Book Review: What She Gave Away by Catherine Riggs

Desperate Housewives. Gossip Girl. Melrose Place. What do these three television shows have in common? They each involve game playing that sometimes goes wrong, particularly when it comes to seeking revenge. What She Gave Away by Catherine Riggs also follows the storyline of revenge that is sought out, but that goes wrong and becomes deadly.

The novel follows two women: Crystal Love and Kathi Wright as they look to get revenge. Both women have their secrets and the games that they are playing – Crystal seeking to destroy the happiness she covets in others, Kathi in trying to figure out what’s going on with the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death. The one thing the two women have in common? They don’t feel like they fit into the environment they live in – something we can all relate to in some way or another.

About What She Gave Away

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (September 4, 2018)

Revenge is anything but sweet in this twisty thriller about two women with very different lives locked in the same deadly game.

Imagining the best way to destroy a person’s happiness is Crystal Love’s favorite game. Devious and unpolished, the plus-sized loan analyst couldn’t be more out of place in her new town of Santa Barbara, where the beautifully manicured women never age and the ocean views stretch farther than the million-dollar lawns. And yet her eye for the power dynamics at play in this tony community is dead accurate.

Kathi Wright, on the other hand, has made it her life’s work to fit in with the plastic people who surround her. But when her husband—a wealthy bank president—dies suddenly, she’s left with nothing. Then the FBI shows up, asking questions she can’t answer and freezing assets she once took for granted.

While Kathi struggles to outrun the mess caused by her husband’s mysterious death, Crystal seems focused on her game. But why? And who are her targets?

Spanning two years and told in Crystal’s and Kathi’s alternating voices, this tautly plotted novel reveals the power of choice and the price of revenge.

Social Media

Please use the hashtag #whatshegaveaway and tag @tlcbooktours and @catharineriggs.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

About Catharine Riggs

Catharine Riggs lives and writes on California’s central coast. Before turning to writing fiction, Riggs worked as a business banker, an adjunct college instructor, and a nonprofit executive. What She Never Said is the second novel in her Santa Barbara Suspense series. The first, What She Gave Away, was published by Thomas & Mercer in September of 2018. Riggs is a member of the International Thriller Writers, The Authors Guild, Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.

Find out more about Catharine at her website, and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.