This is dark, and brilliant. It’s a mystery, three women trying to solve who is killing girls in their area, but they were also the wives of serial killers. This is where the book really stands out, the tiny mentions of what their lives were like before, the way society has treated them and the way they’re bound together by these experiences
The blurb on the ARC said that it was like if Taylor Jenkins Reid had written a thriller and I 100% agree, its got the same distinctive unusual main characters and matter of fact acknowledgement of the domestic abuse and violence in the world.
Romance – not applicable to rate.
Plot – 5/5 – it’s shocking and rapid packed, you never know who it is but it’ll take you by surprise!
Characters – 4/5 – the women slowly evolve to be their separate characters over the book even though they seem very similar in the beginning just like how the public all sees them.
World – 5/5 – its dark its gritty and its realistic, delving into 1950’s serial killers and the families destroyed by them.
Romance Rating – explicit but only in one lines. There isnt any romance in this book, but there are mentions and short descriptions of sexual actions (a line or two each).
Thanks to Net Galley for this e-ARC read and all opinions are my own! Pub Date: Apr 01 2025 Publisher: Rachel Taylor Thompson Genre: Alternate Reality, Heist, Urban Fantasy Age Category: YA
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that originated at Breaking the Spine but has now linked up with Waiting for Wednesday at Wishful Endings. It is always a fun chance to display books that are going to be joining our bookshelves very soon in 2025!
13+
This was so good!
I went into this expecting a fun frolic and it didn’t just deliver it gave me everything I wanted and DRAGONS. I know it was in the title, but I had expected a few dragons, not a glorious world full of different varieties. We have seadragons, truedragons, even beedragons!
Sasha was driven character from the beginning, and we are swept into her delightfully morally askew world as she witnesses a seadragon die and steals it’s Semis. The Semis is something huge in her world – the last time it happened there was a huge man hunt and several deaths but as far as Sasha is concerned there was also millions.
Throughout Sasha had a really fun narrative voice to read, rampant with ‘Clemisms’, sayings her (just a little crooked) family have raised her on which support all of her decisions in the beginning. It was really lovely to see her motives change and grow over the course. At the beginning of each chapter she keeps track of her finances (such a lovely way of reminding about her motives and how money is such a huge thing because of the lack of it in her life) but it also reminds us of the ticking clock behind her – the whole country is out for her, the whole world’s governments are looking for her and the Semis and she only has a few grand with which to avoid them with. oh and that’s all that’s left of her collage money too!
Plot – 5/5 – it was fast but we also got all the details that my little worldbuilding heart needs so just perfect!
Romance – 4.5/5 – Soft Romance – I just love a good dreamscape scene, when both lower their boundaries and just talk without the pressures of the real world and this had several glorious examples of how well this can be done! Ari was adorable too – and how sweet he was with the dogs! (did I mention that there are three dogs named after the Bronte sisters along for the heist???)
Characters – 4/5 – I loved Sasha, she was such a good character and I love that Rachel Thompson didn’t make her family too likeable (they had flaws but still came out to support Sasha in their own non law abiding way)
World – 5/5 – DRAGONS! I have mentioned the dragons but they were glorious so I will mention it again! The rest of the world was really well defined too – Sasha crosses huge swathes of land but every place she goes to has its own feel even through she never goes to any huge landmarks.
Content Warnings: some sexual harassment to the mc, but she gets out of the situation quickly so only 1/5. Threat.
Such a fun read and 100% worth it this needs to go on your TBR for 2025!
Damsel in Delight 