*4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account*

"For future reference, meat tenderizers, even heavy-duty models, are not good skull smashers; I ended it...with the cast iron umbrella stand by the door and nearly put my back out!"

"You’d think it would be hard to kill someone in cold blood, but once you’ve attacked one person with murderous intent— premeditated or not— the next one is easier...and it wasn’t really in cold blood anyway. I was furious; my blood was boiling!"

I just couldn't stop reading or listening (or laughing) to the WTF is going on, Julie Tudor Is Not A Psychopath, by mesmerizing psychological thriller debut author, Jennifer Holdich.

With the darkest humor, Julie Tudor introduces herself to us as a woman who has it all; a job where they couldn't survive without her, owns her home, and, of course, the love of her life Sean. No matter that she's 49 and he is 25. Love is love.

Except Sean just says hello and bye to Julie. She says his greetings are code. He'll be over soon...but he never shows up. It couldn't be his girlfriend keeping him away; she's just a front to hide their relationship.

Sean's just too nice. She'll have to get rid of the girlfriend. After all, it isn't like she hasn't done it before for him...or the others who loved her but had to be rid of the obstacles...uh...people...in the way of true love.

Voice actress Clare Corbett gives a brilliant performance playing Julie completely serious during the most absurd situations. I was flabbergasted by her justification for her actions. I need this to be a movie with either Emma Thompson or Helena Bonham Carter.

This book was part of my Killer Summer Book Box from Sourcebooks Landmark.
Two thrillers left in the box.

Julie Tudor Is Not A Psychopath...shh...she really is one, and you really need to meet her.
But not with Sean!

I received free copies of this book/audiobook from Sourcebooks Landmark and Tantor Audio for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was super excited for this one (I love a good serial killer story) but this British romance/thriller just didn't work for me. I couldn't connect to the slightly unhinged and delusional FMC and didn't love the narrator either. It was just okay and I ended up DNFing because I couldn't stay interested enough to keep listening until the end. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read an early copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I’d never thought I’d use the word quirky for a psychopathic stalker, but here I am.

Julie’s character, in a nutshell, is like most people; she has a good job and a lovely house. Maybe she just comes across a bit odd. The thing is, Julie is convinced the love of her life is Sean, but he doesn’t realize it. In fact, Sean is in love with someone else. But Julie will see to that.

Julie is delusional, obsessive, unhinged, a stalker, and a k*ller; you will understand this as you get to spend a lot of time in her head! Although there are moments of dark humor, the narrative becomes repetitive and bogged down in detail. I would have loved more character development for Julie. While we do get a glimpse of her fixation behavior in the past and its results, I still would have loved more background as to why she was like this. What’s her real story? And I needed something to push the pace along a bit quicker.

That said, this was a unique thriller with a main character I won’t soon forget.

Thank you @bookmarked for the gifted ebook via #NetGalley.

Julie Tudor is Not a Psychopath
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Jennifer Holdich

I had a bit of a difficult time getting into this book. I think some of it maybe just my taste in books is evolving a bit.

The premise of this book is Julie who seems awkward socially and continues to find herself in unrequited love situations especially with co-worker, Sean.

While I love some dark, comedic humor this sadly became very repetitive for me and I lost a bit of interest. It became almost unrealistic to me. But, for the dark sadistic humor and Julie’s unhinged antics I still give it three stars!

This was a ride. I would absolutely read more gr this author, I enjoyed the writing and being inside Julie’s head was such a trip!

There are a few things that are hard stops in books for me, and animal cruelty is one of them. To start, I was loving Julie Tudor is Not a Psychopath. I love an unhinged female character, and I was eagerly swiping pages to find out what she would do next until she killed her cat. Not only that, but she put her taxidermy skills to use. While it's not graphically depicted, it still turned my stomach. Hard stop.

I just finished Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath by Jennifer Holdich and here are my musings.


Julie Tudor is just working, living her life… She is 49, good job, nice house.. Her and Sean had a moment and now his ex is out of the way she feels sure they can declare their love in public.. Until someone else steps on her turf…. Someone who doesn’t know the boundaries… She isn’t a stalker.. She’s not a serial killer, she is just protecting what is hers…

Oh man this book scared me so bad! If you like unreliable narrators this has to be your next read. She makes it sound like what she is doing is normal and that is what terrified me the most!

I have never been more uncomfortably fascinated by a character…. Well not since Dexter anyway. It had the right mix of dark humor and excitement that you will feel truly alive… Julie could be your friend… Or you frenemy, she was so unhinged but you couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her! I loved it. The writing was seriously excellent and I was enthralled from the get go!

I actually thought the story was really clever and I enjoyed how it all rolled out in the end. I think this is like my secret love… Loveable serial killers.. Haha

4.5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @bookmarked for my gifted ARC.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book. This was certainly a wild read that was different than any other books that I have read. I found myself cheering for Jools and hoping that she would get help to be more normal and have a relationship with Frank!

Yeah so.. Julie Tudor is definitely a psychopath and not a fun one. This is an unreliable narrator and completely unlikable main character. Honestly, I love a stabby FMC - as long as they can give me *something* to root for. Julie Tudor is insufferable. I see other people mention humor but I did not get even a bit of heavy breathing out the nose over this. Based on other reviews it seems like people did really enjoy this, so it might just be that Julie and I didn’t vibe and that’s okay. Not every book can be for every person.

Maybe if Julie leaned into being a little crazy I’d like it better. Maybe if she was killing people who deserved it instead of just being obsessed with a man. I don’t know. All I do know is that for a character who is definitely a psychopath she also fell completely flat in every way. There was no real personality, and I was bored. The time jumps weren’t well placed either, in my opinion.

I don’t particularly enjoy unreliable narrators, and I also don’t like books with too many pop culture references. If those things didn’t bother me, it might have been a 2 star. Maybe.

I received an ARC copy and an ALC copy, so I was listening while I read with my eyes at the same time. The audiobook alone I would have DNFed. I did not particularly like the narrator. She sounded *too* posh for me, and I feel like Julie needed a bit of shrillness in certain areas. Instead it just felt monotone, and in some sections/during some characters it was giving Mrs. Doubtfire. I did stop the audiobook entirely around 73% and finished just with the ebook, and I do wish I had just DNFed sooner. I just didn’t care. And I still don’t care. And it’s unfortunate because I feel like this could have been fun.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks and Tantor Audio for sending this as an audiobook and egalley for review consideration. All opinions are my own

My favorite book is where the FMC is completely unhinged and this was that book.

If you like Maeve Fly or So Happy Together, then this is the book for you. We got an delulu FMC who believes someone is in love with her when we see he really might not be.

I love that this book went through different timelines and different stages of Julie’s life. This thriller is fast paced and I enjoyed every second of this book.

Julie does get your just desserts but somehow I was still rooting for her.

Genre: Thriller
APK: Ebook
Pages: 320
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Series or Standalone: Stand-alone

Though the subject matter is not, this debut psychological thriller was a hoot because of the way the author uses dark humor to make the main character "almost" endearing.

Julie Tudor has had quite the life, constantly having to fight for her love interest du jour. Eliminating romantic rivals is a lot of work. She works in the financial world and is a whiz with spreadsheets, but her job isn't her main focus. Her colleague, 25-year-old, Sean, is the man of her dreams. Even though he's half her age, Julie is convinced her feelings are reciprocated despite the fact that Sean keeps hooking up with other women. What to do? She's tired of waiting for him.

Told from Julie's delusional perspective, the book is definitely black comedy as she continues to spiral. She must be on the spectrum because she totally lacks any sort of ability to read a room or honestly analyze her situations. She gets a little fast and loose with those eliminations and her coworkers become increasingly aware that a real psycho is amongst them.

I loved the tone and the writing in this novel. I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, Clare Corbett, strikes just the right notes of self righteousness and defensiveness as she voices Julie. She does a good job with the rest of the characters as well. The production definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

This might be the most unhinged book I've ever read! With each chapter, I felt more and more uncomfortable, and yet I never wanted to put it down. Annie Wilkes has nothing on Julie Tudor.

I absolutely loved the way we could see how uncomfortable Julie's peers and coworkers were with her, but she managed to twist everything into a delusional misunderstanding. With multiple timelines spanning decades, I never felt like I didn't understand why Julie acted the way she did. There were times I felt almost sympathetic to Julie, but unlike the title suggests, Julie Tudor was indeed a psychopath, and I felt worse for anyone who came across her.

A wonderful, funny and disturbing debut from Jennifer Holdich. I look forward to her sophomore release!

Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath is a wildly entertaining and darkly thrilling read. Julie, the unapologetically blunt FMC, narrates the story with a razor-sharp wit and a hilariously skewed sense of reality—especially when it comes to men. Watching her justify and process her increasingly questionable actions is both shocking and fascinating. With its perfect blend of dark humor, charm, and suspense, this book keeps you hooked from start to finish.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, Julie! Shame on you.

Julie Tudor is quite the character for sure. She’s a little confused about reality and how some others (especially men) see and think about her. This causes her to do some very interesting things.

I quite enjoyed the story. It started out strong though it slowed down a bit in the middle. Overall, I think Julie Tudor Is Not a Psychopath is a fun story.

NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark, thank you for this advanced copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc and alc.

I am a bit conflicted on how to rate this book. I didn't love it, yet I did not hate it either. I laughed sometimes, yet I was utterly creeped out at times too. I just have to say that I really hope this book is satire. Otherwise, we have some issues here. I also thought the audiobook narrator had a good voice and was pleasant to listen to.

I might try more books by this author in the future.

Holy Julie Tudor. Whoa. Jennifer Holdich’s portrayal of a (not) psychopath is definitely engaging and you somehow, some way find yourself kind of, sort of understanding Julie’s completely messed up perspective. Be ready for some light murder and a Josie Fair-esque weirdo. If you like Lisa Jewell, you’ll find common ground here.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Jennifer Holdich for the ARC!

Oh she’s sweet but a psycho…

Julie Tudor has a great job, a beautiful house and the love of her life. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t feel the same way, that he’s half her age, or that she may have played a part in ending prior relationships in a fatal manner…no that’s just not reality; at least, not to Julie.

I never thought I would use the words “cute” and “psychopath” in the same review but here we are! Julie is so out of touch with reality I couldn't help but laugh out loud throughout this book. Despite her lack of living in reality, Julie had a lot of quirks that made her quite endearing - except for when she went just a tad too far. But all in all, this was a fun read in between my usual thrillers. I will definitely check out what this author comes up with next!

“Julie Tudor is NOT A Psychopath” is out NOW! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

Fun and quirky. If you’re a fan of Paloma Solves A Mystery and The Murder After the Night Before then you’re going to like this! It’s super easy and enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC!


A girl (grown ass woman) can't be delusional anymore?!

This book was a fun read! Definitely for those who like unlikeable female characters and someone who supports women's rights AND wrongs. Perfect for fans of the Finlay Donovan series 🫶🏻

Julie Tudor is obsessed.

You know how you fan girl over a new TV show, obsess over a new lipstick color, or what to wear tomorrow? Yeah, no. Julie is not obsessed like that. She is OBSESSED! And by that I mean <cough> stalker <cough>.

We've all been there - where you thought the lead singer was singing just to you. Or that the hunk on the TV show was talking just to you, and would fall madly in love with you if you ever had a chance to meet. No? Just me?

Julie Tudor believes that her affections are totally mutual, and that the men in her life are only with other people because they are stuck in bad relationships...and she's here to do something about that!

Also, FYI - Julie is not a pet person (trigger warning for assumed animal abuse).

I mainly felt sorry for Julie throughout her not <wink, wink> psycho serial killings. The fact that she was an older woman who dressed like an odd duck, had an inflated sense of her job, and an eye for a younger man at work, was not lost on colleagues, who made her the brunt of many office jokes. This book will make you extremely uncomfortable in a "can't look away from a train wreck" kind of way. And that's okay. It just means your normal!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an early eBook by this debut author and special box of summer paperback reads!