This book was an experience. I watch some reality TV but have never ventured into the Housewives world, so this book wasn’t quite my cup of tea. I liked the idea of a murder mystery on a reality TV set, and I think there was a lot of potential there. Unfortunately, the mystery part of the story didn’t really start until more than 50% of the way into the book. The first half of the book was a lot of setup for the characters and the TV show. I feel like this setup could have been done while the mystery was being investigated instead of squishing the mystery plot into the end. Also, it seems like a lot of time was spent on things that really didn’t matter (the characters acting like typical Housewives) while larger plot points (fake pregnancies, affairs, etc.) were just casually mentioned and never expanded on. Also, for all of the time spent on setup in the beginning, there was not enough character development. By the end, I didn’t really care about or know any of the characters. Although I finished this one and it seems the plot has been left open for more in a series, I don’t think I will be continuing.

Unfortunately I just couldn’t finish this book. Reality TV is my guilty pleasure so I was really excited to read this book, however it didn’t work for me. I couldn’t connect with the story and characters and just wasn’t interested to continue. Some people may find it fun but it wasn’t for me.

Thank you Simon and Schuster for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl was a highly anticipated read of mine.
I absolutely enjoyed this book!. The characters are amazing, The author did a great job of keeping me engaged and wanting more.
All the different personalities made this story even more engrossing.
I was on the edge of my seat the entire time trying to figure out how the book would end.

Eden Bennett has worked her way up through the Huzzah network to finally achieve the position of showrunner. Sure, it’s just for Garden State Goddesses, the New Jersey franchise. But if she does well with this season, she may get moved up to New York. In the meantime, she has a lot of work to put this season’s episodes together. Especially with the new goddess, Hope.

The Garden State Goddesses revolve around Carmela. She is the top dog, married to a man rumored to have ties to the Mafia. Her sister-in-law, Valerie, is known for having a prosthetic foot and being Carmela’s puppet. Renee is a single mother and came out as bisexual, and her popularity is rising. Birdie is the matriarch, with money and stories for days. And then there’s Hope, the newest edition to the show. Hope is married to Leo, Valerie’s brother, who sells vintage cars. Hope just moved to New Jersey after Leo met her at a wedding and swept her off her feet. She had been living in northern California, working at a diner and sharing videos of her folk songs on the internet.

Eden arranges for Hope to go to Renee’s house, to help her teenage daughter Ruby, who wants to become a pop star. It’s Hope’s first introduction to reality television, so it takes her a minute to get used to the lights and the cameras and having a microphone attached to her. But Renee is kind to her, and Ruby is a fantastic singer, so the filming goes well. It doesn’t hurt that Eden slips some wine into a coffee cup and hands it to Hope before they start the cameras rolling.

As the episodes go on, things get crazy. Carmela comes for Hope like she’s jealous of the newest goddess and wants to put her in her place. Birdie seems to get increasingly drunk on every occasion. One woman gets pregnant. Another changes her will. And a troll Instagram account under the name Shady Di throws out dirt on them all, spreading rumors throughout the insular environment of the show and the to the world beyond, making them all a bit paranoid. But these women’s secrets are far darker than anyone imagined, and when one of the goddesses ends up dead, Eden has to figure out what happened if she has any hope of saving the show, her career, or herself.

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is a murder mystery spoof of the popular Housewives franchise and all the drama they have created through the years. It is told with love from an obvious fan, but author Astrid Dahl is not shy about throwing around the shade. Fans of reality television will recognize at least one famous moment, but you don’t have to be a fan of the Housewives to understand what’s going on here. There is enough drama to keep readers blazing through, and a solid murder mystery to solve for the crime readers.

As soon as I heard the remise of this book, I was ready to go all in. I am not a reality tv addict, but I’ve watched enough to want to read this and get the inside scoop on the popular Bravo franchise. For that, this book was super fun. I had a blast with that aspect. I was a little surprised at just how dark it got at times, but I think the way the characters reacted to the crimes helped the story from getting too dark. The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is not just a fluffy spoof on reality tv, it’s also a New Jersey-worthy crime story, and personally I thought it was a great ride.

Egalleys for The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey were provided by Simon & Schuster through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This is one for the lovers of queer messy fun! One of my top books last year was Perfume & Pain so it was fun to sneak back into that world a little. This book feels like a it is written in character which I loved for example the pacing felt different from Anna’s other works.
I was super excited when I heard this was going to be a thing and when I found out that Simon & Schuster had sent an Arc over on NetGally I couldn’t believe it! So thank you so much!

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey read like an episode of The Real Housewives but from the behind the scenes point of view. There are several cast members to keep up with in addition to crew members. The story has drama, fighting, murder and even a prosthetic foot. The build up is fun and page turning however I feel like the climax and ending are a little rushed. It was a fun read for a fan of the reality television genre. Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for a digital arc to read and review.

Garden State Goddesses is the hit reality TV show of the moment packed with a cast full of intense rivalries and dark secrets that are just waiting to explode. What could possibly go wrong?

When Hope Bennett, the newbie from California, marries into the Fontana family, she finds herself moving across the country to New Jersey and thrust into the reality TV spotlight. No one is happy, least of all Carmela, the hot-headed star of the show. When secrets are revealed and rivalries come to a head, someone winds up dead. The show’s producer, Eden, must race to catch the killer before the season gets canned, but can she do it?

I went into this book excited for a light read along the lines of the Real Housewives show. What I got was a lot of that – table flipping, extravagant trips – but what I wasn’t expecting was how quickly things would change, and not always for the better. While I did find myself struggling at times to care because some parts were so over the top, it was a fast and entertaining read that ends on a note that sets us up to be part of a series. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next season!

Thank you to Astrid Dahl, Simon & Shuster, and NetGalley for a digital copy of the book for an honest review.

First of all, I love reality television. And I love a good parody. I thought The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey would be like Unreal, a parody of The Batchelor type shows, but about the catty the real housewives shows instead. This book was attempting that feat but, unfortunately, falls short. It also has a mystery to solve that seemed like an afterthought.

Eden and Hope are cousins who grew up in a California religious cult. Both have since escaped to jobs in reality television. Eden is the showrunner, who will do anything to get ratings. Hope is the naive new housewife who is married to the son of a possible mafia made man. Carmela is his sister-in-law, Valerie is his ditsy sister, and so on into a Sopranos’esque web of family pride, secrets, and lies.

Both of these themes seem familiar, right? And that is my problem with The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey. Like all parodies, it incorporates the plots of its source material. However, in this case, it takes outrageous, even shocking, shows and makes them less interesting. I find more laughs on The Real Housewives than anything written here. I so wanted this to work but regrettably, it just didn’t. 2 disappointed stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advanced review copy.

This one was so much fun! If reality TV is your guilty pleasure, then you'll love this book. It exceeded my expectations. Definitely a propulsive, escapist, addicting, page-turner. Would absolutely read more from this author in the future. I just had such a great time with my reading experience. Highly recommend!

Hope Bennett was meant to be a refreshing addition to Garden State Goddesses, a drama-saturated reality TV show centered on the wives of the Fontana family and their social circle. Hope's cousin Eden introduced her to Leo Fontana, leading to a marriage, followed by status as a Goddess. But this homegrown girl from Weed, California brings more to the table than a breath of fresh air: she brings scandal bigger than even this cast was prepared for.

As Hope attempts to navigate life with her fellow Goddesses—including the spite of Carmela and an affair with the openly bisexual Renee—she's also haunted by ghosts of her past. Her upbringing in her parents' cultish Brother God church led to tragedy in her early life, and a past love is haunting her now-active social media. The drama these different personalities stir up makes for good TV, which Eden is more than happy to exploit. But when real tragedy strikes and members of the cast begin dying around them, Eden and Renee must drop the theatrics and clear the names of the people they care about.

There is a lot going on in The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey, with the strongest storyline being the murder mystery that crops up two-thirds of the way through the book. For all its strengths, though, there's simply too much going on, and not enough thought given to making sure the book hangs together. Had it stuck to being a murder mystery doubling as a scathing (and deserved) takedown of reality TV culture, that would be one thing. But in trying to wrangle the latter, the former gets little room to breathe. There's also a Lady Whistledown-esque subplot in the form of "Shady Di," an Instagram gossip account, that feels like it doesn't get the handling it deserves. Overall, The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is full of strong characters and has a compelling story underneath; but attempting to be so many things at once, rather than focusing on the one or two it does best, has led to it not quite sticking the landing it's aiming for.

A most dramatic cocktail of reality tv shenanigans and mystery. While entertaining from the start, be warned it does become a true page-turner shortly after the halfway mark. A good choice for those looking for a quick, campy read.

3 stars!
I read this book so fast! It definitely held my attention but I wish it was longer or gave more to the story. It ended up being a very average read for me unfortunately.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC

Entertaining slow burn, murder mystery set against the backdrop of a housewives-eques reality show. The main focus is on the Sicilian American Fontana family of Shady Pond, New Jersey.

When Hope Bennet marries Carmela’s brother Leo Fontana she not only becomes a wife but also a Garden State Goddess that his family is not so happy about. Eden Hope’s cousin is the one who introduced her to Leo and she’s the showrunner for the reality show.

There’s loads of crazy drama, shallowness, secret affairs and the closeted gay and bi characters.
Highly recommend this to RH show fans!

my cheat sheet:
Renee 43, single mom, Jewelry designer/Esty Shop
Ruby 13, Renee's daughter, wanna be singer superstar
Carmela 47, the sexy bitch! Nail salon owner, Married
Valerie 46, married, Leo’s sister, prosthetic foot, 3 sons
Birdie Clumsy/funny drunk, rich widow, age ?
Pierre 29 Birdie’s son, shallow, haughty gay, equestrian
Hope 33 singer-songwriter married to Leo, outsider
Leo 44 Pretty boy, Valerie's bro Carmela's bil
Eden 37 Hope’s cousin, showrunner
Bianca 18 Carmela's shy daughter

The Really Dead Housewives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl

Thank you @simonbooks and @asterixdahl for the gifted book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Synopsis:
Garden State Goddesses, one of Huzzah’s hottest reality shows, gets a shakeup when showrunner Eden Bennett ropes in her estranged cousin, Hope—a stunning, aspiring singer—to marry charming bachelor Leo Fontana and join the chaos. But Hope’s new sister-in-law Carmela isn’t buying her “too-good-to-be-true” act, while the rest of the Fontana clan brings their own brand of drama to the table. Things heat up when a goddess collapses at the ritzy Broke Not Broken gala, forcing Eden to untangle decades of simmering Fontana rivalries, dirty secrets, and major consequences—all while realizing she might’ve thrown her sweet cousin into a reality TV firestorm.

Thoughts:
The Really Dead Housewives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl is such a fun nod to reality TV, especially the dramatic confessionals. It’s all about a group of wild, messy, and super-rich women, and their secrets slowly unravel into a really entertaining mystery. The whole vibe is totally over-the-top in the best, satirical way, and Bravo fans are going to eat it up. I’d call it more of a campy mystery than a thriller, but it kept me hooked and guessing the whole time. It’s a fun, lighthearted read that’s seriously entertaining!

Thank you to Simon Books for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

I'm gonna be honest I'm not a Real Housewives fan so there are probably some things I missed in the book I would have enjoyed if I was. The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is a fun mystery that involves a death on a Real Housewives-like show set in New Jersey. At the beginning of the novel we find out someone died, but who remains a mystery for the majority of the novel. I did enjoy the multi-media aspects of the book from numerous POV shown through chapters followed by interviews for the talking heads portion of the show. It helped to illustrate how orchestrated reality TV really is. I wanted something that was light and easy to read and this book fit the bill. If there is another book in the series, I'm honestly not sure if I'd read it. Although I do enjoy some catty behind-the-scenes action on reality TV shows every now and again. If you're like me and enjoy that, don't worry, The Really Dead Wives has that in store for you.

Alright so anything Housewives related, you know I am down. And a mystery/thriller at that? Count me in. I think it delivered a bit. You can definitely tell the author is a fan, I love the different housewives quote before each part. She also got many of the tropes right, from the Italian family to the older housewife who has a drug/alcohol problem, the taglines and even a gossip account! I'm so glad she included the confessionals at the end of most chapters, so much fun to get a peek "behind the scenes." Despite the name of the book, I was somehow not prepared for how many murders happened/how they happened! I had a fun time, I just wanted more I guess. And the big reveals of the killer and Shady Di just fell a little flat for me. I am intrigued if this might end up being a series from how the book ends... because I would definitely read more. I received an advance review copy for free and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

Drama in my own life? No thanks. Reality TV drama? Give me ALL OF IT!

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey was everything I enjoy about a reality show added in with a fun and exciting murder mystery read. I could not put this book down! I read it in two days and if it wasn’t for forcing myself to be a responsible adult I could have read it in one sitting. Being an Italian/Sicilian myself I loved reading about the Fontana family. The secrets, the drama, the rivalries and the romance were written as though I was watching this story unfold on my television. I loved the added layer of the confessionals throughout the book. The characters were fabulous, funny and fierce. I was able to guess the killer but that’s part of the fun of reading a mystery for me!

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey was a solid 4 star read and I highly recommend everyone adds it to their 2025 TBR!

The characters in this book were really the star of the show - the murder mystery in this ends up being a lot less of the plot than I expected. That being said, I did enjoy reading it but you have to go in expecting campy and shallow. If you do, you'll have some fun! I hadn't read any previous works by this author, but will probably pick up the sequel to this (which felt pretty clearly set up) for an easy beach read.

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl
#seventhbookof2025 #arc #thereallydeadwivesofnewjersey

CW: reality television, alcohol abuse and drug use, general discussion of religious cults,death, murder, fake pregnancy

From NetGalley: A propulsive page-turning thriller following the hit reality TV show Garden State Goddesses where secrets are uncovered, intense rivalries surface, and a startling murder propels a producer on a riveting quest for the truth. On this season of Garden State Goddesses: Getting canceled means getting killed. When Hope Bennett marries Carmela’s brother, Leo, she becomes not only a Fontana, but a Garden State Goddess—and not everyone is happy. Secrets will be revealed, decades-long rivalries will surface, and a sudden murder will lead to a reality reckoning no one is prepared for—least of all the show’s producer, Eden, who must race to catch a killer and save the most dramatic season of all time.

My thoughts: I don’t watch the Housewives shows, but I thought this one could be fun, and it probably would have been more entertaining if I was into those shows. It was interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes of a show like that, even if Hope was the most boring star of a reality show ever. But then there was a hard turn into murder mystery halfway through, and that’s when it went off the rails. Everyone was pretty thinly drawn overall, and I had to think to remember who the show’s stars were. Ultimately I didn’t really care about any of them, and the ending was super abrupt. I also find it suspect that NetGalley is not listing the average rating as they usually do, and is only showing three featured reviews instead of the usual entire set of member reviews. 🤨

Thank you to @simonandschuster and @netgalley for the advance copy. (Pub date is today! 1/14/25)

I loved every second of this book. I caught myself laughing out loud so many times. The drama and the pettiness were great. Even if some of the characters were evil, they were still great and I loved them. They all were so different but for some reason their group just worked. I really enjoyed how this was a murder mystery along with being a comedy read and almost even a romance. I honestly couldn’t put it down. If you want to be entertained, I highly recommend this one.