The tale is told strictly from Betty's point of view. And this chick is nuttier than a fruitcake! From the beginning to the end, I kept picking my jaw up off the floor!

The more she tries to get what she feels belongs to her, the more it just blows up in her face.

I think the problem I have with the story is there was no real back story to give us a frame of reference for any of the characters odd behavior. We dive right into Crazy Town with page one. And there was quite a bit I could have done with out, the story devolved during the last quarter and left me wondering what the heck I had just read! I didn't care about any of them. Something was missing.

Netgalley/Gallery  April 3, 2018

Two people that have different views and what they will do to accomplish their goals. A true study on the horrors of sociopathy. All about greed.

Sibling rivalry has never been so alarmingly disturbing.
This book takes us into the bleak mind of Betty Stash. As a young girl Betty was painfully aware at how the world seemed to favor Gloria. She was a Beloved, someone who is loved by all and gets everything desired for and more. Betty is not a beloved and has grown up with a bitter resentment towards her sister and everyone who seems to have it too easy in life.
When their mother dies and leaves their beloved childhood home to Gloria and her husband, Betty is beside herself with anger and grief at this last and greatest slight. She has a very unhealthy attachment to that home which she calls "Pipits" and will stop at nothing to have what she feels is rightfully hers.

This book would fall into the "unputdownable" category for me. From the first chapter I became fascinated by the unhealthy mind of Betty Stash. At first she seems like an innocently whiny, ungrateful and self-centered person who feels slight by the simplest of things...until you dive deeper into her personality and realize she is all that plus mentally ill. It was absolutely appalling to watch her character slowly become more and more malevolent and malicious.

I wanted to hate her and root for her sister Gloria throughout the whole book but I also secretly loved how unsettled her characters thoughts and actions made me feel. The author did such a great job with making her characters really well written, easily imagined and putting effort into their personal and relational developments. I really felt the tangibility of who each character was. I am used to reading books where the main character is for the most part a good person, so it was interesting getting a unique protagonist who makes your skin crawl.

This book left my feeling uneasy but thoroughly entertained. Definitely a wild ride from start to finish.
4.5/5 Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in a darkly alluring novel that will make you feel uncomfortable yet fully engaged till the last page.

I received an ARC from NetGalley. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you, Maureen Lindley, the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me to read an early copy.

An exploration of domestic derangement, as sinister as Daphne Du Maurier’s classic Rebecca, that plumbs the depths of sibling rivalry with wit and menace.

Oh, to be a Beloved—one of those lucky people for whom nothing ever goes wrong. Everything falls into their laps without effort: happiness, beauty, good fortune, allure.

Betty Stash is not a Beloved—but her little sister, the delightful Gloria, is. She’s the one with the golden curls and sunny disposition and captivating smile, the one whose best friend used to be Betty’s, the one whose husband should have been Betty’s. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Gloria inherits the family manse—a vast, gorgeous pile of ancient stone, imposing timbers, and lush gardens—that was never meant to be hers.

Losing what Betty considers her rightful inheritance is the final indignity. As she single-mindedly pursues her plan to see the estate returned to her in all its glory, her determined and increasingly unhinged behavior—aided by poisonous mushrooms, talking walls, and a phantom dog—escalates to the point of no return. The Beloveds will have you wondering if there’s a length to which an envious sister won’t go.

The Beloveds is a fascinating, wicked good story. The characters are engrossing, but know that this is a slow burn. It's not quite action-packed, as it focuses more on characters, interactions, and thematics. There's something quite insidious about this story, and I absolutely loved it. The main character is unreliable, and the story itself isn't like the traditional thriller. However, give it a chance. I doubt you'll regret it!

If you love a twisted, dark protagonist, you will love this book. I was engaged from the beginning, but the ending left me less than satisfied. There was no resolution of tension so unless there is a sequel, I can't rate this any higher.

Wow, what a creepy book. The narrator is certainly very disturbed. And it's not just her obsession with the house, we're talking problems all over the place. Great read for anyone who likes a psychological thriller, and very well written. Read this in one day and enjoyed it very much, highly recommend.

Maybe some people will love this book, but I did not. It wasted way too many pages with information about plants that grow in that area of England, how to transplant them, take care of them, their real names, etc. Betty is jealous of her younger sister from the time she is born and does everything to get even with her for being born. The characters of this book are all weak and no one stands out as a real "hero." Betty gets wackier as the story progresses and I further lost interest as the story progressed. I was glad to finally finish this book. I was disappointed in this book.

Not your everyday thriller. This book leads you into the mind of a completely delusional woman and surprisingly makes it easy to see how she has become who she has become. You see the path of mental illness twist and wind through different occurrences in her life and create bigger and worse predicaments. Richly descriptive and well written, this book is a page turner. The character development is amazing and almost makes you feel as though you are going a little crazy along with Elizabeth.
I highly recommend it.

This is different for sure. The main character is quite obviously mad so it was interesting to read from her point of view. She devolved quickly after a big lead up in the first 3/4 of the book.

Advanced copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oof, I do not have many good things to say about The Beloveds so I am sorry in advance. If you are looking to see a good review of this book, you are not going to see it from me. I just want to throw out that I know writing a book is very hard work, and I could never write one myself, so this isn't a reflection on the author. This book was just not a good fit for me.

First of all, I did completely adore this cover though. It is beautiful and is what drew me to the book before I even knew what it was about.

For being contemporary, this book just had an old feel to it. I wouldn't have been surprised if it would have been set in the 50s or 60s. I don't know if it was the writing or what it was, but it just felt like it was set in a different time period for some reason. I didn't mind that of course, but I'm interested to see if anyone else will have that same vibe from this book.

I will say that this book was incredibly detailed without seeming too detailed, if that makes sense. I didn't feel overpowered by detail, but rather it made me feel completely immersed in the story.

The premise of this book seemed great. A jealous older sister determined to get back the house that she felt entitled to? Sign me up! Unfortunately, I just didn't really think much of anything happened during The Beloveds. It started out good enough, but I soon lost interest and found myself really bored. This book was not hard for me to put down even in the last 30% of the ARC when shit was getting crazy, I just still wasn't engaged. Full disclosure, I pretty much skimmed the last 50% of this book because I just was NOT into it.

I've read and loved plenty of other psychological thrillers (The Last Mrs. Parrish, The Couple Next Door, The Girl on the Train, and The Good Daughter to name a few), but this one somehow fell flat for me. Parts of it were creepy, especially Betty's "relationship" with Pipits, but I got really sick of the "I'm enraged at my sister because she got the house, but I am the one entitled to it" theme. Also, I thought this book was supposed to be about Betty getting Pipits (aka "House") back, then she literally does practically nothing except whine and act jealous for half the book.

I think it would have helped if there would have been other perspectives in this book, instead of everything through Betty's eyes. I felt like she did a lot of bitching and moaning in this book. That is the best way for me to describe how I felt about Betty and the way she acted the entire book. She was just so nasty and bad-tempered. I suppose that was the point, but I couldn't handle it for the entire book.

The drama with Betty's drinking and the stuff with her apartment neighbors at the end kind of lost me as well. More of Betty showing her true colors and that she wasn't right in the head, but I didn't care for it and was just ready for the book to be over.

Final Thought: While I wouldn't recommend this, I just don't think I was the intended audience. This is more of a slow burn, character driven, jealous/rather crazy sister, takes a long time to see action type of book. I guess the best thing to say is if you are ok with what I have said above you should still check it out. The majority of people have been liking this one, and I am the oddball out at the moment.

It takes a bold author and editor to tell a story from a true antihero's POV. We were captivated! The writing is stupendous, and the atmosphere...total perfecting. We hope we can introduce this book to our subscribers!

Maureen Lindley’s THE BELOVED’S ranks right up there with other psychological thrillers like Gillian Flynn’s GONE GIRL and Patricia Highsmith’s TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. Like the protagonists in both of those books, Lindley’s Elizabeth Stash’s is consumed with insidious machinations when it comes to her profound dislike for her younger sister Gloria as well as her obsession with Pipits, the family manse.

From early childhood, Elizabeth/Betty saw her sister as one of the “beloveds” who possessed not only beauty, charm and good fortune but also the adoration of their mother and later in life the love of the man Elizabeth had assumed was hers.

Overwhelmed with treacherous thoughts and a penchant for large amounts of gin, Elizabeth becomes one of those characters readers love to hate as she plots to take what she perceives is rightfully hers from whoever and whatever stands in her way. Just one third into this novel and I was fascinated by her the inner dialogs of Elizabeth as well as her warped view of the world around her as she dismisses any friendship or love proffered to her by others. Her treatment of old friends is atrocious and her relationship with her older husband Bert abysmal, as she considers his presence in her life as nothing more than that of a piece of luggage she can check and remove from storage at her whim.

Her sense of entitlement is staggering and the lengths to which she will go to achieve her ends boggles the mind. One wonders at her ability to mask her psychotic behavior to the point of deceiving her psych-analyst sister, a woman who, herself, appears to have a Pollyanna complex.

The characters and images of THE BELOVEDS emerge with seeming ease from Lindley’s sub-conscious as she takes us on a journey into the mind of a sociopath.

I was captured by this book straight away, The story is told in first person and the events are realistic enough they could have actually happened. , although that is really creepy! I don't know if her diagnosis is real or dreamed up by this author, but Betty should have stayed in that asylum. Mental illness and jealousy push her to some extremes. .

I was captured by this book straight away, because this girl sounds like a nut case! The story is told in first person and the events are realistic enough they could have actually happened. I like that this book is so close to reality, although that is really creepy! I don't know if her diagnosis is real or dreamed up by this author, but Betty should have stayed in that asylum. Mental illness and jealousy push her to some extremes. The only negative thing I can say is that the chapters were a bit long winded in my opinion.

Betty Stash hates her little sister, Gloria. It was obvious from the moment she was born that Gloria was the child her mother truly loved. Gloria who always smiled, who was always happy. The only thing Betty loves is the family estate, she believes it loves her too, and that it speaks to her. As the eldest, surely the house will someday belong to her. But it is Gloria and her husband who inherit the house and Betty is incandescent with rage, though she tires to hide it. She insinuates herself into the lives of Gloria, her husband and Gloria’s unborn child and readers just know something bad is going to happen. Betty is truly a loathsome character (I had a really hard time with the animal cruelty), but I think I would have enjoyed the book a little more if Lindley had made Betty sympathetic in even some small way. Still, Lindley gets point for the eerily ominous ending