Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Advika and the Hollywood Wives

I was absolutely hooked by this book, and read it in two days! This tale is almost a modern Bluebeard retelling, where Advika falls for rich, charming, powerful Julian and is told not to look into his past wives. I liked the clever way the red flags about Julian were woven into the start of the story, and how Advika is presented as a flawed, but understandable protagonist. I loved Advika's friends and the supporting cast! I'd love to see this novel optioned for a movie or limited series!
Wheelhouses: Hollywood glamour, toxic relationship, Bluebeard retelling, woman uncovering the truth, friends caring for each other, people in their mid 20s still trying to find themselves.

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klinbenson's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked this book much more than other people who wrote reviews. I didn’t find it lighthearted at ALL—the POV character is deeply unhappy, guilty, and grieving for a lot the book. When she falls for a kind of fairytale that ends up being not what it seems, it felt extremely on brand for the kinds of decisions that people make to avoid dealing with their actual problems. I don’t think that Advika is naive. I think she is a young woman, a child of immigrants who hasn’t adhered to the kinds of dreams they want her to have, who is grieving the death of her twin and the ways she feels she could have prevented it, and gets a kind of fairytale meet cute wirh a rich, much older producer. He has charm (even if the reader and her friends see through it,, haven’t we all made this mistake at least once?), money, fame, and he’s doing the thing she desperately wants to do—make movies. I thought the author did a great job of writing from this POV so that the reader often feels as disconcerted as the character herself does.

My favorite part was the way that finding out about her husband’s previous wives not only brought her into her own power, but back into relationship with the people who do actually care about her. The end of the book and the epilogue were a little soap opera-y, but I didn’t mind that.

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babayagaofficial's review against another edition

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reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

Killer premise, clunky prose. The narrative voice doesn't trust the reader's ability to make connections or inferences, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. This needed one or two more editorial passes to cut overly explanatory narration and raise the stakes.

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gretchenplz's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I'm not really sure what to say about this book because I'm not entirely sure what I just read. This book was 100% not what I expected, and I'm not sure if that disappoints me or not.

I think that this book covered a lot of topics, like sisterhood (both biological and chosen), power dynamics within relationships, and grief, and I'm just not sure how well it was all woven together. I expected drama, and emotional highs and lows, but this book just did not give me that at all.

I'm not sure if it was purposeful for the author to create a book that left the reader feeling very much like how Advika felt throughout her relationship with Julian — overwhelmed, confused, nervous — but I never knew what to expect from this book.

Julian never came across as charming to me (was he supposed to? or does this link with my above thought, that perhaps the reader was supposed to feel like Advika and not really be very attached, confused that this was all happening so fast, expectant that Julian had good intentions, etc.?) and it really just gave me pause the whole time I read the book.

I wish the author could have done more showing vs. telling, as I caught myself skimming the many pages of paragraphs of internal dialogue or pop culture detail for dialogue. There was just so much to digest and I am still not sure what exactly I was supposed to get from this book.

The power of grief? Following your dreams? Leaning on your friends? Chosen family? Sisterhood?

I don't know. I don't think it was a bad book. Just not a favorite of mine.

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hahibbard's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I didn't find Julian charming enough to understand why Advika married him. The first half of the book was very frustrating due to Advika’s choices. Advika seemed to waffle between ace detective and burying her head in the sand, which was confusing. In the end

I felt like there were a lot of loose ends that were ignored and it didn’t really delve into just how awful Julian. Did he kill Nova? What happened to Jamison Reeds? What was up with Hartley Harts? He got to die with his legacy intact, which didn’t feel fair.

I guess I’m still thinking about the book days after finishing it, so I guess there was something intriguing about it.

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