4⭐
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 314
Format: Paperback Proof
Publisher: Zaffre Books
Date Published: 20th July 2023
Huge thank you to Zaffre Books for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.
Book Blurb:
Saffy has a secret. A secret that she is deeply ashamed of. It's not the fact that she's a serial killer in her free time. In fact, she's quite proud of that. After all she's only killing the bad men. She is making the world a better place.
No, her secret is far worse than that. Saffy has a messy, inexplicable, uncontrollable crush. So while she's busy plotting her next murder, she also has the much harder task of figuring out how to get a boyfriend.
But if there's one thing Saffy knows, it's how to get her man . . .
My Review:
This book was so addictive! I didn’t
want to stop reading as it was so suspenseful with twists and turns, yet with a
good dose of comedy and rom-com vibes mixed in too. I loved how fast-paced this
book was and how easy it was to read.
The story follows Saffy who is
rich and famous, but her secret hobby is to kill ‘bad men’, only ‘bad men’. In
the book we see her develop an obsession with a journalist and crime writer,
then slowly position herself in his life just at the right moment to catch his
attention. However, to catch his attention she also by accident (or is it?) puts
him in the middle of a series of murders and secrets.
Firstly, I wouldn’t class this
book as a thriller, as although the main heroine is a serial killer, there are
more romantic comedy, and dark humour book vibes, than thriller and mystery vibes. Secondly, I
really wanted more of Saffy’s darker side, since the first chapter set the
premise so nicely for that. I felt that her character wasn’t fully flushed
without that dark side appearing on pages.
Despite that, I really enjoyed other
characters in this book, especially the journalist that Saffy is obsessing over.
I think his character was very interesting and very well-developed. He was also
a complete contrast to Saffy, so it was very interesting to read whether Saffy’s
plan to make him love her will work. Saffy on the other hand, was strong,
brave, sexy, rich and not afraid to work for what she wants and believes in, despite
being a fully functioning and self-described sociopath.
Overall: I really enjoyed how suspenseful, funny, dark-humoured and easy to read this book was. Although I wanted more thriller vibes and the dark side of Saffy, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. I mean who doesn’t like a strong female boss character who comes up with a genius plan to make a man she wants to fall in love with her, whilst she also murders bad men? Very interesting and refreshing read.
About the Author:
Julie Cohen grew up in Maine and studied English at Brown University, Cambridge University and the University of Reading. Her award-winning novels have sold over a million copies worldwide, and she has twice been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club in the UK. Julie is an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Reading, and runs an online school, Novel Gazing. She is a Vice President of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, a founder of the RNA Rainbow Chapter for LGBTQ writers, and a Patron of literacy charity ABC To Read. She won the 2020 Romantic Novelists’ Association Inclusion Award. Her bestselling novel TOGETHER has been translated into eleven languages and optioned for television; THE TWO LIVES OF LOUIS & LOUISE was long-listed for the Polari Prize and has been optioned by Enderby Entertainment as a feature film. Her first historical novel, SPIRITED, was published in July 2020 and her latest novel is SUMMER PEOPLE (Orion, 2022). Under the name Julie Mae Cohen, her first thriller, BAD MEN, will be published by Bonnier in July 2023. She lives in Berkshire, UK with her teenager and a terrier of dubious origin.
https://juliemaecohen.com/about/
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