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!

The First Mistake by Sandie Jones is a fun and captivating thriller. It's a quick page-turner with many twists that keep you guessing how the story will play out. While most of surprises are somewhat predictable, there are a couple of things that didn't materialize as I expected. Which I loved as it kept me on my toes! I expect to see this book as one of the top beach reads for 2019.

I actually won this book through a giveaway and received a digital ARC through NetGalley around the same time. Thank you Minotaur Books, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for these advanced reader copies for my honest review.

Having loved the Other Woman, I was looking forward to read the next one, and it didn't disappoint. This book gripped me from the first chapter and didn't let go until its amazing ending.
Its a clever and tense psychological mystery thriller with mysterious and hard to figure out characters.

Alice found happiness again after the death of her first husband (whose body was never found) when she married Nathan. She also has Beth as her best friend through thick and thin.

But then Nathan starts acting suspiciously and Alice relies on her best friend, but soon she realizes that she might have misplaced her trust and her world comes crashing soon after.

Who is lying, who is manipulative, and who is genuine? A thrilling ride of dread and confusion that I highly recommend.

Thanks Netgalley, Minotaur Books, and author Sandie Jones for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I received an ARC for my honest and fair review. Sandie Jones has delivered again! This book has friendship, suspense, and makes you question everything! Alice has a perfect life, or so she thinks, until her husband starts acting strange. I don't want to say to much but just enjoy the ride and let the answers fall in to place. You will love ding just that!

Great !!! I was very quickly pulled into the plot. Some unexpected twist and turns kept the story interesting , and had me guessing till the very end

Yowza momma. This one kept me up all night to finish. So many turns I almost got whiplash, but i didn't mind one bit. Another great story!

I’m gonna start by saying I LOVED THE OTHER WOMAN. I was so excited to start this! So happy to get lucky enough to get an ARC of THE FIRST MISTAKE. so, my name is Bethany (Beth) and my other half’s name is Thomas. So this made me question everything about my life! Hahah! Kidding of course, but it was crazy to read with our names in it!!
This was an amazing thriller, kept me on the edge of my seat as I devoured it in less than 24 hours!! Sandie Jones has a way to get you hooked, so you think you know what’s coming, you flip the pages as fast as you can to see what happens next, and than you’re left with your mouth gaping open and thinking WHAT? how was I so wrong?? Her twist are always mind blowing, which is my favorite thing in a book like this! I loved this so much! I would ABSOLUTELY recommend. 5/5.

Bravo...Applause to Sandie Jones author of last year’s smash best seller "The Other Woman" for her second novel "The First Mistake." Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the advanced reader copy of this book. I immensely enjoyed this fantastic, absorbing thriller. I literally thought I had the storyline of the novel figured out twice, but was completely wrong both times. Two stories that diverge into one surprisingly twisted ending, which totally blew me away! The First Mistake is an exciting, delicious and highly addictive read. An excellent domestic thriller to put on your summer reading list.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book Synopsis: For Alice, life has never been better. With her second husband, she has a successful business, two children, and a beautiful house. Alice knows that life could have been different if her first husband had lived, but Nathan’s arrival into her life gave her back the happiness she craved. Through the ups and downs of life, from celebratory nights out to comforting each other through loss, Alice knows that with her best friend Beth by her side, they can survive anything together. So when Nathan starts acting strangely, Alice turns to Beth for help. But soon, Alice begins to wonder whether her trust has been misplaced. It’s out in bookstores 6/11!📚📚📚📚

The twists and turns will have you flipping pages as fast as you can. This is a roller coaster of a ride so make sure you are well buckled in and prepare for the most harrowing ride of your life. Make sure to make plenty of time because it's unoutdownable. Happy reading!

Review of uncorrected eGalley

For Alice, remarried and finding happiness with Nathan after the death of her first husband, Tom, life is finally in a good place for her. When Nathan begins acting strangely, she turns to her best friend, Beth, for help. But is Beth a true friend? And what is behind Nathan’s strange behavior?

The narrative spins out in three parts: Alice’s story in the present, Beth’s story from nine years previous, and Alice and Beth in the present. The fast pace of this quick-read story will keep the pages turning as the reader is pulled into the narrative. Although the characters are reasonably well-drawn, each is, in some way, unlikable and, in what seems to be commonplace in books of this genre, Alice shows far too much dependence on alcohol and pills.

Even though astute readers may find the story a bit predictable, there are several unexpected plot twists designed to ramp up the suspense and keep them guessing. However, it’s in the telling of the tale that readers are likely to find themselves captivated by the unfolding story.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books and NetGalley
#TheFirstMistake #NetGalley

Is Nathan telling the truth? What is Beth hiding? Will Alice find out before she loses everything? A compulsively twisty domestic thriller that keeps the reader eagerly turning the pages until every layer is peeled away and the truth is revealed. Sandie Jones has done it again!

first of all, thanks so much to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the ARC ebook of this!
holy WOW was this one twisty 😳
this is my very first Sandie Jones book and honestly, it was totally worth the hype!
It held my attention throughout the entire book and had me really questioning whether our main character, Alice, really was crazy or not.
I really enjoyed the different POV’s during this story, first reading Alice and her battle with depression after her late husband, Tom’s, tragic and mysterious disappearance that now I believe to have been maybe a murder at the hands of his brother?
She has suspicions of her new husband, Nathan, being unfaithful. Her suspicions are 100% true, but not in the sense of being unfaithful as far as another woman in the picture- unfaithful as far as him being a thieving con artist.
She’s thrown for a loop when it’s revealed that her best friend Beth- also the mother of one of Alice’s daughter’s best friends- tells her that her daughter’s father left before even knowing she was pregnant and she is now wanting to find him. She doesn’t know where he lives or what he does for a living, she only knows his name and his birthday- which happens to be the very same as Alice’s first husband Tom.
Then we’re introduced to Beth’s POV, starting from the moment she met Tom, and their whole whirlwind romance. She also suspects something might be “off” about him, and questions his authenticity multiple times. He’s in the wine business, selling old bottles of vintage wine that are collecting dust to high bidders and seemingly making his clients lots of money. Beth introduces him to her mother, after much hesitation, and he then goes into a big spiral of lies- telling them that he could make them more money out of the bottles of wine and liquor that was Beth’s late father’s that are collecting dust in their wine cellar if they invest a certain amount, guaranteeing them their money back, doubled. They decide to go for it, and once the money is cleared from Beth’s mom’s account- she suddenly cannot get ahold of Tom. She races back to her apartment that he’s supposed to be moving into, only to catch him getting into the car with another woman- who we later find out was Alice.
It’s then revealed that Beth saw a picture of Alice in the newspaper and knew immediately that it was the woman she had seen that day in the car, she used her to track “Tom” down. Only now, Tom goes by the name of Nathan and he’s married to Alice. It’s all so twisty and crazy, because all throughout this, Alice has rediscovered Tom (her first husband)’s facebook profile, and he’s posted some new photos. Leading her to believe that he isn’t in fact dead, but just left her and their child to start a new family with someone else. Beth admits to have hacked into Tom’s facebook profile and posted the photos to make Alice believe that Tom was still alive, which is terrible and ill never fully forgive Beth for doing that, but at this point Beth is trying to seek revenge on Tom/Nathan and blackmail him to repay what he stole from her family. She had fully believed Alice was in on it, too.
Tom/Nathan ended up being Daniel- Tom’s troubled and exiled from the family’s younger brother who didn’t get any kind of money from their parents and is pissed and committing fraud to get what’s “owed to him”. In the end, Beth and Alice came together and plotted against him. He got what was coming to him.
At times, the book was a bit confusing to piece together, but it did come together in a way that made sense. It was very surprising, and a pretty fast paced thriller. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more from Sandie Jones!

When I started reading this book, I thought I’d figured out the ending within the first few pages and I was disappointed that it was so obvious. I hoped for some twists and turns along the way, and my wish was definitely granted. I was delightfully surprised by the way the story turned out and I enjoyed the book quite a bit.

5☆s for sure! This is the second book I've read by this author and I love her. This book has great characters and is a fast read. I didn't want to do anything but finish this book. It had me guessing the whole time! Sometimes when you read so many psych thriller they all seem to blend into a similar story. Not this one. I highly recommend it. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely loved Jones’ debut thriller, The Other Woman, and I knew I would love this one as well. I had heard so many great things about this one and jumped right into it! This was a fun thriller that took me no time at all to read. I thought I knew what was going to happen by the time I got to the middle of the book. But Jones quickly threw me off guard, with shocking twists I didn’t expect! I guarantee you won’t be disappointed! Buy this book when it’s released on June 11! Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, Netgalley and Sandie Jones for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.