My synopsis: What does bartender, Sophia Braam, and Officer Nora Martin, have in common? The injustices done to the female population. Tired of hearing men say things like "you should smile more" or having them belittle her because she's a female, Sophia takes matter into her own hands and begin a ridding the town of these men. On the way, she befriends Officer Nora Martin who is looking for the culprit of these killings while dealing with the her male coworkers.

Rating: I rate this book a 3 star. It was a slow start but eventually it picked up. I enjoy how the book was written in Sophia's POV and in Nora's POV. This wasn't a "whodunnit" type book; you knew the killer from the beginning. The author was very descriptive with everything and at times, I felt like it was a little too descriptive. Some of the wording made me think Sophia was a shapeshifter so while the book was good, I'm confused about what she is...human? Shapeshifter? Alien? I don't know. At the end of the book, I felt like Sophia did what many women wanted to do but they had Nora's self-restraint.

I think this book had so much potential but fell short in the end. There were many plot elements that were not fully fleshed out, the suspense did not really build, and I HATED the ending (and for those of you who have read it, I am sure you know what I mean). I did like the idea of a female serial killer being tracked by a female cop, but there were so many unrealistic aspects to the plot development that I was just never really invested in this one.

This book took me awhile to get into, but I liked it. It isn’t your typical mystery, as you know who the killer is from the first murder. But this this book delves deep into the killer’s motive. Nora was easy to like from the beginning. Sophie was more complicated and ran me through a myriad of emotions. The contrasting voices in the audio version of the book help cement the contrasts between Nora and Sophie, women who have a lot in common but use those things very differently. It was an enjoyable book, and I recommend it for those looking for a different take on a detective/mystery novel.

You Know Her by Meagan Jennett is a slow burn psychologial thriller. The writing style was very flowery and with so much detail. As I was reading this, I noticed that the author would write 5-10 sentences to describe how the characters would feel.

This book is about a bartender, Sophie Braam, that turns serial killer. There are so many nuances that brought Sophie to this path. Among these nuances Sophie does not feel seen, she names the customers in the bar she works at by how they treat her or how they act. The men she interacts with only see her as a piece of meat, she is undervalued, underappreciated and just not seen. That is until she meets police officer Nora Martin. She is living a mirror life. Nora just moved to the area and is disregarded as a female cop and a person of color. She works in the Good Ol Boy system and is treated as such. Because of this the two ladies are connected. This book shows how rage is handled by two very different people. Sophie uses the rage and takes it out on the men who have done wrong while Nora reigns in her rage and focuses on the job. But nothing good lasts forever, the murders are noticed. Nora starts to suspect that her friend Sophie is responsible. Will Sophie get caught? To what end will Nora go through to ensure no other men are murdered?

This book was such a slow burn. It literally took hours to get to the first kill and hours to get to the friendship between Sophie and Nora and on top of that they barely interact, and hours to go through the investigation. I felt overwhelmed by the flowery language. I felt like I was in Sophie's and Nora's head too much. It was a lot to read 5-10 sentences to describe how Sophies skin was crawling. And the bug imagery. This was just not my type of book. It took so long to get to any type of action.

I would recommend this to people who enjoy slow burns with a lot of detailed imagery. It was not a book for me, but I am sure others will enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Meagan Jennett's YOU KNOW HER is a violent sinister crazy Southern Gothic small-town psychological thriller about two women: a female murderer and a cop hell-bent on catching her.

Meet Sophie Braam, a bartender at Blue Bell Bar in Bellair, Virginia, who hates certain men, a psychopath; she starts KILLING them. Mark Dixon stole a glass of wine. Later Sophie murdered and mutilated the body.

Meet Officer Nora Martin, new to the Bellair Police Department and learning the topes from Detective Murphy (a man's world).

She meets Sophie, and they bond over shared frustrations. Hence, the dance begins—Nora is drawn to Sophie. Think KILLING EVE.

Nora begins suspecting something is wrong with the enigmatic bartender as the bodies pile up. Can Sophie trust Nora? Could the serial killer be a woman? Will Murphy believe Nora?

Sophie thinks she can save Nora. Does Nora need saving?

A wild cat-and-mouse thriller set in a small red-neck town of Virgina. Who will be left alive, and will they catch the killer?

I may be in the minority, but I did NOT care for this book. Not for me. I finally had to put the audiobook down and kept skipping ahead. I almost DNF and decided not to review it. Ultimately, I decided to give my honest thoughts.

YOU KNOW HER's protagonist, Sophie, is creepy, evil, full of rage, violence, vengefulness, and hatred—lots of unsettling imagery.

I was not a fan of Gone Girl as maybe why I did not care for this one. Sophie is full of hate menace —a sociopath. INSANE. Too over the top, disturbing, and too violent. Also very repetitive. Too much "bad" and not enough blending of "good/evil." Not enough character development. Also, it would have been better if it had some dark humor mixed in.

Reading the book versus the audiobook may have been a different experience. The book reminds me of Meredith Hambrock's Other People's Secrets character (Baby, another cynical bartender). Also did not care for it.

I am overly generous with a 3-star rating because I do not give less. The audiobook was terrible, as Sophie's part with the country twang was nerve-grinding. Drove me crazy—is narrated by Sophie Amoss, but I assume she was in character. I like the narrator Xe Sands, so I had to keep fast-forwarding to her part (Nora), which was much better.

I would not want a drink served by the bartender, Sophie! I did like the cover and the description, but the book, not so much.

Thanks to #MacmillanAudio for a gifted ALC via #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 3 Stars
Pub Date: April 4, 2023

Sophie Braam is a bartender at a small bar in Virginia. She constantly deals with terrible customers, coworkers, and bosses. One night, a customer who has been harassing her steals a glass of wine and Sophie feels something inside her break.

Nora Martin is a new officer at the Bellair, Virginia police department. She is learning the ropes to become a detective, while also dealing with the fact that none of the male officers approve of a female being hired.

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. I'm not sure the audio version was the best way to read this book, it may have made it harder to follow than the print version. Meagan Jennett created a very intriguing premise that had me hooked when I read the publisher's summary. A southern gothic novel featuring a female serial killer sounded absolutely amazing. Jennett did a very good job of creating a unique storyline. She also fleshed out details with care, which I think would have stood out even more if I had read the print version.

What caused me to give this book a 1 star rating is that this book is VERY preachy and repetitive about feminism. I can usually deal with political messages from authors, but in my opinion this one was too much. I don't like feeling preached at, especially when it repeats as much as this one does. This book also seemed to go from pro-feminism to just a straight hatred of men. TRIGGER WARNING for sexual assault and domestic abuse. These subjects are brought up all throughout the book.

Jennett has a true talent for details, but if you aren't a fan of very visual imagery of bugs (this is literal and as a metaphor) or human anatomy, then you won't like this.

Overall, I felt that the idea of this book was incredible - but Jennett didn't fully go through with the story. There were elements that felt thrown in as an afterthought, like Nora sees dead women? Sophie sees herself as a deity? I think there were just too many elements involved, with too much of a political overtone.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the audio ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

“My story begins as it so often has, I was ignoring a man at a bar. Ignoring him, truthfully, because in all the months that he’d been coming to sit two feet across a hammered copper counter from me, he’d never bothered to learn my name. Somewhere in revenge, I’d forgotten his, plucked it out of my pocket and dropped it to the floor to be swept away with the food scraps at the end of the night.”

After closing time at The Bluebell in Bellair, Virginia, on New Year’s Eve, bartender Sophie Braam is sexually assaulted by her boss’s best friend, Mark Dixon. After years of oversized egos and undersized tips, late night pickup lines, being groped and sexually harassed by men, Sophie snaps. She kills and mutilates Dixon and leaves his body in a garbage dump.

Officer Nora Martin accompanies her new boss, Detective Murphy, to the crime scene. Nora, too, knows what it feels like to be treated poorly by her small-town colleagues due to the fact she is a woman. The guys think she’s taken a job from them, her boss talks her ear off some days, and she’s being pushed and pulled between the patrol and homicide divisions.

Sophie and Nora strike up a tenuous friendship. Even as their minds click, “Sophie”, Nora is certain, “is a creature of hidden places”. Sophie’s anger towards men unnerves her but Nora doesn’t have many female friends, so the friendship feels like a gift. As the months pass, it appears that Sophie is unravelling …

Both Sophie Amoss and Xe Sands are award-winning narrators known for their authentic and compelling deliveries of many audiobooks. They are both a natural fit for “You Know Her”.

Meagan Jennett writes exquisitely with an eye for detail, and lyrical descriptions. She ratchets up the tension throughout the novel allowing the reader to breathe freely only when they finish the final page. Highly recommended.

I felt drawn right into this book. I enjoyed the twists, felt sympathy for the main character and enjoyed the tensions that built up throughout the book.

This unputdownable, small-town thriller is a slow burn tale of two totally different women - one a cop, the other a serial killer. Make this your next read. Thank you for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was set up to be so good and I loved it at the beginning and how the story began to progress, but it just became too slow for me? It just never felt like the story picked up enough for me to be hooked. I did really enjoy it though. It’s very dark, but written thoughtfully despite the heavy topics and actions of one of our main characters. The writing is beautiful done and this is creepy, but overall it wasn’t twisty enough for me. Would I still recommend this one? Yes, but I wouldn’t read it again.

I loved the concept of this book! I just had a few issues with the execution. I know to suspend disbelief when i'm reading a thriller. While there might be a lot of bad people, this book made it seem like all men were awful. Sophie seemed to be too trigger happy and both the characters seemed to ramble on a bit too much. I did love the narrators and gothic vibe overall Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one.

You Know Her by Meagan Jennett shows what can happen when someone is pushed too far.

"All Sophie wanted to do was clean up her bar and enjoy a glass of wine. She made the mistake of letting Mark Dixon inside. He took something that was hers with no remorse. And when he tries to force himself on Sophie 'It's just a kiss, Sophie' she strikes back and kills him. Soon other men start disappearing - because Sophie is not taking it anymore.
Officer Nora Martin is new to the police force. She's trying to learn all she can from Murph while putting up with vicious hazing from the male officers. She feels strongly that a woman is behind the missing men. No one will believe her - Because who would ever believe a bartender could be a serial killer?"

All of the men in this book are pigs. There is not a single likable male character in the entire book. Sophie gets pushed and pushed - and we hear all of those voices that are disparaging to women. Nora hears them too. And Jennett paints a bleak picture for equality in society.

This is one of the best audiobook performances you will hear this year. Sophie Amoss and Xe Sands are both phenomenal. The anger and emotion from both characters is great, especially when Sophie is dealing with Mark Dixon.

A lot is going on in Sophie's head and she is able to rationalize what she's doing to the very end. Never order a drink called "Men's Tears" (because Sophie adds a macabre ingredient)

There's an open, unexpected ending. I only hope that Jennett has a couple of good guys in her life.
Wild story from Meagan Jennett.

I enjoyed this book and loved the twists!
Characters and storyline well thought out!
It was an exciting trip we took with this story! I'd recommend it!

🎧 ALC 🎧

You Know Her
by Meagan Jennett
Narrated by Sophie Amoss and Xe Sands

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

You Know Her is a Southern Gothic novel about two local women—a novice murderer and the police officer determined to apprehend the small town serial killer. Both Sophie and Nora, although on opposite sides of the law, share a common struggle—men

This may be one of the most poignant books I've read in 2023. Yes, it's a fictional thriller, yet it covers necessary topics. You Know Her will probably upset many men—and you know what? Good. It will evoke a viceral response from the female readers because we can all relate to the inhumane treatment we've endured by men. "How early girls learn to soothe the anger of men."

The narration was fractured switching between level-headed Nora anf the fragmented thoughts of Sophie during her escalation to serial killer. The antagonist's distrust of men is understandable. "I've heard hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but I've not read yet of a man being killed simply for saying no." Sophie is ready to even the score—the only question is, will Nora stop her before more lives are taken?

You know a book is well written when fiction rings true. While there are clearly good men in the world, every woman can give you dozens of personal examples of harassment by men—often starting in early childhood.

You Know Her is a fascinating read, I highly recommend adding it to your TBR.

It is hard for me to give my review on this title. I feel like the story had potential, but the writing style coupled with the narrator proved to be difficult for me to get into. I feel like this would have been a book that I would have enjoyed more had I read it on my own. I know that this is definitely a book that readers can and will enjoy. Unfortunately, it just was not for me. Nevertheless, I will give this author another try in the future.

As a long time former service industry worker I was intrigued by the idea of a female bartender being a serial killer. A lot of the stories Sophie lamented about touchy-feely customers, badly behaved regulars, and even inter-restaurant staff dynamics felt spot on. Then it lost me. The writing is overly descriptive. The characters do not feel fully developed. Sophie went from a woman wronged to a random man killing machine, (because they are all evil obviously) describing every minute detail in metaphors and adjective laced diatribes. Overall, this one wasn't for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ALC.

The comparison to "Killing Eve and Sharp Objects" is what drew me in to reading this book. Nora is a small town cop trying to fit in with the rest of the good old boys, and Sophie Braam is a local bartender who has begun to bloom into quite the serial killer. The two meet when Nora investigates a murder, and they become friendly. But it isn't long before Nora starts to see that something isn't quite right with her new friend Sophie. As the bodies start pilling up, Nora is determined to catch this serial killer who is hiding in plain sight.

I listened to this as an audio book and I couldn't help but be struck by the descriptive prose right from the very beginning. I heard others say it was too much, maybe I enjoyed it more as audiobook because I was able to see it so clearly in my mind. I rather enjoyed it. I couldn't help but be fascinated by Sophie and what led her down this path and oddly didn't want her to get caught. All the while rooting for Nora to put the pieces together and expose the woman that her colleagues were blind to. I would have enjoyed more interactions between Nora and Sophie, and I felt like the ending was a little rushed but all in all I really enjoyed it!

Thank you Netgalley for this audiobook for an honest review.

Just an FYI if you’re a guy and you’re going to read this and you’re very sensitive… Don’t! There is a cop name Nora in a bartender name Sophie and they become friends and what an unlikely duo they are. A man comes in with his fiancé and orders wine Sophie convinces him to get the best wine in the house but when he leaves she’s excited she’ll have the rest of the bottle to drink after work unfortunately soon after he returns and decides to steal a glass of what she now refers to us or wine. Two hours later he’s found dead he is the son of one of the big guys in town and we got a first row seat his murder in the inner thoughts of the killer. I’m not gonna lie I really thought I knew who the killer was and I was so far from being right. I really wasn’t that big of a fan of Sophie but I love Nora so much! I thought both narrators did an awesome job playing demented females and kudos to them this is really a twisted piece of work and one I highly recommend this is yet another book that five stars doesn’t seem to do it justice because it deserves so many more. I want to thank med galley in McMillan audio for my free copy but I am definitely leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free audio book in exchange for an honest review.

The audio book was read by Sophie Amoss and Xe Sands who were exceptional. I really loved the voices that matched to the 2 narrators. If you have a chance to listen, I highly recommend the audio version!

I requested this book after reading the description comparing it to Killing Eve and Sharp Objects...in my opinion, it lives up to the comparison to 2 of my favorite, dark, psychological thrillers!!!

In this story, Sophie Braam is a lifer in the small Virginia town where she tends bar. Sophie has been raised by her Grandmother who now resides in a local home with dementia. Nora Martin, a beat cop who has recently transferred to the local police department and hopes to reach detective. She is a black female in an all white male small town department and has been labeled as the "diversity hire". Both women strike up an uneasy friendship based mainly on their shared female rage at the male species. To tell you any more would really ruin this deliciously dark story!

For Sophie, I found the prose to be lyrical, poetic and frightening. The imagery of the plants, bugs and mites was so unsettling but essential for her character's development. How better to communicate the darkness in her mind than the imagery the mites digging out of her skin. I found Nora's voice to be more straightforward in her anger and less dramatic.

But, to call this a cat and mouse mystery does this story an injustice. I found this to be an intriguing ride through the many layers of the mind of a psychopath, that makes you a touch empathetic towards her, which is a dark and scary feeling!

Loved this consuming read!!!

Highly Recommend!!

You Know Her by Meagan Jennett
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Thoughts: I wanted to like this book, and it sounded right up my alley. True crime and thriller? Yes, please! But sadly, it was disappointing. Nora can see dead people, but it's never really expanded on. She just ignores all the dead people everywhere she goes. Sophie is a character in the middle of a psychotic break but yet can keep it together enough to manage a bar and make friends with Nora. Also, is there not a single decent man from this town? Seriously, not one? They all are all disgusting vile pigs whose only thought is raping and degrating women. That seems hard to believe. The only decent man is Nora's boyfriend, and he's not originally from the town. I'm perfectly fine with misogyny but is so over the top that it's frustrating. This book was wordy when it didn't need to be and wordless when more was needed. It felt like a whole lot of nothing happened in such a long audiobook, even with multiple murders. Everything was drowned out by the constant mansplaining and internal monologs on how much men suck.
Thank you NetGalley and Meagan for this advance listen copy in exchange for an honest review.