I'm sorry, but this book just did not cut it for me. I was expecting a completely different book and was quite disappointed. I felt Carolyn and Ashley lacked a friendship connection - not really sure what the point of the book was. I will not be posting a review for this book.

Very interesting story of childhood friends whom end up in different spaces as adults. The author went to great lengths to seek justice for her friend; after many years of the case being unsolved. Interesting story, well written.

Labels. They can not be escaped. Everything, everywhere is labeled these days -- especially when it comes to women. She’s “the smart one”, “the loud one”, “the bitchy one”, “the healthy one”, “the skinny one”, “the fat one” and in Ashley Ellerin’s case “The Hot One.” I did read this book in one sitting as I anticipated and it has left me with much to think about. While it is a memoir, it is also a very interesting commentary on society’s view of women and the way we are labeled. Carolyn and Ashley grew up as best friends, doing everything together. After graduating, Carolyn moved away and begin to climb the corporate ladder while Ashley ended up in Hollywood on the stage of a strip club and eventually as an escort. The two girls kept in touch sporadically as often happens as we grow older. Carolyn was completely shocked one morning to discover that her childhood friend had been murdered in a brutal attack. Ashley was stabbed 47 times in her home. Just the number – 47 – is completely staggering. The brute force with which she was attacked is also something I had a hard time wrapping my head around. Most major organs were pierced by the killer’s knife and her head was almost completely severed from her body. Why?
Carolyn becomes determined to discover what Ashley’s life was like after she moved to Hollywood so she goes in search of old boyfriends and her new circle of friends to try and understand what happened. I will say that I thought a good bit of that portion could have been heavily edited and condensed, as it read more like a wild goose chase than a structured building of the facts. The man who is accused of murdering Ashley is also accused of murdering two other women and attempting to murder a fourth. I was extremely interested in their stories as well and you don’t get much information about that. I closed the book having more questions than I had answers. But isn’t that how life goes sometimes? Things aren’t always wrapped up with a nice neat little bow with full closure for everyone. Having this book end in limbo left me with great empathy for the victim’s families. I was incredibly frustrated as a reader, I can not imagine what it must be like as a parent living day in and day with so many unanswered questions of why this happened to your daughter. Michael Gargiulo is still awaiting trial for the three murders and one attempted murder. I hope that once those trials take place and all the evidence is presented that someone will write another book about these women. Their stories deserve to be told and their memories honored. Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Hot One is about two girls, Carolyn and Ashley, who were best friends growing up in New Jersey. Then circumstances of life sent them off in differing directions in their late teens. Carolyn stayed in the East, developing interests and eventually having a career in media and journalism, while Ashley moved back to Los Angeles, California, and kind of drifted into dancing and stripping, escorting, and the fast life. The once daily calls dwindle down to maybe monthly and they develop new friends along with some new and different values in Ashley's case. Then, shockingly, Carolyn finds out that Ashley has been murdered. She makes a promise to herself to find out what happened to her friend.

After Carolyn Murnick learned that there was a suspect in custody and that there was to be a hearing and trial, she began checking into it and this book is the result. She flew out to California for all of the hearings and the trial, sharing the experiences and the stories she gathered from others who attended. She also met other people who testified that turned out to be friends of Ashley's from the west coast that rounded out the rest of her west coast story. I really enjoyed this book as a long time fan of true crime. But also from the aspect of the author's personal loss. My thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and the author, for providing me with an ARC for my review.

The Hot One started out as a good novel type read. It got bogged down with superfluous details as the book progressed. It is admirable to write a memoir about such a tragic event in one's life. I'm not sure however, if this was the right one for Murnick.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Simon Schuster (August 1st 2017).

Thank You to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advance copy of Carolyn Murnick's book, The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Carolyn Murnick and Ashley Ellerin were childhood best friends growing up in New Jersey during the 1980's. They were inseparable as children, but when they became adults, their lives went drastically different directions. Murnick moved to New York City and lived in a tiny railroad apartment, while starting a career in journalism. Ellerin moved to Los Angeles and lived in a Hollywood Hills home with the money she earned as a stripper. She went to wild parties and dated celebrity Ashton Kutcher. 

The last time Murnick saw her friend, they struggled to regain their connection. They were still friends, but had clearly drifted apart. A year later, Ellerin would be murdered, stabbed forty-seven times in her Hollywood home. 

The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder, is Murnick's examination of her friendship with Ellerin and her coming to terms with never quite knowing what happened to her best friend. Murnick attends the trial of Michael Gargiulo, the accused murderer, and becomes obsessed with finding out not only why Ellerin was murdered, but who Ellerin had become prior to her death. 

LIKE - The Hot One is a compelling blend of memoir and true crime. With so much information readily available on the internet, Murnick falls down a rabbit hole when trying to figure out what happened to Ellerin. I found this quest to be highly relatable. I've had my own unsolved life mysteries (none anywhere near as dramatic as a murder!), but issues that no amount of research can resolve, yet ones that are impossible to let go. I felt connected to Murnick's obsession and with the hold it had on her. 

Even though I lived about fifteen minutes from the murder scene, I don't remember hearing about this case in the news. It's gruesome and horrific. Murnick does not spare details. I think the most chilling part is when Murnick decides to visit the crime scene and she stands across the street from Ellerin's house, in a dog park. Gargiulo had a pitbull that he would take to the dog park and from the dog park, there was the perfect vantage point to spy on Ellerin. Murnick mentions that Gargiulo would have been able to see right into her bathroom. He stalked and hunted her. Other creepy patterns from Garguilo, based on all of his victims, is he liked to pose them and he committed the murders when he had a high chance of being caught, for the thrill. One woman managed to fend him off as he was stabbing her and lived, although she couldn't positively identify him. Garguilo isn't a random attacker either, he was Ellerin's handyman and beyond working at her house, he managed to get himself invited over for social events. Murnick really sets the stage by explaining how she imagined Garguilo hunting Ellerin, waiting for the right moment to strike. It gave me the chills.

DISLIKE- Only that the point in which the memoir ends, does not give us resolution with regard to Gargiulo's trial. I suppose this mirrors Murnick's inability to have her own questions answered, but it also makes me wonder if she should have waited to tell this story. It was disappointing to not have this resolution. 

RECOMMEND- Yes. If you like true crime and memoir, The Hot One is a compelling read.

"There were many years of that. The feeling where we were always each other's first. Where we were partners and pseudosisters... where we began to be regarded as a unit to our classmates, that it was known that neither of us would go anywhere without the other. There was no need for autonomy, because we had found the one thing we valued more."

At first, the story of Carolyn Murnick's relationship with her childhood friend Ashley Ellerin is familiar. Somewhere in our past, many of us have a friendship like theirs. You grow up at each other's houses, share a kind of secret language, and can't imagine life without each other. If you are lucky, your friendship survives the leap to adulthood, even if distance and time mean your visits are less frequent.

Similarly, you may remember a girl who was labelled "the hot one" as Ashley was, who had to shoulder the weight of the male gaze too young, and made choices that put her on a troubled path. If this girl was your best friend, at some point your lives and narratives might have become too different to reconcile. As you make the transition to full-fledged adulthood, you'd lose touch, but every so often you might think of this formative friendship with tenderness and hope that with some time and growing up, you'd find your way back to each other.

But what if your friend's life was cut short at 22 before she had the chance to grow up? This is the situation in which Murnick finds herself when Ashley is brutally murdered. The Hot One takes you through the two decades after the murder, as Murnick sorts through complicated grief she faces, attends court proceedings, and seeks to answer the question, "Who killed Ashley, and why?"

If you enjoyed Emma Cline's The Girls, you will enjoy this. It explores similar themes of girlhood, the male gaze, and violence. As other reviewers have noted, this is a memoir, not a sensationalized True Crime story. That said, if you've enjoyed the recent wave of highbrow True Crime series and podcasts, you are going to enjoy this book. I was riveted as the case against Ashley's suspected killer started to come together.

Above all, I was impressed with Murnick's sensitivity and honesty. She neither exploits her friend nor paints herself as the perfect survivor. As she tries to find her answer - her "finish line" - she reflects on her friendship and society's habit of labeling women as "the hot one" with the adult wisdom she's gained. It takes courage to share a story like this.

"Somewhere along our twinned paths, however, I began to define myself in relation to her. Involuntary, illogical - it is something I may never stop doing."

A special thank you to Simon & Schuster who provided me with an ARC of The Hot One via NetGalley

Sooo if you know me, you know I'm obsessed with true crime. This book totally sounded up my alley. However, it fell a little short for me. The story was intriguing enough, especially having the background of the victim's (Ashley) life as a young adult. But it felt like there was some fluff in there.

3/5.

Many thanks to Simon and Schuster/NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I started reading this book and read straight through until the end. A very sad story full of suspense but also pure honesty. I hope the author can find some peace in her life.

I wanted to love this book-- gritty memoirs are my absolute favorite. Don't get me wrong, I did like it (3 stars = liked it), but it was not quite "there" for me. It seems like Murnick might have been better off waiting a bit longer to publish this, so that the trial had concluded. A major point of the book is how hard it is to accept things that happen, especially when one endures loss and then is expected/forced to move on without receiving closure. However, as it stands, it doesn't feel comprehensive. I also hope that the publisher adds a photo of the author and Ashley before it's printed. After finishing the book, I Google image searched Ashley Ellerin and discovered that there are very few photos of her, and almost all of the queries refer to her as "Ashton Kutcher's murdered girlfriend", not even mentioning her name in the headlines. She was killed by a man and then overshadowed by another.
Hopefully this book will help to bring attention to the woman who was murdered, and restore her identity as a whole person whose life was cut too short.
I did appreciate Murnick's candidness in admitting the tenuous relationship between the girls, and how death of a loved one does not necessarily translate to a forgetting of the strains and frustrations of real life. Death does not erase that, and Murnick navigated that with honesty and grace.

Although the story line was appealing to me (I've always been a true-crime buff), I found this book to be disjointed and not a smooth read. I think I felt more sympathy for the victim than her old friend (the author) did. I understand friendships can fade and people grow apart, but Ms. Murnick seemed to be a little too removed from her subject. It was an interesting book, but not one I would recommend too strongly.

As tough as this book is to read, I am sure it was tougher to write. This is the story of a woman who begins to obsess about the tawdry and tragic death of someone who was once her best friend. Their paths had diverged greatly, moral, financial as well as geographical.
The shock of the loss, and the way it happened became a focus of her interest as she worked backward to see how it got to this, and forward, how to cope, handle and integrate this loss. The author is pretty tough on herself, asking, ruminating on how things evolved from the sweet relationship that went off track as 'grown ups.' She articulates poignantly the confusion and pain.
At the end, it is the observation of not what is lost, but what could never be that was so painful.

It is a sad story, and I can't imagine her fear at that horrible last moment. But the care and devotion of a childhood friend, the lengths she went to on behalf of her murdered friend honor her in life and death was profound.

It has been quite some time since I read a memoir, so when I saw the cover to The Hot One by Carolyn Murnick, I was slightly intrigued. Though I have never heard of Carolyn, or her friend Ashley, the seven words at the top of the cover pulled me in. A memoir of friendship, sex and murder. Those are a few of my favorite things to read about, haha, so I was ultimately excited to read this book.

The beginning of the book was great, we got to learn about Ashley as a child, and abruptly we learn that she was killed during her college years while Carolyn was miles and miles away. Through out the chapters, their friendship is uncovered, as well as their drifting apart, as friends do.

The way that Carolyn wrote this book, though, made it hard to follow-plus it ended up being a lot about how Carolyn grew up, as opposed to how Ashley grew up-and their significant differences (meaning Ashley was more of a partier/"slut" while Carolyn was not), and that sort of turned me off a bit from the book.

I was really interested in how Ashley was murdered, and what happened to the suspect after he was caught, so basically the first half of the book was pointless to me. I would have much rather known more about Ashley at the time of her death rather than Carolyn when she was younger. I understand that the backstory needed to be set up, but it still didn't tickle my fancy much.

All in all, these was an okay book for me. Not one I would really recommend if you are looking for a true crime book, but if you are interested in memoirs that spend a lot of time on the backstory than this one is for you. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars, and I received it from Netgalley.

I was given this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I read this book eagerly. Had a hard time putting it down. Highly recommend.