I'm not sure if it is me or what but I truly could not get into this book. I needed it to have more. More structure, more depth to the characters and plot line. Sorry for the negative review, but it is honest. Thank you netgally for this ARC.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this newest by Theo Baxter. It is a good book, but like some of the other reviewers, I just didn't click with the main character and I felt the story was predictable and dragged on. Some of the things that Leona did were ridiculous, in my opinion, too. This was a good read, but it won't make my favorites list for 2023, that's for sure.

The Widow's Secret is a 2023 release from Theo Baxter, a new author to me. This sounded like a very good book but, unfortunately I guessed the ending very early on. I didn’t like the characters at all. So shallow and selfish. The whole book was not as good as I’d hoped. Yes, it was twisty but, so obvious which spoiled the whole story for me.

I was so excited to read this book for a couple of reasons. First, this is my first ARC from #NetGalley and #Inkubatorbooks in exchange for an honest review. Next was the fact that this is one of the most requested mysteries, so I went in with high expectations. Lastly, this is a new author to me and I love reading books from authors I’m not familiar with.

Leona is our MC and right off the bat, I liked her and felt for her. She is married to a husband who works way too many hours and she feels like she has immersed her whole life into making sure he is taken care of (they have no kids due to her infertility issues and her husband is not interested in adopting). She is sure he is going to forget their 5-year wedding anniversary, but he surprises her and tells her he is taking her hiking (which she loves to do). On this hiking trip, he falls over a cliff and while his body is never found, searchers do find some bloody clothing belonging to him. What happens next is a whole lot of unanswered questions like (1) is he really dead (2) why does the MC’s brother-in-law hate her so much and blame her for the death of her brother and (3) why is her sister-in-law being so nice to her all of a sudden?

I did finish this in one day as the book isn’t that long and I did want to find out the answers to the above questions (and a few more). One of the main problems I had with this book is I feel like I was reading a book written almost for a YA audience - but with writing quality that was very sub-par. I didn’t feel a whole lot of suspense build-up, no real twists and it got too long where it really didn’t need to be. Now don’t get me wrong, this is all my opinion only and I don’t want it to seem like I’m bashing the book as I don’t believe in that at all. If you go on Goodreads, you will see so many people rating books five stars and others give the same book two stars. I will definitely look forward to reading other books by Theo Baxter as I believe he does show great promise.

This was clever, twisty and full of surprises. This started out a tad slow for me but when it picked up speed, it was FULL TILT! WOW ! 4 stars

The Widow's Secret is a 2023 release from Theo Baxter, a new author to me. I found it on NetGalley as one of the most requested mysteries this year, so I decided to give it a chance. This one was a tough book for me, but there were several good aspects as well as those that had distracting issues. The protagonist, Leona, is in her early thirties and married to a lawyer who seems like a good husband that is super busy at work. But then he agrees to take time off and go hiking. Shortly into the trip, he falls over a cliff and disappears. While his body is never found, bloody clothes are all that remain. Obviously he must have faked his death right? Kicks off what promises to be a great mystery. The brother hates the widowed sister-in-law and then he is later found dead. Leona looks guilty and a detective tries to help her. Typical mystery plot that easily hooks readers and leaves you at the forefront of solving the crime alongside the widow.

Unfortunately, the writing quality was way too simple to truly hook the reader as a complex thriller. Maybe the author intended this to be a straightforward-tell-the-reader what's happening instead of showing it and dropping suspenseful clues in clever twists and turns... sadly, it was a miss for me. Too often there was repetition of information and the main character's thoughts were that of a young child. I rarely comment on an author's writing style unless it is a mismatch for the plot; I think but could be wrong that the author is still learning the craft and needs time to develop a stronger voice. Nothing at all was wrong with it, and there is definitely talent in building a story and giving personalities to characters. Just felt like it was 25% too long, awkward/stilted dialog where for pages it was discussing trivial things (or rehashing the plot). One or two more deep edits could've made this much stronger. I don't like giving a negative review... and I wouldn't say this was a bad book... but I do think it wasn't quite ready for publication. But the good thing is that the author shows promise and hopefully pushes more next time.

Thank you NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the copy of The Widow’s Secret. I loved the description of this story, and I really enjoyed it until Leona gets the first clue about what is going on. For some reason all the details about what Leona was thinking and feeling got so long, drawn out, and boring. It was strange that she kept doing things on her own, completely getting in the way of the investigation and the sympathy I had for her in the beginning was replaced with annoyance. I also found Wilde’s actions implausible. No spoilers but there were some eye-rolling moments.The book kept getting more unbelievable and I don’t see the need for the last chapter. This book wasn’t for me, but if you’re looking for a fast, simple read you might enjoy it. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because I enjoyed the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a digital copy of this book to read.

Married couple Leona and Wade Woodrow are celebrating their anniversary with a hike on the Appalachian Trail when Wade slips and falls off a cliff. A search party turns up his bloodied clothing, but not his body.

I had high hopes going into this book. The beginning of the book started off strong. Unfortunately the major twist was revealed about 40% into the book. I found the middle of the book to drag and ended up skimming until about the last 15-20%. I did want to know how it ended.

Married couple Leona and Wade Woodrow are celebrating their anniversary with a hike on the Appalachian Trail when Wade slips and falls of a cliff. A search party turns up his clothing, but not his body. An inheritance and huge payout from a life insurance policy do little to ease Leona's grief. Adding to her stress is Wade's brother, Wayne, who makes it clear he suspects Leona is somehow responsible for Wade's death. When Wade is shot dead and his wife Chelsea vanishes, Leona finds herself the prime suspect in a twisted plot of secrets, betrayal and murder,

The pace is fast from the beginning, The characters are well rounded, and some will get under your skin. You can almost feel Leona's grief dripping from the pages. Once I was pulled into the story, I could not put the book down. I could tell where the story was heading, but that doesn't disappoint me if it's a well written story. There are lots of twists in this well written book and it held my attention throughout.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #InkubarotBooks and the author #TheoBaxter for my ARC of #TheWidowsSecret in exchange for an honest review.

The description sounded promising and it was if I hadn't read oh so many of this sort of story. It was, I'm afraid, utterly predictable to me. Still, the writing itself was good and kept one going. The characters I found shallow however and seriously over the top in the case of Wayne's brother. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

The Widow's Secret
by Theo Baxter
Description
Some secrets are worth dying for. This one is worth killing for.
Married couple Leona and Wade Woodrow are celebrating their anniversary with a hike on the Appalachian Trail when Wade slips and falls off a cliff. A search party turns up his bloodied clothing, but not his body.
An inheritance and a huge payout from a life insurance policy do little to ease Leona’s grief. Adding to her stress is Wade’s brother, Wayne, who makes it clear he suspects Leona is somehow responsible for Wade’s death.
When Wayne is shot dead and his wife Chelsea vanishes, Leona finds herself the prime suspect in a twisted plot of secrets, betrayal, and murder.
Leona is sure that what’s been happening is connected to a secret in Wade’s family. And she’s right. But she has no idea just how shocking that secret is and just how far its keepers will go to protect it…


This was a very good book. I stayed with it. It seemed to start slow but picked up steam. I was shocked, it was well worth the wait when the last chapters did what I did not expect. Kept me moving along as it picked up.

Such a good story with lots of twists and turns. Some things I didn’t see coming it’s so well written.

When Leona’s husband Wayne falls from a cliff on their anniversary hike she truly believes that life can’t get any worse. But her brother in law Michael isn’t satisfied with her version of events and accuses her of murdering her husband.

From that point on everything Leona thought she knew about her husband and those around her is turned on its head and she finds herself undertaking actions she’d never have contemplated previously.

There are moments of truly great storytelling within this, with the antagonist being truly twisted however some of the reveals are a little too easy to spot coming and for me that made this a little hard to fall into at times.

Don’t get wrong, it is a solid thriller and I’m sure many other readers will love it. I just didn’t connect with it in the way that I’d hoped. I am keen however to read another book by this author as the writing style is tight and interesting.

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley and this is an honest review.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
Wayne and Leona are celebrating their fifth anniversary with a hike, Leona is taking pictures when she hears a scream and Wayne is gone, She hunts for him and the rescue party hunt for him but no Wayne, The life insurance comes in and Wayne’s brother doesn’t think she should have it. And then he is killed and his wife is missing. There is more going on her than the life insurance. Can she find the answer and stay alive?

Fast paced quick read with a bit of mystery and a bit of love story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkubator for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

** spoiler alert ** I got about 35-40% and had to stop. I definitely got hooked in in the beginning but as it progressed I felt the character development just dropped off & it got too catty for me.

I also couldn’t handle the childishness and constant harassing / immaturity from Leona’s brother in law. 🙃

I did guess the ending (I skimmed to the end to at least see if my suspicions were correct) about 30% in - so more predictability would’ve been nice.

Thank you to NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was a suspenseful read with some good twist. I felt like it kept my attention and went by fast.
I really loved the first 2/3 or the book, but felt the last part was a bit abrupt and I wanted to shake the main character Leona with some of her choices.
Overall, I enjoyed.
Thank you

Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for an honest review. It was definitely a fast paced thriller. The surprise element is broken in the first half of the story and the other half is how the culprits are found and is being punished. If you are looking for a fast paced quick read, The Widow's Secret is definitely one to try.

Book Title: The Widow’s Secret
Author: Theo Baxter
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: January 29, 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Leona and Wayne Woodrow are celebrating their fifth anniversary with a hike on the Appalachian Trail. Wayne slips and falls off a cliff. Leona didn’t see him fall but heard his scream and immediately looked over the cliff. She search but didn’t call 911 immediately as she didn’t have cell reception. When she came upon other hikers they called 911 for her. The search team didn’t find anything but the dogs did find Wayne’s backpack with some bloody clothes. Figuring his body was carried off by animals the search ended.

Wayne’s brother, Michael believes Leona is responsible as there is a large insurance policy she will be inheriting.

Next Michael is found dead and his wife Chelsea is missing.
Yikes! what is going on? Does Leona have anything to do with THIS?

I am a big Psychological Thriller fan ~ Love and expect twists and turns.
Although there were times I was yelling at Leona ~ I did like her!

Want to thank NetGalley and Inkubator Books for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 29, 2023

Great read. Fast paced and well written. Some interesting twists that you don't see coming. Definitely recommend