Dear Debbie

First of all, and most importantly: if you're sensitive to triggers, take the author's note at the beginning seriously and check out the Content Warnings on her website. Don't be that guy in the review section who complains about the content because he apparently ignored the warning at the start of the book yet obviously should have read them.

Secondly, I'm with Freida's mum; I love me a good revenge fiction. I support women's wrongs (in fiction, mostly)!

I had a hell of a good time reading this. Great entertainment!

Yes, it's mostly a brain-off-book (which doesn't mean it doesn't make sense, for the most parts, if you keep your brain running), but let's be honest, we all need a brain-off-book every now and then. That's fine. That's what show more fiction is for. It doesn't have to be a Noble-price-worthy piece of literature all the time. There's a time and place for either. There are days for Umberto Eco and days for Freida McFadden. I love them both. You're allowed to too. Diversity is great!

And for all those whinging about "this is unrealisitic yada yada yada": Yeah, no sheet, Sherlock - it's called fiction for a reason, you know. show less

DEAR DEBBIE by Freida McFadden
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Wow, this thriller is a riot. It’s wickedly funny, impossible to put down, and led by a character who is gloriously unhinged! “Dear Debbie” absolutely delivers.

Thanks to the author and Poisoned Pen Press for the #giftedARC delivered via #Edelweiss.

Five stars doesn’t feel like enough for this level of unhinged thrill. As someone who grew up devouring Dear Abby, the premise alone had me hooked. But Debbie? She is in a league of her own. Her advice isn’t just bold, it’s the kind of wickedly honest, laugh-out-loud truth you secretly wish you could blurt out at times. Debbie has no filter, and watching her spiral into increasingly wild territory is pure joy.

She may have lost her show more grip on reality, but she is so wildly entertaining that I was cheering her on every step of the way. Every letter she answers is a new opportunity for her to go off the rails in the most hilarious way. She’s one of my favorite unhinged characters, and this has officially become my top McFadden read.

The story races along, with thriller twists that catch you off guard in the most delicious way. And that ending? Pure perfection! I’m craving another thriller with this kind of deliciously dark humor.

#DearDebbie #PoisonedPenPress #Sourcebooks show less

Fast and fun high-stakes, unhinged revenge plot you won’t be able to put down.

Middle aged Debbie Mullen is a high IQ MIT dropout whose life is basically suburban drudgery in a house where her eldest teen daughter will barely speak with her and everyone else seems to be hiding things from her. She’s always trying to help out both of her girls and her meek but sweet husband, Cooper. Then Debbie has had it and starts taking action after her sudden job loss, Cooper’s mess at work after a failed attempt at gaining a partnership, and when her daughters experience issues at school. Using that brilliant mind to orchestrate a series of ruthless, calculated punishments, Debbie dismantles the lives of those who underestimated her, proving show more that her quiet exterior masked a dangerous woman who just won’t let things go anymore.

This is a nice psychological pivot for the author that focuses on satisfaction, karma, and revenge rather than on shocking twists and turns that often seemed way there. Debbie is an efficient antihero who is doing some bad things but you will cheer for her nonetheless. She’s just trying to solve problems for her family and she does so with chilling precision. Definitely not typical domestic suspense and I really enjoyed it.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The production featured a full cast of excellent narrators that enhanced my delight in the immersive experience. The voices of Julie Whelan (Debbie), Scott Brick (Cooper Mullen), and January LaVoy (Harley) fit the characters perfectly and all performed so well in their roles. They were believable and exhibited great dramatic flair. These are some of my favorite narrators for audio books and I highly recommend this format. show less

Dear Lauren Klouda from Sourcebooks – Thank you for the ARC of Freida McFadden’s Dear Debbie. In the last 18 months I have read (and loved) a LOT of Freida McFadden’s books (18 at least, and there are plenty more of her treasures to be found). When this book dropped on my shelf I downloaded but only had a chance to start the book this morning…I think I smiled and chuckled for six straight hours. Dear Debby is possibly my absolute favorite book by McFadden to date. One of the things I love most about her writing, and in this book in particular, is that her characters are often mega quirky. Also, I love the way her books draw me in warmly – with a style of writing that feels comfortable, familiar, and often hilarious (I tend to show more favor dark or darkish humor). Also, I love listening to the nonsense going through her characters’ thoughts, often spewing my own sentiments under similar circumstances – albeit the circumstances I personally encounter are less whacky. I love that her characters take justice into their own hands, doing things I could never do – but there I stand, on the sidelines, cheering them on (mostly the women). If you are a fan of McFadden then you probably also love Shari Lapena and Samantha Downing – and vice versa, although to my taste, McFadden takes first prize.

So Debbie begins her story while discussing her family dynamics (in many cases – spot on), a loving husband of 20 years who needs to be pushed/motivated professionally and two sultry teenagers who once adored and relied on her faithfully and now roll their eyes embarrassed by her every word and action. Debbie is a devoted wife and mother who runs her household (and her family) with the precision of a Swiss watch (now there’s an expression that hasn’t been used in about 30 years, LOL). Actually she is perfect at everything she does, cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring, helping with homework, encouraging her husband and she just also happens to be a programming wizard who has created a number of family apps just for the family’s personal consumption, and a hobbyist gardener with remarkable colorful “wind flowers”, in her manicured and exemplary garden. She was a brilliant student but dropped out of MIT in her Sophomore year but still quite talented, capable, and genius. She has quite a few unique abilities (no spoilers here) for dealing with all of her neighbors who are jerks and look down their noses at her as well as anyone else who happens to offend, annoy, take advantage of, or harass her or any member of her family.

Cooper, Debbie’s husband, has worked for an accounting firm for ten years and she is an advice columnist for the local town newspaper. Throughout the book, the reader is exposed to drafts of Dear Debby letters and her responses, which get whackier and whackier as the novel progresses. Last, but certainly not least, Debby and Cooper have some deep secrets that they have been keeping from each other for the 20 years’ of their marriage.

When her younger daughter, Izzy, is kicked off the soccer team, despite being the teams’ star player, when her older daughter, Lexi, is being sexually blackmailed by her scum of a boyfriend, when her neighbor down the street hijacks her moment for fame in the form of a big local article on her garden, when she is fired from the local newspaper, when after ten years Cooper’s boss is unwilling to make him a partner despite having dangled the opportunity before him when he began working and Cooper being the best asset the firm has ever had, when her “friend” is about to tell her that she is fooling around with her husband, when her ……, Debbie employs of her skills to choreograph a most delightful performance for the audience of readers – not to mention a couple of jaw-dropping twists at the end.

Although I am not a fan of Epilogues, every once in a while I read one that I actually enjoy. Dear Debbie’s Epilogue was a perfect ending to this really fun book. show less

The Short of It:

Whoa, Nellie. What a wild ride.

The Rest of It:

Debbie is a small town advice columnist whose career is going nowhere. Like, really nowhere. Most of the “advice” she provides can only be saved to a private file because it’s NSFW or life. I am being slightly dramatic. Her advice is GREAT but probably not legal. When she finds herself let go, she doesn’t immediately panic since her husband Cooper is the real breadwinner anyway.

But…Cooper’s career is a real mess too. Desperate for a promotion but really, really not wanting to ask for one, he is left without a choice when Debbie tells him to go in there and demand what he wants. This doesn’t end well.

While their careers hang in the balance, other things hit the show more fan like their eldest daughter’s loser boyfriend causing trouble, and their younger daughter getting kicked off the soccer team. An athlete with incredible talent. Debbie is appalled and goes off the rails dealing with all of it. That’s the thing with Debbie, you really don’t want to be on the wrong side of her.

Debbie is a real go-getter so when her husband isn’t, it’s easy as a reader to read between the lines when other people get involved. Let me tell you though, McFadden pulls some surprising punches that I did not see coming. It’s wild!! I read one chapter again, just to be sure I was understanding it correctly.

This is a fun, dishy read. My first McFadden. If you want a page turner that makes you laugh at loud in places, and gasp in others, then this is the book for you. It took me right out of my day and entertained me in a way I had not been entertained in a while.

Recommend.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. show less

Oh Debbie. Poor Debbie. Debbie's life is truly tied to the sentiment "when it rains, it pours". Her neighbor steals her garden magazine spread, her husband loses her job, she loses her job, and a spiral of crazy things continue to make Debbie's life spin out of control. But Debbie is ready to fight back, and soon her family is left questioning how far will she go to feel like she has righted all the wrongs that have been done to her? Murder? Poison? Sabotage?

I loved this book and laughed out loud at her responses and plans. Twists kept me reading and guessing what was going on all the way to the end. I couldn't put it down and read in two days. If you are a woman who sometimes wonder if you didn't just take everything sitting down, show more what might happen, then Dear Debbie is for you. show less

Debbie Mullen writes an advice column for a local newspaper similar to the Dear Abby columns I read while growing up. However, Debbie has a screw loose. No, ten loose screws.

When the story began Debbie was frequently featured at social events with friends. Nothing untoward was obvious. She attended a monthly book club with neighbors who lived on her block who openly disparaged her lack of class and higher education. Debbie desperately wants to fit in and accepts this mistreatment as necessary to endure. Later these friends begin to ridicule her intense behavior behind her back. They gossip about rumors that she spent a few months in a psychiatric hospital. Debbie’s next door neighbor Brett then accuses her of breaking into his show more basement and destroying his fuse box because she complained to the police about his loud music. Brett screams at her and later her husband Cooper every chance he gets.

Debbie has a beautiful garden and it is going to be featured in a local magazine. However, when the photographers don't show up she learns that the magazine canceled the photo shoot and were instead going to feature a neighbor's garden. Jo is known for having the best roses in the community. Debbie feels that Jo sabotaged her shoot and after midnight she plants beetles in the dirt of Jo's garden. By morning the beetles were all over the flowers and the photographer refused to take photos. Of course Jo blamed Debbie and Jo publicly screamed at her several times.

Most of the chapters begin with drafts of her column wherein she suggests that the complaining women kill their husbands. Debbie’s actions are slowly revealed but her duplicity is not known to the reader until the halfway point. Debbie is always calm. Her friends and neighbors are shown as explosive.

Following the garden incident, we see Debbie plotting revenge on other neighbors as well as her husband's boss. The boss refused to promote Cooper and, in a huff, he quit his job. She also sought revenge on her daughter's soccer coach for removing her from the team. At this time Debbie was fired from her job as an advice columnist for suggesting a wife kill her husband.

Debbie is clearly nuts. I enjoyed reading about her unraveling. Frankly, I loved some of her vengeance because these characters definately deserved it. It's interesting to note that Debbie is both the protagonist and the villain. This works though. show less