Perfume & Pain by Anna Dorn was one of my favorite books this year about an author named Astrid Dahl. So when I found out Anna was writing a book AS Astrid, I was foaming at the mouth for a copy.

You’ll love The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey if you love any of the housewives shows, rich people acting insane and messy, soap opera-y drama.

This was a fun, quick read and I definitely had a good time reading it. I’ve never seen any of the house wife shows so I probably missed tons of inside jokes. The characters were insufferable in a fun way.

I think it’s my own fault for going in expecting Anna Dorn because it didn’t feel like her writing. I did like it though and if you love the house wives shows or just messy trash reality tv, you’ll love it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Man I’m an obsessed Jersey shore fan, so I thought hey why not with this book.. BUT I honestly didn’t like it as much as I thought I would have. The characters are shallow which is to be assumed since it’s about reality tv stars. But it was hard to connect with them.

The twists and turns aren’t really twisty and I figured who the killer was early on.

It was entertaining but not something I would recommend to my followers. I wanted a little bit more of deeper plots and characters.

3⭐
Genre ~ friendship/family drama
Setting ~ New Jersey
Publication date ~ January 14, 2025
Publisher ~ Simon & Schuster
Est Page Count ~ 287 (p+ 48 chapters +e)
Audio length ~ 8 hours 50 minutes
Narrators ~ Mia Barron, Sean Patrick, Emily Lawrence, Allyson Ryan, Devon Sorvari
POV ~ multiple 3rd
Featuring ~ debut, 4 parts, slow burn on the murder

There was a lot of craziness going on with a lot of crazy, shallow, awful, annoying characters. You know there might be a few too many when you are given a cast and crew list. I did appreciate it, though, so I could get a feel for who was who. Did I like any of the who's? Nope, not a one.

I have watched quite a few episodes of RHONJ. Haven't watched the latest season, though. Was I hoping for some crazy table flipping drama? Sure was! If ya know ya know 🤣
Happy to report ~ table flip ✔️ Seems Carmela is based on Teresa, since she's famous for doing that on the show. There was a woman on RHONY that has a prosthetic leg, so I'm guessing she was part of the inspiration for Valerie. The others are a mishmash of the other housewives.

So, overall, this was fine, but I do think it took a bit too long for the murder to happen. It will probably appeal to those that love shows like this because it reads just like the hot mess of one. There are even confessional transcripts to make it resonate more.

Narration notes:
I did not listen to this one, but am just giving the info above for reference. I am happy to see there are 5, so hopefully that worked out well.

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl just wasn't for me. If you're a fan of reality TV, especially shows like The Real Housewives, this might be the book for you. However, as someone who doesn't watch those shows and doesn't find them entertaining, I struggled to connect with the story. The book alternates between multiple points of view, but it often focuses on the idea that Hope just doesn’t fit in, which became a bit repetitive. If you’re not into reality TV, I’d recommend skipping this one. But if you love that genre, go ahead and give it a try!

As a seasoned Bravo fan, the idea for this is GENIUS. I mean, just imagine a season of Real Housewives with murder? And this was so obviously written by a RH super fan, because that aspect of the story was impeccably executed.

Honestly, this was a ton of fun. Simply a murder mystery set in a fictional reality show. Lots of twists and turns, fun lines, and the constant thought of ‘Imagine if this actually happened?’. Overall, if you’re a Bravo fan that loves this genre, I can’t recommend enough.

If you enjoy reality TV, you will probably enjoy this book. However, if you were hoping to read about a mystery to be solved within a reality TV setting, you will be disappointed - as I was - that the “page turning thriller” portion of the book doesn’t occur until you’ve read 60% of it.

The primary characters are as you would expect for reality TV stars - you’ve got the ditz, the mean girl, a rich old lady who seems drunk most of the time, the well-adjusted one, and the sensitive one. We really only get to know them in the context of the show so the characters seem shallow. But that is as expected.

Once the murder occurs, I was intrigued. But again, it happened so late, it was a slog to get there - for me.

The writing itself is very good. Never once did I have to stop and figure out what the author meant. Her descriptions are clear, and easily paint a picture of what is happening.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

My thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Shuster for allowing me to review this arc.

I really loved this book! Don't expect a literary masterpiece, but this was a fun, quick, easy murder mystery read!

Who killed a cast member of Garden State Godesses? That is the question. I felt like I was reading a reality TV show with the mystery thrown in and a cast of some unlikable characters. Really enjoyed this!

Really interesting take on the housewives industrial complex! I found the plot a bit hard to follow at times but in true housewives fashion, the reference guides were only a page away and the story wrapped up nicely at the end.

This is a fun quick read for fans of reality tv shows. I liked the behind the scenes look at the production of the Garden State Goddesses with Eden’s POV and a few of the scenes were over the top dramatic just like a real housewives episode. I wish there was a more in depth look into a few of the characters though, some character arcs felt incomplete

anna do--- oops! i mean astrid dahl! employs her humor and wit once again! as a real housewives fan of new york this book was right up my alley. however, it is no exalted if you ask me!!!

Unfortunately this didn’t hit the mark for me. I like bravo shows but it didn’t translate to the book unfortunately. Others may enjoy it more though!

2.5/5

I am a day one Housewives fan, I never miss an episode and am obsessed with just about every franchise, so the minute I heard about this one I knew I had to read it! I expected it to be dramatic, over the top, glamorous and juicy and it was but it was also silly, shallow and not thrilling at all. Sadly, it’s a very middle of the road read for me and it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I did enjoy how this felt almost exactly like watching an episode of RHONJ down to the confessionals. I also loved all the nods to the franchise, lots of Easter Eggs that were fun! I didn’t expect to be bored and unfortunately I was and I also didn’t expect the mystery aspect to be so lackluster but it was. The characters had no depth either which sounds like it could’ve worked here but it fell flat. Overall a miss for me and I’m truly bummed about it.

As a diehard Bravo fan, I thoroughly enjoyed all the little Easter eggs in this book. It was a little slow in the middle but picked up towards the last half. Renee’s reactions at the very end of the book were a little out of left field but I liked seeing Eden’s transformation. A must read for any Bravo fan!

This was a quick and fun read, though I will say it felt a bit long. Not much happened in the beginning of the story, but the back half of the book was action- and mystery-packed. Overall I liked it, but have read better reality TV drama books.

I picked this one because I love reality TV shows, especially the Real Housewives of [Insert any City], so I was so excited that there was a humorous thriller that captured this setting. This was a really fun read that doesn't take itself too seriously. I would like to read more by Dahl.

Thank you to the publish for the gifted ARC!

This was super disappointing for me. This was one of my most anticipated reads, and it just didn’t deliver. Maybe it was because of my expectations (I expected more Perfume & Pain vibes), but aside from that, it just felt very two dimensional and filler-y for me. Nothing at all happened until the 50-60% mark. However, it seemed like the characters were all written to be shallow and vapid, and I hated all of them, so that hit the mark.

Literary guilty pleasure! This was everything I hoped it would be! The story centers around the Garden State Goddesses, a spin on the Real Housewives franchise. It was shocking, salacious, juicy, and had my favorite- amateur sleuthing. Sit back and enjoy the over the top personalities and storylines. This one is a lot of fun! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

So, if you are a fan of the Desperate Housewives series and other shows that are similar, this should be your next read! This story is full of secrets, shallowness, trashiness, and overly dramatic rich mean girls! The murder thrown in on top of all of the above was icing on the cake!

For me, this was the perfect palate cleaner to my normal psychological thriller and serial killer reads.
So, if you are looking for a light but entertaining read a la Jersey Shore to start the New Year off with , look no further!

Such a unique plot about a murder mystery taking place during the filming of a trashy reality television show. Full of so much humor and entertainment.

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is a action-packed, funny, and thrilling book that is based on how things can go terribly wrong on reality TV. In this book, newly married, Hope, comes to NJ to start her life with her funny, handsome, and very Italian husband, Leo and to start as the newbie on the reality TV show, Garden State Godesses. Hope's cousin, Eden, is the showrunner and she is dedicated to bringing as much delicious drama possible to the show. The only problem is none of the cast members of Garden State Godesses are revealing their true selves and trouble is on the horizon for these ladies. This book brings the term "drop dead gorgeous" to a whole new level. When dead bodies start piling up, the women who are left standing start looking for answers and the fun continues!
Overall, I really liked this book. It was fast-paced and kept me turning pages throughout. I think it would also probably be really good on audio, if you like to digest your books that way. It is just the perfect kind of guilty pleasure book to start out the new year with. Definitely recommend for thriller drama lovers!