting a jump-start in so many ways. She stresses beauty from within...not the kind you can buy. These women find out who they are and learn how much they can truly help others. After finding murdered girls on a beach, we get to go along on their investigation to put names to faces and murderers behind bars.

Yes they have supernatural powers, and I loved it. Never was it hokey or forced so for those of you saying you don't do fantasy or science fiction, I wouldn't classify this book in those categories. It's actually hard to "genrify" this novel because it covers so many and cannot be contained. "Witch is the label society slaps on women in can't understand or control."

Even with its hefty length, this novel flew by as fast as Jo Levison can run. It does so because the plot keeps on moving, the characters keep building and I wanted more. I have heard readers complain about how it's all man-bashing. I would disagree. There are men in the real world that don't respect women and will use them to their advantage. That is realistic but that isn't Miller's only portrayal of the male species. She does a great job showing both sides but is definitely VOCAL when they don't treat women as equals, as we all should be.

I was also impressed at the three's altruism. Their sense of purpose, giving back to future generations of women, their selflessness, and their heart and dedication is awe-inspiring. It's a call to action for all of us which I take seriously. Stand up and speak out because mid-to-late 40s is only halfway there ladies! I had the privilege to interview Kirsten and loved every minute of it. We learned what sparked this book's inception and why she chose these powers. We talked motherhood and children as kryptonite. We found out which real life scumbags were the inspiration for the villains. Plus we got in a lot of talk on feminism. I hope you get to watch it here: https://youtu.be/B6IetJraT-4

Kirsten Miller has hopefully given us her first of many adult novels as I am ready to head back to Mattauk for more mystery and midlife mayhem. Thank you NetGalley, Kirstin Miller and William Morrow for my advanced reader’s copy.

I adored this book! It was well crafted and felt timely, but was done in a very fresh way. Really enjoy reading strong female characters and these 3 were incredibly fleshed out, and the book was just pure fun!

I really really wanted to like this one and think it is such great story it was just a little too long and meandering for me at times. Thanks to William Morrow for the arc for my honest review.

I found it to be a bit preposterous from the outset. This did not improve as I continued to move through the book. While I was initially intrigued by the concept description, I found the execution to be both slow and lumbering.

This was a great thriller with a strong emphasis on women and the connection women share. This book begins with a background on a few eccentric but essential characters. As we get to know them each better, we love them even more. Throughout the story tidbits about each character (and a few additional people) are weaved through the pages. This was done exceptionally well considering it could have been confusing or distracting. There is no major aha! moment or huge breakthrough, a lot of it you could see coming. But the point of this story was not the whodunnit, it was the stories and friendships of the women. Each a strong, intelligent, gifted, kind, eccentric, loving woman. Really enjoyable read, very strong even if you took away the actual solving of the mystery.

When I first heard the about this book I wasn't sure it was for me........I could not put it down! I have recommended this book to all of my friends!

Loved this feminist thriller! It was funny, charming, serious when it needed to be. It captured the way women over 50 are largely ignored by society and not taken seriously. The author wove in so many ways that women are overlooked as they get older but made it witty and intelligent, making me want to keep reading.

Let's get one thing straight up front: The Change is not a subtle book. Blending feminist manifesto, fantasy, revenge thriller, magical realism, and murder mystery, it focuses on three women who develop mystical supernatural abilities while going through menopause, and use those abilities to target powerful men who are raping and murdering young girls in their affluent Long Island enclave of Mattauk. Think The Witches of Eastwick with a vigilante feminist bent...and definitely no man pulling the strings.

I can certainly see why this book is getting rave reviews. Its themes of female friendship and empowerment, societal oppression and discrimination of women, and the ongoing epidemic of male violence against women are timely and important. Kirsten Miller draws on an extensive canon of witchy fiction to scream "DOWN WITH THE PATRIARCHY!" in fresh and exciting ways. When The Change is good, it's really good: bitingly funny, emotionally stirring, unapologetically in-your-face. The characters are well-developed and interesting, women that I could identify with and grew to truly care about over the course of the book.

I struggled with the book's length, though. It's long -- nearly 500 pages -- and it feels like it. It could've used a tighter edit to make the plot more cohesive and give the twists more of an impact. The reveals were well-done, but many of them relied on events that happened way earlier in the book that I'd kind of forgotten about. I also tend to struggle with man-bashing books; there are lots of bad dudes in this book, with only a couple of good guys to balance the scales. Miller's making a point, I get that, but it felt a bit extreme especially when the feminism here is of the fairly basic and obvious variety.

My main takeaway from The Change is that I want to be Harriet when I grow up.

A genre bender of magical realism, women’s ficiton, with a mystery to be solved. This book highlights powerful women in Nessa, Jo, and Harriet. They have magical powers and aren’t afraid to use them.

This book was long, but I truly blew through it and couldn’t believe it was over so soon! I had to get my own physical copy as well so I can read it again!

The Change - Kirsten MIller
I feel like it's the year of magical realism and I am not here for it. Either that or I need to start reading the synopsis of books before I start reading them and not go into the so blindly. The Change got rave reviews but for me, it was just okay. I'm not really into magic and witches and spells. Nor am I into man-hating either. I heard this called a "feminist revenge fantasy" book which I am not into either. This was not a book for me.

I love this book! Nessa, Jo and Harriet are my new heroes. They take up the fight for women against the entitlement of powerful men in new ways. All three, unlikely heroes, fight to bring justice to murdered young women, used and discarded by the elite of the town. Of course, the slight magical assistance helps, but the lesson is the same, with magic or without. And the men are dealt with in such a satisfying way!
That’s not to say all of the men in the book are so evil. There are good men, who try to help the three.in their search for justice, and they win us over, flaws and all. Again, I love this book. It’s my new favorite.

I LOVED this book..let me say it again..I LOVED THIS BOOK. Such strong female main characters. They have me wanting more books about them!!

I tried to like this book. I tried to read it on three different occasions. I even waited for it to be published and borrowed the audiobook from my library app. I just cannot do it.

This book is a DNF for me.

The premise was very interesting, but something about this book in general didn't capture me like I hoped it would. I cannot give an overall rating for the entire book, but I can rate the 20-ish percent that I was able to get through.

2.5 stars