4/5 stars

What a roller coaster! This book took me on a ride. It starts off as contemporary fiction but then slowly drifts into a mystery/thriller and then finally finishes as women’s fiction… and I’m not mad about it.

I’ve read some reviews that compare this story to Laura Daves’ “The Last Thing He Told Me” and I totally agree. They both follow the formula of a spouse searching for their missing partner and asking the question, “who are you?”. And while TLTHTM was an absolute page turner, “The Love of My Life” was equally as gripping but had a little more emotional depth to it.

Emma loves her husband and her daughter Ruby, she’d do anything for them. But almost everything she has told them about her self is a lie. She might have gotten away with all the lies, but due to unfortunate events, her husband finds himself digging into her past to learn more about her. And what he finds is not at all what he expected. Sooner or later Emma will have to tell him about the love of her other life.

I can’t give this a full 5 stars because there were moments in the middle of the book that dragged on a bit BUT I would still recommend this one to anyone whose looking for a mystery thriller with depth and well developed characters.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and the author Rosie Walsh. I have not had the opportunity to read the debut book by this author but I have heard it was really good and nothing could top it but this has to have. Like..how does someone even do what happened in this book...my gosh!!

This is a read...

Secrets, secrets, and more secrets! This novel was a fast-paced whirlwind of emotions. Once I began reading it, I didn’t want to put it down. I would read just one more chapter…mmm…maybe just one more, and that really meant a few more after that. There’s nothing better than finding a book that pulls you in so completely that you just ignore real life for a little while.

Emma and Leo have a loving marriage, a young daughter, and a great life together. When Emma is diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening illness, Leo begins to do research for her obituary. Strange? Yes, but as an obituary writer, he uses it as a coping mechanism for dealing with his wife’s illness. Through his research, Leo soon discovers that he might not know Emma as well as he had always thought.

Emma and Leo have an enviable, solid marriage, but of course, even the strongest foundations can crumble. Sure, they’ve had a few issues, hiccups to overcome, but they’ve always been Emma and Leo.

The novel is told in alternating chapters between Emma and Leo’s perspectives. This worked perfectly for their story. I needed to find out what was going on and what Emma was hiding. As the story unfolded, secrets were revealed, and the twists just kept coming. I was glued to the pages!

While this novel has a good amount of suspense, it is a love story. There is so much love in this story. I never doubted the love. The Love of My Life is riveting, emotional, heartbreaking, tumultuous, and beautifully written.

*5 Stars

I enjoyed and loved this book so much. Part love story, part mystery, all amazing, it ticked many boxes for me and I couldn't put it down last night. I loved the dual timelines and both points of view, there were also some diary entries as an added bonus. I really loved getting to know Leo and especially Emma and I liked them a lot. There is plenty of internal dialogue and it really gets the reader inside the characters heads. I also learned a lot from this book as the author has done much research about marine biology as that is Emma's profession, and I found it very interesting. Such a unique book of many genres that slowly peeled away the many layers of Emma as a mother, wife and woman. The slow revealing of the secrets had me furiously flipping pages into the wee hours of the morning and I couldn't get through it quick enough, I adored this one. All. The. Stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

It's hard to write about the plot without spoiling it, but I thought this was very good. Unlike other novels with a similar blurb, this remains plausible and avoids painting any one character as evil. It kept me guessing to the end, although I'm still guessing what we were supposed to make of

SPOILERS

Jill. Was something edited out there? Why did she behave so oddly?

I really didn't think Rosie Walsh could top Ghosted but she has! What a good read!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

The Love of My Life might be a bit slow to start but once everything falls into place it is hard to put down.

"Oh what a terrible tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive".

Leo thought he knew his wife until he started writing her obituary for his job.

Many things are not adding up about what Emma has told him of her past.

Can they have a marriage if there is no trust.

I don't want to give anything away but as you follow Emma's story you will cry with her, cheer her on and say oh Emma, don't!

The Love of My Life is a solid read that will keep you engrossed and involved in the story wondering who to believe.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan Mantle for a page turning read.

Leo is a professional obituary writer. He is married to Emma, a semi-celebrity on BBC. Emma has cancer and Leo is about to write a “just in case” obituary for his wife. This opens the biggest can of worms that anyone can imagine. Doing his research, Leo finds a lot of surprises. Emma is not who she has pretended to be for the 10 years they have been married.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. The first part of the book is confusing and disjointed. I was ready to give up on it. Nothing was making sense. Then, I got to Part 2. Everything starts to fall into place. A well thought out, complicated plot starts to reveal itself.

Marine biology was quite prominent in the story. I did not figure out what the reference and detailed description of a crab skeleton (and other sea creatures) contributed to the story. If it was some sort of imagery, it was lost on me and could have been omitted.

The revealed plot is masterminded. It is convoluted. But, it is totally believable and understandable as little things are revealed, one by one. It may not be realistic, but then again, it could be realistic. Truth and real-life can be “stranger than fiction”! The story becomes first class domestic suspense.

There is not much else I can say without revealing major plot points. Others may not agree with me, but I think that if the storyline had been differently laid out, or the first part had been slightly less confusing, this could have been a 5 star book. It certainly held my attention once I got past that hurdle. I have reduced my rating by one star for this reason.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an Advance Readers Copy.