Wow, I did not see that one coming! Holly and Zach Bancroft seem like the ideal couple. Zach is a very popular Obstetrician and they live in a beautiful mansion. Holly gives birth to baby Jolene and things start to change drastically for her. Zach has always been a control freak and he seems to be taking things up a notch. There are plenty of twists and turns in this book to keep you reading way past your bedtime with an ending that will surprise you.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this very suspenseful and gripping book in exchange for an honest review.

Kind of a standard domestic thriller as far as plot (seemingly perfect couple where woman suspects husband of plotting against her). But the writing was perfect and the storyline got me hooked. I haven’t found a good book like this in a while. Couldn’t put this one down!

This was a pretty good read for me , although it seems a familiar story , I enjoyed the first half more than the second .
Holly is married to Zach a successful doctor , she is just about to give birth , she feels that not all is well in her marriage , that her husband has been cruel to her but he convinces her it was the drugs during her labour , there are a few other instances that make her doubt him , this is where the book feels familiar another marriage that looks prefect from the outside but is anything but , however it is fast paced and entertaining. When one of Zachs students is found murdered Holly makes a deal with Zach for her and the babies freedom , let’s just say nothing goes according to plan . Enjoyable readi would recommend

Unputdownable domestic psychological thriller! This was such a fast-pace book, you just want to keep reading! There were several unexpected twists and turns that make you just keep turning the pages. At the end, there were plot twist after plot twist.

At the beginning you’re lead to believe that Holly has a perfect life, happily married and pregnant with her soon to be born daughter. However, things begin to change and her husband, Zach starts to emotionally/mentally abuse Holly and attempt to manipulate her to make her doubt herself. At one point, Holly is left with limited access to any money and is required to notify Zach of everywhere she visits/ everything she does. I loved how Holly evolves throughout the story. She will do anything necessary to protect her daughter!

This was the first book by Carey Baldwin and it won’t be my last! If you enjoy fast-paced domestic psychological thriller, then this needs to be added to your reading pile!

***** A huge thanks to Bookouture, Carey Baldwin, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC. It has been provided to in turn for my honest opinion.

This book is definitely a page turner. The Marriage Secret by Carey Baldwin is not only intriguing but mysterious and unpredictable.
Holly lives a perfect life with her loving husband Zach, who is a handsome and smart doctor. Things start to change in her life when Zach, becomes abusive towards her during her pregnancy as well as the day she gives birth to her daughter. The control, manipulation and abuse escalate when Holly starts to question Zach about his recent actions towards her. She loves him but she can’t risk her daughter’s life anymore, she needs to leave him. But the question is, will he allow her? For him it’s all a game…. But can she play it better?
An Unexpected twist to the story. The truth is you really can’t trust anyone…..

I loved Holly’s character and how she evolves throughout the story and grows fearless to protect her daughter. I would recommend the book 100% to anyone, but if you love domestic thrillers this book is for you!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture the ARC!

Oh my! I’ve been so gripped by this book. I was fed one exciting thriller delicacy after another and the craving to continue with ‘just one more chapter’ was immense.

I absolutely felt for Holly as a main character. A new mother, doubting herself and being doubted. There was some true dark psychology at play here and it was tense. I found myself loathing her husband and being totally invested in unravelling the truth behind all that was going on.

‘The Marriage Secret’ is a book that is tough to put down. It plays with your mind and gives a real sense of claustrophobia. Then there was more; so much more. I’m not saying anything else, though. Put on your napkin, grab a knife and fork and taste this thriller delicacy for yourself. This is one stunning and slick book!

I couldn’t put this one down and had to keep reading to get to the end.
There were plenty of twists and a fantastic ending which is the perfect recipe for a great thriller.
I’d recommend this book.

The Marriage Secret by Carey Baldwin
A true 5 Star Read!

The mystery part of the book was equally enthralling.
Besides the great characters there's always a brilliant story that keeps you hooked, I definitely didn't see how this book was going to end up.
The plot here is great. Baldwin did such a fantastic job here.
I had to keep reading and ended up finishing the book in a few hours.
This is one is a gripping twisted story, that is so hard to put this one down, it keeps you gripped with a dark and twisted tale of interesting characters.

Bookouture,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

I really liked the story, I just really hated Zach, right from the beginning.. I had a hard time trying to figure out what in the heck was going on, but I liked it.. Solid 4 star read with excitement, questions, and pure insanity..

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read The Marriage Secret in exchange for an honest review.. :)

Excellent book, I could not race through it fast enough. Holly is a great protagonist and her husband Zach is quite the creep. The author keeps you guessing throughout the book. I recommend to anyone who enjoys a fast paced thriller that is not so easy to figure out.
Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

Thank you to Bookoture and NetGalley

Holly is married to an abusive asshole and they have a baby together. It’s perfect on the outside, but far from perfect on the inside. A woman is dead, and she’s convinced he did it. However, she wants to keep up with their perfect appearance so she stands by him.

I am torn on this book. It’s predictable and there’s a lot going on. Almost too much. The twists were not believable, and at times it felt like a bad Lifetime movie. Some of it had promise, but this was not the book for me.

First , thank you to the publisher , author , and netgalley for making this available for me to review . This book was amazing. I literally was so caught up in it that I sat down and read it in one day. Right from the. Beginning their seemed to be something off about Zach , Nora's husband . Nora believed he's trying to make her seem crazy so he can somehow take their baby Jolene. She's stuck between thinking he's an amazing , but protective husband to believing he's against her after Jolene is born. She confides with her friends about things she believes she did and starts to think maybey it's baby brain. Then two medical students of Zach's wind up dead . My favorite part of this book is you literally don't know what's going to happen in the end. I never would have guessed the ending . In fact it was a bit of a shock , but I loved the ending of this book. I really had to sit and digest what I read after . This book definately gets five stars and if there were more I'd give it more.

This was a fast-paced domestic thriller. Holly is married to Zach, the wealthy and successful ob-gyn head of his university department. Theirs is a marriage envied by many of their friends, but the relationship begins to unravel following the birth of their first child, when Zach’s controlling nature becomes unbearable to Holly. The stakes are raised when one of Zach’s medical students is discovered murdered and Holly begins to question everything about her marriage – and how she can keep her daughter safe.

This novel had great pacing and twists. I enjoyed following along with Holly as she slowly unraveled the mountain of lies at the core of her marriage. The novelist, a doctor herself, also included a good amount of medical description in the storyline that added to the realism and sense of setting in this hospital environment.

What worked less for me was an understanding Holly’s life before the marriage disintegrated. Since the story opens as Zach ramps up control, I assumed Holly was a type of trophy wife, who simply married him for his money. We only learn later on that she had a successful career as a speech pathologist that she left while pregnant, so I would have liked to have seen some of the dynamics of their earlier relationship to better understand how she got to this point and to better understand her as a character and the choices she made. The flashbacks never cleared this up for me. Regardless, this was a fast-paced and enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this novel, in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was okay, the characters were believable and the plot was okay, but I wouldn’t say that I was really excited about it. A middle of the road thriller I would say, quite obvious in parts, The plot didn’t really jump out at me.

Who doesn't love a great domestic suspense thriller!

Well this may not be it....... It just depends on your cup of tea but I couldn't get into it. We start with a married couple Holly and her husband Zach a OB-gyn head at a hospital. Holly is starting to give birth and on the way Zach stumbles into a pair of shoes Holly left behind. And "almost trips" He loses it and swears that Holly will pay for that. And while giving birth, with just him and her in the hospital, he starts turning off the warning and before Holly can lose her baby she manages to press the alarm to bring in the nurse who saves her.

Right away, while everyone may think they may have the perfect marriage we see that Zach is a crazy narcissist. Sounds like this could be a entertaining book..... And it was if I was on the beach and wanting to turn my brain off. Unfortunately I wasn't so I was able to spot the many flaws to where I couldn't leave a five star rating.

One dimensional characters with no death. We get that Zach is piece of **** but really he showed his colors in the first 20 pages. Holly, just leave him after he almost killed your child. (Chapter 1: not a spoiler) Crazy plot twists that just seem unrealistic. It's a domestic thriller so their should be plot twists along the way but let's keep them within reason? I did finish the book but started skimming really fast towards the end.

Like I mentioned above, the book isn't bad overall if you want to turn your brain off so I will definitely read more by Carey Baldwin but I just didn't really jive with this one.

NOTE: It was unable to post to goodreads but I manually posted. Here is goodreads URL:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4445681805


I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Synopsis:
Holly and Zach were the perfect couple everyone envied. He was the doting husband she always wanted. Until her baby was born. Suddenly, Zach's outbursts and controlling behaviour became more frequent, and Holly thinks he might even be dangerous. But there's no way out of a marriage, when your husband is the only one who knows about the horrible thing you did when you were a teenager...

My thoughts:
This book was SO good! I really loved how the author portrayed the marriage and its downfall, as well as the amazing characters. Even though I wanted to shake Holly so she finally realizes what was going on, I did still like her. The more the story went on, the tension got palpable and I couldn't put the book down. Also, I did NOT guess that twisted, messed up ending, which I absolutely loved!

Parts of this book reminded me of:
- Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

This was my first book by Carey Baldwin, and it certainly won't be my last!

3.5 stars.

This book is perfect if you are taking a flight and need to kill time. Or if you read all best mystery books out there and is desperate for a fix. I might read more of the author's books simply if I need to escape in order to get a quick thrill but without much thinking, because she knows how to hold your attention.

What would have made this book better? If the characters were more developed, if we had some flashbacks of them meeting, dating, falling in love in order to understand why she would marry someone like him. If the main character Zach was not so obvious from the beginning but introduced gradually and made a reader doubt, if the murder(s) made any sense and twists not picked up randomly, if it didn't take half a book to get to the part described in the book's summary (Zach becoming a suspect), if there was some deeper thoughts or meanings behind the book.

I was wondering why the book was so superficial until I read that the author is a doctor who writes on the side (at night) and it shows. So as long as the readers know what they are getting and get what they paid for, why not. But if you are looking for a good mystery with more meaning, I highly recommend spending more and purchasing "The Wife Between Us" or even more literary "The Pilot's Wife".

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange of the honest review.

I found this book to be fast-paced, exciting, and overall, a great read. There were multiple plot twists that I did not see coming, especially the one at the end.

The overall plot of the book is important in terms of women's freedom within relationships and marriage. The main characters husband becomes extremely controlling and abusive after their daughter's birth. It highlights the pain and resourcefulness of women when safety is a concern.

I would recommend this book as it was easy to read and had a plot that kept you turning the pages.

The Marriage Secret by Carey Baldwin A domestic thriller that is Gordian Knot of twists and lies and deceptions which Ms Baldwin deftly interweaves into a shocking conclusion. Characters are spot on and either likeable or loathsome. Zach is the epitome of a controlling narcissistic husband. Surprised at the personalty turns Holly made throughout the book. A page turner, hard to put down suspenseful read.

Thank you to Bookouture, Carey Baldwin, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book

Wow what a fabulous read from start to finish. Extremely well written this book kept me guessing all the way through and my thanks go to the author, Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.