3/5 ⭐️
Drama mixed with a thriller? Sure why not. I really liked there was a index of characters so I could flip back and see who’s who. The ending was a bit anticlimactic but still enjoyable.

I could not stand the narration of this book. The entire time I felt like the story was being told from a distance with an echo. I’d say it completely ruined any hope of me enjoying this book. Maybe next time.

A group of women will stop at nothing to get what they want. And all they want is their beloved show to blossom as it has been doing for over 40 years. The power of strong women working together can reach the stars, and grab it, just like our fascinating characters did. But behind the power, there is a price that each and one of them will have to pay.

I will admit, that the beginning of the novel didn't amuse me at all, but it gets better with each chapter. A lot of drama. So get ready for that. I have enjoyed many of the plot twists. The characters did some pretty dirty stuff to get to the power of the soap opera they spent years creating, but it was not an excuse for the road they took to get there. The ending was satisfying. Although I did not like the drama of the novel, it has made a great read. Thank you, NetGalley for a free and advanced copy of the novel.

Guilty Women
By Melanie Blake

⭐⭐⭐⭐🖤

[Blurb] On a beautiful island off the English coast, four TV actresses gather.
Their fifth member is missing – and only they know why she was killed.
As the secret between them threatens to come out, tensions on set run high.
The women are determined that the show must go on – no matter what it costs.
But one of them is on the edge of telling the truth – and no show in the world could survive this scandal...
All of the women have something to hide – but the question is, are they all guilty?

[Review] First off, this book needs a content warning.⚠️ There should be a warning at the beginning of the book so that people can go in with full knowledge of what to expect.

What I loved about this book: holy bananas that cliffhanger!!! I like the setting as an 80s/90s kid. Soap operas were a way of life. I loved the female power and support. I loved the age and race inclusiveness. okay, but back to that cliffhanger. I need to know what happened. Holy moly.

What I didn't like was this book seemed to go on forever. Every time I thought it was wrapping up, there was another twist, another turn. There were also so many characters. It was hard to keep up with who was who and where they collided.

Thank you, net galley & dreamscape media for this ARC of the audiobook. Thank you Melanie Blake for this wonderfully women powered book. This book was narrated by the amazing Claire King who really brought these characters to life.

Although Guilty Women picks up where Ruthless Woman left off, this book can definitely be a standalone if need be. I'll admit that this is my first read from Melanie Blake, and it did not disappoint.

Set four months after the events in Ruthless Women, you're transported back to its magical island setting and be reunited with the cast of these empowering women of the cast of a long running soap opera, Falcon Bay. The story centers around themes of guilt, revenge, secrets, lies and power and just like any great soap opera ends on a cliff hanger. The characters were well established, the plot was well though out, and there was plenty of spice and drama. Think Desperate Housewives meets Days Of Our Lives.

If you're looking for a great drama, this book is for you!

**Thank you to Melanie Blake, DreamscapeMedia, and NetGalley for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.**

This one went on and on when it could have not...pretty much like a soap opera does. Wait, that is what is it. This is an over-the-top soap opera come to life with all the drama and murder but who is the guilty one? The women or the producer behind the scenes. I think I missed something by not reading/listening to the first book and getting that backstory but picked up what was happening pretty quickly. I did listen to the end but if I had been reading I probably would have put it away sooner.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to the audiobook of Guilty Women by Melanie Blake.

Unfortunately, this is not going to be a thorough review, and I cannot provide an accurate rating for this title. I was unaware that this book is the sequel to Ruthless Women by Melanie Blake, as nothing in the NetGalley description of the book indicated that the two titles were connected. While the Goodreads synopsis DOES mention that this book is a sequel, but the two books are not connected as a series as is typical of the Goodreads database. It was clear from the outset of the book that this is a sequel, picking up right after the events of the first book. I found it difficult to follow what was going on with the plot because I did not have the previous knowledge of the first book. There was also not much time spend on the characterization of the main players, as again, this work was likely done in the first book. I did give this audiobook a try and got about 10% of the way in before resigning to my inability to engage in this second book without reading the first.

DNF at about 5% because I truly couldn’t manage to get much farther.

Nope. I just couldn’t do it. I tried it, but it wasn’t working for me; there’s something about this writer’s style and my preferences that just don’t mesh, I guess. It’s not that it’s a terrible book (from what I read), but it’s really just not for me. I’m sure there are others out there who will be able to appreciate the writer’s work more than I currently do.

From start to finish, Guilty Women takes you on a dramatic ride. A really good story base that keeps you wondering when it will all shatter their famous lives. Gripping, addictive, and kept you on the edge until the end. Very solid character building, lots of insights into each character, and easy to follow each ones roles.

The narration was excellent. Highly recommend this book!

So many thanks to Dreamscape Media for the ARC of this book!

This book was not for me. I didn't realize it was the second in a series (as it's not indicated anywhere) but it would explain why I felt like I was starting the book in the middle of the story. The characters are incredibly unlikeable and the premise, while it originally interested me, was so overly descriptive and not in a good way. Others may like the soap opera setting but this goes way beyond what happens in soaps.

Once the killer and the reason why was revealed it was hard to stay invested in the rest of the plot. There were a lot of characters and it was also difficult to keep all of them straight. The dual story lines between the characters and actors was an interesting layer to the story but the pacing seemed inconsistent. I would characterize this as a mystery rather than a thriller.

Mini Review Blurb: Guilty Women is a Hollywood murder mystery, where headlines are never hard to find and there is no shortage of drama on or off screen! Will these feminist actresses who blur the lines between acting and reality get away with murder?!

SOAPY to top all soapy that has come before it. This is the best high class-trash around. Reading this book felt like a guilty pleasure like reading V.C. Andrews books did when I was way too young to be reading V.C. Andrews books. I will keep this spoiler-free so you can enjoy the crazy and naughty twists and turns Guilty Women Takes.

Full disclosure, I did not know this book was a sequel when I first started it, but by then I was too engrossed in the yummy dramas of these women to stop and go back. My only struggle was at the beginning, feeling like I missed something or something was being left out. It is well written and well-narrated, and just too enjoyable for words. Now I want to read the first book, 'Ruthless Women,' so I can see how we got here. The whole journey was delicious.

I will say Guilty Women is not for everyone. It is loaded from top to bottom with adult content and as I said before it is trash but of the highest grade. If you are looking for some over-the-top, soap opera naughty fun, then this is the book for you.

Thank you to Melanie Blake, DreamscapeMedia, and NetGalley for a copy of the audiobook to review.

I definitely struggled with this one. From the description (something like "On a beautiful island off the coast of England, four actresses gather and one of them is ready to spill their secret"), I thought this was going to be a locked room mystery type story. This was probably because nothing in the Net Galley description says it's a sequel, and the Goodreads description does say 'The cast of Ruthless Women is back" but it seemed more like same characters different story than a sequel.

Maybe this book makes a lot more sense if you read the first one, but I was concerned from the very beginning when there was a list of characters. I've noticed that often when author's feel the need to do that it's because there's a lot of similar characters (in this case all Hollywood types) who are hard to keep straight. That was definitely the case for me. Again, this is probably largely solved by reading the first one, but I wish it would have been clearly flagged as a sequel. Unfortunately I just found them all to be extremely shallow and very unlikable.

I also agree with the other readers that there's a lot of very descriptive sex in this one (which is also not indicated in the description) and I was glad I started listening with ear buds walking dogs rather than in the car with my 2 year old.

Overall, not my cup of tea BUT if you're a big fan of the Hollywood scene then you'll devour it.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the audio version. Story was okay. .. I was hoping for more but it is kind of predictable and not much happens. The narrator did a good job.

I started this book thinking it would be similar to The Guest List or Pretty Guilty Women, and it wasn’t anything like either of them. Once I got past my expectations, I did come to appreciate the storyline more than in the beginning of the book— I kept waiting for a major mystery or problem and had to accept that there really wasn’t one for readers to figure out. There is a lot of potential for this book, but also many parts I did not enjoy. The author does a great job at following an over-the-top, soap opera-like plot throughout the book. The narrator was great and helped make the characters seem realistic to me, and there were some surprising twists and turns. I did find it difficult to follow along with the drama going on because there are so many main characters and issues that they each were dealing with. I also was surprised at how many characters seemed to take on the villain role — I really didn’t get the feeling that I was rooting for any of the characters to succeed. I also did not enjoy the random vivid sex scenes, or the amount of triggering material touched on throughout the book. I appreciate the attempt at being an inclusive book, and trying to depict the many problems people face, but I don’t think the book really addressed any of the triggering moments in a way that helps readers relate or learn from the characters in a major way. I could see this being turned into a tv series, and I think if this book was actually a series instead of just one book crammed with so many scenarios and characters, I would have enjoyed it more.

DNF

This book is atrocious and digesting. Everyone is unlikeable, which perhaps is the point, but the overly descriptive sex scenes were too much. After the second description of a genitalia I should have quit. Unfortunately I didn’t and had to hear a decriptivr gang rape of a hospital patient. Calling this trash is an insult to garbage.

I enjoyed the plot idea, but I found this novel hard to follow; there were too many POV’s from characters who were not properly introduced. The narration for the audiobook was good, but unfortunately this book fell short for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

When I requested this book, I didn't make the connection that it was the second of a series. I'd just recently reviewed the first, Ruthless Women, about how five strong women fight their way to their dreams as part of a serial drama production on an island. This book continues their story, I think you could possibly read this book without having read the first one. Enough of the background is described as needed. In helping to cover up an act of one of the women, the others are constantly in fear of being found out and losing all that they've accomplished. The leading characters are complex and strong in different ways.

At one point, one of the lead characters mentions idolizing Jackie Collins as a writer. It occurred to me that these books really are quite similar in topic and their explicit descriptions of sexual encounters! I could do without the latter, but the book was still entertaining. The ending will definitely make you anticipate the third book in the series!

This was pretty good, it seem like this would be a great television series that I would watch. I did not realize I had read another by this author before

3.5⭐️

A Soap Opera meets Big Little Lies

Four friends who work on the longest running Soap Opera will do anything to cover up a murder. On a live Christmas episode, someone gets eaten by on shark on TV; however, not everyone believes it was an accident! Four friends will do anything to cover up this shady death.

This book is a Soap inside a Soap. It is ridiculous as Soap operas are, but it was hard at times to keep every character and their drama straight.

It would be very entertaining in film or TV though. The story delivered exactly what you would want from a Soap. Ridiculous storylines, twisted relationships, and cliffhanger ending. What more would you want from a Soap? This book was written very well. Melanie knows how to write characters their spiderweb relationships.

Overall, easy read and over the top, but I would not classify if as a thriller. This is just a drama.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.