There is no greater feeling than the approval of one of your most anticipated reads.

Darcey Bell, stole my heart with A Simple Favor and she brought it home with Woman of the Year.

Hook, line, sinker… I have just become a crazed and psychotic fan of this spicy little lady.

Talent shines within these pages and grabs your attention early on. The plot was intricate and detailed and easily engages an audience. The characters are both lovable and hatable but that just shows how much power an author has to make you feel so much passion about both .

We all know, there is a very thin line between love and hate …

How far will someone go when backed into a corner. How far will they go to seek revenge ?

I think you’re going to have to pick this one up to find out 😉

This is weird book but highly enjoyable. It’s a book about gaslighting, mind control and cats. Don’t ask - just read it.

This was quite the suspenseful and engaging thriller. Twists and turns left me guessing and on the edge of my seat. Hard to put this one down.

First of all.. this book was an absolute disappointment. It had so much potential but the writing style was not good and there was little to no dialogue or even interactions between Lorelei and Holly. It was pretty much all tell and no show as if we were inside of her head, not very enjoyable and it was so confusing. Very little of this book had my attention I wanted to DNF several times but I pushed through. On the bright side though, if it was written better I do believe the story would have been a lot better.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

As honesty is the best policy, I have to say that this was a flop for me. Maybe because A Simple Favor can't be matched?

I almost quit reading this book, however, at around 70% there was a bit of twist that captured my interest back. In the end, it was lackluster.

The writing was a bit deranged which was clearly the point and I LOVED the psychology aspect of this book. Overall, it was not the best we've seen from Darcey Bell.

Did not finish. The main character was very whiny and unrelatable. No matter how much I tired to get into this, it just wouldn’t happen.

Absolutely yes! I really enjoyed reading this novel. The characters were fun, it held my interest, and provided an escape from reality. I would definitely recommend!

"A mixture of horror and mystery imbue this chilling novel about a couple buying a dilapidated mansion with a dark past."

I had higher expectations for this book, but I have to admit, it did kinda fall a bit flat for me. Still recommend.

Absolutely an incredibly weird and original read that will leave a creepy imprint in your brain. This book, like Bell's famous previous novel, starts off focusing on a friendship between two very different women...but the similarities to A Simple Favor end there. Our narrator, Loralei, is at best slightly unreliable, and at worst...well, maybe totally deranged. She appears to be obsessed with her college best friend, a successful feminist named Holly Serpenta, and she is bent on revenge.

And beyond that, there really are no words to describe this book. There are a few pretty disturbing themes here that the casual reader should be aware of, such as animal abuse and testing, mental illness (the old "is she paranoid or is someone really out to get her?" plot is taken to an extreme here), and the #MeToo phenomenon. Basically, if you have any of the usual triggers, at least one of them is probably a theme of this book. The writing style, like the inside of Lorelei's mind, is disjointed and takes some getting used to, but I enjoyed the weirdness and was kind of fascinated by the strange plot.

Where the book lost me a little was the ending. It was very far fetched -- and as some of you know, I don't even mind far fetched, but man, y'all, this one was WAY out there. Absolutely no way anyone could guess this bizarreness, which to me is a little unfair and takes away from the fun of the mystery. I probably would have enjoyed this book better if it had headed toward the more obvious ending rather than ... this.

So in summary, I enjoyed the weirdness and minded the triggers much less than most, but didn't love the ending. Still found it an enjoyable read but would warn most readers to be familiar with the subject matter and to be ready to embrace a bizarre theme (or really, several bizarre themes) before diving into this one. This book is kind of like a science experiment, which is fitting because....well, you'll find out when you read it.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me the wild and fun early read by this always enjoyable writer. 3.5 stars, rounded up for the author taking a fun chance on a totally bonkers idea.

Thanks to Atria for my ARC. I really struggled to get into this one. As much as I have loved her previous novels, this one was not for me.

Thanks @netgalley for read number 130 of 2022. I’m still trying to decide how I feel about this book. It was fast-paced in many ways, but almost seemed a bit repetitive at times. There were some very disturbing elements too. I was not expecting the twist at the end, but things almost wrapped up a bit too quickly. It was really hard for me to connect with any of the characters in this book. This was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ read in my books.

I received an early copy of this book, thanks to NetGalley.

This book tells the story of Lorelei, a woman who may- or may not be- delusional, planning to harm her former best friend Holly due to extreme anger and possibly jealously over Holly becoming famous to the point of “Woman of the Year” honors and Lorelei being a reclusive cat lady. The psychological factors and telling of past events- college onward- that led to the present- were interesting but at times, dragged. I wasn’t that invested in rooting for our narrator as she didn’t seem the most credible until much, much later in the story. All in all, the book entertained me but could use a little more exciting detail; The story was slow in parts. Maybe there should have been a little more drama surrounding the poisoning and the subsequent aftermath; there was extensive lead up to the dinner but the story quickly escalated to conclusion after Holly was dead.

I’ve read Darcey Bell’s books before with A Simple Favor being one of my favorites. Woman of the Year though has me torn. It starts off a little choppy and flips back and forth between past/present all in the first person of Lorelei. After a bit I did get into the rhythm of when the time period was changing and it seemed much smoother. There is some disturbing animal abuse/experimentation along with #MeToo movement described in the book. The book is definitely dark and there is a twist at the end. This is a quick read, though I feel it falls short of her other books.

Thank you NetGalley and Artia for sending this book for review considerations. All opinions are my own.

I really liked A Simple Favor so I had high hopes for this one. I really did not enjoy this book. I didn’t like the animal abuse, and it was a bit slow for me.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for letting me read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read! Glad to see Darcey give us another good one. Another very appropriate story in the #metoo genre. Definitely didn't see the ending coming and the surprises just kept coming on this one.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ahhh this book came at me hard with the mindf*ck. Even after I devoured it, I am still left with the same level of confusion and disorientation. What happened? Did Lorelei suffer heavy gas- lighting and left as a victim of cruel psychological experiment? Was she simply delusional, and sick? What happened to Pyewhacket? If everything was a figment of sick delusions, why did Otto go to her apartment? Or was the Peta Woman of the Year also fabricated in her mind?

I need a Q & A session with Darcey Bell soon!

This story was wacky. Wacky in a way that the thoughts were fragments, confusing and all over the place. It was good, but it took a few chapters to understand. Would i recommend this book, probably not. JBH.

Thank you to netgalley for this ARC for an honest review of the book.

Let me start by saying that because of the name attached to thos book, I feel it it will sell well, regardless of.my personal opinion of it...... that said, I desperately wanted to love this book. Like it, even.... but it just wasn't for me. I typically DO love books by Darcey Bell, and expected to lovethis one as well, but I honestly was.so tired of reading about the dang cat (cats) that I found myself losing interest- rapidly. Whether it's set in the current day or referring back to teenage and college years, I don't think there was a page in which Pyewacket, and later Catzilla, wasn't mentioned. Sure, Lorelei's cats are a central part of her story, but it just felt like such overkill. I actually did something I haven't done in many years- skipped pages. All this aside, I have faith in Darcey Bell's talent and stories, and choose to believe this was just a one-off, a book just NOT for me. I look forward to future titles, but can honestly say this will not be one I really wish to reread or could recommend to others.

I enjoyed this book in the sense it was a good story. I would have loved to see more perspectives. I found the writing to be a little chaotic and repetitive at times.