“Beware the Woman” is a 2023 favorite for me!

This is a very dark feminist thriller that is (unfortunately) the perfect commentary on the world in which we live.

Pregnant Jacy and her husband, Jed, take a road trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to visit Jed’s father, a retired physician. Jacy suffers a health scare and that’s when things really get creepy — it’s like she’s trapped in the cabin.

My husband introduced me to Megan Abbott a few years ago when I was just getting into Bookstagram. We exchanged books for Christmas and he picked “Give Me Your Hand” for me. I have such a deep admiration and appreciation for Megan’s writing and her ability to be so subtly create an overwhelming sense of dread and unease.

Pregnant newlywed Jacy and her husband Jed, married shortly after a whirlwind romance, travel to Jed's father's Michigan estate for a visit. While there, Jacy starts to feel that all is not as it seems when Jed's father slowly changes from a loving, kind father-in-law to a demanding, frightening, angry man who makes Jacy feel like a prisoner in his home.
Jed starts to change as well, and secrets start to come to the surface regarding Jed's childhood, his relationship with his father, and the sudden, mysterious death of Jed's mother, who supposedly passed away tragically while giving birth to Jed.
Can Jacy trust anyone in this home? Her new husband, who she now realizes she barely knows? The slightly menacing and secretive and very watchful housekeeper/longtime family friend Mrs. Brandt? And most of all, will she, and her unborn baby, be able to get out of this house alive?

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

Newly pregnant Jacy and her husband Jed travel to Michigan's Upper Pennisula to visit his father, Doctor Ash, and the mysterious house manager Mrs. Brandt. Almost immediately, Jacy suffers from a complication in her pregnancy, and from there her trip becomes one of feeling trapped, suffocated, and like her body and pregnancy is not hers to control any longer.

Unfortunately this book was just not for me.

Positives:
Short chapters
Fluid writing
Mysterious enough to make me keep reading, and I finished it quickly
I enjoyed reading about the setting of the Upper Pennisula
The ending did somewhat wrap up some of the mystery and character motivations

Negatives:
The book was too dark for me surrounding women's bodies, pregnancies, and choices
There was obviously symbolism with the mountain lion and Jed's hat mentioned repeatedly, but I missed the connection

Megan Abbott is a must-read for me. She’s a master of the slow-burn and always lands the ending on a powerful and resonant note. Beware the Woman is no exception. Highly recommend.

Beware the Women was a nail-biting and suspenseful novel. It had me on the edge of my seat anticipating what would happen next. Jacy, a young and newly married pregnant woman, finds herself trapped in a remote cottage with her husband and father-in-law. It doesn't take long for her to realize that things are not right. We follow Jacy as she tries to find a way out. I liked the storyline even though it made me uneasy, and I really wanted her to get out. I enjoyed how the book ended. Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the ARC! I would really recommend this book if you like thrilling page turners!

4.25 stars

Ever since I picked up "Dare Me" off a random table in B&N in 2013 due to the cover I've been working my way through Megan Abbott's catalog hoping for another book that hit me as hard as that. "Beware the Woman" came damn close.

The story follows Jacy, pregnant with her first child, as she & her new husband, Jed, visit his father in a remote cabin in Northern Michigan. Jacy is the daughter of a single mom, & Jed is the son of a single father. Their relationships with their parents have heavily influenced how they view the other gender. There is a lot of reflection on the versions of ourselves we revert to when around our families, for better or worse, & how they can impact our other relationships in life. Jacy realizes there's a lot she doesn't know about Jed, & the more time she spends with his charming but reserved father, the more uneasy she becomes about his influence on her marriage. Things escalate when Jacy has a medical scare, & the men's reactions have her feeling more trapped than cherished in their isolated location. Their conviction in their opinions leads her to question herself & her perception of reality.

I binged this in less than 24 hours & am tempted to skip around my TBR to go directly to another Abbott book to keep the vibes going. I have a hard time explaining why I love her writing so much, but she has a talent for writing women & complex relationship dynamics & showing the threatening edge behind pretty things. In this story, the setting does a lot of that work & is a great backdrop for the mercurial relationships between the characters: the summer heat can be comforting as well as oppressive, the nature soothing but also harsh. If you enjoy reads that are heavy on atmosphere & vibes, this might be for you. But I will caution you to check trigger warnings, particularly if you have any sensitivities around pregnancy. This book actually ended up scaring me a lot more than some of my recent horror reads, because at the end of the day, what's more horrifying than humanity?

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This wasn't my favorite Abbott or thriller of the summer, but nonetheless I finished this in only two days. It was a real page turner with satisfying twists and turns. I wanted a bit more depth, but recommend whole heartedly as a summer read.

I devoured this book in two sittings - I was both gripped with fear and enchanted by the language. Abbott is so good at conjuring a pervasive feeling of dread, while also making some spot-on observations about marriage and relationships.

I finished this book last night and let it marinate in my mind for a day, trying to find the words for this review. I'm not sure if I have found them, but I also don't know what will help me, so here goes:
This suspenseful and upsetting book is filled with misogynistic men plus women who tolerate them for too long. I had trouble reading this, but I switched to audio and I'm not sure if it made it that much easier. I was confused and frustrated throughout, just like the main character, Jacy, stuck staying with her manipulative father-in-law and new husband in a remote town of Wisconsin for a seemingly never-ending, claustrophobic visit. Jacy is also pregnant and both men seem to have more control over the pregnancy than she does. There are Get Out-ish vibes and a few twists I did not see coming.
Overall, I think I needed to force myself to establish some separation and boundaries from the book's plot and characters in order to preserve my sanity and not throw it across the room! Thank you to Putnam for the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. If this description intrigues you, I'd check it out. If not, you might want to pass on it.

I liked it but I felt like it started off strong and then ended weak. Somewhere in the last third of the book things took a really weird turn.

The newest release from Megan Abbott fell a little flat for me. A quick read, "Beware the Woman" lacked substance. I kept waiting for the plot to unravel itself with a scenario as wild as the lead-up, but I was left disappointed. A good story along the way, but the ending just left me wondering the point.

This was interesting and twisty, but took foreverrrr to really get into. The unexpected, unpredicted twist did redeem the slow plot. It was fine but just not one I'd urge others to read. Thank you for an advanced copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This novel was a quick read which I love. It kept me wanting to find out what was happening. It was like a modern day Rosemary’s Baby. I did love the structure of the chapters.
I feel very in the middle about this one though. I didn’t love it or hate it. I went into this book blind having not read the synopsis. I didn’t know what the plot really was for probably half the book. It was quite slow paced. I also found most of the characters quite irritating.
I’m sure plenty of people with enjoy this book but it was not a favorite for me.

I'm sorry. I really tried. But I just wasn't feeling this one. Which is a disappointment because I LOVE Megan Abbott's other work.

First of all, the cover art is not doing this book any favors. It's dark and dreary and not at all something that my eye would be drawn to. Then there's the pacing...this story is SO SLOW. And the language is SO FLOWERY that I got lost and couldn't tell what was actually happening.

And then we have the characters...oh boy. Yeah, this one just didn't work for me.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you #netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of Beware the Woman. Unfortunately, I ended up DNF'ing this. I found I was forcing myself to read it. Jacy is pregnant, and she and her husband Jed go to visit his father in a rural town, a 17 hour drive from their home. While there, everything is strange. She has some spotting, and so goes to a doctor in the little town, he seems to be holding things back from her. Her father in law seems very secretive, nice on the outside but what is he hiding? And even her wonderful husband seems to have changed. I didn't like how it just kept getting creepier and creepier, and decided that I didn't really want to know more.

Thanks to Megan, Putnam, and Netgalley for an advance copy of Beware the Woman.

Jacy and her husband Jed are expecting their first child and they are so excited. As newlyweds, Jacy has yet to see where Jed grew up and meet his father, Dr. Ash. As they arrive in the Upper Peninsula and are greeted warmly by Jed’s father, Jacy feels as though she finally has everything she’s hoped for.

After a few days relaxing and getting to know Dr. Ash, as well as his housekeeper Mrs. Brandt, Jacy is settling in nicely and even more excited for her future life. However, when Jacy has a little unexpected bleeding, the whole house goes on high alert and things take an uncomfortable turn. The history of Jed’s mother is revealed, death in childbirth, which has clearly affected all parties to the point of extreme paranoia with Jacy…or is it just Jacy’s imagination? As things get stranger and stranger, Jacy questions everything from her new family to her own mental state as she starts to feel as though she has got to escape.

This isn’t my first Megan Goldin, but I forgot how good she is at bending reality and making me question the mental state of the main characters alongside them. In her books, it would be so easy to make the characters naive but instead she writes them with a level-head, some life experience, and commonsense and puts them into scenarios that mess with their perception.

I thought the story itself was interesting. I enjoyed the folklore-type of aspects that worked well with the setting and gave the story another layer of creepiness, almost bordering into making me question if there were some supernatural aspects going on.

I also enjoyed that the core of the story revolved around a father-son relationship. So often in thrillers, the familial focus is on a mother-daughter relationship so this was fresh. I loved the secretiveness in all of the relationships; even those that felt secure and strong going into the story were taut with secrets.

There was a grittiness to this book that didn’t line up with others of Megan’s that I have read, so I feel like this could be a polarizing pick and I’m interested to see how people respond. I personally loved it and once again, am excited to see where she goes from here.

Newly married and pregnant, Jacy travels with her husband, Jed, to meet his father Dr. Ash at his home in a remote area of Michigan. Just with those few words you can expect this visit to go horribly wrong and you won't be disappointed. It's a slow burn right up until the end.

A solid 3.5 read. Very atmospheric novel. I enjoyed the journey of finding out what the mystery was. Some of the characters were inherently creepy and I liked the development of the plot around them. This was my first read by this author and I will read her again. Thanks for Netgalley and the publishers for providing me a free copy of the book.

Published: 05/30/23

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for accepting my request to read and review Beware the Woman.

One word - creepy. I liked this and cannot begin to tell you why. This was incredibly obvious yet I was compelled to stay with it, keep reading, and stay in the moment. Perhaps it is the writing? I wasn't thinking ahead, wasn't bored, and wasn't eye-rolling. The story was relatable and was quite disturbing but not in a horror way.

The ending was satisfying. It made sense.

There is profanity.

This is a book you need to read to feel it yourself.