This one left me wanting to like the characters but I just couldn’t find it. It’s a story filled with opulence and secrets. It just left me feeling …. Like ick.

Thanks for the early read NetGalley

Actually closer to 3 1/2 stars, but not close enough to round up...

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I think this book would have been better had I known more about F. Scott Fitzgerald and his books. Like almost everyone, I read Gatsby in high school. That's it.

This book is supposed to be an homage to Gatsby, centering around a cast of actors and director retelling Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night, with the woman being the hero in the end.

I was engaged through much of the book. It was pretty easy to guess what was going to happen, though.

Was not a fan of the ending at all. So much more could have been done with it and it was kind of a let down.

When a beloved actress is cast in a feminist adaptation of a Fitzgerald classic, she finds herself the victim in a deadly game of revenge in which everyone, on screen and off, is playing a part.

Sweet Fury started as a difficult read for me, perhaps because I was distracted sitting in a crowded airport and then on a cross country flight. I found myself frequently rereading sections until I got caught up in the story and then did not want to put it down to deplane.
Vibes of Hollywood, movies and movie stars all were featured prominently. For some reason I found myself comparing Lila to some actresses of the past and present, wondering if there life behind the scenes is satisfying. Having not read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work since high school I found myself wishing I had read them prior to Sweet Fury as I probably would have been more proficient at “reading between the lines”.
This read is hard for me to categorize - thriller, drama, character driven, screenplay…all those and more. It was a total surprise to me.
Many thanks to Sash Bischoff, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this unique read. Three and a half stars.

I have to admit, I’ve never actually fully read anything by F. Scott Fitzgerald, so I probably wasn’t the intended audience for this one, but it was decent enough. Seeing that I’m not familiar with the books this was inspired by, I didn’t know what to expect, but it didn’t really give me what I wanted until the very end. I feel like it could have been a bit shorter? Again, since I’m not familiar with the original, maybe I’m way off, so just take my thoughts with a grain of salt or two 😂

This one is a bit of a puzzle for me. The premise is fairly straightforward—-a retelling of Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald, slanted to a feminist viewpoint via a movie. Lila Crayne is the star and her fiance’ Kurt Royall is the director. In preparation for her role, Lila begins working with a charming and credentialed psychotherapist, Jonah Gabriel, to process and move past her remembered (and forgotten) traumas.

There are an unbelievable number of twists and turns in the book, to the extent that I was never completely sure of what was the real thread and what was a sham. Lila and Jonah both have secrets to protect, and one of the two appears to have the upper hand. There are other characters as well, and those mix things up too.

The book held my attention, but I found the ending confusing and, honestly, I didn’t believe it matched the rest of the book.

I’m amazed that this is a debut effort. 3.5 stars rounded up! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was quite impressed with Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff. I was drawn into the story very quickly, and though I'm not a huge Fitzgerald aficionado, detailed knowledge of his work wasn't necessary to appreciate the narrative surrounding his novels, especially Tender Is The Night. Bischoff did a great job of first creating identification with a character and then shifting the perspective. Soon, I was seeing pretty much everyone as unreliable, and this leant to the power of the story. The psychological twists picked up as the story moved on, and the different modes of narration (e.g., psychiatrist notes, straight narration, diary) helped to build the suspense. The writing was good, stylized and descriptive in a way that worked for the connections to FSF. Though this isn't a classic thriller, I've decided to use Sweet Fury for our store's thriller bookclub in an upcoming month, and I think it'll be a great vehicle for discussion!

I did not finish this book at the 30% mark. I did not like the characters and did not care about the plot at this point in the book. The writing was good and I'm sure that there will be many readers who love this book. Unfortunately, this was just not for me.

I got about 45% of the way through the book before I had to call it quits. I wasn't connecting with any of the characters, even though none of them were likeable you would think you can still find something to connect with them over. I just didn't care about them or the stories. I have only read Gatsby so maybe I should read Tender is the Night to gain better aspect of this book? Either way, I am grateful to the publisher for the ARC.

4.5 stars

I liked this very clever book QUITE a bit more than I expected. It feels like a mashup of a few other books – The Silent Patient, Verity, and They Never Learn – with Old Hollywood/old money/Gatsby/Fitzgerald vibes.

An actress and her director husband are filming a supposedly feminist version of Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The actress, Lila, begins seeing a therapist in order to get in touch with past trauma and prepare for the role. At first, the character dialogue is melodramatic and pretentious which was not my favorite, but this gets better as the book becomes more of a psychological thriller.

There are a lot of Fitzgerald references that are important to the plot. I don’t know much about him other than the Great Gatsby, but you don’t need to have knowledge of his work to understand this book. The author explains the plot of Tender is the Night enough for you to discover that life imitates art, as events of the novel start to mimic the movie script.

For this reason, some parts of the second half are a bit predictable, but not everything is. I loved the journey this book took me on. Certainly a unique book I would recommend!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for my copy of SWEET FURY. This one is out Jan 7.

I hated that this was pitched as a feminist retelling. I can't say that I'm a huge F. Scott Fitzgerald person, and maybe that's why it wasn't for me, but I just couldn't get into it. I hated the characters and it didn't feel in anyway feminist to me. Sorry, I do not recommend this one

I didn't finish this one- found it over the top, predictable, and cringey at times. I probably could have given it a longer chance, because the writing was good, but I just knew this book wouldn't be for me.

Well I wanted to like this one more than I ended up liking it. I’ve never read F. Scott Fitzgerald and maybe if I had it would have helped but this was a case of a convoluted plot, unlikable characters and an attempt to include male privilege, feminism, revenge and obsession. Who the perpetrator and who was the victim changed several times throughout the story and the alternating POV that usually helps to strengthen the story did nothing to help this one unfortunately.
It attempts to show the behind the scenes of Hollywood but because there were so many cliches and stereotypes written in, it just came off as trying too hard to be something it’s not-like twisty as I had hoped.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

A retelling of Tender is the Night, Lila is preparing for a role and needs to work through some things with her therapist. But the more she goes through things with him, the more they connect. Sweet Fury is dark and gritty.

I was actually able to get my hands on the physical book and I love this story so much. If you love F. Scott Fitzgerald as much as I do then you need to read this wonderful lyrical book! I'd highly recommend it for anyone who loves a re-imagined classic and literary fiction

📚: Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff
⭐️: 3/5

What could have been an actual feminist rage story done well fell flat for me in this (kind of) retelling of Tender Is The Night. With pretentious characters that I struggled to connect with and a twist that should have been introduced earlier as the actual basis of the book, I found myself eager to finish this read.

To give a bit of credit, one thing that worked well was the different POVs and methods done - therapy notes, diary entries. This made the plot engaging and kept the overall pace going.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sweet Fury is out now.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Bishoff, and Simon & Schuster for providing the ebook. This story is a captivating web of deception, expertly crafted with plenty of intrigue, lies, secrets, and intensity. At its core, it's all about acting—but the real challenge lies in discerning who's playing a part and when. A truly thrilling read.

Sash Bischoff is off to an impressive start with SWEET FURY. I was blown away to learn it was a debut! I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Actress Lila Crayne is America’s sweetheart. At 32, she is set to star in the female adaptation of tender is the night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Working alongside her filmmaker fiancé Kurt Royall, she begins counselling with Jonah Gabriel as a way of unpacking her own deeply rooted issues and tragedies of the past in order to prepare for the role. She is hoping to gain a deeper understanding and perspective towards the role. As she delves deeper into her past and finally learns the truth about a long ago tragedy. Will Lila and Jonah’s reality repeat Fitzgerald’s art? She also kwatches as her fiancé behaves inappropriately with a supporting actress who is new on the scene. Lila decides to take said actress under her wing and guide her.

But no one is quite who they seem to be. Lila has a very deep connection to the film. And as she goes from the casting couch to the therapist’s couch she completes assignments meant to delve deeper into her psyche and she seems to fall under Jonah’s spell. Jonah, on the other hand, has strong feelings toward Lila which put his own engagement to Maggie in jeopardy. Lila‘s mother never approved of Kurt but the actress and the filmmaker are a team to be reckoned with in the film industry. But what is Kurt really up to?

This story had me hooked from the beginning and I was dancing on the end of the line all the way through, reading long after bedtime.There were misogynistic themes throughout that had my blood boiling at points and cheering Lila on at others. I was very surprised to see that SWEET FURY was a debut. Sash Bischoff will be a wonderful new addition to my ‘authors to watch’ list. I can’t wait to see where she takes me next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Simon & Schuster #partner, for the advanced e-copy of Sweet Fury in exchange for my honest review.

When I saw this was being comped to The Silent Patient, I knew I had to read it…that is one of my favorite books! I didn’t even investigate any further into this book, so I had no idea it had so much to do with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s works, particularly Tender is the Night which I have never read. All this to say – it didn’t matter…I still enjoyed it. And maybe because I’m not familiar with that piece of work, I was totally unprepared for what was to come…I’m not sure, but this book kept me on my toes from start to finish and I loved that – especially that ending! I definitely did not expect that! ⁣

I loved that the author narrates this one. She really nailed it, making for such an immersive reading experience. ⁣
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This is such a strong debut, from the story itself to the way it is structured–broken down into different acts, with different types of narratives–and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I finished. It’s one of those books that just beg discussion, which makes me think it would be amazing great book for bookclubs as there is so much to unpack. It really is quite a thought-provoking read!

A feminist retelling of Fitzgerald? I was SO in. Overall, this was really good. It could have improved in terms of the feminists actually being feminists versus a surface level proclamation. The writing did feel a bit unnatural and a bit like it was trying too hard. Still solid 3.5. I rounded up.