I loved the plot of this book, I couldn't imagine being part a writing group and having your world turn upside down, full of high intensity and suspense.

This book had me hooked at the beginning.
It was mysterious and kept me thinking.
It did drag a bit for me and the final twist I thought was a bit too much.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I just think it could have been condensed a smidge.
I would recommend for fans of thrillers.
Thanks

The Writer by M. Smith, published by Bookouture, is a gripping thriller that had me in suspense from start til the last page. I loved the srory, the writing and the end, sigh.
Becca is an author in her thirties and part of the Mystery Maidens, a writing group. She can't stop thinking about a college roommate who died. And so it begins.
Blurb:
It was only meant to be a story. But now someone is dead.
Every Monday, I meet my writing group in a warm, lively bar to drink a glass of wine or two and share our work. It’s the highlight of my week. I don’t go out much, otherwise. For the last ten years, every time I’ve relaxed, the messages have started again. The black hearts. They’re a warning to remember, as if I could ever forget. Whoever sent them wants to hurt me. They’ve lost me jobs and boyfriends. Is it any wonder I like to hide in fiction? But now something even stranger is happening. My tires are slashed. A woman is run over outside my apartment. Both times, I find a black heart. And both attacks are copied from the stories we shared on Monday night. My story was about a murdered woman. Terrified, I check the papers every morning. And then it happens. Someone is found dead, and the details are identical to the ones I wrote.

“The Writer” is a thriller/mystery by Miranda Smith. I must state right away that I did not correctly figure out who was person doing the copycat crimes. That’s pretty unusual, so my hat’s off to Ms. Smith for that. I liked the idea of writers gathering to discuss stories, ideas, and news regarding their writing. I also liked reading the ups and down of picking writing as a career or even side hobby. I found this book engaging and entertaining and a very quick read.

This was an intriguing and unusual story. Just the premise alone was compelling enough to have me wanting to read The Writer.
I kept saying I knew where the author was going with the story and then, I’d be wrong. I like when I am kept in suspense to the end. And, that ending!
Though it was a slow start in the beginning, the pace of the story does pick up.
All in all, a engaging psychological thriller with many twists and turns.

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I wanted to loved this book. I sat down prepared to devour it. At 30% I DNF’d. In my opinion there wasn’t enough suspense or “thrilling events” to keep me engaged.
I do appreciate Netgalley for approving me for this ARC, I chose not to give a rating on Good Reads since I didn’t finish it.

This was an awesome and gripping thriller! I loved the writing group aspect of it kinda like having book club meetings! And you try your hardest to figure it out and there was always a twist to have you doubt yourself! The ending was 🤯 mind blowing! Thank you for the opportunity to read this. Definitely will recommend!!

Fantastic! This one had me hooked from the first page to the last. Can't recommend enough,
Thank you to Bookouture, NetGalley, and the author for an advanced reading copy.

Holy shit that was a great book!
It kept me on my toes throughout the entire novel.
I loved the characters with all their flaws. I loved how they all had different personalities and were from different walks of life. I came up with all sorts of theories and you think it's very predictable but it's not. The twists thrown in definitely keep you guessing.
It's a complete mystery novel with a great plot and scenes, in-depth backstories, amazing characters, and an overall nice read.
The start was a bit slow and dragged until 30%-40% but it picked up pace soon enough.
I have no complaints with this book.

Would recommend it to anyone looking for a short and fun mystery-murder-crime thriller and book clubs. What an exciting experience!

Thank-you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

'The Writer' is an interesting thriller that turns the serial killer concept on it's literal head. Our protagonist is Becca, a struggling author and member of the writing group, Mystery Maidens, who meet weekly to share their stories and ideas. Meanwhile, Becca is living with her close friend Crystal, and the pair have bonded since the death of their mutual friend Layla in college, some years previously. While attending the group, Becca starts to notice an uncanny, and increasingly disturbing similarity between her murder mystery stories and a series of recent local murders.
The storyline moves along at a rapid pace and ensures to keep the readers attention throughout. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of Becca's own stories as this provided the reader with a glimpse into what would happen next, but without giving away any of the storyline. It certainly was an effective method to whet the readers appetite for the next chapter.

This book had me hooked from the very start , all because I needed to know who was the sender of the black hearts and why , with each turn of the page you could feel the main character's fear and panic, all the while it kept me guessing on who was behind everything and why , there was others few character's I didn't like , but the mystery and the twist and turns over shadowed them .

I loved this book! I did not see the ending coming, very fun and I had to take a few minutes to process what I had just read. I respect that the author followed the "no coincidences" rule - it isn't always easy to do so it was nice that she made sure to cover all her bases.

Book Summary and Comments:
Background: Becca is in her 30s, a struggling author, and is constantly reminded of her friend's, Layla's, death in college, which she feels responsible for. The reminders don't just come in the form of guilt but by a symbol, a black heart, someone has been sending her for the past decade. Every time she thinks they've stopped coming, another shows back up.

The book starts with her wishing she could make it as a writer and her deep feelings of failure surrounding it. [I think every aspiring author has these feelings and I really connected to this part. I think this is very much a "reader's read' type of novel.] Her oldest friend from college, Crystal, recently has broken off her engagement and moved in with Becca until she can get back on her feet. Crystal and Becca were both there for Layla's death and both have guilt surrounding it. Becca thinks this shared trauma has bonded them for life, even though they almost never talk about it and Crystal seems to have moved on from it.

However, she is apart of a writing group, called the Mystery Maidens. The group was started by a local college professor, Victoria, with all aspiring female mystery writers. You have April who is a stay at home mom who write grizzly murders, Victoria, a lawyer who uses real life crimes to inspire her stories, and the newest member, Marley, who is a student of Victoria's. [the difference in personalities here makes for the classic 'unlikely bunch' with all one common interest.] Becca shares her new story with the group and it is actually the story of how her friend, Layla, was killed. Shortly after, a woman at the local college is killed in the exact same way as Becca's story of Layla's murder and there is even a black heart to go along with it. The similarities are insane and Becca cannot ignore it. She tries to go to the police about this but is dismissed. [CLASSIC]

Becca is suspicious of Marley and even suspects she is behind the black heart murders, or is working with someone who is. Becca investigates Marley, finds out the story that got her into the group is actually written by someone else and she worked her way into the group somehow. To try and trick the culprit, she writes a story about a man being pushed off the local bridge at midnight. When she arrives to try and catch the murderer, no one shows. Instead, she finds an envelope with a black heart on it, with one note saying 'nice try' and the article of Layla's death. Becca just about loses it and confronts Marley immediately. They agree to meet at the diner up the road to talk. Becca records the entire conversation on her phone. [I love that she did this because I always think to myself, why the F did they not record that?] Marley does not admit to murder, but instead shows Becca that she believes one of the Mystery Maidens is also behind the crimes. She says there were other stories that Victoria shared in her creative writing class that were almost the same as real life murders that happened. Marley, and the other group members, do not know Victoria shares their writings with her class, but this comes out later. Becca does not share anything about the black hearts with Marley but she does share her suspicions. The women decide to work together to find out who the killer is, even if the police won't believe them.

Spoilers:
Becca, at one point, confronts Crystal, thinking it could've been her who was messing with her, but Crystal has been receiving the black heart notes as well throughout the years and just never thought twice about it.
We find out after Becca and Marley meet at the diner that a man is pushed off the bridge, with a copy of her story in his pocket. However, no black heart is with him.
The cops start to get involved and absolutely suspect Becca, and are investigating the rest of the Mystery Maidens.
Becca and Marley decide to keep tracking the other 3 women of the group after their last meeting when they all yelled at Becca for bringing up their names to the police. Becca follows April to the suburbs and discovers that she is not the one. Marley is following Victoria and Danielle on foot since they live on the same road. Danielle says goodbye to Victoria and heads into her law office. Victoria continues on. Marley calls Becca to ask who she should follow. Becca says Victoria, as she's following her, Becca starts to head back that way to help her, when Marley screams on the phone and the call is disconnected. Becca tracks Marley's phone to the construction site of where Becca, Crystal, and Layla used to live together when it was still an apartment. She finds Marley knocked out on the floor, some blood coming from her head.
Danielle steps out with a hammer in her hand and admits to the killings. and the black heart messages. She was Layla's friend before she went to college, She was a possessive and controlling friend and is actually the one who murdered Layla. Marley begins to stir awake and then the cops show up. Danielle immediately says that Becca is the murderer and hit Marley but Becca was audio recording the entire conversation. Danielle is charged with all of the murders but cannot speak to the murder on the bridge. [I really thought it was Victoria up until Danielle stepped out. Got me there.]
One year later, Marley and Becca are at a press release for their new book. There is a list of questions that they were allowed to prep for. One question is why didn't the man at the bridge have a black heart on him when his body was found. We find out Marley killed that man after meeting Becca at the diner because she needed to make more connections so the police would believe her. [I literally gasped at this part]

Criticism:
I feel like I wish I knew more about the black hearts that Crystal receives, it feels glossed over and like she didn't even realize they were threats to a degree. This part felt like it could've been better explained but it feels like a confusing loose thread to me. minus 1 star for this.

4 stars overall and I would absolutely recommend this book!!

Becca wants to be a writer. She decides to join a writing group. But things get weird when the events happening in the story, start happening in real life. I would say it started to get interesting at about 70%. It just didn’t grab my attention. Although there were some twists, I just kept waiting for it to get better. The ending was definitely interesting. I’m glad I finished the book. I don’t think I’d read it again. Thank you NetGalley, Miranda and Bookouture for the ARC!

I liked the writing and how the story didn’t stale at all, just kept pushing through and intrigued me with the diverse cast of characters their interactions. Overall four stars.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔...𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰'𝒎 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝑰 𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒔.

Becca is at an impasse in all aspects of her life. She's a struggling writer, she can't find a career she likes, so she toils as a server in a pizza shop, she's in her 30s and unmarried, and something that happened over a decade ago still haunts her.

She's finished a novel and has eagerly sent it out to several publishers, and while she's awaiting feedback, she tries to work on new pieces. But the inspiration just won't come, and even worse, the women in the writer's group she meets with every week are either having success or writing exquisite pieces that Becca could never compete with.

But even worse, the messages are starting up again. Ten years ago, cryptic messages with black hearts started showing up, and now they're back again with alarming regularity. Even worse, the fictional murders in the thriller and police procedural stories that the women share in their group each week are being played out in real life. Are these horrible acts a personal message to Becca, or is someone trying to turn suspicion against her so she would finally pay for what happened all those years ago?

This story was terrifying because it was so realistic and has to be every author's worst nightmare. Digging into Becca's background took some time, but it was worth it for the real story to come out, and it was NOT what I expected. Intense, thrilling, and certainly timely, THE WRITER will publish April 15, 2024 from Bookouture.

Becca is trying to be a writer but struggling. She has written one book which so far has been rejected and now appears to have writer's block. She is encouraged by her writing group to do short stories to “clear the palette” and slowly begins to write long into the night after having a nightmare. For the last ten years she has been occasionally receiving black hearts with short rather threatening messages on them, she knows not from whom and hence the police can't do anything. Ten years ago, she and a friend were unwittingly caught up in a crime that happened to another close friend. Becca then discovers that local crimes are reflecting her work and the crime of the past. Could someone in the group be behind this and if so why?

This was a read that bloomed as I read it. A nice steady beginning and then the pace accelerated. There are lots of twists and turns which kept me wondering right the way through and I couldn't wait to find out as to who the perpetrator was and if my guess was correct (which switched a few times along the way- I was still wrong!). A brilliant premise, so very well executed. A thrilling, gripping read.

For more reviews please follow me on Twitter (X) or Threads @nickisbookblog
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A real slow burner for me. Well written characters with a storyline which once it got going kept me engrossed. A twisty end which overall i enjoyed.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

First of all. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an ARC of this book. It was my first ARC here and I really enjoyed it.

Now. A LOT OF SPOILERS AHEAD (probably).

This was a very interesting read. I really enjoyed it. Kept my attention for a few hours.

As a writer, what I liked the most were the little writing references. Like, NaNoWriMo and how people outside of the writing community not really understand what it is or how it works. It's weird and complicated, we know. I liked the fact that this story had a critique group at the center. I also liked the "writer-rep". The ideas that come out of nowhere or everywhere and escalate too quickly or not at all. Being woken up in the middle of the night and spending hours writing and the next thing you know the sun is up and shining in your eyes. The fear of the blank page and how your mind and body react to it. I feel like this book really captured the writer life really well. I did find it a little bit unrealistic that only our MC had big publishing goals but I can overlook that since the other woman had a lot going on. I also liked that we actually got to see the story she wrote. We weren't just told what the story was about, we read it. Many books that revolve around writers or books don't normally do that but this one did and it was amazing. Even though we didn't get to see the actual murders, it didn't feel like a "telling instead of showing" moment since we got that.

Now, as a reader, what I didn't like. This book was very slow at the beginning. The setup was stretched a little too much in my opinion. There were many parts of this book that felt convenient. Like, how cameras were nonexistent or not working when it came to the stalker/killer but fine when it came to framing someone else. And no, they weren't the same cameras but c'mon. Or how she talked about murder mystery protagonist never going to the police and then she insist on not going to the police.

Anyway, this book wasn't perfect but no book ever is. The MC was too smart at times and at others she just wasn't. But she had a lot on her plate so story-wise it makes sense, I guess. The side characters also were a little flat and underdeveloped. The ending was great, though. I loved how the "straight forward" case wasn't so straight forward after all. And how the "loose ends" were tied at the end. Even her finally working with the police was great.

This book was an entertaining read. I'm glad I got to read it. Once again, thank you for the ARC.

This was a heart pounding thriller. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.This was my first ARC I received from Netgalley and I had a blast reading this book. What do you do when all of the stories you share in her local writing club, the Mystery Maidens, begin to take place in your actual life? This is what Becca is trying to figure out. It all started 10 years ago when those menacing Black Hearts began to show up everywhere. Now here we are a decade later, and they have started showing up again. To make matters worse it appears someone is turning the stories from her writing club into a real life horror story. I loved reading this book and am excited to check out Miranda Smith’s other works.

The Writer was such an entertaining read full of twists and turns! I was taken by surprise by the reveal of the killer!! This was my first Miranda Smith book and I’m excited to read more of her work.

Aspiring writer Becca has been struggling to get her big break. She meets with the Mystery Maidens, her writing group, to keep her failing dream alive. Suddenly their dark murderous stories are coming true. Someone is taking their stories and bringing them to life. Could this be connected to Becca’s secret from her past 10 years ago?


Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC! 🖤