This was absolutely fantastic. Not quite what I expected, to be fair: for some reason, I thought the entire book's focus would be on serial killers, while it actually focused quite heavily on historical warriors and heroines, including some really badass ladies who fought Nazis, such as Virginia Hall. I learned a lot of information (I hadn't heard of almost any of these women before reading this book!) and it's packaged in an incredibly binge-able format. The author offers a little input here and there, whether it's a quick joke or a personal remark on the treatment of a woman, and while I know some nonfiction readers prefer little to no side-chatter, I really enjoyed those little tidbits and thought it made this an immensely fast, light read.

I also appreciated that, whenever a story's focus would include particularly triggering topics, there was a brief little content warning at the top of that story's first page to let readers know what they're in for (or to decide to skip that story altogether). I've never seen something like this implemented in a nonfiction collection before, and I found it very thoughtful!

All in all, if you enjoy nonfiction about gruesome deaths (both deserved and not) and fascinating women of the past, I highly recommend checking out She Kills Me. I'm so glad I read this and I know this is a book I'll be recommending highly!

✨ Representation: She Kills Me features women from all over the world of many races, places of origin, cultures, religions, abilities, and more.

✨ Content warnings for: mentions of violence, murder, rape, infanticide, abuse, war, misogyny

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was an interesting concept for me, I thought the book was well thought out and put together. The stories were different and most I had never heard before. I wish I had listened to an audio version, I think the right narrators would have made it come alive!

There is limited material available that documents that the female can be just as bad as the male when it comes to how they treat fellow humans. The Author got a pretty decent list of females who have killed, and put extremely condensed profiles of each with the main facts being reported over maybe a page or two, which makes this a fairly fast read if you take it in one go.
The profiles are further sorted into titled chapters that each case primarily fall under such as Black Widows, scorned women, etc the author also includes a list of trigger words at the beginning of the chapter so that the reader was pre-warned what to expect in that chapter and those sensitive to material related to the triggers could avoid the chapter altogether if they wished.

Big bonus for me was that although there were a few killers that I had heard/read about previously, the majority was also a good mix that I hadn’t, however I’m on the fence with whether I would have preferred a more in-depth information on each of the ladies or if there was just enough.

Totally recommend this to any true crime enthusiast as exposure to lesser known female killers.


Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a free copy of She Kills Me in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams for letting me review this e-book. SHE KILLS ME is a good read for any fan of true crime, history and women murderers. Yes, women murderers.

I'm not a true crime podcast listener (although I should be), but I found these nonfiction stories FASCINATING.

Jennifer breaks down various women killers through the years by genres: Psychos, Pretty Poisoners, Bad Fam, Black Widows, Scorned Women, Murderous Mercenaries, Killer Queens, Badass Warriors and Avenging Angels.

Each woman's "story" is a short chapter of who she was, what she did and what most likely caused her to become a murderer.

On the one hand, the short chapters were welcomed because Jennifer was able to tell the stories of dozens of women killers. However, there were several women I would have liked to read more about. However, Jennifer provides references and articles at the end of each chapter if you want more information.

While in some instances men drove the women to kill, it sounds like the majority of the women had some form of mental illness. SHE KILLS ME made for a good quick look at why these women became unhinged.

SHE KILLS ME will be published on October 5, 2021.

I rate SHE KILLS ME four out of five stars.

I really love this book, the cover drew me in! The internal illustrations were a bit meh for me though. I would love to see some actual artwork, historical work, or photographs included with stories like these. I love the diverse span of history covered, and actually read about some new women I had never heard of before. I'm a true crime junkie, and that is hard to do! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the intertwining of historic myths (Elizabeth Bathory and Delphine LaLurie are unconfirmed monsters, but something must have happened) with historic figures both ancient and closer to modern times. Pirates, Nazis, and ancient queens! This was a great read.

This was a compelling true crime read. Great for October as many readers (myself included) turn towards spookier stories.

I really enjoyed the first few sections of this book about female killers. Jane Toppan, Elizabeth Bathory, and the section on Black Widows were my favorites. I will say that the last few sections lost my interest. I think it’s amazing that so many women were warriors, queens and rulers. But it seems like an almost different book from the way it started out.

Overall, really informative and interesting. I learned some new names and stories to research.

I loved the opening statement about female anger! I also thought the illustrations were a really cool addition to all the chapters. I appreciate the short chapters especially because some of the chapters were a bit stomach turning. My favorite sections were the ones about the female poison entrepreneurs and the women who acted against Nazis.

She Kills Me is an excellent true crime novel focusing on women who have murdered. Plenty of research went into this book. Wright splits it up in 9 sections featuring psychos, pretty poisoners, bad fam, black widows, scorned women, murderous mercenaries, killer queens, badass warriors, and avenging angels. Some of these killers you'll have heard of such as Lizzie Borden and Delphine LaLaurie. While many, you'll never have even heard of. There is about a page and a half of biographic information for each woman and a picture. Highly recommended to true crime fans!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I truly enjoyed this book.

Often when viewing or consuming true crime movies, books and podcasts, most of the time we are bombarded with male serial killers or men who have done truly devious things and it’s almost like they forget that women can also be assholes. So this books was really nice by giving out bite size information on women who have done their fair share of shitty things.

I also enjoyed the humor that the author injects to her description and that not only we get serial killers but also historical figures that we might know of but some that I genuinely knew nothing about. Also the fact that each chapter is very easy to digest makes it for a pretty fast read, although I feel like this book is better if you read it over a period of time and not all at once.

4/5 ⭐️

I had such a fun time reading this! Wright was able to convey a lot of information in a short amount of time in a way that was both humorous and engaging. I loved the sections separating the women by types of killers (ie "Pretty Poisoners" and "Badass Warriors (Not Princesses)") and really appreciated the content warnings and artwork at the start of each chapter as well as the links to sources at the end. I also loved that Wright included women from all across history and the globe rather than just focusing on one time period and Western white women.

I would recommend this for any fan of true crime as it is a great introduction to some of the lesser known lady killers in history.

I loved this book! I frequently watch “women who kill” and other shows on Investigation Discovery, this fits right in! Loved it.

I go back and forth about the genre of true crime and my feelings on it all the time, but this book is a collection of stories about female killers and it is absolutely gripping. I could not put it down. As a collections of stories, the author did not go fully in-depth for each chapter, but there was a bibliography at the end of the chapter where the reader could find more resources about whichever women they would like to read more about.
Another aspect of the book that I liked was that the author put warnings at the start of chapters that involved particularly disturbing acts beyond just the 'regular' true crime warnings.
If you like history, true crime, learning about the women in history or just want a fun book to read - I definitely recommend this book for everyone.

A motley mixture Of murder of women. Each chapter on an individual woman is very short, 2-3 pages at most. This isn’t a scholarly look, more like a modern introduction. Although the author cites articles and books, it’s mostly online articles. It’s a good introduction If one is interested in macabre women and reasons for why they killed.

CW: All forms of torture, violence, and death. This is not a book for those who are squeamish or uncomfortable with details of murder of all sorts.

Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams Image for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book is nonfiction. Research has been done, and all killers represented here are women. There are 9 sections/groupings of killers: psychos, poisoners, bad fam, cult leaders, scorned women, murderous mercenaries, killer queens, badass warriors, and avenging angels. This is not for the faint of heart (or stomach).

I found this to be an interesting read. You were given enough information to get an idea of what that particular woman was/is known for, and an opportunity to further research if you wanted to know more. It held my interest but admittedly did not blow me away.

This was great! I had a lot of fun with this one and I enjoyed everything from the illustrations to the author's commentary to the stories of the women themselves. This was also really educational for me - it wasn't just about crazy women who killed and ate people (although those women are in here) but highlighted women I would consider heroes too.

I liked the way this book was divided into chunks based on which category the women fell into and I honestly enjoyed reading the author's snarky comments about men constantly underestimating women. I didn't expect to get a nice dose of feminism in a book like this, and it was a pleasant and most welcome surprise.

I'll be holding onto this ARC in my library. I can see me revisiting it again.

Jennifer Wright wrote a book. She Kills Me covers some well-known and some more obscure female killers throughout history. Wright wrote an absolutely delightful book for those who find joy in the macabre with just the right mix of gore and humor. And quite frankly, some of these stories may even make you pump a fist and say, "Get it, girl!"

I’m into true crime as much as the next gal, but this felt a bit done. I know I’ve read multiple books discussing female killers, so this didn’t have a particularly fresh take on anything.

She Kills Me is an anthology of stories about different murderous women, all written by Jennifer Wright.

If you’re interested in true crime, you still likely haven’t heard of many of these cases.

The first section is on “psychos”: here are your Elizabeth of Bathory, Delphine LaLaurie, and some you likely haven’t heard of before, like Jolly Jane Toppan. The next section is “Pretty Poisoners,” and a lot of fascinating background on poisoners in general and why this was a method women sometimes turned to in the era of no divorce. One of these poisoners, Locusta of Gaul is from 69CE, so likely one you’ve never read about. There’s also “Bad Fam,” from Lizzie Borden to female cult leaders, “Black Widows,” “Scorned Women,” “Murderous Mercenaries,” “Killer Queens,” “Badass Warriors,” and “Avenging Angels.”

“Avenging Angels” was by far my favorite section, as these women had a massive impact on history but are most likely names you’ve never even heard of unless you’re a history buff.

Most of the sections in this book are compelling, interesting, funny, and well-written. However, sometimes Ms. Wright jokingly identifies with the murdereresses a bit too much- that’s my only criticism of this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Abrams New York for this free ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a very interesting and informative book on women who killed for various reasons. I had heard of a few of the women mentioned in the book , but I hadn't heard of most of the women listed . I highly recommend this book to other readers of true crime and non-fiction.