As their plane goes down at the beginning of the story, you're left wondering about the secrets law partners Romero, Tavani, Kelly, & Calder are taking to their graves. The twisting tale of their four widows unfolds to reveal a plot that involves mobsters and gangsters, strippers and surprises, all set in the mid-80s with the fashion and flair you'd expect. A story of betrayal and loss, fear and loneliness, redemption and friendship, Young Rich Widows is sure to delight fans of such 90s movie icons as First Wives Club and Married to the Mob. A fabulous read!

Vanessa Lillie, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, AND Kimberly Belle?!?!

I mean…

Yes, please!!!

Requesting Young Rich Widows, was a no brainer. With an all star line up of authors, I’d have to be a fool not to .

Yikes! Bikes!

This book is HOT!

First off, this book takes place in 1985, the year I was born, I was instantly intrigued. Cue the overly sprayed hair and neon lights.

There is so much personality in this book, it’s impossible to be bored.

Secrets? Yes
Deceit ? Yes
Giggles? Sure!
And let’s throw in a bit of a mobster twist.

Young Rich Widows, hits on all key components to be a best seller.

Buckle your seatbelts folks, you’re in for a wild ride!

Check out this teaser:

1985, Rhode Island.

A private jet carrying four partners of a Providence law firm crashes outside New York City, killing all aboard but leaving behind more questions than answers and setting the stage for four widows to find the truth.

Justine: a former fashion model adjusting to suburban life

Camille: a beautiful, young second wife whom some suspect is a gold digger

Meredith: a stripper who was in a relationship with the firm's only female partner

Krystle: a founding partner's wife committed to the firm being a legacy for her sons

While the crash is initially ruled a tragic accident, something's not adding up: the team wasn't supposed to be in New York that day, and it's soon revealed there was a very large sum of cash that burned up with the plane.

The scene is as wild as '80s neon, and the manic chase to uncover the Mafia-laced secrets gives this rip-roaring read a rad vibe that will linger long after the '80s soundtrack fades and the hairspray falls.

Four lawyers about to close a huge deal go down in a plane crash. Coincidence, or murder? 🤔

The first chapter of this book is excellent! In four pages, I was hooked! Unfortunately, that was the high point for me. 😭 I thought the 80’s references felt forced and characters that should have been campy and fun felt like over-the-top caricatures. I had trouble keeping track of whose POV we were in and rolled my eyes at plenty of convenient plot points. This felt like a real housewives + mob collab, which to be fair, had I known that going in, I wouldn’t have read it. I can see this working for a lot of people, but I definitely wasn’t the right audience.

My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a complimentary advance copy of this eBook, out 4/2/2024.

3.5 stars for Young Rich Widows.

I will start by saying that this book was quite entertaining! Featuring a mob plot, it definitely kept me turning the pages. I ended up liking the four female widows who were the main characters of the story. I liked the way the story came together.

My only real reason for a bit of a lower rating was based on my mood I think. I was in the mood for a fast paced, twisty thriller. While this did have a decent pace, it wasn't as twisty as I wanted it to be and I actually had some things figured out early on. A lot of my theories turned out to be right, so it didn't have the major thrills I was hoping for. Totally a me thing and no fault of the authors. I did think it was well written and it's got a lot of good reviews, so I would recommend giving this one a try!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but as I mentioned many times before, I absolutely love reading about extremely wealthy people. That’s what first caught my attention.

Right away, we are introduced to the four widows. Their four spouses were killed in an airplane crash and they have to handle the estates. The four women do not get along and have very complicated, tangled pasts with each other and the spouses. It was hard to know who was who with the four POV.

The story then turns into a man hunt with the mafia. Yes, you read that correctly. Somehow the spouses were intertwined with the mafia and that’s where the story gets a little out there. A little over the top but yet entertaining. I will say the middle was a little repetitive and I found myself skimming through a few parts.

For the first half, I did struggle with connecting to the women. Towards the end of the book, I started to understand the women a little more. I really enjoyed the last 30% of the book. It went by fast, had some good twists, and loved the final chapters.

If you like the tales of the rich and funny over the top plots, you will love this one. It was very entertaining!

Pick up a copy on April 2, 2024! Thanks to @bookmarked and @netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounded up.

This was such a cool idea & fun to read, but I ended up feeling underwhelmed.

I loved the 80’s setting and had so much fun reading about the OTT & campy lifestyle of these four ladies. The ladies were entertaining & I enjoyed seeing them pull together. However, I did feel that it took too long to pick up the pace & get the action started. So much so that it felt too little too late.

🥃Young Rich Widows by Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, and Vanessa Lillie out APRIL 2nd 2024 🥃

Thank you NetGalley and Source Books for the advanced copy.

This popular audible original is now being published in physical form! When four big partners of Providence’s biggest law firm is killed in a plane crash, the four widows are thrown together to fix the problems their husbands left behind.

This is a great 80’s/ thriller/ mob boss novel. Fans of the Finlay Donovan series will love this! I LOVED all the characters in this book and it really kept me on the edge of my seat. Make sure to enjoy this book with a good cocktail! 4 out of 5 ✨

I am a huge Belle fan, but this one fell a bit far for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an entertaining read!
It starts off with four law partners on a plane that is going down. It also has some of their thoughts in their last moments.
See in 1980’s in Providence, RI, the women are told they are now widows. If that wasn’t enough, they also find out the law firm is mafia-affiliated!
Much to their dismay, the widows need to work together to get the four million they owe the mafia and find out what else they want from them.
They had their own chapters and it was so entertaining to read their drama and conversations.
An over the top mystery references to the 80s.

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

My thoughts

I enjoyed this novel for what it was. It was a quick, fun read that was a great palette cleanser from some of the darker thrillers that I've been reading. I was looking for something easy to read while also being compelling and this delivered for me. It had some very campy, 80s mobster flick vibes and I loved that.

I loved the switch of POVs between all of the widows and I liked seeing the friendships develop between all the women despite all of their unfortunate circumstances.

The only small gripe I had with this novel is that it does take awhile to get going and to feel like there is actually something happening, but the humor and my general fondness for all of the widows carried me through the parts that felt slow.

I think if you're looking for a quick read and fun that doesn't take itself too seriously, I would recommend this.

With an all-star line up of authors, I knew Young Right Widows would not disappoint -- and it didn't! I wasn't sure how the writing would flow together with four authors but was pleased with the overall product. I loved the setting, loved the characters, and loved the plot. A great book for 2024!

Four partners of a law firm are killed and the women who remain behind have to try and keep the mob happy.

It's campy. It's over the top. It's like Dynasty and Falcon Crest with a hint of The Sopranos.

Fun for a quick read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

I Love anything that author, Kimberly Belle has written!
What a unique thing to do with this book, gather four wonderful authors together, each write a different character’s perspective, at first put it out as an excellent audiobook, and then bring it to print!
And now there’s a sequel coming out soon as well!
I do see that there are a little bit of mixed reviews about some aspects of this story, but I think in general you cannot go wrong for an entertaining, fun book!
I first listened to it and enjoyed the narrating, etc. and then It was fun going back to read it in print as it added even more to the story, in my opinion. I am not a huge, audiobook listener, but I really enjoyed this one. And still enjoyed it in print even though I had listened to it already.

I do see that there are a little bit of a mixed reviews about some aspects of this story, but I think in general you cannot go wrong for an entertaining, fun book!
Can’t wait for the next one to come out!

Thankyou to authors Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, Vanessa Lillie, Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book before it comes out in print.
Charlene @lastnownext 🌸📚🤗

While this story would play out great on the screen, this book was not for me. The concept was great but the plot got a little ridiculous at times and overall it wasn’t for me

This was a slow burn and a bit of a blunder for me !

I was so excited to receive this ARC because I am a huge fan of KB and Dear Wife got me out of a reading slump years ago.

I had my popcorn ready and was so eager to dive in and read this 80's era mystery , but quickly I realized I had been bamboozled!

Young Rich Widows is a story with multiple POV's , unlikeable characters, zero character development , mafia law firm ,four dead men and a whole lot of stale air .

I felt Young Rich Widows lacked suspense , mystery and unrelatable characters . I also was expecting more 80's references , being a teenager myself growing up in the 80's this was something I was drawn to about this particular read. I typically love a good mystery thriller and multiple POV's but I really struggled to find a connection and found it unentertaining .

If you do love multiple POV's , mafia settings and really light mystery then give this one a go as I am an outlier and don't want my review to discourage you from trying this one out !

Thank you Netgalley, Sourcebooks Landmark for this digital ARC!

Respectfully Another Read by Angie

I love Kimberly Belle’s books so was happy to read an early copy of this collaboration. It was originally published as an Audible audiobook. It is totally unlike any of Kimberly Belle’s books. At first this put me off a bit, but about a third of the way in, I got to know the four main characters and enjoyed the wild ride. The story takes place in 1985. It’s an over the top, crazy story that will have you rooting for these ladies as you laugh at their antics.

I read this book and didn’t listen like most of the readers leaving reviews but I couldn’t find the book version on goodreads. Perhaps the audio version is better. I wasn’t a fan of this one. I like Kimberly Belle books which is what lead me to this one but this didn’t work for me. It wasn’t awful, just not my cup of tea. I don’t feel the story was at all realistic which is fine. But the mob scene just seemed too simple. I like my thrillers to be more psychological with less action and this book had plenty action. Planes falling, cars exploding, gun shots, murder, mob threats, hit men, you name it. Not for me but if these things sound up your alley, you might enjoy this book.

This is a fun one for fans of storylines of the ultra wealthy and enjoy shows that bring the drama like Real Housewives or books like the Finlay Donovan series.

There were a lot of characters to try and keep track of through the various POVs and it was hard to keep their names straight at first, but once I had them down it went smoothing and kept the story from getting stale.

What I had imagined would be a story about wealthy widows spending frivolously took a twist into Mob territory as the living partners of 4 lawyers are left trying to pay dangerous debts left behind after a sudden plane crash.

Overall, this was an entertaining novel. Not a ton of depth and a bit cheesy, but fun and the mystery of how they women would get out of their predicament kept me reading until the end.

A fun twisty thriller with an 80s vibe? Yes please. Add in some mafia? Even better. I loved this book and I especially loved the characters! Well done!