I recently had the pleasure of reading "The Vixen Amber Halloway" by Carol LaHines, and I must say it was an absolute delight. LaHines has a way of weaving a captivating narrative that keeps you hooked from start to finish. The characters are richly developed, and the plot is both intriguing and thought-provoking. What sets this book apart is the author's ability to paint vivid imagery with words, making the settings come alive in your mind.

The Vixen Amber Halloway is a perfect blend of mystery, suspense, and a touch of romance. LaHines' writing style is smooth and engaging, making it easy to get lost in the story. The book kept me guessing until the very end, and I found myself emotionally invested in the characters' journeys.

I loved the cover and idea behind this book. But despite it being about rage and passion, the word that kept coming to mind was cold. It was a very detached feeling book. I"m assuming that was on purpose but it really was a little jarring when compared with the subject matter.

The ending was not very satisfying after all of the build up either. I felt like it had so much potential and could have gone there with some tighter editing but it fell a little flat.

Who can deny the burning curiosity to figure out what your ex is up to? Maybe you’ll look up their new partner, partake in some amateur cyberstalking.
Ophelia takes it a bit further. To the point she keeps multiple spiral bound notebooks filled with observations caught through their windows. She is obsessed, and unhinged, and bent on revenge. She blames Amber Halloway for seducing and stealing her husband, the love of her life, and reopening wounds left from her childhood.

This was an entertaining read. It doesn’t drag in the slightest, I could have probably read it in one sitting. The way the story is told (a confessional, but simultaneously feeling like a letter directly to her husband) was creative and super effective. It feels like you’re in her mind, really getting to understand her thoughts and sifting through her scattered memories.
For literary fiction, I found this quite heavy handed at times but if you read it with the expectation of a psychological thriller it's less out of place. I also felt the climax to be a little bit underwhelming but the conclusion to be really well done.

* Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.

The Vixen Amber Halloway is a real page turner, good for anyone who likes an unreliable narrator and female rage. i felt like there was a lot of build up throughout the book just for there to be a kind of lame ending? i was left just wanting more.

The portrayal of Ophelia's descent into obsession and jealousy, despite her unlikable nature, provided a captivating perspective. The novel's resemblance to "You," from the viewpoint of a scorned woman, was intriguing. While the theme of abandonment was prevalent, Ophelia's thoughts and actions, though occasionally repetitive, conveyed both turmoil and urgency. The author's adept shift between first and third-person narrative added to the turbulent reading experience, as we followed Ophelia's tumultuous rationalizations and felt the impact of her questionable decisions.

Outrageously fun, pitch black comedy. I loved the creative allusions to Dante's Inferno, which were incorporated in a very unexpected way without this being a retelling. This was a unique and satisfying read and I highly recommend to anyone looking for a tale revenge story that's not like the others (but still scratches that itch).

First, I would like to thank Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book. I loved every second of it. I honestly felt like I was on a rollercoaster ride however, I never wanted it to end. Such a fun, quick, and amazing read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review.

So, what is the book about? We follow the story of Ophelia, a professor of Dante, is stricken when she discovers that her husband, Andy, has been cheating on her with a winsome colleague, Amber Halloway. She decides to stalks them and watching every move of the two of them. The story alternates between the past and the present of her relationship between Ophelia and her husband. Your husband was caught cheating, but you prefer to stalk his relationship with his mistress. I love reading woman who's off of the rails. LOL

I love unhinged women books. I love reading about them. This book is a perfect fit for my reading experience because the book is about infidelity with our main character who is someone who is cheated on by her husband. I like the story of a woman who does something to repay the actions of the person who wronged them. Even though it will violate applicable law. Ophelia is unhinged, and unlikable, but I love being inside her head as she slowly lets obsession and jealousy consume her. Having a lot of unresolved trauma and a severe anxious attachment, she becomes a full-on stalker. This novel somehow remind me to “You” if it was from a scorned woman’s perspective.

But, there's something that makes me hesitate to give this book four stars. It is about the writing style. I find it cold (I don't know whether the writter make it cold because we are reading Ophelia's monologues or it is just actually cold) and somehow it effects the romance plot that happen between Andi and Ophelia in the past. There are two sides that effects the writing style. First, the romance plot between both of them isn't believeable. Because it is cold and I do not find it romantic. But, on the other side, It's because The romance plot is from Ophelia's side, which is actually not romance and love but it is just an obsession. That's why it feels cold somehow.

After all I can say that this book is worth to read after all if you love reading new published unhinged women in books.

Thank you NetGalley + the publisher for the ARC.

Ophelia is crazy, unhinged, and unlikable, but I loved being inside her head as she slowly lets obsession and jealousy consume her. Having a lot of unresolved trauma and a severe anxious attachment, she becomes a full-on stalker. This novel is similar to “You” if it was from a scorned woman’s perspective.

Although repetitive at times, I felt the theme of abandonment was truly prevalent in the mind of this psychopath. Ophelia’s thoughts and actions are both long winded and fast paced, and I loved the writing style of this author. I loved the subtle changing from first to third person as we followed Ophelia trying to rationalize her thought process, and I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride of bad choices.

I feel bad for Amber Halloway, even though she WAS a vixen!

I was hooked from the cover and description, it worked with a dark comedy that I kept going back to. The characters worked in this story and I was invested in what was going on. The plot worked overall and I thought the psychological elements worked in this book. Carol LaHines always does a great job in writing this.

The titular character in The Vixen Amber Holloway is the obsession of narrator Ophelia who suffers from dual traumas of abandonment-first by her parents in childhood, and more recently by her husband. Ophelia's name is perhaps no coincidence, as the novel follows her spiral into madness-or perhaps Ophelia has always been insane and it took her husband's betrayal to release her inner demons. Adam Fairweather is also aptly named as the betraying and-in Ophelia's eyes-heartless ex-husband. Ophelia's intimate, if twisted, point of view is part of the novel's brilliance, engendering our compassion for her pain. LaHines does a remarkable job getting deep inside her character's mind and following her madness to its inevitable conclusion.

LaHines' latest novel is a captivating addition to the genre of unhinged female protagonists, drawing fans of Vladimir and those who enjoyed the intricacies of 'A Certain Hunger.' The use of the second person in Ophelia's narrative, coupled with academic language and precise descriptions, immerses readers into a unique and intimate storytelling experience. The exploration of Ophelia's descent into obsession, fueled by her childhood abandonment, is skillfully woven with elements of suspense and dark comedy. The novel's quick pace, punctuated by LaHines' adept use of pithy remarks and complex sentences, keeps the reader engaged from start to finish.

The unreliable narration adds an intriguing layer to the story, as inconsistencies in details and repeated allusions to lost time contribute to a sense of mystery. While the book occasionally dips into repetitiveness, particularly in Ophelia's references to her childhood trauma, it does not detract significantly from the overall enjoyment. LaHines' masterful portrayal of the long-lasting impact of parental abandonment, mirrored actions between characters, and the complex themes explored make this novel a fascinating meditation on psychological breakdown and the pursuit of revenge. In the end, this makes for a very enjoyable and engaging read, leaving readers unsettled yet intrigued by the intricacies of the protagonist's mind and the unpredictable twists in her narrative journey.

This was an unhinged read. Ophelia’s husband has an affair and she starts becoming obsessed with his new life and girlfriend. Ophelia gets farther and farther from reality as the book progresses. It read like a dark comedy to me. I enjoyed the short fast paced chapters - they switched between her childhood, the downfall of Ophelia’s marriage/mental health, and the present. I liked Ophelia as a character, although she definitely was a bit questionable towards the end. The husband absolutely sucked, so somehow her extreme actions become a bit understandable. Some of the text becomes repetitive at times. Not sure if this was the author’s writing or a nod to the MC’s breakdown. There is also an excessive use of the abbreviations etc, viz. I give this 3.5 stars and recommend this to anyone that loves the mad woman trope. It’s fairly short around 200 pages!

Trigger warning: suicide, animal cruelty

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was definitely a very interesting read. Ophelia is not the kind of character that’s truly likeable, but I did understand her motives and she showed great determination in achieving her menacing goals. I did not like the husband either and I felt no mercy for him. Karma did its job, and its name was Ophelia. Two things bothered me while I was reading: a scene that I found quite unnecessary and I thought that the novel was way too sexual. But that’s mainly a personal preference for the latter.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

A definite read for fans of Vladimir and A Certain Hunger, this is the newest entry into the unhinged woman genre, and it presents an interesting portrait of Ophelia who, after youthful abandonment by her mother, seeks to retain and stalk the lost love of her husband and is eventually sentenced to prison for her acts. The use of the second person draws the reader in, and yet the prose is littered with academic language, even sex is described with the names of precise positions and decrescendos, sustaining an emotional distance that the narrator notes the people in her life are quick to critique her for. This contributes towards the building sense of the unreliable narration, further fostered by inconsistencies in even the smallest of details (can Ophelia cook spaghetti alle vongole or not?!) and repeated allusions to lost time, so that you became increasingly intrigued by the direction of the piece and by the truthfulness of any of her story. Perhaps the reader is warned in the opening scenes as Ophelia prepares to fool a parole board about her newfound guilt over the events that led to her imprisonment ten years prior.

The novel flows with a quick pace while also demonstrating LaHines’ skill with a pithy remark (e.g. ‘leaving with a telephone number, not a venereal disease), and with complex sentences which try to unravel Ophelia’s increasingly unhinged views. You are left unsettled and intrigued by the mirrored actions of her ex-husband towards Amber and those of her mother towards her before she left, and the book is a fascinating mediation on the long-lasting impact of childhood parental abandonment. The book does become repetitive at times, and her repeated references to her childhood trauma are sometimes unnecessary or excessive. Ultimately, however, this is a very enjoyable and engaging book. While Amber’s behaviour is deplorable, you cannot help but root for her and her unique outlook on the world, and, from the first to the final page, you want to read through to her narrative end.

3.5*

An interesting, well written novel about a wife who discovers her husband’s infidelity with a younger woman named Amber and spirals into an unhealthy obsession with their relationship. The whole story is told from the wife, Ophelia’s, POV and reads like a direct message to her husband as if she is recounting all her memories to him - from when they first met, to her childhood, and even her stalking escapades and eventually her prison psychiatric appointments. These chapters were my favourite as it focused on her mental health and the therapist trying to get her to direct her anger and frustration towards something else - perhaps the mother who abandoned her?

The chapters were short, making it an easy read. It was interesting experiencing Ophelia’s mental health decline to the point where she puts others in danger. I had mixed feelings about her - her behaviour was deplorable but her husband was also a complete jerk.

The book tends to get quite repetitive at times with the constant mentioning of her being abandoned by her mother when she was 8 years old (always specific) and I’m unsure if this was intentional by the author to emphasise the fact that she is very mentally unwell and this could be attributed to childhood abandonment and other issues she experienced in the past. The author likes to also use “etc”, “viz.” a LOT.

Thank you to @netgalley, the author and Regal House Publishing for the ARC! ✨

Really enjoyed this page turner of a book. The story was told from the perspective of a mentally unstable woman sliding further downwards when scorned by her husband. Gripping, compelling and a somewhat uncomfortable read at times.Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review

3 stars!

I loved how this started and how it was written. It was unhinged to read from Ophelia's pov and witness her do the things she did, think the way she did etc. You can't but feel for her in some way because we see her lose everything but then dived deeper into an obsession madness.

I loved this book! I loved the way it was written, I loved the story. I flew through this. Highly recommended!

The SAT words throughout this book were ~a lot.~ Given that our main character has a doctorate in the works of Dante and is described as being particularly cold, the language makes sense, but at times felt unnecessary. I was quite engaged throughout the story, but the ending was so lackluster! I wanted more from the ending, especially after the build throughout. A fast, one sitting read but it left me wanting more.