Ashley Winstead Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Ashley Winstead is a mystery and romance author best known for her debut novel “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife.”

The author is the holder of a doctorate degree from Southern Methodist University, where she studied contemporary American literature. Before then, she had graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelors in Art History and English.

Winstead likes to use many of her experiences in college to write her stories, most of which are based on college life. She can do so because she was for the most part very involved in Greek life during her university days. She used these to pen her debut novel and has never looked back since.

Having worked before as a policy communications director, she left when her novels took off to become a full time author.

Winstead currently makes her home in Houston Texas, where she lives with her husband and two felines. When she is not writing her novels, she can be found enjoying a cold glass of wine and reading.

Winstead knew she wanted to grow up and become a writer when aged just seven. When the teacher asked the class to write a short story for their assignment, she was so obsessed with penning the perfect description of a shipwreck. This turned into such a satisfying challenge that she has never looked back.

Still, she had always been a voracious reader before then and was always fascinated by the rhythm and language choice made by authors she read. For the longest time, she believes she was destined to be a poet, even though she spent most of her late nights making and telling stories to her siblings.

Some of her biggest influences growing up include the likes of Richard Siken and Mary Oliver, who taught her how to write with vulnerability, intensity and earnestness.

She was also inspired by Mrs. Ruth, her fourth grade teacher who gave her the self confidence that enabled her to stubbornly handle the many rejections over the years.
She also credits among her influences the writers of popular culture programs such as “Dark Angel,” “Veronica Mars” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Ashley Winstead got the idea for her debut novel “In My Dreams I Hold as Knife” during a very dark period in her life. This was made even worse by the fact that she was having a very low period in her career.

She was watching many of her cohorts at Pitch Wars signing with agents and becoming published and she thought she would never make it. Winstead decided to lean into her feelings rather than repress them as she started to create a picture of a woman that could not afford to fail.

If she failed her entire worldview and identity would be irreversibly crushed. She had images of her character as she looked over her face in the mirror looking for flaws, which is how Jessica Miller came to be.

“In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” by Ashley Winstead is the story of a college reunion which turns deadly and dark in this propulsive and chilling work. It is a tale that involves an unresolved murder and the six friernds that have been harboring dark secrets from themselves and each other for more than ten years.
It has been more than a decade since Jessica Miller graduated from Duquette University and she has been planning her triumphant return for years. Everyone is going to see and talk about the indifferent, beautiful and confident girl that could not have been any more different than when she left.

Back then everything had been fractured by Heather’s murder and not even the close bond between her six freinds had survived the tragedy. It had also taken their friendship, dreams and the one person she had always thought of as her soul mate even if he was forbidden to her.

Still, there are many people not prepared to move on as there are people who will not let their friend’s murder remain a mystery. There is someone planning to trap the killer and to make them pay.

Ashley Winstead’s novel “Fool Me Once” is the story of twenty-first century woman Lee Stone. She is an exceptional communications director employed at a women run electric company. But when she leaves work, she is known as Stoner, as she does not let men get very comfortable in her bed and drinks guys under the table.

The reason for this is that Stone has learned over the years to never trust in love. She had been set straight by four major heartbreaks. These included her father being found out as a serial philanderer and her grad school boyfriend Ben Laderman whom she found cheating.

As for the latter she found out that he was not cheating but she had cheated in reciprocation, which had resulted in the end of their relationship.

Things get interesting when Ben comes to town half a decade later. He is working for the most liberal Texan governor in recent times as a policy expert. He has arrived at a time when Stone is working to get a clean energy bill moving.

When the two are forced to work together things get competitive and complicated. The old sparks are reignited and the tension is building that may result in a romantic dustup that fans the flames the size of Texas.

“The Last Housewife” by Ashley Winstead is the story of Shay Evans who meets a captivating man while she is in college in New York. The man had managed to captivate them with an intricate web of lies that had left them enthralled.

By the time they are in their senior year, Shay and Laurel, her best friend, were the only of their group that had managed to extricate themselves from his web. Nearly a decade later, Shay has managed to build a new life in a suburban paradise in Texas.

She is destroyed when she learns that Laurel is dead from a true crime podcast. She starts to think that maybe the past, which she believed was long buried and forgotten, could still come back and haunt her life.

Working with the podcast host, she finds herself heading back to the place she had once sworn she would never return. She needs answers and now finds herself pulled into the seductive and dark world where her friend lived.

It is a place where privilege and wealth shield brutal philosophies she is very familiar with. Her obsession with finding the truth so consumes her that she can no longer separate her newly reawakened desires from her desire for justice.

One Response to “Ashley Winstead”

1. Tricia Jarrach: 9 months ago

   I just finished reading “The Boyfriend Candidate”. I devoured it in a little less than 2 days. Needless to say, I loved it! The ending teases a sequel. Is there any news on that front?
   Oh and for all you readers out there… I am 54 years old and it is just a fun read…you know some popcorn, a blanket and a rainy day while, in my case my 17 year old is on the computer in his room and the hubby is playing Mr Fix It!
   Thanks for the relaxation!!

   Reply