I found this a very compelling psychological thriller. The story takes place in a small town in Floria and the first half of the book is told in chapters from the past and present day. Elena and her daughter Phoebe are struggling with life as Elena is recently widowed and her late husband has left her deep in debt. Then along comes Jackson who bowls her over and seems to be the answer to her prayers. He is very rich and his family is well liked in the community. He is very influential as he is the mayor and one of brothers is an officer in the local police force. But Elena soon realises how controlling Jackson is. He has to choose her clothes, isolates her from her friends and family and puts trackers on her phone and car. She dreams of escaping with Phoebe but them thoughts are shattered when the FBI turn up and inform her that he has had two other wives. Both had had daughters who had disappeared and they thought that Jackson could be involved. Elena now feels trapped as she knows that she cannot escape and is terrified that Phoebe will disappear. She decides that she must find out what happened to his other wives and daughters and expose Jackson but realises that will put her and Phoebe in danger. This was a rollercoaster of a book which had me gripped from the start and a fantastic read. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A rollercoaster of a book
Will keep you hooked
You won’t want it to end
Another great read by this author
Thanks NetGalley

Elana appears to have the perfect life. Handsome husband, sweet daughter with a lovely house, new car and anything her heart desires. if it’s too good to be true, something has to wrong. Things are definitely not what they seen. Her world gradually goes from a dream to your worst nightmare. Is her husband the answer to her prayers or a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Constant twists, fast paced and a surprising conclusion describe this original and entertaining thriller. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy.

A little slow to get into but great twist at the end. Would recommend reading good overall thriller.

An okay read, I liked it but it did take me a while to get in to it. Still, worth reading, a good twist at the end.

What a phenomenal thriller. If you like thriller style books, check this one out. It does not disappoint at All.

Prepare to be chilled to the bone by Jenna Kernan’s nail-biting and heart-pounding new thriller, The Ex-Wives.

Elana cannot believe her luck. She had once been close to losing everything until she met Jackson and her fortunes changed overnight. Jackson is kind, caring, handsome and he adores her daughter Phoebe like his own. Nothing is too much trouble for Jackson and he seems to worship the ground she walks on, even if he sometimes can be rather cruel and unfeeling with his words. Still, Elana cannot complain about the man who has given her the world – until she makes a shocking discovery about her husband.

Jackson has been lying to her all along. He never once mentioned that he had been married twice before and the more secrets she uncovers, the more she realises that rather than her Prince Charming, Jackson is a manipulative, controlling and very dangerous man. When she tracks down his two ex-wives, she recognises the blind terror and abject fear in their eyes. Worse, the two women both had daughters who had gone missing. Has Elana inadvertently put Phoebe in danger?

Forced to play the role of doting wife for her daughter’s sake, will Elana ever break free of the prison she is trapped in? Or will she and Phoebe have the same fate as their predecessors?

Jenna Kernan’s The Ex-Wives is a masterclass in domestic noir. Terrifying, tense and chilling, The Ex-Wives is a twisty and disturbing thriller that I read in a couple of hours. Jenna Kernan grabs her readers’ attention from the off and will keep them reading all through the night absolutely desperate to find out what is going next.

I love a missing person trope . This book drew me in right from the beginning. I didnt see it the twist coming. I loved the unpredictability of it all.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of The Ex Wives by Jenna Kernan from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This book absolutely blew my mind. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time and was shocked with the ending as I did not see it coming. I highly recommend that you drop everything and read this right away.

This book was SO GOOD… absolutely gripping. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Just when I thought I had something figured out, there would be another twist. If you’re looking for a solid domestic thriller, I highly recommend this one.

What do you do when you find out your husband has been married before? Not once, but twice! Also, you had no prior knowledge of said marriages! Can you even trust him after his lies?
Also, what a strange thing to lie about. Now Elana, must uncover more of her husbands past. All while protecting her daughter Phoebe. She meets his ex wives and realizes not everything is as it seems. Do we ever really know who we marry?

What I enjoyed:
- this was the kind of thriller you can’t put down. I needed to keep digging and learning the truth
- Twisty! I love a good twist in a thriller
- Although a similar premise to other thrillers. I still enjoyed this one! The writing was well done

What a twisty read! I am a huge fan of fast paced domestic thrillers. This one definitely a fun read for me. 4 stars out or 5! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was quite the nail biter! Twists and turns will keep you guessing and the ending will shock you! A mark of a good thriller is shocking twists and this one delivers!

Description 🔖

Elana considers herself to have the perfect life. She hadn’t had an easy time of it in the past, but since meeting and marrying Jackson, life had taken a turn and she had everything she’d ever wanted and needed for her and her daughter Phoebe. Ok, Jackson may like to choose outfits for Elana and Phoebe, but he just likes nice things. He may not allow Elana to work, but who would want to? When they have the option to look after their daughter all day and run around in a nice car purchased for them by their caring husband.

But is Jackson truly the caring gentleman that Elana thought she fell in love with? When she discovers that Jackson has two ex wives, both of them with daughters (not Jackson’s children) and both girls went missing after the divorces, Elana starts to become suspicious. Suddenly, Jackson seems more controlling than considerate and Elana has the feeling that she and Phoebe could be in grave danger.

In order to safeguard Phoebe, Elana has no choice but to try and dig out the truth about Jackson and his past, but can she do it without Jackson finding out? If she can’t, how bad will the consequences be for Elana and Phoebe?

General Thoughts 🤔

I couldn’t bring myself to binge read the first 50% of this book. It was so tense and eerie, I had to read small sections and walk away from it. I say this in an extremely positive way. It made me feel so on edge, I had to put it down and have a break before continuing. I didn’t think I would finish this before the year was out, by once I got to the second half, I was so desperate to find out how things were going to pan out for Elana that I devoured the remainder of the book.

There is a lot of domestic abuse covered in this book and some of it is the under the radar, slow burning kind which is what I find the scariest. What this book reminded me is that it really can happen to anyone. You can think that you have found your soul mate, partner in everything and love of your life, but just small changes over a period of time can go unnoticed and before you know it, you’ve lost who you were. This petrifies me and my heart breaks for anyone who finds themselves in this situation.

Characters 👫👭👬

My goodness, the worry and sadness I felt for Elana whilst reading this book was outrageous. I don’t think she ever expected to find herself in the situation she was in and it was very apparent to me that she had lost a strength that I think she had within her prior to Jackson. He zapped everything out of her and moulded her into this model wife that he could control. I think Elana felt like she had no escape route and I felt that for her too.

I’d like to take a moment to touch upon one of the sideline characters; Zoey. I am still undecided about how I felt about her. Could she have done more to help Elana? At first I thought she was completely in the dark but as the story progressed, I think she knew quite a lot. I’d love to know more about Zoey’s home setup and how things were behind closed doors in her marriage with Jackson’s brother as that may have answered some of my questions about Zoey’s actions (or lack of).

Writing Style ✍️

As I already mentioned, this book was extremely tense. I was on a knifes edge through nearly all of the first half of the book. It wasn’t even in your face violence, it was a quiet, menacing kind of tension. The author captured the feeling of what I imagine living with Jackson was like perfectly. I think she did a fantastic job of portraying a kind of domestic abuse that doesn’t include physical violence but is just as damaging.

The story followed a “now and then” timeline until the then caught up with the present and it became linear. I really liked this as it gave an idea of how Elana had changed since the beginning of her relationship with Jackson.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

This is the third Jenna Kernan book that I’ve read and I think that this one is my favourite. The tension was unbearable, the plot was heart breaking and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the characters in this story since I put the book down last night. If you don’t mind feeling uncomfortable, then this is a great psychological thriller to shake you up and have you on the edge of your seat the entire way through. I thought that I was done with reviews for this year, but I squeezed this book in and what a way to end my bookish 2022.

This book was intense in the best possible way! I needed to catch my breath. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more from this author.

This was so good! Loved the story, buildup, anticipation, twists, turns and then that ending! Whoa!!!. This is an intense read with a scary husband character. The creepy twist at the end I didn’t see coming! Great thriller!

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Elana was a young, poor widow with a young daughter when she met Jackson. Jackson was charming and had money. He seemed too good to be true. So of course he was. Now she is in an abusive relationship but she can't leave because both of his ex-wives had daughters when they met him and the daughters have disappeared since they left Jackson.

I don't usually love stories of abuse. I think they get repetitive and this one did get a little slow for me around the mid-end, but overall I liked it. I was interested in how it would all play out. I still feel like I have a few open questions about how things were tied up, so it wasn't a completely satisfying ending, but it was better than the typical spousal abuse story. I do like this author's Nadine Finch series a lot. This book was a notch below that but much better than The Adoption. Looking forward to reading more from her.

The Ex Wives is a twisty read that doesn’t let up at any time.
Elana is widowed and has a young daughter, she is living hand to mouth and still getting more and more in debt. Jackson is Uber rich and well thought of in the community and Elana can’t believe she’s got so lucky, no money worries, a kind and considerate man who has no problem taking on her daughter. All is well until she becomes married and Jackson shows he real side. The more Elana tries to escape this awful relationship the more things Jackson does to show she can never run. When Elana finds out his previous two wives children are both missing she fears for her daughters life and tries to escape but with no help from anyone else it’s a hard task.
This was a fast read, the book moved quickly and had a lot of twists. I didn’t really care about some of the characters and Elana did do my head in at times. On the whole is was a decent read that I did enjoy and I felt had a decent ending.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

The Ex-Wives
by Jenna Kernan
Review and Rating 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Ex-Wives by Jenna Kernan should come with a big, red, flashing Domestic Violence warning sign attached.
Elena, who loses her first husband in a terrible accident, thinks all her troubles are over when she meets Jackson. A small town Florida mayor with money and a large family, Jackson has secrets and a couple of ex-wives. Despite being warned on her wedding day by ex-wife #2 that the daughter’s of his two ex-wives are missing (and Jackson might be involved), Elana marries him and she and her daughter Phoebe start their new life. The new life includes Jackson controlling where they go, who they see, and what they wear, and it only gets worse as the emotional, verbal, mental, and physical, violence escalates.
You want Elana to take her daughter Phoebe and run far away, but understand some of her reasons for not being able to. Eventually, Elana proves she will do anything to protect her child.
I don’t want to give anymore away as there are lots of twists and turns to this domestic thriller. It is a decent story and I would have given it four stars but knocked off one for the domestic violence with no warning, and some other themes.
I want to thank #NetGalley, Bookouture, and Jenna Kernan for providing an uncorrected eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was an incredibly tense read that I really enjoyed. Everyone dreams of finding that perfect soulmate. That partner that completes you, to have a family with, to lay down roots, especially if your first husband has died in a horrible accident, leaving you a single parent of a young girl. That’s exactly where Elana finds herself when she meets Jackson, the man of her dreams, and a man that accepts Phoebe as his own.
2 missing girls
2 ex-wives
Very controlling
What’s wrong with this picture?

The Ex Wives
By: Jenna Kernan
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 stars

"Two ex-wives. Two missing girls. Will yours be next?"

On Elana's wedding day to Jackson, son of a billionaire and the mayor of their small town, his ex-wife shows up begging for Elana to reconsider. Ex wife? Elana has no knowledge of Jackson being married before...especially twice before! What other things has Jackson been keeping from her?

Elana chooses to go through with the wedding regardless of the deceit because she loves Jackson and he provides her and her daughter, Phoebe, with everything they need. But don't think she's forgotten. She starts to dig into Jackson's past and finds out that both of his ex wives daughters are missing. One she starts to piece together the truth she realizes that she and her daughter are in danger.

Will she get away from Jackson before they disappear as well? This book was very suspenseful and intense but my goodness, why didn't Elana seek help when it first started to escalate?! I do understand there was abuse that made this hard and that is so terrible.

Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for this ARC for my honest review 🙂