I want to start off this review with thanking NetGalley and Bookouture for sending me the ARC! This book releases may 11th! :)

I started this book with the intention of trying to get out my comfort zone and read genre that I normally don’t read, which is thriller. So when I saw the tittle, I knew right away that this book would be what I was looking for.

This book is extremely fast paced, which I enjoyed as it got me hooked from the get go. However, some parts didn’t feel as developed as others and left me feeling confused at times.

My favourite part about this whole book were the twists, WHEN I TELL YOU THAT THEY LEFT ME COMPLETELY SPEECHLESS, THEY WERE THAT GOOD. Every time a twist would happen, I would genuinely be taken a back and go reread earlier chapters with a new perspective than I did when I first read it.

My only real negative about the book are the characters.

Every single character to me felt rushed?? They weren’t as developed as I would’ve liked. I quite literally didn’t care about any of them. My favourite character, un ironically, was Klara, and only because she invoked so many emotions from me and kept me wondering what she would do next.

However the plot is so good that i could overlook the characters. Which is why I would really recommend this book of your looking for a fast paced thriller that will literally leave you guessing throughout the whole book. Will definitely be reading more books from this author :P

This was a good thriller just not the best one I’ve read. I was a little bit caught off guard by the plot twist but otherwise it was a pretty basic story. Enjoyable though.

Absolutely loved this one by Victoria Jenkins. She writes so beautifully and this one is so dark and sinister that it had me hooked from the very start. And THAT TWIST!!! I was completely blindsided by it. Such a brilliant read. 5 stars

Sooo good. The twists and turns came fast and furious. You will never guess the big reveal. This is going in my top 20 favorites of 2023. Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for this ARC. Rounding up to 4.5 stars.

Loved this! The twists were crazy. Loved that first twist with part 2. This was a constant suspenseful thriller. Great job.

Firstly I would like to thank bookouture and the author Victoria Jenkins for access to the happily married.

The review I am going to make is an honest review regardless of the access I received for this book. It should be noted I was not paid for this review and ensure honesty in all my reviews.

Her husband is keeping secrets and she’s been his childhood sweetheart so she can tell. Kara becomes a lodger to help with money troubles. Jake and Kara are caught one evening a bit close together but Jake promises nothing is going on…

I wish the chapters were headed with who the narration came from as this took me a while to get used to it. It was a good psychological thriller and kept me intrigued.

The synopsis drew me in right away. I was very interested in reading about a domestic thriller in which a possible mistress moves in as a lodger and what secrets could be revealed from then on. But that's not exactly what I got.

This book is told from multiple POV. However, who's narrating is NOT indicated in the chapters headers, so you go into each chapter "blind" and wondering whose mind you're in for a while. This complicated the reading and made me lose time rereading in order to understand. It was VERY confusing. There's also a chapter towards the end that you don't realize until a couple pages in that it is actually telling a story from many years ago.

Also, the second half of the book feels like a totally different story from the first half. The first half is slow action-wise but the second half is filled with multiple plot twists. It's one after the other. It was almost like there was a new plot twist every single page. It was unrealistic and impossible to keep up. It was all just too much.

Honestly, this book made me really really sad. I finished reading it a few hours ago and I'm still sad. I really liked the female characters though. Natalie and Kara were strong characters and their backgrounds were interesting enough. Overall, however, it wasn't a very pleasant read.

‘A husband with a secret. A wife dying to tell.’

Natalie and Jake are married with their daughter, Elsie. They live on a farm and at first have a seemingly normal life. Everything starts to unravel when a woman moves in as a lodger on their farm. Is everything really as it seems?

This was the best psychological thriller I have read this year. Within the first 10 pages I was already intrigued to find out what this secret would be. Oh, how wrong I was! I thought I had it all figured out, and the first plot twist was jaw-dropping.

This book was truly a wild ride and I could not put it down. I devoured it in one glorious sitting and I will definitely be reading more from this author.

I highly recommend this to anyone who’s a psychological thriller fan, particularly domestic thrillers.

𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐢𝐥-𝐢𝐧-𝐭𝐡𝐞-𝐛𝐚𝐠, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲-𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐞. 𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰, 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐥𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫.

Natalie and her husband Jake are having money problems. Life on a farm isn't easy, and Natalie is working an evening job to supplement the family's income. When she approaches Jake with the idea of taking on a renter, Jake initially wants no part of it, but Natalie wears him down. After placing an ad, Natalie interviews and decides on Kara.

It's not long before Natalie notices how cold and distant Jake has become toward her, and even worse, he and Kara have been sharing some cozy moments alone. Did she do the unthinkable and move her husband's mistress into their family home?

The points of view from the person set on having Jake are intense and will leave you unsettled. This is a person who knows exactly what to do to make Jake theirs, and there is no room for a wife and child dragging them down.

When I got to the big twist, I did a double-take and re-read to make sure I processed the information correctly, and what a twist it was! I never saw it coming, and I doubt you will too. A highly enjoyable read that I thank NetGalley and Bookouture for granting me early access to. HAPPILY MARRIED will release May 11, 2023.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I’ve read all of Victoria Jenkins books and this one was as amazing as the last she is the queen of thrillers! This book was so captivating one word WOW! The book was brilliant , it was a fast paced and kept me guessing throughout a perfect book for psychological thrillers fans alike, from the very first page I drawn in and couldn’t put the book down it was so good I read it in a day! The characters were likeable also.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed this book and all the plot twists that it presented! Another cracking book by Victoria Jenkins and I can’t wait for her next book!

Happily Married
Victoria Jenkins
May 2023
Bookouture

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Thanks a mil Netgalley and publishers Bookouture for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this one in pretty much one sitting. It had short easy chapters and I flew through it after getting hooked from the first chapter.

The couple, Natalie and Jake are far from Happily Married as the title suggests - he is cold and distant towards his wife and we learn early on about an affair ... although that twist reveal at the beginning of part 2 -I never saw coming! Wow! What a shocker!!!

I thought this book was well written, with a good plot line and kept me gripped throughout. I will defo look out for more books by this author. While it isnt up there with my favourite psychological thriller or wouldnt make my top books of the year list in this genre, it was an enjoyable read.

Cant wait to see what the aithor comes up with next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Natalie lives on her family farm with her husband Jake and her small daughter Elise. Like a lot of family farms, they are struggling with money, causing Natalie to get an evening job and deciding to rent out one of her rooms. She chooses a woman named Kara, who seems to be a sweet roomie.

The title would have you believe that Natalie and Jake are happy in their marriage. However, we quickly learn that there is very little affection between the two. He is distant, and doesn’t seem to care much about Natalie. We also learn that Jake has been messing around with someone else, and they’re a little crazy. Okay maybe a lot of crazy.

I liked that we get to see multiple points of view, Natalie and Jake’s affair partner. There are some huge misdirections at first and we think we know who the characters really are, but we’re wrong. You really can’t trust anyone in this thriller.

4.5 stars

Although I intrinsically enjoyed this book I found the characters and plot quite frustrating. I lost my way in parts as it jumped about quite a lot. I guessed the plot twist early on but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story. I did finish the book but I’m not sure I’d want to read any of the authors other books.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.

I’ve just sat and read this pretty much in one sitting.

Natalie and Jake own a farm. They live with their young daughter Elsie, and are helped around the farm by Tyler, Natalie’s childhood friend. Unfortunately the farm is struggling, so they decide to rent a room to Kara. Natalie’s suspicions soon start about a potential affair between Jake and Kara. She begins to forget things and stuff starts to go wrong.

As part 1 of this ends, a massive twist, a shock, a bombshell even occurs! From then on I was absolutely gripped. I’d been enjoying the book, but thought it was pretty ‘samey’. Now I absolutely loved it. I didn’t expect any of what followed in part 1. What a story!

Victoria Jenkins, Happily Married, Bookouture 2023.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with the uncorrected proof for review.

Happily Married begins with a prologue which, as the book progresses, could apply to several of the characters and plots. Certainly, the reader is shown early in the novel that the married couple at the centre of the story, Natalie and Jake, are far from happily married. They do not communicate, loving gestures are repudiated, their small daughter has had a health crisis, and their dairy farm and the associated ice cream parlour are in financial straits. There is some clever writing that ensures that the twist in part two of the book is unexpected, but plausible.

Natalie and Jake take in a boarder to help with their financial situation. Her story is cleverly woven throughout those of the characters who have peopled Natalie and Jake’s lives from their childhood. There are mysteries surrounding past deaths and accidents, the reason for Natalie’s fragile hold on reality, and present events. In some ways, the various strands to the plot, although necessary, clutter the narrative. At times, it seemed all too much, perhaps a little tenuous. This, for me, was the downfall in this novel.

As a work that builds tension and keeps a story going, Happily Married fulfills many of the requirements of the psychological drama. However, I felt that this novel was not really for me. On the other hand, I would give this writer’s work another try, the early twist was indeed worthy of praise.

OMG. This book had me mind boggled beyond belief with the twists. If you like thrillers and being on the edge of your seat I highly recommend this read. I have had Victoria Jenkins on my tbr shelf for so long and I’m sad I have waited this long to read one of her books until now because it was so good.

I swear every time I felt like I was onto something, something else happened and I was more determined to find out how this was going to happen end. When the BIG plot twist came I had to go back and actually reread some chapters just to make sure I wasn’t imagining it….it took me completely by surprise. I will admit my only downside is keeping up with the altering POV in the later chapters. I wish that they were identified in the chapter heading for at least the second half of the book, for this reason I gave it 4.5

The blurb for this book drew me in as I love a good, twisty thriller. I love dual POV and different timelines, however I felt there was a lot of jumping between characters POV's in every chapter and it did become a little confusing and long winded.
I'll probably give this book another read to try and make more sense of what is going on as I did feel I had to keep re reading certain parts to understand what happened.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot, the tension - impossible to put it down.

Twist after twist after twist!!! There were points if this book that had me so confused. I read and reread so many parts and almost gave up on it. I am so happy I didn’t!!! This book definitely has me wanting more!

I couldn’t put this down it was a very good page turner, with plenty of suspense. There are twists and turns throughout and the ending didn’t disappoint. The characters were great, the story itself was excellent and the style of writing was perfect. I knew I would enjoy this as I have read many books by this author and I have loved them all. Can’t wait for the next one to come out.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes reading psychological thrillers.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.