The Ex-Girlfriend Murder ClubGloria Chao || Publication Date - 05.06.2025
Kathryn, Olivia and Elle all wanted Tucker to pay... so who actually killed him?
Crime | Mystery
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.
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