A story within a story. We follow four strangers with a newly formed friendship after a scream is heard in the Boston Public Library. As the four new friends question why someone would scream in the BPL the news reports that a young lady has been found dead with no leads. As past problems become the presents new issue the question they all have, which of the three could be the real murder.

This is the first mystery novel that I have read so I do not know what the status quo is on pacing but I felt like this book dragged in the beginning. Based on the books synopsis I was expecting a 12 angry men situation with each person accusing the next of the murder until all the clues come together. However as the book unfolds, the crazy twists and turns start to make you question each person. Overall I enjoyed this book. The real treat in this book is that this is a story within a story. Written as if we are the Beta readers we see an email exchange between the books “author,” and a fan that adds an extra piece of suspense in the book.

Overall I would give this book 3 stars.

To see/hear our full review of this book please check out our podcast episode that will be available on 6/12/2022 on Spotify and Apple.

Thank you Poison Pen Press and NetGalley for the arc.

This ARC was received with the promise of an honest review. All opinions in this review are ours.

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A story within a story. This concept was executed differently than I have seen before, and I enjoyed the ebbs and flows and how Leo's words would find their way into an upcoming chapter. However, overall this book fell flat for me.

Excellent story within a story within a story situation. The way the different stories unfold is so satisfying. It's a little bit difficult to follow in the audiobook format and might have benefited from having a couple of different voices, but it was still an incredibly enjoyable read.
Particularly enjoyable was the chapter ending letters from penpal Leo. They originally seemed a bit of an odd add-in, but the way they unfold a second story is really well done. I began to see hints of something early on and had to double-check that the author was indeed a woman and that I was reading those hints for what they were.
Very, very cool story-telling. Loved every minute of it. I sometimes get too anxious to complete a story like this, but it had just the right balance for me to stay interested and curious without becoming too overwhelmed that I needed to skip to the end.

Thank you so much to the author, the publishers, and Netgalley for making this story available to me.

Enjoyment: 4.5
Total rating: 4.5

Wow. I am not going to lie. Much like I had to do with The Mayfair Witches trilogy, I had to pull up paper and pen in the beginning, to keep track of each set of characters, as Sulari's story was too advanced for my feeble brain to grasp at first. Regardless I was here for it!! We got to try and identify at least two killers, which got me excited. You see, there is a book inside a book inside a book! A delicious literary turducken.

Hannah is an author who is writing a mystery novel about an author writing a mystery novel. I bow to Sulari for not making it hard to follow once you realize what is happening! Even though we didn't meet Hannah (early or at all), we got to know her thought process through correspondence with a friend. Freddie's world was fantastic, she is writing a mystery book, but murders start happening around her in real life.

I loved the easter eggs about a mystery writer process; the overall mystery of the book was well-plotted. The narrative is engaging and fast-paced, and the characters (all of them) are delightful and multidimensional. I always appreciate it when the twists are impactful and organic to the plot.

I enjoyed this fresh take on an author as a character and felt that Sulari pulled it off very well. With that said, I was hoping to get more from Hannah's PoV. I literally could not put this book down. Even though I wouldn't call The Woman in the Library a cozy mystery, it read like a modern golden age book. It has all the right feels.

Katherine Litrell's narration is delightful. Her intonation brought the characters to life, and her pacing did the story justice.

Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to the publishers and NetGalley for providing a copy of The Woman in the Library.

***4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account***

The Woman In The Library by ingenious author Sulari Gentill is a remarkably clever story about an author writing a book about an author writing a book!

Reading and listening to this smart plot was pure fun. Four strangers at The Boston Library are startled by a woman's deadly scream and then a hidden dead body. Freddie (Winifred), Marigold, Cain and Whit are forced to stay together while security searches the library. They become fast friends but soon Freddie realizes, as she finds her book characters becoming more like her new friends, that one of them may be a murderer.

Now the brilliance is that it is author Freddie and her group who are the characters in successful author Hannah's latest novel in progress. But Hannah has real problems when her beta reader doesn't like the direction her murder mystery is taking and who he believes should be the killer.

Narrator Katherine Littrell was magnificent with a full cast of characters and numerous emotions to navigate throughout this creative thriller. A fun suspense to figure out as clues slowly reveal themselves.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Dreamscape Media via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

It begins in the Boston Public library.
Four strangers sitting at the same table.
A woman’s blood-curdling scream.
And so begins a thrilling adventure into the lives of these four people-all suspects with secrets and motivations of their own. 👀

“A group of people united by a scream.”

📙The Woman in the Library By Sulari Gentill
📙Mystery/Thriller/Fiction
📙Publisher: @poisonedpenpress & @dreamscapemedia
📙Pub Date: June 7th 2022, out now!
📙 🌟🌟🌟🌟4 stars

📚Things I Loved:
✔️This book was a twisty and cleverly layered murder mystery and it kept me guessing until the end.
✔️Every character had something to hide, no one was innocent! This provided just the right amount of tension as the characters and their relationships began to unravel.
✔️The plot was very well-developed, intelligent and funny! The chapters are quite short, which makes this a pretty fast read.
✔️The audiobook was narrated by Katherine Littrell and I enjoyed going back and forth between the book and audio.

📚Not so much:
✔️This was a story within a story within another story and even though I thought it was written well, it felt confusing at times.

Overall, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝗪𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 is an engaging, sly, cleverly done story that certainly kept me guessing from start to finish.

A big thank you to NetGalley @netgalley Dreamscape Media @dreamscapemedia & Poisoned Pen Press @poisonedpenpress for this gifted copy of the book and audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Rating: 3.5

I have really mixed thoughts on this one. It’s definitely a book you should read and try for yourself. I know I’ve been saying that a lot lately but that's just how these books have been. Just because something was just okay for me doesn’t mean you won’t love it.

I really loved the cover for this one because it immediately intrigued me. When I found out a murder took place in the library I was hooked! I wanted to find out of course who did it and how they did it. I liked all of the characters that were in this story. Usually, that never happens but honestly I found each character to be likable and relatable in their own way. The author did a great job of writing them with their own quirks and personalities.

I think this author has a great writing style and the story is well written. It just didn’t work for me. I found how it was written to be a bit confusing for me. It was basically a story within a story and I constantly had to keep going back to see what was fiction and what was happening in the now. But me being confused could have definitely just been a me thing and not an everybody thing. Sadly, as the story kept going I found my interest in the whodunnit to be fading. Instead of being locked in and excited to find out who the murderer was I found myself not really caring. I did finish this book but mostly because I listened to the audiobook while driving. I do think if I was reading the physical version then I would have dnf. I will say I thought the narrator did a good job.

Thank you so much @poisonedpenpress for the #gifted copy on #netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was so hard for me to get into- I stopped and started this one multiple times until I hit about the 60% mark, then I got a lot more invested! This book involved a book inside of a book and this made it incredibly confusing for me, but that does not mean that this did not also add to the mystery. I did not predict this one correctly- so that says a lot! This is not your casual beach read thriller- you really have to use all of your brain power and put on your detective hat to get this one, but that made it so much more exciting!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the early listen. Narrator did a great job telling the story and giving each character their own voice. Loved the story being written within the story itself. Will recommend.
Solid ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ s

When four strangers hear a scream in a library they quickly band together and become fast friends. When a body is discovered many hours later, they become each other’s alibis, but as their backstories come to light and more crimes occur, they are soon questioning if one of them is a murderer, but which one? Gentill has cleverly crafted this book, as the listener finds out early on that the story being told is actually a novel that’s being written, but this novel has a rather creepy twist! A well done audio with a believable narrator, this was a fast and fun listen!

Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

This book caught my attention while reading the synopsis. Two stories in one? Sounds interesting. We have an author, Hannah, sending her chapters to Leo, where he reads it (as we do) and then emails her back her thoughts. The story follows 4 people who just so happened to be sitting at the same library table when they hear a woman scream in the library. Thinking that nothing came of this, they went on their days and had casual conversations. We find out that the scream came, and a woman was murdered.

Who did it? We come to find some interesting information about the 4 people at the table. Did one of them do it? Hannah writes about an author (one of the 4) who writes a fictional encounter of these events. Leo likes to give his own feedback, and we learn more about him and Hannah throughout the book.

This book was definitely interesting, but I think I would’ve enjoyed reading it instead of listening to it. There were times that I was confused with what was happening because I couldn’t tell who was saying or doing what. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good suspense story.

This book is a mystery/thriller with two stories being interwoven.

Story 1: There is a mystery writer and a beta reader. The beta reader seems to have his own idea of how one should write a murder mystery and gets overly attached.

Story 2: (The story the Beta Reader is reading) A writer meets two other writers and a psychology student when they all hear a woman scream at the Boston Public Library. They bond over this experience and become friends, but do they really know anything about each other.

Personally, I would have preferred not having the beta reader story. I think that it caused both stories to feel underdeveloped. I think the woman murdered in the library story with it's twists would have been interesting enough on its own and the beta reader story seems like an updated Misery and would have made a good short story.

The writing was strong though, the author kept me guessing, and I will definitely be reading more by Sulari Gentill.

Also, the narrator of the audiobook did a fantastic job.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦!

I love books about books and this story was fantastic, I must admit it took me a bit to get into the story, but once I got the gist of it, wow, I was completely hooked and fascinated with the concept of it.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape for this ALC.

oof. This one was rough for me. The narrator honestly did their best, but man, trying to convince us that was an Australian accent was a feat of its own. This is one book that would have been much better served with a cast of narrators, or at least two for each separate plot line. The book within a book within a book narrative got confusing real fast with the same narrator doing it all, and despite my best efforts, I was more frustrated and confused than anything.

Listened to this one, and loved the voices, a great friendship came out of this one but with secrets, I really thought I had it completely figured out but it went in a totally opposite direction. The were a few parts that did leave me a little confused but I really enjoyed the story that was initially set in a library. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

4ish stars

This was a weird, interesting, multi-layered story within a story (within another story? wild). I requested and received this one so long ago that I’d kind of forgotten what it was supposed to be about, so I went into it not really knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by much of it; good choice, past version of me! It was definitely a fun book.

This was just OK. I came out of this book not knowing how to feel really. I didn't hate it but I also didn't enjoy it at times.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my advanced audio copy of The Woman in the Library.

There were a few things that I did enjoy about this book-

✨The Audio- The Woman in the Library is narrated by Katherine Littrell. If it wasn't for her narration I may have DNF'd this book.

✨ The Format-I found the format of this book to be unique. It was like reading a book within a book.

✨ The Mystery- I did not predict the killer.


Why This Book Lost Stars-

I wasn't particularly invested. There were times in the beginning where I was engaged in the story but overtime my interest waned.

Overall- This wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't my favorite. I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it.

This was a unique thriller that really took me by surprise.
There were two stories folded into one.
Each chapter is the chapter of an authors working manuscript. She is from
Australia and sending pages for feedback to a fellow writer she met online who lives in Boston where her book is located.
As Theo, the online writing friend, reads more and more of this authors story, he becomes more and more invested personally in the stakes.

The conclusion of each chapter ends with Theo’s email reply with notes and suggestions. These escalate from the typical reader excitement to clarification of American slang and eventually to attachments of images of dead bodies.
The ending made the book as the character of Theo (based on the real life Theo) makes a final appearance in the final scene. Makes me wonder if he eventually finds a way to get face to face with the author in real life or just her own imagination….

📖 Book Review 📖

🎧”The Woman In The Library” by Sulari Gentill

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC- set to be published June 7, 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A novelist named Hannah is writing a murder mystery set in a library…seems right up my alley. As she gets her chapters completed she send them to Leo, who proofreads, edits and makes suggestions for changes.
The proposed novel is about Freddy, an Australian writer in Boston on a scholarship, who meets Whit an aspiring journalist, Cain a published author with a dark past, and Marigold, a younger individualist with her collarbone tattoos, when they are sitting near each other in the reading room of the Boston Public Library when a scream is heard. A woman’s dead body is found and these 4 are stuck, waiting to be questioned by the police. Friendships blossom, plans are made and the story unravels.

Great characters, an interesting plot and lots of twists that really mess with your head.

My biggest complaint is the letters back to the author after she has sent her chapters to Leo to critique, edit and help with more American (not Australian) slang/phrases. I hated how the pandemic was added in and the racial inequalities that Leo wanted to add into the chapters. Can’t a book just let the reader decide what race they see each character, and if the character wore an outfit coordinating face mask or not?

#givemeallthebooks #books #letsread #bookfriends #homelibrary
#somanybooks #readsomemore #audiobooks #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #readersofinstagram #readmorebooks #booklover #bookishlove #readersgonnaread #bookishaf @netgalley

The layers of this book left me speechless! I loved the narration set up and how the chapters ended with a correspondence letter from a fan, to the author. It was so interesting and different! I listened to this on audiobook, and the narrator was amazing. I definitely will be purchasing this in its physical copy and would recommend to those who like mystery! Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for access to this title in exchange for my honest review.