I’m still processing everything that occurred in this book but overall this was a very thought provoking book featuring some extremely dynamic women who I would love to be friends with. This book centers around three women coming into their power and essentially utilizing it to track down a serial killer and to stop the murder of young women in their area. Reading this while living the US where our bodies continue to be at the forefront of legislation was a little eerie but timely to say the least. I loved the female empowerment and perspective found in this novel and several quotes will stay with me for quite a while.

A few drawbacks to this, there were a lot of characters throughout the novel and it started to get a smidge confusing at first. Once I understood what the author was doing (especially giving a voice and names to some of the victims) I appreciated it. I do think it took a little bit away from creating some additional drama with the main characters but overall would recommend this read.

This was a 3.5 star read for me and thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Three middle age women in Mattauk Beach use their female powers to figure out who is responsible for the murder of a young girl. Nessa hears voices from the dead, a calling that she inherited from her grandmother. Harriett, after losing her job, realizes she has quite the green thumb that becomes very useful. And Jo who is able to channel her hot flashes to give her extra power. When the 3 women band together, it leads them to more bodies and a world where the towns most elite think the rules don't apply to them.

While I enjoyed the strong, powerful feminine message of the novel, the "magic" element was not for me. I felt like the story leaned too much on the supernatural and it detracted from the actual story. I had heard such great things about this book, but it kind of fell flat for me.

Thank You Netgalley and William Morrow for the free e-galley.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. When a girls body is found, the police think its drugs. Three women in the neighborhood are not sure. It will take alot to catch the culprit.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC!

I was so excited to be approved for this! I dove into The Change excited, after having read so many positive reviews, and actually even after reading the synopsis itself. I enjoyed the first 20% of the book, but then something started to shift for me. I suddenly felt like I was reading a feminist novel. All I read was hatred toward men and women dealing with their menstrual cycles. I did enjoy that this novel was about women who are in their mid to late 40's. I do not see enough books that revolve around this age group, and that was so refreshing to find. I also loved the "witchy" element to the story. However, due to the whole feminist vibe, I just didn't enjoy this novel after all. A few comments here and there about men and getting revenge, I can handle, but when one of the main character's back story just centered on this, I just lost interest. I wanted to love this, and it had so much potential, but I just started rolling my eyes with all of the "metoo" vibes. Sorry to say that I may be in the minority, but this just was a disappointment.

A murder mystery with characters who pocess supernatural abilities, yes, yes. I lived it. It was excellent. If you love a good mystery, strong female characters, and a touch of the supernatural this is the book for you. The female leads and plot were great. It is a must read in my opinion.

Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow, and Kirsten Miller for an advanced copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

This book is getting some huge hype on bookstagram, so much so that I requested an ARC and started reading along with the masses. I liked it so much that I ordered a physical copy on my own dime and tucked it away for a reread this fall. A story about women with special powers needs to be finished on a crisp fall night with a fire and Halloween decs. I’m here for it and am going all in!!!

We’ve all read books about and seen movies about vengeance. They are always so popular and so well received. They are usually about men seeking said vengeance. I had so many thoughts while reading this and enjoying every single character get their due, but the most important is that I hope there are more chances to see these main characters. They are so well developed. They are not perfect nor are they whole. They are completely different but all share the experience of being a woman in a world that has never given women equality, power, or value. Every woman in the book has to decide how to deal with that reality. So, while men may read this and say, “Not all men!” they will have trouble seeing that this is no longer about them.

I loved this book…it was so quick and entertaining! Three women become friends after discovering their witchy powers and combine forces to find justice for murdered girls in their seaside town. A great mix of crime and magical realism, I’ve never read a book like this before. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I want to be Harriet when I grow up, hahaha!

Thank you to the publisher for this book.

Enjoyed the story and liked how it ended. But this was wayyyyyyyy too long. There were too many times where nothing was happening or the same thing over and over.

The plot was a good one, but it just went for way to long. And it just got a bit ridiculous.

Well, well, well! This was a STUNNING book!! Oh my goodness, I enjoyed it so much! So twisty and compelling and compulsively readable! Do yourself a favor and run to the book store to pick up this book!

This book is hard to classify. It has ghosts, magical realism, women detectives, suspense, women's lib with some humor thrown in. I loved this it! It has 3 middle aged badass heroines just coming into their own after years of working and doing for others. Harriet lost her advertising job and her husband. She shuts herself in her house, fires the gardeners and lets her garden grow wild despite HOA complaints. She decides to study botany, specifically poisonous plants. The neighbors think she is a witch. Nessa, a widow with twins in college, knew at an early age that she could see the dead but the gift is just revealing itself now that she is alone. Jo was the manager of a large hotel but lost her job because as she put it, she doesn't have a penis. She now owns a women only gym and exercises compulsively. She is going into menopause and putting up with horrid hot flashes that become much more when she learns to channel them. Nessa lives near Harriet and she meets Jo at the gym and they become a force to be reckoned with. Led by the voices Nessa hears they find a dead girl in a trash bag at the beach and Nessa sees 2 more girls nearby. The book is about bringing justice to those three girls so Nessa can give their mothers peace. Along the way we meet good cops and bad cops, several victims, and lots of really bad guys. The histories of the characters are told in flashback type chapters, giving us an understanding what motivates them. The book is brought to a most satisfying conclusion, at least if you are a woman. I was cheering the ladies on all the way. Thanks to netGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

3.5 stars rounded up to four…

Overall, this was a good book, well written with complex and interesting characters and I did enjoy the theme of empowerment to the women over forty set. I just have mixed feelings… the women are very bold and amazing and I loved their energy and passion. However, sometimes it really came across in such a negative way, rather than a positive blossoming of their powers/lives. IDK that doesn’t really make much sense but it just wasn’t what I was expecting - prior to reading I didn’t realize it was essentially a murder mystery. However it worked and had a supernatural influence that really gave it a uniqueness that was enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy.

For a surprise twist in the marketing game, the synopsis for The Change actually rings true: Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick (the latter of which I have sadly only seen on the screen).

Three women come into their own during middle age and discover inner strengths and supernatural powers. In this discovery, they team up and work together in a harmonious trio, playing off each other's abilities to take down whoever is responsible for the murders of three teenage girls whose bodies are discovered over the course of the book. Miller takes the time to tell their backstories, as well as spending time with snippets of backstories for all the victims and the other women from the town who are tangentially involved.

Honestly, I was a little startled to like this one as much as I did. I am not a rah-rah, girl power type of a gal. But the snark and self-revelatory nature of the stories for the main characters was actually completely engaging and fully entertaining. If someone said that all women over 40 should read this book, it would make me run and hide and maybe never touch it...so I won't say that—.

But I especially liked the exploration of this middle stage in life alongside the built-into-the-system sexism and misogyny. Some parts of the book had just a wee bit too much telling and not enough showing, but the power behind the deeper themes and the humor in which it was all wrapped, more than excused the scattered moments of shortcuts in storytelling.

This was a fireball of a revenge story I didn't know I needed.

This was one of those books I had to sit with for a while after I finished because I had so many feelings and wanted to write a review to do the book justice even though I'm likely going to fail. While it's being marketed as a paranormal feminist revenge fantasy (and it is that), it was also so much more!

Set in a wealthy beach town, three older women come together when the dead body of a young girl is discovered and the authorities write her off as a drug-addicted sex worker who was merely the victim of her trade. Not satisfied, these women use newly discovered gifts (one sees the ghosts of dead victims and another has the power of pyromancy) to investigate the dark secrets of what's really going on in their town.

This book will have you cheering for these women who take power into their own hands in order to fight against the systemic injustice women have had to endure forever at the hands of wealthy white men. I read this on Red Shirt Day - a day to remember all the murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls who go forgotten and the crimes against whom go unsolved. Because of that, the book felt so timely and relevant, although I did wish it had delved more into violence against women of color and not just that inflicted on the poor and underprivileged white women.

Overall this book was such a satisfying read. A GMA Book club pick for May, The change is definitely the page-turner thriller you need to read this summer and one I feel like I will be going back to for repeat readings! Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early review copy!

I received a free electronic ARC of this exceptional novel from Netgalley, Kristen Miller, and publisher William Morrow. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read The Change of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am pleased to add Kristen Miller to my must-reads author list and recommend her to friends and family. She writes about important facts of life in an entertaining way.

Our tale of three decidedly different women and their experiences and solutions to adjusting to the change of life is exceptionally apt, at least it was for me. Set in Mattauk, New York, we follow the lives of Harriett Osborne, a retired publicist 48 years old; Vanessa James, a widow, 42 years old and the mother of college-bound twin daughters, Jordan and Breanna; and Jo Levison, only on the cusp of the change and the mother of a feisty 11-year-old daughter, Lucy.

Harriett has an awesome but highly unorthodox and under-appreciated natural garden and an ex-husband missing in action. Though she has no children of her own, she is the consummate Earth Mother. She is, however, known as the community witch. Jo's husband is a stay-at-home dad for the last couple of years while she runs her women-only gym in town. And Nessa inherited the house in Mattauk from her parents. After years in the three-generational household, Nessa can't stand the silence around her home. Her world is way too quiet with her parents gone and the girls away at college.

Into this stew of women being forced into some sort of change, we have someone raping and killing girls. Girls from 13 to 17 years old. And it will take the perspective of these three women to apprehend the guilty party or parties and put a stop to what their research shows to be years of the rapes and murders of vulnerable children, girls like their own, right here in Mattauk

I’m going to try to keep this short by saying this. Too much too much too much. I get it. I really do, but the banter started to wear me out and I just couldn’t finish.
I closely identified with almost all of the BS thats happened to these women. It makes me crazy that in some ways we as a country have not learned a thing about equality. Crazy!
So having said all that I just couldn’t enjoy it. I’m not rating this because it’s not fair to the author. I hear you girl! I. Hear. You❣️
Thanks William Morrow via NetGalley.

Interesting and well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Definitely creepy. Just a little slow and unbelievable at some points. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

📚Book Review 📚

"Accept that what you find may be worse than you ever thought possible. And believe that you possess the strength to see it."

⚠️TW: Mentions of sexual assault, rape, adultery, kidnapping and trafficking⚠️

The Change is a suspense filled with fantasy and powerful women. Harriett, Jo, Nessa are women who are in prime of their life and are finding powers in them which are just emerging. Meanwhile, sinister things are happening in the town they live and these powerful women make it their mission to punish these evil people. Their own families and friends get threatened. Through this process they find themselves and form wonderful friendships at the same time.

This book is not an easy one. The author has subtly weaved in so many issues that women deal with everyday in some form or the other. It's really sad how even today misogyny exists and men still think that they can decide for women. It deals with sexism, feminism, racism and empowerment in a satirical way that though, is hilarious leaves a profound mark on the reader. Having said that, she has done such an amazing job of showing that there are bad women and good men as well.

Jo, Nessa, Harriett are badass women and I loved them! Lucy is just so adorable. I went through so many emotions while reading this story. I was happy, sad, screaming, cheering internally all at the same time. I hope the author decides to write more about these women. I loved this book! 5 Stars read.

Thanks to NetGalley , William Morrow and HarperCollins for this book.

While I certainly did not need almost 500 pages of this story, it was a fun, feminist tale of revenge. The plot dragged a bit in the end, but I loved the witchy vibes and using plants as weapons. I think this would make a great HBO series like Big Little Lies!

Is Feminist Magical Realism it's own genre? Because it's my favorite! The Change has got to be the best book I've read this year. It's witchy and wonderful. It makes me want to cultivate unusual and possibly poisonous plants in my garden. I want to channel Harriet use my plants for my witchy purposes.
Everything about this book spoke to me. I'm sure I will be shouting from the roof tops that everyone should read this book for a long time to come.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.