Due to FTC regulations, I do have to disclose that I received this book from Simon & Schuster for free as a part of their Book Club Favorites program. I appreciate their sending me this book so I could read and review it for y'all.
Some of y'all may already be familiar with Darcey Bell's work. Her book A Simple Favor was turned into a movie in 2018 starring Blake Lively and Ann Kendrick. I had not read this book or watched the movie prior to reading Woman of the Year.
What intrigued me about this book was the description of a "crazy" cat lady bent on revenge going after a former college friend who received the Woman of the Year award. I was not expecting the wild ride this book took me on.
This book follows Lorelei, a former psychology student, and current unemployed cat parent. We start with Lorelei after the events of her story have already occurred and follow along with her journey. The entire time I was reading this book, I couldn't figure out if I liked it. To be completely honest, I'm still not sure. I read it very quickly so it wasn't horrible. It was just strange and parts of it were way more interesting than others. In this book, Lorelei talks about the death of her former friend Holly who won the Woman of the Year award, but she didn't kill her (she says). She then jumps back and forth between the present and her college days as she explains why she had this hatred for her former friend.
Lorelei had a relationship with a professor which she says led to her falling out with Holly and her eventual departure from college right before her last semester. I found the story of her college experience to be far more interesting than the rest of the book and in fact, would've much preferred that had been the focus of the story. It reminded me somewhat of My Dark Vanessa (another book I read and reviewed on the blog) which is a book that jumps between past and present detailing the inappropriate relationship a high school girl had with her teacher. The vibes were somewhat similar although Lorelei was an adult at the time of her relationship with her teacher.
I won't give spoilers, but I will say that Lorelei believes her professor and Holly conspired against her and did something awful. However, it is very unclear if Holly actually participated in the act Lorelei believes she participated in. It's also unclear if Lorelei is actually a reliable narrator or if her mind has been too twisted by delusions to tell the real story.
When I read the description, I thought the part about her cat would be something cute, but it seemed to take up way more of the book than I would have liked. Her only personality traits were her cat and wanting revenge which made her a very boring character.
I will say this, the book was entertaining. The twist was unexpected which is what we want in a thriller. There were things that were said that made me a little uncomfortable and had me researching if the author had gotten in trouble for problematic behavior prior (as far as I can tell she hasn't). I think if you want a quick read that doesn't require too much thinking and you're okay with most of your questions being unanswered, this is a fun read.
There are content warnings present in this book such as adult sexual content, mentions of sexual assault, mentions of animal abuse, mentions of immoral psychological experimentation, and more. As always, check out StoryGraph for a better list of content warnings as provided by other readers.
Again if you use my Bookshop.org link to purchase this book, I do get a percentage of the sale.
As always, happy reading, and I will see y'all soon.
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