Thank you @berkleypub for the free book and @prhaudio for the audio version as well.
This was an enjoyable read!

When Kira returns to her Texas hometown for a “frienemy’s” vow renewal ceremony, there is old drama and lots of secrets and deep feelings to explore. Years ago, Kira’s mother, Sadie, supposedly committed suicide after having a torrid affair. Kira never believed her mother committed suicide, but no one would listen to her.

When her grandmother gives Kira her mother’s journal, an old mystery comes to light that may help Kira figure out who actually killed her mother. The problem is, someone is sending Kira warnings and threats through text messages. Who doesn’t want Kira investigating?

MY THOUGHTS:

This story unfolds through alternating timelines and two perspectives, those of Kira and Sadie (as revealed through her journal). I really felt bad for Sadie as she struggled to do what was right for herself, while worrying about her daughters. I felt the pace was perfect as I never lost interest in the story. I finally suspected the identity of Sadie’s murderer right before the dramatic conclusion.

Read this if you enjoy stories with:
*Lots of secrets
*Old mysteries
*Layers of drama
*Secret love affairs
*Threats

Another fast paced domestic thriller from May Cobb! I love her writing style and how she makes you suspicious of everyone. There were many times I didn’t know if I could trust Kira as the narrator. Was she reliable or paranoid?

The dual timeline was so intriguing since we got to hear directly from the murder victim and her perspective of events leading up to her murder.

Definitely a perfect read for this summer 😎

Read For:
⏳ Dual POV
📚 Book Within a Book
💅 Strong Female Characters
🔎 Domestic Thriller
🔪 Murder Mystery
🌲 Forested East Texas Setting

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

This is my third book by this author and definitely my fave of them. Like the title says, this book has more likeable women than the previous books. They are still women behaving badly, but more tame than previous books. I love the dual perspectives of this book and how it goes from past to present, really giving depth to the story. Good twists and turns, kept it interesting and intriguing.

Kira left Texas after her mother supposedly committed suicide. Kira has never believed this despite her sister and grandmother telling her it was true. When she receives a letter to attend a vow renewal for an old friend, Kira reluctantly agrees – only because her grandmother promises she has something for her regarding her mother’s death.

Now back in Texas, Kira finds herself receiving mysterious text messages warning her away. Her grandmother gives Kira a memoir written by her mother, and Kira starts to piece together her last days. As Kira gets closer to solving the mystery once and for her, she finds herself in danger – will someone be willing to kill her to keep the past in the past?

What a book! I loved this one so much. I have read two previous books by this author, and they have always been solid reads for me – but this is my favorite. I think it is her best work yet! I rarely stay up late reading, but I couldn’t put this one down! The story was so fun, the secrets, the gossip – just everything worked. This was paced well, and the buildup was done in a way you just wanted to keep reading. My only complaint on this one is the cover doesn’t match the story quite how I would prefer.

I hope you check this one out July 11th.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, @berkleypub, and Netgalley, @netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A trip home leads to the deadly unraveling of long buried secrets surrounding a death that someone wants to stay buried in the past.

May Cobb's summer releases have quickly become highly anticipated reads for me over the last few summers. I devoured both The Hunting Wives and My Summer Darlings. There's just something addictive about people behaving badly with little to no remorse. It's sinfully fun!

Sadly, I found A Likable Woman much tamer than her previous two books. It was lacking that same level of salacious behavior that I have come to look forward to from her books. We had glimpses of it but I wanted more. This was more of a simmering and suspenseful domestic thriller about a daughter trying to learn the truth surrounding her mother's death. It was good - I just wanted more of that adults behaving vibe that we got in The Hunting Wives.

✨ Book Review ✨

A big thank you to @berkleypub @netgalley for the #gifted copy of #alikeablewoman !!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 A Likeable Woman by May Cobb

A woman reluctantly returns to her hometown in hopes of solving her mothers murder.

What to expect:

🔎 Mystery
🔪 Thriller
🗣️ Dual POV
🧩 Puzzling

Quick thoughts:

✨ Absorbing.
✨ Interesting characters.
✨ Twists and turns.
✨ Unexpected ending.

Overall thoughts:

When Kira was younger her moms sudden death was ruled a suicide; however, that never sat well with Kira. Deemed crazy by those closest to her for insisting her mom, Sadie, was murdered, she leaves her hometown never to return. When she is invited to an old frenemys vow renewal ceremony back in Texas, she is reluctant to say yes. However, her granny lures her home by offering information about Sadie’s death.

This story hooked me from the very beginning. I loved the dual POV between Kira and Sadie. I though the eerie tension in the story was paced perfectly. It starts slowly with suspicious texts and steadily ratchets up with everyone’s personal agendas right to the very end. I loved not knowing who to trust and this feeling of danger surrounding Kira on all sides.

The more Kira learns about Sadie the more the story shifts. Things you thought you knew at one moment don’t mean anything the next. It definitely kept my mind spinning about what really happened to Sadie and who could’ve been involved. I kind of had a feeling how the end would play out but again I wasn’t sure so I was still shocked by the ending. Thinking back through the book all the signs were there so it definitely made sense and felt earned. If you like mysteries/thrillers then definitely give this one a read!

Kira has been invited to her childhood friend Genevieve’s vow renewal ceremony in Texas. She has barely been back to her hometown since her artist mother Sadie overdosed in a suspected suicide.
Kira has never believed her mother would kill herself, leaving behind her two daughters. And now her grandmother tells her that Sadie had left behind pages of her memoir covering the time leading up to her death.
In between reading her mother’s story, catching up with her good friend Jack and attending all the celebratory events, Kira is also receiving threatening text messages to stop digging into the past.
With its moody setting, the story made room for plenty of suspects although it is likely the reader will suss it out a heck of a lot quicker than Kira. The way she acted at times was somewhat implausible and annoying, designed purely for the suspense.

📖𝘼 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣
✍🏻May Cobb
🗓️7.11.23
🔪Domestic Thriller
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have enjoyed reading books by May Cobb for years, and was so excited to get to 𝗔 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻. May is the queen when it comes to juicy domestic thrillers, and this was such a fun binge read that would make the perfect beach read.

Like many of May Cobb’s previous books, I loved the theme of wealthy women being naughty and misbehaving, and loved that it was set in a wealthy Texas neighborhood.

I both read and listened to the audiobook and thought both formats were great, and I would recommend both of them.

𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵:
🗣️dual POVs
💵wealthy women misbehaving
⏰dual timelines
🍑a juicy beach read

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 @𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘺𝘱𝘶𝘣 𝘢𝘯𝘥 @𝘱𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 #𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺

Kira… she has so much swirling around her. The loss of her mother and the belief that she did not commit suicide, the grandmother who has kept a secret from her for years, and the long-lost love/best friend that she will soon be seeing are just a few of the things happening. I was worried that this book would be too much, too much angst, too much drama, and too much in general. This book is perfect. It is a great mystery thriller that kept me turning page after page without wanting to ever stop.



The family drama in this book was insane. Kira and her sister are on entirely opposite sides of, well, everything. I had hoped for a reconciliation between them, yet it seemed like it would not happen. The rest of the relationships with Kira and her friends and family were equally challenging and I felt so bad for her. It seemed that she was on her own and no one was going to stand by her.



The twists and turns, oh my! I cannot believe how it all worked out and what Kira went through to get there. May Cobb has cemented herself as a must-read author for me. I will recommend this book to all my thriller reading fellow bookworms.

When Kira is invited back to her affluent town in East, TX for her friends’ vow renewal ceremony, she has her doubts. She has bad memories of her mother, Sadie’s death, which was ruled a suicide, but Kira thinks she was murdered. When her Grandmother sends urgent texts that Kira come home, she decides to go and once and for all figure out what happened to her mother.

May Cobb knows how to write unlikeable characters and did just that with Kira’s so-called friends. I found Kira a bit more likeable than the other characters, but she made some questionable choices. I loved the dual timelines, and Sadie was my favorite character. Growing up in a decade and town where you married young and not necessarily for love was hard for her, but I liked her few-spirited nature and that she just wanted to be who she was.

I figured out who was behind things early on, but didn’t figure out why until the end. This didn’t take away from the story in any way for me though. I loved the writing style, as I have with Cobb’s previous books, and thought the pacing was spot on. There were some interesting twists that worked well for the story. I love books about rich, unlikeable women so this one was perfect for me.

Thank you Berkley Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review,

I love the way May Cobb writes about petty, suburban drama. This book had some more meat to it, but the petty drama was also there! I had some suspicions about the twist, and I was right, but I still enjoyed the journey.

This is my first book by Cobb, and I enjoyed it. Can see why there are so many raving reviews about this book and definitely can't wait to check out more from this author!

3.5 rounded down

“I lost myself, Kira, for years, muted the voices in my head, silenced my muse, all in the name of acceptance. If I can impart one thing to you it’s this: Don’t be like me, don’t be a likeable woman.”

Kira’s back in her affluent hometown for the first time in years and determined to unravel the secrets of her mother’s death--hidden in the unpublished memoir she left behind-- even if it kills her. . . .

This bitch is crazyyyy. Sheesh. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to give anything away but wow..I haven’t been this annoyed with a character in a long time. Running around your old small town hometown accusing any and everyone of murder? Based on what?? Your emotionally charged hunch?! Trying to steal someone’s husband? Like what?! Oh no, girl. No.

But these characters are (almost all) awful in the best way. You know the writing is good when you want to scream out loud at the actions of fictional characters. Well done, May Cobb, well done.

This story is told in dual timelines and with dual narrators, Sadie (past) and her daughter Kira (present). The narrator of the #audiobook Amanda Stribling does a phenomenal job. She uses a nice southern accent for Sadie’s pov and what I am assuming is her own voice for Kira. An addictive listen for sure!

Thank you for the free audiobook @prhaudio and also @berkleypub for the ARC.

This was a fast and engaging read that had me flipping pages!! This is my favorite from May Cobb yet!

This one started off very slow and at times I wanted the story to get to the point. Told in perspectives by not only Kira, you also got the perspective of her mother, Sadie. I found Kira to be a bit whiny at times and wanted her to speak up. With Sadie, I wanted to know if she truly did kill herself or was there something more sinister at play. Both points of view did shed light as well as the bond between mother and daughter.

With anonymous texts being sent to Kira, I also wondered if this person was involved with Sadie’s death. The setting had creepy undertones, and I appreciated that aspect of the story. May Cobb has a great way of story telling, the premises are always great and I always get sucked in reading her books. However, this was just okay to me, and I keep trying with this author thinking that one book will wow me. I finished this book and some parts were enjoyable, but I think I just wanted more.

After her mother’s mysterious death, Kira left her Texas hometown and never came back, until now. When she is invited to her frienemy’s vow renewal, which happens to take place at one of the last places her mom was alive, she reluctantly agrees to go. It helps that her childhood best friend/crush, Jack agrees to go with her. But when she arrives there is so much drama - from her grandma revealing a big secret, to Kira getting harassing text messages from an unknown number, to the complicated feelings of returning to the place where her mom died
.
This book wasn’t quite as binegable as I have found May Cobb’s other books to be. I enjoyed it, but it took me a while to get into this one and it wasn’t as much of a wild adventure as I expected from her. I am not usually one to guess the plot twists, but I guessed this one almost immediately. I sadly left this one wanting a bit more.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

A Likeable Woman
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 3.5⭐️

Thanks @berkleypub for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

The novel tells the story in alternating points of view and timelines, between Kira and the present and the past through Sadie, Kira’s mother. Kira returns home to Texas after years away, leaving after she has major suspicions about her mother’s early death. I was curious to learn what really happened to Sadie, but also had a bit of trouble with the premise of Kira returning to attend a vow renewal to someone she hasn’t talked to in years. I chalked it up to maybe just being a thing that rich, Southern people do😅

Characters weren’t particularly likeable but this was done well - I was still invested to see how their stories played out. Full of scandal and rich people behaving badly, short chapters also helped this book fly by. Overall a solid domestic suspense and a fun read.

A Likeable Woman had a whole lot of unlikeable women, but I could not stop reading about them.

This is told from dual perspectives, Kira and Sophie, Kira's mother who passed away when Kira was a teenager, under suspicious circumstances ruled suicide, but Kira has always believed she was murdered.

Kira lives in LA, but returns home to small town Texas after being gone for 20 years after being invited for a friend's vow renewal, but mainly because her grandmother tells her she has some information about her mother’s death.

Kira is the talk of the town as soon as she arrives. The mean girls are still mean. The bully is apparently still a bully. And her old pal Jack also came back to support her as he has always done.

There are twists and secrets. I figured things out early on, but that did not deter me from still enjoying the book as things played out.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have read all of May Cobb's books. They are typically full of vile characters but you can't help but fly through them. A guilty pleasure to be devoured.

A Likeable Woman is a bit different. I actually found the characters LIKEABLE! And I really enjoyed that!

Kira returns back to her Texas hometown for the first time since her teen years. During high school, her mother died by suicide, but Kira never believed that. To silence her, her paternal grandmother sent her to boarding school.

Upon her return, her grandmother says she has something for her from her mother, something that makes grandma believe Kira after all these years.

The story unfolds between past and present, from both POVs of Kira and her mother. I absolutely loved how the story built up. There were a lot of red herrings, and I didn't suspect the final reveal.

I definitely enjoyed the journey of this one more than the ending, and that's OK. I will continue to be first in line for all of May Cobb's books.

Nobody does pure dishy fun better than May Cobb, and, every time I pick up one of her novels, I know I’m in for a wild ride. A Likeable Woman was no exception. I love the snarky dialogue, the carefully crafted suspense, and, of course, the Texas beeyatches. There isn't one single thing about it that I would change. It just isn't summer until I've spent some time in Texas.