This was an engaging and enjoyable read for me.

In this book, Sophie is newer in town and looking to make friends. Soon, she finds herself invited to an elite gathering with the wealthy socialites in town to shoot skeet and chase young men (kind of cringy, but adds intrigue and a shock-factor to the story) while their husbands aren’t looking. Shortly after joining the group, Sophie finds herself crossing lines she didn’t know she would cross and is entangled in a murder investigation.

I will say this book had a slow-burning start, but it still captivated my attention. The story really picked up about halfway through and I could not put it down after that.

I will also say that the murderer was on my list of suspects, but it was still a little surprising when it was revealed. There were definitely a couple of unexpected twists as well.

Overall, this was an entertaining read. Would definitely recommend to readers who enjoy stories about adults behaving badly.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller about a woman who gets tangled up in a web of lies, deceit and excessive behavior. She befriends some women in the small town in east Texas where she moved to from Chicago with her husband and son. These women call themselves The Hunting Wives, and they like to get together on Friday nights, drink, shoot skeet, and then go trolling for men. The book grabbed me from the beginning and didn't let up. I was also shocked about who the real killer was.

I received an e-ARC of this book by the author and publishing via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

A very special Happy PUB day to May!! I just finished this one and it was a really good read! Special thanks to NetGalley, May and Berkley for the review copy!

Do you find yourself getting bored of your every day routine? Carpool line, fixing dinner for your family, bedtime; the everyday things? Wanting just a bit of excitement that has nothing to do with being a Mom or Wife? Well, don’t join The Hunting Wives, they’ll make you grateful for your mundane routine.

Sophie, her husband Graham and little Jack left the big city of Chicago for a small town in Texas. A change of pace, a slower life with not as many to do’s like in their city life but, Sophie grows a little restless and finds herself longing for a bit more. Enter Margot, an elite woman that every socialite in town wants to be friends with. Margot and The Hunting Wives share more than martini’s and shooting skeet, secrets and lies evolve and turn deadly in this novel.

I enjoyed this read, it was suspenseful, creative, dark and twisty. It was perfectly written, characters were well developed and it all came together to make a truly five star read! I definitely recommend for a weekend read at the lake or beach.

Sophie and her husband, Graham, and their son move from bustling Chicago to small town Texas. She thought would enjoy the slowed down life, but, in fact, Sophie finds herself a little bored.

She, also, finds herself more than a little obsessed with Margot Banks -- which will not be good for her. Soon, she is infiltrated herself into Margot and her groupies AKA "The Hunting Wives." These women get together for target practice, drinking, flirting with underage boys and all around no good. None of the ladies are likeable--even Sophie. Her husband--poor guy, and their son, Jack, were the only good characters. I did think that Graham was too lenient with Sophie and her nights out.

After a drunken party, suddenly a teenage girl is missing.

Soon, she is no longer missing. But dead.

And Sophie is a suspect.

Sophie needs to find out what happened before she ends up behind bars.

I love the short chapters. It added to the quickness of the story moving along. It was a good story and I liked it. I didn't guess the ending, so that is always a plus. Also, I liked that the ending was a little open-ended.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for my advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Happy publication day! I LOVED this book. It was unique and kept me hooked I seriously couldn’t put it down. I thought the characters were well developed and the writing was great. I was so unsure what was going to happen! So perfect.

I couldn’t put this book down! I love the small town summer lake suburban moms murder vibe. This one was such a quick read for me! Put this book on your list, you won’t regret it!

Have you ever detested a protagonist but still enjoyed the book?

That is The Hunting Wives in a nutshell. It is the totally bonkers story of group of women in a small town in Texas who get together on Friday nights to get drunk, shoot skeet and go “hunting” at local dive bars for men (yes, they are all married). And then there is a murder and they all turn on each other. It has a Real Housewives vibe to it with very wealthy, over the top women partaking in extravagant activities because they are bored. I am not knocking the Housewives because you know I love anything Bravo. What I am knocking is these abhorrent women. Especially Sophie, the main character, who is a recent transplant to this small town and fixated on Margot, the ringleader, to unnatural levels of fascination, causing her to make the worst decisions possible. We are supposed to feel sorry for Sophie because she had a traumatic childhood with a single mom who wouldn’t stay in the same city for more than a couple of years, not to mention the stress that Sophie felt living in Chicago with her husband and toddler, the stress that precipitated the move to Texas.
None of that excuses Sophie getting hammered nightly, staying out all hours of the night, leaving her husband to take her son to school, feed him, do bath and bedtime while she slept off hangovers, went on runs, went on deep dives on Facebook and did some day drinking with the women, and oh, lied incessantly and made some of the most egregious decisions ever. She was truly a horrible person. And an affront to women everywhere who are busting through glass ceilings by balancing careers while raising children and not wallowing in self pity and literally doing nothing all day, looking for sympathy. Buuuuttt, the story of these Texas women was so salacious and absurd that I had to see what happened. It is an oddly addictive page turner despite all of the cringing. Not really sure what I read but I know that I couldn’t put it down.

If you’re into train wrecks, this one’s for you!

I’ve seen some people describe this as Desperate Housewives in Texas with guns and that is a pretty perfect description.

Sophie O’Neill moves to a small town in Texas from Chicago with her husband and toddler. Looking to escape the rise and grind lifestyle, she’s hoping the move will her slow down and smell the roses. What she doesn’t count on is being a bored housewife who seems to be doing laundry all the time.

Enter Margot Banks and the Hunting Wives. A group of elite, rich bitches who get their kicks off by heading to Margot’s lake house and having far too much wine, hard nights of partying at the townie bar, and going skeet shooting. Sophie is obsessed. And not in a fun way of being obsessed but a creepy, stalkery obsessed that is not cute.

When the body of a teenage girl is found on the land where the group goes shooting, Sophie and the rest of the Hunting Wives find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation and shit really hits the fan.

This story was filled with annoying, rich, stay at home moms who complained about the stupidest shit, good lord. I hated every single one of them. But I also could not look away from this disaster! There were some definite wtf moments but also some where I knew where the story would be headed. It’s steamy and soapy and while I wouldn’t necessarily characterize it as a thriller, it had the pace and feel of it with some good whodunnit elements to it. But overall it was mostly just me watching all the drama unfold like I would a Real Housewives episode.

The Hunting Wives is a thriller set in a small Texas city outside of Dallas. Sophie O’Neill and her husband Graham move with their son to this small town to have a slower life than they had in Chicago. Sophie meets Margot Banks who invites her to a “secret” hunting club with her girlfriends. They are all bored housewives who have fun drinking, shooting, and making lots of bad decisions that end up with someone dead on Margot’s property.

Cover: I loved the bright vibrant colors and the lipstick bullets.

Character Development: None of the “hunting wives,” are likeable characters and aren’t terribly developed. The author spends a lot of time developing Sophie’s back story but she never quite ties everything together. We get little to no character development of Margot and Callie is a bit of a caricature. Tina and Jill get a tad bit of character development but it is mostly superficial. Graham (Sophie’s husband), Jack, and Erin are all quite likeable but do not have big roles in the book.

World-Building: I really enjoyed the town of Mapleton and the lake nearby I felt like Cobb did a great job writing about this setting. It has a creepy but cozy vibe.

Plot & Pacing: The pacing in this thriller is good. It is a bit slow for the first 40% but then it really picks up into a page-turner. The chapters are short, and you keep reading just a little bit more. The twists are well-paced but are a bit predictable. I was able to guess the ending about 75% into the book. There are also multiple minor loose ends that are never resolved.

While the pacing and novel structure was spot on, I had some major issues with the plot elements. First, bisexuality is used as a plot device. It is never treated as a “real” sexuality but rather something that people who are bored or have loose morals do. I just hate the implication that this type of attraction is something someone does out of boredom. As a queer woman who often identifies as bisexual (labels are fickle!), this really left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m not sure if the author is bisexual as I can’t find any reference online so I don’t know if she is writing as a member of the LGBTQIA community or not. If she’s not, I think this is a case of why sensitivity readers are so important when you are writing about communities you are not a part of.

The bigger plot point I have an issue with is the relationship between Margot and Brad, a 17-year-old teenage boy. Their relationship is described in graphic details that are unnecessary and made me uncomfortable. My concern isn’t that this relationship was written but how it was handled in the book. Margot is the Queen Mean Girl and has an air of mystery and this affair further contributes to it. The response of the reviewing community further concerns me as many people call this book “salacious” or “naughty,” but never say that this is outright wrong.

The issue of consent is mentioned as a passing comment due to it being 17 in the state of Texas and never fully explored. Even if Brad is the age of consent, there is a serious power imbalance between the two. Margot also routinely provides alcohol to him making the lines of consent even fuzzier. The morality of her behavior is never really acknowledged or explored and instead used to titillate readers instead of disgusting them. I feel the author could have picked someone older that would have conveyed the same plot points.

I cannot recommend this book due to how the author used bisexuality as a plot point and the way the relationships between Margot and Brad is handled. It is unfortunate as I thought the writing itself was good and very readable. This had the potential to be a great beach read for this summer.

ARC provided to me by Berkley, in exchange for an honest review.

#TheHuntingWives #NetGalley

Welcome to the hot mess express! I kept thinking, now what in the world is Sophie getting herself into? She had plenty of opportunities to get out of this situation with these women. At any moment, I could see them ready to turn on her on a dime. They definitely proved it. They were all vapid except for maybe Tina, who was basically just a follower. She just seemed to observe and gossip for the most part. Out of all of them, I did not understand their obsession with Margot. She did too much, she was extra and just got on my nerves. I would not want to be around her. I was shocked at the outcome of who the killer was. I really didn’t see that coming. This was a very entertaining read. It was slow and a little drawn out in the first half of the book, but you are compelled to keep reading to see how this is all going to play out.

Arc provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bored Wives and Risky Practices

Sophie O’Neil left a stressful, high-paying job in Chicago to move to a small Texas town with her family. At first the relaxed atmosphere seems a relief from the pressures of the city, but eventually, Sophie gets bored. She’s attracted to a socially prominent group of women of whom Margo is the ring leader and wants to be part of the group.

Sophie gets pulled into the group’s late night activities which include copious amounts of alcohol, skeet shooting, and some less savory practices. As she gets deeper and deeper into the group, she becomes obsessed with Margot. She is desperate to stay in Margot’s good graces and becomes willing to do anything to remain close to the other woman.

Then a young girl’s body is found in the woods where the Hunting Wives socialize, and Sophie finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation.

Sophie is a very conflicted character. She is so desperate to be noticed by Margot that she makes bad decision after bad decision. I can’t say I found her likable, but her emotional response to events was perfect for driving the story.

The story is filled with twists that will keep you guessing. If you enjoy psychological mysteries, this is a good one.

I received this book from NetGalley for this review.

The wives are hunting, but what exactly are they hunting for? This book was quite unique and well written ... BUT ... the subject matter left me cold! I wanted to close the book more than once, but kept hoping that the characters would somehow redeem themselves as the story progressed. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this frustrated by the main character and her poor choices. This book is definitely about women behaving badly with a bit of a mystery thrown in. I wish that Cobb would have focused more on the mystery and left out some of the seedier storyline.

This book my be a thriller but I also found myself laughing quite a bit! It’s like thriller meets Desperate Housewives meets Mean Girls!

What I liked:
- the story was pretty uniques
- it was fun and soap opera ish
- super quick read

What didn’t work
- characters were a train wreck
- not a true “thriller”

If you enjoyed Desperate Housewives, you will likely love this book! Women behaving badly, drama, drinking, cheating - all wrapped up in murder and mystery! This was a dark, twisty kind of story. I didn’t read the full blurb going in, just what I had heard from others. I found it a bit slow to start but man when it picked up, it picked up! I didn’t want to put it down. This is one of those books you likely will read in one sitting.

I have to be honest, for most of the book I wasn't necessarily a fan. This was merely because I loathed the main character and all her actions. She was the one you loved to hate. I found myself so many times getting so annoyed at the selfish, stupid decisions she was making that I almost didn't want to keep reading but I'm so glad I did! It turned out to be a really good read full of drama, friendships, affairs and murders with lots of twists that I never saw coming. The writing was great, the plot was great and the way the author pulled all the details together was so good! I definitely recommend checking it out 😊

Big thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was a quick thriller beach read that is extremely scandalous. I hated everyone except graham who Sophie does not deserve. Sophie, the new girl, gets wrapped up in this high society sex scandal that is blown open by murder. An unreliable narrator with quick chapters that lead to no character development. We are dropping right in the middle and I never got the obsession with the main girl in charge, Margot. The start is clunky but once you get passed the weird school girl crush like journaling chapters, the story evolved into a weird hunting party murder

I went on a wild roller coaster ride reading this book!

At first I was really intrigued with Sophie’s obsession with Margot and curious what the Hunting Wives group was all about. Then, everything started to spiral out of control...and fast.

Margot has a secret she’s hiding from everyone, except for the new girl, Sophie, and it results in Sophie the main suspect of 2 murders.

The secret was disturbing and I was cringing while reading, but I couldn’t put this book down.

Cobb does a great job at capturing the reader into this intense story that I did not see the ending coming AT ALL.

Even with the cringey secret and some uncomfortable scenes, I definitely recommend reading this one. I can also see this translating to a movie really well.

Are you looking for a shocking, steamy thriller filled with fancy homes and gorgeous characters? Look no further!

Sophia has given up her high flying career in Chicago for a small town texan suburb filled with McMansions, Lake Houses and very bored housewives. She is instantly drawn to the gorgeous, confident and mystifying Margot. As she gets to know Margot and her friends, she quickly realizes she’s in way too deep with this crew of kept women.

Hunting Wives was a very fast, page turning read. The plot and characters were entertaining, albeit not very believable. It very much reads like a, sultry, made for tv movie. May Cobb’s writing flowed effortlessly and it was a blast to read.

Save this baby for a beach read this summer!

A sincere thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the digital arc.

4 stars

The Hunting Wives

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Quick synopsis: Sophie O'Neil is new to town, fresh from Chicago. Quickly getting bored with small town life in Texas, she gets pulled in with a group of women with some interesting hobbies... one of whom she has an obsession with, Margot. How far will Sophie go to keep Margot's attention and stay in her good graces?

Ooh what a fun one. This book reminded me at times of what I thought Dead to Her by Sarah Pinsborough would be, with a synopsis of rich, bored house wife. DTH, in my opinion, did not live up to my expectations but this book did. As others have mentioned, characters weren't likeable, but that's ok with me! Did we honestly expect to like these women? I'm a huge fan of short chapters, and between that and the way I was roped into these women's lives, I was able to finish the book in just over a day - it was hard to put down. This one definitely lives up to the hype.

Review to come soon on bookstagram.

#TheHuntingWives #Netgalley

When I am having a harder time concentrating, I need a completely propulsive book that grabs my attention from the start – and The Hunting Wives is definitely that! Women behaving badly mixed with a murder investigation?!

I will say that this is certainly an engrossing read and not like anything I have picked up lately but it won’t be for everyone. It’s scandalous and can feel a bit over the top at times but if you are looking for a page-turner this spring or summer, this is a great choice. There unlikeable characters who are up to no good, plenty of dysfunction, suburban drama, and then the unthinkable happens.

I loved the premise of how easy it can be to be pulled into a web of lies and deceit, and how tricky it can be to untangle from it all. I don’t normally include “trigger warnings” in my book reviews because so many things can be tricky depending on your personal experiences but this one really does need one …especially regarding alcohol use.

Thank you to Berkley for my gifted copy.