It's the stuff of romance novels: a chance encounter with a perfect stranger. A shared moment. The wish for more.

So it went for Mark and Alice, who encounter each other at a party. Mark is there with his wife Cecilia and doesn't get the chance to find out more about Alice. So, he can't believe his luck when Alice finds him, and they decide to meet at "their bench". The relationship quickly escalates.

At first, we feel sorry for Mark. He's the "good guy". But then we find out more of his back story and feel sorry for his beautiful wife, still hurting from a miscarriage, and Mark's bad behavior during her pregnancy. Plus, she knows something about Mark that could ruin him.

Mark should have known something bad was going to happen. Alice knows much more about him than he does about her. But he's thinking with his emotions not with his brain - he's so flattered by Alice's attention he can't see that he has completely lost his moral compass. You won't even feel sorry for Mark when he's blindsided. He's been so stinking smug about his affair!

Although we can see where this debut book is headed, the author meanders toward the ending so when we get there, it's with great satisfaction!

Thanks to NetGalley, Inkubator Books and Booksprout for an advance reader's copy for review.

I've read far better and I've read far worse novels than this. It was very middle of the road for me, because Eliot Stevens is a good writer. His style simply isn't for me. I struggled with the character development, and all of them fell flat for me. I think with some practice and another novel or two, Eliot Stevens will really find his voice and his novels will be great. But he definitely needs some practice with character development to keep the readers engaged.

Cecilia and Mark put a perfect marriage facade on display for the public. In private their marriage is crumbling and the added hurt is a miscarriage of a child they both wanted. Alice is the key to everything Mark has ever craved for in his life. He sees Cecilia as an obstacle that he needs to hurdle to get what he wishes. The problem? Cecilia hold deep hidden secrets from his past. A story about a doomed marriage, mistrust, and broken dreams. This story has drama, a suspenseful plot and enough twists and turns to keep the reader engrossed with the book.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for this ARC, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Honestly, this book bored me a bit until it reached a third part of the story. but the more I traced Mark's affair to Alice, the more i found intrigues occured. It was shocking me that lastly i loved about the flowing of storyline, especially the way it revealed all the problems within, who truly Alice was, the intruder and a murder plot full of strategy. It was unbelievable to figure out who actually the smartest was.
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This Story gives me a description about a fatal effect of a married man cheating on his wife. overself passion in love would navigate you willingly doing everything for the sake of a greed that would destroy whole pieces of life. What a good story as a warning for a married couple in order to keep a faitfullness in a marriage.

The Woman on the Bench is a riveting, twisted domestic thriller. This story is told from Marks' point of view.
At first, we believe that Mark and Cecilia Hamilton are struggling to resume their once charming marriage after the miscarriage of their son. They have a group of friends that are supportive and hope Mark and Cecilia can move past the loss. While at a party a conversation alters their future.

Mark is outside secretly smoking where he meets Alice. There seems to be an instant connection. Alice consumes Marks thoughts as he tries to find her so they can get together again. But Alice makes the first move suggesting coffee. They meet on a bench and leave secret notes for one another until they spend a clandestine weekend together.

This is a wonderfully crafted thriller. As the story begins, we feel sorry for what they are going through. As the story progresses, we see other parts of Mark's personality that show us he is not who he wants us to believe he is. Since the story is told from Mark's point of view, it was easy to see where this was going, until the huge twist at the end. This took me by surprise for the most part. I could tell something was up, just not what it was. Loved the ending it was a nice twist.

This is a book of surprise. Could not put down. This is one of the best books I have read and I suggest reading. She is a wonderful author full of surprise.

A knock-out debut, THE WOMAN ON THE BENCH by the talented Eliot Stevens is literally SPELLBINDING! A psychological suspense thriller with a killer twist. Intricate, complex, and devilishly clever.

Set in London, married couple Mark (ad executive) and Cecilia (art curator) seem to have it all —wealth, love, and looks, but behind closed doors, things are no longer the same.

Their lives have been shattered by the loss of the child they longed for. They live in silent resentment. But there is more to the story. Both Cecilia and Mark are hiding secrets from one another.

Then along comes ALICE. She is an enigma. Mysterious, alluring, and beautiful. Mark thinks she is the perfect woman. The woman he meets on the bench. They write notes and tape them to the bottom of the bench. He is obsessed with the next letter and the next meeting. No other communication since they are married.

They want to be together but there is a problem. Cecilia knows about a dark secret from Mark's past that could ruin him. So murder seems to be the best solution.

The remote Lilac House in Dorset by the restless waters of Blackwood Cove and the sea seems to be the perfect place.

Who is Alice? Can she be trusted? What about Cecilia?

Just when you think you have it figured out—bam, the twist comes and nothing is as it appears.

What a triangle! A house of mirrors, taking readers on a thrilling ride of dizzying twists and shocking revelations.

I LOVED this book! Blown away.
Prepare to be entranced.
Evocative & captivating.
Seamless storytelling.
The writing is superb & razor sharp.
The story is spellbinding.
The plot is mega twisty and surprising.
The prose is lyrical.
The setting and descriptions are vivid.
The suspense is riveting.
The richly drawn characters are mysterious, humorous, wicked & enigmatic.

You have no clue where the author is taking you but are on board for the ride. You will be guessing until the ultra-satisfying conclusion.

What a debut! Stevens has been added to my favorite author list and one to watch. Where has this talent been hiding? Cannot wait to see what comes next.

A mix of psychological thriller, domestic suspense, and literary fiction.

If you love triangle cat and mouse revenge games, this is your book. Who is the cat and who is the mouse? Checks all the boxes for me. For fans of authors Kimberly Belle, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and K. L. Slater.

Top books of 2022 list! For readers that enjoy intelligent thrillers and want to be captured with stunning lyrical prose. I love discovering new authors. Inkubator is cranking out winners. This is on NetGalley for request, bloggers. Get this one on your TBR list!

A special thank you to #NetGalley and #InkubatorBooks for an ARC to read and enjoy in exchange for an honest review.

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www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars + ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pub Date: Aug 28, 2022
Aug 2022 Must-Read Books
Top Books of 2022

About the Author
Eliot Stevens grew up between Italy ad the UK, studied philosophy, and works in the humanitarian sector. He's fascinated by the intricate coils of the human mind and tries to unravel them in his stories. He lives in the quiet countryside north of Rome with his beautiful family. When not writing, he mostly wishes he was. The Woman on the Bench is his first published novel

I found this psych thriller to be a bit of a slow burn. I was close to DNF for more than 50% of it, not because the writing was bad - in fact, it was good - but because it felt more like a romance novel until about the 90% point and really bored me.

Mark and his wife suffer the loss of a child. The marriage broken and loveless. Then Mark meets Alice, the woman he believes can change everything and give him the future he always wanted.

The last 10% was where things started to pick up and get really gripping, with a huge twist!

I give this book 3 stars. If I was reviewing it solely on my preference of genre and how much I enjoyed it, it'd be a lower rating as romance stories bore me. I also didn't find I could connect to any of the characters.

Publication date: 28 August 2022.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

First off I want to thank @netgalley & @inkubatorbooks for my free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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This book is a hard one for me to review, I do have mixed feelings about it. In the beginning I was very intrigued about where the story would go. Midway through the book I started to get a bit bored and thought it was all too predictable, long. But at the same time i find it went too fast in regards to Alice and Marks relationship, it just didn't make sens.Thank God for the ending which grabbed me back and made me continue reading.
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As for the characters I did feel there was some depth missing to them, I was also getting annoyed that they kept repeating the same things over and over about their marriage situation. I honestly did not like the main character I found him to be very self centered, egotistical and annoying. It was hard to connect with him. I actually could not connect with any of the characters or feel anything for them (except for Cecilia regarding the miscarriage of course).,
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I am glad I stuck through it for the ending but it's probably not one that will stick with me.
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If you're a fan of slow burn thrillers and unreliable narrators pick this one up.

The Woman on the Bench is the debut novel by Eliot Stevens and holy cow, I could not put this book down. Mark and Cecilia were a happily married a couple until they suffered a tremendous loss. Then things start happening and things start escalating more and more. I wasn’t sure where this was headed but it was a thriller that kept me up late into the night! Lots of twists and turns and the ending is a DOOZY!! I can’t wait to see what this author writes next. Definitely, one to watch!! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review. To be published August 28, 2022 which is next week!!!

This one wasn't for me. I thought it sounded really engaging from the premise but on starting it I found it slow and really hard to get into. The main character Mark just repulsed me on every level. I've read books with characters who were idiots or dull but for me, he was just the worst of the worst and the kind of betrayal he went into and used the excuse of his wife having a miscarriage...... absolutely vile! I despised every second listening to the man and he repulsed me. This one was very much not for me

Great plot to get yourself lost in. This book has everything. A real fast paced thriller. Will get your heart racing on more than one occasion. Very well written. Highly recommend this book

I wanted to enjoy this book, sadly the entire thing fell very flat for me. My first one star rating unfortunately. I would have DNF'd this book had I not felt a tremendous responsibility to finish it and review for Net Galley - I will not be subjecting myself to such torture ever again. If by 40% through the book I still have no interest in the story or the characters, I will not be finishing it, as was the case with The Woman on the Bench.

WARNING SPOILERS
Mark is the most despicable main character, there is not a single redeeming quality about his character. I understand being distraught by a miscarriage, but the cheating on a pregnant wife (with zero indication that the relationship had issues) and causing said miscarriage is an other level of horrid.
I have read books with unreliable/unlikeable narrators, but this was hard to get through. Marks insistence that "he's a good man" is just a ploy at gaslighting the reader. I have never hated a character more.
The ending was predictable, a Gone Girl attempt gone horribly wrong. But in this story even Cecilia is left as a flat, unrounded character who you couldn't really care less about (except for the generalized sympathy one has for a woman whose miscarried).

Eliot Stevens writing was pleasant enough to read, and I appreciated the style in which he chose to lay out the chapters. Structurally it was fine, content wasn't.

I’m almost embarrassed to say how much I enjoyed this book. Written from the perspective of Mark, he meets a woman at a party who has the power for Mark rethink his marriage to Cecilia. It doesn’t take much for our Mark. I kind of liked Mark, he tries to be a good man but isn’t but feels he can under the right circumstances. He tries to be kind and loving but he’s pliable and transactional. I was even supportive of him checking out the woman, Alice, Mark and Cecilia are both grieving a miscarriage and the strain makes them go in different emotional directions. Eliot Stevens writes a great Mark, a humorous loyal friend, a romantic who wants a family, a charismatic good looking professional career man who rescues little old ladies but suddenly despises his wife. There’s the perfect twist that was so so satisfying.

This was a very slow book to start with and it was hard to keep my attention. I don’t think the style of writing helped either. The characters were mediocre. The twists were too ridiculous.

I was expecting Woman on the Bench to be a fast-paced thriller with twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat, but unfortunately it was a very slow burn. The only chapters that had me hooked were the last three. The author took his time telling the story, and while I can appreciate that, it felt as though we could’ve gone without some of the extra details and chit chat because they didn’t enhance the story.

I didn’t connect with or care about any of the characters, including Mark. The dialogue felt very strange and unnatural at times. It seemed far-fetched that he’d go to such lengths for a woman that he just met, not to mention their first and second encounter was barely even considered small talk. The only information Mark has for this woman is her name, not even a last name, phone number, or where she works. I could predict how the story was going to end just from the strange interactions between Mark and Alice.

Despite not having a way to contact Alice, Mark is on board to kill his wife so he can be with her. She mentions that she’ll disappear for a while after the murder until they can be together. The whole thing sounds suspicious, and it doesn’t make sense why Mark wouldn’t pick up on any of the obvious cues. Nonetheless, if you’re a fan of mystery/thrillers and don’t mind a slow burn, you may enjoy this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have such mixed feelings about this one. I honestly didn't enjoy the first half, and even considered not finishing, but the ending saved the rating from the 2 stars I had in mind.

Mark is a self obsessed, boring man, who somehow has a beautiful wife and an intriguing stranger interested in him. As he considers cheating or leaving his wife all together, I wonder how he even got them to begin with. So much of the first 50-60% of this book is about Mark considering his life, his wife, and the woman he just met, Alice. There's only so many times I can read pages of him thinking about how good a guy he is, and how he just feels a connection to Alice (that I never really felt reflected in the story) before I go insane. There were hints of some more interesting plot points, but nothing big enough to make me feel hooked.

That being said, the ending was amazing. Once we got to about the 70% mark, I couldn't put this down and had to finish it. It was so enjoyable my 2 star rating was bumped up to a 3.5 (rounded to 4). With this being the authors first work I'm hoping the pacing will improve on their next book, which I will be keeping an eye out for.

This was an eerie book from beginning to end - I really enjoyed the twists and turns throughout! A must read.

Imagine you’re at a party and you meet the perfect person: good-looking, charming, witty. The only problem? You’re already married.
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Mark and his wife Cecilia are struggling after the loss of their unborn child when Mark meets Alice - the perfect woman. Alice is frank, carefree, and judge or try to change Mark. They agree to meet on a bench near his work and exchange letters. Things begin to spiral as Mark becomes obsessed with the need to be with Alice and divorce is not an option. Alice and Mark start to formulate a plan so they can be together - by any means necessary.
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The characters of this book were extremely intriguing. I found it interesting how Mark always refers to himself in his head as a “good guy” who does good things, but his actions don’t match his words. The characters around him all seem to have ulterior motives and secrets - including his wife and friends. I was hooked in on digging for clues towards the outcome of this book.
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The ending was well done and satisfying. It was semi-predictable but I enjoyed it.
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If you’re interested in exploring the inner workings of peoples minds and complex relationships/manipulations this book is for you. It was a quick read as well.

*Thank you @netgalley and @inkubatorbooks for the opportunity to review this book. All opinions are my own*
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This book is a bit of a slowburn but picks up. An interesting domestic thriller that has some exciting twists.