She’s a Doll by Barbara Truelove is a 313 page standalone novel coming September 8, 2026 from Ezeekat Press of Bindery Books.

Genre

Horror(ish), Humor(ous)

Description

Lucy isn’t a normal girl. Ghost. Victim. Killer. She’s a doll on a mission—to find the man who killed her and return the favor.

Lucy McQuinn has been murdered, but she’s not about to go quietly.

If she doesn’t get to keep breathing, then neither does Kyle, her killer. Possessing the body of an antique doll, she sets out on a quest for revenge. But it’s hard when you’re eighteen inches tall and made of porcelain.

For help, she turns to Nicola, a human and fellow outsider with her own reasons to hate Kyle. But in their small idyllic town, no one wants to hear the truth, especially not about such a promising young man. If they can’t expose his crimes, Lucy will have to roll up her lacy little sleeves and teach him a lesson the old-fashioned way—as slowly and painfully as possible.

From LA Times bestselling author Barbara Truelove, She’s a Doll is a ghoulish and gleeful tribute to the unstoppable power of female rage and a love letter to the friends who have our back—in this life and the next.

Opening Line

There are a lot of really profound, poetic people who have said a lot of really profound, poetic things about death.

My Thoughts

A wickedly funny wild ride that also hits you right in the feels.

When Lucy McQuinn is murdered, the last thing she lays her eyes on before everything goes dark is an antique doll sitting on a nearby shelf. So focused is she on this item that the moment her soul (or whatever you’d like to call it) leaves her body, she winds up transferring it right over–Lucy is now a vengeful spirit possessing a porcelain doll. And she’s out for blood!

Lu is a book nerd (favoring the classics), gamer (even if her console is three gens ago), and cosplay winner (second place, novice division) at the beginning of what doesn’t seem to be a very promising career when her mortal remains meet their end. Because a revenge killing while stuck in a doll’s body and still learning the ropes of being a ghost seems like a nigh impossible task, she’ll need an (embodied, living) ally. This is where the edgy Nic, whose hearing aid is able to pick up Lu’s projected thoughts, comes into play. Plenty of snarky banter between the two ensues.

…she bought a strawberry milkshake that smelled so sugary I wished I had a stomach so I could hurl. Have you considered eating real food?

“Have you considered that you’re still on thin ice, you porcelain piece of shit?” she said, exhausted and without venom.

What kept this from being a 5 star read for me is the fact that it did take me a good while to really get all in on the story (right around when Lu teams up with Nic is when I became engaged, and I think that’s over 25% in), and that some of it was a bit repetitive (any time the two of them disagree, for instance with the logistics of how to go about enacting revenge, they tend to make the same arguments to one another over and over again). But overall I wound up enjoying this dark, amusing, emotional story with wonderful representation quite a lot!

I actually think I miss spending my time with ride or die gals Lu and Nic already. Sadge.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Ezeekat Press of Bindery Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.