I have never changed my mind so many times in a book about who the bad guy or girl is!
Alice was a little bit annoying and I found myself throughout the story, wishing she would just get a backbone and stick up for herself - it seems as if her whole life, people have just walked all over her.
I definitely enjoyed this book and I read it in 2 days because I just wanted to know what had happened to Joanna!

Disclaimer: I have been sent a copy of this book for review purposes. This has not influenced or affected my opinions in this review.

“a feeling of unease insinuates itself under my skin”

I love a book which makes me feel and The Bride did exactly that. It conjured up feelings of tension and confusion which gripped me. I felt the confusion alongside the protagonist which strengthened my connection to the main character. From the minute he was introduced, I felt there was something suspicious with Mark, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Almost immediately I sensed that something was off between Alice and Mark and I think the tension between them heightened the overall atmosphere of the novel. Also, the relationship between Joanna and Alice is something which makes me question everything I’ve learnt so far in this novel. The Bride is a novel filled with secrets. So many secrets which are just waiting to be uncovered. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending, but I enjoyed the book, nevertheless.

*3 stars*

My feelings are a bit mixed on this. It felt so slow at the beginning and I had trouble getting in to the story. Things definitely picked up in the second half of the book, and while the ending wasn’t a shock or a crazy twist, I quite enjoyed the way the author left things. I’m looking forward to reading other works from this author.

This book was a DNF for me. The writing was subpar and the story line did not draw me in. The main character was not very likable so I was not invested in her story.

Yeeeeaah...so, the problem here is that no one would ever act like that under any possible circumstances. Not one character read well and there were at least a few timeline discrepancies.

This bride goes missing (theoretically) and no one, including her fiance has any idea where she is. Her best friend (is she though?) starts to try and find her. That's the book. Even as simple as that sounds, there are plenty of twists along the way. Some things I saw coming, some I didn't. A couple of times I said, "Oh really?". That's usually a good sign...when you talk to the book.

I thought it was gonna be a book about a wedding. Haha, what did I know?

Still good though!

The Bride comes out 5.20.2020.

4/5 Stars

This was a slow burn psychological thriller that I read in one sitting. The first half dragged on a bit much, but during the second half I was glad I persisted with reading it.

It's a well written story that had some great twists.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

There nothing in Alice’s life that didn’t go completely wrong in the last couple of weeks: her employer laid her off, her father didn’t want to see her and now, her partner leaves her because he is having a baby with another woman. After days in bed, she gets a message from an old friend. Joanna. Her former best friend with whom she has lost contact, but now, Joanna wants to meet her to get to know the man she’s going to marry. Could there be a better excuse to leave everything behind at least for a couple of days? Obviously, Joanna must be quite successful living in one of the new posh apartment blocks which must be super expensive. However, when, Alice knocks on the door, there is just Mark, Joanna’s husband to be and he knows nothing of a visitor. Joanna is not there, also the next day, she doesn’t show up. Alice feels increasingly uncomfortable until Mark tells her that Joanna has been kidnapped and that he needs her help to get her back.

Told from Alice’s point of view, you go through a horrendous mass of emotions – emotions which could hardly be more contradictory. Wendy Clarke leads the reader through a tour de force of lies, secrets and very spooky and distressing moments that, at times, give you the creeps. Just like her protagonist, you do not know whom to believe or trust, the whole situation she is caught in feels like a big ghost train rushing towards a giant obstacle without preparing for the impact.

I totally adore plots which keep you alert throughout the whole narration. It is those seemingly insignificant side notes that reveal that there’s so much you do not know, that all characters have some blind spots you don’t see and that everything might be completely different from what you expect or believe. Even though I found Alice a bit too naïve and shallow, I liked to follow her.

The further the plot gets, the higher the pace and suspense, thus a true page-turner that entertained me well.

Alice’s life is falling apart and she feels she needs to reconnect with her best friend after they drifted apart. When Alice makes plans to see Ruth, it all seems to be strange. Ruth has disappeared and her partner, Mark, is very evasive. Is he hiding something?
This was another fabulous book from Wendy. Her characters were all intriguing and I devoured this over two sittings. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am a little in shock at how someone can come up with all the twists, turns and manipulations all in one book. Just when you think you have figured it out, something else happens.

Alice used to be best friends with Joanna, who she somewhat idolized as Joanna came from a decent background. Fast forward to the present, Alice hasn't heard from Joanna in 10 years, yet Alice runs to be by her side, without wondering why she hasn't heard from her friend in so long.

This book will grip you from the start. I could not put it down.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

- All opinions are my own.

A story filled with twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end. Alice’s live is falling apart and she hears from a childhood friend, Joanna and she wants her to meet her fiancé Mark. When Alice arrives Mark is not expecting her and Joanna is missing. Will they find Joanna? What is going on with Mark? Why doesn’t he want to call the police?

This is a story that grabs you and you don’t want to put it down. Thank you to Netgalley for the complimentary copy. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Many thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book.
What would you do to help a friend? And why? This story is about two friends ... and obsession. The fine line between love and hate. For the first 75% of the story, I thought I knew what was happening. I thought wrong. Very wrong. There’s a twist and it’s a doozy! This is a fun read for sure!

OMG what did I just read! I never even thought it to be like this. This book keeps me pulled in. The first chapter is curious enough to keep you reading. The twist always go higher and higher until it blast! Definitely unexpected.

What begins as a straightforward visit to a friend to meet their fiancee turns into a complete nightmare for Alice. Not having seen her close friend Joanne for ten years she doesn't stop to question the text which arrives inviting her to London. Alice is in a bad place. Having lost her job as a teacher and with her relationship with partner Drew in tatters - he's left her for a work colleague who is having his baby - visiting Joanne for the weekend and putting distance between her and her problems seems an ideal short term solution.

But when she arrives nothing is as it should be...and everything is about to get far worse. A real twister of a tale where you're never quite able to work out who is good and who is evil.

Growing up I’m sure we all had this one best friend, the person we always hung out with, spoke on the phone for hours with and we knew we could always rely on. Over the years those kind of friendships change and evolve, just like our lives do. Life might take us in different directions and we might have lost touch. But what if that person contacted you again ten years down the line?

Not unthinkable in this day and age with social media and the communication tools available.

That is exactly what’s going on with Alice and Joanna. Ever since Alice set foot in the boarding school Joanna was already attending they became best friends and were inseparable. Until 10 years ago. They haven’t been in touch since, until unexpectedly Alice gets a message from Joanna in a time in her life when she could use a good friend.

Joanna invites Alice to come meet her fiancé Mark. She’s inviting Alice to come spend the weekend with her in her apartment at the newly developed New Tobacco Wharf at Black Water Dock in London. Alice decides to take her up on her offer and drives down from Brighton to London to spend time with her childhood best friend and her new fiancé. But when Alice gets there Joanna isn’t home and Mark didn’t know she was coming. Nonetheless he invites her in to wait until Joanna gets back, after all it’s not uncommon for Joanna to just disappear like that for a day.

While Mark and Alice try to get to know each other while they wait for Joanna to return Mark drops a bombshell on Alice and admits Joanna is not gone for the day, she has been missing for a few days already. Scared for her friend and wanting to help, Alice decides to take Mark up on his request for her to stay and help find Joanna. A weekend turns into a week and still no word from Joanna until a clue shows up.

Where is Joanna? Who has taken her? Why isn’t Mark being completely honest to the police? Does he have something to do with her disappearance? Will Alice ever see her best friend again?

Wendy Clarke created a page turning psychological thriller with this one. From page one I was drawn into the story. The story starts with the ending, someone in a hospital bed not remembering much. But who is it and how did he or she get there?

Alice our protagonist is a bit of a fickle lady. She seems to suffer from some kind of anxiety and she has a bit of a naivety about her. There are certain things she does that I can understand someone doing in certain situations. But at other times I just want to tell her to wake up and realise her reactions and actions aren’t particularly normal.

Mark at first gave me the creeps. He seems so slick and a smooth talker, especially in the way he can make Alice do or say things. But is that really him, or is that just as much Alice? The more the story continues the more I seem to grow some kind of understanding for him.

As far as Joanna goes, I really felt for her at first. A woman who grew up an only child with wealthy parents that didn’t have too much time for her. She finally had made it away from her parents’ grip and found some happiness, joy and love in her life. But as time went on I realised she seemed to feel pretty entitled still because of who she is. It might be entirely possible she rubbed someone the wrong way who might be out for revenge. I don’t know, I can’t say I would want someone like her in my life let alone as a friend.

The other characters in the book added to the overall feeling of dread. Assumingly any one of them could have been responsible for what happened to Joanna. The setting of the beautiful New Tobacco Wharf apartment building in the Black Water Docks, the only lived in building in an otherwise very abandoned development site, adds to the overall feeling of doom and gloom.

Overall I think Wendy Clarke delivered another great book with a “got to know what happened” story line. I read this book in a few hours on the day the ARC was given to me. I can certainly recommend it for anyone who likes a good psychological thriller, a page turner and some plot twists. It wasn’t entirely perfect for me as I would have liked a bit more ruckus in the ending but at the same time it might leave open the door for a continuum of this story in a future book.

Solid 4 stars. Although I really enjoyed this book, I felt it was a little slow for at least the first half of the book.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and and review this book.

I give major kudos to an author who can write a mystery that throws me off. This book did that, several times. All the way to the last page.

OMGee!!!!! The twists and turns in the book were unbelievable!! I could not put this book down. I have read a lot of thrillers, but this one has beat them all. It pulls you in from page 1!! A must read. 5 million ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In The Bride, Alice’s luck has run out. She’s just lost her job, and her fiancé admits to sleeping with another woman. Fed up, Alice welcomes the summons from her friend, Joanna, to come to her house and meet her new fiancé. Joanna and Alice haven’t seen each other in ten years, and she’s concerned that Joanna and Mark have only known eachother for a month. When Alice gets to their apartment in a new development on a deserted wharf, Joanna isn’t there. When Alice gets Mark to finally talk about Joanna, he caves and admits she’s been missing for two days.

This book fell flat for me. I got through 30% of the book before the first big twist, and it felt like I had to trudge through a lot of exposition to get there. The chapters felt a bit long to me, and each chapter ending tried to salvage the story by introducing a mini twist. The ending seemed a bit too predictable to me, and I didn’t really understand the motivations of each character. There were some minor characters that got introduced for no reason other than to contribute a minor detail to the plot and then fade back into the background.

I was a little disappointed, but I still think suspense fans should give this a try. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for lending me a copy!

A quick and light read that (for me) lacked realism and pace. What started out as an interesting proposition quickly petered out half way through.

It definitely felt like there were two halves of the book. Neither of which we’re truly explored. The first half follow Alice, a self pitying mess of a woman who seems to flit from one misery to the next without backbone or any basic desire in her life. The choices she makes and the ways in which she is so easily ‘played’ are just a bit too annoying for me to find any real connection with her. The second half is more focused on Joanna but sadly by the time I got to this part I was already loosing interest.

The twists were a bit too obvious, I couldn’t really engage with any of the characters and all of the obvious red herrings you could think of were used as a platform for the upcoming twists.

It’s always a shame to finish a book that didn’t really do ‘it’ for me. Especially when I feel like I was sucked into the marketing of its twisty plot.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to download a copy of this book. As always my thoughts and reviews are my own and they will not always be the same as everyone else’s.