Emma has it all. Jules knows it all. Rosa's seen it all. Marianne's done it all. Lucy watches it all. And newcomer Lydia wants it. All.
When perfect wife Emma gets arrested for the murder of her husband at Book Club, the group is reeling.
But as the women turn from the murder mystery on the pages to the hidden secrets in the group, will they discover a killer plot twist that none of them saw coming?
Perfect for fans of Bella Mackie, author of How To Kill Your Family and Katy Brent, author of How To Kill Men and Get Away With it.
Audiobook narrated by Kimberley Capero &Nathalie Buscombe 10hrs 19 minutes
3.5 stars
What an absolute wild ride! A dual pov where one woman finds herself arrested for murder, but it is clear that another woman may be just as guilty. Emma(the wife) and Lydia( the girlfriend) take hold of the narrative and keep me in a chokehold. I cannot say that I was a fan of either character, but my hat's off to the two narrators for making each woman's voice stand out.
My ARC was archived before I could review it, so I have used an Audible credit to listen and review the title.
TheWomanFromBookclub #NetGalley Publication Date 06/11/25 Goodreads Review 07/12/25
Outstanding! A super-fun cozy murder mystery that features a dual POV at its best use. The narrators, Kimberly Capero and Nathalie Buscombe, were excellent and brought the whole piece alive. As a character-driven piece, their performances are crucial, and both are experienced and assured in the audio world.
If some reveiws have felt The Woman from Book Club is a lesser light, I would say that might be due to expectations. This is no thriller: I'm not sure why the publisher has listed it as such. It's sits much more firmly in mystery/suspense, I'd say.
And it's farily cozy. More so than spine-tingling or chilling, so enjoy this story for that and for the two MCs and their POVs and voices, and you might find The Woman from Book Club is outstanding.
'Any man worth having was one worth taking.'. Famous last words from Lydia. Wonderful to watch her plot and scheme and take the man, only to realize why his wife was apathetic about it all.
Love when someone gets everything they ever wanted only to go, 'Wait. Why the fuck did I ever want this?'
Unconventional plot, although the writing was a bit ridiculous at times.
Genuinely loved that by the middle there, it really could have been either one that did it.
I did partially enjoy this one but I already know I most likely won’t remember a thing about it in a month’s time. I feel like this is a plot that I’ve read far too many times now and I found myself not really caring for the characters at all. It definitely could’ve been more engrossing, I usually finish thrillers in just a day or two but this took me almost a week to get through. Perhaps I should’ve DNF’d but I was still hoping for an explosive finish so continued. Maybe this would be better suited to beginners to the thriller genre. 3 stars
It was an interesting reading experience, for sure. And not at all what I was expecting: a cosy mystery — for some reason, maybe the vibe of the cover. We mainly focus on two perspectives of the same event happening, and the perspectives are vastly different. Quite early on, I kinda picked up a side. Because from the start, I absolutely hated Lydia — and I believe she was meant to be this unlikeable, downright hateable actually. Or at least I hope so. She was a manipulative, delusional and nasty character, she played the victim when she’s clearly not that. And I’m not saying that Emma, the other perspective, is flawless because she isn’t. But she’s been wronged at the beginning so it was easier for me to understand her. I would encourage thriller readers to pick this one up. It is full of deceptions and the author gives you two deep versions of the same story. It’s up to you to believe in one, in the other, or in none…
Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for a honest review.
I read The Woman from Book Club by Carrie Hughes for my book club, and overall I really enjoyed it.
Lydia, though… wow. She was such an annoying character and felt completely out of this world and unrealistic. I honestly refuse to believe women like that actually exist — which made her hard to take seriously at times.
One thing I absolutely loved was all the references to other books. If you’ve read (or at least recognize) the titles mentioned, it adds an extra layer of fun and meaning to the story, and it really enriches the reading experience.
My favorite part was Emma and Will’s storyline. I loved the way Will was so protective of Emma without being a romantic thing. Their connection felt genuine, warm, and grounded, and I would 100% read a whole book just about the two of them.
Overall, a great pick for book club — entertaining, layered, and full of nods to fellow book lovers. 📚
A quick, easy read packed with twists, turns and wonderfully chaotic characters. I genuinely enjoyed it.
Was it the most polished writing I’ve ever read? No. Did parts of the storyline feel completely over the top? Absolutely. Did I still have a great time reading it? Completely.
Sometimes you don’t need literary perfection. Sometimes you just want something dramatic, fast paced and a little bit outrageous. And this delivered exactly that.
This story starts with a little chaos when a beloved book club member gets arrested... during book club. You then follow Emma, a trad housewife in a seemingly perfect marriage to Elliott, avid reader and book clubber, and Lydia, a downright insufferable gold digger looking to find a place in this world... or, you know, find a rich husband so she can live lavishly.
You get 3 perspectives throughout the story, Lydia's pov, Emma's pov, and another pov of what "really" happened leading up to the arrest in the first chapter. It's full of twists, turns and deceptions. Carrie Hughes gives you two versions of the same story and it’s up to you what to believe as the truth...
To reiterate what I texted Lillian, "I'm not sure if this is necessarily a ~good~ book, but my god, am I entertained." I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a chaotic, messy, high-speed thriller with plenty of twists.
This was a quick and easy read. It was a bit slow in the beginning but gained my attention more and more as the story developed, especially towards the end.
It had a lot of twists and turns which was the most enjoyable part about the book.
I enjoyed this audiobook so much that I am genuinely sad it is over 😭😭 I love to hate a character and this was perfect for that. I love ridiculous girl boss characters - sue me!!!!!
The Woman from the Book Club borrows some of the plotting and scheming of The Housemaid, just without the sadism.
Lydia, unfortunately, is annoying as hell and so gullible it’s hard to take her seriously. No one in the real world behaves like this, surely.
The feminist revenge angle doesn’t fully land. Emma doesn’t so much reclaim her power as use another woman to escape a marriage to a rich man-child who treats her like a trophy wife and housemaid. It also stretches credibility that the book club women would so readily join an elaborate scheme against someone they barely know, this is never really explained.
That said, I did genuinely enjoy this. I wanted to know what happened next and kept reading in anticipation of a big reveal. The narrators were excellent and did a lot of heavy lifting. Even so, some threads, like the daughter’s violent tendencies, are introduced with intrigue and then quietly dropped, leaving the ending a little unsatisfying.
*ebook provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
A book about a Book Club and a dead man, you don't need to say anything else to convince me to read it. I loved the first chapter, the way the author piques our interest by starting with a scene that will only happen much later on, we are always hooked on the book, waiting to see what happens between where we are in the story and the scene in the first chapter. The story is told from two points of view, Emma and Lydia, in short chapters that gradually reveal the truth about them and the man who unites them, Elliot. Emma, the woman who has everything and just wants to be happy again; Lydia, the woman who wants everything Emma has. There is love, heartbreak, sex, intrigue, friendship, sisterhood, but above all a lot of greed and we already know that greed has everything to go wrong. The writing is simple and easy to read, with elements of humor throughout, as well as dramatic moments. It's not an intense thriller, full of police details, so I recommend it to anyone looking for a cozy thriller.
Let me start this review by saying that in no way did I hate this book, but I didn't exactly love it. And I think the main reason I didn't really love this book was the characters. Apart from our FMC's Emma and Lydia and to some extent Elliott they were all very flat and lacked any personality, they blended into the background like they weren't worth paying attention to as they had no bearing on the plot. I also couldn't cheer on Emma or Lydia and I never really cared about what would happen to them. Now onto Elliot. He has to be one of the most unlikeable, self-centred, idiotic, infuriating characters I've read in a long time. I know this was on purpose but it did spoil my enjoyment of the book. I wasn't immediately drawn into the plot, but I have to say that the more I read the more I got into it. The plot was unbelievable at times but it was a very easy, quick read that I did fly through in one day. Going into this I was expecting there to be some humour, and unfortunately this lacked any. I do think the cover is very misleading as it gave me the impression I was in for a thriller packed with dark humour. This is definitely much more like a domestic suspense/thriller in my opinion. I think the cover is following the current trend at the minute for books like these to have a colourful cartoon like cover and it just doesn't work for me. There were some parts I did enjoy though and I was engaged in the book throughout and the writing style was good, so it wasn't a terrible read, but I also didn't love it. If this book had totally different characters it might have been more up my street!
Thanks to Hera Books and Netgalley for the ARC I receieved in exchange for an honest review
A huge thank you to NetGalley, Hera Books and author Carrie Hughes for providing me with the eARC of “The Woman from Book Club”, in exchange for my honest review.
Publication date: 6th November 2025
Emma, the one the seemingly perfect wife, is arrested at book club for the death of her husband. However, there is a lot more to the story than a simple revenge murder.
Written from dual perspectives, the wife, Emma, and the mistress, Lydia, are two unreliable narrators who have you guessing whose story is true.
This book had me hooked from the first line, and I could not put it down. Easy to read, and with the dual perspectives, I kept turning the page and starting the next chapter as I needed to know what the other perspective had to say about what had happened. This was cleverly written, making you both equally love, hate and question each character throughout the book.
Lydia was vicious enough that you could not help but dislike her, despite her motives for her chooses, and Emma was relatable, especially as a Mom, that you did want to root for her throughout the novel.
I love a book club setting, and this was a pure example of how woman can band together when they believe that one of their own has been wronged.
This was a fun read and one I would definitely recommend if you love a woman lead, entertaining read.
"Psychopaths stop at nothing to get what they want" No shit, this one she sure does!
"When you had no money, it became everything. Money fixed everything"
I truly enjoyed this intriguing psychological murder mystery noir. It was quite a welcome surprise. The dual POV story in alternate chapters was very entertaining and it completely engaged me from the prologue, an opening scene which exposes a murder, and that in the continuous narrative happens much later in the plot.
Then we go back in time to unravel what happens, and this is a brilliant depiction of the psychological havoc that ensues when a bonafide psycho snake with a destructive agenda infiltrates a well established group of friends (the aforementioned book club) and attempts to take over the privileged life of one them, intending to keep the (utterly slimy and gullible) husband, the snotty daughters, the awesome house in the 'burbs, and the more than healthy bank account.
I could not stop listening, and being in the outrageous mind of the deranged psycho for a few hours was a blast. The suspense was killing me. However, the blurb of the book is a tad misleading and sends you into a different direction making you think that the other women in book club will have an active role in the plot, and might also be potential suspects in the murder. But they don't and they aren't, so that detracts a point.
The mixed media format was great with the narrative advancing through police statements, journal entries, snippets of past actions, book club meetings, etc.
It does not read as a debut novel, with the author's voice appearing very assured and confident, and voicing the deluded inner monologue of Lydia almost hilarious, so detached from reality they were. In this antihero the author represented very well the personality of what is called the dark triad: malignant narcissism, machiavellism and sociopathy. My first book by Carrie Hughes, and I will most likely will come back for more, although I was looking and I could not find any others by this author.
The audiobook has very good narrators and is currently free on Audible Archive. I listened to it while knitting and keeping to my other challenge of this year: stitch every day.
Second book for my Popsugar 2026 Reading Challenge: 22. A book about a book club.
This book is basically unhinged reality TV, but make it a psychological thriller with murder.
If you love mess, manipulation, and women behaving badly in affluent postcodes, this is absolutely your book. It has big Why Women Kill energy from the jump. You’ve got Emma, the seemingly perfect Surrey wife, and then Lydia, who turns up and immediately chooses psychological warfare.
Lydia is a spectator sport. She is calculated, narcissistic, and so deeply manipulative that I was half horrified and half impressed.🥂
The hook is excellent and immediate. An arrest at a book club meeting is already iconic behaviour, and the structure keeps things moving at a great pace. Short chapters, dual POV, and enough tension to keep you saying “just one more” until it’s suddenly 1am.
What really worked for me was the character work. Lydia is a villain you love to hate, and Emma’s growth over the course of the story is quietly satisfying. It’s sharp, witty, and leans fully into dark humour without losing the thriller edge.
Yes, it’s a little far fetched at times. Honestly? That just made it more fun to read 😅
If you enjoy domestic thrillers with bite, female rage, and humour threaded through the chaos, this is a great time. Fans of Bella Mackie and Freida McFadden should absolutely add this to their TBR.
Right from the start, I knew I was in for a fun ride with this one. The story pulled me in instantly, and I absolutely flew through it. The writing and pacing were great — I hit a point where I thought everything was wrapping up, only to realize there was still a quarter of the book left, and I was so curious to see what else could possibly happen! I loved the alternating POVs, especially Lydia’s chapters — she’s a total nightmare of a person, but her spin on everything was fascinating to read. And Emma... girl, I was rooting for you to finally stand up for yourself! There’s one “twist” that seasoned thriller readers might see coming, but what I liked was how it was handled — instead of being the big reveal at the end, it’s exposed halfway through, and the story keeps going. That was such a refreshing choice. And the cozy little shift near the end? Totally unexpected, but I loved it. It gave the book a nice change of tone while keeping the tension simmering. This one’s part domestic drama, part psychological suspense, and it nails that balance really well. A fast, addictive read that was hard to put down!
I really enjoyed this book, the pace of the story and the characters were fantastic. Was the story a bit close to home at points, yes, but if anything that's what made it better for me.
Watching the story unfold and trying to work out where Emma and Lydia were going to take you was great. I would have loved more on both Emma and Lydia's back story but overall don't think it would have impacted the story overall.
My favourite part were the twins scheming together to get rid of Lydia.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
if Lydia met Amy from Gone Girl, no one would be safe. Lydia is one of my most disliked book characters ever. This was such a cleverly written book using the dual narrative and diary entries. This was a very very easy read. But what I will say is the book was lining up for what could of been such a brilliant ending but I felt the ending just didn't deliver. However still most definitely worth the read!
brilliant 👏 a few twists in this one, but it's a great book !!
Emma and Eliot have the perfect life, or so it seems. Lydia is brought into Emmas bookclub and sets her sights on Emma's husband, her house, and her life.
It was my first book by this author and I found it quite entertaining. The protagonist, Emma, was very clever. Lydia was devious. The epilogue was the best and, just for it, it deserves another star.
I really enjoyed this. I’m not saying it’s revolutionary or a literary masterpiece, but it was easy listening and I found myself constantly wanting to ‘pick it up’.