My thoughts

I enjoyed this novel for what it was. It was a quick, fun read that was a great palette cleanser from some of the darker thrillers that I've been reading. I was looking for something easy to read while also being compelling and this delivered for me. It had some very campy, 80s mobster flick vibes and I loved that.

I loved the switch of POVs between all of the widows and I liked seeing the friendships develop between all the women despite all of their unfortunate circumstances.

The only small gripe I had with this novel is that it does take awhile to get going and to feel like there is actually something happening, but the humor and my general fondness for all of the widows carried me through the parts that felt slow.

I think if you're looking for a quick read and fun that doesn't take itself too seriously, I would recommend this.

With an all-star line up of authors, I knew Young Right Widows would not disappoint -- and it didn't! I wasn't sure how the writing would flow together with four authors but was pleased with the overall product. I loved the setting, loved the characters, and loved the plot. A great book for 2024!

Four partners of a law firm are killed and the women who remain behind have to try and keep the mob happy.

It's campy. It's over the top. It's like Dynasty and Falcon Crest with a hint of The Sopranos.

Fun for a quick read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

I Love anything that author, Kimberly Belle has written!
What a unique thing to do with this book, gather four wonderful authors together, each write a different character’s perspective, at first put it out as an excellent audiobook, and then bring it to print!
And now there’s a sequel coming out soon as well!
I do see that there are a little bit of mixed reviews about some aspects of this story, but I think in general you cannot go wrong for an entertaining, fun book!
I first listened to it and enjoyed the narrating, etc. and then It was fun going back to read it in print as it added even more to the story, in my opinion. I am not a huge, audiobook listener, but I really enjoyed this one. And still enjoyed it in print even though I had listened to it already.

I do see that there are a little bit of a mixed reviews about some aspects of this story, but I think in general you cannot go wrong for an entertaining, fun book!
Can’t wait for the next one to come out!

Thankyou to authors Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, Vanessa Lillie, Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book before it comes out in print.
Charlene @lastnownext 🌸📚🤗

While this story would play out great on the screen, this book was not for me. The concept was great but the plot got a little ridiculous at times and overall it wasn’t for me

This was a slow burn and a bit of a blunder for me !

I was so excited to receive this ARC because I am a huge fan of KB and Dear Wife got me out of a reading slump years ago.

I had my popcorn ready and was so eager to dive in and read this 80's era mystery , but quickly I realized I had been bamboozled!

Young Rich Widows is a story with multiple POV's , unlikeable characters, zero character development , mafia law firm ,four dead men and a whole lot of stale air .

I felt Young Rich Widows lacked suspense , mystery and unrelatable characters . I also was expecting more 80's references , being a teenager myself growing up in the 80's this was something I was drawn to about this particular read. I typically love a good mystery thriller and multiple POV's but I really struggled to find a connection and found it unentertaining .

If you do love multiple POV's , mafia settings and really light mystery then give this one a go as I am an outlier and don't want my review to discourage you from trying this one out !

Thank you Netgalley, Sourcebooks Landmark for this digital ARC!

Respectfully Another Read by Angie

I love Kimberly Belle’s books so was happy to read an early copy of this collaboration. It was originally published as an Audible audiobook. It is totally unlike any of Kimberly Belle’s books. At first this put me off a bit, but about a third of the way in, I got to know the four main characters and enjoyed the wild ride. The story takes place in 1985. It’s an over the top, crazy story that will have you rooting for these ladies as you laugh at their antics.

I read this book and didn’t listen like most of the readers leaving reviews but I couldn’t find the book version on goodreads. Perhaps the audio version is better. I wasn’t a fan of this one. I like Kimberly Belle books which is what lead me to this one but this didn’t work for me. It wasn’t awful, just not my cup of tea. I don’t feel the story was at all realistic which is fine. But the mob scene just seemed too simple. I like my thrillers to be more psychological with less action and this book had plenty action. Planes falling, cars exploding, gun shots, murder, mob threats, hit men, you name it. Not for me but if these things sound up your alley, you might enjoy this book.

This is a fun one for fans of storylines of the ultra wealthy and enjoy shows that bring the drama like Real Housewives or books like the Finlay Donovan series.

There were a lot of characters to try and keep track of through the various POVs and it was hard to keep their names straight at first, but once I had them down it went smoothing and kept the story from getting stale.

What I had imagined would be a story about wealthy widows spending frivolously took a twist into Mob territory as the living partners of 4 lawyers are left trying to pay dangerous debts left behind after a sudden plane crash.

Overall, this was an entertaining novel. Not a ton of depth and a bit cheesy, but fun and the mystery of how they women would get out of their predicament kept me reading until the end.

A fun twisty thriller with an 80s vibe? Yes please. Add in some mafia? Even better. I loved this book and I especially loved the characters! Well done!

Book review 📖

📜Young Rich Widows
✍️Vanessa Lillie; Layne Fargo; Cate Holahan; Kimberly Belle
📠Sourcebooks Landmark
📚Mystery/Thriller, Fiction
🗓️Pub date: April 2, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @bookmarked for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨In 1985, a private jet carrying four law firm partners crashes over New York City, leaving their wives with no spouses and lots of questions.

✨Justine, Camille, Meredith, and Krystle all have their own backstories and try to deal with the aftermath of the crash.

✨Initially the crash is ruled an accident, but soon things shift. A large sum of cash went down with the plane, and the partners weren’t supposed to be in New York that day.

✨Full of 80’s glam, thick scunciis, big hair, and neon windbreakers, this is a fun blast-from-the-past read. I felt like there were too many main characters. It was confusing and hard at times to keep track of who’s who, especially since some of their love lives intersected.

#netgalley #youngrichwidows #vanessalillie #laynefargo #cateholahan #kimberlybelle #sourcebookslandmark #springreleases #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #ivegotbooks #killmewithwords #idratherbereading #thrillerfiction

When a private plane full of partners from a law firm goes down, you'd assume their widows would inherit some pretty life insurance amounts... not four million dollars worth of problems...

Young Rich Widows takes place in the 80s and the setting helps the story feel not so "over the top" - you've got lawyers making possibly shady deals, mobsters taking care of their territory, and hitmen working for who again? It's seriously a wild ride - I loved the widow's coming together, putting aside their differences and working together, and solving a big mystery in the midst of their grief.
My biggest qualm without giving anything away? The person who was helping the bad guys... that was disappointing and felt unnecessary!!! The authors could have given us any other big surprise and I bet I could have gotten on board with it.
This one came out in 2022 as an Audible original and I'm tempted to give it a listen to see how the narration compares to reading!


Thank you, NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. This is a fast moving thriller set in a city that I have fond memories of: Providence, RI. The book takes place in the 1980's. Four women who are all involved with partners at a law firm find themselves suddenly widowed. The story picks up from there. While the plot can skew a little ridiculous at times, it is still a fun read. I actually think this would make a great show for Netflix or Hulu. If you are looking for a silly thriller that is an easy read- this is the one to try!

I have waited FOREVER for this book to be released in print and it did not disappoint! I am not an audible reader but, after reading this one, I can see why it was released that way. Filled with quirky characters who found themselves in impossible and completely over the top situations and all the 1980’s references, this was a FUN read and I imagine it was so much fun to listen to it being narrated. This will make a great beach read this summer! Thank you Netgalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and the authors for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on April 2, 2024

Thanks to @netgalley for the eArc of this book. It was solidly entertaining told from various perspectives. It completely reminded me of an 80’s mob movie.

The four sole partners of a law firm died in a plane crash. Their deaths were initially thought to be a tragic accident. However, things weren’t adding up for the four grieving widows and they set out to uncover the truth together.

Young Rich Widows was such a fun, fast-paced popcorn thriller! It was jam-packed with mind-boggling twists and turns, and incredibly addicting. This book required me to suspend any and all disbelief to really sink my teeth into it but, that was part of the charm. It was written by four authors but, was seamlessly done. I truly could not tell where one author left off and another started. I loved the underlying themes of parental love and friendship, which helped me to feel more connected to the plot. My only small critique was that there were a lot of characters and it took me some time to get a handle on them all. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend checking it out!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This was a bit more over-the-top than I was expecting, with soap opera-type characters. It was amusing, but not really my cup of tea. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A private plane crashes with the four principal partners of a law firm on board. Unbeknownst to their widows, the partners had put up one million dollars each of personal collateral into a huge real estate deal to build a new mall – money that seems to have burned up in the plane crash. As the widows find out what their partners were up to (including ties to the mafia!), the mall deal is looking shadier by the minute. The widows don’t get along to put it mildly, but they have to band together to find their way out of this mess.

This book is such a romp! This campy thriller has it all: there’s murder, there’s mayhem, there’s the mob, there are wolves (yes, wolves!) and of course, there are the widows! Each of the four widows is a bad ass woman in her own right, and when they come together, the results are electric. Their snappy insults and catfighting are a hoot, and the scenarios that they got themselves tangled up in were so entertaining! Oh, and did I mention it’s set in 1985? The 80s vibes are so spot on I could practically smell the aerosol Aqua Net hair spray! Such a fun read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me an advance copy of this book.

3 stars

Readers who are drawn in by some of the known authors' names here may be surprised (pleasantly, in some cases) to find themselves smack in the middle of a *campy* '80s mystery that'll give the target audience nostalgia for the time of the inimitable Kevyn Aucoin and have them practically smelling the unmistakable tang of Aqua Net in the process.

The four main characters, penned by four separate authors, are joined by the simultaneous deaths of their four husbands, who are partners in a Providence, RI law firm. While the severity of the first scene hints at mystery/thriller, and those elements do play an inarguable role throughout the novel, it's really the time period and the over-the-top nature of these characters that end up the joint focal point.

In the end note, readers learn that the authors were inspired by '80s camp like _Married to the Mob_ and _The First Wives Club_, and to me, this is the ideal way to market this book and exactly what readers should be expecting (though, transparently, maybe a little less humorous at times) when they pick up this read. This is an entertaining enough genre bender, and while it could absolutely pack more thrills and opportunities to engage, it's a fun read for the right audience.

I was so excited to receive this collaboration between Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Vanessa Lillie and Cate Holahan as an ARC. However, unfortunately this audiobook was full of women objectification. The four main characters were so boring. Even when they are running for their life they find the time to bother with designer clothes details and fancy alcohol. This novel feels like a work of high school student, basics are in, no depth present. No complexity. I enjoyed the narrator choice