de Jeneva Rose
"Scheming mean girls, sex and scandal, secrets and lies...what's not to love?" — Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Last Girl Ghosted
The Real Housewives meets murder in this deliciously savage and wildly entertaining thriller from Jeneva Rose, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage, You Shouldn't Have Come Here, and Home Is Where the Bodies Are.
Buckhead isn't a place you live, it's a place you survive. And that applies even to the wealthy housewives that have it all. Fancy cars, designer clothes, and daily salon appointments aren't nearly enough to keep them fulfilled and happy. Because in this town, privilege and opulence go hand in hand with betrayal and revenge.
Jenny, the owner of Glow, an exclusive membership-only beauty salon, knows that better than anyone, because she knows everything about these housewives—down to each individual strand of hair. Despite the toxicity, Jenny keeps her focus on running her business, and keeping the peace. However, peace proves to be impossible when one of her clients is murdered. Now, it's up to Jenny and her knowledge of neighborhood secrets and gossip to help the police solve the case. It won't be easy though, because while Buckhead may be all about appearances, nothing is as it seems.
Never have mean girls been meaner, nor murder been so much fun than in this "sublimely bitchy" (Kirkus Reviews) and scandalous suspense novel from Jeneva Rose, the "queen of twists" (Colleen Hoover).
"Scheming mean girls, sex and scandal, secrets and lies...what's not to love?" — Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Last Girl Ghosted
The Real Housewives meets murder in this deliciously savage and wildly entertaining thriller from Jeneva Rose, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage, You Shouldn't Have Come Here, and Home Is Where the Bodies Are.
Buckhead isn't a place you live, it's a place you survive. And that applies even to the wealthy housewives that have it all. Fancy cars, designer clothes, and daily salon appointments aren't nearly enough to keep them fulfilled and happy. Because in this town, privilege and opulence go hand in hand with betrayal and revenge.
Jenny, the owner of Glow, an exclusive membership-only beauty salon, knows that better than anyone, because she knows everything about these housewives—down to each individual strand of hair. Despite the toxicity, Jenny keeps her focus on running her business, and keeping the peace. However, peace proves to be impossible when one of her clients is murdered. Now, it's up to Jenny and her knowledge of neighborhood secrets and gossip to help the police solve the case. It won't be easy though, because while Buckhead may be all about appearances, nothing is as it seems.
Never have mean girls been meaner, nor murder been so much fun than in this "sublimely bitchy" (Kirkus Reviews) and scandalous suspense novel from Jeneva Rose, the "queen of twists" (Colleen Hoover).
Critiques-
-
February 1, 2022
A salon owner who serves the upper-crust women of Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood recalls the events that led up to the death of one of them. Once Congressman Bryce Madison has divorced Shannon Madison, who still insists on using his last name, and marries trophy wife Crystal, the first order of business for Olivia Petrov, the monstrous vice chairwoman of the Buckhead Women's Foundation, is to get Shannon voted out as the organization's chairwoman--a decision she announces to Shannon in the middle of a gala Shannon organized. Olivia's second order of business is to get Shannon nixed as a client by Jenny at the Glow Beauty Bar and unfriended by upscale realtor Karen Richardson, whose husband, plastic surgeon Mark Richardson, Olivia has called on repeatedly for services both professional and unprofessional. But Shannon's not about to go gently into that good night; Karen is busy falling for Keisha, Jenny's friend and employee; and Crystal, who's hiding secrets of her own, may not be the ideal new member of the frenemies group Olivia has gathered around her. As she's questioned by Detective Frank Sanford, Jenny is joined by four other narrators--Olivia, Karen, Shannon, and Crystal--who take turns dishing on each other and heartlessly detailing all the offensive and defensive moves each of them made. As Rose sends her juiced-up take on Clare Boothe Luce's classic play The Women hurtling toward a conclusion whose only clearly preordained feature is that one of them will end up killing one of the others, suspense focuses mainly on why only one of these eminently deserving ladies ends up dead. Sublimely bitchy. What else is there to know?COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
-
February 14, 2022
This decently plotted but pedestrian page-turner from Rose (The Perfect Marriage) centers on a posse of viperous trophy wives vying for social status in the posh Atlanta enclave of Buckhead. Employing the exclusive Glow salon as their unofficial clubhouse, these ladies who do not lunch (preferring to use the calories on booze instead) multitask beauty treatments and backstabbing. Among them is ruthless Olivia Petrov, who successfully strips frenemy Shannon Madison—recently dumped by her politician husband for a much younger female bartender and therefore expendable—of her nonprofit committee chair post. From here tensions between the two Mrs. Madisons start to simmer, roiling the rest of the group; Glow gets broken into, and at least one of them winds up murdered. Despite cartoonish characters and often clunky prose, the novel does have its amusing moments, but these end up being overshadowed by the exploitative use of two serious issues—domestic violence and human trafficking—as little more than plot points to help set up the surprising denouement. This one’s vibe might best be encapsulated in “The Real Karens of Buckhead.” Agent: Sandy Lu, Book Wyrm Literary. -
A cast of five narrators brings to life a group of wealthy and self-absorbed housewives whose lives center around visits to the local beauty salon. When the divorce of the perceived leader of the group triggers her downfall, one of the other members, Olivia, employs a range of evil tactics in order to take her place. The use of multiple narrators to tell the story from different viewpoints is effective as it highlights the different personality traits of the women. The narrators' voices are well balanced, and each gives a polished and consistent performance. Hillary Huber's narration is particularly notable, as she creates a wonderfully egocentric character in Olivia, eliciting gasps and laughs in equal measures. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
