When I saw that Darby Kane, author of Pretty Little Wife, had a new book coming out I immediately set my sights on the newest release. The Replacement Wife follows the journey of Elisa in her quest to uncover the secrets that her brother-in-law is hiding.

The book follows Elisa as she struggles with PTSD from an incident that clouds her ‘judgement’ (or does it?). Through the fog, Elisa begins to wonder if Josh is might be hiding a secret. With a missing fiancé and a dead wife, it’s hard not to wonder if Josh is a potential murderer. With her sleuth cap firmly in place, Elisa sets out to uncover what secrets are lurking in Josh’s past.

With Josh announcing he is dating Rachel, Elisa knows that uncovering the truth is more vital than ever before. No one believes the revelations that Elisa is bringing to light. Not even her own husband – Harris. As the mystery unravels, Elisa begins to wonder if her mind is playing tricks on her. With her marriage, family, and sanity on the line, Elisa knows that she must fight to uncover the secrets that lie within the walls of her home.

Okay….I have mixed emotions from reading The Replacement Wife. The pages are riddled with a suspenseful tale that would keep anyone glued to the pages of this book. At the same time, there is a roller coaster of emotion behind the gaslighting that occurs in the story. Elisa’s life is compounded with self-doubt and no one to believe the secrets that she is uncovering. In spite of the chaos – I couldn’t put the book down! Then came the ending. I was screaming ‘Is that it?’ I couldn’t get over the let down after such a whirlwind of a plot. There was so much going on that I felt a bit cheated by how things wrapped up in the end. It was a bit too predictable after the twists and turns in the story. This is one book that you will have to experience for yourself. With that said, I will definitely be waiting for the next release by Darby Kane.

Was I the one going crazy?
Let me start by saying I love when an unreliable narrator is written so well you find yourself questioning every one of the characters in the story. This book does just that!
Elisa's life and her mental well being is slipping. Could it be from the PTSD she's suffering from the shooting incident at work? Her brother-in-law, Josh, has had the misfortune of having some women in his life die or go missing. Elisa's husband, Harris, has been Josh's caregiver and best friend and advocate since their parents died years ago. When Josh's fiancé, Elisa's best friend, goes missing, Elisa suspects foul play. Will her search for the truth end her happy, married with son life? Will she end up in a psychiatric hospital? Or will the search lead to her own death? For the answers to these questions and more, I implore you to add this fun and twisted novel to your TBR list ASAP.

Elisa and Harris have a very solid marriage. He's a vet (as in, doctor to animals), they live in a nice home and they have one child, who while a bit hyper, for the most part is a good kid. Then there's Harris's brother Josh. Not that there's anything wrong with him, but he's as unpredictable as Elisa and Harris are stable. And while his antics can sometimes be a bit crazy, Elisa has to put up with him since Harris basically raised him after the death of their parents.

Josh is a bit of a playboy. And he wants his brother and Elisa to meet his newest girlfriend, Rachel. The problem? Well, his fiancee Anna, one of Elisa's good friends, has been missing for nine months. Elisa thinks it's too soon for him to be dating again. And when she meets Rachel, something isn't right. And then more women start popping up, in the present day and the past. And it's becoming very clear that there might be something a bit more sinister in some of Josh's past relationships. </p>

The Replacement Wife is a fantastic read! I've had a hard time finding good books lately and this one hit the spot. It was definitely a page-turner and the surprises and twists were revealed at a good pace. Special thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, what a ride. The main character was so unreliable that it kept me guessing the entire read. I have already recommended to my book club. Love unexpected surprises.

The Replacement Wife, by Darby Kane, tells the story of Elisa, a wife and mother, who very suddenly becomes very suspicious of her husband's brother, Josh. He has a dead wife, and a missing fiancée, and Elisa stumbles across messages indicating that neither of those were a mistake, or just "bad luck". Her attitude toward her brother-in-law changes in an instant, as she tries to sort out what actually happened to his past lovers.

This book has gotten rave reviews by others, but I think it may have just not been my cup of tea. While I enjoyed the idea of the book, I just felt like it was too "out there" for me. Elisa finds a computer with information about her brother in law. She takes on the investigation herself, keeping any an all important information from her husband. She starts acting erratic, and then wonders why her husband doesn't believe her when little things start coming out. I just felt like Elisa was not a super sympathetic character, and although she did have a history of trauma, that didn't explain her behavior completely.

I also didn't like the use of manipulation and gaslighting that were constantly used in the book. It just made me feel a little yucky, and although I sympathized with Elisa in those situations, she allowed herself to be walked over by Josh and by his new girlfriend.

I think, overall, this book just didn't "click" with me. I didn't jive with Elisa, which made the whole book not as enjoyable as it should have been. While I can see the appeal for others, it was just not something that I loved as much as other domestic thrillers I have read.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I have read by Darby Kane. I received a gifted copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I enjoy a well written suspense/thriller genre book with an unreliable narrator and this book definitely has the unreliable narrator component in the character of Elisa.

I liked the way the author chose to include the short parts from an unknown narrators perspective throughout the novel. There were parts of this book that frustrated me as the reader. The somewhat repetitive nature of the back and forth between Josh and Elisa. Even though I was frustrated with their interaction in the novel, I didn't want to stop reading.

There were a couple things I didn't see coming which made for a satisfying ending to the book. I recommend this book if you are looking to read a domestic thriller with a bit of suspense and aren't expecting a big twist. The ending is good, there just aren't any shocking plot twist reveals.

HOLY @#$% THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING I WANT IN A THRILLER - I WAS DEFINITELY SHOCKED AT SOME PARTS AND THE ENDING BLEW ME AWAY! OUTSTANDING JOB DARBY! 4000 🌟 OUT OF 5

Thank you Net Galley, the publisher and Darby Kane for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Replacement Wife is a page-turning thriller with lots of twists and turns. It had me guessing until the very end! I had several theories and none of them were true -- and that's rare for me, as I'm usually good at guessing who-dun-it!

Elisa drove me crazy sometimes... she was a little too meek for my liking. There were many times I just wanted to shake her and yell at her to stand up for herself. Also... In 2022, why aren't people utilizing cell phone cameras and recording apps? So many of the issues here could have been laid to rest if people used their heads and recorded conversations. 🤦‍♀️ But then we wouldn't have a story, would we? 😜

Overall I liked The Replacement Wife. It wasn't the best thriller ever but it was entertaining and not predictable. 4 solid stars! Definitely recommend! 🤩

Darby Kane’s THE REPLACEMENT WIFE is a wonderfully twisty thriller that I could not put down. With a wonderfully unreliable narrator, this one kept me guessing until the very end. There were a several unexpected twists that had me mentally clapping as I finished.
Pick this one up and get ready for a thrilling ride!
Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of the book. All opinions are my own and freely given.
#TheReplacementWife #DarbyKane #WilliamMorrowPaperbacks

So what you need to know about this book is that I was absolutely enthralled by every page… every sentence… every word!!! I read it in less than a day and was so desperate to know whether happened next! I had theories from the first chapter and I. I was. Wrong.
I love it when I’m wrong!
The end of this book was so unpredictable and has so many layers!

The Replacement Wife is a thriller roller coaster ride of a book that I wasn't quite expecting, but thoroughly enjoyed! What a mind blowing ending! 😲

Darby Kane is a new author to me and one that I will seek out in the future for sure!

Elisa is married to Harris and they have one child, Nathan. Elisa suffered some very traumatic stress that has caused her to be homebound for the most part Harris has a brother named Josh that was engaged to Elisa's friend Abby, but Abby has gone missing and Josh is acting like nothing has happened. Elisa is suspicious. Josh soon announces he's dating a new girl, Rachel. Josh is on the defense and is making Elisa like she is literally losing her mind. Harris is feeling like she's targeting Josh and her mental health is unstable. Weird things are happening to Elisa. She feels alone and can't trust no one-not even her husband. Is Elisa safe? Is Abby alive?

The Replacement Wife is out now and if you haven't picked this one up yet, you should!

Elisa Wright is a busy mom who also happens to think her brother-in-law is a murderer. One of Josh's past wives is dead and his fiancee is missing. And now he's dating someone new, without showing much grief. As Elisa starts to investigate Josh's past, she uncovers some terrifying information about him and the family. She also befriends his current girlfriend, who gives off mixed messages about how she feels about Josh. Meanwhile, events start to happen that have Elisa wondering about her own sanity--and her husband seems to be questioning her as well.

The premise of this book was interesting, but it just did not work well for me. Most of the plot was Elisa entertaining Josh and his girlfriend, then an argument with them or her husband, rinse and repeat. Or pick up her kid, some angst, and an argument. It felt slow and repetitive and the tension and intrigue that should exist did not. There were no huge surprises or twists there. In addition, the characters were so whiny and just irritating.

The ending was kind of fun and all in all, the book kept me just curious enough to keep reading.

I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. The book kept mentioning gaslighting so I actually had to goggle it's meaning. The main character, Elisa, who I thought was very annoying, was trying to prove that her brother in law killed a few women. Sometimes her husband, Harris, was on her side and other times he stood up for his brother Josh. The book just kept dragging and I hated the ending. I felt like there were so many unanswered questions.

The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Replacement Wife was a popcorn thriller. While highly unrealistic, I couldn’t turn away. The pace was quick because I wanted to figure out what happened next. Plot wise, this one was twisty and interesting enough.

It felt lacking in the characters. I never connected with any of the characters, nor did I buy into their backstories. Enough info was given about backstories, but it never went far enough. Because of that, they felt very one-dimensional.

Overall, this is a great quick read filled with twists.

When Elisa Wright married Harris, she accepted his little brother Josh as her own brother. He was still in school when they lost their parents, and Harris did the best he could with his little brother. And after some rough years, Josh went to college, got a good job, and grew up. Now it’s years later. Elisa’s and Harris’s son Nathan is seven. Harris is a very successful veterinarian with several offices. And Josh is dating a woman named Rachel.

When Elisa questions his dating again so soon, Josh is confused. Maybe it was less than a year ago that he had been engaged to Abby, but she was the one who had left. He had the right to move on. Only, Elisa doesn’t think that she left on her own. She thinks Abby is missing. And she thinks that Josh is responsible.

Josh had been married before, and Candace had died from a freak accident at home. And now Abby is missing, and no one has heard from her. Abby had been a friend to Elisa, and then she suddenly went quiet. Elisa could use a friend. After a terribly workplace incident, she had been suffering from PTSD and anxiety. She could hardly leave home. So when she confronts Josh about Abby’s disappearance and his moving on so quickly, he accuses her of letting her paranoia get away with her. This causes a rift in Elisa’s happy family, and the last thing she wants is a rift in her family.

But then she found out a big family secret. It was a secret about Josh, and Harris had kept it from her. And it changed the way Elisa thought about Josh. It changed the way she thought about her marriage and her family. And it changed the way she thought about herself.

She starts catching Josh is lies. She gets to know Rachel a little better, and she thinks that Rachel understands the potential danger of getting involved with Josh. But then Elisa overhears something she clearly wasn’t supposed to hear and has doubts about Rachel. Things at home are getting moved. There was a window left open. Pills were left out. Elisa feels dizzy and worn down. She doesn’t understand what is happening. But although she doesn’t have much strength, she uses what she has to keep fighting for what she thinks is the truth.

Even if it destroys her.

The Replacement Wife is a domestic thriller filled with secrets and questions. Author Darby Kane offers readers a story packed with possibilities and reveals, with detours and derailments. Just when you think you know what’s going on, the floor shifts beneath your feet and it all changes.

I couldn’t put this book down. I kept thinking I knew what was going to happen next, but there were some really big twists that I just could not anticipate. If you’re needing a red-hot thriller for those stone cold winter nights, curl up with a thick blanket and The Replacement Wife. You won’t be sorry, but you might not sleep any time soon.

Egalleys for The Replacement Wife were provided by William Morrow through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Elisa lives a fairly standard suburban mom life except that she's convinced her brother in law Josh is a murderer. Josh's first wife died in an accident and his new fiancé mysteriously vanished without a trace. When she discovers some new incriminating evidence about Josh, she becomes even more assured of her suspicions. The problem is no one believes her, not her husband, not the police, and not Josh's new girlfriend. Even worse, she starts to doubt herself when Josh is constantly gaslighting her.

I'm always a fan of stories with an unreliable narrator so I enjoyed that. And I enjoyed that I was often questioning what I thought I knew or assumed so far about the story. However, what I didn't like about the book was that it was very slow, especially the first half. There were a lot of mundane details about Elisa's life and long inner monologue that I felt slowed the story down and I had to trudge through. Similarly I found the story kind of repetitive. Overall the largest emotion I felt while reading this book was frustration. I was getting quite irritated that no one believed Elisa and that she didn't take any constructive action earlier on in the book. I wouldn't suggest reading this if you want to relax, but if you're in the mood for a domestic suspense novel with an unreliable narrator this may be the story for you.

Gaslighting, Suspense, Secrets. Darby Kane’s new book, The Replacement Wife, follows Elisa Wright becoming increasing uncomfortable with her brother-in-law, Josh Wright. Older brother, Harris, practically raised Josh after their parents died in a car accident. Josh’s fiancée and Elisa’s close friend, Abby disappeared about seven months ago. His first wife, Candace died in an accident when she fell down the stairs. Elisa gets worried and wonders if Josh might be a killer. Chapters are short. Who is telling the truth? Abby gets some help from a private investigator. There are parts of this book I really liked. Lots of twists and many times this reader had to figure out what was really true. Who could Elisa trust and how many more women might be involved with Josh, what I did not like is that I thought it was about one hundred pages longer than it needed to be. It was also difficult to keep track of all the characters. I did like the ending. I think this book would have been much better if there was not so much repetition and maybe not have so many women in Josh’s life, My thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

This was such a captivating read! I had seen Kane post about the real life inspiration behind this story before I started it so this helped peak my interest and kept me fascinated throughout!

I was fully engaged and incredibly intrigued from start to finish! While some may find domestic thrillers to be more of a slow burn thriller, I find I can never put them down!

I also just love and relish in her writing style! Even though this book was 400 pages, I found it to be a quick read that I just flew through!

With an abundance of twists and turns, this is a fun and entertaining domestic suspense that I throughly enjoyed!

Elisa Wright is a mom and wife, living in a nice and quiet town. She is convinced that her brother-in-law, Josh, is a murderer. His first wife is dead and his fiancé is missing. He ahs grieved them both, but then he starts to date someone new. Elisa fears for this women's safety and she desperately wants to know what happened to her friend, Josh's missing fiancé. Her searching leads her to investigating her own family and she doesn't like what she finds - a laptop with incriminating evidence about other women.

I enjoyed this thriller and devoured it in 2 days! Elisa is a mess as she tries to unravel the circumstances surrounding Josh. This book was entertaining and engaging. I liked the premise of this book a lot. The ending was a little bit predictable, but I still enjoyed it! Darby Kane is an excellent thriller writer and I plan to read any book she puts out. I can't wait to see what she does next!

Thanks to NetGalley and Williams Morris for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you are over the unreliable narrator trope, this might not be for you. But if you are looking for a slew of characters you aren’t sure you like and you definitely don’t trust, this one is full of them.

Elisa is still suffering from a traumatic incident in her past, so once she becomes convinced her brother in law is a murderer, who can she turn to? Her husband believes his brother has just had a string of bad luck, one dead wife and a fiance who left without warning and now he’s dating someone new. As she starts to dig deeper into Josh’s past and the whereabouts of the missing Abby, Elisa becomes even more paranoid about Josh, but all the while Josh is painting her as unstable.

My main problem with this was I knew what was happening most of the time. If I hadn’t figured one part out, maybe it would have been more enjoyable, but once I knew what was happening I just wanted to get to the conclusion. Elisa’s conversations with Josh and her husband, Harris, were repetitive and became a little irritating for me. She seemed to make one poor choice after another and only made herself look crazier which got really frustrating. I enjoyed Kane’s last novel, but this one wasn’t my favorite. I needed a little more tension or action. I think I also wanted Josh to feel more evil and to do something that made me afraid of him, but he seemed more annoyed with Elisa’s meddling than anything else.

This is written in short chapters and may have been a gripping read if I hadn’t worked some of it out. I didn’t know exactly how it would end, so I was reading for the resolution. If you’re new to unreliable narrators this might be an exciting read.