A gentle romance told in an endearing way with lots of food for thought contained in the story.

I would say an enjoyable holiday read.

Mark has a secret and now, after ten years of marriage, he's leaving Anna. What would you do? An emotional well written novel with good characters.

Emotional moving Mark tells Anna he is leaving her,They had been together ten years and now Anna in shock must live her life Mark his.A story that pulls at your heart till the final page.#netgalley#lakeunionpublushing

l truly enjoyed the pacing of the story and the well written characters. This book took me by surprise. It kept me interested throughout the story and I needed to see what was going to happen. A story of love and heartbreak and how Anna and Mark deal with it.

After 10 yrs. of marriage and without any warning, Mark tells Anna that he has to leave her. He immediately leaves their house without explanation, and the story continues about their separate lives.
The story didn't end like I would have hoped, but Anna becomes stronger even though Mark dies and she has their son after his death.
Thank to NetGally for the ecopy for my Kindle.

My goodness, but I felt for the characters of Anna and Mark in 'The Man I Thought You Were' by Leah Mercer. Initially, the apparent perfection of their marriage seemed too good to be true, so much so that I actually felt irritated by it; as it turned out, it really was too good to be true as husband Mark, the man Anna had so recently been singing the praises of, arrives home and states that he is leaving her. Not only that, but he is closing down all contact with her, leaves his mobile phone behind, and just vanishes. But there is more to Mark's story than that he simply doesn't love her before, and as Anna embarks on a painful journey to uncover the truth, she finds a whole other world that came before her.

The description of this book does not give a full disclosure of what it is truly about, and I won’t give any spoilers here either, but, if I would have known, I probably would have passed this one by. This story was filled with complete suppositions of what Anna, Mark and Sophie thought the other ones would have wanted, needed or wished for, a complete lack of communication between all parties involved. The story is told by Anna and Mark, and I found it to be a rather depressing, sad read, very redundant many times.
I did find the ending touching, but there were so many other parts that I literally thought, “Oh, come on, and just say what you want to say”. I am a very realistic minded person and so many things did not add up.
Sadly, I will only give 2 stars, I think it could have been a great story, if told differently.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Man I Thought I knew, is a tender story about betrayal and abandonment, as a wife concludes that her stable life and marriage was not as it appeared to herself and others, when she was forced to meet the challenges of unforeseen and uncontrollable life events and circumstances of love and marriage.
An emotional roller coaster, but well worth the read!!!

This story will grab you and not let go. It’s a must read. Have plenty of Kleenex handy though as it’s a tearjerker for sure.

Where to begin. This book was fantastic. It has it all; love, heartbreak, mystery, family, illness, break-ups, breakdowns, you name it. It will grip you from the start.
I didn’t know a thing about this book before I started reading it, I didn’t even read the blurb, it was next on my kindle so I just started it without knowing what it was about (thank you to Netgalley for the ARC) I’m so glad I did. It’s like when you go to a movie and you haven’t watched any clips or heard anything about it, and it turns out to be one of the best films you’ve seen.
At first, I didn’t really like Mark, I mean how could he hurt his loving and doting wife so badly? I thought he was being selfish, even after learning of his initial reasons, but I was wrong.... the wonderful way this book is written unfolds his ‘backstory’ that not even his wife knew about, and you start to understand what he must have gone through and why he acts like he does. There’s so much to this book, it seems unbelievable when you try to explain it, but you become so hooked in by the storyline and characters - I was desperate to know why, how and who... I couldn’t put it down.
I did grow to like Mark, although I did struggle with why he would keep his illness a secret - despite his reasons, however, this only adds to the rawness of the story. Anna struggles to cope with the fact he has left her and does what I imagine any heartbroken person would do and searches for answers. This leads her to some shocking discoveries, and some nice ones too, when she discovers a family she knew nothing about. She gets some answers, not all good, unfortunately, and at times I wanted to give Mark a shake! She has her sister to lean on, who is going through her own issues, but stands by Anna and helps her in her quest to find out what the man she thought she knew was hiding from her all along.
A thoroughly gripping read, that will leave you in tears; it was sad, heartbreaking, joyful, raw, emotional - I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down either.

A very moving and powerful story with plenty of tears. Mark, husband of Anna, comes home one night and announces he is leaving her. He walks out into the night with nothing. They have been happily married for 10 years and Anna is devastated. Eventually she decides to search for him and find out why he left his life behind! Read on!

I loved the authors previous book and this one also didn't disappoint.

I didn't enjoy this novel as much as other Leah Mercer books, but that might be because the subject was difficult a lot of the time- a man leaves his wife with no explanation why, then embarks on a journey to explore his past and deal with a difficult situation by isolating himself from those who love him. A lot of uncomfortable feelings came up as I journeyed along with these characters, which probably is what made it not as enjoyable as the others I've read by her. She gracefully tackles topics such as separation, difficult pasts, health, forgiveness and trust.

Given that Leah Mercer is also romantic comedy author Talli Roland, it’s amazing to see what she can do with some darker subject matter. I really liked Who We Were Before last year, and was equally impressed by The Man I Thought You Were. Both Anna and Mark are sympathetic characters whom I found myself caring about a lot throughout the story.

Originally, I thought this novel was going to be a domestic thriller, but it really isn’t. It’s a sad story about a marriage that suddenly receives a huge upheaval. Leah keeps the reader guessing the whole time as to whether Anna will be able to find Mark and if they can get things right again. She does a beautiful job of describing their love and why it’s so hurtful and heartbreaking for them to be apart from each other. She also introduces some other compelling characters in both Anna and Mark’s family. I don’t want to say much more as to avoid spoilers.

While I’m very impressed with Leah’s writing style two books in, I would also like to see her try something different the next time. Both novels were about a husband and wife becoming separated and a tragic circumstance that came between them. They had misunderstandings throughout the story that kept them apart even more. Even if she did write another book in this vein, I’d still read it, as she handles difficult situations in a sensitive matter, while also evoking emotion.

Dream movie cast:
Anna: Talulah Riley
Mark: Tom Cullen
Sophie: Felicity Jones

One of the best books I have read. It gets the grief and understanding around deception, breakups and marriage completely right. A very sad but thought provoking book.

Anna and Mark's story was an emotionally gripping story that kept me reading into the early hours of the morning, having to find out what happened. This is definitely a book that makes you think and even question things in your own life.

Anna's husband Mark tells her he's leaving her after ten years of marriage. Anna has no idea why and Mark offers no explanation,he just leaves.
When we find out why Mark has left I felt annoyed with him. I realise there were hidden events in his life that made him act the way he did but I still found his reasoning difficult to understand.

I liked Anna's character and the journey she takes us on trying to find where her husband is and the real reason why he left. I even liked Mark's father, although he knew he had made mistakes in the past he admitted the and was ready to be a better dad.
I didn't gel with Mark throughout the book until near the end of the story, but I never quite forgave him for what he put Anna through.

Another good read from Leah Mercer who's books keep getting better and better. If you haven't read her before,give her a try.

Heartbreaking! Fans of books like P.S. I Love You and My Sister's Keeper will love this one too.

This is the ol' "perfect marriage gone wrong" story, although it was never really perfect...Anna just thought it was. The author has an interesting writing style, which intrigued me at first, but never captured my heart. It's a good story and probably well worth the read for most.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley for an honest review.

After reading the first pages I was gripped to find out all about the male character and why he left his wife. Unfortunately for me, I felt disappointed with the reasons why Mark left. It didn't deliver my expected turn of thrills and expectations. That said, the storyline is easy to follow and in parts, uses some linguistic features well. I didn't feel connected to the characters, I felt their experiences lacked depth and I was unable to visualise them, which is important for me as a reader.
The storyline was simply structured but didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked.