I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed reading it the plot was interesting and the characters made me want to know more about them. I highly recommend.

The Vow was my first Debbie Howells novel, and it definitely won't be my last! I really enjoyed this book...the characters were interesting, and I liked that the story was told from multiple perspectives. It was full of twists and turns, and I didn't see the ending coming at all. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review The Vow...I'm looking forward to reading more of this author's work. : )

I felt that the book started out strong. I was quickly interested in what happened to Matt that he would disappear two weeks before his wedding to Amy. However, there was so much repetitiveness that I quickly became bored. Also, there were 4 pov's and I found that to be confusing at times.

Synopsis:
"Two weeks before her wedding, a stranger stops Amy in the street and warns her she’s in danger. Then that night, Matt, her fiancé, doesn’t come home. Desperate, Amy calls the police – but when Matt fails to emerge, she’s forced to call off her wedding day.Then another man is reported missing, by a woman called Fiona – a man meeting Matt’s description, who was about to leave his fiancée for her. He was supposed to be moving in with her – but instead, he’s vanished. Amy refuses to believe Fiona’s lover can be her Matt – but photos prove otherwise, and it soon becomes clear that Matt has been leading a double life. As the police dig deeper, two conflicting, yet equally plausible stories emerge from two women who allegedly have never met. The wedding day never happened. But the funeral might."

Reveiw:
This book was soooo good! Couldn't put it down and didn't! There are multiple view points (which i love) and great plot twists! This book kept me guessing and kept me intrigued! What a great thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

After a few false starts, I finally got around to actually reading The Vow by Debbie Howells. When I say I devoured the book, I’m not kidding. I actually stayed up until almost 5:30AM to finish the book. That’s how engrossed in the story I was.

I won’t lie, the book starts out a little bit on the slow side. The “action” starts right away – the groom-to-be disappears, but after that it just takes a bit for the book to get going. You just have to hang on to get there because once you do… BOOM. It’s way faster paced and it’s way more intriguing.

You’ll get several points of view in this book – Amy, the bride-to-be, Jess – Amy’s daughter, Fiona – a character you’ll meet later, and then there are the flashbacks to 1996 – where you’re never quite sure who is doing the talking, but you know something’s going on – and it’s not good.

Out of all the characters I think I like Jess the best. While her point of view chapters don’t come as often as Amy’s or Fiona’s, she seems to be the only person who isn’t hiding something and who doesn’t have a past she wants to forget. Amy and Fiona share a past and they do want to forget it – even if they can’t.

The plot twists in this book are amazing. While you might see some of them coming, because they’re telegraphed and easy to spot, those twists serve to make the ones you don’t see coming that much better. For me, the best part was the reveal as to who was actually behind the groom-to-be’s disappearance. To say I never saw it coming was an understatement. I’d never in a million years have guessed that – although you do get some setup to it so it isn’t just turn the page and BANG – a shocking reveal. But it’s set up in a way that makes you question if the characters are correct or not.

This was a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to people who are willing to go with a slow burn mystery to get to a finish that will make you say “never thought of that”.

The Vow by Debbie Howells is a twist-filled domestic mystery. It keeps you guessing until the very end. I enjoyed this one alot. I would give it 4.5 stars

This book could have been 5 stars. It started off great. I was engrossed in the story almost immediately. The creepiness of the situation was thrilling. The mystery kept me guessing. I cared about the characters. I did not want to put this book down.
At ~60% the connection between the 1996 teasers and the present day story line was revealed. This was definitely tied to the motive, but how was not yet obvious. As more of the 1996 events were revealed, I decided another character must be hiding in the background, one we know nothing about yet, a character other than the ones that had so far been the focus of the novel. I fully expected a long-lost relative/friend/lover with a grudge to emerge soap opera style. And that is exactly what happened. I found this disappointing. Okay, one of the dead people had a relative who was still holding a grudge and had concocted a diabolical plan to get even. It just seemed too easy. There's somebody else out there, as yet unknown. This is a plot device from the daytime soaps.
Oh, well. It was a good book anyway. I prefer mysteries that I don't unravel so easily.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Vow is a must read thriller! I could not put this book down. I was hooked from the first page. There is so much suspense throughout the book. There wasn't anything I didn't like about this book.

Utterly forgettable.
Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.

I thought that the book was a very enticing a page turner. A great read. I loved the book. The plot was very well written and I cannot wait to read another book by this author.

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I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Vow took me a while to get into if I'm being honest. Even though things were slowly catching my attention, I just wasn't in the right mindset to dive into this. Eventually I was able to get out of my weird funk and just sit back and watch everything unfold.

In this, you will meet two women who are with the same man. Whether it's an engagement, marriage, or a known affair - things were just rubbing me the wrong way. So when the guy removes himself from the equation and is now "missing", well, things get interesting.

Throughout the book, I didn't know who's side I was going to end up on. Yes, at first I felt bad for a certain someone. Then I felt bad for the other. Both honestly had motive to kill the guy because he was a huge scumbag who betrayed them (in some way).

In the end, it had potential to be a bit better in my eyes. It just felt like things were kind of anticlimactic in some areas when I was expecting something bigger. Still, I enjoyed the book and I'm glad that I got the opportunity to jump into it.

The Vow by Debbie Howells is a psychological thriller. The story in The Vow is one that does change the point of view along the way between some of the characters with the main focus being on the lead, Amy. This one was also originally published in October of 2020 but now the paperback has been released.

Amy and her fiance are getting closer to their wedding date and have plans to go over more of the planning but as Amy is out doing errands a strange woman approaches her and warns her she’s in danger. Amy shakes it off and goes about her business thinking the woman doesn’t know her.

As Amy is waiting for Matt to arrive to go over their wedding plans he calls to tell her he has a client to deal with first and will be late. The next morning however Amy sees Matt never arrived home so she begins to frantically check on where he might be. Before long the police are involved and Matt is declared a missing person but when a second woman also reports him missing Amy doesn’t believe her fiance could have secrets from her.

Debbie Howells is an author that once I read my first book by her I have immediately grabbed any more I can get my hands on and always enjoy the story to some degree. The Vow for me was not her strongest effort I’ve read thus far with my final rating only being three and a half stars. Honestly, I think the biggest thing for me was this one seemed to go on too long and could have kept a better pace had it been a tad shorter as it seemed to get a bit repetitive. Otherwise though I still like this one even if not as much as others and will still continue to come back to this author again.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I was given an advanced copy of this novel by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun thriller! Howells set up a great story with familiar tropes, but it feels fresh in "The Vow". Read this book if you need a nice reprieve.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. You can purchase yours here: https://www.amazon.com/Vow-gripping-thriller-bestselling-guaranteed-ebook/dp/B085CG22GF/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Vow+Debbie+Howells&qid=1633391962&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

OK, this is my first book by this author and this poor woman, the author may be stalked by me looking for her next book. There were so many times that I was like OMG. My poor bestie had to suffer through ominous texts as I read this book. Did I mention that I read this book in one day? My bestie and I have a past, not as mysterious as these women, but I cannot imagine it coming up to haunt me now. A past that has impacted a domino effect of events, not just an isolated event. This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I did NOT see the things coming and the hits came and came and came. I think I need to make an appointment for my neurologist- I may have suffered another concussion with all those hits! This book was amazing and it ended and I am sad and am left with a bookover, another in one week. Two days, two bookovers, what is a girl to do?
Imagine the actions of your teen years come back to haunt you and then 2 weeks away from your dream wedding and suddenly your groom disappears…. Buckle up, you are going to be on an adventure with this one!

2.5 stars

Sometimes over the top and cheesy works in domestic suspense, but in this case I just didn’t think it landed.

The way characters were written, I didn’t feel connected with them. That’s not always a requirement for a good suspense/thriller read, but so much of this is from Amy’s POV during the time her fiancé is first missing and it seems like we’re supposed to be feeling for her. I did wonder what the deal was with missing Matt—that’s why I didn’t DNF—but I didn’t feel invested in Amy quite the way I think I was supposed to.

For instance, Amy explains that she was at first very calm when Matt disappears because she’s in denial. That makes perfect sense—but then she mentions that she briefly considers suicide. That is also a reaction that I as a reader could have empathy for in that situation; however, it seems mutually exclusive from being in denial and maintaining that surely everything will be explained. I just wasn’t totally gelling with what Amy’s experience was.

Also, after Matt is gone, police ask if she’s checked hospitals. Amy says it hadn’t even occurred to her he could have been hurt. That … seems like the obvious thing practically anyone would worry about if a family member disappears? Especially if you don’t think they would deceive you or even have reason to do so?

Characters also just speak and act in ways I found odd. Maybe they were deliberate red herrings, and they certainly made me think a lot of characters were up to something. The problem is, they go nowhere. There’s no reason given to explain their behavior.

As an example, I will give an example that I think is a very minor spoiler…

Amy’s therapist, having just heard from Amy for the first time in years, drops by Amy’s house to check on her. Supposedly she’s worried about Amy, but … that is just not a thing a therapist would do, right? And then she tells the police about Amy’s mental health. I don’t know the first thing about the law or health care in England, but … she can’t do that, right? So surely she’s in on whatever is going on, right? Nope, she is just a therapist whose behavior makes no sense. She had to meet Amy in the neighborhood instead of at an office so they could have a weird conversation about what different plants mean.

The ending was 50% cliche (tragic incident from the past back to haunt the people involved) and 50% absurd. Which again, can sometimes work. But this didn’t feel like cheesy fun; the way it came together just seemed ridiculous.

Amy and Matt are just weeks away from their wedding and everything seems perfect until one day Matt calls Amy and says he’s taking a client out for dinner and then is never seen or heard from again.
When the police investigation reveals that Matt has been seeing another woman and you would think this would add the normal twist of scorned mistress, but you’d be wrong. There are so many secrets and double meaning to everything that you never can quite say you’ve got it figured out.
The story is told from several perspectives as well as dual timelines so it can be a bit much to keep up with at times, and it could be a little shorter without losing anything, but overall I liked it and will likely read future books by this author.
Thanks to Avon Books and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

Amy is looking forward to her upcoming wedding to Matt. Her dreams are shattered when she receives a strange call from him one night and doesn't return home. The days pass by as she tries to figure out what could have happened to him. Did he get cold feet or is he hurt somewhere? With the police and her daughter Jess trying to dig deeper to his past, a shocking discovery is made when another woman Fiona reports her boyfriend missing. Her boyfriend also named Matt who was planning on leaving his fiancé for her. Amy can't believe it's the same Matt. But when the police target Amy as the prime suspect to Matt's disappearance and has evidence against her, it's up to Jess to prove her mother's innocence. Unfortunately Jess has no idea that Amy has been keeping a big secret and she's not as innocent as she portrays.

I thought this was an engaging and enjoyable book with POV's from different characters. A lot of different scenarios from past to present were going on and I thought everyone was a suspect. There were twists I didn't see coming and was second guessing everything. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper 360/Avon for the opportunity to read this book.

This is my first time reading a book from Debbie Howells and it wont be my last. The first third of this book is very slow and repetitive as it tries to build the background story, but once it takes off, you will not be able to put it down. All the twists and turns will keep you guessing until the very end. Follow along as you determine what happened to Amy's missing fiance.

Matt and Amy are soon to be married and have decided to write their own vows. Amy was divorced long ago and is the mother to Jess who is in her second year at university. Amy is an herbalist growing many of her own herbs, and preparing concoctions for her clients.

Amy is disappointed when Matt calls to say that he won’t be home until later as his boss has asked him to take an American client to dinner. As it gets later in the evening and Matt doesn’t come home, Amy gets nervous when he won’t respond to her texts. The next day she calls the police who start to check into his disappearance. But some things that Matt told her are turning up to be untrue. When a lovely floral arrangement is left on her front porch and she realizes that the stems have been wrapped in a bag of blood, she is hysterical and calls the police again.

This book delves into Amy’s past plus that of another character. It shows how easily some women can be led by men. Grrr! Grow up, ladies and don’t let yourselves be pushed around. The author keeps the reader guessing almost all the way through the book which makes one wonder what and whom to believe. This is certainly an unusual and compelling plot, and I applaud the author for her creativity. The only complaint I have is that I feel there was too much repetition of conversations which is not necessary as the reader has already read them. Perhaps next time those repetitions can be deleted.

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

I’ve really gotten into these psychological thrillers lately and this one was pretty good. It had all the required twists and turns with a few reveals, the writing was excellent and the pace was quick. I will definitely be looking for more by this author!