The Wife Before Me has a fairly intricate plot along the lines of popular psychological domestic thrillers. A woman marries a man who may not what he appears on the surface and there is a mystery surrounding the fate of his previous wife. However, the writing was not executed as well as it could have been and I felt like it was trying to be too many things at once. The beginning reads more like a kitschy romance and then then it descends into detail of abuses and scams that felt like they should have been picked up by characters earlier. I had trouble connecting with the characters and found it rather tedious to read. The ending had a touch of supernatural which can sometimes work well and sometimes not. Perhaps I have overdosed a bit on the psychological thriller genre and am a little too jaded. I could understand if other readers could get more enjoyment out of this book than I did at this moment in time. I received this book from NetGalley as an electronic advanced reader's copy.

I have very mixed feelings about this book.

Firstly, it's a romance that becomes domestic violence, and that subject matter doesn't appeal to me. The romance at the beginning is laid on very thick and the domestic violence has elements that are difficult to read.

Having said that, it's a tangled web of a book that did keep me reading. The characters are well drawn (although, there are a lot of them, so, keep up).

Overall, the tale of a second wife learning the secrets of the first wife was sufficiently different in it's telling to keep my interest. The book is told from the perspective of firstly the second wife and then the first and there are sections written by a third person...you'll need to read the book to discover who that is!

For many, you'll love it and I hope you enjoy. For me, perhaps I'm a little jaded in reading this sort of subject matter, but I can't really recommend. So, 2 * it was OK.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

This is a really good book. Fortunately I started reading it at the beginning of a really long train journey, so I had lots of time to get stuck in. I ended up reading it in a day.

The story is exciting and tense, and scary when you consider how fast domestic violence can develop, rendering the victim helpless. It was written well, with strong characters, I was really rooting for Elena and Amelia.

The story has a lot of sadness, but it is done well. There are plenty of twists and turns and it keeps you gripped until the very end.

Wow! I read multiple books at once and had a hard time swapping to the others when I started this one! Starts with a bang and ends with one too! Will be highly recommending to those in Chapter Chatter Pub and also using it in a daily challenge!! Well written, tense, and makes you want to jump in the book and destroy some characters'.

One evening Amelia Madison’s car slides off into sea and her body is never found, leaving her husband a widow. Two years later, Elena meets Amelia’s widow husband, Nicholas. She’s grieving for her mother and he is grieving over his lost wife. Soon Elena moves in with Nicholas, but she doesn’t know him well and doesn’t know what he is actually capable of. Elena begins to see the cracks in her marriage and finds the page of a torn letter that scares her. She must find the person who wrote the letter to save her own life.

I found the beginning part of the book to kept my interest for a quite a while and I wanted to know what happened to Amelia or why she appeared to take her own life. However, this novel soon lost my interest because it seemed like there was a lot of repetition on the beatings that Elena took over and over before they were even committed to one another and she took it without trying to get away. I found her reactions to some of the beatings unreal and I found some of the lengths that Nicholas went too to keep the women quiet were also unbelievable.

I felt for most of the characters in this book and I wanted to like them all, but I found myself unable to like Elena for how easy she just went along with what Nicholas wanted and didn’t ever feel the need to run away. But the lengths that Nicholas went to to get what he wanted, even if that was people, who he considers just property. I was surprised by the twists and it really made the ending of the book more enjoyable.

Out August 24th

Laura Elliot has done it again - another twisty suspenseful thriller! Keeps you on the edge of your seat with many turns and surprises. The Wife Before Me is a pulse-pounding thrill ride from beginning to end!

Thank you so much to Bookouture and Laura Elliott for the opportunity to read and review this book. To say I thoroughly enjoyed it is an understatement. If you are looking for a psychological thriller that will get you thinking and guessing all the way through the book, This one is for you. I love Laura's writing and I have to say she excelled herself with this one. It will bring you on a rollercoaster of emotions and right up to the end you can't call it.

Thank you to Laura and netgalley for this Arc copy of The Wife Before Me. This is the second book I have had the pleasure of reading from this author and I was not disappointed.
I found the beginning intriguing and wanted to know more about Amelia and what had happened to her. The story was a little slow to start with but soon built up in intensity with brilliantly described scenes that left me racing through the book to find out how the story would finish.
Cleverly written and with two sides of the story been told I really got to grips with the characters and how a woman could be drawn in to a negative relationship and find it difficult to see the way out.
A thrilling read

Praise for Laura Elliot, this was my first novel by this author and it won't be my last. A gripping plot line with well developed characters and locations I knew well There were plenty of twists to keep me guessing the outcome. I did feel a bit confused in parts, though this was soon overcome. Overall I would recommend The Wife Before Me.

This started a little slow, but certainly picked up the pace! Sadly even with that, it didn’t grip me as much as others had. I kind of guessed the “twist you will never see coming” and in between the ridiculously unbelievable plot twists there were too many jumps back forward, past present, I sometimes had to check I knew which persons account I was reading! This aside, it had me gripped at times, and I was never in any doubt that I would finish it in one sitting! To me it was a mediocre version of the many similar abusive husband stories around. Nothing new in it really!

I found this book to be a little convoluted- it went from past to present numerous times. It did have a catchy plot line and a surprise ending. Thank you a NetGalley for allowing me to review it!

If there's a psychological thriller you need to read this year, this is it!!!!!!!!!

Nicholas Madison is handsome, charming, thoughtful and loving ............... He is a wolf in sheep's clothing, I hated him with a passion. This book had my nerves shattered and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end throughout.

A brilliant and unforgettable story that you must read in my opinion.

Very complex and brooding mystery that I enjoyed reading .
Characters were complex and well formed with an intricate plot.

Gone Girl basically spawned its own genre of dead wife, unreliable narrator, OMG twist ending books. These books can range anywhere from god awful to pretty great.

The Wife Before Me lands somewhere in the middle. 

After reading the synopsis, I knew what I was getting into. These types of books are pretty much a guilty pleasure at this point.

When I first began reading, I didn't think I was going to like it very much. The story starts out slow and I didn't connect well with Elena in Part One. Nicolas and his despicable mother were pretty easy to hate, though.

I really started to get into the story during Part Two, which is set in the past and is from Amelia's point of view. Amelia is a solid protagonist. She's likable, fierce, and relatable. While Elena immediately becomes a target for Nicolas' abuse, Amelia fights back at first. It made for a compelling evolution over time, and made me feel like 'Wow. That could have happened to me or someone I know, too.'

Elena did grow on me over the course of the book. There is a pivotal moment after which she has to choose whether she is going to fight back and how, and that is where the tension mounts and made me want to keep reading.

While many of the subplots are pretty obvious, the hows and whys are less predictable. In the end, the final twist is a bit out there, but the writing bears it out and it's not groan worthy. 

I give The Wife Before Me 3/5 stars generally and 4/5 stars when judged against books in its own genre. It goes on sale August 24, 2018.

I received an ARC from Bookouture via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

This was a nail-biting, gripping, too-close-for comfort compelling read that I could not put down. This author has certainly done her homework on domestic violence, I lived every moment both physically and mentally. This book is an absolute winner. Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this amazing book.

Wow what a book it did not disappoint. I have to say this is my favourite type of book. Complex & gripping had to keep reading to find out what happened next. Thanks for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review I would highly recommend!

Wasn't too sure about this when I read the first couple of pages but wow when you read more you just can't put it down, it is a very twisty story and each chapter leaves you in suspense.

I found that I got involved with all the characters and I cannot fault the skill of this author.

Overall this book was brilliant and extremely well written and well worth five stars.

Wow! What a novel! If you read only one suspense book this year, make sure it’s The Wife Before You. Electrifying, tautly written, and heart stopping, are only a few of the adjectives I’d use to describe this novel. It was so real, so powerful, I had to put it down a few times and walk away to let my emotions settle.
Elena looks up at her mothers funeral to notice a handsome stranger intently staring at her. Discovering Nicholas worked with her mother they quickly start a friendship, then became lovers. There is just one problem...Nicholas’s wife, Amelia, died tragically five years ago, and he won’t tolerate talking about her and he can’t get over it. Although she harbors a few misgivings, they become life partners, start a life together and have two children. Because Nicholas and Amelia had a perfect marriage, Elena feels her spirit everywhere and cracks open in her relationship. Nicholas claims it is because of Elena’s relentless curiosity, and she needs to let it go. But is it?
The book is filled with twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end. I highly recommend.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Amelia Madison’s car slid into the sea off Mason’s Pier. Although it appeared that she had escaped the vehicle, she was not a swimmer...her body was never found.

Two years later, Elena Langdon meets Nicholas Madison at her mother’s funeral.

Excerpt of what Nicholas says a few months later: “ Do you remember that glance we exchanged as your mother was laid to rest? That’s when my heart began to beat again.”

Gag! I am not a reader of romance. I really wanted to skim through the courtship phase of this relationship! I am sure the author was “laying it on thick” so the reader would understand How Elena could fall for Fabio, (I mean, Nicholas!) but it was a bit much for me. The dialogue sounded too much like a romance novel and not enough like a real conversation.

Elena moves into the home that Nicholas shared with Amelia. But the master bedroom is kept locked-a shrine to his first wife. Nicholas and Elena share a different room. And, Elena is constantly reminded that she does not measure up to the wife that came before her.

Warning: Both physical and emotional abuse are endured by both women. It is not pleasant to read.

And, I found the ending predictable, as well.

I always appreciate the opportunity to review a book from Netgalley and Bookouture, but I did agree to provide a candid review in exchange for this ARC, and sadly, although I had read and enjoyed “The Betrayal”, an earlier book by this author, I cannot say the same about this one.

All opinions are my own, and you may feel differently than me, so if this sounds interesting to you-pick up your copy on Aug. 24th!

Thanks to Laura Elliot, Bookouture, and Net Galley for the chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review. I have to say these kinds of books are my favorite. I loved it, the only thing that I was confused about at the beginning was who was writing the letters in italics, but I soon pieced that one together too. I liked how the author went from present, past and then back to present. It was definitely the twisty, gripping psychological thriller that it said it was. I liked Elena from the beginning, and hated Nicholas from the beginning. I had it figured out about Amelia from the moment I started reading about Annie Ross. I liked how they twists went. I hated Yvonne and wanted to knock some sense into Henry just because you knew that he knew what was going on. I think that the ending was perfect. The Epilogue was kinda weird but it fit with the story, so read this book, I cant say more or it will give it away!!