Member Reviews
I wasn’t sure after reading the premise, how this story would come together. . It absolutely did not disappoint, and I found myself completely captivated throughout the entire novel. I have already recommended this in passing to my followers, and plan to do a separate video as well. A great twisty suspense! Thank you so much for the advanced copy!
This is my book but I have to leave feedback to fix my ratio because I requested it on here for an early listen. The narration is phenomenal and the five narrators brought each character to life, making this a truly enjoyable experience.
This is a fun housewives thriller based on frenemy friendships and a beauty salon. They are catty and vicious, but keep coming back for more. We're not sure who dies till the end, but it's a fantastic ending and the audiobook is a fabulous way to read this one due to a full cast that brings this story to life and eventually death. You don't want to miss this one!
I loved Jeneva Rose's first book...but unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this one. I've tried the audiobook twice, but it's just not holding my attention. I feel like it isn't getting into any action or mystery fast enough. I have not posted this review publicly since I did not finish and didn't have anything positive to say. As a fellow author, I just can't bring myself to give negative feedback publicly. I loved her first book so much, I'll still be willing to try her next book.
I listened to this audiobook while repainting a bathroom and it sure made the time fly fast. It has a nighttime soap opera feel with plenty of drama and substance in the cast of characters. The setting is ultra wealthy Buckhead, which adds to the decadent feel. Although it's a murder mystery with touches of romance, the humor and cattiness is laugh out loud funny.
This book was such a messy ride and I wouldn't have changed it. The audiobook was definitely the way to read this one because the way that the accents were added for each character was fun to listen to.
Twisty! Intense! Crazy story of so-called friends, somewhat frenemies! This one is not to be missed!
Seriously.
The audiobook is narrated by next-levels at their job - Elizabeth Evans, Hillary Huber, Cassandra Campbell, Brittany Pressley, and Andi Arndt!
Thank you, Jeneva Rose, Blackstone, and NetGalley for my advance ecopy and audiobook for my honest opinion.
A great listening experience
The women were catty, spoiled, and plastic but entertaining nonetheless. The audio narrators did a wonderful job at bringing these out women to life. Jenny was my favorite since she was the most down-to-earth person in the group. I did root for almost all of them through the book. An entertaining audio for sure that was well done
One of Us Is Dead was a mess - sometimes in the best, most highly entertaining way, but other times, just… a mess.
The book is highly dramatic with a full cast of dysfunctional characters. It was Big Little Lies meets what I assume Real Housewives is like. It felt incredibly reminiscent of BLL, but the characters were all so much more catty and horrible.
I was totally immersed in the drama and really enjoyed the anticipation of what would happen next. It was all a total sh**show honestly, but I couldn’t look away (or stop reading/listening). But it seemed like we would get from Point A to Point B is a really a**-backwards way that I wasn’t a fan of. And there were definitely problematic situations that really bothered me.
For example, there’s only one diverse character in the whole bunch, and she was both mixed race and queer. There were bits of racism, homophobia, and micro aggressions, but there was also this really weird fetishization of her throughout the book. Not to mention she was the only main character to not have any chapters from her POV.
I live and work in the Atlanta-area, and I’m familiar with Buckhead. It is an incredibly rich, high class area, but throughout the book I felt a strong sense of defensiveness for the area. And I swear, if I hear another iteration of the phrase “well, things are like this when in Buckhead” or “there are no coincidences in Buckhead”… seriously, how many times can one book say the name of the same town over and over? Geez.
And honestly, has the author ever even been to Atlanta? I don’t know. It was so aggressively negative about the people and the area. Atlanta is still the south, just as much as Texas. But there was this weird ideation that Texas was “country” but Buckhead wasn’t. I don’t get it.
PLUS - the cop in the story wasn’t from the area but was investigating it? That makes zero sense.
I was just so annoyed by all the things I found to be wrong or annoying with the story, that I couldn’t enjoy the book in the ways I wanted to. Maybe folks not from the area will like the book more, but it left me frustrated.
Another amazing Jeneva Rose audiobook. I love the multiple narrators because they help make perspective transitions easier to absorb. The narrators did an amazing job inflecting a variety of tones through the story to draw you in.
Thank you to @BlackstonePub and @Netgalley for providing an e-ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.
Perfect for fans of television housewife dramas! The beginning of this book pulled me in immediately! The multiple POV were great and I appreciated that each character in the audiobook had its own narrator. The audio performances really enhanced my experience with this book. The ending was surprising and very satisfying.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of catty, snarky rich women drama.. but to those who love it- this is a must read!
3.5 ⭐️ rounded down
This was an absolutely fantastic audiobook! I love how that there were several narrators and different accents to help differentiate the characters. Without giving this story away I was blown away by the ending and not expecting it. The author did a fantastic job with character development. There were some characters you loved and some characters you learn to love while there were certain characters you definitely hated. The subplots were fantastic and the main plot that was the driving force was excellent and kept you going. I had a hard time stopping it so that I could get actual things done around the house. I need to find more books by this author! I definitely recommend it.
I finished this audiobook 3 weeks ago so I honestly don’t remember much. I guessed the ending by chapter one. I chose to listen to the audiobook and that’s honestly the way to go with every POV having their own narrator. Really loved that aspect. Otherwise though, it reminded me a lot of The Hunting Wives. I’ve come to accept that I don’t think Jeneva is for me. I wasn’t a fan of The Perfect Marriage either. I know she has a loyal fan base on IG and TikTok but she’s just not for me.
This was such a good whodunit thriller! It was well written and I had no idea who it was. The narrators were great. There were lots of characters but very easy to follow!
READ IF YOU LIKE:
FEMALE FOCUSED thrillers
THE REAL HOUSEWIVES
DESPARATE HOUSEWIVES
BIG LITTLE LIES
MEAN GIRLS
Wealthy & ruthless women
Salons/spas
Unlikeable female characters
DOMESTIC DRAMAS
Bingeable, short chapters
Multiple POVs
I have read both of Jeneva's past novels, & this one fell right in the middle for me. My favorite remains as THE PERFECT MARRIAGE, but this one was still incredibly enjoyable! Thanks to @netgalley, I was able to listen to this one on audio.
*The women of Buckhead are known for their money & assets- luxury vehicles, huge homes... & their choice of salon. ONE OF US IS DEAD follows four female main characters that are intertwined in a competitive friendship circle originating at the elite hair salon of Buckhead called Glow. Everyone who is anyone is on the exclusive list at the salon.. but this many high profile females, each having their own secrets, are bound to have issues.
This story was full of gossip, secrets, lies, betrayal, blackmail, & striving to become queen bee. I got major DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (freaking loved that show), BIG LITTLE LIES, [adult] MEAN GIRLS, & THE REAL HOUSEWIVES vibes throughout this book. Every female was twisted & full of drama in their own way. They were ruthless, to keep it simple.
For me, the pacing felt pretty steady & exciting for most of the book, to where I wanted to listen in every free minute I had (was able to finish in a couple days). With how brutal each of the women were, I was constantly trying to guess who was going to get murdered & who was going to be responsible.
It took me a bit to gather my thoughts on this one, truly. I LOVED the premise, & thoroughly enjoyed the plot & about 75% of the book. It was a solid 4 stars for me, until the ending..
Rating explained:
- I feel like the actual murder piece of the plot got a bit lost in the mix of the drama- I would go into it not expecting to much of a true thriller. For sure more of a FEMALE DRAMA novel.
- I think the multiple POVs were both something I loved, & something I had difficulty with in this one. I LOVE multiple POVs & found each female super interesting, but often had trouble keeping each of their stories straight. If you struggle with focusing on audio, I would recommend maybe reading the physical book of this one, or at least doing a mix! The women each have DIFFERENT NARRATORS, but I still found myself getting them all confused multiple times.
- I also felt like the ending wrapped up way too quickly for my liking, considering all of the high build-up to that point- def wanted more from that. If the ending had been more detailed and more than like 5% (or less) of the audio, my rating would have 100% been higher.
Overall, though, I would recommend if you need a quick drama filled story this summer!
I didn’t love Jeneva Rose’s previous book, The Perfect Marriage. However, many others did and I wanted to see if I could get those same warm and fuzzy feelings about One of Us is Dead that everyone else seemed to have with her debut! However, I feel like this author’s work may just not be for me. I didn’t enjoy this novel, but I do see how it could be interesting for some readers! It’s full of scandal, secrets, lies, sex, and more all within the wealthy social circle of Buckhead. It fell flat for me, but I encourage readers to try it out for themselves! 2.5 stars from me. The narrator did a great job, though! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
This book was just not it. I did a combination of reading/listening and was just so bored the entire time. The vast majority of the book was just housewives being catty and the actual "murder" didn't happen until the book was basically over. I feel a bit like I wasted my time.
𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙳 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙸𝙵 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙻𝙸𝙺𝙴:
▪️ The Real Housewives
▪️ Mimosas & manicures
▪️Multiple POVs (5!)
▪️ Alternating time lines
▪️ Lots of twists and turns
▪️ Secrets galore
𝙼𝚈 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂:
My review is based on listening to the audiobook, which I highly recommend!!! It is narrated by Andi Arndt, Hillary Huber, Elizabeth Evans, Brittany Pressley, and Cassandra Campbell, and they did such a good job. If you are going to listen to an audiobook, make sure you add this one to your list!
I really liked this book with all of the drama and plot twists throughout. It is a very light suspenseful/thriller book, with a dramatic ending that had me thinking what?! However, I like to be really thrown for a loop, and I was able to guess some of the plot twists/secrets. I also thought listening to 5 POVs was going to be confusing, but it wasn’t!
Thank you @netgalley and @blackstonepublishing for an audio ARC of this book!
AHHHH this was sooooo good
•
I love like small town dramas where everyone is in everyone else’s business. Adding the rich wives with possibly bad husbands is just the icing on the cake. I listened to the audiobook and my goodness it was so good!! I have been having a really hard time finding books that i’m OMGing at, but this one made me believe i can reach that all time high of loving a (thriller) book again.
I received both the audiobook and an advanced reader copy; and honestly, the audiobook was EVERYTHING! I did go back and forth between the book and audiobook quite a bit, but found myself wanting to go back to chapters I read to listen to the audio version. It is a full cast, and they were phenomenal. You felt like you were front and center for all of the chaos, lies, scandals, and affairs.
This book truly has some of the scummiest and cringiest elitist characters that you love to hate. The book doesn’t get into the whodunnit and what they did until the end, but the book is so fast paced with the setup that you don’t even notice. The twists come at the end and were delivered effortlessly. If you’re a fan of ABC’s Revenge and Desperate Housewives- this may be right up your alley.
📌 Pub Date: March 26, 2022
I was given an ARC of this story to read; but thoughts and opinions are all my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the chance to read this book!