Fans of B. A. Paris, Clare Mackintosh, and Ruth Ware are likely to immediately catch the nuances of this psychological thriller. Though I could spot the outcome pretty early on, it was fun to see how it played out. It’s important to go into this book knowing as little as possible. I’ll try to share my feedback without giving too much detail about the plot!

A few personality flaws make Claire, our main character, rather unlikable. She seemed to be borderline alcoholic, and tended to internalize her emotions rather than express her feelings. I tried to excuse some of her behavior because she was quite young compared to her husband. Surely that meant that she might be out of her element, or at the very least, immature in comparison. After reading the book, though, I realized that my initial reaction almost made me stop reading. Claire got on my nerves until suddenly I couldn’t stop reading about her. So, if you find yourself setting down this book because it seems to move too slow, just push through.

Overall, The Starter Wife was a 4 star book for me. I liked the twistiness of the story, and really enjoyed the shock value of certain events. I hope to read more from Nina Laurin!

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

The Starter Wife took me on one crazy journey, and I enjoyed every second of it. All I can say about this book is that I have found myself a new thriller Author that I know can bring the thrill while leaving you wanting more! Any book that will make me stay up even while I'm fighting my eyes for sleep, is a book that totally deserves all the recognition that it deserves!

Claire appears to be the doting second wife of Byron Westcott, a professor of English twenty years older than her. She is enamored of his work, his passion for her and everything about him. His first wife disappeared, it assumed she took her life and drowned. She had been a renowned artist, and her money is what keeps Byron and Claire in a lifestyle they couldn’t afford. That money is what makes it possible for twenty seven year old Claire to not work, and to keep working on a novel she dreams of finishing.

This is what the first few chapters tell us, but oh an unreliable narrator is at work, and we also see a dark figure, is someone following Claire? Is someone stalking her, mocking her and after her darling Byron? Is Claire imagining that Byron less affectionate and leaving her alone more and more? Is there another person plotting against Claire?

The Starter Wife will keep you guessing at each chapter and wondering who is the evil person in this tale. Nina Laurin had me second guessing every single person. As Claire reaches out to colleagues and past loves of Byron, I wondered, what would she find, what was really going on with he and Colleen, was he the doting husband everyone said, or was there something darker at play?

I had read Laurin’s fist book Girl Last Seen, and I have to say this book is even better. The characters are more developed. I love a story I can’t quite figure out, it keeps me turning pages and waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.

Grab this one up, I read it very quickly and won’t soon forget Claire. Thank you again to Tiffany Sanchez and the team at Grand Central who send me wonderful books to read and share.

A wild, perfect beach read that I was able to finish quickly.
Claire is married to Byron a college professor. His first wife, Colleen, committed suicide and Claire always felt she was being compared to Colleen at every turn. It doesn't help that Byron has begun acting cold and distant with Claire as of late. Claire decides to investigate what's up and things go from there.
There was a 2nd narrator - which appeared to be a student or former student but ends up being very different as the plot continues and this added to the suspense.
I did not love the ending, but I understood it. A book full of twists, turns and a quick one. Very good and thankful for the ARC From NetGalley

The writing itself is excellent, and although there are some inconsistencies and contradictions, there aren't any typos, which is highly commendable. However, I think there was an error in a significant date, the only one written in numbers. I found THE STARTER WIFE an extremely frustrating, confusing, and "feel-bad" book. It was so unpleasant (here's that word again), but I guess it was clever and I wasn't in this case! I will probably read other books by Nina Laurin, because she is very talented.

A special thank you to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Hachette Book Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Claire Westcott tries to be the perfect wife to her husband, Byron, but fears she will never measure up to his first wife, Colleen. After all, it's hard to compete with the dead, especially when you are living in her house, surrounded by her artworks.

Colleen, the starter wife, went missing eight years ago. Even though her body was never found, the local authorities deemed it a suicide. So when Claire receives a phone call from a woman she believes is Colleen, it sparks a million terrifying questions.

Claire discovers the couple weren't as happy as they would have people believe. And now she's worried Byron has been lying to her. There are secrets in every marriage, but sometimes those secrets are deadly.

Laurin ratchets up the suspense in this incredible thriller by setting the table for her reader—it's all there in the well-placed clues and subtle nuances. Her writing is consuming, expressive, and filled with deception.

The difference between 3 and 4 stars was due to a gaping plot hole. Why didn't Claire investigate Byron before marrying him? A simple search would have uncovered that he was a suspect in his wife's death—the husband is always a suspect. Are we to credit this to her naiveté because she's young?

Although the ending comes to a screeching halt, it is incredibly explosive and makes suffering with yet another unreliable female lead worth it.

The bad: It seemed to take forever for me to warm up to this book. The good: It turned out to be one sick and twisted tale of obsession and murder. I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I wanted to love this! I did! The cover is gorgeous and I've read another story by this author that I enjoyed. So I tucked right in to this one and was ready for the mystery and suspense. Instead, I realized the plot twist in the first few chapters and was just disappointed as I continued reading and waited for the reveal. It seemed to take ages and the story got weirder and weirder.I kept hoping to be pulled back in and find myself loving the mystery but I just....couldn't.

But I know many others won't spot the plot twist and will love this one so if it sounds good to you, you should give it a try!!

Claire Westcott and her husband, Byron, live in Ohio. Byron is a professor of literature at Mansfield Liberal Arts College. There is nearly 20 years difference in their ages. Claire wants to be an author, but as yet she has had no interest in her book from any literary agents.

Claire is Byron’s second wife. His first wife, Colleen, a talented artist, died it is believed by suicide, but her body has never been found. Byron and Claire have been living quite well on the money left by Colleen. But her paintings cover all the walls and it’s almost like a shrine to her. At the time Colleen went missing, Byron was suspected of having killed her but nothing ever came of that.

Claire wants very much to have a baby but has had no luck in getting pregnant. The doctor has told her that her only chance of having a child is with a donor egg, but Claire refuses to go that route, convincing herself that she will get pregnant anyway.

Claire is so much in love with Byron but she can’t help but wonder if he is having an affair. Using a fake name, she gets on social media and tries to find out things from some of his students. Soon, she starts getting emails from people she doesn’t know. In addition, she has blackouts from drinking that anger Byron. Claire begins to wonder if maybe Colleen isn’t dead and is trying to terrorize her.

This book was a slow start, in addition to being depressing and a bit boring. However, I had already read that a slow start is what other readers had found so I decided to stay the course and finish it. I’m certainly glad I did. Wow! Just when you think you may have a person figured out - bam - they totally fool you! If you can hang in there for the slow start, I’m thinking you will enjoy this book as well.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

this is the review i wrote from reading an extract i ntriguing start, will we have access to the full book to read. unreliable narrators, ex wife, maybe dead, maybe not, new wife, third woman all in all an interesting start

now i have had the chance to read the full book and it continued to be intriguing with a good plot twist, no spoilers here, the writing was good, questions still left to be answered and resolution at the end. who was the husband and what was his role in this. would be interesting to read this story from his perspective

The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin
Grand Central Publishing: 6/11/19
eBook review copy; 352 pages
ISBN-13: 9781538715710

The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin is a highly recommended psychological thriller.

Claire is the younger second wife of Byron Westcott, a professor of literature at Ohio’s Mansfield College. They have been married for two years and Claire is happy, but it seems like Byron is becoming more distant. Byron's first wife, painter Colleen May, also a Mansfield professor, committed suicide five years before, but her body was never found. Now Claire is beginning to wonder what really happened to Colleen, especially when she receives a phone call from a woman she is sure is Colleen.

Claire is the narrator of this riveting, dark, tension-filled psychological thriller, but there is a second narrative voice that belongs to an unnamed woman who may be stalking Claire and out to destroy her. The unnamed stalker is obsessed with Byron and wants Claire out of the way. Could it be Colleen? Claire begins to investigate her death and Byron's past, while at the same time suffering from unexplained illnesses. Did Byron kill Colleen and is he now out to eliminate Claire?

While you won't necessarily like Claire, the suspense escalates with the second narrator who seems to be out to get Claire. Byron may also be a part of the scheme. It is a trend now to have unlikable female narrators and, while this follows along that well-traveled path, the ending was a totally surprising twist. The Starter Wife is a novel that you have to wait until the final third of the book for some shocking and surprising incidents.

It is not until the end that I found myself admiring the skillful writing, the intricate plot, and the excellent character development. I thought I knew what was going on and where the story was headed, which is exactly the way I imagine Laurin planned out her novel. Well played Nina Laurin; I was totally surprised and caught unaware.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/06/the-starter-wife.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2860381338
https://www.librarything.com/work/22985147/book/169854483
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1140329878295896066

After having read and enjoyed Nina Laurin's last two novels, I was excited to read The Starter Wife.

Then I started reading.

I was so bored with it that I almost gave up on it. I hated the main character and the husband and didn't really care what happened to the first wife. It got a little more interesting in the end, but not enough to redeem it.

Out of all the books I've read by Nina Laurin is this the one I had the hardest time reading. Both What My Sister Knew and Girl Last Seen are great thrillers, while this took forever for me to get into. Now, I think it's because I right from the start felt very, very annoyed with Claire, the main character. And, the more I read the less I liked her. What kept me going was the fact that I wanted to know what the heck is going one and if Colleen really committed suicide. The best part was the last 1/3 of the book when you got Claire's husband Byron's POV as well. Now the story starts to make more sense, and I started to understand more about those weird chapters when someone is stalking Byron's wife that were interwoven with Claire's chapters.

The Starter Wife is not my favorite Nina Laurin book, the last part of the book did make the reading worthwhile, although I found the ending very abrupt. I found it particularly hard to read the book because of my dislike for Claire (for God's sake she doesn't even like cats), but if the Laurin had that in mind when she created the character. To make her as unlikable as possible, well then she succeeded. I would, however, recommend starting with the author's first two books before going for this one. They are way better!

The Starter Wife

Nina Laurin

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Pages: 307

June 11,2019
Local police have announced that they're closing the investigation of the suspected drowning of 37-year-old painter Colleen Westcott. She disappeared on April 11, 2010, and her car was found parked near the waterfront in Cleveland two days later, but her body has never been found. The chief of police has stated that no concrete evidence of foul play has been discovered in the probe.


I close the online search window, annoyed. These articles never have enough detail. They think my husband's first wife disappeared or they think she is dead. There's a big difference.

My phone rings, jarring me away from my thoughts, and when I pick it up, it's an unknown number. The only answer to my slightly breathless hello is empty static.

When the voice does finally come, it's female, low, muffled somehow. "Where is it, Claire? What did you do with it? Tell me where it is."

A woman. A real flesh-and-blood woman on the other end of the phone. She's not just in my head.

A wave of panic spreads under my skin like ice water. It's Colleen.


My thoughts

Rating: 5

Would I recommend it? yes

Will I read anything else by this author? yes

WOW what a story, its dark , and twist and that's the type of read I like , it had me hooked from the start and I didn't want to stop reading , the characters where characters that i wouldn't want to know in person , while it did make me feel sorry ( a little bit ) for Byron, but that changed after a while . There was just something about him ,that mad me have a love / hate feeling towards him. As for Clair there was something that made me dislike her , I think it was because how she acted towards Byron though out the story, and then there's that third character that comes up , the one that's dark and twisted , the crazy one as I call her ,because you don't know who it is , in fact that's what makes the story because you have no idea who that character is , and if Colleen is really dead and if so who killed her or if it was suicide , or if someone is out to get Clair or is it all in her mind , all I can say is that you need to read the book to find out for yourself , with that said I want to thank Forever ( Grand Central Publishing ) for sending me a copy as well to Netgalley for the ARC copy they let me request in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was confusing and I’m still not sure all my questions were answered. I didn’t like the ending at all-but it was a fairly decent read.

My Rating 3.5 Stars

For a moment, while reading The Starter Wife, I was reminded of Rebecca by Daphne DeMaurier. That feeling did not last too long in the book.

Was Claire Westcott, married two years to a man nearly twice her age, Byron, living in the shadow of his first wife, Colleen? Colleen, a successful painter, apparently committed suicide almost twenty years ago. Currently, the closing of the case of the suicide begins raising questions to Claire. While the police have finally vindicated Byron, rumors have not. Claire begins believing the rumors. Did Byron kill Colleen after all? Is Claire safe?

This entire story is relayed in two narrations, both in first-person. Quite naturally, we have Claire, with her everyday life and actions. Then we have someone unnamed, a person obsessed and who is stalking Byron. She is determined to save Byron. In dialog, she is quite clear that Byron's wife is not worthy of him. She will do anything she can to stop any harm from coming to Byron. Yes, she will go to any means necessary.

My connection to the classic that I alluded to at the beginning of this review? Claire is beset with jealousy and unease with any feelings Byron might have had towards Colleen, who was the starter wife. Claire is living in Colleen's house and enjoys the benefits from the the wealth that Colleen amassed due to her paintings, as well as her years as a college professor. Byron is also a professor, and seems oblivious to any feelings of uncertainty that Claire has.

With two unreliable narrators, and with a man like Byron, it was rather hard to feel drawn into the characters and their stories. However, I do think the story was done quite well, especially when a massive twist occurred in the story. I was absolutely riveted from that point on and my jaw simply dropped at the shocking conclusion.

I am glad to have read this book by Nina Laurin, even with the absolute crazy characters, and I definitely look forward to reading her books again in the future.

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a gripping read. The Starter Wife is a well-written domestic thriller that got an interesting premise, an unreliable narrator, a not so surprising twist and can sometimes be predictable but it definitely make up for an entertaining read. Despite finding some parts slow, I was absorbed in Claire and Byron's story from beginning till end. It is my first book from the author and will certainly won't be the last.

<b>My thoughts:</b>
This one started slow, then picked up and I was really enjoying it. The author did a great job of creating totally detestable main characters.

Byron is a college professor. His first wife, Colleen, was an artist with mental health issues who ended her own life...but her body was never found. After a few short relationships, Byron met and married his second wife, Claire.

Byron and Claire are living in the house he lived in with Colleen. Exactly like it was when she was alive...and yes it’s creepy and Claire isn’t happy about it. Still eerily decorated with her paintings. Although Claire did convince Byron to take down the nude one of him and Colleen that hung in the bedroom above the bed. Byron is still obsessed with his dead wife.

They also live off Colleen’s savings, but this doesn’t bother her. Claire is an unpublished writer and quite happy to spend her days lounging around, being spiteful and ungrateful. When she starts to get strange emails and phone calls, Claire begins to obsess over Colleen’s death and believes she may still be alive.

None of the characters are likable, but Colleen was my least favorite character. Just as I was anticipating all the big reveals, I turn the page and...the Epilogue is there! I was left confused, stunned and wanting a cleaner ending. Unfortunately, the ending brought down my rating, but others thought it was great.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!

<b>My Rating: </b> 3 ⭐️’s
<b>Published:</b> June 11th 2019 by Grand Central Publishing
<b>Pages:</b> 352

I read a lot of thrillers, and lately a lot of domestic thrillers in particular. I love this genre, but it does start to feel formulaic after a while and it's hard to find one that feels truly original. Starter Wife is just that - a taut, tightly plotted domestic thriller that keeps the reader guessing right to the end. I don't want to say too much about the plot as this one relies on twists and turns, but the characters were well-drawn, the writing excellent, and the twist a genuine surprise. I loved this book, and can't wait to read more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.