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.

This is such a great, easy to read book and the perfect antidote to what's going on in the world right now. I thoroughly enjoyed the escapism this book gave me. Laura is a newly separated mum, with a delightful little girl, Betsy and who is living above the garage in the most amazing 'Close' that's filled with over indulged, rich folk. The writing is fun and uplifting as well, at times, being emotional and raw. There were definitely moments when I 'eye rolled' along with Laura at some of the behaviours and I got SO frustrated with how helpless some of these women are. However, I couldn't give up on the story and found myself devouring it in, pretty much, one sitting. It's a tale of friendship, jealousy, money and over indulged, over primped women and I particularly enjoyed the observations of these women and their beauty enhancements (using the term beauty loosely). It's the perfect escapism read and I'm very grateful to NetGalley and the publishers, Penguin UK, Michael Joseph, for the opportunity to preview.

Living over the garage in an exclusive street. Meet the alpha males and the trophy wifes. Lead by Stella the ladies turn on the newcomer as she is not a lady who lunches and as a new divorcee she might just be after your husband. Secrets start to unravel and unlikely alliances start to form as it turns out one of the husband's is cheating and planning a new life, leaving behind all ties to the past. Self centred and manipulative characters against the world but not as we know it. Made me smile. Loved the ending

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.

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!!!