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The Vixen Amber Halloway
Ophelia, a professor of Dante, is stricken when she discovers that her husband Andy has been cheating on her with a winsome colleague. What follows is Ophelia' s figurative descent into hell as she obsessively tracks her subjects, performs surveillance in her beat-up Volvo, and moves into the property next door to Amber' s, which has gone into foreclosure. She spies on the lovers, growing more and more estranged from reality. Andy' s betrayal reawakens the earlier trauma of abandonment by her mother at the age of eight. When Andy and Amber become engaged, Ophelia snaps. The story is a jailhouse confessional, a dark comedy, an oeuvre of women' s rage, a suspenseful revenge fantasy, and a moving portrait of one woman' s psychological breakdown.
214 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 11, 2024
6 people are currently reading
9176 people want to read
About the author
Carol LaHines
5 books69 followersI am a life-long New Yorker. I went to New York University and St. John's School of Law and now live in Tudor City, a charming neighborhood near the United Nations. I was a practicing musician and a lawyer before becoming a published author. While practicing law at a big law firm in New York City, I began writing fiction. I published short stories over a period of years in journals like Fence, Hayden's Ferry Review, Denver Quarterly, The Literary Review, Cimarron Review, redivider, Sycamore Review, and others. Someday Everything All Makes Sense is my first published novel. I was able to mine my knowledge of the law and music theory in telling the story of Luther van der Loon, an eccentric harpsichord who has recently suffered the trauma of losing his mother. Luther is preoccupied with existential questions and questions concerning temperament, the mathematical ratios that govern how we hear music. Like most of my writing, the novel might be characterized as tragic-comic. I believe, like the great Italo Calvino, that "lightness" -- by which I mean to say a sense of playfulness leavening the serious -- is a cardinal virtue of writing. (I love Calvino, Joyce, Nabokov, Woolf, Borges, Melville, Chekhov, Gogol, Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy, Sebald....)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
June 12, 2024
🎵IT'S ME, HI, I'M THE PROBLEM, IT'S ME🎵!!!!!!!! The Vixen Amber Halloway written by Carol LaHines was NOT for me, at all, so maybe I am the outlier for this book. I absolutely love the unhinged women trope, but the main character was way too excessive for me, to the point where I thought this is not okay. I gave this book two stars for many reasons such as the excessive character behavior, the cheating trope, the repetitiveness, and the ending, like hello??? What even was that ending??? This was such a quick read, it had one of my many favorite tropes like an unhinged woman, the chapters were very short, but by the halfway point I just started skimming because of the repetitiveness. I wanted to read this book because you know, I'm just a sucker for those pretty covers and in all honesty, this book actually sounded interesting, but unfortunately it feels short for me. Don't let my review stop you from reading this book. Y'all might like it way better than I did, these are just my opinions and how I felt while reading this book. If The Vixen Amber Halloway sounds interesting to you, make sure you pick up your copy immediately.
THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND REGAL HOUSE PUBLISHING FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!!!
💔"My sister is gone. She was more than a sister. She was my best friend, my confidante. And now she can't come to my wedding. She will never see her nieces and nephews. She is just a name chiseled on a headstone".💔
Ophelia's issues started when she was just eight years old when her mom abandoned her for a man, never looking back as she walked out of the house on her own daughter. Ophelia teaches literature at Dante where she met her husband, Andy. Andy Fairweather is the director of sales at Halford Medical Supply. Andy and Ophelia had a pretty good marriage until one day when Ophelia started noticing signs that Andy was fading from her and the sex started happening less and less. Ophelia decides to check Andy's emails, when she notices Andy is having an affair with a woman named Amber. Amber Halloway is a sales representative and apparently has a thing for married men. Now that Ophelia knows Andy is having an affair, Ophelia starts spiraling out of control. Ophelia starts following Andy and Amber around, she starts watching them from her Volvo windows at night, Ophelia even moves into the house next door to where Amber lives. When Amber and Andy get engaged, Ophelia completely loses her cool. Since suffering from abandonment issues at the age of eight, Andy's betrayal ignites a new fire in Ophelia. I know cheating is not okay at all, but in my opinion Ophelia went way too far.
Ophelia wants Amber out of the picture, she just wants Andy back in her life. One night Ophelia commits the worst crime of her life and is sentenced fifteen to twenty five years behind bars. On August 11th, 2011 Ophelia starts cyber harassing Amber and Andy, Ophelia uploads their pornographic pictures to a website where millions of people can see them. I felt bad for Ophelia in the beginning, but then she became way too unhinged and I absolutely hated her. Like I stated in the beginning of my review, don't let me stop you from reading this book, these are just my own opinions and how I felt. It's truly disgusting that I have to state this, but please respect my thoughts and opinions, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and if you don't like my honesty how I felt on this book, please look away. There's plenty of other ways to get revenge on your significant other, but I felt like Ophelia took it way too far an committed crimes that never should have happened. Part of this book is told in Ophelia's confinement behind prison bars. I felt so bad for Amber's family during this difficult time, but I also think Ophelia and Andy are both in the wrong for what they both did in this situation. Cheating is NOT okay in anyway, but violence is never the answer to help the situation.
THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND REGAL HOUSE PUBLISHING FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!!!
💔"My sister is gone. She was more than a sister. She was my best friend, my confidante. And now she can't come to my wedding. She will never see her nieces and nephews. She is just a name chiseled on a headstone".💔
Ophelia's issues started when she was just eight years old when her mom abandoned her for a man, never looking back as she walked out of the house on her own daughter. Ophelia teaches literature at Dante where she met her husband, Andy. Andy Fairweather is the director of sales at Halford Medical Supply. Andy and Ophelia had a pretty good marriage until one day when Ophelia started noticing signs that Andy was fading from her and the sex started happening less and less. Ophelia decides to check Andy's emails, when she notices Andy is having an affair with a woman named Amber. Amber Halloway is a sales representative and apparently has a thing for married men. Now that Ophelia knows Andy is having an affair, Ophelia starts spiraling out of control. Ophelia starts following Andy and Amber around, she starts watching them from her Volvo windows at night, Ophelia even moves into the house next door to where Amber lives. When Amber and Andy get engaged, Ophelia completely loses her cool. Since suffering from abandonment issues at the age of eight, Andy's betrayal ignites a new fire in Ophelia. I know cheating is not okay at all, but in my opinion Ophelia went way too far.
Ophelia wants Amber out of the picture, she just wants Andy back in her life. One night Ophelia commits the worst crime of her life and is sentenced fifteen to twenty five years behind bars. On August 11th, 2011 Ophelia starts cyber harassing Amber and Andy, Ophelia uploads their pornographic pictures to a website where millions of people can see them. I felt bad for Ophelia in the beginning, but then she became way too unhinged and I absolutely hated her. Like I stated in the beginning of my review, don't let me stop you from reading this book, these are just my own opinions and how I felt. It's truly disgusting that I have to state this, but please respect my thoughts and opinions, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and if you don't like my honesty how I felt on this book, please look away. There's plenty of other ways to get revenge on your significant other, but I felt like Ophelia took it way too far an committed crimes that never should have happened. Part of this book is told in Ophelia's confinement behind prison bars. I felt so bad for Amber's family during this difficult time, but I also think Ophelia and Andy are both in the wrong for what they both did in this situation. Cheating is NOT okay in anyway, but violence is never the answer to help the situation.
February 21, 2025
Oooh this was good!
"The prison psychiatrist maintains that it is unhealthy to eavesdrop on one's ex following a breakup."
The Vixen Amber Halloway is a revenge thriller with an eloquent, unreliable narrator named Ophelia Fairweather. After she learns that her husband is cheating, Ophelia does something that results in her being incarcerated. The story of what happened is delivered as a prison confession.
The story is a combination of Ophelia's therapeutic sessions with a prison psychiatrist in preparation for her meeting with the parole board and a confession (directed to her husband) about everything that transpired to land her in prison.
Ophelia is a woman in her forties who finds love late in life, but once she does, she falls hard. She works as a college professor (a scholar of Dante), and her eloquent way of speaking exudes her intelligence.
At a young age, Ophelia's mother walked out the door and never looked back, leaving Ophelia with deep emotional wounds. Her husband's infidelity is exacerbated by the lingering pain of her mother's absence. Throughout the book, Ophelia attempts to work through her abandonment issues while recounting how Andy's sudden departure in pursuit of the young and attractive Amber propelled her toward a mental break.
While Ophelia's narrative voice is clearly defined throughout the book, her dialogue is less convincing. This is especially true during the book's climax; it's possible Ophelia's dialogue is too stilted and mechanical during this scene or it could be that our unreliable narrator is trying to shape our opinion of her (perhaps portraying herself as "cool" in the way that only an awkward person with a personality disorder would).
Overall, I found this to be a fascinating examination of society's proclivity to blame women for men's bad behavior. In a less patriarchal world, the book would have been titled The Cheater Andy Fairweather, but society would have us blame the woman, and Ophelia tragically succumbs to this way of thinking.
Let it be a lesson to all: If a woman takes a cheating man off your hands, send her flowers and a thank you card because she just saved you from wasting your time and energy on a man who doesn't deserve you.
Faintly reminiscent of Alias Grace, The Vixen Amber Halloway is a tense yet sorrowful story of mental illness, deep-seeded childhood pain, and a broken heart manifesting in terrifying ways.
My heartfelt thanks to the very generous people at Regal House Publishing for sending me a finished copy of this highly anticipated read.
--
ORIGINAL POST 👇
I NEED to read this upcoming revenge thriller.👀
📢CHEATING HUSBAND ALERT! When Ophelia discovers that her husband is cheating, she makes her "figurative descent into hell" as she obsessively tracks him and his new lover, wrestles with abandonment issues, and struggles not to succumb to a psychological break.
You know I love a strange, twisted tale, and it sounds like this book delivers. I'm definitely reading this!
"The prison psychiatrist maintains that it is unhealthy to eavesdrop on one's ex following a breakup."
The Vixen Amber Halloway is a revenge thriller with an eloquent, unreliable narrator named Ophelia Fairweather. After she learns that her husband is cheating, Ophelia does something that results in her being incarcerated. The story of what happened is delivered as a prison confession.
The story is a combination of Ophelia's therapeutic sessions with a prison psychiatrist in preparation for her meeting with the parole board and a confession (directed to her husband) about everything that transpired to land her in prison.
Ophelia is a woman in her forties who finds love late in life, but once she does, she falls hard. She works as a college professor (a scholar of Dante), and her eloquent way of speaking exudes her intelligence.
At a young age, Ophelia's mother walked out the door and never looked back, leaving Ophelia with deep emotional wounds. Her husband's infidelity is exacerbated by the lingering pain of her mother's absence. Throughout the book, Ophelia attempts to work through her abandonment issues while recounting how Andy's sudden departure in pursuit of the young and attractive Amber propelled her toward a mental break.
While Ophelia's narrative voice is clearly defined throughout the book, her dialogue is less convincing. This is especially true during the book's climax; it's possible Ophelia's dialogue is too stilted and mechanical during this scene or it could be that our unreliable narrator is trying to shape our opinion of her (perhaps portraying herself as "cool" in the way that only an awkward person with a personality disorder would).
Overall, I found this to be a fascinating examination of society's proclivity to blame women for men's bad behavior. In a less patriarchal world, the book would have been titled The Cheater Andy Fairweather, but society would have us blame the woman, and Ophelia tragically succumbs to this way of thinking.
Let it be a lesson to all: If a woman takes a cheating man off your hands, send her flowers and a thank you card because she just saved you from wasting your time and energy on a man who doesn't deserve you.
Faintly reminiscent of Alias Grace, The Vixen Amber Halloway is a tense yet sorrowful story of mental illness, deep-seeded childhood pain, and a broken heart manifesting in terrifying ways.
My heartfelt thanks to the very generous people at Regal House Publishing for sending me a finished copy of this highly anticipated read.
--
ORIGINAL POST 👇
I NEED to read this upcoming revenge thriller.👀
📢CHEATING HUSBAND ALERT! When Ophelia discovers that her husband is cheating, she makes her "figurative descent into hell" as she obsessively tracks him and his new lover, wrestles with abandonment issues, and struggles not to succumb to a psychological break.
You know I love a strange, twisted tale, and it sounds like this book delivers. I'm definitely reading this!
June 28, 2024
0.25 "distasteful, disrespectful, misanthropic" stars !!
Acknowledgements to Netgalley and Regal House Publishing for an ecopy. This was released June 2024. I am providing an honest review.
I have read some horrible, terrible and shitty chicklit thrillers in my time but this one might take the cake (don't take a bite!)
The author is clearly very bright and has some promising writing chops. She also sets up a most interesting character in Ophelia who has suffered both abandonments and traumas. This could have been a most interesting and respectful character study of somebody with severe avoidant attachment injuries as well as a complex borderline/avoidant personality disorder and their attempts at living life despite very high mistrust and distress.
Instead we get a very very over the top and sensationalistic approach to a woman's psychological disintegration and the damage she inflicts on others. The humor is not at all funny and the metacognitive musings do not at all fit in with the experience and background of this character. The metacognitive musings come across as an arrogant and glib authorial voice. If somebody tells me this is satire or dark comedy I will bop them on the nose. Just disgusting this was!
This book is in incredibly poor taste and a huge disservice to those who struggle with very difficult personality disorders as well as to the people they inadvertently (and sometimes intentionally) hurt.
This novel is repellent and an epic fail !
Drew what did you think ?
Acknowledgements to Netgalley and Regal House Publishing for an ecopy. This was released June 2024. I am providing an honest review.
I have read some horrible, terrible and shitty chicklit thrillers in my time but this one might take the cake (don't take a bite!)
The author is clearly very bright and has some promising writing chops. She also sets up a most interesting character in Ophelia who has suffered both abandonments and traumas. This could have been a most interesting and respectful character study of somebody with severe avoidant attachment injuries as well as a complex borderline/avoidant personality disorder and their attempts at living life despite very high mistrust and distress.
Instead we get a very very over the top and sensationalistic approach to a woman's psychological disintegration and the damage she inflicts on others. The humor is not at all funny and the metacognitive musings do not at all fit in with the experience and background of this character. The metacognitive musings come across as an arrogant and glib authorial voice. If somebody tells me this is satire or dark comedy I will bop them on the nose. Just disgusting this was!
This book is in incredibly poor taste and a huge disservice to those who struggle with very difficult personality disorders as well as to the people they inadvertently (and sometimes intentionally) hurt.
This novel is repellent and an epic fail !
Drew what did you think ?
May 3, 2024
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Mystery Thriller
When Ophelia finds out that her husband, Andy, has been cheating on her with a coworker named Amber Halloway, she is devastated and filled with anger and grief. As Ophelia's anger and hurt consume her, she makes the decision to follow the two lovers and carefully watch their every move. Andy's betrayal reawakens the trauma of her mother abandoning her when she was only eight years old. This occurs as Ophelia becomes more and more detached from reality.
This is not a very long book, and despite the fact that there is some repetition in the narration—during which it is important to keep in mind that the narrator is not reliable—it was still an enjoyable book to read. The story keeps going back and forth between the past and present, something I’m not a fan of. But I guess the author’s writing made it work for me, at least most of the time.
As you make your way through the remainder of the book, you will discover that the protagonist's mental health is put in a more precarious position. And all this is due to her deteriorating relationship with her husband. It is important to keep in mind that this book deals with a number of topics that could be extremely upsetting to certain readers, such as obsession, mental breakdown, and betrayal. So just proceed with caution.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.
Genre: Mystery Thriller
When Ophelia finds out that her husband, Andy, has been cheating on her with a coworker named Amber Halloway, she is devastated and filled with anger and grief. As Ophelia's anger and hurt consume her, she makes the decision to follow the two lovers and carefully watch their every move. Andy's betrayal reawakens the trauma of her mother abandoning her when she was only eight years old. This occurs as Ophelia becomes more and more detached from reality.
This is not a very long book, and despite the fact that there is some repetition in the narration—during which it is important to keep in mind that the narrator is not reliable—it was still an enjoyable book to read. The story keeps going back and forth between the past and present, something I’m not a fan of. But I guess the author’s writing made it work for me, at least most of the time.
As you make your way through the remainder of the book, you will discover that the protagonist's mental health is put in a more precarious position. And all this is due to her deteriorating relationship with her husband. It is important to keep in mind that this book deals with a number of topics that could be extremely upsetting to certain readers, such as obsession, mental breakdown, and betrayal. So just proceed with caution.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.
January 5, 2025
Ophelia, a college professor and Dante aficianado, is stricken when she discovers that her husband Andy has been cheating on her with his colleague Amber Halloway. What follows is Ophelia's figurative descent into hell as she obsessively spies on the lovers, growing more and more estranged from reality. Andy's betrayal reawakens the earlier trauma of abandonment by her mother at the age of eight. According to the blurb, the story is a jailhouse confessional, a suspenseful revenge fantasy, and a portrait of one woman's psychological breakdown.
I'm a fan of the unhinged trope and at first Ophelia sort of reminded me of Mrs. March where we're trapped in a woman's mind as she slowly loses touch with reality. The first 25% or so of this book had me totally drawn in but as it went on Ophelia's actions got more and more bizarre and it was doing my head in. One big complaint would be the repetitive nature of certain phrases and information (soon-to-be-foreclosed-upon was used many many times and Minnie Ha-Ha pops up a lot). The author also used many words that I don't know the meaning of. I like to think it's because the words are so unusual, not because I'm dense: words like psychopomp, oeuvre, arguenda. I'm all for learning new words but it took me out of the story too often. I'm not too familiar with Dante's Inferno but I felt like Ophelia was drawing parallels between her experience and that work. It could've been a much better read if it was tightened up and shortened a bit. I'm rating it 2.5 Stars rounded down.
TW: Animal cruelty, adultery, sexual references and descriptions.
My thanks to Regal House Publishing via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
I'm a fan of the unhinged trope and at first Ophelia sort of reminded me of Mrs. March where we're trapped in a woman's mind as she slowly loses touch with reality. The first 25% or so of this book had me totally drawn in but as it went on Ophelia's actions got more and more bizarre and it was doing my head in. One big complaint would be the repetitive nature of certain phrases and information (soon-to-be-foreclosed-upon was used many many times and Minnie Ha-Ha pops up a lot). The author also used many words that I don't know the meaning of. I like to think it's because the words are so unusual, not because I'm dense: words like psychopomp, oeuvre, arguenda. I'm all for learning new words but it took me out of the story too often. I'm not too familiar with Dante's Inferno but I felt like Ophelia was drawing parallels between her experience and that work. It could've been a much better read if it was tightened up and shortened a bit. I'm rating it 2.5 Stars rounded down.
TW: Animal cruelty, adultery, sexual references and descriptions.
My thanks to Regal House Publishing via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
March 11, 2024
⊹ ݁⠀✦ ╮
pre review: 10/03/24
thank you to netgalley for the arc <3
⊹ ݁⠀✦ ╮ finished: 11/03/24
rtc— 3.5☆
thank you to netgalley for the arc <3
⊹ ݁⠀✦ ╮ finished: 11/03/24
rtc— 3.5☆
March 25, 2024
This book was interesting. I am a fan of the unhinged trope & this read like a fever dream.
I did find it repetitive. & the ending fell flat in my opinion.
I liked Ophelia. I empathized with her while I was reading but will not think of her again.
I did find it repetitive. & the ending fell flat in my opinion.
I liked Ophelia. I empathized with her while I was reading but will not think of her again.
May 31, 2024
At first, I was very much not sure about this one. The way that our MC speaks is kind of off-putting. Ophelia is…a lot.
But, oh boy, that ��lot’ turns into one entertaining hot mess!
The author brings us the ultimate in unreliable narrators and an intense story that ratchets up into absolute insanity. Eventually, you’re just reading this completely riveted while muttering in utter disbelief. The obsession (yours and our narrator’s) is nail-biting.
Expect an entertaining, upside-down, but very warped world where you find yourself rooting for the absolute wrong person – and you just don’t care.
• ARC via Publisher
But, oh boy, that ��lot’ turns into one entertaining hot mess!
The author brings us the ultimate in unreliable narrators and an intense story that ratchets up into absolute insanity. Eventually, you’re just reading this completely riveted while muttering in utter disbelief. The obsession (yours and our narrator’s) is nail-biting.
Expect an entertaining, upside-down, but very warped world where you find yourself rooting for the absolute wrong person – and you just don’t care.
• ARC via Publisher
November 26, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley., the publisher and the author for this eARC.
This cover drew me in, wanting to know the whole story of this Amber.
The narrator speaks in a certain way that works for this kind of book and the unreliable narrator makes you want to keep turning the pages.
Did Ophelia cheat on her husband or did her husband cheat on her? Did I feel sorry for Ophelia? Yes. How dare I. But I did. Can’t wait to read this one when it comes out all over again.
This cover drew me in, wanting to know the whole story of this Amber.
The narrator speaks in a certain way that works for this kind of book and the unreliable narrator makes you want to keep turning the pages.
Did Ophelia cheat on her husband or did her husband cheat on her? Did I feel sorry for Ophelia? Yes. How dare I. But I did. Can’t wait to read this one when it comes out all over again.
November 26, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley., the publisher and the author for this eARC.
This cover drew me in, wanting to know the whole story of this Amber.
The narrator speaks in a certain way that works for this kind of book and the unreliable narrator makes you want to keep turning the pages.
Did Ophelia cheat on her husband or did her husband cheat on her? Did I feel sorry for Ophelia? Yes. How dare I. But I did. Can’t wait to read this one when it comes out all over again.
This cover drew me in, wanting to know the whole story of this Amber.
The narrator speaks in a certain way that works for this kind of book and the unreliable narrator makes you want to keep turning the pages.
Did Ophelia cheat on her husband or did her husband cheat on her? Did I feel sorry for Ophelia? Yes. How dare I. But I did. Can’t wait to read this one when it comes out all over again.
January 10, 2024
3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review.
So, what is the book about? We follow the story of Ophelia, a professor of Dante, is stricken when she discovers that her husband, Andy, has been cheating on her with a winsome colleague, Amber Halloway. She decides to stalks them and watching every move of the two of them. The story alternates between the past and the present of her relationship between Ophelia and her husband. Your husband was caught cheating, but you prefer to stalk his relationship with his mistress. I love reading woman who's off of the rails. LOL
I love unhinged women books. I love reading about them. This book is a perfect fit for my reading experience because the book is about infidelity with our main character who is someone who is cheated on by her husband. I like the story of a woman who does something to repay the actions of the person who wronged them. Even though it will violate applicable law. Ophelia is unhinged, and unlikable, but I love being inside her head as she slowly lets obsession and jealousy consume her. Having a lot of unresolved trauma and a severe anxious attachment, she becomes a full-on stalker. This novel somehow remind me to “You” if it was from a scorned woman’s perspective.
But, there's something that makes me hesitate to give this book four stars. It is about the writing style. I find it cold (I don't know whether the writter make it cold because we are reading Ophelia's monologues or it is just actually cold) and somehow it effects the romance plot that happen between Andi and Ophelia in the past. There are two sides that effects the writing style. First, the romance plot between both of them isn't believeable. Because it is cold and I do not find it romantic. But, on the other side, It's because The romance plot is from Ophelia's side, which is actually not romance and love but it is just an obsession. That's why it feels cold somehow.
Lastly, aside from the writing, I feel the ending is a bit let down. I mean, if you want write about unhinged woman who has a solid reason to jump into her dark side, don't hesitate to do it, dear. We love to burn the world down with her.
After all I can say that this book is worth to read if you love reading new published unhinged women books in 2024.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review.
So, what is the book about? We follow the story of Ophelia, a professor of Dante, is stricken when she discovers that her husband, Andy, has been cheating on her with a winsome colleague, Amber Halloway. She decides to stalks them and watching every move of the two of them. The story alternates between the past and the present of her relationship between Ophelia and her husband. Your husband was caught cheating, but you prefer to stalk his relationship with his mistress. I love reading woman who's off of the rails. LOL
I love unhinged women books. I love reading about them. This book is a perfect fit for my reading experience because the book is about infidelity with our main character who is someone who is cheated on by her husband. I like the story of a woman who does something to repay the actions of the person who wronged them. Even though it will violate applicable law. Ophelia is unhinged, and unlikable, but I love being inside her head as she slowly lets obsession and jealousy consume her. Having a lot of unresolved trauma and a severe anxious attachment, she becomes a full-on stalker. This novel somehow remind me to “You” if it was from a scorned woman’s perspective.
But, there's something that makes me hesitate to give this book four stars. It is about the writing style. I find it cold (I don't know whether the writter make it cold because we are reading Ophelia's monologues or it is just actually cold) and somehow it effects the romance plot that happen between Andi and Ophelia in the past. There are two sides that effects the writing style. First, the romance plot between both of them isn't believeable. Because it is cold and I do not find it romantic. But, on the other side, It's because The romance plot is from Ophelia's side, which is actually not romance and love but it is just an obsession. That's why it feels cold somehow.
Lastly, aside from the writing, I feel the ending is a bit let down. I mean, if you want write about unhinged woman who has a solid reason to jump into her dark side, don't hesitate to do it, dear. We love to burn the world down with her.
After all I can say that this book is worth to read if you love reading new published unhinged women books in 2024.
June 24, 2024
Spoiler free. The details below are in the book synopsis.
This isn’t an easy book to review. It’s interesting but dark, and the protagonist, Ophelia, is a case study in “holy shit.” So let’s talk about her. She cannot handle the fact that her husband Andy left her for the vixen Amber Halloway. She spies on them, living in the basement of the foreclosed house next to Amber’s. In fact, she does a lot of crazy things on this journey into a full-fledged breakdown, and it’s a mind-boggling portrayal of a woman desperate and unhinged.
It’s easy at first to have empathy for Ophelia — she was abandoned by her mother at age 8. So, Andy’s betrayal and abandonment trigger the worst in her. But the story, being told by Ophelia as a prison confessional, gets to a point where you know she’s gone too far. And at that point it does become hard to relate to her any longer. I’ve seen other reviewers call her an unreliable narrator and I didn’t find that to be true at all. To me, she was brutally honest in telling her story, lying to herself only about her reality at the same time she also understood that reality.
Her husband proves to be a selfish ass along the way in this story, putting you firmly back on Ophelia’s side. That is, until her next transgression.
A worthwhile read for anyone interested in how the breakdown of love and human jealousy have the potential to destroy.
This isn’t an easy book to review. It’s interesting but dark, and the protagonist, Ophelia, is a case study in “holy shit.” So let’s talk about her. She cannot handle the fact that her husband Andy left her for the vixen Amber Halloway. She spies on them, living in the basement of the foreclosed house next to Amber’s. In fact, she does a lot of crazy things on this journey into a full-fledged breakdown, and it’s a mind-boggling portrayal of a woman desperate and unhinged.
It’s easy at first to have empathy for Ophelia — she was abandoned by her mother at age 8. So, Andy’s betrayal and abandonment trigger the worst in her. But the story, being told by Ophelia as a prison confessional, gets to a point where you know she’s gone too far. And at that point it does become hard to relate to her any longer. I’ve seen other reviewers call her an unreliable narrator and I didn’t find that to be true at all. To me, she was brutally honest in telling her story, lying to herself only about her reality at the same time she also understood that reality.
Her husband proves to be a selfish ass along the way in this story, putting you firmly back on Ophelia’s side. That is, until her next transgression.
A worthwhile read for anyone interested in how the breakdown of love and human jealousy have the potential to destroy.
February 7, 2024
¨I took some comfort in her imperfections, in the notion that she, like the rest of us, was a mortal woman, prone to cyclical bloating and skin eruptions. I rejoiced in these faults, in the recognition that none of us is perfect, none of us so irresistible that she is beyond criticism.¨
Woww! This book really punches where it hurts the most. It is gritty, evil, strangely poetic and romantic and not for the faint of heart. An oeuvre of women´s rage until the melting point.
This is a story about a scorn woman whose obsession is her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. This is a story about betrayel in its deepest form.
And boundaries that evaporate until you don´t know what is right and wrong and who to root for.
For some reason Ophelia´s evilness feeds you, her rage is understandable and the words written are meant to hurt. You feel the slow descend of madness and the underlying rage and love of a scorn woman that reaches its boiling point.
¨The encounter with Amber rattled me. Though I had watched her day in and day out for months, it had never occurred to me that one day her path might cross mine, that she might return the gaze that had thus far remained one-sided.
I knew every inch of her skin:
the scaly patch on her shoulder; the waist bulge she went to pains to conceal.
I had seen her pick her teeth and plumb her nostrils and go through boxes of Tampax. And still viewing her in the real world, out of focus, was unsettling.¨
Woww! This book really punches where it hurts the most. It is gritty, evil, strangely poetic and romantic and not for the faint of heart. An oeuvre of women´s rage until the melting point.
This is a story about a scorn woman whose obsession is her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. This is a story about betrayel in its deepest form.
And boundaries that evaporate until you don´t know what is right and wrong and who to root for.
For some reason Ophelia´s evilness feeds you, her rage is understandable and the words written are meant to hurt. You feel the slow descend of madness and the underlying rage and love of a scorn woman that reaches its boiling point.
¨The encounter with Amber rattled me. Though I had watched her day in and day out for months, it had never occurred to me that one day her path might cross mine, that she might return the gaze that had thus far remained one-sided.
I knew every inch of her skin:
the scaly patch on her shoulder; the waist bulge she went to pains to conceal.
I had seen her pick her teeth and plumb her nostrils and go through boxes of Tampax. And still viewing her in the real world, out of focus, was unsettling.¨
June 5, 2024
A fever dream as our main character spirals into madness. This one was wild from start to finish. I didn't love being in Ophelia's head as she recounted her relationship with her husband. But as she slowly obsesses, stalks and loses it - I was oddly drawn to her drama. I did find parts a bit repetitive and the conclusion felt a little abrupt.
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
January 12, 2024
3.5 ⭐'s
thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for this arc!
The Vixen Amber Halloway is a real page turner, good for anyone who likes an unreliable narrator and female rage. i felt like there was a lot of build up throughout the book just for there to be a kind of lame ending? i was left just wanting more.
thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for this arc!
The Vixen Amber Halloway is a real page turner, good for anyone who likes an unreliable narrator and female rage. i felt like there was a lot of build up throughout the book just for there to be a kind of lame ending? i was left just wanting more.
March 19, 2024
The story is a bit intense and crazy.
3 stars because she kills a dog, and it was really sad, if that wasn't in there or described I would say 4 starts.
But wow, this was insane, and honestly, something that I could see on those true crime docu-series, holy moly.
Thank you NetGalley for my E-ARC.
3 stars because she kills a dog, and it was really sad, if that wasn't in there or described I would say 4 starts.
But wow, this was insane, and honestly, something that I could see on those true crime docu-series, holy moly.
Thank you NetGalley for my E-ARC.
February 26, 2024
This was alright, not great. I love the concept of an unhinged wife falling apart after her husband moves on with another woman. I also like the concept of it being told from the (rambling, obsessive) woman’s perspective. It’s very stream-of-consciousness as she hilariously justifies things like living in a crawlspace next door while spying on the couple.
The book wasn’t even that long, but it was still too long. My friend was right that this would have been better as a short story. I guess in the end it wasn’t anything new, but still entertaining.
The book wasn’t even that long, but it was still too long. My friend was right that this would have been better as a short story. I guess in the end it wasn’t anything new, but still entertaining.
February 14, 2024
via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕. 𝑵𝒐 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆-𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑.
The vixen of this novel is Amber Halloway who has cruelly wrecked college professor and scholar of Dante, Ophelia’s marriage. Her life, in fact! Handsome Andy Fairweather, director of sales for medical supplies, and Ophelia’s attentive, devoted, beloved husband once swore that their love was a gift, even renewing their wedding vows after five years in. Andy, her anchor, the one person who drew her out, attempted to change her traumatic childhood, who tried to teach her to love herself, has broken their sacred vows with a younger, energetic, sexy colleague. A dimwit who cannot spell, Ophelia learns, through perusing sleazy emails between them. She will not allow for a surprise attack, no way will she sit back and let Andy disappear from her life, like her mother did when she was a child. Not this time!
Andy’s desire for Amber is a runaway train, careening towards all Ophelia holds dear, and her scheme to end things between them backfires, putting the nail in the coffin of their marriage. Andy turns things around, casting himself as the wounded victim and leaves Ophelia for good. There are no apologies, instead where there was once love for her Andy has filled his heart with disgust, protecting the little homewrecker instead, treating Ophelia as if she were poison or a parasite draining his soul. As he moves in with the interloper and goes on to live his life where the grass is greener, and his bed filled with a sweeter, tastier fruit, Ophelia descends into madness, lurking from the pits of her own personal hell. There will be no moving on nor rising reborn from the ashes, she intends to remain a part of his world by concealing herself, watching from the shadows, obsessing over the lovers and their routines. During the day, she pretends she is getting on with things, even goes on a blind date but her dark heart is only alive when she is tracking Amber and Andy, torturing herself as witness to their bliss. Never did she think she would become a voyeur, a stalker, a danger to the man that professed to love her happily ever after.
From the beginning the reader is aware this spurned wife has ‘stepped over the threshold’ of sanity, that she is in prison, and is witness to her fall as Ophelia unravels, confesses her deeds, and reflects on the oozing wounds of her rotten childhood. What has brought her to this delusional state, surely it isn’t soured love alone? She was the injured party, wasn’t she? Can’t we see her side? Perfectly engaging, provocative, darkly comedic at times, and criminal, I devoured this story. Of course, anyone who has ever been in love can relate to the pain and dangerous rage flowing through Ophelia’s veins. Funny to review this on Valentine’s Day, but we must examine love in all its forms, even marriages that end behind bars and under a psychiatrist’s care. If you are one of the betrayed, discarded, take heart- you can partake of one woman’s revenge from the safety of your bed, keeping it fictional. Yes, read it! LaHines is a hell of a writer!
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Regal House Publishing
𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕. 𝑵𝒐 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆-𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑.
The vixen of this novel is Amber Halloway who has cruelly wrecked college professor and scholar of Dante, Ophelia’s marriage. Her life, in fact! Handsome Andy Fairweather, director of sales for medical supplies, and Ophelia’s attentive, devoted, beloved husband once swore that their love was a gift, even renewing their wedding vows after five years in. Andy, her anchor, the one person who drew her out, attempted to change her traumatic childhood, who tried to teach her to love herself, has broken their sacred vows with a younger, energetic, sexy colleague. A dimwit who cannot spell, Ophelia learns, through perusing sleazy emails between them. She will not allow for a surprise attack, no way will she sit back and let Andy disappear from her life, like her mother did when she was a child. Not this time!
Andy’s desire for Amber is a runaway train, careening towards all Ophelia holds dear, and her scheme to end things between them backfires, putting the nail in the coffin of their marriage. Andy turns things around, casting himself as the wounded victim and leaves Ophelia for good. There are no apologies, instead where there was once love for her Andy has filled his heart with disgust, protecting the little homewrecker instead, treating Ophelia as if she were poison or a parasite draining his soul. As he moves in with the interloper and goes on to live his life where the grass is greener, and his bed filled with a sweeter, tastier fruit, Ophelia descends into madness, lurking from the pits of her own personal hell. There will be no moving on nor rising reborn from the ashes, she intends to remain a part of his world by concealing herself, watching from the shadows, obsessing over the lovers and their routines. During the day, she pretends she is getting on with things, even goes on a blind date but her dark heart is only alive when she is tracking Amber and Andy, torturing herself as witness to their bliss. Never did she think she would become a voyeur, a stalker, a danger to the man that professed to love her happily ever after.
From the beginning the reader is aware this spurned wife has ‘stepped over the threshold’ of sanity, that she is in prison, and is witness to her fall as Ophelia unravels, confesses her deeds, and reflects on the oozing wounds of her rotten childhood. What has brought her to this delusional state, surely it isn’t soured love alone? She was the injured party, wasn’t she? Can’t we see her side? Perfectly engaging, provocative, darkly comedic at times, and criminal, I devoured this story. Of course, anyone who has ever been in love can relate to the pain and dangerous rage flowing through Ophelia’s veins. Funny to review this on Valentine’s Day, but we must examine love in all its forms, even marriages that end behind bars and under a psychiatrist’s care. If you are one of the betrayed, discarded, take heart- you can partake of one woman’s revenge from the safety of your bed, keeping it fictional. Yes, read it! LaHines is a hell of a writer!
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Regal House Publishing
May 26, 2024
The Vixen Amber Halloway is Carol LaHines’s addition to the ever-growing microgenre of “good for her” literary thrillers. The story itself is told from the perspective of Ophelia, a former Dante scholar imprisoned for a nebulous crime involving her ex-husband and the woman that, in Ophelia’s eyes, caused the downfall of her marriage. Told in a series of short vignettes, the reader follows Ophelia as her marriage crumbles and she spirals further and further into a state of obsession, jealousy, and rage.
Several things were going on here that I enjoyed, as well as a couple of other aspects of the novel that didn’t work as well for me. For one, LaHines did a great job integrating literary allusion into the text. Ophelia’s academic interest in divine and medieval punishment and her specialization in Dante’s work are mirrored quite effectively in her own journey into the subconscious and the unraveling of her sanity. It’s also a pretty fast-paced book and the writing style fosters this in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what Ophelia would do next. It’s not told in a purely linear, chronological style, and skipping back and forth between Ophelia and Andy’s marriage, Ophelia’s time in prison, and all of the moments in between revealed important information when it would be most effective.
However, I found myself rather let down by the ending, and the novel's tendency to drag in the middle made its mere 200 pages still feel too long. If you’re going to write a “good for her” thriller from the perspective of the jilted and borderline-psychopathic ex-wife, go all in! The ending felt like a bit of a cop-out, not necessarily in line with Ophelia’s perspective on her crime. I can also see that LaHines was trying to integrate aspects of Ophelia’s childhood into the story in order to give her a more complex psychological background, but even by the 20% mark I was tired of Ophelia’s repetitive musings on abandonment and her thoughts on her mother leaving her as a child. There is a lot of soliloquizing throughout, and to have Ophelia be SO aware of the damage that this abandonment did for her psychologically ends up feeling a bit out of line with the otherwise aloof and unreliable tone. There’s also something to be said for subtlety—the links between Ophelia being abandoned by her mother and then cheated on/left by Andy feel less impactful when the narrator herself explicitly makes this comparison at every given chance.
This could have been a great short story or novella if some elements were tightened up a bit. I would still recommend it as a quick and engaging thriller with some interesting academic perspectives, although it's not necessarily adding anything new to the genre.
Thank you to NetGalley and Regal House Publishing for the e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
Several things were going on here that I enjoyed, as well as a couple of other aspects of the novel that didn’t work as well for me. For one, LaHines did a great job integrating literary allusion into the text. Ophelia’s academic interest in divine and medieval punishment and her specialization in Dante’s work are mirrored quite effectively in her own journey into the subconscious and the unraveling of her sanity. It’s also a pretty fast-paced book and the writing style fosters this in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what Ophelia would do next. It’s not told in a purely linear, chronological style, and skipping back and forth between Ophelia and Andy’s marriage, Ophelia’s time in prison, and all of the moments in between revealed important information when it would be most effective.
However, I found myself rather let down by the ending, and the novel's tendency to drag in the middle made its mere 200 pages still feel too long. If you’re going to write a “good for her” thriller from the perspective of the jilted and borderline-psychopathic ex-wife, go all in! The ending felt like a bit of a cop-out, not necessarily in line with Ophelia’s perspective on her crime. I can also see that LaHines was trying to integrate aspects of Ophelia’s childhood into the story in order to give her a more complex psychological background, but even by the 20% mark I was tired of Ophelia’s repetitive musings on abandonment and her thoughts on her mother leaving her as a child. There is a lot of soliloquizing throughout, and to have Ophelia be SO aware of the damage that this abandonment did for her psychologically ends up feeling a bit out of line with the otherwise aloof and unreliable tone. There’s also something to be said for subtlety—the links between Ophelia being abandoned by her mother and then cheated on/left by Andy feel less impactful when the narrator herself explicitly makes this comparison at every given chance.
This could have been a great short story or novella if some elements were tightened up a bit. I would still recommend it as a quick and engaging thriller with some interesting academic perspectives, although it's not necessarily adding anything new to the genre.
Thank you to NetGalley and Regal House Publishing for the e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
April 19, 2024
Thank you NetGalley for giving me a chance to read an advance copy of this book!
(ngl I really want to read Dante next)
This book is one big character study about a woman, Ophelia, suffering from repressed childhood trauma long into her adulthood. Her husband leaves her for someone else and slowly we discover how abandonement from your loved ones can really turn the tide over everything you considered right or wrong. I liked that Opehlia was consistently aware of the fact that what she’s doing is not “normal” at all but borderline obsessive, yet she seemingly had no control to stop herself, to put a pause on everything that would decide her fate; it felt as if years of feeling helpless as a child suddenly gave her some sort of courage to ask her husband *Why*. There were a lot of interesting themes to unpack in this book - nature vs nurture (in this case, Ophelia’s circumstances made her who she is), abandonement and dealing with subsequent abandonement issues your whole life, how the after-effects of trauma impacts even the way people perceive you in normal settings etc. etc. I felt sympathy for Ophelia because I really don’t think she wanted things to end as they did, but she really was utterly unhinged.
However, I will say that this book fell a little flat for me in terms of the plot direction and the writing. The book is written in first person and I did not mind the use of the word ‘you’ to refer to the husband, however, I would’ve liked it if it wasn’t this way. This is just my personal preference. Moreover, the dialogue got very repetitive after a while. I’m not sure if the author meant to signify how immersed the main character was into her relationship and her husband, and saw nothing else, but it was tiring to read the same things constantly. Overall, I liked what the book was trying to explore but I just wish the author did something more with it.
(ngl I really want to read Dante next)
This book is one big character study about a woman, Ophelia, suffering from repressed childhood trauma long into her adulthood. Her husband leaves her for someone else and slowly we discover how abandonement from your loved ones can really turn the tide over everything you considered right or wrong. I liked that Opehlia was consistently aware of the fact that what she’s doing is not “normal” at all but borderline obsessive, yet she seemingly had no control to stop herself, to put a pause on everything that would decide her fate; it felt as if years of feeling helpless as a child suddenly gave her some sort of courage to ask her husband *Why*. There were a lot of interesting themes to unpack in this book - nature vs nurture (in this case, Ophelia’s circumstances made her who she is), abandonement and dealing with subsequent abandonement issues your whole life, how the after-effects of trauma impacts even the way people perceive you in normal settings etc. etc. I felt sympathy for Ophelia because I really don’t think she wanted things to end as they did, but she really was utterly unhinged.
However, I will say that this book fell a little flat for me in terms of the plot direction and the writing. The book is written in first person and I did not mind the use of the word ‘you’ to refer to the husband, however, I would’ve liked it if it wasn’t this way. This is just my personal preference. Moreover, the dialogue got very repetitive after a while. I’m not sure if the author meant to signify how immersed the main character was into her relationship and her husband, and saw nothing else, but it was tiring to read the same things constantly. Overall, I liked what the book was trying to explore but I just wish the author did something more with it.
June 24, 2025
Carol LaHines' The Vixen Amber Halloway is a psychological thriller told by an unreliable narrator who ultimately commits heinous crimes that get progressively worse in accordance to her mental health.
The Vixen Amber Halloway was incredibly entertaining. The constant throwbacks to Dante's Inferno, the repeating of the narrators thoughts, the way the narrator thinks and speaks, and the ultimate actions taken all work together to form an extremely memorable and well written psychological thriller. Ophelia was written in such a unique way I don't think I'll forget this title anytime soon.
The ending was beyond confusing and I wish that the story wrapped up in a way that made more sense. If the book ended with the second to last chapter I think I would've given it five stars but the ending was confusing and haphazard.
The Vixen Amber Halloway was incredibly entertaining. The constant throwbacks to Dante's Inferno, the repeating of the narrators thoughts, the way the narrator thinks and speaks, and the ultimate actions taken all work together to form an extremely memorable and well written psychological thriller. Ophelia was written in such a unique way I don't think I'll forget this title anytime soon.
The ending was beyond confusing and I wish that the story wrapped up in a way that made more sense. If the book ended with the second to last chapter I think I would've given it five stars but the ending was confusing and haphazard.
July 8, 2024
Great concept but this one wasn’t for me. Female rage and an unreliable narrator are usually up my alley, but something just wasn’t working here. The characters were not well fleshed out and felt quite stereotypical, and the story and text felt very repetitive. I do enjoy when chapters are short, and the book is able to be easily finished in one sitting. Thank you to NetGalley and Regal House Publishing for providing me with a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
March 30, 2024
It has been a long time since I read a book about a woman who was so unhinged and I adored every moment of it. If no one else is on your side Amber, I am.
August 26, 2024
This was a story of Ophelia’s descent into madness after her husband leaves her. Ophelia’s husband fell in love with another woman name Amber, and did some awful things in the divorce. This left Ophelia into a deep dark despair that ultimately left her to go to prison.
Great book— kind of felt poetic. I felt for her even while she was obviously in the wrong. Some parts felt too repetitive but did give off the obsessive personality she did have.
Great book— kind of felt poetic. I felt for her even while she was obviously in the wrong. Some parts felt too repetitive but did give off the obsessive personality she did have.
June 26, 2024
For such a short book, The Vixen Amber Halloway is a suspenseful rollercoaster! It offers everything you could desire from a story: a cheating husband, a devoted girlfriend, and an unpredictable, vengeful ex-partner. It's a thrilling ride that you'll love!
I've read a lot of literary fiction this year, but this book floored me and left me wanting more. Ophelia's meticulous plans to exact revenge on her cheating husband and his mistress were both chilling and captivating.
Carol LaHines' writing is brilliant, balancing a lack of overt emotion with the intense emotional fragility of the protagonist. The narrative is structured around Ophelia's inner monologue, which is just what I needed. Who doesn't love an unreliable narrator? This style of writing kept me on my toes and added a layer of intrigue that made the book impossible to put down. This contrast made the story even more compelling and highlighted LaHines' skill as an author.
Overall, The Vixen Amber Halloway, a psychological thriller, is a fantastic read that I thoroughly enjoyed. If you're looking for a short yet impactful story in the genre of literary fiction and psychological thrillers, this is definitely one to add to your list.
Thank you, NetGalley and Regal House Publishing, for gifting me the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I've read a lot of literary fiction this year, but this book floored me and left me wanting more. Ophelia's meticulous plans to exact revenge on her cheating husband and his mistress were both chilling and captivating.
Carol LaHines' writing is brilliant, balancing a lack of overt emotion with the intense emotional fragility of the protagonist. The narrative is structured around Ophelia's inner monologue, which is just what I needed. Who doesn't love an unreliable narrator? This style of writing kept me on my toes and added a layer of intrigue that made the book impossible to put down. This contrast made the story even more compelling and highlighted LaHines' skill as an author.
Overall, The Vixen Amber Halloway, a psychological thriller, is a fantastic read that I thoroughly enjoyed. If you're looking for a short yet impactful story in the genre of literary fiction and psychological thrillers, this is definitely one to add to your list.
Thank you, NetGalley and Regal House Publishing, for gifting me the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 1, 2024
This book was one of those stories you want to turn away but you just can’t. It had me glued to the edge of my seat and flipping pages like crazy!
I loved getting a look inside our FMC’s mind, it was dark, twisted, but also allowed you to completely sympathize with her and want the best for her. I think the author did a fabulous job of portraying her and giving us a true peak into her mind. Even when she was just doing mundane things I was completely captured by this book and never wanted to stop reading.
I think I could see how this book wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you love thrillers and you are interested in seeing into people’s minds that are a bit crazy than this book will definitely be for you.
I also really enjoyed reading about the side characters and even though I didn’t like what they were doing I still did like them.
I think the lead up and the story line were very well thought out and overall I just really enjoyed this book!
Thank you so much Netgalley for my arc copy, I am leaving this review on my own.
I loved getting a look inside our FMC’s mind, it was dark, twisted, but also allowed you to completely sympathize with her and want the best for her. I think the author did a fabulous job of portraying her and giving us a true peak into her mind. Even when she was just doing mundane things I was completely captured by this book and never wanted to stop reading.
I think I could see how this book wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you love thrillers and you are interested in seeing into people’s minds that are a bit crazy than this book will definitely be for you.
I also really enjoyed reading about the side characters and even though I didn’t like what they were doing I still did like them.
I think the lead up and the story line were very well thought out and overall I just really enjoyed this book!
Thank you so much Netgalley for my arc copy, I am leaving this review on my own.
December 15, 2023
Really enjoyed this page turner of a book. The story was told from the perspective of a mentally unstable woman sliding further downwards when scorned by her husband. Gripping, compelling and a somewhat uncomfortable read at times.Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
December 14, 2023
*3.5
An interesting, well written novel about a wife who discovers her husband’s infidelity with a younger woman named Amber and spirals into an unhealthy obsession with their relationship. The whole story is told from the wife, Ophelia’s, POV and reads like a direct message to her husband as if she is recounting all her memories to him - from when they first met, to her childhood, and even her stalking escapades and eventually her prison psychiatric appointments. These chapters were my favourite as it focused on her mental health and the therapist trying to get her to direct her anger and frustration towards something else - perhaps the mother who abandoned her?
The chapters were short, making it an easy read. It was interesting experiencing Ophelia’s mental health decline to the point where she puts others in danger. I had mixed feelings about her - her behaviour was deplorable but her husband was also a complete jerk.
The book tends to get quite repetitive at times with the constant mentioning of her being abandoned by her mother when she was 8 years old (always specific) and I’m unsure if this was intentional by the author to emphasise the fact that she is very mentally unwell and this could be attributed to childhood abandonment and other issues she experienced in the past. The author likes to also use “etc”, “viz.” a LOT.
Thank you to @netgalley, the author and Regal House Publishing for the ARC! ✨
An interesting, well written novel about a wife who discovers her husband’s infidelity with a younger woman named Amber and spirals into an unhealthy obsession with their relationship. The whole story is told from the wife, Ophelia’s, POV and reads like a direct message to her husband as if she is recounting all her memories to him - from when they first met, to her childhood, and even her stalking escapades and eventually her prison psychiatric appointments. These chapters were my favourite as it focused on her mental health and the therapist trying to get her to direct her anger and frustration towards something else - perhaps the mother who abandoned her?
The chapters were short, making it an easy read. It was interesting experiencing Ophelia’s mental health decline to the point where she puts others in danger. I had mixed feelings about her - her behaviour was deplorable but her husband was also a complete jerk.
The book tends to get quite repetitive at times with the constant mentioning of her being abandoned by her mother when she was 8 years old (always specific) and I’m unsure if this was intentional by the author to emphasise the fact that she is very mentally unwell and this could be attributed to childhood abandonment and other issues she experienced in the past. The author likes to also use “etc”, “viz.” a LOT.
Thank you to @netgalley, the author and Regal House Publishing for the ARC! ✨
May 2, 2024
"My husband" meets "you"
If you're a fan of either then this is for you! A short book that I could not put down, nicely written and with good use of language.
Opheilia drags you along her spiral into a crazy lady while she stalks her ex husband, although you know it's not a good idea to go along with her... You kinda want to go because you know it's going to be drama!
It was a rollacoaster ride with her, from empathising with her to wanting to shake her and tell her shes crazy and we should just go home! The character was an educated individual which made the craziness even crazier, she was an intelligent lady which is cleverly reflected in the language she uses. You can't help but like her, she's in no way an unlikable gal, although her actions are questionable, we all make mistakes ey?! and does have a sense of humor too, my favourite line being "Im sorry, but you're giving me a headache" when her ex is tied up and "waffling"... All been there right?!
The way the book is written is all from her head, recalling events and trauma, there isn't much dialogue, only her recollection and her side of the story. It was such an interesting and different read, which I most thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book
If you're a fan of either then this is for you! A short book that I could not put down, nicely written and with good use of language.
Opheilia drags you along her spiral into a crazy lady while she stalks her ex husband, although you know it's not a good idea to go along with her... You kinda want to go because you know it's going to be drama!
It was a rollacoaster ride with her, from empathising with her to wanting to shake her and tell her shes crazy and we should just go home! The character was an educated individual which made the craziness even crazier, she was an intelligent lady which is cleverly reflected in the language she uses. You can't help but like her, she's in no way an unlikable gal, although her actions are questionable, we all make mistakes ey?! and does have a sense of humor too, my favourite line being "Im sorry, but you're giving me a headache" when her ex is tied up and "waffling"... All been there right?!
The way the book is written is all from her head, recalling events and trauma, there isn't much dialogue, only her recollection and her side of the story. It was such an interesting and different read, which I most thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book
December 1, 2023
Carol LaHines’ “The Vixen Amber Halloway” would no doubt have made for a fuller or richer reading experience for me had I been more familiar with Dante and his “The Divine Comedy,” given that LaHines’ narrator, Ophelia, is a Dante scholar given to references to the celebrated Italian poet. Moreover, I’m sure any number of parallels could be made between the experiences of Dante’s narrator as he descends into his literal hell and the experiences of Ophelia as she descends into a figurative hell of her own making as she stalks her husband after he takes up with the Amber Halloway of the title.
Violating his e-mail (which is how she finds out about the affair), creating an electronic doppelganger to inhabit Amber’s Facebook to find out more about her, sitting outside her husband's and Amber’s new home for hours at a time in her car, installing herself in an abandoned house next to the lovers’ bungalow to better facilitate her observations of the two, ending up killing their dog after it bites her, putting into motion a plan to exact revenge on the two of them – her actions grow increasingly over the top until, like Louise Doughty’s narrator in “Apple Tree Yard,” which Ophelia’s situation put me in mind of, she ends up behind bars, from which, like Doughty’s narrator, she recounts how she came to be in her current circumstances.
Compelling, even unputdownable, her story, just on its literal level, though, as I say, no doubt even more rewarding for a reader more acquainted with Dante than I. Still, even with my lamentable ignorance of the poet, the book made for enough of a satisfying read for me – it’s one of the best novels I’ve read this year – that I have no compunction in awarding it five stars.
Mostly it was the narrator’s voice, with its academic but not off-puttingly-so tone, that drew me in. Almost never was I put off by it in the way that I’ve been put off by the prose in other academic novels, even one that overall I liked very much, Jennifer Harris’ “The Devil Came to Bonn,” which also features an academic woman who stalks a man who wronged her and which also is distinguished by prose which for the most part shines but occasionally falters. Barely a few pages in, for instance, at an academic conference, a spokesman is characterized as sighing into the microphone “like a desiccating gust of wind scorching a withered paddock.”
No such moments of academic excess from LaHines, whose special skill for me is to be able to put together complex sentences with successions of subordinate clauses without sounding at all academic. This, for instance, was just one among many such sentences that I highlighted: “Only a woman unconcerned with how she is perceived by the outside world, by former spouse and law enforcement circles alike, would commit her observations of the husband and his lover to eight consecutively numbered spiral-bound notebooks, producing, in three months’ time, a comprehensive, incriminating document that would serve to confirm the prosecution’s theory that she was a spurned wife with rancor in her heart.”
Not that all LaHines' sentences are complex ones; this, for instance, about a female acquaintance of Ophelia’s who doesn’t go home with a guy she met in a bar, is the nicer for its brevity: she had “left with a telephone number, instead of a venereal disease.”
But for all LaHines' felicitous constructions, there is also the occasional lapse, which I don’t fault LaHines for so much as her editors, from whom she deserved better. An instance of “from whence”, for instance, should certainly have been caught, and, more fussily, perhaps, on my part, I couldn't help thinking that “not the least because my mother was by then gone” could have been more naturally expressed as “not the least because my mother was gone by then.”
Fussy things, as I say, barely worth noting, actually, though they do make for momentary blips for a reader, and, perhaps with the novel still in the ARC stage, they might yet be addressed before publication.
More truly troubling, though, for me, so much so that it had me rereading the pertinent passage several times, was the summation by the prosecutor, who concludes with, “I submit to you that Miss Amber Halloway was not an innocent, but a cunning vixen” – seeming to be making the case for the defense. Maybe, though, it was some kind of left-field prosecutorial strategy that I just wasn’t picking up on, or maybe, with the passage being in italics, the reader is supposed to understand that it’s not the prosecutor speaking at all but rather an imagined summation in Ophelia’s mind. Either way, the passage as written made for ambiguity – something else that might be addressed before publication.
Lest I appear too critical, though, with my nits, let me hasten to reassert that LaHines' novel, whether appreciated solely on its literal level or with the fuller appreciation that a familiarity with Dante might afford, is an intellectual treat for the few truly serious readers left among us – the happy few, if you will – with its depiction of a driven-to-extremes woman whom I would imagine any number of women who’ve ever harbored the slightest suspicions about their husbands or significant others could easily identify with.
Violating his e-mail (which is how she finds out about the affair), creating an electronic doppelganger to inhabit Amber’s Facebook to find out more about her, sitting outside her husband's and Amber’s new home for hours at a time in her car, installing herself in an abandoned house next to the lovers’ bungalow to better facilitate her observations of the two, ending up killing their dog after it bites her, putting into motion a plan to exact revenge on the two of them – her actions grow increasingly over the top until, like Louise Doughty’s narrator in “Apple Tree Yard,” which Ophelia’s situation put me in mind of, she ends up behind bars, from which, like Doughty’s narrator, she recounts how she came to be in her current circumstances.
Compelling, even unputdownable, her story, just on its literal level, though, as I say, no doubt even more rewarding for a reader more acquainted with Dante than I. Still, even with my lamentable ignorance of the poet, the book made for enough of a satisfying read for me – it’s one of the best novels I’ve read this year – that I have no compunction in awarding it five stars.
Mostly it was the narrator’s voice, with its academic but not off-puttingly-so tone, that drew me in. Almost never was I put off by it in the way that I’ve been put off by the prose in other academic novels, even one that overall I liked very much, Jennifer Harris’ “The Devil Came to Bonn,” which also features an academic woman who stalks a man who wronged her and which also is distinguished by prose which for the most part shines but occasionally falters. Barely a few pages in, for instance, at an academic conference, a spokesman is characterized as sighing into the microphone “like a desiccating gust of wind scorching a withered paddock.”
No such moments of academic excess from LaHines, whose special skill for me is to be able to put together complex sentences with successions of subordinate clauses without sounding at all academic. This, for instance, was just one among many such sentences that I highlighted: “Only a woman unconcerned with how she is perceived by the outside world, by former spouse and law enforcement circles alike, would commit her observations of the husband and his lover to eight consecutively numbered spiral-bound notebooks, producing, in three months’ time, a comprehensive, incriminating document that would serve to confirm the prosecution’s theory that she was a spurned wife with rancor in her heart.”
Not that all LaHines' sentences are complex ones; this, for instance, about a female acquaintance of Ophelia’s who doesn’t go home with a guy she met in a bar, is the nicer for its brevity: she had “left with a telephone number, instead of a venereal disease.”
But for all LaHines' felicitous constructions, there is also the occasional lapse, which I don’t fault LaHines for so much as her editors, from whom she deserved better. An instance of “from whence”, for instance, should certainly have been caught, and, more fussily, perhaps, on my part, I couldn't help thinking that “not the least because my mother was by then gone” could have been more naturally expressed as “not the least because my mother was gone by then.”
Fussy things, as I say, barely worth noting, actually, though they do make for momentary blips for a reader, and, perhaps with the novel still in the ARC stage, they might yet be addressed before publication.
More truly troubling, though, for me, so much so that it had me rereading the pertinent passage several times, was the summation by the prosecutor, who concludes with, “I submit to you that Miss Amber Halloway was not an innocent, but a cunning vixen” – seeming to be making the case for the defense. Maybe, though, it was some kind of left-field prosecutorial strategy that I just wasn’t picking up on, or maybe, with the passage being in italics, the reader is supposed to understand that it’s not the prosecutor speaking at all but rather an imagined summation in Ophelia’s mind. Either way, the passage as written made for ambiguity – something else that might be addressed before publication.
Lest I appear too critical, though, with my nits, let me hasten to reassert that LaHines' novel, whether appreciated solely on its literal level or with the fuller appreciation that a familiarity with Dante might afford, is an intellectual treat for the few truly serious readers left among us – the happy few, if you will – with its depiction of a driven-to-extremes woman whom I would imagine any number of women who’ve ever harbored the slightest suspicions about their husbands or significant others could easily identify with.
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