One of the most intense and dark books I’ve ever read. I don’t think anything would have prepared me for this. I had to take breaks around the 30-50% mark and then powered through the second half. I wasn’t entirely surprised by anything other than the graphic nature. Like a cult it pulled me in and didn’t let go until the very end. While this was difficult to read it was well written. Not sure it’ll be one I recommend due to the content.

All the stars for this thriller. As long as you read the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book, you should be okay. But, my goodness, this was a crazy, good, bingeworthy read!

This dark thriller will have you scrambling to the end with fear. When I didn't think it could get any worse, it did! The chilling and unnatural events have a lot of trigger warnings, such as suicide, rape, misogyny and sadist transgressions.

Shay left her past behind her 8 years ago until she heard one of her college friends hosting a podcast on true crime. Jamie is investigating one of Shay's friends, Laurel. She committed suicide in a public place bringing back memories of her other friend Clem doing the same thing several years ago. She moved from Texas to NY. After no contact for years to any of her friends, Laurel's death has her contacting Jamie to help investigate her death as a murder and not as a suicide.

I enjoyed the thrill of the mystery and unraveling Shay's story live on the podcast, but there are a lot of disturbing factors that are hard to stomach and soon found myself speed reading through some of the worst scenes. The ending is unbelievable and a shocking unexpected revelation.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC in exchange for my review.

LOVED The Last Housewife. As an avid true crime podcast/tv show/documentary devourer, I was so excited when I saw this pop up to request Cults, true crime podcasts, college, the perfect formula for a really addictive dark book. It was such a well written thriller that was sometimes hard to read, but I'm so glad I did!

An addictive dark read! When Shay learns that her friend from her younger days is dead from a true crime podcast, she feels compelled to find out the truth. She is sucked into the underbelly of a dark cultists activities. The writing is wrll-paced and compelling.

This book was incredibly dark, but at no time did that feel cheap. Readers might assume it's a ripped-from-the-headlines plot -- the basic premise evokes the Sarah Lawrence cult -- but the author gives the characters and narrative an appropriate heft, where others may have turned toward the lurid. It's not an easy read, and it's not easy to always understand the main character's decisions, but everything feels earned and, in the end, resonant.

This book! Wow! Winstead went hard at this topic and it paid off in a tragic, beautifully written thriller that keeps you turning the pages for the fictional part of the thriller, and reflecting on how real life experiences can really impact who we are and how we view our worth.
From the fictional thriller standpoint I was captivated by the story that Shay and Jamie were uncovering; the deep seated evil that had woven its way into the upper echelon of the NY elite. As you learned Shay’s background in parallel with what she was uncovering in real-time, I was so invested in the sex, power and money that had built the disgusting cult that viewed women as second class citizens; mere property of men who held all the power over women.
Which leads me into how this fictional story shares a lot of parallels with the horrors of our current day. Men (and a few women) in power who believe they have a right to dictate what is allowed when it comes to a persons rights. You see these very building blocks being formed by the elite conservatives who have no regard for anyone but themselves and their power, and the lengths they will go to to protect that.
There is no doubt that I will be thinking about this book for a long time, and ⚠️ ALL THE TIGGER WARNINGS ON THIS ONE ⚠️. Please read content warnings before picking this one up.

After reading In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, Ashley Winstead became an insta-buy author. I appreciate her dark style, but The Last Housewife took it to a whole new (uncomfortable) level. It’s a story about a sadomasochistic cult, similar to NXIUM, and Shay, an early victim, trying to avenge her friends with the help of a podcast host. It was a compelling, fast binge read, but had all of the triggers.

What a wild ride!
This story is crazy from the first page to the last word.
A suspenseful tale about love of friendships and what extent one will go to for their friends.
This story is also about abuse and the power one has by the position they hold in the community.

A truly crazy ride and I encourage you to jump
on board to share your thoughts and feelings about this book.

Oh my goodness! How is it possible that the same mind that came up with the cute, laugh out loud rom-com Fool Me Once, came up with this dark, deep and oppressive story? I’ll tell you how. Cause she’s a great writer and, when you know how to write, you can write any genre you want and still deliver a great book!

To say this book left me an emotional wreck would be an understatement. It absolutely destroyed me! In fact I’m writing this review a couple of weeks after I finished it cause I needed some time to process all that I had read.

Despite not being published until August I could not wait any longer and had to read it now cause…Ashley Winstead! Do you need any more reasons? She’s fast becoming one of my auto-buy authors and with “The last housewife” she proves once again she knows how to engage readers, keeping them in her hold until the last line.

Shay and her best friends fell under a beguiling man charm while in college, but the enchantment ended when one of them committed suicide.Now, years later, another was found dead apparently by her own hand, but something’s not sitting right with Shay so, with the help of a childhood friend turned podcast host, she’ll go back to try to find some answers. She’ll enter a dark world where soon her desire for justice and revenge will collide with her old and reawakened desires.

This was so, so dark! The atmosphere in some scenes was so oppressive and disturbing I actually had to stop reading for a while, so rattled I was. It was absolutely fascinating but certainly not for the faint of heart. It has every trigger imaginable. I’m usually pretty calm but while reading this, my anxiety reached sky-high levels, and when a book manages to provoke that kind of reaction it means the author has done her work really well!

At its core, The Last Housewife is a female revenge story tackling some complicated issues as power dynamics based on gender and age, female subservience and misogyny, wrapping them all in an engrossing tale that will take your breath away.

I said it before but I’ll say it again, Ashley Winstead can write whatever the hell she wants that I’ll be there to read it.

With seven months to go until the end of year, I already know this one will feature in my top of the year list.

Thanks to the author, Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Housewife is a thriller with a unifying message about women overcoming PTSD.
Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced digital review copy.

This easily became one of my favorite thriller books of 2022. I had never heard of Ashley Winstead but the cover and description drew me in, and I'm glad it did. Highly recommend this one.

Holy Eyes Wide Shut (Tom Cruise/ Nicole Kidman movie from the 90’s)! I went into this completely blind; like didn’t read the description, and this was my first Ashley Winstead book. I can confidently say she is going to be an auto-buy author for me going forward, and I already have Fool Me Once and In My Dreams I Hold a Knife on my TBR for this year. As I get deeper into the world of the thriller genre, I find it gets harder and harder for me to be surprised. This book was unlike anything I have ever read before and kept me guessing throughout my entire read. And THE END! I loved how Ashley made me root for the MC and some of her morally questionable decisions.

Even more than just a typical thriller, this book really digs into some hard topics that women face on a daily basis. Without giving anything away I want to scream for the people in the back “BELIEVE WOMEN”! The patriarchal BS and misogyny that women face is still a very real problem in society and I appreciate Ashley tackling the hard topics that some authors shy away from. With that being said, this book is DARK. Did my dark and twisty heart love our morally gray FMC? YES. But check the trigger warnings because I don’t know of any that are NOT included in this book.

This book was one of the best thriller's I've read in so long! It's unhinged, compulsive, immersive, dark, disturbing, and cultish. Ashley's writing is sharp and this content is eerily poignant to what is currently happening today.

There is so much commentary about women, patriarchy, misogyny, and men in today's society. It was so well thought out and crafted together that I am still not over this book.

I loved the podcast elements and revealing of Shay's story. My jaw was on the floor. It was a mix of Pretty Girls meets A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

Everyone go run to get this book.

The Last Housewife is extraordinarily powerful and also hugely disturbing but also absolutely brilliant with a main protagonist in Shay who could be any and every woman.

This is a tale of coercive control, of cults and abuse but Ashley Winstead blurs the lines and enters those grey areas most authors are scared to go. I was horrified and compelled to continue in equal measure and this read literally had me up all night to find out what ultimately happened.

I think the ending may not please everyone but for me it was pitch perfect. Sometimes the good guys don't need to be the better people when it comes to actions and consequences and The Last Housewife explores this theme as well as many others with both style and substance.

My first novel by this author won't be my last.

Absolutely phenomenal. Usually I can figure out thriller plots, but this one had be stumped until the killer ending!

Let me get this out of the way first. In my dreams I hold a knife, Ashley’s debut thriller was jaw dropping, omg I can’t stop talking about it, let me recommend this to everyone I meet including my dog, AHMAZING. Since then I have maybe just a bit stalkerish been refreshing publishers catalogs and good reads waiting to see when her next book was coming out. As soon as I saw The Last Housewife ARC being discussed on Twitter I started begging and dropping hints to any place that could possibly get my paws on a copy and I GOT IT.

Excitedly I turned on Gilmore Girls for some background noise, popped my one eyed pirate shih tzu up on the couch to snuggle with, and turned to the first page. Her gift for weaving a story with in depth characters and background immediately shined thru. Let me be clear, while the amazing writing and everything you love her for is there, be prepared that this is nothing like her previous novel. But I say that in a good way. Just as the previous hooked me, so did this one. Be prepared for some scandalous, salacious, sex themed content. A bit dark and totally entertaining with a nod to the NXIVM sex cult, it reels you in.

Shay has a whole new life away from what and who she was in college but makes her way back when she hears via a podcast that her old friend Laurel has died. Shay and Laurel had been enthralled with a man who brought them into his world, and while Shay escaped, Laurel didn’t. She wants answers and with the help of the podcast host she goes in search of them. But will she be able to resist her darker impulses or will she decide to try to get justice against a world that’s meant for men?

This book was a walk on the wild side. Dark, twisted and wildly entertaining. This psychosexual thriller delved into the dark world of a violent cult in a college town and followed the main character, Shay, who is determined to talk down the cult and save others who are in danger. Propulsive and unputdownable and wholly unique, I highly recommend this read!

I've read Ashley Winstead first book last year and it instantly became one of my favorite book so The Last Housewife was one the books I wanted to read so bad in 2022 and oh boy it did not disappoint.

This book is dark and twisty and I couldn't put it down. There's a lot of cult books coming out this year but I think this one takes the cake.

I will say this story will not be for everyone, there's a lot that can be triggering for some. But for people like me who like it dark and horrible will be fan of this for sure.

I will read anything Ashley Winstead write in the future cause she's a genius and knows how to build a intriguing story that can make you feel uncomfortable in the best way possible.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

This wasn’t as good as the author’s first thriller In My Dreams I Hold A Knife: it was really all over the place and hard to follow. It was certainly dark if that’s what someone is looking for but overall didn’t blow my mind and isn’t one that will stick with me as a must recommend.