Gia and Abby have been friends since childhood. Abby's mother worked for the family and Gia's family paid for her schooling at a private school. They are bonded by a tragedy. But what really happened. Abby has always felt guilty. Gia has a whirlwind romance and marries quickly. Is this a mistake? When Abby, with Gia's brother Benny, is invited to Sweden to celebrate Gia's birthday, Gia does not arrive in Sweden, so Abby and Benny go to Greece to look for her.

This is a thriller where the tension increases as you read. What is really going on and who is lying. Where is Gia and did her husband do something bad to her? You will definitely be trying to figure out what is real and what is a lie. The ending may be a surprise since it is open ended. This did not bother me as there may be a sequel or I can make up the ending. Readers can think and are capable of imaging what happens next. This book is different and I enjoyed reading it. I look forward to the next book.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #KatherineWood and #Bantam for a copy of this book
#Ladykiller

Gia and Abby have been friends since Abby’s mother came to work for Gia’s family when they were kids. They went to school together, vacations, shared everything with each other. One night Gia saves Abby from being assaulted by Gia’s ex-boyfriend and stalker, Noah and ends up killing him. Or so that’s the story. Twelve years later Gia invites her brother Benny and Abby to Sweden for a vacation to see the Northern Lights. When Gia fails to show, Benny and Abby start to worry. Gia says she’s sick but when a mysterious stranger shows up at the hotel, accompanied by threatening emails to Abby, they travel to Greece, where Gia and her husband Garrett live to find out what’s going on. The past doesn’t always stay in the past.


Really great thriller! Kept me interested and in the edge of my seat the whole time! Had me guessing until the end and I’m still not sure what the truth is!! Loved it!

Ladykiller by Katherine Wood is available next week on July 9th. You need to go and grab it.
Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley for this early release.
This was a great, twisty book. It starts with a rich family, the patriarch dies and leaves everyone scrambling to pick up the pieces. Gia, our rich heiress, finds she has to sell her island home to maintain the lifestyle she has become accustomed to. Her new husband of three months seems to good to be true. Her best friend Abby actually tells her that. They have a falling out, but Gia has invited Abby and her brother Benny to meet her in Switzerland to see the northern lights for Gia's birthday to make amends. Benny and Abby show up, but Gia sends a text message saying she's sick. Then so sick she can't make it to see them. Benny and Abby go to the island home she has been renovating to sell, so they can find out what is going on with Gia. They find a manuscript that Gia started writing while there and use it to try to piece together her disappearance. This just brings more and more questions!
Twisty and dark thriller. I loved it.
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The cover of this book stopped me in my tracks and then the synopsis pulled me in! Ladykiller is a suspense/thriller that; overall, I really enjoyed.

The story is told in dual POVs of best friends Abby and Gia. Abby is told in present time (mostly), while Gia's story is told through her manuscript... until the two timelines finally catch up. I loved the pacing. I felt this story flowed so fast and I was intrigued early on to just fly through the story. The suspense built fast, and I honestly was not quite sure where it was going to go. In the end, we are left with and open ending... which I LOVE! An ending that leaves me questioning someone's true character sits just fine with me.

The one thing that bothered me was Gia's character. In her manuscript, she seemed like the 30 year old she claimed to be albeit a spoiled heiress that wasn't quite in touch with reality. However, Gia in real life seemed like a petulant teenager despite her age. I think she could have been written just as unreliable without coming off as immature as she did. It was like the Gia in the manuscript and real-life Gia were two incredibly different people.

Overall, the book was great and I would still recommend it. I look forward to more from Katherine Wood.

A twisty, twisty plot scattered with deftly obscured clues, Ladykiller was immersive storytelling at its best. With vivid descriptions and evocative prose, I felt transported to the sandy beaches and whitewashed buildings of the Greek Isles. But it was the finely layered plot that kept me reading. Peppered with suspense that only ratcheted higher and higher, the buildup had my fingers flying as my brain worked doubletime trying to see behind the skillfully woven curtain. No matter what I came up with, however, I just couldn’t do it.

The characters easily matched the storyline step for step. From the complex group dynamics to the addictive narrative cocktail, a dark history was masterfully interwoven by dual alternating timelines and POVs. Told via Abby in the present and Gia’s manuscript of the past, this tale of metafiction was compelling to be sure. Especially given their realistic personas and true-to-life verve. Altogether, they painted a gripping portrait right up until the end. At least, very nearly.

See, my biggest hang up with this breathtaking psychological thriller was the finale. Without a true conclusion or even a hint at a clue, it was left almost entirely open ended. There could have been so many ways to give the same feel while also providing some answers. So despite the possibility that it could work for others, it left me relatively frustrated even if it was what the author was going for all said and done.

Just the same, the compelling intrigue, thought-provoking drama, and complicated friendships means that this book is sure to stay alive for me long after closing the gorgeous cover. From the dark secrets to multiple suspicious individuals, Wood’s debut novel will surely make quite a mark in the genre. After all, it had it all with rich people behaving badly, a judicious dose of spice, an enigmatic mystery, and underhanded motives. So here’s hoping there’s a book two in the works because I would happily follow Ms. Wood back into this stunning world in a heartbeat. Rating of 4 stars.

Thank you to Katherine Wood and Random House Publishing Group - Bantam for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars

Are you looking for a great book to sit by a body of water with and read? Maybe with a cold drink in hand? Some salacious, soapy, and thrilling? Then you might be looking for Ladykiller.

Ladykiller is author Katherine Wood’s debut novel, and even if it’s pretty obvious this is a debut novel, it’s a pretty good shot for a debut thriller beach read being published smack dab in the middle of summer. Set mostly in the sublime Greek islands and filled with sun, food, drink, sex, and secrets, there is nothing about this book that doesn’t meet the criteria needed for something fun and diverting to read when it’s hot outside and you just want to drink your daiquiri and be left alone.

This book is mostly told from two POVs: Gia is the scion of a wealthy family who is in the midst of divesting herself of the beloved family estate in Greece, and Abby is her best friend who was also the daughter of their family cook growing up. Abby’s story is told in first-person POV, while Gia’s is told in chapters from a manuscript she wrote for the majority of the book. Along for the ride as a narrative foil is Gia’s younger brother, Benny. If you’re thinking unreliable narrator, you got it. If you’re thinking “best friend’s brother” trope, you got it. Is it spicy? Not in my opinion. There’s titillation, but no explicitness. Nudity, but not smut. Fade to black, mostly.

This book isn’t heavy and it’s not meant to be; even so, there’s just so much of this book that seems to breeze by and so much stuff that seems to be a bit too incredulous. I can only suspend disbelief so much. Either that, or I’m more of a cynic than I thought I was. Either way, I just wasn’t as engaged as I’d hoped. I want to be swept away by my beach reads. This was fun, but not quite fun enough for me.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Beach Read/Psychological Fiction/Psychological Thriller/Suspense Mystery/Suspense Thriller

This book was enjoyable. The author put a surprise twist on the "con artist marries rich girl for her money" trope.

Gia, the impulsive rich party girl, was naive enough to marry Garrett after only knowing him a short period of time. I've read a few books with that premise and always felt frustrated with how much the mark was willing to put up with. Gia, however, was not a pushover. There was only so much she was willing to let slide and once she began standing her ground, things with Garrett went downhill fast. Her character almost felt contradictory at times: is she a rich, naive party girl or a conniving narcissist? Can she be both?

When Gia's brother, Benny, and best friend, Abby, can't reach her, they fear the worst has happened. They read Gia's manuscript for clues but realize not everything written is gospel. What happened in the month since Benny had last seen his sister?

There are two sides to every story, and then there's the truth. The ending does leave some things up to the imagination but in this case, the lack of tying everything up in a bow is satisfying.

Thank you for the advanced copy! Review posted to Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Instagram.

I could not put this down. I would have read it in a day if I did not need sleep. The mystery was so good. The ending is left for the reader to decide what really happened which is driving me crazy.

thank you netgalley for this ARC!!

ahhhhh this was so good.
i drank this UP.

"When an heiress goes missing, her best friend races to unravel the secrets behind her disappearance using clues left behind in an explosive manuscript…"

abby and gia are best friends, since forever. when they grow up and go their seperate ways, abby turns to studies and gia turns to writing about her fateful summer in her newest debut novel.

if you like white lotus, knives out, or anything tropical & murdeous, this is for you.

also giving desperate housewives energy.

the beginning of this book was a bit slow for me, but once it hit the middle it was a dash to the end.
i was so impressed with the author's ability to make me despise so many characters at once. each character had their own personality and once you think you had them figured out, you're wrong.

a classic whodunit, twisted with romance, lust, betrayal, and money money money.

i absolutely loved this and expect a book #2 from benny's POV.

if you liked nine perfect strangers, you'll LOVE this.

5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This was a decent summertime thriller. The twists were pretty obvious but I have read so many thrillers at this point that I may not be the best barometer. I will say I despised the ambiguous ending, but this is a personal preference. It was well-written, but that type of non-resolution drives me bonkers.

This is my first Katherine Wood novel and it definitely won’t be my last! I was pulled in from page 1, so intrigued with Abby and Gia’s story and dynamic. I loved the back and forth between Gia’s manuscript (and the detail 10/10) and the present with Abby and the trip. Truthfully, I saw the twist coming from a mile away but loved confirming it. This was such a page turner, I stayed up too late to finish this because I could not put it down. The only reason this doesn’t get five stars from me is because I DESPISE ambiguous endings. I need my theories confirmed and not left up to interpretation (a personal bias). Other than that this would have been a five star read, I was hooked!

Thank you to Bantam Dell for an advanced readers copy of this title via NetGalley.

I had a good time with this book and it was the perfect summertime thriller. I'm always going to enjoy a book that centers a female friendship and I think this one had the perfect balance of twists and turns. I was able to figure out where it was going fairly easily but the ride was still enjoyable all the same!

Gia and Abby have been best friends since they were young girls. Abby's father worked as the chef for Gia's family. Years later, they had a falling out over Gia’s sudden marriage and then Gia goes missing. Abby and Gia’s brother, Benny, set off to find her. When they arrive in Greece, they find a manuscript detailing the dark truth behind Gia’s new marriage. Now Abby and Benny race to find Gia as tensions rise. Will they find her before it’s too late?

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for this e-arc.*

Best friends Gia and Abby were everything to each other. But after tragedy struck years ago in Greece, they drifted a little. Now, Gia invites Abby on a vacation of a lifetime. But when Gia isn't where she's supposed to be, Abby and Gia's brother start to worry about the newlywed.

Wow! This was a twisty one. Here's What I loved:

The back and forth. This was told through the POV of Abby and an unfinished manuscript by Gia. Both of these worked really well together as Abby and Benny start looking for Gia. The book gives a little insight into what had been happening within Gia's marriage.

Abby. I really liked her character. She has some rough edges and painful moments she doesn't want to relive. But she still pushes through and tries to move on with her life. There is also a little romance between her and Benny that I loved the addition of.

The local. Between Greece and other exotic locations, you get some really cool settings that give the mystery and even deeper atmosphere.

All in all, this was a really good and twisty thriller!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!

A fast paced, enjoyable summer thriller. I had my suspicions about this was going to play out and it was fun putting all the different puzzle pieces together. The setting is perfect for summer time and it goes quick and sucks you in.

This is a twisted thriller featuring a missing heiress named Gia. The plot moves back and forth between Abby, Gia’s friend, who is searching for her and Gia’s manuscript that includes secrets that perhaps someone doesn’t want revealed. Abby teams up with Gia’s brother and chases clues to find her while we are led deeper into the mystery of what happened to Gia and why she is nowhere to be found and totally incommunicado. The mystery of her disappearance is compelling but all of the back and forth between characters is somewhat off-putting as I never got the the place where I could really relate to anything of the characters. Nor did I think that Gia was a very believable character since she seemed to be a rich girl with all of the trappings of wealth but not enough common sense to know not to threaten others who could possibly harm her. The story was moderately paced and kept my interest for most of the novel, but it really lost me with the open ending that was very disappointing. I wanted a real conclusion and was dismayed that I had to come up with how I thought it was going to end. I give the book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 since it did keep me interested enough to read it but is not a book that I would want to read again, knowing how it ends (or doesn’t really) and how shallow the main characters are.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16th CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

I was not initially sure what to think about this book because it took me a little while to get into it. I just got to know the characters and some of their histories as events played out. And as I was reading I had to remind myself that any time I was reading Gia’s Manuscript, I had to consider that any of it might or might not be true. Gia was a complicated character. At times I liked her and, at others, I did not. I liked Abby and Benny and I definitely liked them together. There was definitely some good chemistry between them. I had to let go of any expectations and just wait for any secrets/information to be divulged, but as it was, I definitely got more engaged. I like how the author gave the reader little bits here and there that were intriguing, amping up the suspense. Overall, a good read and I look forward to more work from this author.

I may be the outlier here, but other than a few components I did not enjoy this book 😬.
First the good ->
I love questionable characters, plot twists, spice, family drama, beach settings, and unique writing styles. This book had all of that and I will admit it kept me engaged, but I think the way it was executed as a whole was confusing and underwhelming.
I didn’t connect with the characters and honestly was so confused by the “twists” that it severely affected my rating. The book also left off open ended which was clever, but extremely frustrating at the same time 🤬.

Thank you NetGalley and Bantam for a #gifted eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Ladykiller is a fast paced thriller set on a Greek isle full of exuberant wealthy individuals, frenemies and romantic lust.

Abby and Gia have been friends forever but recently had a fulling out over Gia’s quick engagement and wedding to someone she just met. As an olive branch, Gia invites Abby to Sweden to see the northern lights and celebrate her birthday but Gia fails to turn up. Together with Gia’s younger brother, Abby travels to Greece to find Gia and the truth about what really happened.

I really liked the alternating chapters between Abby’s pov and the manuscript chapters written by Gia. The story moved quickly and all the characters were of questionable morals which made for an interesting story.


Thank you publishers and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Good, but not great, Ladykiller did a fab job at keeping me hooked even if the ending fell a bit flat. I know I generally don’t love things tied up in a perfect bow, but this didn’t even feel complete.