I received this book free from the publisher via netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this. Nothing like a good domestic thriller with a satisfying end. Action right off the bat. Looking forward to more! ( )

Taylor is dumped by her abusive lover, Angus. To make matters worse, he posts a sex tape of her on the internet. Inspired by the book, The Art of War, Taylor exacts revenge. But then, Angus comes back to her, contrite and willing to change. Or is he?

This cat and mouse psychological thriller is a quick read, perfect for the beach or a rainy day on the couch. Taylor’s naïveté was at times annoying, but she came into her own and the ending was satisfying. ( )

So this book is wild. Reading it made me edgy and a little cranky. And I couldn't put it down.

Taylor is not the type of main character who elicits much sympathy. In fact, I didn't like her. Her doormat behavior is irksome, at best, and she makes a succession of stupid choices. But this is the reality for a lot of women who, for whatever reasons, are easily controlled by the men in their life. While I didn't like her, I understood her, and her behavior made sense within the context of her personality and lifestyle.

The writing is fantastic. The pace is quick. The content is insane!

I want to talk about all the craziness that went on here, but I can't because spoilers abound. If you want to know how quickly a life can spiral out of control, read this book. Then we can talk.

*I received a review copy from the publisher, via NetGalley.* ( )

This is a first novel for Pip Drysdale, but you wouldn't know it. She writes with the assurance of an experienced author, with a confidence that I haven't seen in many recent debuts. From the beginning of The Sunday Girl I knew I could relax, knowing that I was in good hands: she knows how to tell a story. And what a story it is.

To be honest, I don't think the blurb does it justice. It sounds like a typical revenge tale, and in a sense it is. But it's not only that. (After reading the book, I find the Bridget Jones mention absurd.)

Angus isn't simply a "bad bad man": he's an abuser. Taylor is his victim. This becomes clear fairly quickly, so I don't see this as a spoiler alert. Within the first chapter, we read how he manipulated Taylor into recording a sex tape of her in a threesome--one that she did not want to do, one that was entirely his idea--and after they broke up, he posted it on the internet . . . with her full name included in the description. That's emotional abuse.

While I'd fully expected his betrayal to be of the run-of-the-mill adultery type (as horrible as that is, of course), I hadn't expected this. Neither had she, apparently.

Drysdale flipped my expectations for a betrayal. She took my expectations of a simple petty revenge tale with an unsympathetic protagonist and jerked them out from under me.

By the end of the first chapter, I was on Taylor's side. While I normally don't sympathize with those bent on revenge, Drysdale made me sympathize with Taylor after this revelation of her ex's humiliating betrayal. Once something's on the internet, it stays on the internet forever. When Taylor says that she's spent her life trying to be the good girl--the kind, tolerant, forgiving girl--and she'd finally had enough, I wrote in my notes, I don't blame her, actually!

For people who've come out of abusive relationships, this might reopen some wounds. For the rest of us, this story can help us understand why the Taylors of this world do the worst possible thing when faced with abuse: stay.

I found Taylor sympathetic, even when she was doing the wrong thing. She's been betrayed by many men throughout her life, starting with her father. (That's a doozy, too.)

While she could've been a flat-out nasty character, full of anger and hostility, Pip Drysdale makes her more nuanced than that. Everything she does makes psychological sense, at least to me. She's justified Angus's actions for so long that it's hard for her break free from his hold on her. Her heart and head fight one another: her head argues for cool logic, but her heart wants to heal the wounded spirit of her ex-boyfriend.

The story held me in its grip. Feeling a bit burned out on reading, I opened The Sunday Girl and resolved to read only a chapter or two, enough to keep my Kindle reading streak going. That chapter or two stretched out to reading the entire book in two days.

The plot moves slowly at first, then picks up speed until we're inexorably rushing forward to the inevitable conclusion. To borrow an analogy Taylor uses in the book, once the dominoes start to fall, there's no turning back. Drysdale works in trivial details earlier in the book that only become significant in hindsight.

This was a five star read for me. The book hit all the points I love about great books. Emotional impact. Nuanced characters. Interesting plot. A story with significance, one that helps illuminate the challenges of our modern life. The Sunday Girl was all that and more for me.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for a copy of The Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale in exchange for an honest review. ( )

There was something about the cover of The Sunday Girl that made me desperate to read it; I think it's the way that parts of the picture are missing so I was intrigued to find the missing pieces and discover the whole story...and what a story it is! I absolutely loved it; I picked it up one Saturday afternoon and 4 hours later I emerged from behind my book, blinking like a new born kitten as my eyes adjusted to the light.

I love a good revenge story but this is so much more than that; it's very cleverly plotted and the whole story is so finely balanced that it effortlessly swings one way and then the other, making my attempts at second guessing almost redundant. I couldn't help myself trying to work out all of the what, when, where, how and who but I was enjoying the book so much that I ended up just buckling myself in and enjoying the ride.

The main characters of Taylor and Angus are portrayed superbly; I couldn't help but detest Angus with every fibre of my being and I rooted for Taylor every step of the way. Angus has just dumped Taylor but not content with just sticking the knife into her heart, he twists and twists until her already broken heart is shattered. What Angus doesn't bargain on is Taylor piecing herself back together and transforming into a brand new Taylor; a transformation more akin to Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader than a caterpillar turning into a fragile butterfly, thanks to tactics from Sun Tzu's The Art of War. War has been declared between Taylor and Angus and there can be only one winner as love and hate collide in this gripping story.

I kept telling myself that I was going to read 'just one more chapter' but there are little ticking time bombs of intrigue placed at the end of many of the chapters, making the book impossible to put down. With a strong domestic noir feel to the book, I can see why the publishers have said on the cover that this would appeal to fans of The Girl on the Train, however, I think it's even better than The Girl on the Train. It's so outstanding that I actually had to double-check that it was a debut.

This is definitely a read-in-a-day kind of book, so make The Sunday Girl your Sunday book (I missed that opportunity by reading it on a Saturday). Make sure you have a few hours spare as you really won't be able to put it down. Fast-paced, gripping and filled to the brim with intrigue, it's a very accomplished debut and I can't wait to read what Pip Drysdale publishes next. A highly recommended read and an easy 5 stars from me.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )