It's interesting to see a female serial killer. It's an entertaining story, but I had some difficulty caring about the characters, especially Cordelia. I hate it when people refer to themselves in the third person. I can see why it was done in this story, but it was done so much that it really got annoying.

Wow. How could anyone rate this less than 5 stars?!

🖤 Found Family
🔪 Feminine Rage
🖤 Bestie Energy
🔪 Girl Dexter

If you’re into The Mind F series, The Ruinous Love Trilogy (B&B, L&L) and badass FMC then this is your next read. Cordelia Black is one bad b****! In the day time, she’s a designer wearing business woman. She’s loyal to her chosen family, her best friend Diane and Diane’s daughter Sugar. At night, she performs her ritual of killing bad men known as the monsters of Southern Louisiana. When Diane starts dating someone named Simon, who Cordelia questions his motives, things take a bit of a turn…

𝑨𝒔𝒌 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆: 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈.

Thank you for this read, Emma C. Wells! I had the pleasure of reading an ARC copy from Net Galley 🫶🏻

📚🔪👩‍🎨 BOOK REVIEW! 👩‍🎨🔪📚

If you love the Finlay Donovan series, try:

This Girl's A Killer by Emma C. Wells
Genre: Thriller
Length: 432 pages
Pub. Date: Oct. 29, 2024

Thank you to @NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the e-ARC of this book. The opinions expressed are my own.

Cordelia Black is a self-made, successful 33 year-old pharmaceutical sales rep with a real passion for her found family - best friend since college, Diane, and her daughter Sugar. She also has another passion: making the world a better place by hunting abusive men and murdering them in her handy storage unit. If that premise doesn't pique your interest, I'm not sure what will! 🤣 Cordelia has been carrying on her 'second job' easily for years, but she gets in over her head when she ends up having to make a very sudden and unplanned kill. This begins a spiral of cat-and-mouse with her job, family, and new love interest who happens to be a local policeman. Will Cordelia get away with (another) murder - especially if the victim is a little too close to home??

Opinion:
This book was a really fun and surprising gem! It definitely gave off Finlay Donovan vibes, but the premise is certainly unique as you pull back the layers of Cordelia's life and circumstances. It was definitely more gruesome and descriptive as far as the murders go, so be aware of this if you are looking for a thriller without the gory details. I really loved Cordelia as a MC and hope the author continues her adventures in vigilantism as is hinted at the end of the book. Definitely pick this one up for a fast-paced ride, with some definite humor involved! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you #poisonedpenpress and #netgalley for this #arc of #thisgirlsakiller. Dexter vibes? A code to live by? Yesss!! This debut book is a 3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, rounded up, for me. Cordelia Black (her name screams success) is a successful pharmaceutical sales rep by day and lives by her code a night. The term serial killer is thrown around, but Cordelia Black is not about to accept this term. This story is filled with love, friendship, deceit, determination, success, and justice. In all honesty, my rating is based on a few things I would’ve liked to see have some closure. Sugar’s reaction to everything. Christopher. The pharmaceuticals sales. We had more closure on Mango, who became one of my favorite characters and I often found myself trying to imitate all of the chortling and yodeling little Mango was doing!
Thanks for the fun read.

This Girl's a Killer
By Emma C. Wells

This is the story of Cordelia Black – an avenging angel of justice, out to right the wrongs perpetrated by evil men on the weak and vulnerable. In short, a serial killer. Cordelia tells her story in her own words, the horror of what she does, while trying to justify her actions to the reader – and to herself.

I did not read the whole book. I just couldn't find anything about this story that grabbed and held my interest. Maybe there is an audience for this kind of thing. I am not part of that audience.

Let’s be honest here— Cordelia was a really bad serial killer. She roped too many outsiders into it, displayed her bloody paintings for anyone to see, and had her workshop in a literal storage facility. Girl! The people who work there have skeleton keys! She caused almost all of her own problems and it eventually became very frustrating to read. Her particular brand of millennial girlbossery is also not a character trait I care to read about.

I could not tell if the smoke was supposed to be a metaphor or if she actually had some kind of Shining thing going on. I also felt the reveal that Joanie was her past self that she had “killed” did not have the impact on me that the author intended. It unfortunately ended up seeming corny instead of seeming like a big plot twist.

Finally, the author trying to have her My Year of Rest and Relaxation 9/11 moment at the end with a thinly veiled Brock Turner reference left a very bad taste in my mouth. It felt extremely disrespectful to use a real woman’s trauma in order to wrap up Cordelia’s character arc.

This was not a book for me whatsoever, but I imagine book clubs will really enjoy it a few years in the future.

This was a super fun page turner about a female Dexter killer, who rids the world of bad men who do bad things. But what does she do when such a man is her best friend's boyfriend? Well... you can guess. (Spoiler alert: his head may end up in her freezer. And who among us hasn't wanted to but her best friends a-hole boyfriend's head in the freezer?)

This was a creative, fun, funny romp that basically turned its own pages until I could find out how in the world our heroine would get away with this. I loved this author's voice as well as her plotting and concept, with a feminist tone and a hilarious and humorous bent. I will be eagerly awaiting Emma Wellls's next novel (and btw, I'd love a sequel!)

This one captured my attention right away but it was short lived. I thought the main character was always stating how “organized” she was or how she never missed any details but kept continually missing something. As a popcorn thriller, it was fine but if this one is trying to market anything other than that, I would say it misses the mark completely. I think the book could use a good edit scrub before it gets published as well. But I appreciate the gifted copy!

Cordelia Black is a doting godmother to her best friend’s daughter, a successful pharmaceutical rep, and an artist. She’s also a serial killer, purging Baton Rouge of unpunished men who have committed atrocious crimes. This Girl’s A Killer is a total blast from start to finish! Having a female protagonist who’s also a prolific killer is rare enough in this genre, but having one so likable is even rarer. And that’s why this debut novel works so well, as the reader can’t help but fall in love with Cordelia, as well as her goddaughter Samantha, and the dialogue when the two of them are together is priceless. When the man Cordelia’s BFF is dating gives off bad vibes, her carefully constructed hidden life starts to unravel and everything that could possibly go wrong does, and the reader is along for a harrowing ride, filled with suspense, tension, and more than a few laughs. This was a completely enjoyable read, and can’t wait for this author’s next novel. Five stars! I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC

Looking for another "Good for her" novel? Well, look no further! I love these kinds of books and I really enjoyed this one. It takes talent to make you root for an unlikable serial killer, but boy did I find our main character amusing. She's strong and badass, but a killer all the less. It's a gripping and suspenseful story which I highly recommend.

I really enjoyed the story. I had a few “omg” while I was reading. Overall great story. I felt like it ended pretty quick but really am looking to see what happens.

Talk about twists and turns. This book kept me reading simply to find out how Cordelia(Joan) got herself out of the self inflicted messes of her life. Very rare for "serial killer books" to have so much humor in them. Besides the devil neighbor dog, packing a corpse in kitty litter was hysterical. I am sure anyone loving Dexter will relish this

Cordelia Black is a stylish business woman and devoted friend and godmother. Oh…and a killer of bad men. She is meticulous and patient in all areas of her life, until she hits a few snags, things get messy, and she is forced to stray from her routines. Will everything smooth over or will she get caught with blood on her hands?

Thoughts: I enjoyed the little twists and turns in this debut novel. We got to know the characters and their stories well, with details sprinkled throughout to keep it interesting. Some parts were a little repetitive and I got a bit sick of the Joanie references toward the end, but otherwise enjoyed the story and the ending.

I have really been enjoying all of the female serial killer books that have been released lately and this one was no exception.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

This Girl's a Killer by Emma C. Wells is a first person-POV thriller following Cordelia, a woman who would do anything to protect her best friend and goddaughter and does just that by murdering predators in her area. When her friend, Diane, starts dating Simon, Cordelia is convinced something is wrong with him but can't find any evidence. At least, not until he follows her home one night after witnessing her dispose of a body.

Cordelia reminds me of a female Dexter, a serial killer who is very methodical and has a very specific code in who they will and will not harm. Despite her annoyance with a neighbor’s dog, she refuses to inflict harm on animals and even eyes her neighbor when she suspects something is wrong. Cordelia mainly goes after pedophiles and men who commit sexual assault and won't do anything about Simon until he shows her that he's also a danger to Diane and Samantha, Diane’s daughter and Cordelia's goddaughter.

Cordelia's POV is mostly defined by her relationships with Diane and Samantha. We open with her driving all the way to Samantha's school to deliver birthday cupcakes when Diane was busy at work and stating that she would do anything for the two. The three of them are a family and it appears that Diane’s family is largely out of the picture and Cordelia has no contact at all with her mother.

Even when Cordelia is veering into the territory of being unlikeable, it's hard for me to actually fault her for her thinking because she sees predators at work, in her community, and saw them in her childhood and in her and Diane's college days. There's a lot to unpack in how she's a pharmaceutical sales rep who forges documents to keep supplies of the drug for herself so she can knock out her victims, particularly in the current climate of doctors over-prescribing oxycodone. It makes her more morally gray and an anti-hero, especially when paired with her taking the blood of her victims and making paintings she hangs in her house. Momentos of what she has done.

Content warning for mentions of CSA, abuse, sexual assault, and torture

I would recommend this to fans of books with anti-heroes, readers looking for a Dexter-esque lead, and those looking for a female lead who commits crimes but is hard to completely condemn

A friend recommented THIS GIRL'S A KILLER. The "girl" n the title is Cordelia Black, a best friend, a businesswoman, and, in her spare time, a killer of bad men. It's a funny, feminist thriller about friendship and murder.

This book started out really strong, and had me hooked from the beginning. I liked the premise behind it, and the main character was likeable. Cordelia Black is a pharma rep by day and killer of 'bad men' at night. She has a strong attachment to her 'found family', Diane and her daughter Samantha, and is very protective. I did like the aspect of Cordelia's artistic flair for making art with her victims blood, but that was really it as far as the suspense went.

Once I was halfway in, parts became repetitive (the relationship between the main character and her bestie didn't need to be constantly explained) and sort of fell flat for me. There was a lot of time spent on a situation that I won't go into for fear of spoilers, but it took too many pages, and could have been wrapped up a little better. Also, Mango's story just sort of ended up being 'neat' and I wasn't sure if Cordelia ended up having anything to do with it or was it truly an accident?

Additionally, Christopher, the guy Cordelia began dating (a cop, no less) was a missed opportunity for a good twist at the end, perhaps? And he basically just disappeared towards the end of the book. After their run-in at the hospital, there was no follow up or explanation.

I did like the book's cover art. It was attention grabbing.

I support women's rights and women's wrongs.

This book gave big Dexter vibes and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Cordelia Black was a great main character and someone you could really root for the entire time. The book went at a good pace and helped me stay interested the entire time. I would definitely read a sequel if one ever comes out.

Thank you Netgalley, Emma C. Wells, and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

Definitely worth the read. And definitely worth recommending to others! Thrillers are one if my favorite genre’s and this one did not disappoint. I loved the themes of chosen family as well as a unique code of honor.

From the moment Cordelia Black enters the scene, it’s clear that she’s a force to be reckoned with. Fiercely devoted and tirelessly driven, she is relentless in her pursuit of justice. Her version of justice, however, means taking matters into her own hands, eliminating those who threaten the innocent with a cold, calculated determination.

In This Girl's A Killer, Cordelia leads a double life: by day, she’s a successful pharmaceutical rep, but by night, she’s a vigilante hunting down dangerous men who escape justice. She’s fiercely devoted to her best friend Diane and her goddaughter, and her carefully curated image includes a top-notch hairdresser. But when she becomes the focus of a media frenzy as a suspected serial killer and Diane starts dating a man Cordelia mistrusts, her carefully controlled world begins to unravel, leading to intense personal and moral conflicts.

Cordelia is a likable main character. She's someone you want on your side. And I'm not saying that because of her penchant for retribution. Her unrelenting love for her best friend and her goddaughter reveals a deeply compassionate side that balances her darker tendencies. That's not to say she isn't flawed. Her impulsive decisions and occasional lapses in judgment often lead her into complicated and dangerous situations, making her all the more human and relatable.

If you were a fan of the show Dexter or the Finlay Donovan book series, you'll eat this book up!