I was waiting for an ah-ha moment but it never came. Taylor is a woman who makes horrible decisions with her abusive boyfriend. Every time she went back to him I kept thinking this can't be a good decision. I was wanting Taylor to talk to the ex girlfriend. I needed to know what she had to say.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity to review this book. My review opinion is my own. This is a wonderful thriller that I highly recommend. The author has all the right elements and charcters for a most compelling story. Very well done to the author !

I enjoy revenge stories by strong women and this was so riveting and a very exciting read ! For any woman who has had her life trashed by a man read this book. I found it so engrossing I was unable to put it down to conclusion. The protagonist is strong, smart and savvy. She methodically plans out her course of action using "The Act Of War" as a guidebook. She proceeds to brilliantly dissemble every aspect of his life. The course she takes to revenge so well plotted out and executed that you will find yourself cheering for her out loud. I loved this book and highly recommend it. Wow what a fun read. The perfect summer escape read.

Taylor Bishop and Angus Hollingsworth's relationship ended badly and as a result, Taylor seeks revenge. Actually, she takes revenge to a new level. The results and aftermath of her actions are what makes this psychological thriller gripping and engrossing. Well plotted and well crafted, this book is well worth reading. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Taylor is dumped by her abusive lover, Angus. To make matters worse, he posts a sex tape of her on the internet. Inspired by the book, The Art of War, Taylor exacts revenge. But then, Angus comes back to her, contrite and willing to change. Or is he?

This cat and mouse psychological thriller is a quick read, perfect for the beach or a rainy day on the couch. Taylor’s naïveté was at times annoying, but she came into her own and the ending was satisfying.

The Sunday Girl is a thriller and it certainly packed the thrills. I did want to know what was going to happen. But the thing I didn’t enjoy, was that I did not like Taylor at all. She just seemed to have no sense.

I liked the cat and mouse game that Taylor and Angus were playing, and they both really seemed to be upping the ante which made reading this very exciting. I just had a hard time rooting for Taylor because she made some dumb choices. She also seemed to change her feelings about the male characters very quickly. I think I would have preferred Angus’s true colors to be more of a slow reveal rather than how it was portrayed in the book.

As I said this was a very well written thriller. For me the characters didn’t work, but overall I still enjoyed this book.

This was an easy to read thriller thaylt kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend!

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the debut novel from Pip Drysdale and what a fun, thrilling read it was. Who doesn't love a good revenge plot? All I know is that I devoured this book, needing to know how it was going to play out and boy did it keep me on my toes!

I loved that this book took your typical revenge story and turned it upside down. It's not just girl gets dumped by boy and therefore decides to take her anger out by exacting revenge. That's where Drysdale takes this a step further by introducing a most delicious cat and mouse game between Taylor and Angus. It makes it so that you aren't sure which way things will go, keeping you completely glued to the pages.

Taylor is for the most part a likeable character and you really do find yourself feeling sorry for the situation that she finds herself in. There were plenty of times that I found myself questioning her actions, but I never once felt she was unreliable...I trusted her the whole time and wanted her to come out on top. Angus, on the other hand, was the most despicable character and his actions were just awful. I kept thinking this is what a psychopath is...how is she not seeing this? But, this is what domestic abuse is all about...the victim doesn't ever see it, right?

I loved that Taylor was using The Art of War as her guide for exacting revenge but unfortunately Angus always seemed to be a few steps ahead of her. Drysdale manages to turn the classic cat and mouse game on it's head and you aren't quite sure who is the cat and who is the mouse.

I really enjoyed this book and loved the way it was written. It kept me engaged from start to finish and I had a hard time putting this one down. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves psychological thrillers. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from this talented author!

"You should let them go; you cannot blame the wind for leaving, for that is what wind does."

But, Taylor Bishop cannot just let him go. Long after a beautiful love affair has turned into a controlling and abusive relationship, Taylor realizes that she can't just walk away. She needs to exact revenge for all that Angus Hollingsworth has done to change her into the vengeful whirlwind she became. It wasn't just the physical torment, or the shame she experienced when he uploaded a private video to the internet, nor was it the way that he isolated her from her support system as he slowly started destroying her life. It wasn't the cheating, or the prostitutes or even the drugs and alcohol he was abusing. It was how he always seemed to be just one step ahead of her, preventing her escape, and how he could always talk his way back into her life. So, Taylor does what any nice, heartbroken ex will do - -she consults a guidebook -- Master Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." NO SPOILERS

This was a fast-paced novel of psychological and domestic suspense. Although I didn't especially like Taylor and some of the others, I went along for the ride. I love a good revenge plot and want to root for the person who was wronged. Does Taylor take things a bit too far, or did she do what needed to be done? The conclusion may surprise you though I thought it was fitting. I enjoyed the narrative style and the writing though some of the content paints a pretty sordid picture and there's much bad behavior by many of the characters. There's no question that a life can be ruined by falling for the wrong person and the insidious nature of most domestic abuse makes it hard to spot and makes it equally hard to escape. This is the first novel by this author and I definitely plan to read more of her work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This started off really edgy and smart. I liked that the protagonist was making it a point to not leave any loose ends with her schemes at the beginning, but within a few more pages she was already getting sloppy with leaving tracks. Any hope I had for a tightly detailed plot started unraveling and I just couldn’t keep reading.

Happy one-day belated #PubDay to this beauty of a #book! Amazing cover, well-written, and brilliantly tied to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Another #psychologicalthriller you will finish in one night. •

Taylor is a good girl - she’s pretty, vying for an upcoming promotion that she’s sure to get, has a wonderful best friend, Charlotte, and lives in London with her boyfriend of years, Angus. •

Angus has had his fair share of problems, and as Taylor grieves their most recent breakup she decided that he has finally publicly humiliated and broken her just one time too many. She begins to execute a plan to get revenge - an attempt to destroy him. •

In the midst of playing this game, Taylor is pulled back and forth into her abusive, unhealthy relationship with Angus, as she herself begins to realize he is always one step ahead of her - and it’s her life that may be on the line. •

The good girl is forced to come to terms with the man she’s loved for years, fight for her sanity, career, reputation, life, and a potential, unlikely Prince Charming on the horizon. •

I LOVED this one. Can’t wait to see what else @pipdrysdale has in store. •

I received an ARC of this book from Simon & Schuster and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.—I’ll start by saying I’d rate this book a 3.5. I love a good thriller, especially one that keeps me guessing. There were definitely some twists and turns throughout The Sunday Girl, and the plot was an interesting one, but I did find myself wishing for fewer predictable outcomes and a deeper dive into the character studies. Overall, however, this was a fun, fast read that kept me entertained and held my attention to the end. As this was Ms. Drysdale’s first book, I’ll be interested to see what comes next.

Taylor Bishop was devastated when her boyfriend Angus broke up with her. It was sudden and gutting, especially when she found out that he had not only taken his ex-girlfriend on the skiing vacation they were just about to go on together, but he also leaked a private video of her online (yes, one of those videos). Taylor works in finance, and if her employer were to somehow find that video, she could lose her job. Angus’ way of torturing her added insult to injury, and at first she doesn’t know what to do about it.

Then she starts to read The Art of War. And she feels like maybe she can level the playing field. She knows that it might be best to just let it go, but when she remembers that video, online, for anyone to see, she sees red all over again and strikes out.

Taylor breaks into Angus’s apartment and steals his favorite socks. She opens a pipe under his sink, so there will be a leak into the downstairs flat. She buys a romantic gift for his next-door neighbor in his name, knowing that she is in a relationship and will not be happy with the attention. She goes onto his computer to try to find and delete that video he leaked, and while she's there, she uses the opportunity to order two prostitutes to show up at his place on his birthday, charged to work credit card.

But she never anticipates his next move.

Angus does the most crazy, unthinkable, mind-bending thing of all—he shows up at her doorstop, roses in hand, to apologize profusely and ask her to take him back. Taylor is torn. She loved Angus deeply, felt a truer connection to him than she had ever felt to anyone. But he hurt her deeply, and she’s taken secret steps to ruin him professionally and get him kicked out of his apartment. Does she confess to it all and help him undo what she's done? Does she take him back, but not say anything about what she’s done? Or does she just say no and move forward with her life?

Meanwhile a big project at work takes a precarious turn, and Taylor finds herself in hot water for decisions she’s been a part of. Taylor finds herself needing to be focused on making things right, but the return of Angus is distracting to the highest degree. Taylor tries to balance her work with her relationship, and her anger at Angus and her mistrust at some of his behavior. And then she learns the one thing that changes her whole view of her relationship, and Taylor knows her whole life is in jeopardy.

The Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale is a thrilling look at relationships, revenge, and redemption. Anyone who has been in an emotionally abusive relationship will see pieces of themselves in the character of Taylor and spend the chapters turning those pages and cheering her on. I adored this book and raced through it, aching to find out how it ends. There are some delectable twists and lots of amazing surprises. There are some difficult scenes of intimacy between Taylor and Angus, so if that’s a problem, I’d skip this one. But otherwise, it was a wonderful nail-biter about a bad relationship, a series of emotional decisions, and waiting to see where the chips fall. (Again, loved it!)

Galleys for The Sunday Girl were provided by Sourcebooks Landmark through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Creepy, engaging, and impossible to put down. Pip Drysdale's The Sunday Girl is the revenge you always wish the girls in the books with the bad boyfriends would take, yet it isn't at all as simple as one would like to think. Taylor Bishop is more than hurt by the end of her relationship, her world has tilted off its axis and with it some of her sanity. Desperate to hurt him in a way that damages him as much as he has done to her she begins to take the steps to ruin him. Reputation, money, career, nothing is off the table, but Angus Hollingsworth isn't just a bad boyfriend he's far worse than Taylor even knows. Nothing is off the table as the two start a terrifying battle of wits, one that puts both of their lives into jeopardy with only one winner guaranteed.

I went into The Sunday Girl blind and I am so glad I did, there is nothing more satisfying than reading a novel with a good girl narrator who has slowly and insidiously had darkness poured into her. I had no idea the part that <i>The Art of War</i> would play, no clue the abuse she had taken, and absolutely no hint as to the steps both she and her ex would take to tear one another apart. This isn't just a story of a jilted lover, this is a woman whose life has been taken apart piece by piece and her ex won't let her even get a step up on him, no he has plans to take those puzzle pieces and scatter them, leaving it impossible to put back together.

Taylor seems to be brave, but it is clear she was once a meek girl with no self-confidence that landed a relationship with a man she thought far superior to herself. I really enjoyed the breaks from the warfare to see who Taylor really was and could be without the narcissistic Angus pulling her strings. It is only through some brutal psychological abuse that she drops her sweet side for a mask made of armor. The Sunday Girl isn't all domestic drama though, no things spill over into their careers, their friendships, and their romantic dalliances. No one is spared and it is hard to imagine how life could possibly move forward after the events in this novel.

The Sunday Girl held my attention from start to finish, I could not put it down. It was just twisted enough, just girl power enough, and just unique enough that I could not predict what would happen next. If you love psychological thrillers, this is the next book to pick up.

When a revenge porn video is leaked, Taylor decides her ex-boyfriend Angus has hurt her for the last time. She pretends all is forgiven, after deciding to ruin his life. Taylor develops a plan of attack to take him down personally and professionally. However, Angus is a pro at humiliation and destruction, and he will not go quietly. The pair’s schemes against each other escalate and Taylor’s plan quickly slips out of her control.

This was a great concept that I was stoked to get my hands on in advance of its publication date. However, it’s marketing as a thriller, and I’m not sure that category quite fits. This strikes me as part thriller, part domestic drama, and part coming of age story. Since there’s so much going on with each theme, no single element is fully explored, leaving this feeling really lacking in depth to me. The conflict building was really well done, and I was tense for most of this novel. However, the climax and aftermath seemed rushed and incomplete.

This is the reason why you should read romcoms hand in hand with thrillers and crime novels. People take a hint when a piece of garbage like Agnus enters your life and take the necessary precautions.

After an 18 months relationship, Taylor is heartbroken and miserable, when Angus dumped her on the night of their skiing trip.
Angus is just the gift that keeps on giving. He's not only taken his ex to the said trip and posted their picture on Facebook, but he also uploaded a sex tape of Taylor on a porn site and refused to answer her calls imploring him to take it down.

I was torn between ready the whole thing in one sitting, or going as slowly as possible enjoying every little detail. I guess my eagerness took over.
The book description portrayed the novel as a mix of between "the girl in the train" and "before I go to sleep", with a dash of "Bridget Jones". This illustration can not be more accurate. The author made a great job of presenting an amalgam of darkness and vulnerability captured in the mindset of an abused heartbroken woman, the all woven with cleverly funny scenes.

I loved the way Pip Drysdale painted Taylor. She did not give her the usual transformation of the fragile good girl to the femme fatale. I know she learned a lot of investigation and spying trick but still, there were flaws in her plan (the gun) and she continued on questioning her fatal decision.
I'm not a big fan of David. I am not sure about his sincerity

I rate it 4,5 stars because I've finished it still craving more, what about Kim and Caz?

Many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for providing my ARC

Hello fellow readers,
This was a good read. The characters were well thought out and written. The plot was realistic and dread-inducing. And the issues depicted are common and horrifically all too true. I did not expect the climactic end to unfold as it did. I recommend this book to anyone who likes domestic thrillers with a London setting and character they can root for.

Many thanks to @netgalley for making the arc accessible, @bookmarked for approving my request, and @pipdrysdale for writing this gem and happy pub day!

My rating: 3.75

Keywords: Gaslighting, domestic abuse, and psychological.

Crazy good! This book will be making my list of favorite books for 2020, in fact, The Sunday Girl is probably one of my favorite psychological thrillers of all time! Trust me, it’s that good!

As soon as I began reading this novel, I did not want to put it down. It was perfect pandemic reading. I wasn’t supposed to be leaving my house, and as long as I had this book in my hand, I had absolutely no desire to. I was happily glued to the pages.

Taylor Bishop’s heart has been broken. Smashed to bits, really. What’s a girl to do when the man that she loves treats her so terribly and then breaks up with her? She gets revenge. In my opinion, Taylor was much better off without Angus Hollingsworth, but where would the fun be in that? If fictional characters always made the best decisions and did the right thing, reading would be dull, and this book is anything but dull. I was on Team Taylor right from the get-go. I didn’t necessarily agree with her actions, but I liked her, felt outraged for her, and rooted for her until the very end. She was a woman on a mission, and I was right there with her for the ride.

I’m pretty sure that my heart was racing throughout the entirety of this novel. I wasn’t really sure who I could trust. My suspicious mind was amped up and doubting everyone’s actions. It kept me on the edge of my seat with my Kindle gripped tightly in my hands. With every chapter, I was pulled deeper and deeper into this addictive, twisted, deceptive thrill ride.

I can’t sing this book’s praises enough. The writing was top-notch, the storytelling was incredible, the characters were well developed and flawed to perfection. I loved how the author used The Art of War as Taylor’s game plan. The Sunday Girl was a riveting reading experience that I highly recommend.

Pip Drysdale’s next book is already on my must-read list.


*5 Stars

This was a great thriller! I finished this page-turner in two days, and that was only because I didn't have more time to read in my busy schedule, otherwise, I would have finished it in a day. Hearing that this is the author's debut novel, I will definitely be looking out for more of her work. This book was super entertaining, suspenseful, and the writing was really good. Also, it contained Art of War quotes which I thought made a very nice contribution. My only points of criticism are that I would have liked to read more about the relationship between Taylor and David, and I don't think all of Taylor's actions were believable. All in all, this was an amazing debut novel and I would definitely recommend it to all thriller lovers!

The Sunday Girl was a gripping and entertaining read with a plot driven by revenge. Drysdale has crafted an addictive and exciting thriller that's impossible to put down. With well-developed characters, you'll be rooting for some and plotting the demise of others right along side them.

When I first saw this one on NetGalley I gave it a pass. It sounded fine, but revenge stories are usually not my thing - as a category, in my experience, they tend to either fall into all-too-familiar tropes or go so far over the top that I struggle to stay with the stories Then I was invited to participate in a Poisoned Pen bookshop author panel online that included Pip Drysdale, and I was so captivated by her personality and her explanation of her book that I immediately went back and requested it. So I had high hopes after initial low ones, which I know could be a dangerous combination - and proved to be...

The book started off beautifully - I was delighted to find that the book read the way the author spoke. It was snarky and subtle and funny and dark but with a curious levity that felt appropriate and made everything intriguing. I loved the premise, and was initially drawn to the voice of Taylor, the protagonist. But about 1/3 to 1/2 in, that voice shifted and from there on I struggled with this one. Taylor became improbable and much less sympathetic to me as a character and she lost all of the edge and snark and wit that I so enjoyed in the beginning of the book. It was strange, but it almost felt like someone else had written the book from that point forward. The clever bon mots and one-liners and bits that wove Sun Tzu into the revenge story were suddenly gone. What I was left with was a revenge tale that felt fairly typical, which I found very disappointing. There were a few twists and turns, that is true, and it never occurred to me to stop reading - I was curious enough to see where things would go and constantly hopeful that the author's delightful voice would turn back up (at the denouement and resolution if nowhere else). It never did and it left me a little disappointed. Still, I so loved the beginning and the concept was clever and fun, even if its execution wasn't always quite as surgical and deft as the beginning led me to believe it would be, and I will definitely keep an eye out for more of her books in the hope of finding that magic again...

And honestly, Drysdale is delightful to listen to, so if you have an opportunity to look her up it is definitely worth your time!