Ophelia, a professor of Dante, is stricken when she discovers that her husband Andy has been cheating on her with a winsome colleague. What follows is Ophelia’ s figurative descent into hell as she obsessively tracks her subjects, performs surveillance in her beat-up Volvo, and moves into the property next door to Amber’ s, which has gone into foreclosure. She spies on the lovers, growing more and more estranged from reality. Andy’ s betrayal reawakens the earlier trauma of abandonment by her mother at the age of eight. When Andy and Amber become engaged, Ophelia snaps. The story is a jailhouse confessional, a dark comedy, an oeuvre of women’ s rage, a suspenseful revenge fantasy, and a moving portrait of one woman’ s psychological breakdown.

I really enjoyed this story from start to finish. Will recommend to others.

📚 PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Vixen Amber Halloway
By Carol LaHines
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Publisher: Regal House Publishing

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

📚MY REVIEW:

I haven't heard a lot about this book...But after devouring it in just a few hours, I genuinely don't know why not!

This was absolutely captivating - I simply couldn't put it down. In the opening paragraph, our narrator talks about others questioning her sanity because she spied on her estranged husband and his lover from a tree. She then mentions the eight spiral notebooks she filled with details learned over three months of her spying on them from the basement of the foreclosed house next door.

Me: "One ticket to Crazytown please."

Our main character, Ophelia, brings a whole new meaning to the notion of an unreliable narrator. This book is, quite literally, a portrait of the psychological breakdown of a woman scorned. Told from Ophelia's perspective, the reader gets a behind-the-curtain look at the way her childhood trauma, her memories of happier times with her husband, and her increasingly obsessive thoughts, all weave together to result in the chaos that becomes this unhinged revenge story.

Lahines created such depth to Ophelia, I felt everything: from empathy, to shock, to sadness, and even - at times - a little bit of vindication, for her experiences. Though I heavily cringed at some of her obsessive behaviors, there were times I could relate to the emotion that prompted her extreme actions. While I've certainly never done the things Ophelia did, I could recall a time or two when some of her unhingedness might've felt good. 😉

I will say: I think I'm a pretty intelligent person, but having to stop often and look up meanings of unfamiliar words detracted from the story for me. I eventually realized these words were a reflection of Ophelia's professorial mentality in the narrative, but it impacted my flow of reading the book.

If you love a good domestic thriller or revenge plot, this book has to be on your TBR list ASAP. Highly recommend! A big thank you to NetGalley and Regal House for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for the ARC NetGalley😊
Read from 24 marts - 20 April.

This book drew me in by its cover and details. But it was the narrator who made me stay.
Who doesn’t love an unreliable narrator who’s unhinged and “slightly” mad?
But sadly it felt a bit repetitive and melancholy for me, and the flow of the book felt a bit off for me. I had a hard time reading it in one go, so I had to read it “a bit for a bit” to be able to make sense of the narrative (and to not be bored). Which might have been intended by the author, but didn’t sit with me. This book reminded me a lot of Alias Grace by M. Atwood, which also follows an unreliable character and both books ends in such an unsatisfying way.
This book would’ve been better as a shorter book. The concept and the idea of the book had so much promise.

This book is one big character study about a woman, Ophelia, suffering from repressed childhood trauma long into her adulthood. Her husband leaves her for someone else and slowly we discover how abandonment from your loved ones can really turn the tide over everything you considered right or wrong. I liked that Ophelia was consistently aware of the fact that what she’s doing is not “normal” at all but borderline obsessive, yet she seemingly had no control to stop herself, to put a pause on everything that would decide her fate; it felt as if years of feeling helpless as a child suddenly gave her some sort of courage to ask her husband *Why.* There were a lot of interesting themes to unpack in this book - nature vs nurture (in this case, Ophelia’s circumstances made her who she is), abandonment and dealing with subsequent abandonment issues your whole life, how the after-effects of trauma impact even the way people perceive you in normal settings etc. etc. I felt sympathy for Ophelia because I really don’t think she wanted things to end as they did, but she really was utterly unhinged.

However, I will say that this book fell a little flat for me in terms of the plot direction and the writing. The book is written in first person and I did not mind the use of the word ‘you’ to refer to the husband, however, I would’ve liked it if it wasn’t this way. This is just my personal preference. Moreover, the dialogue got very repetitive after a while. I’m not sure if the author meant to signify how immersed the main character was into her relationship and her husband, and saw nothing else, but it was tiring to read the same things constantly. Overall, I liked what the book was trying to explore but I just wish the author did something more with it.

Ophelia, an academic woman finds out that her husband Andy is cheating on her: Andy chose Amber over Ophelia and left Ophelia for Amber.
The reason for the severity and cruelty of Ophelia's reaction to abandonment is that Ophelia was abandoned by her mother at a young age. The trauma of being trekked is re-triggered by Andy's abandonment. And the problem from her childhood puts Ophelia in a terrible mood. I really mean that, teribble.
She begins to follow Andy and Amber obsessively; she forgets her own life to watch their lives closely. Obsession takes over Ophelia. As a result, something happens that she did not intend, even though she dreamed of it: An irreversible finale for three of them.
The novel reflects the sick mind of the Ophelia character well. Her reaction to being cheated on gives some background as to why she becomes violent: The woman abandoned by her mother.
This is a novel of psychological destruction. On the other hand, I sometimes had difficulties while reading. For example, the scene where Ophelia kills the dog or her flashbacks, where love looks normal but we know that it was not...
I can recommend it to those who like psychological thrillers. If you have fears of abandonment, you may have difficulty reading.

Thanks to #NetGalley and Regal House Publishing for the ARC.

A copy of The Vixen Amber Halloway was provided to me free for review through NetGalley on behalf of Regal House Publishing.

The Vixen Amber Halloway is narrated by Ophelia who is recalling the events that lead to her psychologial breakdown. Written in an almost stream of consciousness style, we see the complete undoing of a woman after her husband leaves her for another woman. Ophelia is a complex character having been a university professor or lecturer on Dante's Inferno, but also coming from a trauma-ridden past filled with abandonment and loss. This past trauma festers and her husband's betrayal is the final catalyst to her complete undoing.

This book was very different for me, as it was not a suspense-laden, edge of your seat type of thriller. It read to me more like literary fiction. I was a little thrown off by the use of some Latin terms and abbreviations that were used with no explanation as well as some rather obscure vocab.. I guess the author gives us readers mor credit than we are due, assuming we have all brushed up on our Latin and ancient phrasing. I think this was done to build up the background of the character being a Dante scholar, so I understand its use, but I did do quite a bit Googling/referencing my dictionary with this book.

Overall I think that this book will certainly not be for everyone, but if it finds the right audience it will be enjoyed.

While I would categorize this novel more as literary fiction than a thriller, I still quickly devoured the story, despite it not quite being the genre I was expecting going into it. I found the main character Ophelia to be complex and utterly unhinged, yet her trauma of being abandoned by a parent at a young age is unfortunately very relatable to many, myself included. Throughout the course of the book, these unprocessed abandonment issues are only compounded upon when she catches her husband engaging in acts of adultery. It's this that ultimately consumes her, the reader watching her unravel and develop a fierce obsession with vengeance towards those who have scorned her. I found the writing and word choice to be somewhat repetitive, but not overly so that it detracted significantly from the story. I'm not jumping to reread this one any time soon, but I still enjoyed the ride!

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this eARC. I was excited to read this book. The cover has me intrigued. Overall the book was good but I felt like the ending was lacking. After all the outrageous stunts the main character pulled the way the mistress was ended was extremely lacking. I also think the murder of the dog was unnecessary. The author also used “big words” so much it became annoying. I’ll generously give this book 3 stars.

Very interesting read, but it failed at sucking me in! The pacing of it threw me off a bit and NetGalley wouldn’t let me renew it so I could finish it, but I’d definitely buy it just to know how the story ends!

I love to enter the mind of a woman pushed to the edge by a man she thought she could trust. Ophelia is like so many others, thrown aside by her lover. She discovers his secret affair, only to have it thrown in her face that she’s the crazy one for figuring it all out. Why stop the crazy there..

It has been a long time since I read a book about a woman who was so unhinged and I adored every moment of it. If no one else is on your side Amber, I am.

SPOILERS.

This book is about Ophelia's revenge on Amber Halloway, the woman who "stole" Ophelia's husband from her. From the beginning we know Ophelia is in prison for the murder of Amber, we get Ophelia's side of the story, she tells us what her prison psychiatrist says, and admits she is a cold, unfeeling person but a person nonetheless, who was promised vows by her husband. First, Ophelia stumbles up on the affair by accident, then she starts tracking Andy, her husband. Andy is mediocre at best and both women could have done much better. Ophelia settled with Andy because he was the only man to really show her love and understand her. Ophelia's mother left her when she was eight and carried that abandonment around with her. So when Andy leaves her, her feelings toward her mother and Andy combine and she starts doing completely irrational things, such as stalking Andy and setting up a stakeout int he house next to Amber's.
While I love a good womens' revenge story, I don't love that it was acted out on the other woman, really she should have just killed Andy and gotten over it. But by the end when Amber is dying from her heart issues, I do wonder what would have happened if Amber wouldn't have had her heart failure, if she was healthy, would Ophelia have killed them? Would she have gotten away with it before the neighbor came over and ruined her plan? I'd give it a 3.5 star.
Ophelia narrates as if she is a homicidal Moira Rose.

I was looking forward to reading this one but don't think it's for me... I liked the writing style in the beginning reminiscent of Sheena Patel's I Am Fan but, as I kept reading, I couldn't focus on the actual story, wasn't very interested in the plot nor the characters and thought it felt like someone had gone through it with a dictionary trying to substitute way too many common words with more embellished ones and that's all I could focus on
Thanks for sending this ARC my way but I won't be sharing a review elsewhere as to not cloud other potential reader's judgements - I'm sure a lot of people will like it, I was just not the right audience for this one

I loved the voice in this book (a less than subtle unreliable narrator) even if I loathed the character. I was a little frustrated with use of repetition and “viz.” at times but also it made sense. I’d have preferred the story to flip between Ophelia’s memoir/letter and official transcript or a report from the hearing and the ending lost me- it seemed to be intended as a crescendo but for me it was too much telling not showing, and the child abandonment issue felt forced. Overall very easy to read and a little different to what I’d normally pick up.

"The Vixen Amber Halloway" offers an intriguing premise centered around a woman's psychological breakdown following her husband's betrayal. Ophelia's descent into madness is portrayed with intensity, evoking empathy from readers. However, the novel's repetitiveness and mismatched genre expectations may leave some readers disappointed. Despite its potential, the story lacks the tension and suspense typical of a thriller, leaning more towards literary fiction. While some may appreciate the exploration of Ophelia's unraveling psyche, others may find the pacing sluggish. Overall, "
"The Vixen Amber Halloway"" may appeal to readers interested in character-driven narratives but falls short of delivering a gripping thriller experience.

This book was interesting. I am a fan of the unhinged trope & this read like a fever dream.
I did find it repetitive. & the ending fell flat in my opinion.
I liked Ophelia. I empathized with her while I was reading but will not think of her again.

The story is a bit intense and crazy.

3 stars because she kills a dog, and it was really sad, if that wasn't in there or described I would say 4 starts.

But wow, this was insane, and honestly, something that I could see on those true crime docu-series, holy moly.

“Happiness has an indefinite aspect. Unhappiness, however, is obdurate. It takes hold of the memory. It eludes forgetfulness.”

For a short book this one packs quite the punch. Ophelia discovered that her husband Andy was having an affair, and he ended up leaving her for his work colleague Amber. Understandably, Ophelia was devastated, but due to her trauma from her childhood she started spiraling. She started following Andy and Amber, writing down all their activities in notebooks, sitting in her car outside of their bungalow with her $49.99 binoculars. And when she discovered that Andy and Amber had gotten engaged during a holiday, she snapped.


I truly enjoyed this book, reading from the perspective of an unhinged, scorned wife was addicting. I could not stop reading. I will say though some parts felt so repetitive, like the mention of her mother. I understand it plays a big part of Ophelia’s psyche, and why her husband leaving her brought back this past trauma. But it just felt like there were so many times where it was brought up where it wasn’t necessary. Overall I enjoyed my time with this book and I look forward to reading more from Carol LaHines.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGallery for an advanced copy of this book. The Vixen Amber Halloway is about the psychological breakdown of a woman when her husband leaves her for another woman. Based on the cheeky title, cover, and premise, I was interested in reading it. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as I hoped. The novel seemed to struggle with some pacing. It was slow and dragged in some parts, and I agree with the other reviews that this didn't have the tension and suspense that would categorize it as a general mystery/thriller. The readers already know what will happen because of the different time changes and flashbacks. General fiction may be a better fit. That said, I think there will be readers who aren't avid mystery readers who will enjoy this.

I really enjoyed this tale of a woman's clear descent into madness post-separation from her cheating husband. I very much enjoyed the flowery language, which I felt added a layer of intellect to the character of Ophelia beyond simply someone having a breakdown.

She does come across as an unreliable narrator, which seems appropriate for someone suffering a mental health crisis.

My only issue is that this proof really needs a good going over by an editor due to quite a lot of errors that didn't seem to be part of the unreliable narrator's monologue.