I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
She's A Doll by Barbara Truelove Published by Bindery Books on September 8 2026
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 312
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Bookshop.org
Goodreads
The nitty-gritty: Hysterically funny, heartwarming and full of surprises, She’s a Doll is a weird, wonderful story of female rage and unexpected friendship.
This is my first time reading Barbara Truelove, and it will not be my last. She’s a Doll is one of those happy surprises you experience once in a while, where you go into a book with no expectations at all, and before you know it, you’ve become emotionally invested in the lives of the characters and sucked into a story so strange it has no business working—but it does. This is a funny, awkward, thrilling, heartwarming, heartwrenching, audacious story about a girl who is murdered and then winds up inhabiting a porcelain doll. I adored the characters, the pacing was perfect, and the story was so ridiculous and entertaining that I couldn’t put the book down.
Lucy McQuinn is twenty and has just graduated with a degree in Business Administration. Now she can get a job, move out of her grandma’s house and start the next chapter of her life. Except things don’t go quite the way she expects. When Kyle, the brother of her best friend Krissy, makes an unexpected appearance at her house one evening, she’s shocked when he tries to make a move on her. Even worse, when she refuses him, he gets mad and strangles her. As she’s dying, Lucy’s soul jumps into a porcelain doll sitting on the shelf above her. Now she’s trapped and unable to communicate with anyone, and later she finds out Kyle has hidden her body, so everyone thinks she ran away.
Lucy is hell bent on getting revenge for her murder—but how? It seems impossible, until she finds herself in a thrift shop with a “for sale” tag on her wrist. And then she meets an old school friend named Nicola who might be the only person who can help. But convincing Nicola that she’s Lucy is only the first step in her madcap plan.
This book was a crazy ride! First, you have the unique perspective of the story being told by the murder victim. We already know who the killer is, but no one else knows what happened to Lucy, so it’s sort of a reverse murder mystery. Lucy herself is such a dynamic character, which might seem odd because she’s literally trapped inside an inanimate object, but her voice is like a tornado, she’s such a big presence in the story. I loved the way she “grows” into her new form, as she figures out how to move the doll’s body and communicate with Nicola (let’s just say it involves Nicola’s hearing aid!). Nicola, who at first thinks the voice she hears in her head means she’s going crazy, eventually develops a reluctant but very tender friendship with Lucy, fixing her broken doll parts and even buying her a remote control car that she can operate herself.
Truelove adds so many interesting little details to her story, like the fact that when Lucy inhabits the doll, time starts glitching for her. Sometimes time speeds up, and sometimes it slows down, and eventually she learns how to manipulate it. It was a fun idea that made sense because she’s dead and therefore subject to different rules. By using this device, the author is able to easily jump forward several years after Lucy’s murder. I also loved that the “doll parts” are so well done. Lucy falls off the shelf, loses an arm and an eye and cracks her head open, all believable things that might happen to a porcelain doll. When Nicola enters the picture, she fixes her up but not in ways you might expect. There are even a couple of references to Toy Story that made me smile!
And while I loved the quirky story, it was the characters that really shined, and Lucy and Nicola together were pure gold. Nicola does not want anything to do with a doll who may or may not be talking to her, but her rough edges eventually smooth out and she and Lucy forge a messy but sweet friendship. You may be asking yourself “How??” but trust me, Truelove sells their bizarre relationship, and you will buy into it just like I did. These are two broken people (one of them literally broken!) who couldn’t be more different, but it works. A host of lively side characters are just as well developed as Lucy and Nicola, including Krissy, who ends up helping out with the Kyle “problem,” Lucy’s beloved grandma, who is really only present through flashbacks, and grandma’s dog Cookie, who does die but only from old age. There is one poignant scene at the pet cemetery that might be one of my favorite scenes ever (it also involves a huntsman spider). Seriously, cue the water works.
And if humor, tense action and a great concept weren’t enough, She’s a Doll is full of emotion and heart. Lucy is distraught because her grandma doesn’t know what really happened to her. Even worse, all her childhood belongings and furniture are also in the thrift shop, so what happened to her grandma? Did she die too? Lucy is also struggling with her new existence. Is she doomed to be a ghost in a doll forever? Does she ever get to “move on”? And does she even want to? Truelove’s characters are all on the queer spectrum as well, and I loved the way they are still figuring out exactly what that means, and their emotions are palpable. I have no idea how Barbara Truelove made me cry so much, but she did.
If I have any complaints, it’s the way Kyle’s fate is resolved—it definitely stretched believability (and that’s saying something since the whole story is unbelievable!). But honestly, by that point I didn’t really care. Truelove gives her readers a perfect, feel-good ending that left me smiling. Highly recommended!
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Leave a Reply