Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

This book was fast-paced and fairly short which made it easily read in one sitting however in this instance I think the short nature of the book made for a rushed ending and sadly it just didn't really get there for me. Having read quite a few crime/thrillers in a row I don't know if I just had my expectations set too high given this was compared to Girl on the Train but I do think the story's premise had the potential to be great so I would happily read another by Stephanie in the future.

An Inconvenient Woman • Stèphanie Buelens
Book 41 - 2020
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Claire Fontaine is convinced that her ex-husband killed their teenage daughter all those years back and believes he’s capable of killing again. When she sees him move in with another woman, to play step-father for a girl the same age as the one she lost, Claire tries desperately to warn the new bride of the danger her family is in.
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This book was a dark ride into the lives of two different women with a similar goal. I quite enjoyed the flow that this book held throughout. Both lead characters were quite interesting, with every development or layer that’s uncovered you just want to know more. An interesting character examination; the things that form us and the things that fuel us, the lengths that we will go to to protect the ones we love. A very timely narrative about the sins of men and the lies they’ll tell to make the “inconvenient woman” appear unreliable or crazy.
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@stephaniebuelenswriter #andrewreads2020 #aninconvenientwoman #stéphaniebuelens #netgalleyreview #netgalley

Stephanie Buelens is a new author for me and I found this novel captivating despite being confused half the time of who was actually talking. Now that may just have been my mind which is a little topsy turvy with the pandemic and everything that goes along with that so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and blame that for my confusion.
A divorced woman is convinced that her ex husband was responsible for the death of her daughter who drowned while they were all aboard his yacht. The daughter was in her early teens and had confided in her mother that Simon was being suggestive and inappropriate towards her. When confronted Simon vehemently dismissed the matter - during a stormy night the girl drowned.
The mother finds out that Simon is about to remarry and is afraid when she sees that the bride to be has a daughter approaching her early teens and makes it her mission to try to stop the marriage to save the child.
With lots of different characters popping in and out I did find it a little difficult to keep up but I really did enjoy the novel and would certainly recommend it..

I was invested in this book for about the first half but then lost interest. Whilst the writing was good and the premise was promising, I didn't much care for the main character and the ending was a bit of a let down. Overall an OK thriller but not one of my favourites this year. Thanks for allowing me an ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for the preview of this book . For a debut author this book is excellent. It is dark, twisty & exciting. I really recommend this book & found it to be an excellent read.

The story is told from two perspectives. The first point of view is from Claire Fontaine a woman in her forties who lives in Los Angeles. She lives alone, she works as a French teacher, and, in her spare time, she mentor a young woman who used to live on the street and now is trying to get her life back on track. Claire Fontaine is obsessed and her obsession is her ex-husband Simon, a superstar lawyer, who is about to marry again. Claire can’t let that happen because the future wife has a ten-year-old daughter who looks like Melody, her own daughter, and Claire is sure that Melody’s death was caused by Simon, even though it was ruled as an accident.

The second point of view is from Sloan Wilson. Sloan is an ex LAPD detective who left the force when the job became too much and she turned into a sin eater, the person high-profile people hire to clean up their mess. And now Simon needs Sloan to free him of Claire once and for all.

What can I tell you about An Inconvenient Woman? It is gripping, intense, and engrossing. I read it in one day and not because the story is just a little more than 300 pages, but because I needed to see how the story evolved and how it would end. Is Claire telling the truth? Did Simon really molest Melody? Or is he as innocent as he claims to be? Claire is clearly paranoid, but is she also delusional? I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading.

I loved how the multi-layered characters evolved in the story. Claire and Sloan are similar characters. They are strong and clever and they both have past family drama and a complicated father-daughter relationship that has its own plot in the novel.

An Inconvenient Woman is very well-written and cleverly plotted. The ending is fantastic and explosive and it wraps up the story perfectly. This is a terrific thriller that I highly recommend.

This was quite the surprise packet. Meet Claire Fontaine, early 40s, private French language teacher - is she paranoid and delusional or is she right to be afraid of her former husband, Simon Miller, a wealthy and influential lawyer? Claire is convinced that Simon interfered with her daughter Melody, 15 years old at the time, who,killed herself after confiding in Claire who didn’t believe her at the time. How she wishes she had listened! Now Claire is dogged by demons, wary of men and in a sort of limbo with her life going nowhere. She gets a jolt of alarm when she sees that Simon is to marry again and his fiancée, Charlotte, has a 10 year old daughter who looks a lot like Melody did. Claire is desperate to stop him hurting another child but what can she do? With a history of mental illness she is not the most credible witness. Nevertheless she does kind of threaten him.

Meanwhile Simon engages Sloan Wilson as a sin-eater - a fixer/troubleshooter who makes problems go away. Simon wants Claire to be silenced one way or another. Sloan is a former LAPD police officer and has a lot of success with the gentle art of persuasion, no leg breaking involved. For a long time the reader is kept in the dark about who is telling the truth and who is being manipulative and the balance shifts a bit throughout the narrative.

Poor Sloan - dragged into a situation that will have explosive ramifications in her own life as she seeks to do her job while also clinging to a righteous path. Is she also an inconvenient woman? This was rather cleverly done and beautifully written. Many of the characters were quite ambiguous, I was never quite sure about them and I really liked that aspect. I did find Claire a little annoying at times, I felt like shaking her and telling to get a grip and move on but I did enjoy the book and would happily read more from this author. Many thanks to Netgalley, Quercus Books and the author for my copy. My opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed An Inconvenient Woman. It is a great domestic thriller which had me feeling unsure who was telling the truth right to the end of the book.
Claire believes her ex-husband, Simon, molested her daughter and is responsible for her death. Simon says Claire is delusional and that didn’t happen. Claire is worried he will do the same to his fiancée’s daughter. She has to stop him.
Simon hires Sloan, a ‘sin-eater’, to try to prove that Claire is delusional and to get her to back off. Sloan, like Claire, will also stop at nothing to get to the truth of the matter.
Who is telling the truth?
Brilliant idea for a story, so well told by this debut author. I really enjoyed reading the book.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There are several 'inconvenient women' in this novel, not least the central character Claire Fontaine. Claire is the bitter ex-wife of wealthy business man Simon Miller, and still blames him for the accidental death of her teenage daughter Melody, even though no one believes her.

When Simon becomes engaged to another woman with a teenage daughter, Claire is worried that the girl is at risk of the same fate as Melody and is determined to stop that happening. Simon believes that Claire is stalking him, planning to interfere in his marriage plans and hires Sloan Wilson, a "sin eater", someone who specializes fixing other people's problems. Well known for her success rate, Sloan can usually resolve difficult problems with gentle persuasion but if that fails she moves on to stronger tactics. However, as Sloan begins to get to know Claire she finds the truth is somewhat more complicated than painted by either Claire or Simon.

This starts off as a psychological thriller where you don't know if Claire has grounds to be scared of Simon or is just deranged with grief for her daughter and obsessed with hurting Simon and then through some surprising developments start to uncover secrets from Claire's past. There are perhaps too many coincidences tying up the past and the present but they can be forgiven in the delivery of a major twist in the plot that takes the plot in a different direction and an unexpected ending.

A well written, gripping and enthralling book that I couldn't put down.
It kept me guessing and wasn't able to tell who's right and who's wrong till the end.
Great characters, excellent storytelling and a solid plot that kept me hooked.
It's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Wow! I couldn’t put this book down. It’s such a intense book which I think adds to the story because it’s following the story of Clair me a french teacher who believes someone is watching her and also that her ex husband is responsible for the death of her daughter. No matter who she talks to they all think she is going mad and as Simon Her ex hires someone to sort out his crazy stalker ex Claire does not know how much longer she do nothing when Simon is due to marry a new woman with a girl very similar to her own dead daughter. This book is a thrilling read and does not disappoint.

Is Claire right that ex-husband Simon Miller preyed on her teenage daughter Melody and that he will do it again with his fiancées daughter too? Or is she an ‘inconvenient woman ‘ ? Simon certainly thinks so and he’s hired Sloan, ex LaAPD as his ‘sin eater’ / fixer to contain Claire. The story is told by Claire and Sloan.

Wow. C’est fantastique! Fantastic from the powerful start to the justifiable conclusion. It is extremely well written, I really like the authors style of writing which brings characters to life. All the way through you don’t know if Simon is a charmer or a wolf in sheep’s clothing, whether Claire is obsessive, delusional or truthful and it keeps you in suspense until the end. It’s shocking in places, there’s some creep and chill, fear and danger and the author drops some little bombs into the storytelling which doubles the intrigue. . Art is important to Claire and paintings are used effectively to convey a mood or accentuate a point and there is also powerful imagery through some of her thoughts.
As the story unfolds there are several powerful men who have inconvenient women in their lives which entwines cleverly into the narrative. I like the ending which is explosive, plausible, and right.

Overall, a terrific thriller with a really good well paced plot which I recommend. It would be great if Sloan features in any future books too as she’s a pen excellent character.

With thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the ARC.

Do you have an ex partner you can’t get out of your head? Claire Fontaine does and he ruined her life, she won’t let him ruin anyone else's.

French teacher Claire was once happily married to the love of her life Max, they had a daughter Melody and life was perfect until she tragically lost Max. She gets a second chance at happiness when she marries the charming Simon, a man of influence and wealth, he sounds too good to be true!

Simon she thinks holds a dark secret, she thinks he is responsible for the death of her daughter, her much loved Melody told her before he death that Simon was molesting her, Claire tragically doesn’t believe her and is now wracked with guilt for not trusting her daughter.

Claire learns that Simon is remarrying, a young woman with daughter, she can’t the same thing happen to them but the problem is no one believes her. Everyone thinks she is crazy, she must be lying as Simon is a golden boy, he can do no wrong.

Simon knows Claire hates him, he wants to prove his innocence and employs ex-cop Sloane, he is worried for himself and his new wife and step daughter, he fears Claire will hurt them, he wants Sloane to stop her - at all costs.

Sloane is good at what she does but she discovers that there is many sides to this story, it quickly grows arms and legs and she begins to wonder who is telling the truth. Is Claire crazy or is Simon guilty?

An Inconvenient Woman is a gripping read that does keep you guessing until the end, and that end comes very quickly and unexpectedly but is definitely satisfying.

An Inconvenient Woman, Stéphanie Buelens. 4/5

When Claire Fontaine learns her ex Simon is set to remarry a woman with a teenage daughter, her blood runs cold. Sure that years ago he molested her daughter and was responsible for her mysterious death, Claire vows to stop it happening again. Sloane Wilson is a former cop turned “sin eater” a woman you can pay to make your problems go away. When Claires ex hires Sloane to “handle Claire”, Sloane finds herself in the middle of a wreckage, conflicting stories, plenty of reasons to hate each other. Can she figure it out?

Thanks to #NetGalley and #QuercusBooks for my ARC of this book.

What a fascinating read. I love the idea of an “Inconvenient Woman”. Is that not what the strength of every woman should be? Her ability to make waves? Every woman in this novel would be considered “Inconvenient” and that for me, was part of the brilliance and what makes it such a well timed novel. In the era of #MeToo and #WhyIDidntReport the idea of an Inconvenient Woman is so well placed, so well written and so well captured here.

This novel is absolutely gripping, from that intro onwards it’ll be hard to turn away, as Claire grasps with both episodes of what she believes to be paranoia and delusions the reader will be drawn into her dizzy and confusing narrative. Whereas Sloans chapters are a hard hitting, bolshy read that cut through the fog.

Excellent character and plot work and well tied together considering the novels length. This is an easy thrill to lose yourself in this Autumn.

This was a fast paced drama mystery that I read in one sitting. It has a great premise, but I didn't doubt for one second that I'd figured out the truth. There were a few surprises along the way which made the book all that more interesting.

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

This one really kept me guessing. Just when I had decided who was telling the truth, something happened to make me doubt it. Really a thinker’s thriller, this is not a book you can put down and come back to. I quite liked the characters although found some of the twists and turns a bit annoying. Well written, good story - definitely recommend.

When Claire Fontaine learns that her ex-husband Simon is marrying again, to a woman with a teenage daughter, her blood runs cold. She is sure that years ago Simon molested her own daughter and was responsible for her mysterious death. She can't let him get away with it a second time. Vandalism, harassment; whatever it takes, Claire will expose him.

Simon hires Sloane Wilson, an ex-cop turned 'sin-eater', whose job it is to handle delicate cases without getting the police involved, to get Claire off his back.

I actually enjoyed reading this. The minute I read the prologue of the book, I was hooked on..

Sloane was obviously my favourite character but I loved the way Claire was portrayed. At times I felt sorry for her and experienced the fear and isolation that she experienced. The remainder of times, just like her best friend, Ava, I thought that Claire was exaggerating.

It was interesting to learn about a 'sin-eater', also known as a fixer or a cleaner, it was the first time that I had come across such a term.

While I felt the ending was kind of abrupt, the secrets and the twists at the end were amazing. Also the meaning of the title 'An Inconvenient Woman' was like a shocking reveal.

Thank You to NetGalley and Quercus Books for this ARC!

This was an absolute thrill ride. I read this in one sitting. Fantastic and modern story with lots of twists and turns.