Unfortunately I struggled to get into this audiobook, which is probably because the narrator wasn’t the right one for me, not so much the character development. However I’m grateful to the published and NetGalley for offering me the chance to review it and I’ll give the author another shot by reading rather than listening.

I really liked this book, it had me hooked and I couldn’t stop reading because I needed to know what happened to the wife before.

When I read the synopsis I was intrigued. The book is one of those where you start out being suspicious, and then change your mind, and then flip flop again the entire way throughout the book. I did like that Samira was reading journals, but I found that as the story went on and there were more reveals I was losing interest. I think the beginning was strong, but the resolution was only ok for me.

I have read quite a few books with characters that I just don't like and I realize that I usually don't finish the book. However, I finished this one against my better judgement. I just want to have at least once character to route for but I did not find any in this story.

This was my second book from this author, which was good, but not my favorite

It goes from past to present as Samira, the new wife of a pro golfer finds journals from his late 1st wife. It is speculated that he killed her and got away with it.

The narrator was great and it definitely keep me intrigued. There were a few twists, but overall felt that some of the storyline came out of nowhere, mostly at the end.

Special thanks to Netgalley and the author for the audiobook copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
I really thought this going to be a good one for me with the opening ,”He’s going to kill me” AND with it being a modern retelling of Rebecca!
But I felt the book dragged along and I honestly found myself really disliking most of the characters and not really caring what happened to them.
I was really disappointed, because I absolutely loved the authors previous book, The Perfect Ruin.
It just wasn’t the book for me unfortunately :(

This was a fast paced story that kept me guessing! There are some seriously unlikeable characters and I didn’t know who to trust. It’s about a woman that falls head over heels for a man who was under suspicion for murdering his previous wife. She doesn’t believe he killed her, but everyone else does. Is she wrong? Is she next?

The Wife Before was a great read by Shanora Williams. Samira Wilder has had a tough life. Her latest job goes south and things look to get worse for her. She meets a man who will change her life forever, renowned pro golfer, Roland Graham.. He is wealthy, handsome, and caring. Their relationship moves fast but Roland proposes and Samira accepts. They become married a media firestorm is started. But she will be the second Mrs. Roland Graham. Soon she discovers hidden journals that belonged to Roland's first wife, Melanie. She died in a tragic accident. She realizes that it wasn't an accident while reading the journals. She starts to fear for her life but is determined to uncover the truth about Melanie's last days. I enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to read more by the author.

Well, I’m very conflicted about this book. The story is a really good one and the execution of it is very good as well but the main character, for me, started out highly unlikable and I couldn’t shake the vibe from her introduction enough to fully enjoy the book.
Samira Wilder feels she never had it easy. She goes from job to not having a job frequently. One day, she meets a highly wealthy man, renowned golf pro Roland Graham, who she falls for. The relationship moves at an incredibly brisk speed and soon they are married and living in his absolutely stunning home in Miami.
Samira quickly and easily settles into the mansion. She’s incredibly happy but soon stumbles upon the journals of Roland’s first and now late wife. With every page, the mystery surrounding her life and her death seem to unfold right before her eyes and she begins to distrust Roland. She also begins to fear for her own life as well. Samira becomes determined to discover the truth about her last days.
This book was good but the main character! When she is introduced, her brother who is married with a baby on the way, has the audacity to tell her he can’t keep supporting her and she may need to get a job again. The last one she lost due to her own behaviors but she doesn’t see that. She throws a fit, blames the wife and the baby on the way, and doesn’t talk to her brother until she deems it worthy to allow him to apologize. There are a few other things that made me have an instant dislike but that was the first and the one that turned me off. I mean, then she marries a filthy rich guy in a matter of mere weeks after meeting. Ironically she has her brother's ringtone set to ‘Golddigger’ so there’s that.
Anyway, if you can get past the main characters ‘the world owes me’ attitude then the story itself is very good. It plays out in an interesting way and I found it incredibly hard to guess the turn of events that take place.

Enjoyment: 5
Total rating: 4.79

I have said it before, and I will repeat it; I am so freaking happy Shanora Williams decided to branch out into thrillers. She used to be primarily a romance writer, a genre I do not read. If you do, you must consume everything she has written!

I will continue to be an avid fan of her thrillers - even with some steam and romance sprinkled in, Williams consistently makes the thriller plot center stage. Not to mention that I adore her characters. She delivers a virtually all-black cast of messed-up, well-rounded, nuanced, successful characters. We need more of this in fiction, period, especially thrillers.

I really enjoyed the experience of reading this book; it felt like a fast-paced slow burner if that is even possible. This unputdownable pull kept me reading the book, but the tension increased slowly yet consistently. Maybe it is due to the way Samira is presented to the readers, unlikeable at first, but as she "matures" and we get to know her more, we become more invested in her story. I am already looking forward to Williams' next book!


As a bonus for returning readers - The Wife Before takes place in Lola's universe, and the stories briefly overlap. I was hoping for a bigger connection and to see more references in future books, but my Llama was giddy and well-fed by the easter egg.

Tracey Conyer Lee's narration is engrossing and very easy to follow. I couldn't put the audiobook down and appreciate how her pacing and storytelling choices honoured the tension of the story.


Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to the publishers and NetGalley for providing a copy of The Wife Before

This one is hard for me to review.
Samira literally annoyed me straight away. She can't hold down a job and loses them for so many awful reasons and spends her life sponging off her brother. This drives me mad. Be an adult and be responsible. So when her brother says he is getting married and having a baby, a gave a sigh of relief. This back story was obviously relevant- the author had to show Samira was desperate and so latched on to Roland more easily. But this doesn't sit right with me. I instantly disliked Samira's laziness and then struggled to support her decisions thereafter. Could the author not have used a different reason to show Samira's struggles? That she fell on hard times/ got made redundant or something? Anything other than what she actually did? I find it harder to like books when I hate the characters but I have liked some in the past, so it is possible.
Roland was an intriguing character and I wasn't that suspicious of him, had it not been for the dramatic prologue to whet our appetite for what was to come. It told a completely different story, so I was definitely looking forward to seeing how things became so bad.
I did get into the story after that, and I enjoyed the ending (although some actions made me roll my eyes)

Overall, I enjoyed this. I love a domestic thriller. This is a slower burn thriller then I typically enjoy though.

I really liked the story but did not like the characters, I didn't have someone to care about and root for. Nonetheless, I was hooked on knowing who did it. I wish Roland was more fleshed out, I couldn't fully get a read on him throughout. There was a big info dump that I wished wasn't so... info dumpy.

Tracey Conyer Lee's narration was good, I wish there was more differentiation between who was talking but it was fine over all.

I'd give The Wife Before 3.5 stars.

This book was okay, honestly all of the characters were pretty unlikeable and awful but the actual story was good!

Shanora Williams has done it again. This is a "who done it" type murder mystery and a twisted, dark love story, wrapped all into one masterpiece. The Wife Before is well written, highly entertaining and enjoyable, has a thrilling storyline, well developed characters and great mystery elements. Bravo!! New to me narrator Tracey Conyer Lee's characterization conveyed just the right amount of emotion.

#TheWifeBefore #NetGalley

I delayed writing a review, because I had so little I wanted to say about The Wife Before. I finished it, did not enjoy it, and wanted to be done with it. But NetGalley and Recorded Books were nice enough to give me a copy in exchange for an honest review, so let's get this over with.

The story was a retelling of Rebecca, but adds nothing good and cheats us of the nuances that made the OG so wonderful. Instead it gets pretty ridiculous, and by the end, suspension of disbelief is impossible. We get this big dump of information at the end, too much all at once, to outrageously wrap it all up, and I just thought, "Sure. Whatever. Why TF not?"

We all need a character to like, or at least to become invested in, if we're going to find a novel compelling. Samira, the new wife, is childish and selfish. Melanie, the wife from before, is manipulative and dishonest. The rest of the characters are pretty much cardboard. I found myself not caring what happened to any of them.

I received the audio version, and the narrator somehow forgot along the way to differentiate between characters, leaving the listener with a big "who's talking now?" question to deal with. When you're dealing with flashbacks, with two women in basically the same situation, having a way to know who's who is imperative.

Overall, I say give this one a pass. I wouldn't even recommend it as an easy beach read.

How entitled can a main character even be?! I was hugely disappointed by this book because I just couldn't stand her so I had to DNF. I'm still going to give the author another shot, though.

I could not stop listening to this audio! It was so good . It was definitely hard to guess what or how you literally do not have a clue until the end. First wife took her life , second wife worried about the first wife. I absolutely loved and enjoy this ! I wasn’t a fan of the narrator BUT the love I had for this book surpassed it . Definitely a must read

If you’re looking for a light romantic suspense read, then you might want to give this one a try. What didn't really work for me, just might be the thing that you love.

This is an engaging thriller, with a satisfying twist. It is fantastic to see a thriller, a genre that is so often milky white told from this perspective of an African-American woman. This alone sets this apart from many of the standard domestic dramas that one finds in books such as this.

Shanora Williams has skilfully drawn parallels with well-known cases and characters from pop culture, Such as O.J. Simpson and Tiger Woods but without retelling or rehashing those tales of violence or or curtailed sports careers. The characters here are all their own people!

It is gratifying to have a Protagonist who is not wilfully unaware of obvious creepy stuff going on around her. Samira Is smart, flawed, just a tiny bit self-indulgent and ultimately an incredibly relatable heroine! It would have been nice to have Roland’s real character fleshed out a little within the story but this is a minor quibble.

There are a few coincidences/events in this book that slightly stretch credibility, but what good thriller doesn’t have those? I really enjoyed this book, it was a fresh take on the genre underpinned with a serious sense of the fallout from generational trauma and domestic abuse. Although the plot is not entirely original what is much more unique is the sense of the struggle for African-American people have to go through on a daily basis just to live. Every character in this book is a product of their upbringing and the issues are Always present as subtext underpinning all their actions and motivations.

Williams has drawn vivid portraits of real people living in a real America with just a pinch of noir and some twisty tones to keep the reader engaged from start to finish.

#TheWifeBefore #NetGalley
Awesome.
Samira Wilder has never had it easy, and when her latest lousy job goes south, things only promise to get harder. Until she unexpectedly meets a man who will change her life forever. Renowned pro golfer Roland Graham is wealthy, handsome, and caring, and Samira is dazzled. Best of all, he seems to understand her better than anyone ever has. And though their relationship moves a bit fast, when Roland proposes, Samira accepts. She even agrees to relocate to his secluded Colorado mansion. After all, there’s nothing to keep her in Miami, and the mansion clearly makes him happy. Soon, they are married amid a media firestorm, and Samira can't wait to make a fresh start—as the second Mrs. Graham . Samira settles into the mansion, blissfully happy—until she discovers long-hidden journals belonging to Roland’s late wife, Melanie, who died in a tragic accident. With each dusty page, Samira comes to realize that perhaps it was no accident at all—that perhaps her perfect husband is not as perfect as she thought. Even as her trust in Roland begins to dwindle and a shadow falls over her marriage and she begins to fear for her own life, Samira is determined to uncover the truth of Melanie’s troubled last days. But even good wives should know that the truth is not always what it seems . .