An engaging thriller, believable characters that I could relate to but maybe one coincidence too many! I enjoyed the plot which had plenty of surprises.
Amy’s wedding is two weeks away when Matt her fiancé, inexplicably disappears. She is devastated but when she reports it to the police she discovers that another women has also reported someone missing, someone who said he was about to leave his fiancé. Two conflicting stories but who is telling the truth? As the investigation continues Amy finds herself under suspicion and events from the past are discovered that turn her whole life upside down.

I liked how the story was told not just from Amy's side but also the "other woman's" side (Fiona) and even Amy's daughter Jess. All three of them had so much to offer in terms of story line.

There were so many secrets in this book .
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for the ARC in exchange for my review.

A compelling story within a story; I really enjoyed reading this clever book! Thanks to Avon and to the author for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was the first book I have read by this author. I truly loved this book and was engaged from the moment I started reading. My heart broke for Amy at first and then I started second guessing everything and questioning every character on what happened to Matt two weeks before their wedding. I enjoyed the flashbacks as well, at first I wasn’t sure of the connection but I enjoyed how it all fit together. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. Thank you Net galley and publisher for this opportunity to read this book.

This is my first Debbie Howells book and I loved it! The story kept me intrigued from the beginning.

My worst fear when I was getting married was my husband to be leaving me at the alter for another woman. So while Amy was not left at the alter per say, it was extremely close to her wedding day when her husband to be just disappeared.

I liked how the story was told not just from Amy's side but also the "other woman's" side (Fiona) and even Amy's daughter Jess. All three of them had so much to offer in terms of story line.
There were so many secrets in this book and it really hit home with the "Not everything is always as it seems" theme.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I was initially interested in this book because I am a corona bride dealing with having to postpone my wedding, but I can't imagine what our main character endures when her fiancé goes missing two weeks before she is set to marry him. I have read several books about missing wives and husbands but this one still hooked me from the beginning and had me eager to get to the final end reveal. I liked reading from the different view points and I didn't know who to believe or trust, everyone seemed unreliable. I liked the storyline from the past and how it wound up connecting with the events of the main plot. The author's exploration of the symbolism and use of flowers and herbs which I was afraid would be boring was executed in a way that kept me intrigued. I enjoyed the twist at the end, and while I had an idea of who was responsible, I was still pleased with how everything wrapped up. I especially enjoyed how the title was meant to throw the reader off and not intended as one would think.

Very powerful book. Kept me engrossed throughout. Amy and Matt are getting married in 2 weeks when a stranger stops Amy in the street and says she's in danger and she doesn't know the truth. Then everything starts to unravel

Ok be warned if you want to read this make sure you have nothing to do, I could not put this book down, it had me hooked from the start and the whole way through I really didn’t know who you could trust or who to believe. I’m not going to go into details of the book as it is so good I don’t want to spoil anything, either way if you like a good mystery thriller then you have to read it! Brilliant!!!!!

A big thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK, for the ARC of this.

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Two weeks before her wedding, a stranger stops Amy on the street & warms her about her fiancé & that she’s in danger. That night Matt never comes home. She reports his disappearance & calls off the wedding. Then another man is reported missing by his girlfriend Fiona, a man also named Matt & whom Fiona informs the police was on his way to break up with his fiancé to be with her. As the investigation goes on both women’s conflicting yet equally plausible stories emerge.

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This was a great page turner! I read it in only one day, I just had to know the solution. Amy (our main protagonist) is dumbfounded when her missing fiancé turns out to have a girlfriend behind her back. As we go along in the book, more & more secrets are revealed. No one is who they seem. I did like a lot of the reveals though once I’d reached a certain point, the whodunit was a tad easy to guess. However that didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the book. I think if you like a fast paced domestic thriller then you can’t go wrong with this one. This is the first novel by this author I’ve heard of or read & based on the experience I would read another one by her.

#Netgalley #thevow #debbiehowells #arc #booksofinstagram oh man. I'm torn on this review. When I saw the title. Because, hello, my name is Cori and I will judge a book by its cover 🙈 I went on thinking marriage vows. While that's how it seems to start off it takes a left turn to a man and a woman soon to be married. The man goes missing. Odd things happen. Maybe the fiance is crazy. Maybe she killed him 🤷‍♀️ I liked the curvy road journey we seemed to go on. It was more than just a story that didn't tie up neatly until the end. #bookworm #booksofinstagram #bookreader #readbooks #bookreview

Many thanks to Avon Books UK, Netgalley and Debbie Howells for the ARC of this book.

I was in two minds about this book.
Part one felt like it dragged on, I couldn't really connect with the main character and I felt a lot of the lines had been repeated a lot.
But part two blew it out of the water! I loved part two. The flashbacks throughout were well done, the plot twists were brilliant and the writing style was very descriptive.
Again I feel this is the kind of book you need to go into blind.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for that ending!

Amy is days away from marrying Matt, when he vanishes without trace. When she reports him missing, she discovers that another woman has also reported him missing to the police. Both have stated that they are in a relationship with him. As time passes and there is no trace of him, it is suspected that one of the women may have murdered him, and suspicion falls on Amy. From eagerly anticipating the happiest day of her life, she has now become a murder suspect.
Flashbacks reveal strange connections between the two women, and Amy struggles to prove her innocence. Other strange happenings point to her guilt - a bunch of flowers steeped in blood, sightings of a woman matching her description around the time of Matt's disappearance...
A well woven story which winds its way to a conclusion that is not entirely unexpected.

Wow! That is the only word to describe The Vow. From start to finish the book pulls you in and you cannot leave until you have reached the end. There is so much to keep you guessing, plenty of twists and turns to keep you from putting the book down. At the end of every chapter you just have to start the next one - make sure you set aside enough time to read this in one sitting. When secrets from the past begin to appear in your perfect life and things start to unravel, what do you do? How many coincidences are there really in life? Is the universe conspiring against you or is there a deeper, darker reason your world is falling apart? Read The Vow to find out the answers.

This was a complex tale of misconceptions and misperception of love, of the subtlety and insidiousness of abuse and the endurance of a held grudge. It's well told and it really isn't clear for the vast majority of the novel who the 'good guy' is. Cleverly worked with original character profiles and intentions.

With a sense of unease from the very start of this book, even the reader feels tense as the story unfolds. After a while there aren't many characters who you don't start to mistrust as their own versions of the truth are revealed. Is anyone ever who or what they seem and is their a single vision of justice?

Amy and Matt are getting married in two weeks...or are they? This is s chilling tale right from the start.

Where is Matthew Roche? Who is he?

The feeling that there is more going on than Amy's telling us is well managed, but at times sometimes interrupts the flow of the narrative, leaving you quite confused. Maybe this is a conscious stylistic choice, in which case it's clever but ultimately you never really trust any of the characters.

Events seem to unfold in sudden and unexpected ways, feeling a little rushed at times and it felt like we were waiting for a big twist which didn't quite arrive. The descriptive language and setting of a herbalist's world did however create a delicate balance to offset the more sinister aspects of the story.

Overall an intriguing read but left me wanting more.

Debbie Howells is such a talented writer and The Vow is solid proof of this. I was memorised by this book and story line, I couldn't put it down, there was so much I needed to know everything, I needed to know how it ended but at the same time I never wanted it to end.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.
At first I wasn’t totally engaged with the book and didn’t follow why the flashbacks were important. The storyline soon became clear (Matt, the future husband) had disappeared and everything started unraveling.
I thought the book truly started about half way through and gripped me from this point. I didn’t see the twists coming but they were well placed.
I thought the book from the different perspectives was good and kept the story flowing.

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for this ARC.

There were some pretty good unexpected twists. Flashbacks were done well. There were a few confusing areas but that will likely be resolved before the publishing date. A couple of the characters got on my nerves but I feel that way about almost every book.

The Vow
Debbie Howells

Everything was perfect. And then her fiance disappeared…
Two weeks before her wedding, a stranger stops Amy in the street and warns her she’s in danger. Then that night, Matt, her fiancé, doesn’t come home. Desperate, Amy calls the police – but when Matt fails to emerge, she’s forced to call off her wedding day.
Then another man is reported missing, by a woman called Fiona – a man meeting Matt’s description, who was about to leave his fiancée for her. He was supposed to be moving in with her – but instead, he’s vanished.
Amy refuses to believe Fiona’s lover can be her Matt – but photos prove otherwise, and it soon becomes clear that Matt has been leading a double life. As the police dig deeper, two conflicting, yet equally plausible stories emerge from two women who allegedly have never met.
The wedding day never happened. But the funeral might.

Wow! What a good read this was. Really twisty and kept me hooked all the way through. Written really well. Liked the characters and the way the story was told through both women and the daughter. Definitely recommend, would like to read more from this author in the future.

Thanks to netgalley for this copy.