QUEEN BEE

SYNOPSIS

In the quiet village of Helesbury, Miranda Wallace prides herself on being the most popular member of her small social circle; the perfect friend, the best mum – the queen bee.

Until one day, Verity arrives. Cool and indifferent, Verity is everything Miranda isn’t, but she threatens to shatter Miranda’s picture-perfect life.

Suddenly plagued with insecurities, Miranda is certain Verity is hiding something. And Miranda knows all about secrets and the damage they can cause, because she’s hiding some of her own.

So when Verity threatens to reveal the truth about Miranda and destroy the perfect life she’s built, Miranda knows she has to act to protect the people she loves – even if the results are deadly.

Title: Queen Bee

Author: Nina Manning

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication date: January 26, 2022

Nina Manning studied psychology and was a restaurant-owner and private chef (including to members of the royal family). She is the founder and co-host of Sniffing The Pages, a book review podcast. Her debut psychological thriller, The Daughter in Law, was a bestseller in the UK, US, Australia and Canada. She lives in Dorset.

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REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐💫

Miranda Wallace is the “Queen Bee” in the small village of Helesbury. Her family moved there after some mysterious scandal in her past, but in the year she’s being living there she has managed to leave it behind and make a good friend, Evie. She’s the friend she always wanted and their friendship looks perfect until a new woman, Verity, arrives in town and threatens  their idyllic friendship. Miranda suspects Verity of hiding something, but she has some skeletons in her closet too so, which secrets will come out to light first?

Queen Bee was a nice domestic suspense story but, in my opinion, it could have been so much more. The main issue I encountered was Miranda’s character. It was veeeery difficult to warm to her. She behaves in a very childish, immature way for the most part. Her jealousy over Evie and Verity’s friendship was more like a teenager would behave, not a woman in her 40s. This not so rational behavior also made me think that the thing she was trying to keep secret would be much bigger. Thinking about it now, I still can’t honestly understand why the need to keep it quiet.

The story points the finger to some interesting issues about social media, how addictive it can become if you’re not careful, how it can become a wrongful source of validation for some people and the dangers of going down the rabbit hole when you engage with certain kinds of people.

There was a past timeline that added a bit of suspense to the story, but at the same time made the resolution not so surprising. Besides, the ending felt a little bit rushed.

Scattered throughout the story were chapters consistent of police interviews of the village neighbors that reminded me a bit of “Big little lies” and that made me keep guessing what could have happened between all the main characters.

Slow burn suspense story about friendships and secrets that has been interesting enough to make me wanna read some more of the author’s backlist.

Thanks to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review and a spot on the Blog Tour.