Gripping. Twisty. An absolute guessing game of the best kind!
I loved this book and I devoured it in two days. But the greatest thing is, what I thought I had figured out is what kept me reading, and I was wrong!
This book was written with a perfect tempo, fascinating characters and some heat! All those things combined make it a must read!!

WOW! I have to say, this was a good read. Drama, drama and more drama, taking you to the end of what some may have felt to be a predictable ending, but none the less, the trip to get to the end.....loved it!

Twists and turns, fast paced read. I did however not enjoy the middle all that much, as I don’t like past tense points of view very much. I like to stay on on path and meander my way through. It just felt like I could have skipped the middle and been just fine.

But, this was well written, will keep you intrigued and I don’t doubt for a moment Alice’s trials and tribulations will have you racing to the end of this one.

As a mother, a wife, and a successful business owner from the outside looking in Alice has a good life. She is married to the man of her dreams, Nathan has 2 beautiful daughters and the support from her good friend, Beth that she turns to whenever in need. Alice is living the American dream. Or is she?

After the death of her first husband, Tom, Alice has struggled with depression. Not only did her oldest daughter lose her father but Alice went through major guilt after meeting Nathan and becoming pregnant following only 3 months of dating. Nathan does his best to be the loving father to both girls all while running the company to the best of his ability. Tom's life savings went into the start of the company so Nathan is forever in his shadow even though he tries his best to carve out a lane for himself. This continues without a hiccup until Alice discovers that Nathan may be having an affair. Told from Alice and Beth's point of view THE FIRST MISTAKE drops the reader into a tangled web of deceit, money, lies and the inner dealings of a con-artist.

As the reader, I enjoyed the hard work that went into this novel. Jones presented a plethora of plots and storylines that enveloped each other in a well thought out way. Just when I thought I figured out what was going to happen next something else popped up that changed my thought process. In a good way of course.

The characters were well written but I honestly did not have a favorite amongst the entire bunch. I enjoyed reading Beth's life story but I did not like her as a person. Alice had an intriguing personality but she fell short when she was around Nathan. I wanted her to have more of a backbone.

To conclude this review, I did enjoy the book. It was a quick read and got my mind off my tonsils which is a good thing. THE FIRST MISTAKE doesn't come out until June 11th so you have a little over a week to add it to your TBR especially if you are looking for a summer read to beat this heat! Thanks, @minotaur_books, and @netgalley for providing me an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, for this free review copy.

I read The Other Woman last year, and really enjoyed it. I was excited to see Sadie Jones had another book coming out! I think I enjoyed this one, a lot more!!


I thought this book was so predictable when I first starting reading, and then bam, I was so wrong. There were so many twists and turns I did not see coming. It was hard to put down until I had everything figured out. This was such a great thriller, in my opinion.

I can't wait to see what Sadie Jones comes up with next! The First Mistake is on sale June 11th!

Alice has had a rough time of it. Her husband died in a skiing accident leaving her with a small daughter. She has been battling depression ever since. She met Nathan, had another daughter and life is good. The business she owns is profitable and she has her best friend Beth. Beth is a single mom, and hasn't had it so well. Then when a shocking secret comes out that affects Not only Alice, but also Nathan and Beth, Alice has to some hard choices to make.
Sorry to make the description so cryptic, but I didn't want to spoil a single thing for you. This book was SO good. I could not put it down. It had so many twists in it... every time I thought I had something figured out, a new twist was thrown in. I highly recommend this book!

I’m a bit torn about this book. There were definitely clever bits and interesting twists and the ending was well set up, but there was also something else that was hard to define. I think I just didn’t like the characters and found it hard to get invested in them.
Alice just didn’t do it for me. I get that she was widowed and that she still missed her dead husband 10 years later, but she definitely let it get in the way of enjoying her life in the moment and she second guessed herself all the time. And, if she did love her first husband so much and missed him so badly, it seemed forced that she would marry someone else less than a year after his death. I like that she was presented as having trouble with her mental health and got help, but she got a hard time from her (current) husband about using meds to help her, which is unfortunate. She really defined herself in relation to the men in her life, which, I guess, is just how she was presented so that she could grow…
The thriller aspect was good and very thought out by the author. There were definitely breadcrumbs if you knew to see them, something which I love. I don’t like it when a solution comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing.
Overall, this is an easy read with some good twists and turns.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Poor Alice! Is her husband lying to her? Is her best friend lying to her? Was her previous husband lying to her? Has anyone ever been honest with Alice? Or is it all in her head? It makes for good reading when you can't even find a foundation for your own theory as to what is going on. Ms. Jones gives a couple well placed clues through the book, but I felt the ending was a bit over convoluted. And I wondered why it hadn't been uncovered somehow earlier. But, that doesn't diminish from a book that makes you pay attention and not want to put it down!

I want to start by giving thanks to St Martins Press and Minotaur Books for giving me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I have never read a book by Sandie Jones before and have been looking forward to trying one out.
THE FIRST MISTAKE was a very intriguing story about a woman who found herself suddenly surrounded in a web of deception and was desperately trying to sort through what was real and what was lies.
I found the story captivating from the beginning and hard to put down. I also found the story so outrageously unbelievable but it didn't stop me from reading it . I still had to see how it ended.
I did like Sandie Jones writing style (aside from the extreme unrealistic part),
I will try another book again. I thought this deserved 4 stars from me.

Sadie Jones has a barn burner with The First Mistake.
How well do you know your husband or your best friend?
Find out how well Alice knew her husband and best friend in The First Mistake.
You won’t regret it.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! This book is up & down & twists all around until your mind boggled & enthralled with this story!!!!!!!! This book is a fabulous twisty read that you will enjoy and will keep you reading in suspense till the very end. Alice is a remarried widow & mother of two daughters. She thinks her life is perfect with her current husband. Until he starts acting suspicious and she turns to her best friend but then she starts questioning can she really trust her best friend. It gets crazy & you will go round and round with your theories but judt like The Other Woman you will be wrong!!!!!!! Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. When I first got into it I thought I knew how the story was going to end but I was very definitely wrong. Many twists and turns later, the ending was satisfying and left a little up to the reader's interpretation. A great marriage and family thriller that will be a bestseller this summer.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Page turner on the way!! June 11th to be exact. There is so much going on in this book. When I thought I knew what will be next, another twist popped out. Good writing, very well-developed characters and big surprise on the end. I hope sandy Jones will write many more books because so far, she is doing great job.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to St Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Wow! Another 5 star, fast paced thriller by Sandie Jones! This book was so good, with lots of twists. I literally did not want to put it down. I thought I had it figured out close to the beginning but I was way wrong. I think I liked this one more than her first book. And that ending! You will not go wrong with this if you like psychological thrillers that keep you guessing.

Intriguing. I loved this book from start to finish. The characters kept me engaged. Lots of twist and turns with a great ending. I have found a new favorite author. I will be talking about this one for awhile.

Book Review: The First Mistake by Sandie Jones

After really enjoying The Other Woman last summer, The First Mistake is high on my summer TBR. I only wish it lived up to my high hopes.

Let's Talk About The Synopsis

I'm very grateful to receive an ARC from Minotaur Books. As soon as the book arrives, I read the synopsis. I swear my eyes glaze over & I read it again. What's this story about? Maybe I'm not running on all cylinders these days, but I just couldn't get it. Something about a woman's husband died & maybe she shouldn't trust her best friend? For starters, I'm not sure what I'm getting into by starting the book. If I hadn't loved The Other Woman, I don't think I would have given it a chance.

Paranoid Characters with a bit of a Psychological Thrill

Honestly, one hundred pages in & I'm not invested in the story. I reach out to a few friends who read it & enjoyed it. They did encourage me to keep reading & told me the story starts to pick up. For me, it never did. The First Mistake just felt slow.

Also, the main character seems incredibly paranoid to me. The more thrillers I read, I know I'm not a fan of a paranoid, female lead. While the last third does pick up steam & has some twists, it just didn't work for me.

THE VERDICT

I am Not Really Into This book. Pick this one up if enjoy a slow burn with some twists. Please check out my friend Jamie's review. She really enjoyed The First Mistake. As much as I wasn't a fan of this book, I will happily read Sandie Jones's next novel.

Special thanks to Sandie Jones, Minotaur Books & NetGalley for providing our free copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

I liked how the author , Sandie Jones, captured my attention from the very first page and kept me interested throughout most of the book. I also appreciated that the book is told from two different perspectives. I prefer that personal touch.

By about the halfway point, the book has become saturated with so many sex scenes that didn’t add anything to the story, that my attention started to wander. Okay, I get it, Beth loves having sex with Thomas. Yawn... Why authors feel it is necessary to have this much time with characters in a bedroom is beyond me.Other than that, I was a bit disappointed that as I got to know the characters more things about them caused me to really question the choices these women made. Were they more than a bit unbelievable? I thought so. If you feel someone is cheating on you, wouldn’t you follow them to see where they are going ? How far would you trust someone who you’ve basically been just having sex with?

I think Sandie Jones is a talented author, and can certainly tell a story. I just hope her next book is a bit more realistic, and doesn’t have chapters filled with just sexual encounters. If I wanted that, I‘d choose books in the erotica genre.

The First Mistake is my second book by this author (I previously read The Other Woman). This book is a psychological thriller set in the UK.

The book takes place in London and is divided into three parts. The main character is Alice. The book starts with a creepy prologue. Then Part One is Alice's POV in the present. I absolutely loved this section. And I loved that this section ended with an amazing reveal.

Part Two is set 9 years before and it is from a different POV. Unfortunately I didn't like this part as much. I get why the author wanted to tell this part of the story. But Part One was so outstanding. So this part was a bit of a letdown.

Part Three was once again in the present and it was very strong. I really enjoyed all of the twists and reveals and did not find this book overly predictable at all.

Alice is the owner of AT Designs, an interior design company. I absolutely loved this aspect of the story.

I am a bit unsure how to rate this book. The problem when a book is divided into parts is that all parts need to be equally good. If one part has a different narrator or is not as good then the book can suffer. In this case the middle part was not as good.

I was very drawn to Alice and I was fascinated by her story. Overall, this was a very enjoyable book!

This is a fun and entertaining thriller that takes many a twist and turn. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I didn't. I really enjoy a good story like this that isn't totally predictable. I mean of course in some places I could guess, but it wasn't always obvious, and that did not take away from my all in all enjoyment of the story. The 3 main characters definitely kept me on my toes and kept the story constantly spinning.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I didn't love this one as much as her debut but I did enjoy reading it and trying to figure it out. Maybe I had high expectations after reading The Other Woman so this one didn't wow me as much though I did enjoy the twist.

Alice is on her 2nd marriage to her supportive husband Nathan and has two daughters, she is smart and successful. Beth is Alice's best friend and is a single mother trying to make ends meet.

Alice and Nathan seem to be the picture perfect couple, running a company together, though Nathan is at times compared to her first husband Tom, who she lost in a tragic accident.

Sandie Jones definitely kept me on my toes and I kept guessing throughout my read. Alice seemed to rely on alcohol and meds at times so I was unsure of her believability at times and if I could trust her suspicions.

I had my own suspicions and second guessed everything which never seems to work for me because I am always proven wrong lol

I wanted to love this one as much as I loved the first but at times I felt it moved a little slow, I was just hoping for more WOW from the author. I do think she is incredibly talented and look forward to reading more from her.

The First Mistake is an incredibly twisted story about love, friendship, greed and betrayal. After being widowed at a young age, Alice believes her life is almost perfect - a loving second marriage, successful career, two happy kids but then something changes. Her best friend is acting odd, her husband is behaving suspiciously, she is worried about her daughters and the pressure of a giant looming business deal is making her second guess herself. There are so many layers to this story and every time you think you know who to trust and what to believe, another unexpected twist will leave you speechless!