Eat Slay Love by Julie Mae Cohen #libraryloan #EatSlayLove @ZaffreBooks

 

Eat Slay Love by Julie Mae Cohen

Published by Zaffre

Publication Date: 24th October 2024

Book Description:

Marina is a divorced mother of three preschoolers.

Lilah is a shy and lonely librarian.

Opal is a broke post-menopausal fitness guru.

These three women have absolutely nothing in common - except for the charming, attractive man who's been lying to all of them. Now that he's tied up in a basement, they may just have something to bond over.

But how far is each willing to go to get revenge? As this shared secret brings them closer together, other, deadlier problems come crashing into their lives. Can they put their differences aside to save themselves - and each other?

My Thoughts:

What a fantastically different book! I picked it up on impulse in my local library, something far more contemporary than the books I usually read - OK, so it still has the unaliving, mystery/thriller vibe going on but with a touch of humour and tons of feminist girl power content.

The three women mentioned in the description all know the guy in Marina's basement by different names, with a different backstory but all three have been conned by him and were taken in by his charming personality and good looks. Marina has invited him over for dinner but having discovered (courtesy of feisty Opal) just what he's really about, appears to have "accidentally" pushed him down the steps to her basement where he lies unconscious. So she calls Opal for some moral support. Lilah is the conman's other current victim-in-progress, and is also invited to the property to help teach him a lesson and suggest that he changes his ways. Things take an unpredicted turn and the women end up with a far bigger problem on their hands than they originally imagined. A body.

Each of the women discovers their own inner strengths in the pages of this book, and the strongest of bonds is formed between them over time. I found myself cheering them on, hoping that they wouldn't be discovered in their actions, then worrying about what kind of a person I am to be feeling this way. But there again who wouldn't want a coercive, manipulative, lying rat to get their comeuppance? so I didn't feel quite so bad.

If you fancy an empowering read, the occasional gory scene tinged with some dark humour then this will certainly hit the spot. A complete triumph in my opinion, I'll definitely be seeking out more from this author.

About the Author:

Julie Mae Cohen is a UK-bestselling author of book club and romantic fiction, including the award-winning novel Together. Her work has been translated into 17 languages. She is vice president of the Romantic Novelists' Association in the UK. Julie grew up in western Maine and studied English at Brown University, Cambridge University, and the University of Reading, where she is now an associate lecturer in creative writing. She lives in Berkshire in the United Kingdom.