This book was quite a ride and I did not see that last twist at the end coming! Betty Lou has some issues! I did not even realize it was book 2 in a series, so now I definitely need to go and read the rest of the books!!

#amandamckinney
#NetGalley

<i><b>Sometimes I wish my husband would die. Do you ever feel like that?</b></i>

That is the first line of the book.

3.5⭐ Rounded Up

We follow 2 POVs Betts (Betty Lou Abbott) and Nicholas Stahl. Betts is a therapist and Nicholas is a detective. Betts husband (Jack)passed away and she's the newest Widow of Weeping Pines. She inherited more than his mansion from him when he passed away. Cue trust issues. She is engaged to a man named Ian who starts cheating on her with one of her patients...or so she suspects. Nicholas isn't exactly what you would consider a detective on the straight and narrow. He begins to suspect that maybe Betts isn't the innocent widow that she seems. <i>Nothing is as it seems.</i>

The first sentence of this book pulled me in and didn't let me go into I finished it. It was a super fast read (188 pages) and is definitely worth picking up!

Thank you Amanda McKinney, NetGalley and HH Tisevich for the ARC of this book!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

This book was absolutely brilliant. I was SO into this book from the first few pages on. I didn't want to put it down.... and so I didn't. I finished it in one sitting, haha It's novella length, so that was easy enough.

We meet our FMC Betty [ betts ], and we follow her journey after her husband has died.
There are some suspicions that Betty Lou may have had something to do with his death.
The ENTIRE book keeps you guessing. Just when you think you MAY have figured out one of the characters involvement in the book, another twist hits.
You will NOT regret reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an e-ARC of this novel.

I'm a little late reading this one since it's already out, but nevertheless, we continue.

I enjoyed the unreliable narrator aspect of this story. It was full of twists and turns. However, I didn't find any of the characters likeable (which may have been the point) and at times, I just wanted them to go away. However, I appreciated that there were very few characters involved in such a short story.

Excellent book, my only complaint is that it seemed too short. Characters were well developed, not a single likeable person amongst them all, but their sheer awfullness keeps you hooked and reading to the end.
I would like to read more by this author. Highly recommended.

This promised so much, but ultimately ended up disappointing me. I was attracted by the protagonist Betty Lou Abbott, known to everyone as Betts, mainly because she is a therapist and struggling writer. Probably quite a narcissistic choice given that I’m a therapist and aspiring writer too. I love reading books about the psychology of those who delve into people’s minds for a living.

Betts is quite upfront about her own complex issues and I was blown away by the first line; “Sometimes I wish my husband would die. Do you ever feel that?”. Betts has moved to a small coastal town called Weeping Willows with her husband Jack. Jack had been a successful doctor and decided to retire back in the small town where he grew up. However, Betts doesn’t like Weeping Willows and it shows, causing the locals to dislike her too. I wasn’t surprised because Betts isn’t easy to like. I didn’t take to her at all. She wants to keep herself busy, so she opens up her own therapist's office in their basement, albeit illegally.

When Jack has a heart attack and dies, Betts is the sole heir of his large estate and soon she becomes engaged to another man. However, inside things are not quite as rosy, because she’s starting to have obsessive thoughts, becoming convinced that that one of her clients, a famous writer, is having an affair with her fiancé. The local detective, Stahl, has plenty of issues for a therapist to delve into and an unhealthy obsession with Betts.

The is a short novel and is told throughout in the first person, mostly by Betts but with a couple of chapters penned by Detective Nicholas Stahl. I was drawn in well by the first few chapters because they’re intriguing and I was curious about Betts and what sort of narrator she would be, However, I started to lose interest after that and I didn’t enjoy the ending at all.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fun novel with a surprise ending. There are no good people in this book--everyone is delightfully wicked.

I found The Widow of Weeping Pines a little coarse,,and the characters brittle. Not my cup of tea.

2 stars.

''Therapist and struggling author Betty Lou Abbott has a secret, one she keeps locked in the basement of the historic mansion she inherited from her late husband. Her fiancé, Ian, also has a secret: he is having an affair with one of Betty Lou’s clients. She thinks so, anyway.

As Betty Lou’s life becomes intertwined with the beautiful, successful Carmen Marquis, her intention to expose the affair turns into a dangerous obsession. Especially when she learns there is more to Carmen than meets the eye.
Caught in the middle of this cunning pair of women is Nicholas Stahl, a crooked detective who is determined to prove the truth—that one of them is a cold-blooded killer.''

A speedy thriller that kept me engaged throughout! At under 200 pages I flew through it in no time.

Usually character development takes a back-seat in shorter novels. But that wasn’t the case here, the author did a fantastic job in giving all the characters depth.
This was a fast read, which contained short chapters (my favorite), with lots of twists! This is a book that you can and will want to read in one sitting because you can’t turn the pages fast enough, and you need to know what happens next! I am so glad that I found this book as I am now looking forward to reading more books from this author.

Many thanks to NetGalley, HH Tisevich, and the author for a digital copy of this boo

I’ve been super into thrillers lately and this book was everything I needed. It’s fast paced, keeps you on your toes and the edge of your seat. And of course the twist. My jaw dropped!

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves thrillers or is just getting into them!

Well that was...convoluted.

The Widow of Weeping Pines is a fast paced novella that I guarantee you won't guess the end on, but I'm also not 100% sure that's a good thing! This was certainly an original story, and I enjoyed getting the occasional POV shift so readers could have pieces of information that our main character wasn't privy to. It meant we got a benchmark for how much Betts' sanity was slipping, how she was so sure and yet we were in the loop that she was totally off base.

Everyone in this story was a little bit crazy and totally unlikeable, so it was a little bit like a car crash you couldn't look away from. Definitely was left with a little bit of "WTF was that?" when I finished the story.

Even so, I'd still read more books from Amanda McKinney. She's clearly got the creative brain suited for thrillers and I'm excited to see what else she's come up with!

Thanks to Amanda McKinney, NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! The Widow of Weeping Pines is out now!

I picked this up on a whim and that's what I get for not looking more into it other than the cover. We should all know by now. I barely made it halfway, the plot was so convoluted and I really did not like the MC.

This book isn't a long book. It's under 200 pages so if I say to much then I will give it all away and it is definitely worth the read. Betty Lou can certainly get herself in some strange situations but you can't help but love her character. Definitely worth the read.

It was a page turning fun novella to read! Read the whole book in under 24 hours. But the ending was very confusing! Otherwise would have given 5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book! It was a very quick read. It's short but the writing style is easy to read. I did not see any of the twists and turns that came fast at the end one after the other. I was left guessing and confused at the beginning which is what I think makes for a good mystery. Definitely recommend.

Betty Lou is one of a kind! A “therapist” who has severe mental issues of her own, she becomes obsessed with proving her fiancé is having an affair with one of her clients. But we all know obsessions rarely end well and this story is no exception. Lots of surprises and twists!

Betts. Is an underground therapist holding sessions illegally in her basement. After her husband died a year ago she’s already engaged to Ian, a dentist with a struggling practise. She’s dealing with a client she assumes is having an affair with Ian and a detective who’s trying to uncover the ‘truth’ about her late husbands death.

All in all I found this book to be engaging, and a fast read. The way the author described the story was well done and painted a great picture. The point of view is from Betts mostly, and a few chapters from other characters.

While I mostly enjoyed reading this book, I found myself wanting more, Betts character was thoroughly introduced, while the others felt like background characters. I felt we needed more of Carmen and Ian.

Thank you NetGalley and HH Tisevich for the digital copy of this book.

Wow this little jem of a novella was amazing. It kept me guessing and that ending I didn't see coming. But I still have questions about Nick though and her husband. Guess we will never know.

I actually liked Betts, she went after what she wanted and didn't care what people thought of her.

The Widow of Weeping Pines by Amanda McKinney is the first in the 4 book MAD woman series. This novella is a bit of a psychological thriller that is fairly fast-paced and tight as far as plot goes. Betty Lou Abbott is a therapist and writer widow who begrudgingly lives in her late husband’s hometown. Though she lives in a gorgeous mansion in the woods, she is bored with her life. It seems that her fiancé, Ian, is having an affair with one of her clients. And that client, Carmen, might be a little more sinister than anyone knows. Oh- and Betty Lou’s therapy practice in the basement of her mansion? Not exactly on the up and up. Add in Nicolas Stahl, a busy-body cop who is determined to prove Betty Lou killed her husband. All of this should create an edge-of-your-seat page turner. Ultimately, it just didn’t work for me. I think the fact that it was a novella, and part of a planned 4 book series, meant that the characters were not developed in a way that built up any sort of back story beyond Betty Lou’s. So once the action really started, I wasn’t really invested. It was too much, too fast with no connection to the plot. McKinney sets a beautiful scene, and at times, builds nice tension; in fact, for me the problem wasn’t the writing, it was that there wasn’t enough of it! I wanted the story to be more drawn out, which for some people this type of fast-paced, short format could be the thing. It just satisfy me in the end. I still would recommend it as it is an intriguing premise. My random rating is 3/5. Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

I couldn't put this book down! This was a fast, crazy, fun ride of a book! It was a short book packed with a punch at the end, I never saw coming. First book I've read from this author and I will be reading more! Thanks to NetGalley and the Author for an advance copy.