Before reading this book, I had never heard of this author. After finishing, I was SO happy to have discovered her. She has written many different series in the mystery / suspense categories. Her writing style makes these super easy reads that can be finished within a couple of days. It helps that I could NOT put this one down!

This is the first book in this series and the main character, Betts, is so relatable. The emotional roller coaster that you go on with her is a wild ride. I can not wait to see where she goes next in the storytelling journey. Amanda, you've got a fan for life!

I didn't expect the hold this book would have on me I couldn't put it down, the characters and story were all so intriguing I just had to know what happened next. I loved this twist on a small-town thriller and how all the characters are twisted so you truly can't trust anyone. The only problem I had was a wish it was longer, I read it too fast. I would definitely recommend o any fans of psychological thrillers or anyone needing to get out of a reading slump as this is fast paced with constant twists and turns.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book as an ARC
Wow, just wow. I absolutely loved tnis book from beginning to end. I didn't even want to put it down. So much suspense and twists and a totally unexpected ending. This is the first book I have read from this author and I am going to look now for all her others. Thw characters are well written and built. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about all of them and also some of the other characters' points of view, it put a different spin to the story. Even though the book was short, it did not disappoint. I wanted to keep reading! Awesome job on this book and can't wait to read more from this author! 5 stars!

This was definitely a twisted thriller. I liked the short chapters and right to the point writing. It was a quick and interesting read.

We couldn’t think of a better way to spend Valentine’s Day than with Amanda McKinney’s The Widow of Weeping Pines. The first installment in the “Mad Women” series, the book revolves around psychologist-author Betty Lou Abbott (Betts) and her life in Weeping Pines, the small coastal hometown of her recently deceased husband.

TWOWP’s synopsis stood out to us immediately as a quintessential small-town, domestic thriller and we knew we had to dive right in! Capped at 184 pages and written in dual POV, it was an easy read and we breezed right through it.

A significant chunk of the story was written from Betts’ POV, and the first-person narrative allowed us to delve into the protagonist's psyche. McKinney has done a brilliant job of developing her character as the outsider in a small town where she is viewed with suspicion following her husband's sudden death, and her attempts to rebuild her life. However, the slow unravelling of her character had us questioning everything and established her as the perfect (and utterly despicable!) unreliable narrator. Unfortunately, the remainder of the characters, especially Detective Stahl, were stereotypical and failed to leave any significant impact on the story, or us as readers.

Where reading about Betts’ character development was a high, the plot turned out to be a letdown. TWOWP played out like a typical 70s thriller, packed with a suspicious detective, a recently widowed woman, and the sordid scandals of a small town. And while the first half kept us intrigued, the second half, packed with plot holes and loose ends, felt careless and frustrating. Even the “big reveal” was cliché and ludicrous.

Nevertheless, McKinney’s writing was the book’s saving grace. Her eloquent descriptions and slow build-up of several scenes kept us engaged and had us finish the book in a day. Although TWOWP hasn’t made it to our list of favorites, we’d certainly give her books another shot in the future.

We thank Netgalley and the author for the e-ARC of this book.

L&L Rating: 3 stars

TL;DR: Small-town domestic mystery; Unreliable narrator.

An intriguing story with all the elements of a psychological thriller. Only four characters, Betts, fiancé Ian, writer Carmen and detective Nicholas, but a complete story. The information you receive as a reader does not always seem reliable, but something is brewing, that is clear. A surprise ending completes it.
Well written and captivating from start to finish.

I absolutely loved this book. It hooked me and kept me turning pages until I was done. Finished it in two days! The character development was strong, and the premise was unique enough that it didn't feel like anything else I've read.

Such a great concept and beautifully portrayed! The suspense! Can’t wait wait to see more from this author.

To this book, so give it a 4.5! I won’t bore you with details of what the book is about because you can read that in the synopsis, but I will talk about the unexpected twists and turns! I am a huge fan of thrillers, and this one kept me slightly confused up until the very ending! I really loved how the ending reveals our main characters intentions and the final plot twist! Without spoiling the book, I will say it ends with Betts as a character getting caught up in her own antics, while I find most main characters usually have a happy ending (whether they were a good person or not) I enjoyed a different take. I will say I would have like a bit more character delving for specific people like Ian and his departure felt anticlimactic. Some parts felt slightly unbelievable but weirder things have happened. Overall, the book has my praise for ding something I don’t see in every book. Thanks!

What a great twisted story! This book had my attention from the first sentence. I always love trying to figure a story out but this one had me guessing till the very end!
I highly recommend this one! I really enjoyed it!

This is a suspenseful, short novel that is 200 pages long. Despite its brevity, the characters are well developed. There is a crazy woman, a paramour and someone is a murderer, who can be trusted? The plot moves along quickly bringing the reader to a satisfying conclusion.

Betty Lou begrudgingly moved to her husband's hometown of Weeping Pines, Washington.
She ends up finding herself alone there after her husband dies in a town she hates and people she hates even more.
She's a therapist and an author and opens a practice which she runs out of her home (illegally) and her patients all have something to hide.
Betty Lou (Betts) is a character you love to hate. She's intelligent, manipulative, and batshit crazy!

It was a quick read that kept me engaged throughout. The twists were unpredictable and the turns were spectacular!

Thank you NetGalley and HH Tisevich for gifting me this amazing book!

Quick, easy read. The book had alot of drama packed into so few pages. The characters were well thought out. The story was suspenseful, and the twists were aplenty. This was my first Amanda McKinney book and I will be searching her out in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amanda McKinney and HH Tisevich for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"I have strawberry-blond hair, shoulder-length because if I grow it any longer, I am mistaken for Gollum's stunt double."

The author's style of writing had me hooked from the beginning. I was sold from chapter 1. This is a super quick read.

Betts is a narrator that you love to hate. Honestly, I'm not sure if we like anyone when it comes down to it. Everyone has secrets they are trying to hide and you are just waiting to see who is going to unravel first. McKinney took her time building up this interesting character, but the ending seems rushed. I liked the ending, but could've used just a bit more story.

thrilling and well written, the widow of weeping pines clutched me from the first sentence, and did not let go until the final page! amazing read!

The mind of a bored housewife can be a dangerous thing. Betty Lou Abbott is holding onto a dark secret that no one in her small Pacific Northwest town expects. Labeled as a newly engaged widow, readers might assume her life is finally starting to look up following the unexpected death of her husband as she moves on in the pursuit of a new life. But that couldn’t be more far from the truth. Get ready for this book to grasp hold of your attention from the first page and hold on to it tightly, as you’re taken on a wild ride of unexpected twists and turns.

Betty Lou (Bets) is a wannabe author, a widow whose husband died of a heart attack and left her a mansion in his hometown, and a therapist who now runs an illegal clinic from her house.
When she suspects her fiancé, Ian, of having an affair with one of her clients, she stalks her. Local detective Nicholas suspects that Bets had something to do with her husband's death, and so is investigating her. Carmen, the client, has a lot of secrets in her life.

This short novel is full of very unlikeable and clearly disturbed characters . Bets is the archetypal unreliable narrator, and I wasn't sure what was really going on for most of the book. A big plot twist wraps up this very quick read. Told from multiple points of view, it was certainly an interesting read, but I struggled to care enough about most of the characters..

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for access to this text.
Initially, I found this one hard to follow and get into. I spent the first 40% questioning what was happening. It took until that point for me to get into it all. I then spent the last 60% asking what the point in any of it was. There was no suspense as very little was left for the reader to piece together. It was very much a lot of telling rather than showing. This made it hard for me to engage with and stay interested. Not to mention the fact that the mental health representation in this book is poor, reinforcing the stigma that exists regarding mental health. The author seems to reinforce every single negative stereotype there is.
The plot was promising but far too rushed and squashed into a short book at 190 pages. If it was longer, the events and details could be fleshed out allowing for possibly a more enjoyable read. Although short with an (initially) intriguing plot, I feel that the story I read could be told in 50 pages with just as much detail and feel like less of a chore to get through.

This was a crazy and quick read. I enjoyed the writing and short chapters really moved the story along. The characters are all just terrible people but ended up being a great read.

I give it a rate of 3.8 stars!

The story in itself is intriguing and kept making me come back to learn more as we uncovered something, another was still kept in the dark until the very end.

I ended up hating every character except surprisingly for detective Nicholas stahl as his motives were actually decent and not like the other which I felt were kind of not logical.

As for the writing it was truly incredible and made me interested that long (which in itself is a miracle as I find myself bored quite quickly) but something I didn't like about the writing was the way things were more described than showed. I would have loved if we could have things showed to us rather than told it could have made it was more interesting! Otherwise I have nothing to say about the writing.

Thanks to Netgalley, HH tisevich and the Author for my complimentary copy!