3.75 stars
Thank you Netgalley and Poisened Pen press for the e-arc of this book.

This book was a quick read. I wanted to keep reading, I was invested.
Cordelia kills men who, as she says it, have smoke in their eyes. Who do real despicable stuff and deserve punishment. She is real clean and methodical about it.

Along the way you learn why Cordelia is the way she is and why she does what she does. She has a though past and Diana and Sugar are her new found family, she does everything for them. That's what Ilove about this book. Cor does criminal things, but you kind of see why.

There were some small plottwists I liked in the end which made the story better. Halfway I thought i was going to give 3 stars, but this bumped it up. I would have loved to see more of McSmiley in the end. In my opinion he just vanished from the story, but he could have made it more interesting.

Other, similar stories like this book have a funny side to it. This story was a bit too serious for my taste.

I am all game for vigilante justice theme, but glorifying the enjoyment during a gruesome torturous kill is something where I draw the line.
It is inappropriate and not a right message for young minds when Cordelia explains how much satisfaction and enjoyment she feels to see terror in eyes of victim while slicing their jugular vein in name of justice. She looks forward and excited to go for a kill. It sounds like a hobby for her and not a soul wrecking activity generated out of childhood abuse and trauma. The explanation of creating paintings from blood and hanging in her house is quite gross, along with scenes of picking and eating food stacked next to a chopped up dead body in the fridge.

By the way its not all gore. It does transition into a light-hearted women's fiction. There is strong female friendship, charming boyfriend, date and movie nights, lovely poodle, cute tween and of course bad hair days. All of this somehow ensures a fast paced and engaging narrative. The book does not attempt to be a psychological thriller nor a sad story of an abusive childhood seeking justice. It gives just enough backstory of FML to ensure reader does not judge her actions. By the way, Cordelia is little too obsessive and possessive about her best friend Diane, to an extent that one wonders of her actual feelings for her.

As a debut attempt, the pacing is amazing as a situational thriller. But not an appropriate social message, trigger warnings should be added and marked as an adult read. Pick it up for strong female friendship and killer (pun intended) female lead.

This book was so good!
It took me a couple chapters to get into it but once I did- I couldn’t put the book down.

Cordelia Black is a pharmaceutical sales rep by day and a vigilante at night. She takes care of men who use their power to take advantage. She is a great main character and you root for her to get ahead everytime. The ending was great. I hope there’s a second part to it!

A great female ‘Dexter’ character. Nothing was too gory and honestly there is quite the comedy of events that happen and you really are rooting for Cor the whole time. You don’t want her to get caught!

The characters are great, sarcastic, witty and very authentic in the way they are written. I have to say Mango is my favourite but that might be because I also have a dog like Mango. This was honestly such a fun read and it ended too soon!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book for an honest review.

3.5!
I did not guess what was going to happen and I really liked the writing it kept me very engaged throughout the story!

He had it coming… boy did he have it coming!!

Favourite quote:
In a man’s world, strong and feminine were rarely synonymous.
Fuck that.
Not only did I kill monsters, but I turned a profit doing it 💅🏻

Frankly I will never get enough of this female serial killer genre! Perfect for fans of Bella Mackie and Katy Brent, everyone will be talking about Emma C. Wells soon enough.

Cordelia (our main character) is the most bad ass girl boss murderess ever. Such a great concept making her a pharmaceutical rep and the relationship with her best friend and goddaughter was perfect. The characters had depth and felt real.

Obviously everyone should check their own triggers for books of these nature but I felt the author perfectly balanced the line and it never felt, for me, triggering or done in a tasteless way. Always just enough information to get the gist of how bad these men are and why you want them dead, but without over describing in a triggering way.

Thank you so much to netgalley for an arc of this book. Once I started it, I couldn’t stop. It’s 2.30am and I just finished it and had to share my thoughts.

Somewhere past the halfway mark, this novel gets stressfully suspenseful.

We meet Cordelia Black when she’s late delivering cupcakes to her goddaughter’s school. As she hurries to make bring the baked goods to the daughter of her best friend, her chosen family of Diane and Samantha, aka Sugarbug, it's casually mentioned she has a predator drugged and tied up, waiting for her to take care of once she ends her day as a successful pharmaceutical rep. That’s what she does when she’s not working or spending time with Diane or Samantha—she murders rapists and pedophiles and then uses their blood to make artwork.

Except for the murdering of bad guys, she and Diane do ordinary things like use dating apps. Cordelia even dates a cop, who happens to be stressed out at work because of all the men who have gone missing . . .

Cordelia has stresses at work, too, when the safety of the drug she uses to incapacitate the bad men gets called into question. When Diane starts dating a man that Cordelia doesn’t think is a good guy, but she doesn’t yet have enough information for her to execute (she considers herself an executioner, not a murderer—she doesn’t take men out simply because she doesn’t like them), things spiral.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES SEPTEMBER 10, 2024.

Great book filled with so much anxiety for the reader. This is what the Housemaid series should have been (not the same, but similar). Sounds like it is leading to a second book and I can’t wait.

I was immediately intrigued when this was pitched for readers of Finlay Donovan. This book definitely started out promising but ultimately I think it fell flat. I wish this had more details on Cordelia’s life and more of her killing other men. There was so much time spent on just the one man and what to do with his body. I will say I definitely didn’t hate it but it didn’t live up to what I was expecting. This was just very middle of the road.

I absolutely loved this witty, twisty murder novel! Cordelia Black is a strong leading lady who champions justice for women and children who have been exploited and abused. Her way of going about it? Maybe a little… different. All is going well, until it isn’t. Buckle up for a chaotic thriller that is sure to make you laugh! Out in September!

The premise is intriguing, but I found it challenging to connect with the characters and the story. The pacing lagged and I was struggling to stay invested.
If this book is the start of a series, there is potential for improvement and deeper exploration in subsequent entries. However, as a standalone, it leaves too many questions unanswered and doesn't fully deliver on its intriguing concept.
It’s the type of book that I will likely forget. The plot didn’t leave lasting impression.

I adored Cordelia and her desire to give these men what they deserved. How awesome is it that she got to help her found family in this way. The book kept me up reading late into the night because I HAD to find out what happened with Simon. This book was fun and satisfying and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

I don't know why I pushed it in front of me instead of just reading this! I loved loved loved Cordelia. She's a killer I can get behind, she has a good motivation and a good heart and she's actually a humanly killer (except yeah I know the Lettuce debacle.... but you know why :D ).

I can't say that it's pure thriller as it has real comedic streaks, especially when EVERYTHING goes wrong - I was quite stressed too!

For me it can be a standalone but I also wouldn't mind reading about Cordelia again.

What an amazing debut book. I churned through this so fast because I had to find out what was going to happen next.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
Cordelia Black is a serial killer with an eye for men who are bad.
This book was easy to read and entertaining- I liked some of the unexpected events and found the ending to be solid. I think the author could definitely make this book into a series!

Cordelia Black's a pharmaceutical rep but she'also a killer but we aren't surprised about this right?
Yes she's a killer because she kills bad people and it was so refreshing to read about her because she has flaws but she can also be a good best friend,a sort of antihero with humor. She thought she had everything under her control but then life happens with new surprises that could risk to compromise her life so what will happen now?

Emma Wells congratulations on your debut because it was a killing one!

The writing was simple and direct,the plot was interesting and refreshing in fact the story will keep your attention until the end!

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review

Cordelia is a pharmaceutical rep by day and killer of bad men by night. She has a great job, a great best friend and the best god-daughter that she loves to death. The first half of this book is a wild ride that lets you see the life of Cordelia and how she picks her victims and how she disposes them. There are also some quirky parts that make you laugh and keep the story a little more grounded. Then everything starts to unravel and Cordelia's life starts to fall apart fast. It was one bad decision after another. The second half of the book started to fall a little flat for me and there was a lot of redundancy for me. She just kept making mistakes and the way she tried to cover them up was insane at time. But I will say, you will want to keep reading until the end. The only reason I give this book a three star review is that there were a lot of things left unanswered for me with this book. What happened with McSmiley, the blackmail, the pharmaceutical lawsuit.....

The actor wrote this book well and I think it is worth a read if you love Dexter with a female twist.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Not to be that person, but this definitely felt like a Dexter rip off, and not in a good way. I love Dexter and was HOPING for this, but it felt too similar to stand out on its own.

And yes, I'm going to get crap for this, but there is just no way I can believe a smaller female could be lugging those huge men around and getting them on tables to kill. It's just implausible to me. And I love the idea of a strong female lead, but it was just too much.

I can't tell if she was supposed to be likable or not. Some chapters I'd be like okay she's kind of funny, then other's I'm like "why does this feel forced?" This isn't a reason to deduct points, and I didn't, but I couldn't stand the name SUGAR for the daughter's nickname. I don't know. It just felt so forced. A lot felt forced.

I don't know. Some parts were really interesting-her meeting Simon for the first time-but other times just lacked and I was bored.

Overall, I would still give this author a shot at another book. Maybe this just wasn't for me.

"This Girl's a Killer" is a great female revenge story in the genre of shows like Dexter. Cordelia Black is a forceful lead character and her relationship with her roommate who may or may not be dating a serial killer is highly enjoyable (& tense). If you're a fan of strong female leads who seek retribution over justice, don't miss this! Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC. Pub Date: Oct 29th 2024

I loved this book. Cordelia was a wonderfully complex character and I couldn’t stop reading to see what she would do next. The plot was perfectly dark and full of twists. Definitely a five star read for me.