Nobody could dish a revenge plate better than author Jane Fallon. I couldn't get enough of this book. I loved it so much.

A new resident in the cul-de-sac and a misconception caused the reigning queen bee to show her power. Laura rented an annexe in the beautiful street of The Close to take a breather after the collapse of her marriage. But it caused Stella to become more suspicious. Al was so not Laura's kinda man, but who would explain that to the Queen Bee? A truth was revealed and a comeuppance was planned. But would it work?

Having read a few of this author's works, I was beyond overjoyed to get my greedy hands on this book. The writing was absolutely addictive. My eyes wanted to rest, but my heart craved to read the book from first page to last at one-go. And I had to give in to my heart's desires.

Humor interspersed the prose in a self-deprecating manner. The neighborhood was filled with characters who had plasticized their bodies, yet a tiny sliver of goodness remained within them. Some of the trophy wives were depicted true to their ways.

Laura was delightful as my main characters. Her emotions came out well, but never went overboard. The author restrained her characters so well that I felt sympathy for all of them. The situations and twists came at the right moment. The book was everything I wanted, a chick-lit of sorts but not so much. A beach read but not so much. A women's fiction but not so much. It was a combination of all three and more.

I just loved the happiness reading it gave me.

There's excellent escapism in this story whose characters are just on the right side of stereotypical. Laura finds herself in an upmarket area of London when she needs a bolt hole at the end of her marriage. Finding a nanny annexe in the exclusive close seems serendipitous until she meets the locals.

Think 'Gossip Girl' but older and you'll appreciate the hierarchy among the female residents. Stella 'Queen Bee' sees Laura as a rival and sets out to cold-shoulder her from the group. Al Stella's fiancé is the cause of the discord. Laura is determined to uncover his secrets. This leads to a strange alliance with Stella, as they plot revenge.

This amusing, often satirical observation of 'The Close's' residents is easy to read. The shallowness and lack of self-worth evident, in some of the women, is poignant and adds another layer to this absorbing story.

I received a copy of this book from Penguin UK - Michael Joseph via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is my first Jane Fallon book and it certainly will not be my last. I found this story funny and dramatic. Every chapter I found I wanted more so gave in and read another chapter. The characters were on point and the one liners were hilarious. I wasn't expecting twists that turn up in this story either. I look forward to my next Jane Fallon book.

The clothes are so perfect. If a costume director making a film in 30 years time wants to know exactly what people wore in London in certain social situations, they will be able to check out this book (or this blogpost – you’re welcome).

Jane Fallon writes great books; really enjoyable, no-one is going to shortlist them for the Booker Prize, but the picture they give of modern life is excellent. This one is slightly different from the other ones I have read (several of them on the blog) because it pitches 1st person heroine Laura against some very rich women, and it is like doing anthropological research, spotting them in their habitat…

Laura, newly single, has moved into the ‘servants’ flat’ of a very nice, very expensive house in a close of similar houses in North London. Only the very rich can afford to live there. She tries to make new friends in the close, but then the Queen Bee, Stella, takes against her, for complicated reasons, and Laura finds life getting very bumpy indeed.

There’s often a halfway twist in Fallon’s books, and that doesn’t happen here, but I don’t think many people could predict the driving path of the plotline, and the unlikely alliances that turn up.

It’s a good plot, giving rise to a slightly strange combination of a careful setup, and some very real descriptions of modern life, and then some weird and unlikely behaviour, and very amusing, quite extreme, samples of life for the rich people:

‘Does this mean….’ Katya flaps her long eyelashes, a robot rebooting, ‘….you’re going to be poor?’


Laura owns a cleaning business, and she makes good use of the access the hidden workers have in an office, and the ways they slide under the radar: as they have been treated insultingly, they may as well make use of it. And it IS about cleaners and not just rich people, and shows details of life for single parents and those just struggling to get by.

It's a very enjoyable read, which never falls over into being silly or predictable.

Clothes from a wide range of modern sources.

When Laura’s marriage falls apart and the sale of her new house falls through she is grateful to rent a tiny flat above Gail and Ben’s garage. They live in The Close where all the houses are expensive and the women living in them high maintenance. The Queen Bee of The Close is Laura and the rest of the women living nearby seem desperate to please her.
When Stella discovers that an unknown woman has given her husband Al the gift of a book she believes him when he blames Laura and in that instant Laura becomes a social pariah. Laura refuses to be blamed for something she hasn’t done and makes it her mission to discover who gifted the book to Al and in turn discovers much more than she imagined.
This was the first Jane Fallon book I’d read and I really enjoyed it. It’s fast-paced and the characters are brilliantly depicted. Although at times I was couldn't believe how far Laura was taking her investigations into Al's life I was desperate to keep reading and find out more about him and Stella and I was not disappointed! I’ll definitely be reading more of Jane Fallon's books in the future.
My thanks to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and NetGalley for a free ARC copy in return for an honest review.

If you are familiar with Jane Fallon's previous novels, then you will know exactly what you are in for with her latest offering. She writes light, entertaining, humorous stories that revolve around women, providing great escapist fare. Running a small cleaning enterprise, the hard working and acerbic Laura has a beloved young daughter whose marriage to her husband, David, has fallen apart. Thanks to the kindness of Gail, her new landlady, she now finds herself living amongst the wealthiest of neighbourhoods. Having her feet on the ground and plenty of commonsense, Laura has little in common with the trophy wives and women she is now surrounded with, where the eponymous Queen Bee, the rude, arrogant and privileged Stella, rules the roost.

Under the mistaken misapprehension that Laura is making a play for her partner, Al, Stella, ensures that Laura is shunned. Whilst carrying out her cleaning job, Laura unearths devastating information about Al that leads to her and Stella unexpectedly joining forces. Laura turns her clear, astute and observational eyes on the interactions, secrets, shenanigans, surprises, the twists and turns of the over privileged community, the over indulged, shallow women with their over the top lifestyles obsession with beauty and plastic surgery. There are echoes of Desperate Wives and the Stepford Wives amongst these particular circles of women. This, as usual, is a fun, witty and engaging revenge drama that I found an enjoyable read. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.

Following her separation from husband David, Laura moves into the servant’s annexe of a house in The Close - an exclusive development of houses for the super rich. She soon gets unwillingly embroiled in the affairs of Stella and Al, unofficial leaders of the group, but as she delves deeper, it becomes harder to work out who is in the wrong.

I have to say, Queen Bee took some time to get going - I was about a third of the way through before any real story came to light. However, it is worth waiting for and the twists and turns before and even during the denouncement are enjoyable to discover. Stella’s character is a great one, with her complete ignorance of basic survival skills (cooking a pizza, for one!) and as she develops, her vulnerability starts to show through. At the same time, it’s hard to believe anybody could spend the amounts of money that she plans to.

I felt the character of Al (or any of the other men for that matter) was never really explored deeply enough to feel any empathy for him, but this was always a woman’s story. It was good, though, that the women did have feet of clay as well, and it wasn’t all man bashing!

Overall a good book, if you give it time to evolve.

Laura’s world crashes down when her husband wants a divorce. They sell the house and buy their own properties, but at the last minute Laura’s house fall through. Giving Betsy to her Dad while she finds a place for them is hard. Fortunately she finds a studio flat attached to a mansion to rent while she looks. Laura’s right away feeling out of place. All the rich wives with nothing to do all day except spend lots of money are not Laura’s normal type of friends. Luckily her landlords Gail and Ben aren’t at all stuck up and Laura hopes maybe she will settle in after all. Unfortunately Queen Bee Stella has other ideas and soon starts to turn all the neighbours against Laura. Will Laura be able to sort out the misunderstanding that upset Stella in the first place, before Stella makes life a misery for Laura and Betsy. A great read as Laura try’s to fit in and also teach her new neighbours there’s more to life then getting boob jobs and Botox.

When her marriage breaks up Laura rents the “servants quarters” on The Close, a posh street of big beautiful houses, rich men and their surgically altered wives. Laura isn’t accepted into their clique as Stella the queen bee takes a dislike to her and on her word she is ostracised by the other women. Laura and Stella eventually form an unlikely friendship after Laura finds out a secret about Stella’s life.

I enjoyed the story but it didn’t grab me, not a book that I couldn’t put down but one that was nice to read with some parts making me laugh out loud.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC

Laura rents a studio above a garage in a very affluent area after her marriage breaks down, whilst she's searching for a new home. She ends up being ostracised by the neighbourhood due to a misunderstanding with the Queen Bee of the group.
The characters and the houses are intriguing. An air of mystery around the 'perfect' lives on the surface.
I really enjoyed seeing the way the ladies interacted and the friendship she has with her staff. A very enjoyable book.

Queen Bee is Jane Fallon’s brand new novel and its protagonist is Laura, a woman looking for a place to live after the unexpected divorce from her husband. She finds a studio in The Close, a posh neighbourhood of well-to-do families in which the husbands have important and well-paid jobs while the wives spend their days socialising, shopping, and having cosmetic procedures. And the queen and king of The Close are Stella and her soon-to-be husband Al. Stella’s disliking for Laura is clear from the very beginning, but things take a turn for the worst when Stella starts to wrongly suspect that Laura is interested in Al. In her eagerness to prove Stella wrong, Laura stumbles on a secret that could destroy Stella, but, instead, it leads to an unexpected alliance between the two women.

I really enjoy Jane Fallon’s novels because the protagonists are always women seeking revenge – usually against men who wronged them – and they are so good at getting it and very inventive. Her books are fun to read and Queen Bee is an entertaining and engrossing addition to her already fantastic list of novels. The characters are vividly drawn – I could picture the trophy wives in my head -, some are likable, some not so much, but I loved the protagonist, Laura, who I found authentic, honest, and relatable.

Queen Bee is another enjoyable and refreshing read from Jane Fallon and I am already looking forward to next year for her next novel. Highly recommended!!!

“Queen Bee” by Jane Fallon jumped out at me from the virtual bookshelf - it has such a summery cover and title and sounded a great read - and it is!
There is a real mixture of characters, we see how they struggle to socialise, then begin to get along.
A light and enjoyable read which was a pleasure to consume.

This was a very pleasant read, although I felt it didn’t fully grab me, hence the 4 stars. I did find the fact that Laura kept snooping around in Al’s office a bit wrong and hard to imagine.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for letting me review this book.

I thought this book was a really fabulous read. It was a real page turner and the story was gripping . It was full of so many emotions from funny to sad and everything in between. Laura was a lovely character moving with her daughter to a very upmarket area when her marriage broke down. I didn't think very much of Stella at first but by the end of the book I felt sorry for her and everything she had to go through. It was full of twists and turns and really captured my imagination. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book it was brilliant.

This is a 4.5 star read for me.

I'm pleased to share my review of the latest book by Jane Fallon today. Thank you to Penguin UK -Michael Joseph for a digital review copy via NetGalley, my thoughts are my own and not influenced by the gift.

I've read a few Jane Fallon novels and enjoyed them, so I was pleased to receive a digital review copy back in January 2020. As lockdown hit the UK in March, the publication date was moved to July 2020 and I have only just got around to reading the book. Sadly, this was my loss as this is an enjoyable book.

This is a no spoiler review so I will be careful not to spoil any of the surprises in store for the characters. Laura has moved into The Close, a 'posh' area after splitting up with her husband and needing somewhere to rent - she is in the 'servants flat' owned by Gail and Ben. Laura is an entrepreneur - running her own cleaning company and employing a number of staff. The people she meets in The Close lead very different lifestyles and probably wouldn't know what a vacuum cleaner was.

One of the residents is Stella, who with her two mini me daughters, aren't nice to Laura and her daughter. However due to a series of events, Laura and Stella suddenly find that they have more in common than they ever expected.

I really enjoyed the book and likened it to a modern day Downton Abbey - where the 'rich' people have no idea how the majority of people live - everything is done for them. I loved the 'pizza in the oven' story.

The Close is full of secrets and I enjoyed how Jane Fallon shared them one by one, changing your opinion about some of the characters. There is so much more that I would love to share about the book but I don't want to give any spoilers. I recommend this for your staycation 2020 summer read.

I’ve read a few of Jane Fallons books and do think this may be one of her best! A lovely story of a woman establishing herself post separation and the people she meets and forges friendships with. Loveable characters that you root for. An endearing book.

Jane Fallon never disappoints! Full of great characters and a great story line, this has to be the best one yet! A great holiday read, and one you will finish in one sitting! 5 stars

A great summer read with a Desperate Housewives feel to it! Great for the beach or pool! I would defintely recommend this to others.

I have read other books by Jane Fallon and really enjoyed them , but this must be the best yet!
The reader is drawn into the book from the first couple of pages . Jane has a great writing style, producing well rounded characters, loads of drama, and some real laugh out loud moments- a real good read!
The plot had twists and turns the reader couldn’t predict and it became increasingly harder to put down . A fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone.
Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin Books and Jane Fallon for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

Jane Fallon’s books always have me hooked from the first few pages, and this one was the same. I love her writing style and storylines.

Laura’s marriage has broken up and her house purchase has fallen through, so she needs somewhere to rent, and quickly. She finds a small flat above the garage of a beautiful house, which is in a small road of similar properties. In a neighbourhood like this, there’s always a Queen Bee and here it’s Stella. Laura gets unwittingly dragged into a lie told to Stella by her fiancée and this makes her suspicious of Laura’s motives. Stella also detests Laura, of course.

Then some of the other neighbours start to take Stella’s side, so Laura is determined to set the record straight and reveal Al for what he really is. So the two women join forces! A brilliant read that was hard to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK Michael Joseph for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.