Combine a Bravo franchise with a murder mystery and you get The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey. Very heavy on the Real Housewives lore with a murder or two mixed in the middle. What worked for me was the background on how reality tv works. The editing, the manipulation, and of course the drama. The crimes were just ok. Very easy to figure out who done it. Additionally, I’m not sure why this was penned by Astrid. Her voice was nowhere to be found. Overall a quick, easy fun read.

While this wasn't the best book I've ever read, it was FUN. As a Real Housewives fan, I had fun getting seeing all of Astrid Dahl's nods to the franchise, the confessionals, and her version of a "behind the scenes" look at her New Jersey women.

The writing was quick, captivating, and for the most part, very readable. There were a few moments of dialogue that felt unnatural and out-of-place. The characters were just the right amount of unlikable and would make for perfect television.

My biggest complaint with the novel is that Dahl tried to do *too* much. I understand that with this ensemble of cast, you have several different story lines. But it just felt like we'd wrap one thing up and then something more unbelievable would happen...and then the next....and then the next. Around the last 1/3 of the book, I kept expecting to be closer to the end than I was.

Overall, it was still a fun, campy read—if not a little unnecessarily long.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3 stars.

Trashy reality TV shows are my guilty pleasure, so of course I had to read this book. At just 288 pages, it was a quick and easy read. I really liked the format of the book and enjoyed the multiple POVs. It was a bit of a slow burn, taking awhile to get to the murder. The murder mystery kind of took a backseat to the rest of the drama. The twists were pretty good, but nothing super mind-blowing. Overall, it was an entertaining read. It wasn't my favorite mystery/thriller of the year, but I liked it enough that I would definitely read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Anna Dorn, but I don’t think I love Anna Dorn as Astrid Dahl. This story was frustratingly vapid and campy but not in a fun way.

I loved Really Dead Wives of NJ. It's great for any housewives fan, but it dealt with queerness, reinventing yourself, and more.

I loved the author's previous works under her other name, so I was super excited to jump into this story of messy moms and horrible housewives. I thought that the story had great wit and knew its subject super well, sticking the landing on the tragedy that is reality television culture (a culture I hate how much I love!) Ultimately, I found this one a little more "critical" versus indulgent, tonally just a bit too above the story versus being as juicy as it can be. Witty and wise, but perhaps a little too knowing.

Reality show Garden State Goddesses is coming back with a new season and showrunner Eden needs some fresh talent. Eden enlists her cousin Hope to move all the way from California to escape her past and join the show. Little does Eden know Hope is hiding some big secrets that could make for good reality television or good motive for murder.
This was such a fun satirical take on reality TV. The characters fit the roles so well and I could see myself having watched this show.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC!

I really, really wanted to love this book - the premise is fantastic and I was intrigued by the "Astrid Dahl" author (Astrid is the main character, a writer, from Anna Dorn's Perfume and Pain.) But the plot was all over the place and the story dragged too much for my taste. But please authors, more Real Housewives type novels in the future!!

Maybe I would have enjoyed this more if I were an avid Real Housewives fan, but this didn't work for me. There are some funny, campy moments, but the shallow characterization and strange pacing kept me from being invested in the story. Even though the culprit(s) are obvious, the murders are glossed over--as are some other seemingly pivotal events--and the book feels too long even at 288 pages.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Eden Bennett is quickly climbing the reality TV ladder and is hungry for more. As the main showrunner for ”Garden State Goddesses”, Eden knows what it takes to build a successful housewives franchise and will do anything it takes to make it bigger and better to advance her career. Enter Hope, Eden’s cousin who grew up with her in a glorified religious cult run by their family in California. Naive Hope is looking to escape her life in Weed, CA and falls right into Eden’s plan (ahem..trap) when she is introduced to Leo Fontana, Sicilian Jersey royalty and eligible bachelor. Leo and Hope quickly marry and Hope is whisked off to Jersey where she is thrown into the world of flashy cars and homes, cat fights, backstabbing, gossip and drama AKA the Garden State Goddesses. When one of the Goddesses suddenly turns up dead, everyone is a suspect and Eden is faced with a true reality she never saw coming.

Soapy, campy, dramatic and just plain fun, this was such an entertaining read! Taking all of the best parts of the Real Housewives franchises and funneling it into the fictitious “Garden State Goddesses” on the “Huzzah” network, the faux Jersey housewives and their storylines featured in this book were no slouch! As a fellow Jersey girl, I got a kick out of this and it was just the indulgent read I didn’t even know I needed!

The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is a witty, darkly comedic thriller that keeps you laughing and guessing. Dahl’s unique plot and quirky characters make this a fun and engaging read.

If you need a break from reality but still want it to be a little morbid! Please read this. It's fun in the best way. It was a nice break between the Rooneys and Austens. It's truly just a laff in a half! I would love to see this become a show!

This felt like two different books to me – a reality show tell-all and a murder mystery – but they didn’t flow well. I’m not a huge TV watcher so I’ve never gotten hooked on the reality shows but this is the premise that got me interested in the book. I thought it would be a group of women trying to solve the murder. The lead up to it gave plenty of background on each woman but didn’t make it easy to connect to any of them; they all came off as shallow and vapid, which I guess was the point but ruined any chance of feeling anything for them. The mystery itself wasn’t well fleshed out and there were so many thrown at you that it was difficult to see which one should be the focus. In the end, it didn’t work for me.

I loved this book. It was a wild ride, loved having a peak behind the curtain of reality shows. Of course with a dark twist. Thoroughly enjoyed this story.

I wanted to love this so much because I’m a huge housewives fan! This was just so hit and miss. At times I was loving it and in deep and other times I thought it was corny and all over the place. It’s still an entertaining book, so I’d give it a chance especially if you love housewives, but I just wouldn’t go in with high expectations. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn’t the best fit for me - I went in expecting a thriller/mystery and while the second half does have a lot of people being killed off, it was very reality tv drama focused and had a campy vibe to it throughout. To be fair, I’m not a reality TV watcher and haven’t watched any of the Real Housewives shows. Therefore, I don’t believe I’m the ideal reader for this book. However, if you enjoy the over-the-top scripted drama, behind-the-scenes show runner and cast details, you will enjoy it.

The characters were all quite unlikeable, and I didn’t find myself particularly invested in any of their stories. The mystery aspect was predictable and should have been evident to anyone paying attention. At the beginning of the book, there was a list of characters, which I appreciated because I frequently forgot who was who and had to refer to it often.

This book definitely incorporates some cliches commonly found in reality shows and could be an enjoyable beach read if you enjoy over-the-top storylines and larger-than-life personalities. Although it’s not my preferred genre, I believe fans of such shows will find the drama captivating.

Thanks @simonbooks for the gifted copy!

If you love a frothy housewives show but up the drama and murder, this is the book for you! It was an easy, low stakes read.

I really wanted to love this one since I love the Housewives and work in reality TV but it didn't work for me. The characters were shallow and they're all pretty awful, and the murder mystery takes forever to be introduced. It was a great concept but the execution was lacking.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the copy to review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5’s
Juicy, gossipy, and gloriously vicious, The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey is a wildly entertaining murder mystery that reads like a love letter to the original Real Housewives era. If you’re a fan of the high drama, catfights, and chaotic glamour that made the franchise iconic, this book is a must-read.

Astrid Dahl brilliantly captures the over-the-top personalities and scandalous drama you’d expect from reality TV but layers it with a dark twist—a murder that needs solving. The narrative feels fresh and unique, leaning into the outrageous antics and pettiness of the characters while still delivering a solid whodunit. The nods to Real Housewives nostalgia are clever and hilarious, making it even more engrossing for fans of the shows.

While the main focus is the mystery and all the piping hot tea that comes with it, there’s also a sapphic romance added to the plot. I didn’t expect this relationship because it wasn’t brought up in any descriptions/tropes or warnings. I was happy I kept reading because it did add heart without stealing the spotlight … or did it… from the story’s delicious drama.

Overall, this book is a fun, unique read that feels like bingeing an entire season of Housewives—but with a murder to solve. A perfect guilty pleasure for fans of juicy gossip, sharp-tongued characters, and all things reality TV.

This was just not the book for me. I am a Bravo fan and love the different Real Housewives series which I kinda expected this book to be similar to but realized I am just not a fan of reading about it versus watching.