This was a fun, quick read, told from the point of view of a “crazy cat lady.” It seems obvious that the woman has a few screws loose, so the reader is never quite sure how reliable a narrator she is. I wish that the author had gone into more detail about the friendship between the two women; it sets up the main narrative of the story, but it felt glossed over to me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fast paced story of women seeking revenge on a former friend. Laura Lee’s life has taken a down turn since abruptly leaving college years earlier. With her cat as her only friend, she has been simmering with anger for years. When her former friend is being honored for her work in the community, Laura Lee sees her chance for revenge.

This might be the most difficult book I’ve ever struggled to get through. Told in alternating points of from Laura Lee’s current life and college days, we learn about her life and what’s led her to where she is.

I will say this book is essentially a crazy cat lady on steroids story, and about 3/4 through the twist is pretty obvious.

Overall, tedious, and strange. And I’m still left wondering what the heck I just read 🤯

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Lorelei, our main character, has a grudge against an old college friend, Holly. When she sees that Holly, is being honored as woman of the year, Lorelei decides that now is her chance for revenge. Leading up the gala, we learn more about Lorelei's college history, including an affair with their psychology professor. We quickly realize that this psychology program is has a few twists, starting from the top down. A Head professor grooming his family as well as professors, who then observe and groom their students. There were many layers of disfunction up until the very end. Though there were some interesting concepts, this was not one of my favorites. Was a bit slow at times in the narrative and personal commentary of Lorelei.

DNF @ 30% - I’m not a large of darcey’s novels, and it’s probably because they seem so naive and not complex. However, I wanted to give this one a shot to see if my thoughts had changed and unfortunately, they haven’t. I really appreciate the storyline and drama, and I would love seeing this play out in a tv series or film, but I just couldn’t get past the almost juvenile style of writing.

An inner look inside the D A R K side of female friendships 💔 and the cruel intentions of a psychology professor that leads to REVENGE 🔪. “Woman of the Year” by Darcey Bell is WILD and TWISTED and downright DARK! This is my first book by this author and it will NOT be my last 🫶

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Meet Lorelei and Holly … two friends who found one another in a college psychology seminar on human behaviour. Both women are totally intrigued and fascinated by their professor, James Dell Randall. They both have “special” relationships with their professors which leads to a tragic event .. that they will never forget!

Now 20 years later, Lorelei is still obsessed with Holly and has been scheming up a plan for REVENGE! Holly has been announced as The Woman of the Year and there is no way that Lorelei can let that happen. Holly has stolen enough from her .. and the spotlight award just adds to her hatred even more 😡! WHAT does Lorelei have in store for Holly?? And does seeking revenge make Lorelei the Woman of the Year??

If you are a cat lover 😻 you will love all the cat themes in the book … and the cat fight between the characters! I devoured this book in one afternoon and just refused to put it down!

Thank you kindly to @atriabooks @simonschusterca @netgalley and Darcey Bell for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on March 21, 2023!

Sadly this book was not what I was expecting, based on the description. I did not finish reading it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
I know this author tends to have mixed reviews. I have actually liked all of her books, but this one is my least favorite. It’s about two women that were friends in college and their friendship blows up. Years later, the two women end up at the same event and one ends up dead. There is some animal abuse to be aware of in this one. I did like this book, but it was a bit bizarre.

This story was different to say the least. A psychological thriller about cats was not what I was expecting. A very quick read that was unique and easy to follow along!

This was such a quick and fun read for me. The main character if you can call her that, is very awful, but SO entertaining. The storyline was fast paced and the twists and turns ensured that it was unputdownable.

Woman of the Year is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Darcey Bell really knows what she's doing. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers up all night. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced and addictive. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Woman of the Year today.

This book was sly and creepy and the same time. A clever tail of friendships and betrayal a must read for 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the digital ARC of ”Woman of the Year” in exchange for my honest opinion. This definitely started out as a slow burn, where I wasn’t sure if I should be more concerned about the present or the past. The main character is about as unreliable of a narrator as you can get. Her inability to relate to people and obsession with cats makes the reader uncomfortable and I believe that was intentional. It falls in line with the psychological themes throughout book that make you question everything. Personally I find characters easily manipulated by men hard to stomach and never developed a connection with Lorelei or Holly because this was the only thing that defined them.

This was quite a different story than I had expected. The synopsis of the book leads you to believe that we are following two main characters who were friends in college, where they experienced a traumatic and complicated relationship with a professor, but who have since grown apart and lead completely opposite lives. When someone winds up dead, it seems like their past is coming back to haunt the two women. However, i found the synopsis to be very misleading compared to what we got from this book. The majority of the book takes place inside the main character's head, almost so that it reads more as a memoir. I found it to be very rambling and hard to follow. The murder, which we are lead to believe is the main point of the story, takes place towards the very end of the novel and the ending was extremely rushed. I was disappointed that the story seemed to not really be about the murder at all, and read more like a flight of ideas through the main character's mind, with flashbacks from the past sprinkled in. I think the overall concept of this book was very intriguing and could have potentially been a great book, but the execution was lacking compared to what the synopsis promised.

This was an interesting book--suspenseful, and interesting. It kept me guessing. If the characters had been a little more multi-dimensional, this would have been a 4 star from me.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria books for the ARC!

This might not be a favorable read for all but I definitely like the dark twisty storyline. You think it’s a cat and mouse kinda theme but then boom a “cat fight” for a 20 year old grudge. Two college friends with some secrets and college professor not 100% moral right.
Would definitely be recommending this to my upcoming book club.

Darcey Bell has definitely become a favorite author of mine. I enjoyed her latest book very much. It was well written, interesting, and I found it very suspenseful. I was not able to guess the ending, something I always appreciate. I also loved the the unreliable aspect of the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to Atria for the ARC. I definitely recommend this book to others.

Hmmmm well, this for sure was one strange book. I'm not sure how I feel about it, its a solid three star read due to how weird it was!!!!! Did I say weird? So Lorelei and Holly were psychology students at the same college and became close, but something happened and now Lorelei is out for revenge some 20 years later. This does go back and forth a bit, starting with the present and then gives us snippets into the past. Normally this author's writing style has fallen flat for me but for some reason it worked this time. I think its due to the content/plot that this made it succeed.

Not sure the best way to intersperse this into the review but Lorelei is a full fledged cat mum! I can relate for sure being one myself, so if you are one as well this certainly may be for you as cats are mentioned a TON and its a big part of the story. We all know cats love to be the center of attention and they were mentioned quite often. What I did not like was the reason Lorelei was looking for revenge, its cringeworthy and just made me sad! I couldn't imagine what she was feeling during the alleged action...I can't go into anymore without spoilers but it was despicable!

This will not be for everyone, its either going to work or its not. For me, I'm on the fence. It was different and a super fast paced read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

While I really liked the premise, the text itself had a lack of depth -- the characters didn't feel fully dimensional, and there was a lot of blank space in terms of history laid out prior to the story itself happening.

I had hoped for the premise to be setting me up on purpose. Surely there will be something truly and legitimately awful to showcase such an obnoxious premise with. I am disappointed. Much like I found myself to be after sitting with the ending of A Simple Favor for some time.