Pretty Guilty Women: A Novel

An extravagant wedding at the Serenity Resort and Spa ends in a death and four women confessing to murder… Gina LaManna’s Pretty Guilty Women is a perfect beach-read. The drama of four former friends who lost touch reconnecting was popcorn-worthy. Add in a murder and four independent confessions, I was so curious to find out what was going on!

I love this type of story telling. Each chapter is punctuated by a police interview of one of the four women or other hotel employees or guests. You won’t find out who was the victim until close to the end, so I had quite a few theories and I thought the reveal was a lot of fun!

I heard a few reviewers complain that the women seemed a bit petty or competitive at times. This is absolutely true, but that is what made them feel authentic. Frankly, who doesn’t have moments where we feel less than someone else and worry about justifying that what we have and who we are is good enough? These feelings are often self-imposed, and I liked that LaManna showed that they all felt this same worry that they were less than.

I also loved how they each grew to appreciate what they do have and how others might envy it. For instance, Kate has all of the beauty, money, and success, but she can’t get pregnant. This is a problem that money can’t fix, and so all of the things Kate has achieved feel meaningless when she sees others with children. Ginger feels like she can barely make ends meet, but then she realizes she has a man who loves her and three beautiful children. Emily holds onto her pain, convinced she is the problem. And eventually, she realizes that it isn’t her that is the problem. She didn’t cause these things, and she needs to stop feeling guilty.

Then there are the two other characters who are central but not part of the college friends—Lulu and Sydney. Lulu was probably my favorite character in some ways, a woman who fought her way into a string of marriages that paid off, and now is truly in love and worried she’ll lose him. Sydney is a young mother they meet in the bar with her baby Lydia. I really was curious and Sydney and she ends up being a really interesting part of the story as the book goes on. Lots of interesting tidbits in the story about Sydney, but you’ll have to read it to find those out!

The books stays light and breezy, and though the murder is central to the investigation, the true story is about these four women. Who are they, what drives them, how do we see them grow throughout these events, and what happened to make each of them confess? This is a great vacation read. I flew through it and I enjoyed the mix of drama and suspense. I loved it!

I am a reader. If I like it, I am compelled to stick with it, finding the end as soon as possible. Unfortunately I am still reading this one. Not inspired. Too many people, had to keep,checking the fly leaf. Will not pursue this author!

Pretty Guilty Women
by Gina LaManna
Pub Date: 03 Sep 2019
Review by

Dot O, Reviewer
Last updated on 01 Sep 2019
My Recommendation

#PrettyGuiltyWomen #NetGalley
Three women, Emily, Ginger, and Kate, who were college roommates reunite at the lavish wedding of the fourth roommate, Whitney. The “wedding week” is held at a very exclusive and expensive spa and resort that caters to the wealthy. Although all the friends don’t fit into this category, they all manage to attend. Lu Lu, an older women meets the group and they share a camaraderie by revealing secrets and hidden fears to each other. This begins at the bar with several bottles of wine and champagne shared among the newly formed group. Sounds perfect, right? But then how does a murder during the Rehearsal Dinner fit in? And who is the victim? All we know is that each woman in the group confesses to the murder! The story unfolds with each woman’s point of view, and is moved along by the interviews held by the police detective assigned the confusing case. The novel invoked differing emotions as I turned the pages. Humor was mixed in with raw emotions as the secrets, fears and lives of the women were unveiled. The characters are finely drawn and the story is told in an easy to read style. For fans of Big Little Lies, you will enjoy the complex friendships developed among the women, the secrets that get laid bare and the changes that occur in the lives of those involved during the wedding extravaganza.
I loved this book and highly recommend it with a five star rating. The ending left me with my mouth open! Be sure and add this new novel, Pretty Guilty Women to your TBR list......you won’t be sorry!
A big thanks to the author, Gina LaManna, to NetGalley, and to the publishers, Sourcebook Landmark, for my advanced copy of this great book! All opinions expressed are my own.

This was such a quick and entertaining read! I loved the different point of views the author gave. I would definitely recommend this book!

Loved this book!

This was a great book, I enjoyed reading it!

Easy, predictable read. I don’t recommend it.

Gina LaManna takes an unabashed swing at a story in the vein of Liane Moriarty's "Big Little Lies." This time we have a murder with an unknown victim -- AND four different women confessing to the crime. They're all at a luxury resort for a wedding celebration that goes on for several days leading up to the lavish nuptials. The book rewinds back just before the four women arrive, and we see the ways their lives are interconnected in the days leading up to the murder. Each chapter ends with a snippet from police interviews with the four suspects and various other witnesses. It's a great hook and structure, with characters of varying degrees of likability. (Your favorites may not be the same as my favorites, but that's part of the fun.) Is it as compelling as Moriarty's work? Not quite, and that's the risk in inviting direct comparisons. LaManna doesn't yet have the addictive page-turning quality I've found in Moriarty's books, and the police questioning doesn't always add fuel to the story the way the characters' comments do in "Big Little Lies." But the book builds up a good head of steam by the night of the murder, and you'll want to set aside time to finish the last 60 pages or so in one fell swoop. It's not quite a home run, but it's great fun, and I will be reading more by this author.

Gina LaManna takes an unabashed swing at a story in the vein of Liane Moriarty's "Big Little Lies." This time we have a murder with an unknown victim -- AND four different women confessing to the crime. They're all at a luxury resort for a wedding celebration that goes on for several days leading up to the lavish nuptials. The book rewinds back just before the four women arrive, and we see the ways their lives are interconnected in the days leading up to the murder. Each chapter ends with a snippet from police interviews with the four suspects and various other witnesses. It's a great hook and structure, with characters of varying degrees of likability. (Your favorites may not be the same as my favorites, but that's part of the fun.) Is it as compelling as Moriarty's work? Not quite, and that's the risk in inviting direct comparisons. LaManna doesn't yet have the addictive page-turning quality I've found in Moriarty's books, and the police questioning doesn't always add fuel to the story the way the characters' comments do in "Big Little Lies." But the book builds up a good head of steam by the night of the murder, and you'll want to set aside time to finish the last 60 pages or so in one fell swoop. It's not quite a home run, but it's great fun, and I will be reading more by this author.

Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna is a suspenseful murder mystery. Four women confess to murdering the same man. Throughout the novel secrets come to light and relationships are tested.

I enjoyed the premise of the story and liked some of the characters. However, Emily was very annoying, and I disliked her the more I read. The other characters were your average, neighbourly type so they were easy to relate to.

The story progressed quickly, and I appreciated how Ms. LaManna interspersed the investigators question / answer sessions with the current events of the scenes. It worked well!

If it’s a quick murder mystery without a predictable ending that you’re after then read this novel – you won’t be disappointed!

#prettyguiltywomen #netgalley #ginalamann