I tried to get into this one but it was too much for me. I think Bravo superfans will really love it though!

I love the Housewives series, so I jumped at the chance to check this one out. The characters are exactly what you expect. Dramatic and wild and fun. The murder mystery isn't that thrilling, so I rated this lower than I would have. The story itself is very entertaining though and I can see people really enjoying this when they need a break from more serious toned books.

If you’re a fan of The Real Housewives drama, The Dead Housewives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl should be your next read!

This season, a doe-eyed church girl with a mysterious past shakes up the housewives’ world. Secrets unravel, scandals brew, and chaos ensues. Think infidelity, rivalries, and even a nail salon murder! 💅☠️

🔥 Expect twists, turns, arson, and a lot of drama. It’s a fun lighthearted thriller.

Who’s ready to join the Housewives drama? 👠📖

I’m going to be honest and admit that I only picked this up because it is set in New Jersey and I couldn’t resist a Housewife-inspired murder mystery.

This is so over-the-top while still including the iconic Housewives inspiration fans of the show will recognize. I personally loved that the author mixed in fictional Jersey towns with some real ones (every North Jersey cameo made me smile). Thankfully, the real-life show has way less murder, but I think the book did a decent job of giving you reality show vibes. The confessionals were a nice touch and the actual Housewife quotes at the beginning of each Part were a fun touch as well—I actually looked forward to them!

Overall, I thought the storyline was a little predictable in spots and there is a full cast of characters to keep up with, but if you’re a fan, it’s a campy book to enjoy with a glass of wine and some popcorn.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read a copy of this. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This definitely played out like watching a reality TV show. While I love reality tv shows - I wasn't incredibly addicted to this one. It was entertaining and it's interesting enough, but not much more. There is a a murder mystery and the plot felt subpar. It's a very solid book about trashy housewives/ladies so if this is what you are looking for - then it's your book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Garden State Goddesses is one of the Huzzah network’s top reality shows. When showrunner Eden masterminds the marriage of her cousin Hope to one of the Goddesses’ brothers and lands her a spot on the show, some stuff is about to go down. Secrets, lies, and rivalries will all be revealed – with deadly consequences.

This one might resonate with Real Housewives fans, but it missed the mark for me. Since I’m not one for reality tv (or much tv at all actually), maybe I just wasn’t the right audience for this one. The characters are mostly vapid and unlikeable, and the plot (just like reality tv) is fairly shallow and lacking in substance. As a thriller lover, I was drawn to the “Really Dead” part of this book, but the mystery is pretty light and it takes a really long time for anyone to die – and the culprit isn’t much of a surprise either. But if you’re looking for a soapy, campy send-up of a certain subset of reality tv, this might be the book for you!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me an advance copy of this book.

If you’re a Real Housewives fanatic, I mean a true fanatic and love a lot of chaos, this is for you!

This was so messy and chaotic in the best way. I’m talking more chaotic than Nene’s Pillow Talk night. More chaotic than Joe and Joe tussling at the baby’s christening. More chaotic than Kelly on Scary Island.More chaotic than Shannon falling in her spanx into the hot tub while drinking with the Tres Amigas. More chaotic than Heather showing up at the breakfast table with that unexplainable black eye. More chaotic than Lisa Rinna ready to chop off Kim’s head behind Harry Hamlin. More chaotic than Dorinda screaming at the girls about how she “cooked, cleaned, and made it nice!” If you understood most of these references, this book is for you!

Talk about a fun read! I had a good time spotting all the housewives references while trying to play detective. The author is a woman after my own heart and I hope they continue to write stories based around reality television because I loved the merging of two of my favorite things. I thought the characters were dynamic and the plot was plotting.

There were a few parts that I wished the author had explored a little more when it came to the mystery. Not having those details didn’t take away from the story, but I felt like it would given it an extra something something. Aside from that, it was a solid read and it tickled my pop culture fancy.

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Starting 2025 with this campy, dramatic, over-the-top read that was what I imagined the Real Housewives tv shows to be like. (I’ve never actually watched them.) This would be a perfect palate cleanser book. It was easy to read, predictable in the best way, and full of characters you love to hate. The first half of the novel was character driven with the second half focusing on plot and mystery, which was a little jarring but it did give it some substance. It was funny; it was scandalous; it was entertaining.

Fans of reality television, all the drama, and books with lots going on will love this one.

As a big fan of Perfume & Pain, once I saw the author I knew I needed to read it.

This book is murder mystery meets Real Housewives, and I immediately was drawn in. While I enjoyed the premise, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters (they were kind of all bad people???) so I found myself taking a bit longer to get through the book than I normally would.

That being said, I did enjoy this read and have been recommending it to all my Bravo-loving besties!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I am not a Real Housewives fan but I can definitely say that if I was then this book would be great! The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is a fun romp that blends reality TV drama with murder creating a fun look behind the scenes of one of TV’s favorite franchises.

In the Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl we follow a reality tv show and its cast, Garden State Goddesses. If you like reality tv like Real Housewives this may be a murder mystery for you. Show runner, Eden Bennett, our FMC, needs to recast one of the roles on the show, and she finds that in her first cousin, Hope Bennett. Eden introduces Hope to Leo Fontana, the brother and brother-in-law of two of the cast and they quickly marry and settle down in Shady Pond, New Jersey near the rest of the cast. Carmela takes and instant dislike to the beautiful Hope. But, why? Hope, Carmela, Valeria, Birdie and Renee are the cast of the show and it isn't long before the fighting and table flipping, fake pregnancy, fake will and murder happens. Only the police don't believe it is a murder because healthy 32 year old women die all the time, right? Then there are a couple more murders and Eden with the help of a couple cast members begins to investigate. This was an entertaining read for the most part. It is a little long and a little unhinged - although I think that is the idea. I give this book 3.5 stars and I want to thank Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for my advance reader copy.

Quick synopsis: A re-imaging of the real housewives, but with a murder mystery subplot. A book “written” by Astrid Dahl, the MC in perfume and pain written by Anna Dorn.
Review: I’ll be honest, it took me about the first 18% of this book to care or get into it at all and I almost put it down. It always takes a while to get the hand of so many characters when there’s going to be a mystery at play. But then I really got invested. I decided to have fun and play out the whole thing in my head with actors I associated with the characters and I got hooked and flew through it. It was messy and fun and felt exactly how I think it intended to feel, like a messy reality tv show. I thought it was fun and interesting because I felt like I got insight to the behind the scenes as well as the front of the scenes. This is no super deep read but I didn’t expect that. It’s just fun. I will admit the story dragged a lot in some places and it was long for what it was; but I was having fun in this little world so I didn’t mind at all. The murder mystery is actually quite a small subplot and happens more in the second half, and I feel like the answer to who did it was pretty obvious from the get go but the fun was in follow in along the characters trying to figure it out. Lots of secrets and truths were being uncovered. There was a lot of story packed in this book and the sapphic side flings definitely are a plus. I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the lesbian romances (aka more than one!!) All in all, super fun messy read. Don’t go into it expecting some great and deeply provoking story, go into it with the intention of a fun messy satirical story and you’ll love it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
This was such a fun read, perfect for anyone who loves the drama reality tv brings with a touch of murder. I like how the book was split up into parts, and i loved the character development, especially the part of the storyline following eden. I appreciated the twists and how layered the story was, while still being decently easy to follow. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Astrid Dahl for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!!

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl
Publication Date: January 14, 2025
Four Stars- ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Astrid Dahl for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

“These bitches are so insular, so obsessed with family and loyalty and the right kind of cookies at Christmas”. (Nod to Sprinkle Cookie Gate)

As a huge fan of Bravo and all things Housewives, I was very excited to dive into The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey. This book blends mystery with a satirical nod to reality TV. The author’s use of familiar references—$25,000 sunglasses, dramatic fights over rooms, a housewife’s prosthetic leg, and even the infamous table flip—keeps the reader engaged, especially those who adore the Housewives series.
The storyline itself was entertaining, though I found the pacing a bit slow at the start. While I initially struggled to fully invest in the characters, the plot picked up midway through. The mystery's resolution felt a little too predictable to me; I had a strong sense of who “did it” from the beginning, which took away some of the suspense.

One aspect I struggled with was keeping track of the characters, particularly in the early chapters. Dahl doesn’t provide much physical description, which makes it hard to visualize the characters and understand their relationships. I often found myself picturing the characters as actual Housewives, like Eden Sassoon or drawing parallels to figures like Sonia, Teresa, Dorit, and Melissa. A bit more detail in this area would have helped make the story clearer and more immersive.

Overall, The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is a fun, quick read that will delight fans of both mystery and reality TV. While it had its flaws, particularly with pacing and character development, it’s still an entertaining choice.

This was fun, salacious and campy—the equivalent of eating funnel cake at a fair while people-watching. This isn’t my typical genre, but I was highly entertained by all the characters in the book. The mystery was a bit weak but the idea was there. This was a fun one.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an uncorrected proof of this book to review. I believe this is a debut novel by Astrid Dahl and I hadn't heard of this title or author until NetGalley sent it to me.

This novel explores a number of women and their family members who are a part of a "Real Housewives" kind of show that we are used to seeing for a number of years. Just as those shows can create strong opinions about the real life characters, the book also showcases some people that are really hard to like. I have often wondered if unlikeable characters influence a reader's enjoyment of the novel overall. I'm grateful there were a few that I did like, and one that redeemed herself a bit over time.

Her writing was solid and there was good character development here. It was a bit slower paced for me than I anticipated it would be. I expected that something jaw dropping was going to happen early on, but the characters meandered through life and filming different episodes and experiences a bit longer than I would have liked. Some erratic and violent behavior occurred as well, which seemed unprovoked and a bit unrealistic to me. However, I am not a viewer of these types of series so it's possible that this is typical in housewife reality shows.

There are some content warnings that are subtle but important. One focuses on a cultish kind of religious experience with some of the characters. Addition, alcoholism and drug use is another warning to be aware of. What I think this author did best was the ending wrap up chapters. Without spoiling the plot and ending, I will just say that there was a lot of focus on mental health, well being and healing from past trauma. After what had progressed during the plot, I felt as though this was a very thoughtful and meaningful way for the author to wrap it up.

I suspect fans of Real Housewives shows will enjoy this fictional account of a television series.

In the world of housewives, chaos is currency.

Enter Anna Dorn’s The Real Dead Wives of New Jersey, a wickedly clever satire that feels like a spectral spinoff of our beloved franchise—equal parts campy ghost story, murder mystery, and biting commentary on suburban opulence. Dorn (writing as her alter ego, Astrid Dahl, the fictional star of her Dead Wives series) doesn’t just mimic the Housewives’ world; she conjures it into a spectral afterlife, dripping with scandal, betrayal, and enough Bravo Easter eggs to keep any fan giddy.

Get your sprinkle cookies and dive in.

So glad I started 2025 with this book!

I’m not a big reality tv person, but the characters and format of the book (including confessional transcripts) were super compelling. Reading this book honestly felt like I was watching a TV show, and before I knew it I had finished 40% of it.

I will say it doesn’t really feel like a thriller. I was more engaged in the first portion of the book all the way up until the first incident (no spoilers). After that, I was more interested in how characters were responding to the event than the mystery itself. I also feel like Eden’s relationship with Hope could have used more air time. It felt like Eden didn’t care what happened to Hope and then all of a sudden she was super invested.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book! This is the first book I’ve finished in months, which is a testament to how engaging it is. Highly recommend!

This was a fun Easter egg of a book if you like Real housewives. I laughed and cringed and cringed some more. A true popcorn thriller

This book had me laughing. I am a sucker for reality tv and this book was basically a show on paper. The interesting piece that kept me reading was the murder mystery lingering in the background. The book begins with a murder and then flashes back to how the ladies met, and their lives and leading up to the murder.

This book has a lot of crazy women who think way too highly of themselves, but it just made me laugh. There is so much drama and these ladies are just a mess. This follows a TV show "Garden State Goddesses" and the showrunner Eden decided that it needed a change. She introduces her Cousin Hope to Leo who is one of the family members of one of the ladies in the show. Her Cousin is not liked and really treated poorly by the women in this book. She agreed to join the show to better her music career and leave behind her small town in Northern Cali.

With this book, it was a little hard to follow with all of the different characters. The POV is 3rd person but jumps around with the characters. There is a little interview at some of the ends of the chapters with Eden and a cast member and it sort of summarizes how they felt with whatever happened in the chapter. That sort of helped me follow along a little better.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.