You know those reading slumps that creep up on you? The ones where every book you pick up feels like cardboard and nothing seems to spark that familiar excitement? That was me for the past three days. After coming off a particularly good reading streak, I found myself in that dreaded literary limbo where everything felt "blah." It's frustrating when you're a book blogger with deadlines looming and your brain just refuses to connect with anything on your TBR pile.

This morning, staring at my stack of review copies, I decided to give The Grass Widow by Vanessa Edwards a shot. I had a tour date approaching, and sometimes the pressure of a deadline is exactly what you need to push through a slump. I'm happy to report that Vanessa Edwards managed to pull me out of my reading funk, though perhaps not in the way I expected.

The Grass Widow opens with Leonie (who goes by Jane) starting a new job as a cleaner. But this isn't just any cleaning gig – it's revenge served with a side of Hoover attachments. Her target? Hugh Standing, her former boss and lover who had the audacity to make her redundant and end their affair on the same day. Talk about adding insult to injury. Now she's single, jobless, and plotting her comeback while scrubbing toilets.

Meanwhile, Hugh's wife Amanda has hired gardener Simon, and let's just say he's not only tending to her roses – if you catch my drift. The domestic setting becomes a breeding ground for secrets, lies, and manipulation.

Vanessa Edwards then expands her canvas to include other cleaners' stories, creating a web of interconnected characters each driven by their own desperate motivations. There's Tina, whose involvement in her brother-in-law's criminal activities leads to her stealing bank information from clients – a decision that proves fatal. Brenda works next door to Amanda and decides blackmail might be her ticket to easy money, but photographs can capture more than you bargain for. And Simon? Well, he's got ulterior motives that extend far beyond landscaping, and he's willing to lie, steal, and even murder to achieve his goals.

What struck me most about this novel was how it explores the lengths people will go to survive, get rich, or get even. Each character is driven by desperation in their own way, whether it's financial necessity, wounded pride, or pure greed. Vanessa Edwards doesn't shy away from showing how easily ordinary people can slip into morally questionable territory when pushed to their limits.

I'll be honest – at times the book felt quite busy. With so many characters and their individual schemes running parallel, it occasionally felt convoluted. I found myself having to flip back to remind myself which character was which and how their stories connected. Vanessa Edwards juggles multiple storylines competently, but the sheer volume of moving pieces sometimes worked against the narrative's momentum.

That said, this was exactly the kind of easy, engaging read I needed to break through my slump. The pacing kept me turning pages, and while the plot had its tangled moments, Vanessa Edwards maintained enough tension to keep me invested in how all these schemes would ultimately collide.

One unexpected bonus was learning what a "grass widow" actually means and discovering the term's fascinating origins – always a treat for someone who loves etymology as much as I do!

Perfect for: Readers who enjoy domestic thrillers, stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and anyone looking for an engaging page-turner that doesn't require heavy emotional investment.

Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

A brilliant mystery thriller with a fantastic main character. I thoroughly enjoyed this and I could have never seen the twists in this story. Brilliant. Highly recommended xx

What a thrilling mystery/thriller with female characters. This author was able to create an exciting mystery without making it a police focused book that so many mysteries have a tendency to do, and I really appreciate that.

Vanessa Edwards has an immense talent and I'm looking forward to her next book.

The Grass Widow is an engaging and suspenseful novel that guides readers on a thrilling passage through Leonie, Hugh, Amanda, and other interesting people’s lives. The tragedy starts at Leonie’s end when she is devastated and jobless following the separation from her married partner. Resolute to retaliate and discover meaning in her life again, Leonie decides to intrude into Hugh’s domain, masquerading as a cleaner.

Nevertheless, the more bottomless Leonie plunges into her endeavor, the more she unwittingly finds out about Amanda’s closely held secrets. The unforeseen twist deepens the complicated storyline by captivating readers and having them anxiously turn over the pages to reveal who Amanda is.

Brenda and Tina are other fellow cleaners who also have a hidden agenda of their own, just like that of Leonie. Leonie’s motivations begin to interact more and more with other characters as the story progresses, creating an atmosphere of suspense and mystery, which keeps readers curious until the last moment.

A dramatic event leads to a tragic death that questions the innocence of the characters involved in it. Leonie hated Amanda for a while, but this is precisely why she needed to get over it and get down to discovering the truth and saving further tragedies. This internal struggle enhances Leonie’s character since it involves her emotions, even though she tries to be objective.

In turn, the author cleverly develops each character, presenting them with sufficient shades for the reader to thoroughly get entangled in their life. The characters have a life of their own. Leonie’s will to survive is impressive. Who is this mysterious character, Hugh? Why is Amanda so strange?

The Grass Widow has an exciting storyline with correctly portrayed main characters and unpredictable twists, thus making it worth reading until the last page. Such suspense and tension steadily grow in the story, making it unavoidable. The story would hook readers as they ponder whether to unravel Amanda’s secret desires or uphold the call for justice.

To sum up, “The Grass Widow” is an excellent novel that portrays the issues revolving around revenge, secrets, and how far people can go to discover purpose in life. I adored this book, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Troubador, Matador and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.