Good book! Three families living in the same housing estate become friends but really don’t know each other’s lives. Kate is hiding a past that she is running from. Gisela’s husband is hiding a secret from.her. Sally posts on social media of her perfect life. Nothing is really like it seems. Finally something occurs that brings all of the secrets out and they find how deep their friendship really is. Enjoyed this book!


Thanks to Kerry Fisher and Forever for the opportunity to read this book!

Overall a good story but I was a bit disappointed in the last few chapters, it felt like plot lines were just not adding up.

The Woman I Was Before is a solid read. Kate, Gisela, and Sally move into the same neighborhood at the same time. Each has a facade they represent to each other. One hides from the world, one longs for a child, and another posts charming family pictures on social media. For much of the book I was anxious to find out why Kate was hiding. One huge twist in the story took me by surprise. I liked how each of the women"s issues were tackled and what resulted. The character who did the most turn around was Hannah. It's a great book about character and strength. I liked the author's explanation for some of her inspiration for the book.

Thrilling, raw and emotional story of how we judge, compare, lie to others and ourselves. It's an unputdownable novel about human nature, social media, appearances and desires.

I was familiar with Kerry Fisher's writing, so The Woman I Was Before was not a surprise to me - in the best way possible. It's a compelling novel examining the li(v)es of three women, Kate, Gisela and Sally. I felt connected to the characters who were well developed and multidimensional, contradictory at times, in a way that perfectly mirrors true human nature. I could see myself a bit in each of the women. But the novel is not just all characterization - the story itself is twisted and raw, but I don't want to do any spoilers here.

Overall, Kerry Fisher's novel is a wonderful portrayal of some many issues women face today, as well as problems we create for ourselves. Comparisons, lies and deceit never really do us any good, but we do it because we're unhappy with various parts of our lives.

I'd be curious to check out the audiobook in the future as well because I previously listened to The Silent Wife by the same author and it was amazing.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great story about tragedy and friendships.
A reminder that sometimes the way we perseve things isn't always the way they are.
Also so true about real life and how we portray it on social media. An eye opener.
First for me from this Author so well written and easy to get caught up in all the characters.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Net Galley for sm early release of this book.

The Woman I Was Before is about three women who live on Parkview Road – a brand new housing development told from the perspectives of the three women who live on the street.

Katie, Gisele and Sally are the main characters but we also get to know their husbands, kids and partners. I feel like there were a lot of characters, maybe too many.
This book is about love, marriage, motherhood and friendship and social media.
So many times we post our "fake" lives or the lives we wish we had on Facebook and this book brought that to life.

Overall, I enjoyed this quick, fun read.
Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy.

What a lovely story about friendship, love and hope! There women meet when they move to a new welcoming neighborhood. Kate, a paramedic is running away from her past. A tragic accident which she feels completely responsible for has destroyed her life and once again she flees with her teenage daughter Daisy longing for peace and praying she will be dragged in the spotlight. Gisela is a nurturing, happy mother and wife of many years until her son falls madly in love with a much older woman and her adoring husband gets in deep financial trouble. Sally is a hard working career woman who wants to start a family with her boyfriend of ten years. He absolutely refuses to have a child and leaves her. An awful car accident will bring the three women together in the most constructive and uplifting way. They will support one another and become friends for life. This a most enjoyable and delightful book.

Do you ever scroll Facebook and yearn for the life your friends lead? Is social media the devil in disguise making us feel unsatisfied in the life we have found ourselves in? Sally, Kate and Gisela live in the same neighborhood and are casual friends. By following each other on social media they all seemed to be envious of each others perfect lives. But does anyone bare their secrets and difficulties on social media? We all want everyone to think we lead a perfect life, but does that really ever help us become close to each other in the end? These three women are all experiencing very difficult times in their lives but are keeping secrets from each other. This book made me realize how dangerous social media is to our mental health. How only seeing snapshots of peoples perfect moments can make our lives feel empty and unexciting in comparison. I enjoyed seeing the relationships between the women grow as the book unfolded. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out the secrets they were hiding. This was a very satisfying emotional roller coaster!

Three woman, neighbors in English suburbia, hide the truth of their lives. Kate is a single parent who moves to the neighborhood after a terrible past event. Sally, a childless married career woman, and Gisela, a stay-at-home mother, both present perfect lives on social media.

A neighborhood party brings them together, and over time, cracks occur in marriages and families, finally imploding when a car crash impacts them all.

The pace slowed so much at 50% that I had to skim through to finish, learning the truth about Kate’s past and the secrets Sally and Gisela finally reveal.

I’d suggest trimming 50 pages to keep the narrative tauter and the reader more engaged.

3 out of 5 Stars

Pub Date 06 Oct 2020

Thanks to the author, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#TheWomanIWasBefore #NetGalley

The Woman I Was Before focuses on relationships and friendships. Ms. Fisher combines these elements to create a solid contemporary fiction novel. I enjoyed the character development and the interactions of the main characters, both with each other and the secondary characters that are in their lives. Kate, Sally and Gisela are well-developed and multi-faceted characters as are their friendships. Fisher explores the characters and how they change as individuals as each follow their own path in life. She also delves into how their individual challenges impact their friendship.

The result is a compelling and emotionally rich story that illustrates how truth and honesty can heal. Each of Fisher's characters is endearing in her own right, but deeply flawed in ways with which readers will readily empathize. What readers will find in the pages of this book is more of character-driven story of relationships, challenges of life, marriage, motherhood and friendships.

I think all fans of women’s fiction are really going to enjoy this story as it has just enough mystery to keep readers mesmerized with the plot. I enjoyed the book overall and the topics explored did cause me to do some of my own thinking later. I'm going to read this author's other books and I will look forward to each new release. Ultimately, The Woman I Was Before is entertaining, thought-provoking, and will leave readers feeling hopeful and resolute.

I wanted to love this book, but ended up just liking it. The characters didn’t stand out to me, and some parts I just felt “stuck.” I will say that I really did enjoy the ending though!