The narrative of the story is really good. It is mostly told from the perspective of the main female character Lila. The plot has many hidden meanings as it slowly becomes clear who is being manipulated. The story has all of the dramatics of Hollywood, however it is set in New York City. Readers may have a hard time sifting truth from lies, but this is a part of what makes the story. Every one of the characters have a part to play and they do it well.

This book has all of my favorite things: commentary on fame, unguessable twists and turns, and Fitzgerald.

Lila is a famous actress filming a re-write of Tender is the Night with her boyfriend, an acclaimed director. She decides to go to therapy to deal with some latent trauma, and from there, a whole new saga unwinds, bringing up betrayal, desperation, and deception.

I loved the way this book was written! The prose was beautiful, and there were all sorts of Easter eggs for the F. Scott Fitzgerald fans out there. At the end, I thought I had guessed the twist, but nope, there was still one more. The characters were all complex and compelling, and the pacing was divine--I read the book in only a couple of days.

A great one to end the year on!

I had to sit with my thoughts on this book for a minute. I am glad I did because the more I process my feelings, the more I realize I enjoyed it.

There were so many levels to the story, and the dynamics between characters. Every time I thought I had a handle on where the story was taking me, something shifted, culminating in this really remarkable thriller that still left me baffled by the end. Perhaps its my lack of knowledge of the Fitzgerald piece this book focuses so much on… I think I missed out by not being familiar with it before hand.

This really gets deep into woman empowerment and the misogyny and corruption facilitated by men in film and theater, but it goes deeper than that. This is twisty and propulsive, with a unique cast of characters with huge personalities. I think this is definitely worth the read!!

Sweet Fury is a psychological thriller following the beautiful and charismatic actress Lila Crayne. She and her fiancé are working on a feminist adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. To prepare for the lead role, Lila begins therapy, trying to understand her unhappy relationship and working on uncovering her childhood trauma with her handsome and charming therapist Jonah Gabriel. As the two work together, Lila unwraps more of her trauma and Jonah keeps secrets about his past, leading to the unraveling their seemingly happy lives.

I really wanted to like this one, but unfortunately I felt like it didn't spend enough time on the things that I wanted it to. I enjoy books set on movies, but there wasn't much on the movie set here, and I like books that have therapists as characters, but it felt like the therapy scenes were more stuck in the past than anything. I could tell that there was a twist coming and I kind of guessed it, but not quite, which was a good surprise for me. However, I felt like the prose wasn't quite right for the type of story that it was trying to tell. There were references to Fitzgerald's work throughout and I felt like Bischoff was trying to write in his style, but that doesn't work quite as well for a book that is trying to be fast paced This book will appeal to fans of Alex Michaelides and people who enjoy stories with unreliable narrators.

Sash Bischoff’s debut novel, Sweet Fury, is a fascinating book about storytelling. Not only are there tales within tales within tales, but it is never entirely clear who is telling the truth.

The novel opens on the making of a film purporting to be a feminist retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. The movie stars America’s sweetheart Lila Crayne, who plays Nicole Diver, and is directed by Lila’s fiancé, Kurt Royall. In the process of making the film, Lila begins therapy with Jonah Gabriel under the auspices of retrieving lost memories of trauma. Jonah is a Fitzgerald fanatic and specializes in treating abused women.

The novel is told from the perspective of different characters and even different media (including therapy notes and diary entries), and plays with Fitzgerald and his work. For example, Jonah is Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby and Dick Diver while Lila plays the roles of Zelda Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan and Nicole Diver. What happens when Fitzgerald’s tales are told from the perspective of these women, all of whom are enraged at the patriarchy for various reasons?

The novel is deftly written (with many nods to Fitzgerald), and there plenty of narrative twists and turns to keep the reader fully engaged. There are no easy answers though. Only storytellers and their tales, some more or less true than others.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for a complimentary advanced copy of this book.

4.5 stars / This review will be posted on BookwormishMe.com & goodreads.com today.

I like to think that I can usually puzzle out the culprit in a suspense or mystery novel. Not this one. This one kept me guessing. So many lies and unexpected twists. Hard to believe this is a debut novel.

Lila Crayne is a beautiful, young actress, living a stellar life with her partner, director Kurt Royall. They have just started working on a new film to be based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. It’s an adaptation with a twist. Lila will star and Kurt will direct and it should be the movie of a lifetime.

Lila is also entering into therapy for emotional and physical trauma suffered as a child when her father was killed in a car accident. She and her mother were in the car. Lila has some issues to resolve, and she thinks therapy will help her better understand her role in the movie. Maybe also heal her from the tragedy of her father’s death.

Step in Jonah Gabriel, a psychotherapist who specializes in helping abused women resolve their trauma and leave unhealthy relationships. Jonah and his fiancé Maggie live in NYC in a building that houses both their home and his office. Jonah has an obsession with Fitzgerald. Has for many years. He also has an obsession with a young actress named Lila Crayne. Also for many years.

Here they are, Jonah the therapist and Lila the actress starting this therapy journey together. This, however, will be a journey unlike any therapy journey before it. Especially for Jonah.

Truly brilliantly written. So many loose ends that are not tied up neatly in the end, but leave us wondering and saying holy moly. I loved this one. Such a page turner.

This one was not meant for me, I feel like there was a lot of good stuff going on, but I couldn't submerse myself in the story. You can tell the author is so passionate about Fitzgerald and very knowledgeable.

What a ride this book took me on! Do not miss out on this thriller from first time novelist Sash Bischoff, she had me guessing to the very end who the manipulator of this story really was. I had a hard time finding the true victim in this novel I don´t think any of her characters in this book is completely innocent, which makes it that much more enjoyable. Sweet Fury follows the story of Lila and Jonah and how their lives have entwined since meeting as college students at Yale. Jonah has always been in love with Lila even after losing touch when he left school early to care for his mother. Lila becomes a famous actress and seeks out Jonah to become her therapist and this is where the twists of their relationship began to unfold. Not only did I love this novel but it also makes me want to read more books by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are many references to his novels in this story.

I think the biggest caveat for this book is that you’re going to need to either really like F. Scott Fitzgerald or unhinged women. If neither of those are topics you want to spend a lot of time with, this may not be the book for you. I’m not a Fitzgerald devotee, but I definitely love a woman hellbent on revenge.
We follow Lila, an actress married to an accomplished director, and Jonah, Lila’s new therapist. Lila is working with her husband on a feminist retelling of a Fitzgerald book. With alternating POVs, we learn that Lila is determined to get her movie completed at any costs, and needs Jonah’s help to accomplish that. Luckily, Jonah is just as obsessed with Fitzgerald as Lila, and the two throw caution to the wind for the movie’s success.
This book was a seamless mix of dark academia and psychological thriller. We spend time with two main characters who both acknowledge their mistrust in each other and their own perceptions, doubling the unreliable narrators. Large portions of the story are spent in philosophical arguments about topics ranging from feminism, lust, cheating, and revenge. Throughout the book, the pacing gets quicker and more frenetic, crescendoing in a huge and intense scene fitting of the movie set where we spent so much time.
I enjoyed the plot and quick pacing, and the book kept my attention until the last page. However, I never truly cared about either main character, and didn’t feel attached to their outcomes. I also enjoyed the majority of the twists and turns the plot took, but the ending was almost too overly dramatic. Overall, I think this is a good psychological thriller option, but it didn’t wow me.

It's been a long time since I've read a book with such verve! I was gripped the entire time in this dark and engrossing retelling of Fitzgerald's oeuvre (Tender Is the Night was also MY thesis topic!). Sash did such a brilliant job bringing these deceptive, deeply complicated characters to life. Incredible that this is her debut! I know this book will go far, and it'll have a loud fan in me. Thanks for sharing an advanced copy!

Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff is a debut novel that will keep you on your toes. The book is about Lila an actress, Kurt her boyfriend who is also an alclaimed director, and Jonah her therapist. Lila is working on a new movie with Kurt as the director. It's a retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night that has a feminist point of view. During the shooting Lila seeks out Jonah when her relationship goes south with Kurt. Jonah has been infatuated with Lila since they went to Princeton years ago. Without giving anything away this book is a cat and mouse game between all three of them. By the end of the book you wont know who is telling the truth and who is lying. Sweet Fury will definitely keep the reader on their toes. I would like to thank both NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for letting me read an advanced copy of this book.

This is a twisty, fun read that wasn't surprising but was quite enjoyable to work through. I absolutely HATED Jonah, the therapist, from the get-- which made some of the twists less surprising, but I would def recommend this to anyone who enjoyed The Secret Patient (or FSF lovers).

⭐️: 4/5

I am all here for a story about female rage and what happens when women are constantly underestimated, personally and professionally. I, like most of the population, also read The Great Gatsby during a high school English class, and other than that, for the most part, I only know popular pop culture references to other works of Fitzgerald’s. I knew the general plot of Tender is the Night, but found myself Googling the actual plot once I started this book, just to have some additional context, which I think helped. It definitely made the intentions of this book a little clearer, in how Bischoff played into Fitzgeraldian themes while also turning them on their heads a bit.

The story flow of this one was interesting, with the first part following Lila primarily, and the second, Jonah. Then the third continued the story more objectively, as all the pieces began to come together. This made it feel a bit like a genre-bender, because while it presents as literary fiction, it has a lot of thriller/suspense elements. But ultimately, because it didn’t lean entirely into the psychological thriller of it all, the few tropes that were present made the twists easy to predict for someone who does read a lot of thrillers, but while I knew where the story was going and what the connections were going to be, I still was intrigued and hooked on the story to see where the author was going to have the characters end up. The ending ended up feeling a little bit rushed and messy, with a vague ending, which seemed intentional, but also seemed to lack something to make it hit harder. Overall a riveting and reasonably well executed read, which makes me excited to see what the author writes next!

Thank you to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Sash Bischoff's Sweet Fury is a breathtaking debut filled with deceit, unrequited love, and a plethora of fabulous Hemingway references. Lila is a gorgeous, glamorous actress starring in a re-imagined version of Tender is the Night. Her fiance Kurt is the temperamental director with a penchant for young leading ladies. Jonah is Lila's therapist who falls in love with her as he tries his best to convince her to leave her abusive relationship. But is there more to each of their stories than what meets the eye?

Thank you to NetGalley for this deliciously twisted debut. The original storyline and the jaw-dropping ending should earn Sweet Fury a spot on every must-read list for 2025.

Wasn’t sure where this was going for the first half. Was kind of slow and not too interesting until you discover the connection between Lila and her therapist.
From there it moves pretty quickly and kept me entertained.
Check trigger warnings.
Would have liked to see things a bit differently in the end. Think it was abrupt and would like more of the women’s story moving beyond these gross men.

Sweet Fury is a great blend of thrilling suspense and Hollywood glitz and glamour. Fans of Prima Facie, In Session, and anything by Freida McFadden will adore this book!

Big thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy!

This was a miss for me. I struggled to connect to any characters or the plot, and skimmed a big chunk of the book. I felt pretty early on that Lila was going to be an unreliable narrator and she was extremely unlikeable to me (which does make her a valuable character in the overall storyline). I did not anticipate the ending which was a nice surprise. While this was a miss for me, it seems to be a big hit for most people. If the synopsis sounds intriguing to you, I’d say, give it a try!
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Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Power couple Lila Crayne and Kurt Royall are, respectively, starring in and directing a feminist adaptation of Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night. As part of her process, Lila starts seeing a therapist, Jonah Gabriel. Their relationship deepens as Lila opens up about the domestic violence she is facing. But things are not as they seem on the surface.

This book has interesting themes (the #metoo movement, consent, feminism, literary criticism) but everything was so muddled that it was hard to follow. The dialogue was flat and the book jumped around too much between narrative, therapist’s notes, and Lila’s messages to Jonah in a way that never felt cohesive. And I just flat out did not understand what happened in the end.

This may well just be a case of unmet expectations. I have only seen a few reviews of this, and they hyped it up as a literary thriller (my favorite genre!), and while it was a thriller that focused on literary themes I would not categorize it in that genre. It is just a regular thriller.

I would recommend it to those who are looking for a plot-based thriller, but I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a literary mystery.

Sweet Fury follows America's sweetheart, Lila Crayne as she stars in a feminist adaption of Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In order to connect more deeply with her character, Lila begins therapy to unpack her childhood trauma.

Sweet Fury was an apt read in the wake of recent current events. While I won’t expand on this point any further to avoid spoilers, it was delightful to read a story that encapsulates female rage and touches on both the pain and beauty of being a woman.
I am not familiar with Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night, I didn’t feel that that took away from my understanding nor my enjoyment. Sometimes I struggle to spend disbelief when there is a therapy/therapist (as a therapist myself), but the chapters containing Jonah’s progress notes were enjoyable, albeit incredibly detailed for typical practice.

This one missed the mark for me. It was totally fine but the writing didn't work in my opinion, too many long monologues and entire pages dedicated to a play by play of filmmaking that wasn't for me.