First, I want to thank Wendy Clarke, Bookouture and NetGalley for this book so I may bring you this review!

WOW!!! Wendy Clarke blew me away with her must read latest book The Bride. She wrote an incredibly twisted book that had so many shock value moments.

This is the type of book that plays in your head like a blockbuster movie. Infact, I would love to see this on Netflix or Lifetime. It was incredibly fast paced, lots of twists and turns, huge secrets kept from a lot of people, lots of mystery/suspense involved, and shocking moments that will just blow you away!!

I was not a fan of Derek by any means. What he did to Alice was uncalled for! Books like these make me glad that I am single.

The question that played out in my mind most of the book was where was Joanne? Alice was put in a very awkward position throughout this book. My heart went out to her for many reasons. But the main question is how well do we know someone?

I love psychological thrillers, but this book didn't do it for me. It was hard to get into and the main character is unlikable. It did pick up in the second half, but it wasn't enough for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It is currently set to be published in May 2020.

The concept is good and the premise is very interesting, but the whole story is relying on the protagonist's improbable forgetfulness about some pretty fundamental facts of her own life in the past ten years, and that comes as a disappointment when you finally reach the ultimate, pointless plot twist.
Overall, far too many plot points are so far-fetched as to go beyond any reasonable suspension of disbelief.
The elegant prose and vivid descriptions are not enough to make the characters come alive, as they are all quite absurd in their characterisation.
The plot is overcomplicated and unnecessarily lengthy, as it unfolds through the incomprehensible choices made by the characters, all of them invariably following the most illogic course of action.
The protagonist, Alice, is unrelatable and her contorted, implausible motivations keep changing every few pages for no discernable reason. For instance, when she learns a body was found that might or might not belong to her alleged best friend, her first reaction is to feel compassion for her friend's husband, who is basically a stranger to her and who might or might not be responsible for her going missing, instead of... I don't know... grieve for her best friend, or be shocked, or scared, or even just worried. Admittedly, Alice hasn't seen her supposed best friend in ten years for a reason that she will only suddenly remember in the last few pages of the book.
Then there are the rather silly plot holes, such as the phone charger... Alice has travelled all the way from Brighton to London and is staying with Mark. Her phone charger somehow got broken during the trip. During the following SEVEN days she complains multiple times about not being able to use her phone, because the battery's dead, and she declines Mark's polite offers to borrow his phone, because she doesn't want him to be left without a means to communicate, but neither Alice nor Mark seem bright enough to think that she could simply borrow his *charger*. Besides, how difficult can it be to buy a phone charger in London? It's not a desert island! And it's not like Alice's too busy to go to the store: she literally doesn't do anything at all (except cleaning the floor) for the whole week, which is incidentally more or less the total time span of the novel!
This and many more similar plot holes make the whole reading experience annoying.

The Bride is a suspense filled mystery/thriller novel where the MC Alice is contacted by her long lost best friend and asked to come visit to meet her new fiance. When Alice arrives, Joanna is not there... but Mark her fiance is. It appears Joanna has gone on a vacation, after inviting Alice to stay the weekend. Mark convinces Alice to stay in case Joanna returns, but after a few days he admits that Joanna has been missing for several days. The question is... where is Joanna? And why does Alice allow Mark to convince her to stay in their apartment?

I love a thriller that can keep me guessing. There are some pretty strong hints and sketchy behavior in this book from all characters, so it's hard to pin down what really is happening. In my opinion, this is the sign of a good mystery/thriller novel. The book is told from Alice's point of view, at least until just over halfway through then you get a look into Joanna's circumstances as well. Alice has her own issues, but is a fairly reliable narrator - even if she makes some poor decisions at times... Mark as a character is weird and sketchy, you never quite know what to think of him - and frankly I still don't!

One thing I will point out is that I don't feel like everyone's story lines are wrapped up at the end of the book. There are still some questions I had at the end. I don't really take this as a negative, but I do wish I had answers to some of those questions.

If you're looking for a book filled with suspense, a mystery involving a missing wife, and a friendship that has some terrible secrets - check out The Bride!

The Bride is a story about Alice and Joanna who were best friends, but have not seen each other in 10 years. When Alice’s life is going off track, she gets a text from Joanna so decides to visit her. Alice arrives to find Joanna is not home and Mark, her husband, is not upfront about where she is. What unfolds is a fast paced read of twists and turns, lies and leaves the reader wanting to figure out who to believe. Where is Joanna and what are the dynamics between these former best friends?

I'm a really a fan of psychological thrillers so I started reading this book as soon as I got approved. I was hooked from the first chapter and it was definetely a page turner for me. I really enjoyed this book and found myself not wanting to put it down. The ending on this was a cliffhanger but still fun to read.

I was interested in this book because I too am a bride planning my wedding and was drawn in by the cover. I enjoy psychologically thrillers but after awhile I've noticed a lot repetition and similarities among the genre. Also, why are so many female protagonists named Alice? I didn't know who to trust throughout the book - every character seemed suspicious and unreliable. I was confused by the end about who to believe and what was true and what was a fabrication. I kept reading until the end because I was eager to get some answers about who these people really were and what were their motivations and personal agendas.

I went into this book blind and was loving the first 20%, then when I worked out where the story was going my heart sank! Turns out everything I had enjoyed about the book was in the synopsis! From then on it was bland and basic with a cast of unlikable characters. Not for me, but many thanks netgalley and the publishers for sending me the ARC
2.5 stars rounded up

My first thought once I had read this book was how well the author represented how we all judge people on appearances. Their homes, the cars they drive, the way they dress - we all make a split second, subconscious analysis of the person depending on how they present themselves. But are we right to go on gut instincts and first impressions or are we better off relying on the impression we get of people over a long period of time? Do we really ever understand someone even after many years of friendship?

Alice and Joanna have known each other since their schooldays. Okay, so they haven't seen each other for...longer than Alice realised, but people have busy lives theses days. We don't live in each other's pockets, and time soon marches on and it's years, not months since they last saw each other.
Alice's relationship has just broken down, her partner admitting an affair which has resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. She's not in a good place, so when she gets an invitation to stay with her oldest friend and meet her fiancé before they get married she jumps at the chance to get away from her misery and get to know her friend again after their time apart.

Things don't go according to plan though. The beautiful apartment she has seen pictures of isn't quite as she imagined and when she pushes the buzzer it's not Joanna who answers - she's not there. A man's voice tells her that Joanna isn't there and is very cagey about where she is and when she will be back. Introducing himself as Joanna's partner Mark, he says he is happy for Alice to stay overnight and travel back in the morning despite not having been told to expect her company. There's something stand-offish about Mark which Alice can't put her finger on - he seems friendly enough, but is certainly holding something back. They spend a companionable evening together, with a personalised tour around the building which soon demonstrates that they seem to be virtually the only people there. The isolation puts Alice on edge, a feeling which only increases when she meets the 'security guard' who patrols the building. What is it about him that makes her feel anything but safe?

Admissions and revelations from Joanna's partner lead to Alice staying much longer than planned, despite her gut feeling that something really isn't right. Lines of communication between Joanna's parents and her partner are definitely not good, and Alice ends up with so many more questions than answers, yet feels obliged to stay around to support Mark.

The sense of tension that builds up is incredibly well written, with very subtle events happening which would make you feel very insecure yet in a way that you question your analysis of what happened. Should Alice trust Mark? She has so little to go on, yet she finds she is easily drawn into his version of how things are. But Joanna's relationship with him has been such a whirlwind, how well does her friend really know this man? With nobody around other than the creepy security guy and a lack of contact with the outside world Alice is certainly a lot braver than I would have been! I'd have been out of there at the first opportunity.

This book is a great demonstration of the saying "be careful what you wish for". Just because someone's life looks incredibly glamorous and perfect on the face of things, scratch the surface and you won't necessarily like what you find underneath. A chilling read which had me guessing right the way to the final chapters.

This review will be posted as part of the bookouture blog tour at www.sandiesbookshelves.blogspot.co.uk

I'd never read a book by Wendy Clarke before but the description got my interest and I was surprised how quickly I got in to it, I read the book over a couple of days and really enjoyed it, lots of twists and turns along the way to keep you guessing till the end. Would highly recommend and I have just brought her two previous books on Kindle to read.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It had an interesting twist, but there were a lot of questions that were left unanswered for me. It focuses on Alice, who, at a low point in her life, hears from her estranged best friend, Joanna, who invites her to visit and meet her fiance. Alice goes there (a couple hours away, not a big trip), only to be greeted by said fiance, Mark, who tells her that Joanna is missing. Alice doesn't have anything else going on so she stays with Mark to help him try to figure out where Joanna is.

I didn't find any character in this book particularly likeable. I generally enjoy a book with an unreliable narrator, but I almost felt like the author was trying too hard to make me question everybody's motives, which somewhat hindered me from developing my own point of view of what was happening. Also, even though the end has a big twist, it invited more questions than answers for me about Joanna's and Alice's relationship and the history between them. Continually, when the villain is unveiled, I had a hard time suspending my disbelief about whether this person would go to such lengths for the reasons they described.

On the positive side, I thought the imagery of the apartment building and the wharf in general was really well done and I could easily picture the location- the emptiness of the surroundings gave the story a creepy vibe.

All in all, good twist but I just felt like it wasn't tied together all that way. It's a quick read, though- I finished it in a day.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I skimmed through so much of this because I was so unbelievably bored. I saw a lot of reviews saying the second half of this is better but I just didn't really care by that point. I found the writing, especially the dialogue, to be super dry and strange. I was just so uninterested and not entertained while reading.

So I was sucked into this book from the start, true it was a little “woe-is-me” from the main character, Alice, for a lot of the book; her life is pretty much falling apart. Alice has lost her job, just had a horrible trip with her father, nearly gets run over by a car, and her fiancee is leaving her; but then her long estranged best friend reaches out that she’s getting married and should come visit to meet the new beau, possible light at the end of a dark tunnel?
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Then one thing after another happens, including, upon her arrival, finding out her best friend, Joanna, is missing, and she’s left in the company of Mark, the new beau. This is where I’m not sure I could really latch onto the story, because Alice decides to stay in the company of Mark, whom she’s never met before, for hope she can help discover a friend she hasn’t spoken to in 10 years? Then combined with every other twist and turn, there’s a lot that hinges on Alice needing to grasp onto anything she can for hope in her shattering life.
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I really imagined that as everything started to unfold I hadn’t guessed the outcome, and nope I didn’t! Which was good, but still brain boggling of what happened, and then a total lottery win for how it works out in the epilogue. All in all I couldn’t put it down, the ending was a little bit dragged out; still I liked it but at the same time I still have questions and some mixed emotions.

When I saw this title on NetGalley, I was intrigued. The summary of the book led my thoughts down a path of “what-ifs” and I was thrilled when I received the approval.

The book summary read as follows:
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The moment Joanna told me she was engaged, I had this awful feeling that something was wrong.

We used to speak on the phone every day. Growing up I spent more time at her house than I did at my own. I’d always imagined what it would be like to see her get married, and now I didn’t even know her fiancé’s name.

She asked me to come and meet Mark and I intended to tell her to slow down. You can’t know someone for a month and be sure that you want to spend the rest of your lives together.

When I got to Joanna’s front door, only Mark was there. He was charming and gorgeous and nothing but nice to me, and I started to understand.

And then he told me that Joanna was missing.
~
So, right up my alley, right? Right. So why is this only rated three stars on Goodreads and here? Simple. The writing style didn’t work for me. I felt that the narration through Alice’s eyes was interesting but it felt as though the author was trying so hard to make us doubt Alice and be unsure of her/ her motives that she really just annoyed me. And with the entire book up until chapter 29 being from her POV I was frustrated by her the entire time. I enjoy when we don’t get the character’s entire life story up front but it felt as if the tension was put there for the sake of having tension. It did not endear me to Alice or connect me to her in that way, instead I just wanted answers.

Still there were MANY positives to this book and I don’t want to overlook those in this review.

First; the genre. Yes, that’s my opinion that thriller books are amazing but, really, if you enjoy the genre you’ll like the mysteries in this book.

Second; the cast of characters. There were enough characters in the book to give me suspects, background and interest in the truth. I was told enough about each of them to like/dislike the character, to trust or mistrust them and to worry for their safety as the book continued.

Third; the MAJOR plot twist at the end. So much happened with the introduction of the second narrator and, while for a while I was frustrated with both Alice and the second narrator, I was soon shocked into a reading frenzy of needing to understand and to get the answers. The final pages of this book knocked me on my butt and may have ended up saving this entire book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & Bookouture for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. The Bride is a story about Alice and her bestie Joanna. Alice has lost her job and her fiance, Drew has left her. While she wallows in self pity, she receives a text from her friend Joanna, who asks her to come to London to meet her fiance. Alice heads out to meet her friend she hasnt been in touch with for the last 10 years. But when Alice finally lands up at Joanna's place, Mark, Joanna's fiance, meets Alice and it unfolds that Joanna is missing.
The story does have its twists, but the first half is a bit of a drag and then ending felt too abrupt.

I really wanted to like this book as it sounded very promising.
Best friends since childhood Alice and Joanna lost touch but get together once again as Joanna is about to get married. Alice sets out to visit her, as her life does not turn out as planned. But Joanna is not there...
The story starts really slow and IMHO there are too many descriptions that do not bring the story on. This changes in the second part of the book but I had to struggle as it seemed too forced to be a psychological thriller.

Thank you very much for this ARC #netGalley and #Bookouture

The Bride: Wendy Clarke
Publication: May 20th, 2020
Publisher: Bookouture

4 stars

Twisting, chilling, and page turning; an eerie psychological thriller that will keep you guessing.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for letting me read this advanced reader copy.

Best friends and self-proclaimed ‘soulmates’, Alice and Joanna were inseparable as kids. After 10 years passes without a word to each other, Alice randomly gets a message from Joanna. A second glance reveals that Joanna is excitedly reaching out to Alice telling her of her engagement; here's where things start to get weird. Mark (the fiancé) and Joanna have only known each other for a month. Alice, after having her life crumble in the days prior Joanna’s text message, decides it would be fun to visit her friend and meet this man who has Joanna completely smitten. This is when things start to get eerie. When she arrives, Joanna is no where to be found and its clear that Mark is not telling her everything. Who can Alice trust and more importantly, where is Joanna?

I was hooked from the very first chapter and finished it by morning! While some of the twists and turns towards the end felt almost forced, possibly not as natural as they could, I thoroughly enjoyed this read! The voices of each character were well developed and I loved how, after I finished, I still sat there questioning what had just happened for the better part of my day. This is not just a thriller, it’s a psychological thriller through and through so prepare yourselves! I would recommend this book to anyone who either likes psychological thrillers, fast-paced reads, or a tale of a passionate love gone wrong.

Along with posting on Net Galley, I will be posting my review to Goodreads, Amazon (when it becomes available), my Instagram (which has over a two thousand book review followers) and my blog. Please find the link to my blog post below. I am very grateful for the opportunity to review such a raw and gritty thriller. All opinions and thoughts are my own. Thank you very much.

Link to Blog Post: https://ifyoucanreadthisdotblog.wordpress.com
Link to Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/ifyoucan_read_this/
Link to Goodreads Post: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3329226501

Well, that was a whirlwind of a novel. I had no idea what was going on until the final reveal. Yes, I knew something was off, but I had no idea what exactly.

Alice has just broken up with her fiancé, and grieving her lost relationship, she agrees to go and visit her best friend Joanna. However Joanna isn't there when she arrives, and she's left with Mark, Joanna's fiancé, whom she has never met before. After dodging Alice's questions for a while Mark finally reveals that Joanna is missing. So begins Alice's search for her friend, with Mark for some reason reluctant to go to the police. As the answers slowly reveal themselves I for one can honestly say I didn't see them coming.

Twisty and turny, The Bride is a psychological thriller that will keep you glued to the pages.. It only has a handful of characters, and you'll find yourself second guessing yourself, and changing your mind about them, throughout. The setting, a luxury apartment building on the Thames, with only a few residents, and the rest of the building empty, adds well to the atmosphere. You know something isn't right, but can't quite pick what it is. This is my frst book by the author, but I'll be sure to look out her other works on the basis of this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC copy of this book in return for my review.
I have to say I really didn't feel comfortable reading this book. Perhaps it is because I am not a good flyer and that is how the book starts. My mood didn't improve with reading it was just a little to dark and to a certain extent unbelievable to me. They certainly didn't have a great friendship and although the ending was a fantastic twist it was not for me.

Read this in a day!!!!! Had me on the edge of my seat! Loved the characters and the twists were great. Thought I knew what was gonna happen, then nope I was wrong. And loved how the author ended it! Will definitely be reading more from this author.