A captivating dark domestic thriller! Daniel is a surgeon. Tess is a nurse at the hospital in London where they met. He is everything she has dreamed of. But shortly after marrying, things start to change after they move to Bath into an old mansion. He doesn’t want her to work, he monitors her every move and takes away her phone and bank card. It starts out subtle when he wants her to wear specific clothes for dinner but progresses to physical and mental abuse. She wants out but has to find the perfect opportunity!

My thoughts: Daniel the is vile and cunning so be warned. Tess is naive and thinks she can change him. But it works and this book kept me in on the edge of my seat. Great twists throughout and the end was shocking.

A cracking psychological thriller centring around a domestic abuse. A thoroughly good read .

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

The Next Wife is a fast paced physiological thriller. I read this book in a day as I couldn't put it down ! Twists and turns to keep you hooked.. a great read!

I LOVED this book.

Proper edge of the seat stuff. I literally stayed up all night to get to the end.

Fabulous premise and a joy to read.

Highly recommended, 5 stars from me

A young woman is smitten, in love with her new husband, and he decides they are going to move to another location and start a new life together. She excitedly plans for her future and takes a job position being a surgeon's assistant. She has never worked alongside her husband before and soon discovers that only knowing someone for two whole months before becoming his Mrs. is not always the best idea.
This book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Her loving husband all the sudden becomes both physically and mentally abusive, even going as far as to tell her what to wear and buys her granny clothes. The reader cringes every time he comes home. Is he Dr. Jackyl or Mr. Hyde? As she delves further into the mystery of what makes her husband act the way he does, the more she becomes in danger.
I loved every page to the very end. The author did a great job of keeping the suspense flowing through the entire book and I welcomed the surprise as she figured out who the old lady is who has been watching her home and the friendly man she meets at the train station when she goes back to England to clear out her husband's old house. You can't help but feel sorry for the wife and wonder how in the world she is going to get out. This book does not disappoint one bit! Thank you for another fun read NetGalley. I really enjoyed this book!

The Next Wife is the third book I’ve read by liz Lawler and doesn’t disappoint.
Tess is a nurse and has been swept off her feet by the dashingly handsome Daniel, he’s perfect and everyone loves him as he’s a fantastic surgeon. In a very short space of time Tess is married and is moving out of London to a house Daniel has bought. Tess sets up home but finds she doesn’t seem to do anything right and Daniel is losing his patience. Within weeks Tess is a nervous wreck as Daniel abuses her mentally, sexually and physically. He takes away her phone and her money leaving her totally dependant on him until a stranger sees her contemplating suicide and from afar tries to help. Tess starts to unravel Daniels history and finds out why he is the way he is.
Loved this psychological thriller, I did want her to just up and leave but if she did there would have been no story!
I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great psychological thriller which kept me glued.
Tess has married Daniel, the man of her dreams, but after the honeymoon things begin to change. There’s the sudden move to a massive house in Bath and the old lady that warns Tess not to trust her husband? Daniel becomes more and more controlling and completely isolates Tess. Tess has nowhere to turn.
I loved the characters even Daniel who was truly sinister.
Well worth reading!
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley

This was a new author to me and I enjoyed her style of writing.

I thought this had a gripping storyline that kept me reading and eager to know the ending.

A well written thriller that I would recommend.

A tense, twisty story that kept me on the edge of my seat. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read an advance copy.

An even more twisted version of the Daphne du Maurier classic Rebecca, Liz Lawler’s The Next Wife is domestic noir at its darkest and most disturbing.

Tess never believed that all of her romantic fantasies could come true. But when fate pushes her into the path of charming, successful and devastatingly handsome older man Daniel and the two fall head over heels in love, it looks like all her dreams have finally come to fruition. When their whirlwind romance leads to a proposal, Tess is overjoyed and as she settles down to married life with her Prince Charming, she is full of plans for the future which she is sure will be rosy and full of joy and happiness with the man who has made her so happy. However, Tess’s fairy tale is about to hit a major stumbling block as she finds herself plagued by doubts and insecurities.

With Daniel being so much more sophisticated than her, Tess begins to feel out of her depth. She cannot seem to get anything right and her new husband seems to be losing patience with her. As the chasm between the two of them grows with every passing day, Tess begins to see a completely different side to the perfect man she thought she was going to be spending the rest of her life with. Tess initially dismisses the darkness that seems to have taken over her charming husband. He is probably stressed at work or a bit fed up that she cannot seem to get anything right. Surely, he will be back to his old self in no time…or will he? Does Tess know the man she married? Will her Prince Charming turn out to be a villain with a dark heart and even darker secrets?

Tess begins to feel more and more isolated from her family and friends. As Daniel takes away her phone and her bank card, she is completely and utterly dependent on her husband. Tess is absolutely petrified and her fear intensifies when a stranger knocks at their door and tells her not to trust Daniel and to ask him what really happened to his first wife.

Trapped, frightened and vulnerable, Tess’s gilded cage continues to get even more claustrophobic. Is her husband truly a monster? What really happened to his wife? Will she ever escape this nightmare she is trapped in? Or is it already far too late?

Twisty, chilling and shocking, Liz Lawler’s The Next Wife is spine-tingling suspense that will keep readers on the edge of their seats throughout. A tense and terrifying tale of dangerous attraction, devastating betrayals and earth-shattering secrets, The Next Wife drips with menace and foreboding and is a nail-biting read full of jaw-dropping revelations nobody will see coming.

Liz Lawler’s The Next Wife is a heart-stopping exploration of what really goes on behind closed doors that readers will struggle to put down.

The Next Wife by Liz Lawler was a good psychological thriller and one which kept my interest throughout. Tess is a surgical nurse and meets Daniel a vascular surgeon in the hospital in London where they both work . After a whirlwind romance they marry and move out of London where Daniel gets a job at another hospital. After a few chapters we learn that Daniel is not all he seems and begins to control Tess in a nasty way. There were times when I wanted to shout at the book and tell Tess to get out of this relationship and couldn’t understand why she was staying, There is however someone watching out for Tess and things become clearer towards the end . My only dislike was that I felt that the ending was a big far fetched but in no way took away from my enjoyment of the book

Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. A thrilling read with lots of twists to keep you guessing. Newly weds Tess and Daniel seems to have the perfect life. Him a successful surgeon and her a highly skilled nurse, they move to a lovely new house to start married life. It all seems to good to be true and it is. Daniel sons starts to behave a very different way to the man Tess fell in love with. Gone is the romantic, caring and loveable man and in comes the controlling, violent thug that frankly would have us all running for the hills. When one of their older neighbours is convinced Daniel is guilty of even more than this, Tess becomes even more worried. What has she got herself in to and more importantly how does she get herself out ..alive.

Tess is a new bride in bliss w/her new doctor husband.  Everything is amazing until it isn't.  Her new husband starts changing & becoming a hideous monster & she can't figure out why or what she has done to cause it.  One day an elderly woman knocks at her door telling her to ask her husband what happened to his first wife. After that day Tess's world is changed forever.

I wasn't sure about this book at first because it seemed to me that the story started hasty like maybe some of the beginning had been left out. After the first few chapters though it pulled me in & I was hooked. Reading to see how Tessa will survive this monster she unknowingly married. The revelations towards the last chapters were mind blowing & will shock even the esteemed thriller reader. Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for my early review copy. I highly recommend you grab this one & sit down for a few hrs of excessive uninterrupted reading!!!!!!

Fast paced twisty book. Some issues as far as sexual abuse. Tess believes she married the perfect man. She thought their marriage would be perfect. After a few months she realizes she was very wrong. Daniel is controlling. Tess feels she cannot do anything right and Daniel scares her. One day a complete stranger comes to her door and tells her she needs to ask Daniel what happened to his first wife.
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

This was a very slow burn psych thriller. The ominous feeling was set from the beginning. The prologue actually brought to mind “The Shining,” that kind of cat and mouse search that you just know will end badly.
Now extrapolate that through the whole book.
It’s a testament to the writing that I sometimes felt afraid to turn the pages because I didn’t want to see what was going to happen next – while at the same time not being able to stop because…well, I wanted to see what happened next.
The mood and setting were definitely gothic. A mysterious mansion, secrets, bouts of madness…all quite atmospheric. It allowed me to be sucked into the world of the characters. The author did a great job creating that.
I thought Martha was an interesting character. She obviously knew something, but her dementia made her unreliable. The other characters (and the reader) never knew exactly what she was talking about. That was by design, and it was effective.
I obviously felt for Tess. She let herself get swept up in a romance that was totally a sham. As things took a darker turn, I kept rooting for her to get the nerve to do what had to be done.
While the domestic situation was awful, there were more pressures for her too. I shared Tess’ feeling of being suffocated from everything closing in on her.
Why is Martha watching the house? Who is sending Tess mysterious notes? Do Daniel’s “friends” have ulterior motives?
I loved the fact that everything didn’t really reveal until the very end of the book. By the time Tess begins to unravel the truth, it literally felt like a pressure cooker ready to explode. And boy does it ever. The surprises in the last quarter of the book keep coming, right up until the very last pages.
This was like a roller coaster that takes a long time to get to the top before setting off on a wild ride of unexpected twists and loops. It will keep you turning pages with dread and anticipation right to the end.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance review copy of The Next Wife by Liz Lawler.

This books prologue catches your attention from the get go with a shocking and dark prologue.

Newlywed Tess and her Doctor husband Daniel move into a huge mansion and for a while everything seems perfect... that is until Daniel starts coercively controlling Tess's every move - hiding her bank cards, instructing her on what she should wear and punishing her when she makes a mistake. It starts with verbal attacks and then things get progressively worse, until Tess feels like she is walking on egg shells, starting to fear the man she loves the most.

When the old lady who lives opposite knocks on her door and tells her she's in danger, Tess isn't sure if she's loopy or if she's on to something. She then tells her to ask her husband about his last wife; raising the question about whether Daniel has been in this house before. Is that why he's been acting strange? Was he married before and if so, did they live in this house together. Where is his wife now and what happened??

This book isn't an easy read, and describes some at times quite harrowing and abusive domestic violence which at times I found difficult to read without wincing. That said, you really find yourself getting in to the mind of Tess and appreciating her thought process; as dark and as difficult as it may be.

It's hard to describe this book too much without spoilers, accept to say that as time goes on, Tess learns more about her husband and that he is not the man she thought he was. Soon there is someone else who knows her secret; seeing behind the facade of a happy marriage and sending anonymous notes to Tess.

Is the lady over the road right? Did Daniel kill his last wife and is he now trying to recreate her in Tess? Will she stay or will she manage to escape?

I enjoyed this book and felt the ending was a great conclusion to a complex and dark relationship between the two main characters. My only real criticism of this book was that some of the medical jargon used was too much (I don't feel it needed to go to that level of detail) and that at times it made unpleasant reading due to just how real and vivid the descriptions of the domestic abuse were in parts. It's not an easy read, but is a page turner none the less!

A gripping story of power and control and one woman’s battle to escape. This book begins with a bang with a mysterious murder, and then we join Tess and her new husband in their new home. But something isn’t quite right there. There’s a lingering lavender musty smell and the feeling of another woman there before her. Soon enough, Tess realizes her handsome surgeon husband isn’t who she thought he was. Then there’s the matter of the mysterious notes....and the newly discovered diary...

This book doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and the villain is clear from the start, but as a fairly traditional story of domestic suspense, I thought it did a scary, suspenseful job. The book does a great job of capturing the “frog in boiling water” nature of progressive intimate partner violence. While it was frustrating that Tess could not escape sooner, the book did a good job in exploring and explaining her trapped feelings.

I wasn’t super keen on the ending, which was a bit implausible, but it does give a satisfying conclusion to the story. 3.5 stars rounded up - this one is well-written with an ongoing sense of dread.

Thanks to Bookouture, NetGalley and the author for the advance copy!

Tess and Daniel met at a hospital in London. She is a surgical nurse and he is a well-known surgeon who can do no wrong. Tess fell in love with him right away and thought they would move into his London flat. But after their marriage, he took her to a large, ancestral home in Bath where he began work at another hospital. Tess is rather overwhelmed by the size of the house but tries to do her best to keep it up. When Daniel comes home to find her fixing dinner while wearing pajamas, he lectures her saying that in this house she is expected to dress for dinner and to prepare something really nice.

The next day, a large delivery arrives containing ugly, old-fashioned dresses and shoes that he obviously thinks she should wear. Included is a package of very brief underthings. Tess doesn’t know what to think. But when he gets home, he shows her what he expects leaving her traumatized.

Tess is shocked at Daniel’s bouts of abuse against her and wants to leave him….but she never does.

A woman who sits back and even with some chances to get away, continues to stay with her abuser makes me growl. For someone who is supposed to be a strong surgical nurse, she is certainly a weak little wimp. I did not like her helpless act and that turned me off from the book. Yes, the ending is good which is why I gave the book 3 stars, but abusers should never be allowed to stay with the sane population.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's one of those books that pulls you in from the first page and does not let you go until long after you have finished the book. The characters were so well written, it's a dark storyline with a lot of tension and I had no idea which way the story was going to end.
Liz Lawler has created a brilliant and riveting story that will have you turning the pages wanting to know more. I would definitely recommend and will look for more books by this author..

Tess thought Daniel really was her Prince Charming. After a whirlwind doctor/nurse romance they marry and begin the next chapter of their happily ever after love story. When they relocate from London to Bath, Tess slowly starts to see a change in Daniel and begins to wonder if she’s made a terrible mistake. As Daniel attempts to transform Tess into what she suspects must be his vision of a perfect wife, his controlling behaviour unravels into something much more sinister – physical and psychological abuse. To the outside world, Daniel is a charming, sophisticated, well-respected and successful surgeon but it soon transpires he’s very different behind closed doors.

Whilst the premise for this title is very similar to other titles in the domestic psychological thriller genre, it did have interesting additions which set it apart. There were anonymous postcards sent to Tess telling her to investigate what happened to Daniel’s first wife – Tess was Daniels first wife. Then an anonymous journal Tess discovered in their new house which detailed alarming events not dissimilar to her own ordeal.
This was a great read, different from many in the genre, with an excellent surprise twist towards the end.
Many thanks to Net Galley and Bookouture for the review copy.