Grady Hendrix really said, “𝘐’𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘳𝘢,” and I respect that. “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥! 𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘙𝘢𝘨𝘵𝘢𝘨, 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭.” — 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚏𝚎 (𝑺𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓: 𝖱𝖺𝗀𝗍𝖺𝗀 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗀) Every male character in this story pissed me off. With that being said, I was still fully invested. The story itself is a blend of 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 (nostalgic pastel suburbia with a dark undercurrent) meets 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 (drama and secrets all playing out behind closed doors in a “picture perfect” neighborhood) but with just enough ✨vampire chaos✨ and an unhinged HOA. “…𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦: 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨…𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴.” - 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝟹𝟻𝟷 Hendrix makes it clear: the vampire isn’t the only villain. Monsters hiding in plain sight, everywhere, while the women try to maintain some illusion of normalcy. All while quietly unravelling the suburban dream, these women realize no one is going to save them but themselves. These women are written as layered, capable, intelligent, tired, and highly underestiated. Hendrix dismantles the idea that being a wife or mom means you’re just.. there. These women notice things. They 𝘥𝘰 things. They carry so much, and no one gives them credit until they’re literally fighting evil. “𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝒘𝒆 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦.” - 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝟷𝟻𝟻 The only truly confusing piece was probably the obsession Patricia’s son has with Hitler. Unless it was meant to hammer home how unchecked darkness can grow in plain sight… then I don’t fully get the point. Hendrix’s fuller picture: 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱, 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀, 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹 𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲. Add this one to your tbr.

“𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡” - 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝟻𝟽 “𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” - 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝟻𝟿 “𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘈𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩“ - 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝟷𝟷𝟸 P U S S Y P O W E R. that’s it; that’s the review.

“𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘨𝘭𝘺, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦.” What’s revealed between the pages is a 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝𝙮 amount of detail. The synopsis is intriguing, although it takes time to finally reach the thrills this story claims to offer. It was interesting to compare the story, especially since I’m familiar with the location, and honestly, I almost DNF'd but decided to keep pushing through. “𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨.” Genuinely, I enjoyed the read. I appreciated the unapologetic portrayal of women who embrace change, selfhood, and evolving social roles, regardless of age. Not only do you get a taste of 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒, 𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦, + 𝑚𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 but also-𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. Your opinions about what you thought you knew in the beginning will be completely overturned by the end. Life truly can change in the whirl of an instant. Would I choose this for a book club? No. Would I recommend it for someone who has a little extra time on their hands? Yes!