I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley (Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS) in exchange for a review.

Pretty Guilty Women held my attention all the way through, as I read it in less than one day. Several women, some who have known each other since college and some whom they've only just met, mingle and share parts of their lives with each other days before a lavish wedding. During the rehearsal dinner, someone is killed and four of the women confess to the murder. Who was murdered? Why are these women all confessing? What secrets are they hiding?

While I found the multiple points of view / many characters hard to follow at first, I found myself unable to stop reading because I wanted to know what happened next. Between the multiple perspectives and time jumps between the days leading up to the murder and the investigation, there was always something to keep me wondering and guessing. While the story focused more on the lives of each woman, and less on the actual murder, I still found it mysterious and worth reading.

Pretty Guilty Women kept me guessing until the very end of the book! The characters were very relatable, and it was interesting to learn about their past connections. The mystery of the dead man was intricately woven into the story, keeping me guessing throughout the book. I can't wait for Gina LaManna's next book to come out!

#PrettyGuiltyWomen #NetGalley
Three women, Emily, Ginger, and Kate, who were college roommates reunite at the lavish wedding of the fourth roommate, Whitney. The “wedding week” is held at a very exclusive and expensive spa and resort that caters to the wealthy. Although all the friends don’t fit into this category, they all manage to attend. Lu Lu, an older women meets the group and they share a camaraderie by revealing secrets and hidden fears to each other. This begins at the bar with several bottles of wine and champagne shared among the newly formed group. Sounds perfect, right? But then how does a murder during the Rehearsal Dinner fit in? And who is the victim? All we know is that each woman in the group confesses to the murder! The story unfolds with each woman’s point of view, and is moved along by the interviews held by the police detective assigned the confusing case. The novel invoked differing emotions as I turned the pages. Humor was mixed in with raw emotions as the secrets, fears and lives of the women were unveiled. The characters are finely drawn and the story is told in an easy to read style. For fans of Big Little Lies, you will enjoy the complex friendships developed among the women, the secrets that get laid bare and the changes that occur in the lives of those involved during the wedding extravaganza.
I loved this book and highly recommend it with a five star rating. The ending left me with my mouth open! Be sure and add this new novel, Pretty Guilty Women to your TBR list......you won’t be sorry!
A big thanks to the author, Gina LaManna, to NetGalley, and to the publishers, Sourcebook Landmark, for my advanced copy of this great book! All opinions expressed are my own.

This book is totally different than other books by this author. This is a more mature read. It still has some humor thrown in to keep things from getting too heavy, but it is a more serious read. I liked the style of writing this book has. It alternates between several different POVs, and the chapters start with a police transcript. (Which is where much of the humor comes in.) The mystery is written in a way that the readers don't know who it is that has been killed until the end. And each of the women seem to have a motive to kill. (Not necessarily the same person.) There are secrets that are revealed as the story moves along and we get closer to knowing who was killed and why. There is some subject matter that may be difficult to read for some audience (dealing with pregnancy and abuse.) In addition to the actual mystery, this is also a story about friendships, and letting go of the past hurts. The characters are all unique and each has their own problems they are dealing with, some more traumatic than others. Despite their differences and despite the fact that they had lost touch over the years and had some animosity, these ladies pulled together for the greater good when one of them needed help. Even though there is a murder involved, there is a feel good vibe about the book... you don't really get it until all is said and done, but you finish the book on a good note. It's well written, easy to read. There is no sexual content, but it is eluded to a couple of times. There is some heavier subject matter involved, but I would say this is suitable for 16+.

*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.

Four women confess to murdering a mystery man during the week of their college friend’s wedding.

I enjoyed not knowing who this mystery dead guy was because it kept me guessing on more than just the responsible party. I did guess the identity of the man about halfway through and had it narrowed down to two people for the culprit.

It did remind me quite a bit of Big Little Lies in its plot structure but I think there were enough unique elements that made that comparison not bother me.

This was a meh book for me. The story was centered around a group of women gathered for a college roommates wedding. A murder occurs and they all confess.

I did like how the book was told from different points of views and then the police interviews were interspersed throughout. My problem was I didn’t like any of the characters. They were all so whiny and full of self pity.

Unfortunately this just wasn’t a book I enjoyed. A 2.5 at best.

Thank you Netgalley for the book in exchange for an honest opinion.

This book was a pleasant surprise for me! It drew my attention because of the similarities I thought it would have to Big Little Lies, however it held my attention because of the intriguing storyline. 4 women, all attending a wedding, confess to the same murder. Who did it and who is lying? Just when I thought I had the entire storyline figured out, I got thrown for a major loop!

The beginning was kind of confusing to me with all of the characters and their storylines, but you quickly get used to it! I like how they give tiny hints throughout the book and every interview with the detective left you with a cliffhanger and a new clue...or lack thereof.

Highly, highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a fun mystery that is a quick read!

The title of this book sounds much like Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty but this is not the same book. Not even close. This one tells a choppy tale of four different women who are together at a wedding. Three are old college friends of the bride (although they haven't spoken in years) and the fourth is a woman in her 70's (family) and enjoys hanging out at the bar. In fact, most of this book involved wine or champagne drinking.

We know from the beginning that a man is dead. We don't know who it is or who killed him. All four women admit to killing him. So the reader knows two things: the man is a character we are going to meet. And the four women are covering up for someone.

It's an interesting concept but it didn't work well in this format. The chapters with the women alternate and honestly, it got hard to keep their stories straight. The author kept alluding to events in the past, but then making the reader wait chapters before revealing them (and often, it was nothing big). I felt a lot of this book was a big set-up... followed by a let down.

The wedding wasn't mentioned other than being a device to get these people together at the resort for the week. The bride was barely mentioned (although she was supposedly their best friend?) and the end was a little out of left field. This read more like women keeping secrets from each other and a slow reveal to find out what they were rather than a mystery of any kind.

OMG WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my first book by this author and it won't be my last. This story has so many twists and turns you would think it would be hard to keep up but the style of writing this author has makes it easy . You fall right into the characters lives and can have empathy for all of of them.

A wedding in a fancy resort. A dead man. Four women confess to the murder. Only one of them actually did it but who and why did the four women all confess to the murder???

Who is dead? And who did it? Three friends from college- Emily, Ginger and Kate- have come to a resort to celebrate a fourth's- Whitney- wedding into a big wealthy family. Lulu, an older woman, is also there with her fourth husband Pierce, an uncle of the groom. So is Sydney, the young mother of Lydia. Each of the women (save Syndey) has their own perspective and each has their own problems, which they share over the course of several days which are meant to be relaxing but really aren't. Each chapter is framed by a police interview with one of the women as well as the hotel staff about the murder of a man who was either shot or hit with a wine bottle or both but you don't know who it is and you definitely don't know who did it or why. No spoilers because you should be as surprised as I was. La Manna's a good storyteller- this one kept me turning pages. Several of the men (with the exception, really, of Ginger's husband) clearly have a darkness in their background that has hurt their respective partner so this was less obvious than it might have been. BTW- there is one steamy scene early on which seemed out of character with the rest of the book. My only quibble- I'm pretty sure the resort staff was offering coconut water NOT coconut milk as a refreshing drink; this might have been caught in the final copy. Stick with it for what happens a year later. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fun read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Gina LaManna for the opportunity to read this fun escape book. If you were a fan of Big Little Lies, you'll like this book!

Four college friends - Whitney, Emily, Ginger, Kate - all fly to attend Whitney's lavish spa wedding. They haven't seen each other in years and didn't all end on positive notes. Whitney is too busy with her wedding to even be part of the story but older Lulu meets the others in the bar and becomes part of the group. We know from the beginning that someone dies and all four of these women confess to the murder. Told in multiple points of view, interlaced with hilarious police interviews, this is just a fun book to escape into, dreaming about staying in this luxurious spa with its massage treatments, chocolates on the bed, and beautiful surroundings. Along the adventure, we learn about the lives of each of the women and how they changed since their college days.

Gina LaManna really knows how to write about female friendships. I could see myself or at least one friend in each of the female characters. The idea of college friends falling out of touch with each other, only to come together for a wedding, and have all the young adult feelings come to the surface once again, is something that happens every day. And LaManna captures it perfectly. The insecurities, drama, competitiveness, and more comes to light under LaManna’s wonderful character portrayals.

And LaMana doesn’t just write about middle aged women well. She also does a fantastic job with children, teens, and older women. I don’t know if she meant to do this, but the way she incorporated the maiden, mother, and crone aspects into the book was wonderful. Every stage of a woman’s life is magical and has its own problems which LaManna demonstrates perfectly.

As for the thriller part of the story it was not as intense as others that I’ve read, but it still had me turning the page to see what would happen next. Although I was interested to find out who the killer was, and how the murder came about, I found myself drawn more to the drama that was playing out between the women. In ways I feel like this could just as easily be classified as Woman’s Fiction as a Thriller.

I was content with how the conclusion came together. Although I guessed at parts of it, there were still a few surprises. I will say the epilogue is where the ending of this book really shined. It left me with various emotions that I had to sort through, and made me wonder if I would have handled the situation the same way.

Pretty Guilty Women is the first book I’ve read by LaManna, and when I went to her website to read about her other books, I was happy to find four more series of hers that I am going to be checking out.
The Lola Pink Mysteries, The Hex Files, Magic & Mixology, and The Lacey Luzzi series all look likes books I would really enjoy.

A clever multi narrative tale that kept me guessing until the end; an easy read which swept me along - recommended as a summer read.
Thank you to netgalley and Sourcebooks for an advance copy of this book.

. Four women admit to murdering the same man, all four say they acted alone...but why? These four women are brought together for a lavash wedding at a beautiful resort, they each bring their own secrets and personal issues but nothing can explain why they each confess to the same murder. I enjoyed the interview style of this book, the lavash wedding backdrop and the background stories of each of the women. As the story progresses you learn more about each of the women’s pasts and what brought them together. But do any of these women have a motive to kill a man and why would they lie?

4 women confess to killing the same man, at a wedding rehearsal dinner at a luxurious resort. The book alternates between police interviews after the murder and the events leading up to the murder. Three of the suspects were best friends with the bride in college and they all went separate ways for various reasons. There was a rift between two of them and there were still hard feelings there. Oh, and one of them gets dumped at the resort.....at the checkout desk. Yes, you read that right. And no I will not tell you who. You will just have to read the book for that one. This is a definite must -read for any mystery, chick-lit, or even just plain old fiction fans.

A big thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for sending this book my way! I was definitely very excited to read this one, the synopsis reminded me of Big Little Lies, and I couldn’t wait to find out who actually killed this man- and the identity of the man, since they kept that from the reader until the end.
This book definitely kept me on my toes, I had multiple theories at the very beginning, and ultimately had thought Pierce would be the man who ended up being killed, I had thought that the mysterious S character he had been contacting behind LuLu’s back was Sydney, a daughter he may have just found out about and was trying to support her and his grandchild. The theory may have been far fetched, but it made sense at the time. My only theory that had been somewhat accurate was that Henry was tied to Sydney, but the ending twist seemed a little too far fetched for me.
I really enjoyed Gina Lamanna’s writing style, so I will definitely be picking up more books from her- but as for this book- I was confused during a good duration of it, and I walked away confused, too. It had good potential, it was a great storyline, but overall I didn’t love it.

Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna is a book that was a quick read for me. I really enjoyed the way that it was written from multiple points of view and with the police interviews between chapters as the story starts to unfold. The characters themselves are not particularly likeable, all of them a bit self centred and spoilt. I liked this book but I didn't love it. The ending did not come as a complete surprise to me either, I guess I was just hoping for more.

4 women confess to the murder of a man during a rehearsal dinner for a friends wedding. All of their stories are different and the police are confused - why would 4 women all say they did it? The women are all at the luxury spa resort for week long wedding celebration for their college friend. They haven't seen each other for quite a while so it is a reunion for them all. There are also the new friends that they make along the way. As the story is told we hear about the past, their secrets and dramas and how they all tie in together.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

Great mystery.
Three college friends gather for the wedding of their fourth friend. The women were best friends all through college, but had a falling out and have not spoken in ten years. When they are all gathered together, old hurts are hashed out, jealousies are overcome, and new bonds begin to form. When a man is found killed the night before the wedding, three of the college friends, and a new friend, all confess to the murder. The book is told in part as interviews by the detective to the woman involved, to try to untangle the lies and cover ups surrounding the murder. All the twists and turns kept me guessing through till the end.
This is a great mystery, a real page turner.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

We've got some women who may be guilty of murder. MAY? Or did they actually do it? Well, obviously to find out you need to read this book, because it is GOOD. It has a very Big, Little Lies feel to it, that I loved. And of course, as always, mysteries are my jam. Pretty Guilty Women is no exception. It only took me two sittings to finish and really had me wondering "who dun it". The character dynamic, the story, the mystery, all of it, kept me reading. If you're in to mysteries like me, get ready for a fun ride.

I'm quite happy to give a novel four stars if it's the kind of book that I can immerse myself in and lose track of the pages flying by, and that is exactly what happened when I found myself lucky enough to be reading an advanced copy of PRETTY GUILTY WOMEN. I won't be the first to liken this story to Big Little Lies but it's impossible not to mention as I found the format and general vibe so similar. I loved the interview style interspersed with snippets of back-stories belonging to the four main women finding themselves in attendance of a wedding that goes horribly wrong. In the thick of the festivities, all four guests will simultaneously confess guilt to a murder. Then the fun begins as you unravel the 'who-dunnit' mystery; but also 'who the hell is it' as you won't know who the body actually belongs to until the final chapters. This is no slow-burn - the action starts immediately - and keeps a great pace and summery vibe throughout. Take this book poolside with a fruity cocktail for full effect. I'm envisioning a screen translation starring Meryl Streep and Blake Lively. Please make it happen. Thank you so much to net galley and the publishers for the wonderful opportunity to review.