Thanks Ballantine and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. A thrill ride! Kayla and Zorie have been best friends since they were younger, the kind of friends who even went to prison together. After being released opportunities are limited so Zorie suggests they fall back on what they know. They plan to attend a wedding, steal presents and money, and no one will be any wiser. That is until things go wrong and they end up hitting someone with a car. Now they are on the run for their lives! But how much should they trust each other? Just how far are they willing to go? And when things become more dangerous? A lot of twists and turns in this one! A good look at friendships at the toxicity that can sometimes exist between them. Christina Dotson’s Love You To Death is fast paced and unputdownable!!

A wild ride of a book with Thelma & Louise vibes. Two lifetime friends consistently make bad decisions until they get in way over their heads. With crimes escalating to the point where there seems no way out, their friendship begins to fray but they continue to think there is an escape.. This could be a very dark book, but the voice of Kayla somehow keeps it on the lighter side and you can't help but root for her.

The writing is well paced and keeps your attention to the very end.

Kayla and Zorie have been best friends for forever, so much so they even went to prison together. But this latest exploit has led to more mayhem that either one ever bargained for. Now, they are on the run from the law, having stolen at gunpoint, hit a person with a car, held up a gas station, but murder was that really the plan? Kayla is having second thoughts about everything, as Zorie continues to up the ante and Kayla is realizing Zorie is more dangerous than she ever knew.

This is a twisted tale that jumps from zero to 60 in a second. This is my first read from Christina Dotson but I enjoyed her writing style. The issues grow from bad to worse in a short manner, bad decisions, not thinking of the consequences, and letting someone else direct your life leads to so much strife. The book explores the depth of a toxic friendship, how a sociopath impulsive and erratic behavior can lead to a path of destruction and ultimately how one event can change the course of your life. Brutal and yet engaging, this is a fascinating read. Twisty, turny plot worth your time.

Kayla has been friends with Zorie since childhood. People tell her Zorie is a bad influence and well yes, that’s true. Shortly out of high school the two end up in jail for what they feel was just a prank on Kayla’s new stepmother. A police record cuts down on employment opportunities and the two are working in housekeeping at a local hotel. Well only Zorie is after Kayla takes cash from a guest to let them into their room and it turns out it was not their room, and ends up getting fired. But not to worry, the girls have a few thousand saved in an emergency fund so they can cover the rent. Well at least they did have that money but without discussion Zorie invested it all in a friend’s tee shirt business and that money is long gone. So Zorie insists they fall back on one of their old scams, visiting a random wedding reception and making off with some of the gifts and a lot of the cards containing money. This plan works about as well as their others and the girls end up on the run after running over a wedding guests with their car in their attempt to escape. One might think at this point the girls might drop back and seriously consider their options but instead they rely on their ‘sisterhood’ and the idea that they only have each other’s best interests at heart. But do they?

Thank you Bantam Books and Netgalley for recommending and giving me a copy of Love you to Death by Christina Dotson. I really enjoyed this book. I was drawn in by the genuine dialogue between Zorie and Kayla as they seemed like someone you would know. Down on their luck and just wanting to make ends meet. As the book goes along its like the horror movies where you’re yelling at the TV “Why are you doing that? You know that’s a bad idea!”
The basic premise of this book is that there are two childhood friends down on their luck who steal gift card boxes from weddings to help pay rent. That is, until they manage to greatly injure someone as they are trying to leave a wedding without getting caught. Then it snowballs from there including guns, knives, seduction and theft until you have no idea how they are ever going to get out of going to jail. This is not a ‘normal’ thriller book. I would consider this a lighter thriller just because of the overall demeanor of the main characters throughout the book.

I really enjoyed this book about two longtime friends who thwart disaster after disaster. I was never sure who was going to do what and whether the friendship would hold out. Lots of interesting twists and turns with the underlying premise of should you always stay friends with someone even when they’re clearly not good for you? Excellent read!

Thelma and Louise-type story about two friends and a series of bad choices. It’s a fast read and I found it entertaining. It’s also a brilliant reminder on how one wrong choice can start a horrific domino effect. I would recommend this for book clubs because it can create amazing discussions!

Thanks for the opportunity to read in advance!

Love You To Death written by Christina Dotson is one heck of a roller coaster ride. It's Thelma and Louise via the southern states. Zorie and Kayla, best friends since forever, have got some of the worst luck EVER! Their path from the Chamberlain Hotel (not sure where that was located) to New Orleans to Texas was strewn with bloody bodies. Always looking for the next dollar bill, their lives were complicated and connected. This was a fast read and I read it in one day...couldn't put it down! It is a fast, bloody and gross (but fun) romp through those states...Z and K trying to survive!
I was impressed to read in her About The Author, that Ms. Dotson is a licensed clinical social worker.
Fun reading...highly recommended!

I went into this book thinking it was going to be darker and then I saw what it was about and saw it wasn't but still felt intrigued. I really liked it.

Review of Advance Reader’s Copy eBook

Best friends Kayla and Zorie, housekeepers at Georgia’s Chamberlain Hotel, have a unique way of making ends meet when their monthly finances fall short: they find dresses in the hotel’s lost and found, head to a wedding, and make off with gifts they can appropriate from the gift table and then scram.

What could possibly go wrong?

=========

Two besties making bad choices, car chases,

This madcap thriller with its consistently-building tension and a twisty plot offers some social commentary as it explores women’s friendships, poverty, abuse, and how far people will go to get what they’ve decided they want, no matter what the cost. The story is dark, but also engaging and difficult to set aside.

Readers who enjoy crime thrillers will find much to appreciate in this unpredictable, unique tale.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine / Bantam and NetGalley
#LoveYouToDeath #NetGalley

Great story about two women--Kayla and Zorie--who are best friends and work at the Chamberlain Hotel in Georgia. But their side "job" involves wedding gifts and suddenly they're on the run! Car chases, handsome men...what's not to like?!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

i think my students will like this, it is a fast moving story of two friends and a series of bad choices. The book reads young, ie the characters seem a lot younger than their chronological ages. Some of the family dynamics and friendship dynamics will be relatable to my students and will open up some good topics for discussion

Fun, entertaining reading, two friends, best friends but with a toxic undertone, get themselves into one bad situation after the next in their attempts to survive financially and just survive. It was a lighter look than I would have preferred but it was still engaging and worth the read

I should have read the full blurb before requesting this book because it seems like one that will rip me in half. The writing style is captivating and sucks you in immediately. There is a lot of grief, and then an event at work and it began to tore me in half. I want to pick this one back up when I am in the right head space for it.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read an eARC of this! I am leaving this feedback voluntarily.

What a ride! Loved this one a lot. Thought the pacing was solid and I'm forever a sucker for a messy friendship situation. Really excited to see what Christina Dotson does next!

Christina Dotson’s Love You to Death is a darkly addictive thriller that turns a wild wedding-crashing hobby into a deadly game of survival. Best friends Kayla and Zorie have made a habit of sneaking into lavish weddings to steal cash and gifts, but when their latest heist at an antebellum-themed ceremony goes horribly wrong, they find themselves at the center of a nationwide manhunt as the infamous “Wedding Crash Killers.” What starts as a desperate escape spirals into a bloody road trip from Georgia to the bayou, forcing Kayla to confront just how little she really knows about her best friend. Dotson masterfully blends razor-sharp tension, biting social commentary, and a compulsively readable narrative, crafting a story that is as thrilling as it is unsettling. With its high-stakes cat-and-mouse chase, complex female friendship, and shocking twists, Love You to Death is the ultimate ride-or-die thriller—perfect for fans of fast-paced crime fiction and unflinching psychological suspense.

This face paced book not oy delivered on the suspense but also had a great underlying message. Our lives are a series of choices, and how many bad ones can we make until there is no turning back? It also explored the depth people will go through to get what they want.

I knew I was going to devour this book, it did not disappoint and I loved the ending! Thank you NetGalley and Bantam for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Engaging and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

Dotson delivers a high octane, whip-fast adventure that beautifully explores the nuances of how abuse and poverty in the US perpetuate in the choices we make throughout our lives. Trust between friends and who we decide is our family is also a current. I devoured this book; I only stopped reading for sleep. An absolute dynamite read.