For a debut author, Darby Kane hits this book, Pretty Little Wife, out of the park! Kane does an amazing job hooking you from the beginning and keeps you guessing until the last chapter.
Lila and Aaron seem to have it all. But behind every perfect picture lies the ugly truth. Aaron goes missing but it isn't Lila who seems worried. Everyone is looking to her for answers and she doesn't give up anything. As family secrets for Lila and Aaron start to be revealed, the story takes a very serious spin. Could these family secrets reveal what exactly happened to Aaron? And is he behind even more things sinister than anyone could imagine?
Overall, an amazing debut! I will be looking for more works by Darby Kane and will be recommending this book, Pretty Little Wife, to others. Special thanks to NetGalley, Darby Kane, and HarperCollins-William Morrow books for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
#PrettyLittleWife #NetGalley

This book was one of the best domestic thrillers I’ve read in awhile! It was gripping, fascinating and suspenseful! I found it nearly impossible to put down! Twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat!

Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane is shockingly awesome!
The brilliant pretty arm candy wife of a high school teacher, mixed with his understanding brother and a secrets running amuck! I was sucked in from the get go!
I’d give it 10 stars if I could!

I had some issues with this book from the first few paragraphs, but I kept going out of curiosity. The life of Lila Ridgefield has changed. Her husband prefers that she quit her job as a lawyer to be the perfect little arm candy wife he was taught to look for in life. He's a teacher. I'm a teacher and we certainly don't have that "Sugar-daddy" "Trophy Wife" kind of money that Aaron has. From the go, I was confused.
There's a LOT going on in this novel. Both Aaron and Lila come from horrendous backgrounds that are a bit confusing. Aaron has been having inappropriate affairs with his underage students and Lila uncovers it. A crack in her "Ms. Perfect" persona. But I never saw her as the "perfect" wife she was made out to be. She kills her husband, and leaves him at his HIGH SCHOOL to be found with all the evidence about his affairs. Ruthless, right? Except, before his body is found... it disappears!
Lila is the prime suspect and she comes off as cool and aloof. Her past is uncovered. There's a podcast and a bachelor brother in law. There was just all around too much and I didn't buy a lot of it. This was packed full of twists and turns that kept my head spinning but didn't dazzle me the way I had hoped.
Thank you to Darby Kane, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC.

PRETTY LITTLE WIFE by Darby Kane is a chilling and twisty domestic thriller that kept me guessing from beginning to end. Lila Ridgefield has survived her share of trauma in the past, but is now living what seems to be the perfect life in a small college town in Ithaca, New York. She is beautiful, smart and married to Aaron, a handsome and well-loved high school teacher. However, things are definitely not always what they seem. When Lila finds a secret phone with disturbing videos featuring Aaron, she knows she needs to be done with him once and for all. She carefully plans the perfect murder, but is shocked to learn that both his body and his car have disappeared before they can be discovered at his school where she left him. Could he still be alive? Soon the spotlight is on Lila and the detectives on the case will stop at nothing to solve this case. Does Aaron’s disappearance have anything to do with three women in town who have also gone missing recently? Suddenly, Lila’s carefully protected life is exposed for all to see. Full of twists and turns and unreliable characters, the suspense ratchets to a fever pitch. The story is told from the points of view of Lila and Ginny, the head detective on the case as they both try to throw the other of their game. PRETTY LITTLE WIFE is a complex and well-plotted suspense novel that thrills right up to the shocking conclusion. I look forward to reading more from Darby Kane in the future. Thank you to the author, publisher, Scene of the Crime Facebook group and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

Pretty Little Wife starts out slow and jumbled, and more than a little inconsistent but thankfully the last third of the book really helps make up for it. The story starts with Lila being intimidated by her husband Aaron after she finds something he's been hiding from her. But the story quickly shows her as being smart, cunning, careful and fully capable of killing Aaron. In fact, she thinks she's done just that until Aaron disappears. At which point she doesn't know if he's still dead, or taunting her from beyond the grave she didn't bury him in. As the story goes on Aaron looks less and less perfect, but is Lila a victim or villain? The story really gets interesting in the final third of the book, when Aaron gets tied into another underlying mystery of the story. The question is, was he responsible for that too, or is someone setting him up that still has it out for Lila? The true star for me in this story isn't Lila, but Ginny, the detective assigned to investigate Aaron's disappearance. In Ginny, Darby Kane has created a strong Black woman, with a stable family, a desire to do her job without letting politics drive her and plenty of smarts and savvy to know that she's not getting the full story from Lila. I hope Kane has plans for her in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review Pretty Little Wife, a sound, if not innovative, entry into the domestic suspense genre. That is not to say I didn't enjoy the journey or the search for the killer(s), but simply put it didn't strike me as new and fresh in the field.

As a character, Lila was well-written and rounded, with a "tragic" history. I was never quite sure whether to love or hate her and neither were the other players, from the police to the media to her attorney. Express hate, even indifference for her community-esteemed husband though? Not a chance if you don't want suspicion to fall on you and that's just what happens to Lila. Maybe deserved, then again, maybe not.

CID Investigator, Ginnie, was as complex a character as Lila. Trying to balance a career with a political climbing boss against her family, she demonstrates a take no prisoners, never quit sort of attitude. Even when ordered to turn the investigation over to the FBI, Ginnie presses on in her effort to prove Lila Aaron's killer.

Pretty Little Wife was full of enough twists and turns to make your head spin and that's part of the fun - trying to straighten this winding road out enough to decipher "who dun what". A well-written debut!


#NetGalley, #PrettyLittleWife

What a great thriller! It has both a compelling plot and subplot that kept me guessing from the beginning. It is suspenseful and the action never lets up, nor is the reader given a break. I read the book in two days and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lila is in a psychologically abusive marriage to Aaron when she uncovers some damaging videos of him and some of his female students. They bring back bad memories of her childhood and rather that risk her secrets being uncovered, she decides to kill Aaron. That's one way to get out of a bad marriage. One problem, after she staged his murder to look like a suicide, his body goes missing and she starts to receive notes suggesting Aaron isn't dead after all.

Told from the perspective of Lila and the investigator assigned to the case, it's a cat and mouse game to see if Lila can get away with murder. There is a subplot about a series of missing women being investigated by a pod caster that leaves the reader wondering if Aaron is involved in that as well.

This is a debut book that checked all of the boxes for me. My only complaint is that the author didn't explain the logistics of how Lila got home after she set up Aaron's suicide and a similar logistical problem with the missing body. I did figure out "who dun it" fairly early, but not the why of it. All-in-all, it was a great read and a wonderful debut for a promising writer.

Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow and the author, Darby Kane, for providing this advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. This book gets a solid 4.5 stars.

*Advance copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Pretty Little Wife was a fast-paced, engaging read right from the start. Immediately the readers are thrown into Lila Ridgefield's chaos - she discovers a secret her husband has been hiding and is in a tailspin. As readers try to figure out Aaron's secret, Lila's plan takes shape. She will murder her husband and make it appear like a suicide caused by his own realized guilt. However, things don't go according to plan: Aaron's body is missing, a tenacious detective is looking for him everywhere, and ominous notes begin to appear at Lila's house. Where is Aaron? And what is happening in their small Finger Lakes town?

I loved this book - there was so much to it that was just Kayci-catnip. A Finger Lakes setting, potential serial killer, and podcast converge. Lila was so unlikeable and unlike any other grieving, worried wife. I appreciate the fact that she never acted the way you expected and always was exactly herself. Other female characters fell a little short in development, especially Christina and Cassie, who probably could've been collapsed into one character to better make the author's point about Lila's development. The ending wasn't super predictable, though it did make the book a little less realistic to me.

This book is best enjoyed with your favorite Finger Lakes wine (seriously - pick any one). I definitely recommend it!

This book had a lot of twists and turns in it, especially towards the end. It kept me guessing what the outcome would be. I liked the character and plot development. Highly recommended. I received an ARC from NetGalley.

I started this book thinking that I would just read a few chapters before tackling my weekend to-do list. I was completely hooked from the very beginning and needless to say, I didn't get much done until I finished the book. A true page-turner, I'd recommend Pretty Little Wife to anyone who enjoys domestic thrillers. I look forward to reading more from Darby Kane!

As I understand it this is a debut thriller novel with a caveat as Ms. Kane writes romance under a different name. If this is her first Thriller (domestic), I can't wait for more. All the great ingredients have been included such as a perfect marriage from the outside and rotting from within, husband gone missing, seemingly unrelated missing women in the area, best friends, nosy neighbors, and co-workers. Everyone has an opinion on what's happening.
Eliza's husband, Aaron, has gone missing. And as the spouse, Eliza, is suspect. Everyone wants the missing husband found but none more than Eliza as she has secrets she doesn't want dug up by either the police or the ensuing media circus. But as the search continues, a local crime podcast that has been focusing on missing young woman (en), start to question if missing teacher, Aaron Ridgefield, could be yet another victim.
Pretty Little Wife catches the reader quickly and doesn't let go before a satisfying ending.
Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy. All opinions are mine

This was a good read. I really enjoyed it. Lila is married to Aaron, who teaches at a high school. She works as a real estate agent part time. Aaron appears to be a bit of a bully to Lila. Aaron goes missing and the town is upset by their missing beloved teacher. Lila doesn't appear that upset, except that she was the last one to see his body. Months before Aaron disappears a student has disappeared and prior to her, two other students. The detective in charge, Grace, works to uncover where Aaron is and if his disappearance is linked to the missing students.














aaron

Lila Ridgefield is living the perfect life: she's got a handsome and well-loved high school teacher for a husband, beauty, brains (she's both lawyer and real estate agent), and a picture perfect home in Ithaca, NY.

But looks can be deceiving, and Lila is hiding secrets and the pain of her past. And now her husband is missing. Which is odd--because she was the last person to see his body.

So where is he?

I was sold on this premise. You know up front that Lila is involved with her husband's disappearance, and I was eager to learn what happened. But this was ultimately a disappointment.

The pace is slow and I didn't care about any of the characters, with the exception of Ginny, the police detective. I liked her a lot and would have been more satisfied if this was set with her POV as the main character. I didn't like Lila at all--even learning her history I couldn't muster any sympathy for her, she was such a cold fish. And all the men in this book were just gross. Based on her characterization, I could understand why no one else thought anything of Lila, but I just didn't get why everyone was so head over heals over Aaron.

I forced myself through the first half of this (and admittedly ditched it for other books that I finished in the meantime), but then skimmed just so I could figure out the end. There just was never that "wow" factor that I look for in a thriller, and to be honest, the subject matter of abuse of minors just made me uncomfortable.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow's Scene of the Crime Book Club for making this copy available for review.

This was a new author but the story line sounded like other suspense novels I've read, so I thought I would give it a try. I was hooked and kept reading to find out what really happened. Some parts I was able to guess, but that's probably because I've read so much in this genre. Great read for anyone who loves mystery and suspense!

So good that I want to hear more from the author and the characters...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Such a great book. When you kill someone it's fair to expect them to stay dead... The conceit that begins the book was so intriguing and it was an enjoyable trip to see where that conceit would lead me. I love that I thought I knew what was happening throughout the book, but got surprised with everything that came up in every chapter. The characters were strangely relatable and likeable even when they did anything that was at odds with what is right. Everything about the book was satisfying, the clues and the red herrings, and even though it has a solid conclusion I still want to delve in to more crimes for the lead detective to investigate. It was interesting to see forms of domestic abuse that aren't physical, but are just as damaging.

An excellent book. It kept me interested throughout and at the edge of my seat many times throughout. The author jumps around on the timeline in a gripping way, and never loses you along the way. Super suspenseful, very well written, and satisfying in how all the small pieces of everything come together.

Thank you to the author, HarperCollins, Scene of the Crime and NetGalley for the ARC to read, review and enjoy.

Pretty Little Wife, Darby Kane’s debut novel, is a twisty domestic suspense novel that asks one central question: shouldn’t a dead husband stay dead? Lila seems to have an idyllic life, but when her husband, Aaron, goes missing her entire world is turned upside down.

What I enjoyed about this book:
Flawed, complex characters that I still somehow connected with.
Pretty Little Wife is a layered book where you slowly get bits and pieces of the story. And it just keeps getting more screwy! Perfect for a thriller!
This one is well written, perfectly-plotted and has a satisfying ending!

Four twisty stars from me!!

Thank you to Darby Kane, William Morrow, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this story due out December 29, 2020.

Marriage. It’s so idyllic isn’t it? Then again, I guess that depends on who your spouse is.

When Lila Ridgefield’s husband Aaron goes missing she is the prime suspect. Of course, she’s guilty as charged.

The problem is that she thought she planned the perfect murder until his body disappears from where she dumped it and now she’s up a creek without a paddle.

That, of course, is not the only problem.

Oh boy. Lila is in deep doo doo! Luckily for her, she’s not the only one!

Hang tight my friends, “Pretty Little Wife” is a roller coaster of a ride that will not let you off until the very end.

The writing in this novel started off a little choppy - which admittedly made it hard for me to connect to at first and then all of a sudden it smoothed out around 25 - 30%. Once the writing settled down, I was hanging on for dear life. A fun, crazy, wild read that had me totally engrossed even though you have to suspend disbelief.

A fun buddy read with Ms. Kaceey!

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers - William Morrow and Darby Kane for the arc.

Published on Goodreads on 10.18.20.

So enjoyed this thriller that kept this reader on her toes as the author led us on a merry chase.

Lila Ridgefield, is married to Aaron and seems to have an idyllic life. As we have seen on numerous occasions what goes on behind closed door is never what one sees when they are fully open. In this wonderful town, a girl has gone missing for months. And then the strange occurs when Lila's husband also goes missing. Lila kind of knows what happened to Aaron and then again perhaps she does not.

As the town is stuck by the two missing people, more missing women turn up and the cases of all seem to meld together. Enter the intrepid detectives hot on the trail of yes, you guessed it Lila., who is some cool character. Ms Kane did an awesome job with her depicting her as cold, hard and determined not to crack under pressure. However, Lila has reasons for her behavior going all the way back to her awful childhood.

And then there's Aaron! He's a real prize, one whose character is revealed as the tale continues to its dramatic conclusion, as the author keeps the tension high and the interchange of the characters a thrill ride.

Definitely recommend this thriller as it contains all the elements that makes one love the thrill of the read.
Thank you to Darby Kane, William Morrow, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this story due out February 23, 2021.

Wow - not where I thought this book was going at all, and that being said, how great to have actual surprises and twists and turns! Completely enjoyed this book and quickly read through it!