Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Woman of the Year

This book was a quick, suspenseful read. Overall it was enjoyable. I did not like the main character (especially at the beginning) but she became more easy to empathize with as the story went on. She is super self centered but it makes sense in the trajectory of the story.

This felt like brain Candy (not a criticism). I liked the length because as soon as the backstory dropped I had SO many questions and really wanted to see how it would end up. My questions were answered and the story came to a satisfying end where things made sense and questions were answered.

I am a little (read: a lot) traumatized by Pyewacket. If you cannot handle ambiguous and likely BAD endings for animals, there is a main plot line that is likely going to be REALLY difficult for you.

Content Warnings

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.0

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an eARC of Woman of the Year in exchange for my honest review!

This is the first time I'd ever read a Darcy Bell book, although I'd always known about her thanks to the 2018 film adaptation of her debut thriller novel A Simple Favor. I'll give the book credit for being consistently engaging to read, but that compensates for neither the mediocre machinations of the revenge plot nor the one-dimensional characters. I was particularly irritated by the writing for Lorelei, which left me feeling like events in the plot are always happening to her rather than her being a proactive protagonist of her own story. This book also tries to weave concepts about human psychology into the narrative, but it ends up coming off as superficial. It sure does shower tons of love on cats, though, which I can appreciate.

Overall, Woman of the Year is one of the more underwhelming thrillers I've read.

Content Warnings