The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl is a campy, satirical mystery that takes inspiration from reality TV dramas like The Real Housewives. The plot centers on Garden State Goddesses, a fictional show filled with outlandish characters, sharp humor, and dark secrets. When a murder disrupts the glamorous chaos, the show’s producer, Eden, is thrust into a tangled web of rivalries and lies as she tries to uncover the killer.

This debut novel has been lauded for its witty humor, over-the-top drama, and a fast-paced mystery that keeps readers hooked. Fans of dramatic storytelling with a satirical twist, especially those who enjoy guilty-pleasure reads or pop-culture parodies, will find it a highly entertaining escape.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb: 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: This was messy AF, and I absolutely should not have laughed as much as I did, but this book has gallows humor and follows the cast of an outrageously campy “Italian” Goddesses of New Jersey. The main protagonist is Eden, the showrunner, who is thirsty for a successful show to elevate her career, which includes ensuring peak levels of drama. Eden was the queen of the confessional booth where she prodded and stirred the pot! She did NOT expect for this season’s innocent hippie-from-California cast member (and Eden’s cousin!) to drop dead. Queue even more drama as Eden attempts to solve her cousin’s murder as more bodies drop.

The beginning of this one seemed to drag a bit, but once the murders started, I was flipping as fast as possible to see what outrageous messy twist was next. If you enjoy reality TV, books about TV shows, mixed media inserts (interviews), and messy books, this one is for you!

Fans of both reality TV and true crime need to pick up The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey. This was a fast-paced read and so much fun! I do think the turning point about halfway through the book came on a little too abruptly and lead to a bit of a rushed through ending. That said, I definitely enjoyed this one and will be suggesting it to mystery readers in our store!

This was such an interesting read! Full of messy and chaotic characters making them super unreliable. I was constantly trying to keep up with each characters motives. The lies were constantly unraveling. I really loved this thriller.

I grabbed this book because of the title and the reference to reality tv. I wanted to love it, but sometimes it was so off the rails that I just couldn’t handle. There were some great pieces, but the crazy kind of outweighed the good for me.

Thanks for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!

Perfume & Pain is my favorite book of all time (Anna Dorn can literally do no wrong). So when I saw that Astrid Dahl’s debut novel was going to be released, I knew I had to get my hands on it.

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey was camp in all the best possible ways. It read just like a reality show, including confessional transcripts, and it was unserious and fun the entire way through.

The satire in this book was masterfully done, as can only be expected with Anna Dorn. The characters were all beautifully one-dimensional and (mostly) vapid. I also loved reading the book through Astrid’s lens, as there was a clear difference in terms of the narrative provided.

I highly recommend this book for any fan of satire, especially those who also enjoy trashy reality TV.

As a big fan of both Housewives and Anna Dorn, I was excited for this offering, but it felt a little undercooked - maybe that's why it's published as one of Dorn's characters instead of as herself. It lacked the wit of her other works, and I felt that generally the book summarized events and characters' feelings instead of allowing the reader to experience them. Dorn remains an automatic buy for me, and I might rec this book to others who enjoy and can appreciate the Housewives references/satire but are more into contemporary fiction than literary. Two and 3/4 stars.

UnREAL meets The Real Housewives franchise in Astrid Dahl’s The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey. It serves up the secrets, drama, and manipulation you expect from reality TV, but with the added wrinkle that the showrunner is related to one of the stars.

Read it for
- The mysteries (yes, plural)
- The drama
- The reveals
- The queer rep
- The cult ties

Told from multiple POVs with the transcripts of the show confessionals interspersed throughout the tale, this book will take you for a ride.

I received an advance copy of the ebook from Simon & Schuster #SimonBooksBuddy. All review opinions are my own.

If you've ever watched any of the Bravo Housewives series, I bet you will enjoy this book. It is all kinds of fun to read, even though some of it gets a little crazy! Since it's set in New Jersey, where I grew up, I knew I had to read it. But even if you don't have Jersey ties, I think you'll be able to enjoy this satirical mystery. Thanks to Simon Books and NetGalley for early access in exchange for my honest opinion.
Garden State Goddesses, produced by Huzzah, is going into its third season and showrunner Eden knows she needs to stir the pot a bit. Luckily, she introduced her cousin to the brother of the Italian family in the show, and the two are getting married. Hope, her cousin, has never seen the show, having grown up in an isolated town in Northern California in a cult run by her parents, which she jumped at the chance to leave. But New Jersey and the Goddesses are a world away from everything Hope knows. It's interesting to see her experience a reality show for the first time by being in the show. There are secrets galore, some backstabbing, an epic table flip (paying tribute to NJ Housewives season 1, of course), and so much more - including murder!
I enjoyed reading this book before bed - it was almost as much of a brain break as watching a reality show! It
NJ gets a less-than-stellar reputation in most books (and in life), but I will always defend it - even if I choose not to live there anymore. And I grew up in a rural area, far from all the "what exit" highways and smelly oil refineries.
This book is full of Jersey fun, and it comes out 1/14.

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey - Astrid Dahl

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

“Despite this, Eden continued to be driven by the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. She wanted to capture the uncanniness of real people.”

Hope marries into a family of reality TV stars on a Housewives-esque show called “Garden State Goddess.” She is thrust into the spotlight of manipulation, truth bending, and reality TV trash moments, all while trying to run from her past across the country.

I got this as an ARC from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster. As a Housewives lover and Teresa Giudice apologist, I was super excited to read this play on the Jersey Housewives. I really loved some of the more subtle Housewives references, personality traits and quirks in each of these girls. However, it turned into being a little too copycat when actual quotes from the real shows were incorporated, as well as very specific housewives traits like a prosthetic leg and a table flip moment. The second half of the book took a thriller turn that was truly unbelievable, not in a good way either. I didn’t really enjoy how they wrapped up the story either. While the mystery was solved, it wasn’t much of a satisfying ending with character development for most of the key players.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Let me just say I am a HUGE fan of reality tv, and this is what drew me to this book! Unfortunately it fell flat.

This book was juicy, I can tell you that, but nothing else much I can say.

I liked the sort of “behind the scenes“ into how reality tv shows work like with how they had to speak present tense and repeat the question for the confessionals. Maybe that is common knowledge, but I didn’t know.

Don’t get me wrong, I love unlikeable women especially when it comes to reality tv, but these characters were unlikeable just because they were either boring, or it was too forced. Carmela was the “mean girl” who hated everyone, but it wasn’t ever entertaining, she was just mean to be mean. And I know Hope was supposed to be the “boring one” but the author really laid thick into that, and that was her only personality trait. Whatever these characters were labeled as that is what they were times ten. It felt so forced so it wasn’t natural.

I didn’t like her but Hope was kind of paid dust. People were sad she died but also moved on super quickly. Her character was built up only for most everyone to be like, okay, that was crazy but she’s gone.

Not a single character in this book I liked. No one to root for, no one to despise. I felt no emotions at all.

I guessed every plot point that was supposed to be a mystery. Everything that was supposed to be shocking about this book I guessed every single one. It was all so obvious. I know this isn’t necessarily a thriller so maybe the author made it easy to guess, but it didn’t make it super fun to read.

I forgot it was supposed to be a murder mystery because other than the first couple of pages it was completely forgotten about until a little after half way through. It went 0-100 in two seconds after part 3 hit. It was moving at such a snail’s pace for the first half of the book then after that everything was bang bang bang all at once. It felt like whiplash.

It was almost so bad that it was good. I was getting so worked up about how much it didn’t make sense than I’m like should I have given this 5 stars maybe this is reality tv material. If the characters were more compelling I could have looked past the bad and nonsensical plot, but nothing about this book worked for me sadly.

I also didn’t appreciate the Taylor Swift hate throughout the book, but that’s just a personal preference.

This next part has spoilers because I have to put this in here since it shows a lot of issues I had with the book. So don’t read past this if you don’t want any.

Here are some of the things that made no sense and was just bad writing in my opinion.

Eden didn’t care about Hope at all and tortured her for ratings, yet was all bent out of shape when she died. I get death is hard to deal with, of course Eden didn’t wish death on her, but she said multiple times she didn’t really care about her and they weren’t that close.

Then Leo was happy Hope was cheating on him so he could be with Carmela. He went as much to say he was worried Hope was actually falling for him because he didn’t want that. And then after Hope died HE was bent out of shape and killed Carmela cause he was upset even though he said he didn’t love Hope. I guess you could argue he thought she was pregnant, but he didn’t even mention a baby while he was mad.

It seemed over the top just to be over the top. Like when Carmela flipped over the table. I know reality stars can get crazy and start throwing punches and drinks, but not THAT crazy.

I know death can affect someone on a greater scale, but that was completely out of character for both Eden and Leo; it made no sense for them to be acting that way.

I think it’s dumb they put Eden and Renee together after Renee was just with Hope, EDEN’S COUSIN, who just died soon before. I get they must have trauma bonded, but come on. Hope was barely six feet under and she already started to have feelings for Eden. Not to mention Eden was saying the entire book how she didn’t want anyone clingy and wanted nothing more than just a hook up, yet she gets with Renee. Make it make sense. I’m glad they had Eden say she was getting bored with being a good person, but that still doesn’t excuse them pairing up so quickly.

A lot of crazy stuff happened in this book that you would think would be entertaining, but it was all so unrealistic and by the time I got to the end I didn’t care what was happening. It all came so easily to the characters to figure out motives for the killers.

I wish I could say I recommend this to people who enjoy reality tv, but I cannot.

Astrid Dahl (aka Anna Dorn) is her first murder mystery novel. I love Anna Dorn's other novels, but this one was just for fun. It's silly and campy, and crazy as hell. This is not as well written as her other books, but it is not supposed to be. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. It was just okay. If you love campy novels, then you will devour this.

This book was a lot of fun and was exactly what I was hoping it would be. I would consider myself a casual fan of Bravo's Real Housewives but I recognized so many references and jokes. I laughed throughout and had to keep reading to figure out what was going on. The mystery wasn't that deep but I was happy to be along for the ride with these over-the-top characters. The reality series background is the perfect set up and I loved how the chapters were separated with cast interviews.

This is one for fans of reality television. It's messy, it's chaotic, it's got a murder mystery and it's got a lot of unlikable (although I suspect consistent with the genre) characters. Eden, the show runner of Garden State Goddesses, must manage these women (and a man) who don't like one another or themselves and get the ratings up- and she's got to solve a murder. It's a fast read that's, to be honest, a popcorn book. Thanks to Netgalley for the arc, Will make a good beach read.

Shocking twists - reads just like a reality tv show!

To start, as soon as you crack the book - there's a character sheet with information. Just know that it's a lot at the start. You're intro'd to a whole family doing a reality tv show - and Eden, the director, has managed to get her cousin in the mix by one of the family falling for the cousin and marrying her.

This is the cousin's first day of filming (after their scheduled down time). The cousin, Hope, is not used to cameras, being miked up, or the drama of a large family. The wild times start there and completely derail soon after! The story is broken in 3 parts, each one more shocking than the last. As we got to each twist in part 2, my jaw was literally on the ground!

It really did hold my interest and kept me shocked and wondering what would happen next. Even though I guessed a few twists, and I didn't like a single character, I found myself sucked into the plot and where it was all going. It was a fun read, light and easy. I enjoyed it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

As much as I love all the House Wive shows, this book was not for me. There is a mystery element to this book but the overall concept wasn't executed well. There were way to may characters, especially for the length of this book. Thank you, NetGalley.

I don’t think I am the right audience for this particular book. I was just bored most of the time probably because I just didn’t love the satire aspect and found it annyoing and over the type. I can see the appeal for those who like that style of book.

Eden is a showrunner for a reality show called Garden State Goddesses. She sets her estranged cousin, Hope, up with one of the men from the show, meaning Hope will now be part of the series. She’s not super thrilled to be in the spotlight, and some of the women on the show share that sent sentiment as well; becoming instant enemies. The show is working to find its groove with the new addition, which results in a lot of catty manipulation and a dead body. And let’s just say, it won’t be the last.

I love reality tv and I love other people’s drama so this book seemed right up my alley! I appreciated that it was lighthearted and silly at times. What didn’t work for me was that the twists felt a bit obvious, and I would’ve preferred to see it go in another direction for the reveals. There was a scene or two that was absolutely shocking, but the rest fell a bit flat. If you prefer cozy mystery vibes instead of thrillers, I think this book would be great for you!

I tried to get into this one but it was too much for me. I think Bravo superfans will really love it though!

I love the Housewives series, so I jumped at the chance to check this one out. The characters are exactly what you expect. Dramatic and wild and fun. The murder mystery isn't that thrilling, so I rated this lower than I would have. The story itself is very entertaining though and I can see people really enjoying this when they need a break from more serious toned books.