3.85 Stars* (rounded up)

Let the games begin! It’s not exactly the hunger games and yet… may the odds be ever in her favor.

In the middle of a Hurricane during which you are batting down the hatches alone, you find out that your husband of 20 years is cheating. What do you do? Send a text to your husband’s girlfriend from his iPad, convincing her to come to you during the storm? Yeah right. Right!?!?

Wife Tessa does exactly that. Girlfriend Lindsey actually shows up! Tessa, needing answers, handcuffs her to the bed. Ha. Major Eye Roll.

Lindsey is one angry gal. She wants and expects everything and deserves nothing.

Ethan is a pig of a husband and a boyfriend!

Tessa. Oh Tessa. Where does one start? Revenge does not become you - yet where would we the readers be, if you chose differently?

“Mine” by Courtney Cole is an entertaining and campy novel that kept Kaceey and I thoroughly captivated! It is a nice, easy engrossing read which was perfect for one of our weekend buddy reads.

Thank you to Jessica Roth at Gallery Books, NetGalley and Courtney Cole for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on Goodreads and NetGalley on 4.14.19.
Will be published on Amazon and Twitter on 5.28.19.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC
Mine by Courtney Cole was an absorbing read I just couldn’t put it down! This story is told in two POV Tessa the wife and Lindsey the girlfriend. When Tessa finds out her husband Ethan has been having an affair she can’t think of nothing else but getting answers and since Ethan is away she traps Lindsey into coming over thinking it’s Ethan. Then the craziness begins! “Mine”was a great page turner and will keep you wanting to know more!

Interesting synopsis and plot line. The book is fast paced and told from both women's views. The peripheral characters were never really in the book, just talked about for the most part. The one who was in the book was just at then end and was a minor part. I would have liked to read Ethan's point of view. All we saw of him was interaction with each woman, never really what he was thinking. It definitely kept me entertained. I kept wanting to get back to it to see what happened.

Tessa is a smart, beautiful entrepreneur, Mom of 3 and wife to her beloved husband Ethan. They appear to have a happy marriage. The day the huge hurricane hit, Tessa was looking forward to a weekend with her husband. They have been crossing paths recently, and have not had great luck with getting to spend quality time together. However, Ethan gets caught in NY on business. So, after Tessa drops her kids of with her folks, she drives home in the rain and has to prepare the house for the hurricane on her own. You would think the hurricane would be the big crisis, but that has not hit yet... Tessa goes to get her iPad to discover that her daughter could not find hers and took Mom's with her to her parents. This is why Tessa goes to find Ethan's iPad and finds the surprise of her life... messages from another woman, complete with naked photos, and racy content.

This is every woman's worst nightmare.... and Tessa is shocked to learn of her husbands philandering. She is hurt, angry, betrayed and she wants to know the full story.... so she hatches a plan, to bring Lindsey, her husband's mistress to her home.

This is the story is about what happens when you get the wife and the mistress together, alone. Courtney Cole does a great job weaving together the situation in the moment, and the years leading up to this fateful day.
It is a quick read, and easy to become absorbed in, definitely, a guilty pleasure.

There are a few times where you need to suspend your disbelief when you are reading as not everything adds up perfectly, but if you are willing to overlook that, then you cannot help but get swept away by the story.

Two women, Tessa the wife and Lindsey the mistress locked in an all out battle to win Ethan, the man they both love. The tempestuous face to face confrontation between the women is not the only storm on the horizon since there is a very real hurricane approaching which threatens the lives and futures of both women.

This is one of those tales of infidelity and discovery told from the perspectives of both women and while I can’t truly relate to the scenario, the author has done an excellent job of providing readers with an engrossing read.

On a more personal note: I have never understood women who fixate on one man and feel that he is the “only one” that can satisfy them and make them happy and that without this man they can never be truly happy and fulfilled. Choosing to take a more realistic view I am of the opinion that men are like buses or trains. If you miss this one, there will be another one along in a few minutes. 3 1/2 stars

Such an intense, thrilling read that leaves you on the edge of your seat. I loved the tense buildup caused by the chapters style of present with the wife and past with the mistress. You just can't help but keep guessing how this all will end until it's finally over and you feel utterly satisfied.

Unlike most reviewers, this book did not blow me away. Husband has affair, wife finds out, violence ensues. It just didn’t send me.

4.5 <b> It goes on </b> stars

What did I read! I have read most of this authors work and really I always enjoy the adventure she takes me on so I don’t know why I haven’t read her entire backlist yet. This is a story of a perfect marriage. The story of two people with perfect jobs, who go on perfect dates, who have perfect kids who have a perfect sex life… and it turns out perfection is a lie. Tessa is stuck at home during a horrible storm while her husband Ethan is on a business trip. She hears an Ipad go off and chuckles to herself that her son left his Ipad home again and he will miss it while he is in college. While she goes to shut it off to preserve battery she notices risqué texts and images and discovers the Ipad belongs to her husband. It appears her perfect marriage is no longer perfect. She devises a plan to lure the interloper into her home. What occurs next is a fight, flight and a crazy set of circumstances. This story is oddly relatable even if infidelity is something you have not experienced you can feel the authors pain in her words and you can feel her strength as well.

I did not realize this was based off the authors experience until I explored Goodreads about midway through, so that hooked me even more. I wanted to punch the cheating a**hole..especially because my mom went through a similar experience with my former stepfather five years ago. Writing has helped my mom to cope, and I am glad it seems to have helped Courtney as well.

This book was total brain candy, and I loved every minute of it!

Tessa and Ethan are a power couple: wealthy business owners with a beachside mansion and three teenage kids. During a dangerous hurricane in which Tessa is home alone, she makes a startling discovery on her husband's iPad... he's having an affair with the young and beautiful Lindsay. In a rage of anger, she lures her to their home. Once she has her trapped, the biggest question is what's more dangerous: the raging storm or a woman scorned?

Ooh, what a suspenseful and crazy story of two women fighting for a man they both believe is rightfully theirs. It was intense, incredibly fast moving, and definitely had my heart racing. Most chapters ended on cliff hangers that had me speeding along to see what would happen next.

Chapters alternate narration between the two women. Tessa's chapters tell what is happening presently in the house with Lindsay (whom she has handcuffed!), and Lindsay's show the past and how the affair unfolded.

***NOTE TO PUBLISHER: REVIEW WILL ALSO BE POSTED TO MY BLOG ON MAY 14***
I was so damn mad and so invested in this wild story. Tessa's rage was justified and downright scary. She was pushed to do some crazy things she normally never would have and I was dropping my jaw at every other page.

While this story doesn't have any amazing depth and won't win any awards, it was so engaging that I simply couldn't put it down. I had an absolute blast with it. If you're looking for something super fast and suspenseful that's just for fun, grab this one for sure!

I liked the idea of this book but it didn't live up to my expectations. Perhaps my expectations were too high. I do love both psychological thrillers and the setting of Florida, so I think I was just expecting....more.

The first part of the book reads almost like a scorned woman's fantasy then it does a sudden pivot in tone that surprised me. I was left feeling....either go that far or don't. I also felt it ended too soon. While the hurricane is very Florida, I simultaneously was left feeling an absence of the Florida vibe. A giant scary storm happens in most places in the US, so that in and of itself didn't give me the vibe. It was a popcorn read for me - nothing I disliked but also not something edge-of-my-seat gripping and memorable.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, the publisher AND Goodreads Giveaways.

I got this book in the mail Saturday morning and devoured 3/4 of it in one sitting. I couldn't wait to wake up and finish it Sunday morning.

WOW.

What a ride. At times, the writing was a little simple, but there was something so demanding, so exciting and riveting about this book. I could not put it down for a second. What I thought the whole book would build toward happened right in the beginning and threw my entire guessing game right off track. I could not get enough of this. The characters were awesome, the small twists had my heart pounding and the end result was so satisfying I closed the book with a sigh. I am beyond happy to have this sit on my forever shelf; it's MINE. I highly recommend it, you won't regret it.

A quick and fairly entertaining read, but lacking in tension.

I felt the interactions between Tessa and Lindsey were very dialogue heavy and at times cheesy. I was expecting more action and suspense given their isolated situation in the middle of a hurricane and saw it as a missed opportunity to effectively use the hurricane to build the atmosphere.

This book made me realize just how much I dislike reading books about cheating. I just never have any sympathy for the cheater and mistress. I was cringing as I read Lindsey's POV chapters where she tries to justify her actions and was rooting for Tessa all along. I do wish the author had included a final confrontation between Tessa and her husband instead of the rushed ending given.

A wife and a mistress battle it out to see who gets the prize. The wife is successful and beautiful, but is forty. The mistress is 26. The husband is playing his secret game, lying and cheating. I thought this was a good read, but a little heavy on the females having to strive for the attention of males. Men are not prizes. So as a woman, I would like to have seen less attention-grabbing. However, all was well in the end.

Mine is the latest book from Courtney Cole. I read this story in less than 24 hours. VERY difficult to put down. Ms Cole tells the story by going back and forth with the two main characters and some back and forth in time. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. I was given an early copy to review.

Mine by Courtney Cole is a story about every married woman’s nightmare. What would you do if you found out your husband is having an affair??

How far would you go to find out the truth and to get answers??

This is a story in Dual female POV. We get the wife and the mistress’s POV while reading this story.

Mine is a standalone novel about a woman… Tessa, who finds out that her husband has been having an affair with a 26 years old….Lindsey. This story is told from both of their POV’s, so you get into the mind of the wife and the woman who is mistress. I thought writing this story like that was perfect. I think having it told this way gives every reader the insight to both sides of the story.

This story is unlike anything I have ever read. This is definitely NOT a romance story. I don’t know what it says about me, that I gave this book 5 stars, but I couldn’t put it down. Once I started this story I was immersed in both Tessa’s and Lindsey’s life. This story is truly captivating. Truly this book is what I hate the most about reading a book with cheating in it. Now don’t get me wrong, this book isn’t like a normal romance story with the Hero or heroine cheating. This is a raw and real account of what both the wife and mistress go through.

I don’t really know what else to say in this review. Just give this book a try, I think you will find it interesting. It truly is thought provoking. How would you handle this situation?? I know that’s the question that ran through my head throughout the whole story.

Oh! I didn’t expect this book to be the way it turned out. I got a little bit of of good-woman and bad-woman. I must say that it kept it real. Both women were believable.

I really was into the plot and wanted to know how it would end that I read it in one day!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

Wife vs mistress--sharp, suspenseful, enthralling. A twisty, surprising thriller with gorgeously smart insights into the women on both side of the man.

Tessa is a successful, happily married woman that finds out her husband is having an affair. Home alone during a hurricane, she entices her husband’s mistress, Lindsey to come visit. What ensues is a struggle to come to terms with her marriage and her relationship with her husband. As the story unfolds, we learn via each woman’s point of view what they feel for this one man and what they believe is the truth. Easy and quick read that could not only play as a Lifetime movie, but an Off-Broadway play. It kept me interested but not totally satisfied at the outcome.

Copy received via Netgalley for an honest review.

Last night, I picked up this book after finishing another read, with the intent of getting it set up on my kindle to read tonight.

Welp, that didn't happen. I opened this book up to read a chapter, and I didn't put it down till I had finished it.

I felt all the reactions in this book. I felt the anger, the hurt, and oh the rage.

I have never wanted to hit a character over the head with my kindle so hard as I did Ethan. Oh man, he is such a turd!

I could understand all Tessa's fears, frustrations and all, I wanted to slap the smile of Lindsey's face.

However, as much as I liked the story, the end was lacking for me. We never got the confrontation with the cheating douchebag, and man do I feel that I want to see that.

Enjoyable, frustrating book.