The Feminine Art of Revenge is marketed as a thriller, but it felt more like a messy story about obsession with dark romance vibes and some half baked revenge thrown in.

I was intrigued by the premise, but the execution sadly fell flat for me. The timeline was confusing, the diary entries were hard to follow, and the pacing felt uneven.

Both main characters also came across as insufferable rather than compelling, and the declarations of love after only a week, the over the top threats (even swallowing a necklace at one point) were hard to take seriously. The obsession came across as uncomfortable rather than compelling, and instead of female rage, Sylvie just felt unhinged.

I will say things picked up a little halfway through, and Greg was a character I actually liked, but overall, this one just wasn’t for me.

I think readers looking for a dark, chaotic story with some Haunting Adeline vibes may find more to enjoy here, but if you’re expecting a thriller with strong female rage themes, you might be disappointed.

This started off so well but fell a little flat for me, I felt the pacing was too slow to keep me reading, a very familiar plot line, and an unrelatable FMC.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this prior to release

I loved Sugar, Baby a lot but sadly this didn't have the same impact on me. It started out quite strong, I was hooked and raced through the first few chapters, but it soon got boring and the main character becomes really annoying. Overall I would say that this is decent, if you want a quick read that isn't going to make you think too much. But for me, I wanted more.

DNF’d unfortunately at 39%
The synopsis intrigued me but I struggled with carrying on after a few chapters. Nothing to do with the writing style, it’s the plot that didn’t do it for me.

3.75🌟 1🌶️

My favourite quote from this book was, "We women may be no match for the brute strength of a man on the battlefield, so we must make our own battlefields, choose our own weapons."

I really enjoyed this book, but feel that it was missing something (I'm really not sure what though!).

It follows Sylvie, a ballerina recently removed from ballet school for some mysterious reason, we learn that she is still grieving her beloved Aunt Jaq whose anniversary is upcoming, and is about to start a new job with a flirtatious boss.

Sylvie inherited her Aunt's old journals and comes across a "how to" for seeking revenge against anyone (particularly men) who have wronged you, " you are a steel fist in a velvet glove. We bow to no one and never allow a man to diminish us. I hope you will find some comfort and amusement in the diaries and a little inspiration in the art of feminine warfare." Sylvie puts a plan into action, but can she carry it through as well as her Aunt could?

I highlighted so many amazing quotes in this book, some beautiful, some hilarious and some quite sad. Part way through the story though, I had wished that Sylvie had just chosen a different outcome, there is something about enacting revenge when innocent third parties get hurt-I understand that the book wouldn't be the same without the path she chose, so I suppose this is a useless statement. I also wasn't a fan of how often the characters would have a drink and drive home after.

''He broke her heart on purpose and for that he must be punished.''

This was the first book I’ve read by the author. The cover and title immediately grab your attention. A beautifully written work in the genre of female rage. A wonderful book you can read without ever getting bored.

This is an ARC review. I appreciate receiving this copy from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

This is my first review of a netgalley book and I didn't know what to expect but unfortunately this one was not for me. I decided to DNF at 30%.

I was initially drawn in by the promise of a revenge-driven plot (I imagined Black Swan meets Gone Girl), but I found the pacing too slow to hold my attention. I kept waiting for the action or emotional stakes to kick in, but it just didn’t get there fast enough for me.

The storyline felt a bit too familiar - centering on a young woman falling for a brooding "bad boy" and overlooking his deeply troubling behavior because he’s mysterious and possibly traumatised. I found it hard to stay connected to the characters or feel invested in their dynamic.

This might resonate with readers who enjoy slow-burn romance with dark, emotionally complicated relationships, but unfortunately it wasn’t the right fit for me.

The book draws on the themes of the ballet Giselle, where the main character is a young woman who dies of a broken heart after she falls in love with a wealthy man who betrays her.

When her ballet career falls apart, our fmc Sylvie finds herself in an uninspiring admin job, where she falls in love with her charismatic boss, before realising he has lied to her about his availability because he is married. Determined to punish him for this betrayal, Sylvie takes drastic measures...

This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me because I didn't really warm to Sylvie's character,who did not seem to take proper responsibility for her own subpar choices. But I did like the role assigned to her aunt, and the use of her journals. All in all, I would give it a maximum of 3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed Celine Saint Clare’s debut novel, Sugar Baby, so I was very excited when The Feminine Art of Revenge was announced. Sadly this didn’t live up to expectations for me.

I could not connect to or empathise with Sylvie as a character - she made poor decisions and was just a bit entitled generally. I think the story would have been better if it followed her time at Willow Way and showed us a slow descent in to jealousy and attacking her classmate.

The ‘revenge’ was very basic and uninspired - I guessed the hair removal cream would be a feature, because it appears so often in stories of revenge. I found the ending to be slightly ludicrous and unbelievable too.

Aunt Jacqueline was also a bit of a caricature and didn’t add much to the story.

There were some good bits of this story - the revenge involving the lemonade and the swimming pool was brilliant, and the interactions between Jay and Sylvie were interesting. I wish the novel spent more time on their affair, as it was really very brief.

This was a miss for me sadly, but I will definitely pick up Celine Saint Clare’s future works as I really did enjoy Sugar, Baby.

Title and cover top tier. Feminine Art of Revenge is such a great name for the genre of female rage.

I think it’s a hard line for female revenge books to give us enough of the story with the man who wronged them without it going on too much because the sort of main part of the story is the after. In the case of this book it’s about the 35% mark and I definitely understood what a terrible guy he was and how the fmc got swept up. And then the real story begins.

The feminine art of revenge at its core centre’s around ballet and the ballet story of Giselle told at the beginning of the book.

I truly loved the relationship between the fmc (Sylvie) and her great aunt who was this fabulous lady and influence for Sylvie whose relationship was really crucial for her while at Ballet school and then in her journals.

I don’t know how to explain how this book felt less for the thrills of revenge but more life lessons for women knowing their worth and not seeking all affirmation in men. Felt like I wanted to keep her aunts journals for myself to re-read when you need to find your sparkle again.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc. I will definitely check out more from the author!

"Revenge is a feminine art."

Celine brings to life the romantic ballet Giselle, which tells the story of a young girl who falls in love with a deceptive nobleman, and eventually dies of a broken heart.

This is the first book I've read in a while that's out of my regular genres, but I loved every second of it. The Feminine Art of Revenge is a story of a ballet dancer who falls in love with the wrong man and proceeds to get revenge with the advice of her late aunts diaries; showing us all that the best way to revenge is being eloquent and graceful.

I will admit, for the first 30% I wasn't sure this book would be my cup of tea as the beginning felt very fast in terms of the relationship developing, but after continuing, it slowly clicked that was the whole point. Sylvie seems to have an obsessive personality, hence her falling in love so quickly, and why she obsessed over getting revenge on the man who lied and cheated.

The ending felt bittersweet to me, and that landed perfectly. Revenge isn't something that ends up being fulfilling most of the time, but instead somewhat sad.