I Would Die for You

Tomorrow is the release day Sandie Jones‘s new thriller, I Would Die for You. Bouncing between 1986 and 2011, it follows two sisters and their involvement with a wildly popular band… and the repercussions haunting one of them 25 years later.

Why I Chose This Book:

I first heard about this book in the Minotaur Sampler that came out a few months ago. A recurring theme for me is how much I love music in books, and that was, of course, what first drew me to I Would Die for You. (The title reminding me of “#1 Crush” by Garbage helps, too!) Here, the music in question comes from a 1986 band—Secret Oktober—who all the teens love, their groupies and collaborators, and their shocking end. I also liked the element of sister relationships in this book, problematic as their dynamic is.

What I Liked:

• Rock band, songwriting, and celebrity scene. While I love reading about artists writing and performing music, in this book, we see more of the drama and toxicity of celebrity. Fame and addiction, groupies and scandals, a band that’s rather dysfunctional behind the scenes… The only parts really about the music itself are when Nicole and Ben work on a song together. The rest is worthy of gossip magazines and is, in fact, the fuel behind all that goes wrong with the band.
• Lies, manipulation, and evil doings! From the beginning, you know there are some secrets and some bad endings for certain characters. But how it all goes down… wow! Horrible people doing horrible things!
• Unlikable characters! Speaking of horrible goings-on, some of these characters only get worse with each passing chapter. Some are downright awful people. I’m glad I don’t know anyone like this in real life.
• Dual timeline (1986 and 2011). Nicole has a husband, a young daughter, and a successful career, but her past is starting to catch up with her. Half of the book takes place in 1986, when she and her sister Cassie were grappling with their mother’s rapid health decline. Somehow, the lead singer from Secret Oktober got mixed up in all of this, and Nicole is still paying the consequences. But what really happened? And is Nicole (not to mention her daughter) in danger?

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• The ending was so abrupt! I liked the ending overall, but it left me wanting more time to wrap it up further.

Audiobook:

Imogen Wilde does a great job of narrating I Would Die for You. She captures Nicole’s voice well in the 2011 chapters, and does both sisters justice in the 1986 parts. Her narration kept my attention all the way through and made the story more engrossing. Her American accent, however, could use a bit more finessing.

Final Thoughts

If you like the dark scandals of celebrity life and potentially unlikable characters, I Would Die for You is a fun and thrilling read. You may want to check content warnings before reading, and it certainly won’t be for everyone. But I enjoyed this novel! It was my first time reading Sandie Jones and I look forward to checking out more of her books.

Special thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy I Would Die for You here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

I Would Die for You by Sandie Jones
Audiobook Narrator	Imogen Wilde
Audience	Adult
Genre	Thriller
Setting	England; California
Number of Pages	320
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	March 25, 2025
Publisher	Minotaur Books

Official Summary

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick The Other Woman and The Guilt Trip comes an electrifying next novel.

California, 2011: Nicole Forbes lives a quiet life in the small seaside town of Coronado with her husband and daughter. She is not expecting a writer to knock on her door asking for her personal insight into the downfall of the biggest British band of the 1980s—unveiling the threads of a life she left behind years ago. The same day, her daughter goes missing and the school claims her aunt picked her up . . . but she doesn’t have an aunt. Convinced of a link between the two, Nicole is forced to revisit long-abandoned memories from her past to protect everything she now holds dear.

London, 1986: Sixteen-year-old Cassie is obsessed with Secret Oktober, the hottest band of the moment. Harboring an intense crush on the leading man, Ben Edwards, she will do anything she can to capture his attention among the throngs of groupies at the band’s scandalous backstage parties. But when Ben discovers her older sister Nicole singing at a local bar one night, he can’t help but feel drawn to her, setting in motion a collision course that could tear their family apart.

Infused with the sounds of the 80s, this thrilling novel from the inimitable Sandie Jones explores the chaos that the frenzy of fandom can provoke.