The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club - Gloria Chao // Book Review

   

The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club

Gloria Chao || Publication Date - 05.06.2025

Kathryn, Olivia and Elle all wanted Tucker to pay... so who actually killed him?

Crime | Mystery

Kathryn Hu, an academic professional. Never once had she imagined life without Tucker, her believed soulmate. She was head over heels and invited him into the intricacies that made Kat herself. She'd never done that before... but then again, she'd never felt this way about another person either.

Olivia Valentina McCarthy, perfect in every single shapely way. A Lawyer in a fancy office, her life was moving perfectly along with her perfect boyfriend, Tucker. They'd go on vacations, spend romantic weekends together and hoping he was going to propose after two blissful years.

Elle Henderson a receptionist by day, aspiring writer by night, was on a cute getaway with her boy toy, Tucker. She'd brought the sexiest outfit she could find, wrapped herself up in it only for it to be unwrapped at the door to their Air BnB by the other women... Now it was time for revenge.

The Review (may contain spoilers)

What would you do if you found out the love of your life was cheating on you? Especially when this meant that you were the OTHER woman? Revenge seems about appropriate for the situation and Kat had it in spades. Except she ends up on an impromptu getaway with, the other woman... Olivia. Both of them have it out for Tucker, as you would expect considering he was proposing to Olivia when Kat burst through the door unannounced. Definitely not a situation I could see myself getting into but conspiring against my now ex-boyfriend would be violently entertaining.

Something I would appreciate, is chick-lit novels refraining from constantly mentioning or referencing Taylor Swift. I get it, she's a modern icon, talented and beautiful, but does she have to be mentioned in every single one? Her song lyrics are book titles, her name is referenced as soon as characters jump into cars to badly sing to their steering wheel, and she's mentioned in a style likening to WWTSD. As much as this has been happening throughout the book community over the last few years, this novel is the one to take my criticism. Not because it did it any more than any of the others, but honestly, because seeing it here was my last straw.

I'm not too sure if there was something odd about the writing, but I did find it a little cringey and juvenile in certain areas. I couldn't say if this was a me issue or if this was an editing issue as I don't look up others reviews for books that I am writing up here. Mostly to keep my thoughts uninfluenced by others. Something didn't sit quite right with me while I'd been reading through, and maybe it was simply the flow of the novel, otherwise the writing was okay. There were a lot of jokes placed throughout as I would have expected being a 'chick flick' type novel, unfortunately they fell flat for me and felt forced. Like the author knew the style of the novel was inherently humorous, but there were no natural lead in's to any jokes being made.

I found myself lagging to complete the novel during the last 10% or so, it was all coming to a head which I appreciated, but I also felt it dragging its feet a lot which diminished the ending for me. The romance, albeit a nice touch, was out of place. The focus was definitely on the murder mystery, however, the detective falling for the main character did not hold up for me. They had met a total of 5-6 times within the span of the novel, spent no time together outside of an interrogation room or the context of the investigation and for someone who found it difficult to trust someone, he seemed pretty easily persuaded...

Overall Thoughts

Overall it wasn't a bad read by any means, but it wasn't anything special either. The writing had me cringe in parts and the jokes weren't the best. I can't get over a scientist and an attorney making these incredibly stupid decisions. The ending was predictable but satisfying and overall if you want a novel to take you on a fun little journey, this may be for you.

I will however, not be continuing this series (yes it's a series...) and appreciate Gloria as an author, I just don't think her writing style within this genre is for me.

** Affiliate Links **

Blackwells - 

Booktopia - 

The Burn Line - Jonathan Sims // Book Review

 

The Burn Line
Jonathan Sims || Publication Date - 25.08.2026

London's biggest heatwave on record, and a terror stalking under its streets...

Horror | Mystery

The Tube, a heatwave impacted, sweltering underground transport system for all walks of life within the bustling city of London. Lives are making their way through the city, some to work and others from work. There are those who are well, injured, sick, houseless and there are those who shouldn't be on there at all.

Something is stirring on the London Underground, five travelers witnessed an unimaginable horror, to which they don't remember save for random unexplainable events plaguing their consciousness while going about their lives.

They're bound to work together to figure out exactly what happened that day, what it is, and how to stop it from dragging others down with it.

The Review (may contain spoilers)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this eARC for an honest review!

I have no idea what could be more terrifying than some entity which is unknown, stalking people within a confined space underground. Yet 'The Burn Line' brings this deeply unsettling scenario to my imagination. I live in Australia, particularly South Australia, where the public transport via train is all primarily overground. I've experienced the subterranean rail in Sydney, and I hated being confined in a train God knows how far underground. Add in the possibility of something skulking around hell bent on creeping the shit out of ,and, possibly killing people? Absolutely no thank you.

The setup of this novel has made this incredibly easy to read. It's divided up into parts, which are then divided up further by chapters experienced by each individuals point of view. Books written this way seem to fly by for me and I'm unsure if this is the same for others, but it makes them significantly more interesting. Unfortunately I didn't find each character unique. I appreciate that they are, and descriptions give them their own qualities which would make them superficially identifiable. The diabetic, the rail employee, the unhoused man, the trans person, the rich guy and the office worker. However, other than this, that would be about the extent that I would be able to identify each person based on their name. Whether this was intentional I am unable to confirm, but it did put a dampener on being able to connect with the characters to truly immerse myself in the book.

Unfortunately, the 'twist' kind of ruined this book for me. Not necessarily in a negative way, and some may find it thoroughly entertaining, however I was expecting... more? But then again I was also thinking I was getting an entirely different kind of monster than what was actually revealed. I did feel that almost 400 pages was a bit long, and the last 20% dragged a lot more than I would have liked. The split chapters could have been a lot shorter since a lot of it was information which was already mentioned in other characters chapters. I'm not particularly fond of reiteration simply for adding to word counts, which is what this ended up feeling like to me.

Overall Thoughts

Do you like one shot monster thrillers which feature urban settings? Do you enjoy superficially diverse characters who work together to a common goal? Do you like split POV chapters which detail a narrative from multiple perspectives? If you answered yes to any of those questions then I would say give the book a go. It was well written and despite the big bad not being my particular cup of tea, it wasn't a novel without merits. 

** Affiliate Links **

Blackwells - 

Booktopia -