I think I just read this at the wrong time and am going to hopefully go back to it when I'm in a better headspace to try it again. Regardless this will be a good one for many people!

What the eff did I just read?

Reeling from her father’s death, Zara Pines accepts a ghostwriting gig for celebrity chef Jane Bailey. Jane, star of the wildly popular cooking show 30 Bucks Tops, invites Zara to live in her East Hampton home for the summer. Zara doesn’t want to go, but Jane insists.

As the story unfolds the two women become close and Zara becomes obsessed with Jane, dressing like her, talking like her, acting like her - until the line between them blurs.

You will never see this ending coming. Dark and twisty in all the best ways, I Want You More is fast-paced and intensely bingeable. It’s written with a sense of humor you rarely find in thrillers. I devoured this in a single day. Pack it in your beach bag – it’s the perfect summer read!

Thank you to @zibbybooks and @Netgalley for an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.


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**Thank you to NetGalley and Zibby Books for the eARC of this title!**

This one felt like it had a lot of potential with an incredible cover and a synopsis that really grabbed me. Following the death of her father, Zara takes a job ghostwriting a book for a very well-known celebrity chef.

Things get weird pretty much right away when the celebrity chef tells Zara she will be living with her, and is just a bit ~too~ touchy with Zara. I didn’t find this one to be twisty or thrilling, but I did appreciate the commentary on the idolization of celebrities. I really enjoyed the writing a lot and would give this author another chance for sure. The story just wasn’t for me unfortunately.

I think this one will work for fans of celebrity gossip, light thrillers, obsession, and the idea of meeting your idols.

Zara takes a job as a ghostwriter to celebrity chef, Jane Bailey. As Zara begins to fall in love with Jane, she gets to know a side of her the public doesn’t see.

This story has an ending that just leaves you aghast. I was not expecting the story to take the turn it did. It’s a pretty usual and normal story (very interesting and entertaining) for the majority, and then it unravels very quickly at the end. There is a sense of doom beforehand and you have a sense it’s about to turn. I really enjoyed this book but found myself extremely frustrated at times. You’ll want to scream at the characters.

“The line between us continued to blur. But isn’t that the definition of love? A blurred line between two people?”

I Want You More comes out 5/21.

Zara Pines decides to become a ghostwriter for celebrity client, Jane Bailey. Zara begins the writing process by bunking with her client in her plush Hampton’s home for the summer. The book starts with Zara falling in lust with the glittery life of a celebrity chef and then wondering if she is falling in love with Jane herself. However, as we learn more about who the real Jane is, behind the mask of celebrity, the story starts to veer into psychological thriller territory. We are taken on a fast-paced and wild journey through the ups and downs of being famous in the modern age: cancel culture and a carefully crafted public persona showing its cracks. I really enjoyed this fresh take on celebrity romance and this book was a fun read with a great ending.

I read a lot of thrillers and to me this seemed like a thriller written by someone who does not know how to write thrillers. I was bored and did not car what happened.

I cannot get I WANT YOU MORE by Swan Huntley out of my head.

Grieving the loss of her father, and struggling to pay the bills, ghostwriter Zara accepts the opportunity to write the memoir for celeb chef Jane Bailey. Zara travels from California to stay with Jane’ in her luxurious house in exclusive East Hampton for two weeks while she interviews her famous subject.

As Zara becomes enamored by the wealth and power Jane’s star power exudes, she turns away from her own intuition whispering that things are not what they seem. When Jane makes an explosive mistake that jeopardizes her career, Zara must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice to remain in Jane’s orbit.

Besides wanting to know a little more about Zara’s backstory, this book checked all the boxes for me.

I WANT YOU MORE is a psychological thriller at its best. Huntley deftly examines identity, personal history, status, power and success through harrowing mind-twisting scenes and fresh characters.

Thank you, Zibby Books for the ARC.

After losing her father, ghostwriter Zara Pines is in need of some direction. When her agent calls with an opportunity to write a memoir for popular food channel show personality Jane Bailey, she packs her bags and heads to the woman’s East Hampton home for a couple weeks of info gathering. But when their friendship quickly turns into an obsession, and Zara finds herself wearing Jane’s clothes, doing her workout routines, and even being mistaken for Jane in public, things get twisted and fast.

This book started out a bit slow, and I found myself kind of struggling at first to connect with Zara, but about halfway in, I couldn’t put it down. It was like watching a trainwreck in slow motion, and I could not get though the pages fast enough to see how it all shook out. And let me tell you, that epilogue. Wow!

If you enjoyed Colleen Hoover’s Verity, this one is for you. It would make for an excellent summer book club selection. There’s so much to unpack!

Thank you to Swan Huntley, Zibby Books and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of the book for an honest review.

I won't give spoilers, but I LOVED the ending! Pure brilliance by Huntley!

I felt I wanted to scream at Zara throughout the book and tell her what to do, but due to Huntley's great writing, there was the question lingering as to whether I was sensing something that wasn't quite there. The writing was perfect and descriptive to the point that I could picture being in Jane's home, in the garden and passing through the secret door.

Well this was a wild ride. Parts of this story bothered me, but the very end really saved it. Zara was a bit of an annoying MC, and she did seem really stupid at times. Even another character called her out on her being too stupid to get what was so obvious to the reader. But that also helped to make the read more entertaining.

Potential spoilers here but this really showcased toxic love, and what we’re willing to do to keep that love alive. It also shows that we the reader are at the mercy of the narrator telling us accurately what is happening. And maybe that’s not always the case.

Overall an interesting story that I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

The main character of this book, Zara, is a ghostwriter who takes a job writing the memoir for Food TV star Jane, who asks her to move in to her East Hampton mansion while they work on the book. Zara has never heard of Jane, but finds herself increasingly enchanted by her. Before you know it, as a reader you are questioning which of them is using the other, and the book develops into a very slow burn suspense/psychological thriller.

And wow, I just loved this one - couldn’t put it down and it was short enough that I read it in a day! It had just a really engaging style of writing, and an ending that literally has me yelling “dang” out loud! This one comes out in May and with its summer beach setting I could totally see it being the big suspense book to read on the beach this summer!

A bunch of us in my book club saw the author speak on a panel at a book event in January, and we were just so taken by Swan’s offbeat humor that we decided we had to read this book as a group - looking forward to discussing! And I’m looking forward to checking out her backlist books as well.

𝗜 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 was our Read Spin Repeat Book Club pick for March and it definitely gave us a lot to talk about!

I was all in on the premise of a celebrity chef who becomes become dangerously intertwined with the ghostwriter se hires to write her memoir. There's a 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 meets 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 vibe to it that kept me turning the pages but I felt like the last few chapters went off the rails. Other members of our group disagreed so it may have been me, but we're still debating what actually happened at the end. If you grab this one when it comes out May 21st, we'll have to discuss...

3.5 stars

Thanks to Zibby Books for the copy to review.

The Read Spin Repeat Book Club picked I WANT YOU MORE by Swan Huntley as our March pick. Disclosure: We saw Swan speak at Zibby’s big book event in NYC in January and enjoyed her speaking and all became interested in the book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — I binged this one on a plane ride, as did my fellow book club member @onyourmarkgetreading !

I thought the vibe, flow and writing of the book were so well done. Zara is a ghost rider and she gets a gig she desperately needs writing the memoir of a famous tv chef (Jane Bailey) who lives out on East Hampton, Long Island in a fancy mansion. Jane demands that Zara stay with her for the summer to get to know her better. Zara begins to fall for the dynamic Jane — and the two start to do everything together — in home gym workouts, dressing alike, a nod to Bridget Fonda’s Single White Female. (Hello, early 90s.)

As Zara gets further enmeshed in Jane’s cushy life, it’s unclear if she will ever be able to get out.

What was super interesting about this book is the range of feelings it brought out in our members. This is what I love about book club — not every book is for everyone. But this one was for me. I recently picked up Getting Clean With Stevie Green, also by Swan.

Thank you to @zibbybooks and @netgalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this one but it just felt very amateurish. The writing a little too simple, the story line a little too bonkers.

THAT WAS STUNNING!

The developpement of the whole story is outstanding but this epilogue ?! I couldn't stop turning pages again and again ! I wanted to know the final word, I wanted to see if Zara would understand all of this and if or how she would escape !

I was deep into this book just as Zara : I discovered Jane, I felt in love we Jane, I wanted to become Jane and then...

Maybe I could recommand to add some TW on the first pages so people now where they're going

The description of I WANT YOU MORE by Swan Huntley sounded fantastic; I couldn't wait to read it. The beginning of the books is well done, pushing Zara into a corner where she has not choice but to accept the ghostwriting gig with chef Jane Bailey. Even Jane's insistence of Zara moving in was somewhat believable. However, from there, it was very hard to suspend disbelief. It didn't seem plausible that Zara would go the route she does and Jane's secret was obvious fairly quickly. At least half of the story was predictable and on-the-nose. I had high hopes for this book, but it was ultimately disappointing.

Oh my goodness! I couldn't put this one down. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Zara Pines is a ghostwriter who recently lost her father and unexpectedly did not receive what she was expecting in his will. With no work prospects and someone subletting her apartment she has little direction in which path to take next. When her agent calls with a job opportunity to ghost write a memoir for the current it-girl of a popular food channel show. What starts off as spending two weeks living with Jane Bailey, in her East Hampton home, but quickly becomes a friendship, or an obsession. Zara begins wearing Jane's clothes, working out with Jane, even being mistaken for Jane.

The ending left me with more questions than answers and I cannot wait to discuss this with my virtual book club and see what the thought!

This one grabbed my attention from the opening pages. It gave me Emma Cline Guest vibes since the main character is a guest in a Hamptons home. The book has a mysterious feel to it and it kept me turning the pages. I thought the two main characters were well developed. I found the ending a little unusual but I can’t wait to discuss it with my book club.

This is one of those books you read like you watch a horror movie, "no, don't do it", "why are you doing that", "be smarter" (to keep it PG). It kept me on edge as the single white female vibe got stronger and stronger. The end was a bit of a wild ride in the best way.
It's a book that sucked me in quick and was a compulsive read. I think it will be a buzzed about book and make for great book discussions.
If you need full believability in your reads this one might be a bit out there for you, but if you can bend and believe people can exceed our expectations of what they'll do then give this one a shot.

The beginning of this book hit real close to home for me. But as the story unfolded I couldn’t stop reading. Fully immersed in the world Swan Huntley had created. It is an unexpected thriller that will keep you enthralled until the last page.

I had the pleasure of watching Swan speak at the Zibby event I attended in January, and she was absolutely amazing. When she talking about this book I couldn’t wait to request it and read it. Swan is amazingly funny and real, she is definitely an author to keep on your radar.