The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead is a very dark thriller about Shay Evans, and her desire to destroy a cult. When Shay was in college, she and her friends were seduced by a man who ended up imprisoning them in his very secretive cult. Only she and her friend Laurel are able to escape. Eight years later, when Shay hears a podcast about Laurel's death, she believes that this cult is to blame. So she sets out to find the cult, and she ends up involved in something bigger than she ever imagined. This was a very heavy read, but it was quite well-written. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

This book was out there. I cannot easily put myself into the mindset of someone who falls victim to a cult leader. The main character wasn't very likeable, although her childhood friend was. The ending was....woah.

This was DARK. And disturbing. ALL the trigger warnings. All of them.

But also I couldn’t put it down? Even though I’m obviously going to have nightmares.

Full review coming for Shelf Awareness.

This book held my interest and kept me turning the pages. It was also vividly-written and atmospheric. But I found that it really knocked you over the head with its themes and occasionally lacked internal consistency and seemed muddled. It didn't quite work for me, but I can see from the reviews that a lot of readers loved it.

Shay Evans thinks she has escaped from her traumatic college years. She lives in Highland Park, Texas with her one-dimensional rich guy husband. Then she listens to her old friend's podcast and discovers that her college best friend has been murdered. She returns to the college town to investigate and get closure on that chapter of her life, but is once again drawn into a dangerous cult. The Last Housewife is a dark thriller about a NXIVM-adjacent cult with many, many trigger warnings. It has elements that would normally appeal to me: Cults! Sex cults, at that! The empty lives of the ladies of the Park Cities! However, the writing is very melodramatic. The attempt to philosophize the female condition was just cringey. And the cult was ridiculously unbelievable. This book is a page turner, but it just didn't do it for me.

Thank you so much @SourceBooks & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 16 August 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Shay loves true crime podcasts, especially one in particular that was created by her childhood friend Jamie. While listening to his latest episode she learns that one of her old best friends has died & the police are ruling it a suicide, however Shay knows that the facts don't add up so she travels to New York to investigate.

WHAT I LIKED:
- extremely bingeworthy... & kind of like a car crash you can't look away from
- how dark the story went (read the trigger warnings)
- one of the best cult books I have ever read
- the pacing, the reveals, the plot... *applause*

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- I wanted to spend more time within the cult

Ashley Winstead’s previous book In My Dreams I Hold A Knife was one of my favorite books I read last year so I was thrilled to get approved for this arc. This was a hugely anticipated release for me and I’m happy to say Ashley Winstead didn’t disappoint! I didn’t see the big twist coming at all! This is one of those thrillers I would recommend going into blind (but please read the included trigger warnings first) to get the best experience.

📚𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 (pre)𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬: #75
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So let’s talk #TheLastHousewife
Ashley Winstead puts plenty of warnings at the start of the book for a mad variety of trigger situations and I’m sure you’ve heard from early reviewers that it’s intense let me just say, ‘hear them loud and clear’!!!

While the story starts pretty straight forward enough with Shay Evans, a married woman who through a series of circumstances connects with a childhood friend who has a podcast and is investigating the death of two of Shay’s college friends. However, from their the descent is steep and dark my friends. Windstead blows the lid off the white male patriarchy that uses and seriously abuses women brought into their orbit. This is about power and keeping it at all costs, a world one doesn’t have to reach far into their imagination when it’s playing out in the news every damn day. Trump, Epstein, Weinstein to name a few, I have no problem believing everything she cooks up in this is absolutely going on in the world. But Winstead also makes the interesting choice of creating a protagonist that while heroic in her intentions seriously wrestles with her own inner conflict between light and dark. Two books came to mind while reading this, last years #YesDaddy by JP Rampage which had similar themes but with a gay male protagonist, and the other is this years, #TheChange which ultimately because of the magical element plays as wish fulfillment rather than stark reality. This is a book that certainly wont be for everyone, and as I said before if you’re someone who is a more sensitive reader bear in mind her note at the start of the book. You’re also welcome to message me if you have questions. For me, it was an engrossing page turner that both infuriated and entertained me. How’s that for a weird combination? Thanks to @sourcebooks and @netgalley for the advance copy.
#TheLastHousewife comes out August

While in college, Shay's introduced to her roommate's father, and she and her friends slowly are entwined into his sex cult. Eight years later, she hears an old friend do a crime podcast on one of her friend's death, pleading for her to get into contact. To make peace with herself, she joins him to find out how far down the cult went.

This book is dark and delves into such dark themes that I was worried it would be too much. It shows how cults can slowly get their claws into impressionable people. A thriller that thrilled me.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

During college, best friends Shay, Laurel, and Clementine fall under the influence of a powerful, manipulative man named Don. After Clem’s death, Shay and Laurel escape but part ways and lose touch after graduation. Eight years later, Shay hears about Laurel’s death on a true crime podcast hosted by none other than her childhood best friend, Jaime (whom she has also lost touch with). Laurel’s death is suspiciously similar to Clem’s, and Jaime pleads with Shay to get in touch with him. She abandons her cushy (if suffocating) life as a Texas housewife to return to New York to find the truth.

Warning, the cover of this book is a bit misleading. The dark vibes of the book don't at all match the bright, colorful cover of the book. Be careful to heed content warnings as this book is very violent. However, the violence serves very specific purposes and is not written for shock value. People who love psychological thrillers will love the way this book gets in the minds of each of the characters and has the reader questioning literally everything. Its commentary on beauty, power, gender, and sex is very compelling and skillfully done but only for readers who are willing to go very dark.

This book is not for the faint of heart. Every single trigger you can think is in this book. So so glad it has it at the beginning!!! Be warned!!

AW is an auto buy author. I just adore her writing. The way she thinks and creates stories is mesmerizing! Idk how she can do a thriller, rom com, then this. WOW!!!

If you can handle dark dark stories, this is the one for you!

Mad Men meets Stepford Wives with a twist of FLDS Church and Eyes Wide Shut...is the immediate description I would give this book! The plot was full of twists I did not anticipate (and a few that I did). The one thing that threw me off, and I sort of wish more was written about was the husband Cal. I anticipated that Cal would have been part of the cult, but it just seemed almost unnecessary to have him be in the book at all. I suppose the author wanted to drive home that the wife had been "tamed" and was dependent on him for money to show the expected societal norms between husband and wife. I loved that "Don" was made to be a Don Draper-type, however I would have liked more story talking about Rachel. I was pleased with the ending, but also I enjoy an open-ended/no resolution type ending as well, so it might have been interesting to see them believing the cult had been brought to justice, but actually it was even bigger than they thought, so it just lived on. All in all, really enjoyed this book; it kept me on the edge of my seat and I will definitely recommend! Thanks NetGalley and Publisher for the ARC!

The Last Housewife is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. Dark, full of twists and character depth, it had me at the edge of my seat for hours on end. Ashley managed to create a creepy and dangerous adventure, one I would never want to find myself trapped in. I was scared going in with the many trigger warnings, but I am so glad I went for it. I will never stop recommending this book.

Anything Ashley Winstead touches turns to gold. She has proven once more that she can write a shocking thriller, or anything for that matter.

Shay has been out of the New York scene for awhile, fleeing after college. She's got a good life with Husband Cal and has now turned to writing full time. One afternoon however; everything changes after listening to the latest Transgressions podcast. One of her college best friends, Laurel, hung herself outside the performing arts center in New York. Believing she was murdered, Laurel returns to her college stomping grounds and reunites with childhood best friend Jamie to uncover what actually happened.

The Last Housewife is the PERFECT woman power thriller read for the summer/fall. Ashley Winstead put her heart and soul into this novel and you can tell by the amount of research she talks about. The characters were shockingly entrancing and the setting was fabulous. This novel was DARK though so please read the trigger warnings before reading. Ashley did us a favor by including them at the beginning.

Content warning for suicide, sexual assault, cults.

I loved this one. The story follows Shay, a Texas housewife and struggling writer who learns via true crime podcast that her old friend from college has died by suicide. Through windy storytelling we are taken back through time to Shay’s time at Whitney, a small women’s college in New York, and the dangerous cult she and her friends became victims of. As Shay reaches out to the podcaster, who is also a former friend, the two begin investigating what may not be a simple case of suicide.

I loved how this author unflinchingly indicts misogyny, rape culture, and the webs of power and privilege (or lack there of) that women are subjected to. I love the finale and the celebration of female rage against the expectation of forgiveness.

I will definitely seek out anything else that Ashley Winstead writes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Shay returns to her college town after her best friend commits suicide there. The suicide is almost exactly the same as another one of their friend's, who killed herself while in college. Shay hears a true-crime podcast discussing the suicide and returns to the scene to try to figure out what happened. This thriller was at times hard to read and I had to keep putting it down and then coming back to it. It's not for the faint of heart and it strikes a little too close to what seems to be disappearing rights for women in America right now.

The Last Housewife was a highly anticipated release for me, having loved the author's debut thriller In My Dreams I Hold A Knife. Unfortunately, I didn't love this one as much as I'd hoped. It started out well but along the way became a bit repetitive and at points I found myself bored at times. I also wasn't that surprised by the major twist. Overall this one was just okay for me, but I'll continue to read Ashley Winstead's future releases.

💭 I… just… Maybe I’m not ready for this. This book was SO. MUCH. If you’ve seen the numerous other reviews out there for this, you know that I’m not alone. This book was intense and made me question EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. The power & fear this story exhibited was so intense, partly because this is something that I could actually see happening, that could very well actually exist in our world and that is truly TERRIFYING. My heart is pounding now writing this review, even after reading it almost TWO MONTHS AGO.
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👉🏻 Story: Terrifying. Execution: Perfection. Ashley’s writing is absolutely top-notch, and she really exhibited that in The Last Housewife. I LOVED the formatting of this one—it goes back and forth between the main character’s present circumstances and a transcript of the podcast that she’s recording in real-time.

Holy cow, The Last Housewife was quite a ride and I literally could not put it down. I really enjoyed Ashley's previous book, In My Hands I Hold a Knife, but I liked this one even better. I would recommend everyone go into this without even reading the blurb and just let the book take over.

Talk about an “edge of your seat, wondering if this book could get any darker, while at the same time being unable to look away” kind of read! This thriller knocks it out of the park & then some - be aware that this is not your average thriller, it’s BEYOND that. Giving readers so much to digest, while at the same time portraying an incredibly powerful message regarding misogyny - implicit & explicit. This book is HEAVY & rightfully so, especially when we dive head first into complex topics like misogyny & others!

HOT DAMN! How does Ashley Winstead do it EVERY. DAMN. TIME?! 🤯 I’m incredibly blown away by you, your writing style & your use of language to portray so much depth and interest, all at the same time. Your books have so much meaning to them, that goes beyond a “fictional read” & for that, you should be applauded immensely! I am so glad that we’ve connected on IG & that I have the pleasure of not only being a fan of you & your work, but the ability to call you a friend ♥️ Bravo my friend, bravo 👏🏼