Emily Shiner, the queen of revenge plots, returns following You Can't Hide (5 stars) with her latest knockout, highly addictive thriller, HER HUSBAND'S SECRET. A revenge plan goes wrong in this dangerous twisted game. Who will come out standing in this intense competition?

Ricky is one of the creepiest characters you will ever meet! Superb! A fast-paced, surprise-packed treat.

Great Characters!
Jared: A wealthy cheating husband.
Eloise: Realtor. A vengeful, greedy wife.
Ricky: Eloise's unhinged, creepy, delusional—not-so-bright cousin.
Tina: Single great mom. Works at a daycare—sweet, poor, naïve.
Luke: Her adorable three-year-old son.

Eloise is a scheming wife. Her husband, Jared, owns a large PR firm. They live in a mega house, and she has everything anyone would want. Eloise is a successful realtor and sells million-dollar homes. Her husband finances her projects and her wardrobe. But she does not need to work. She is glamorous but grew up poor.

But he was unfaithful, and he must pay.

Eloise has a PLAN. When she married Jared, she had to sign a prenup. She knows he cheated years ago. Ricky, her crazy cousin, sent her photos of a woman who used to work as a bartender and her husband kissing. This went on for months until he ended it. He does not know she knows.

They quit seeing each other years ago, but Eloise suspects Tina's son is Jared's but he does not know. Eloise and Jared were not able to have children.

Unlike most wives, she WANTS to put her husband and Tina together to reconnect them. She wants people to see them together to help her plot. The only way she will get Jared's money is— if he is DEAD.

So her PLAN is for Ricky, her crazy cousin, to kill Jared and set up Tina to take the fall. Then Eloise will get the money.

She knows Tina did not know Jared was married when she was seeing him, and he left her and even gave her a fake name. Eloise does not care. She wants Jared's money. The rest is collateral damage.

Eloise's manipulation begins with a new program for first-time homeowners: single moms, vets, and those wanting to get out of renting with creative financing.

She has one person in mind—Tina.

Tina currently rents a low-end apartment with her roommate Paula. However, they will have to get a new renter for the third bedroom, and Luke, her three-year son, has to start sleeping in her room. She wants a better life for her son. But her daycare salary is not enough.

Of course, Eloise plans it and gives Ricky (mostly strung out on drugs or alcohol) enough money to be their new tenant. He moves in, and he is so CREEPY. He is obsessed with Tina. He wants Tina for himself. But he must follow the plan per his cousin, Eloise. Tina is afraid of him, and rightly so—a stalker.

Tina wants out of the apartment and away from Ricky. Eloise knows she goes to the library, plants fliers there, and tells all the librarians and businesses about her new plan.

She, of course, pays a hefty down payment herself and meets Tina like she is her best friend and sells her the house directly across from hers. Convenient, right?

Eloise plays the friendly neighbor and BFF, sending her husband to help her move. Even gives her her husband's business card—a dinner out, etc. Of course, he is shocked, and so is Tina. They do not let on like they know one another. How is this happening?

Eloise keeps putting them together. She senses Jared may know this is his son since he looks like him. Eloise continues to manipulate and orders the DNA test to make sure. But when she learns Jared had an appointment with his attorney, she knows they must put the plan into motion NOW.

This is where the book picks up speed. INTENSE! Ricky becomes further unglued between Eloise paying him money and his conflicting obsession with Tina. He wants to be with Tina. She has no clue Ricky is Eloise's cousin.

Do not expect it to go smoothly if you hire someone like delusional crazy Ricky (that is strung out on drugs or drunk) to kill someone. Eloise also makes a mistake in her plan and does not count on Ricky losing it.

Who will die?
Who will be charged?
Who will get the money in the end?

Told from POVs: Eloise, Tina, and Ricky.

HER HUSBAND'S SECRET is a creepy, spine-tingling, utterly addictive tale of obsession/revenge domestic suspense mixed with dark, twisted humor! Do not miss this one.

Again Shiner is on FIRE, once again. Highly creative, like nothing I have read. I LOVED THIS BOOK!

OMG! Shiner gets the award for creating the most unhinged, CREEPY, delusional, and funniest character ever—RICKY! His mind?? Man, she is imaginative. I was holding my breath to see what would pop up in his mind next! I am still laughing. The Clorox was hilarious.

I read a lot of thrillers, and they must stand out to get 5 Stars. I have read 148 books YTD May-(primarily thrillers), and trust me, HER HUSBAND'S SECRET is STAND OUT! So much better than expected—not the typical love triangle. I got no sleep until I finished this book, dying to see how it would turn out—I loved the satisfying conclusion.

Tense and twisty, you will read this in ONE sitting! For fans of authors Kaira Rouda, Daniel Hurst, and Freida McFadden.

Great characterization! I loved Tina and Luke. You will sympathize with them. Eloise was sneaky and manipulative. Ricky was so creepy and scary! Jared is not so nice, but he does the right thing in the end.

HER HUSBAND'S SECRET will have you guessing until the final page is turned. A perfect beach read. Highly recommend it for those who enjoy dark, twisted humor mixed with your domestic thrillers. If you have not read her books, get started—loving this NC author! An auto-read author.

Thanks to #InkubatorBooks for a gifted e-ARC via #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I also purchased the hardcover copy for my home library.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 💙 Stars
Pub Date: May 21, 2023
May 2023 Must-Read Books

Eloise is furious when she discovers her husband Jared had an affair and had ended up with a son. Eloise has decided there is no chance she will ever forgive him nor Tina the woman he had an affair with.

Eloise comes up with a plan and recruits her cousin Rickey to help her. She asks Rickey to keep an eye on Tina whilst she comes up with a plan to push Jared and Tina together to try and get old sparks lighting again.

In order to get “what she deserves” Eloise knows that her husband Jared has to die. Sadly for Eloise a divorce from her filthy rich husband will leave her with absolutely nothing thanks to a prenup she signed years ago when they were to be married. Eloise comes up with a clever and murderous plan which she knows she can pull off with the help of her cousin however Eloise doesn’t bank on Rickey also falling in love with Tina, and soon Eloise finds everything is spieling out of her control much faster than she could have imagined.

I really enjoyed reading her husbands secret by Emily Shiner and I will certainly be looking out for more books written by this author as this was my first and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the twists and turns that took place throughout this book, the characters were easy enough to like and to keep up with. The only thing i did find was at times it wasn’t quite as fast paced as I like, but still I did enjoy it and I’d certainly recommend this book to other readers.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for this review.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would probably recommend. The storyline did have multiple perspectives that help add to the expense and character development. It really provided some insight to the motives behind some of the situations that took place. The ending was satisfactory and wrapped the story up nicely. Definitely a thriller! I

4/5 stars

I have been binging so many Emily Shiner books recently and they are all so great! This title was no different! I love a family psychological thriller. There were so many twists and secrets uncovered throughout the book. Some were predictable, and some really caught me off guard. This title is short enough that you can get through it pretty quickly and have all of the surprising answers that you need! You cant go wrong with any Emily Shiner thriller, and this is another great one!

The premise held such potential but this book fell flat for me. Nothing really got resolved in the end, I had the major twist figured out early on and overall the book was very slow. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Eloise finds out her husband, Jared, has been unfaithful to her. Not only that, he fathered a child with this other woman, and Eloise cannot forgive that. Jared is a rich man, but if Eloise divorces him, she gets nothing, due to a prenup.
She plots her revenge carefully, the outcome she envisages is her husband dead, Tina, the woman who he had the affair with, framed for his murder, leaving Eloise entitled to all Jareds money.
For the plan to work, Eloise has to enlist the help of her loyal, but unstable cousin, Ricky. She goes through her plan with Ricky several times, so he knows what is expected, and he agrees to do as Eloise wants, until he becomes obsessed with Tina, and changes Eloises plan to one of his own.
I read this book in one sitting, I just had to find out what happened next.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I’ve read all of Emily Shiner’s books and this one was no different she is the queen of thrillers. This book was so captivating one world WOW! It 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 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 Emily Shiner!

When Eloise discovers her husband Jared has fathered a son with another woman, Tina, there's no way she's forgiving him. But divorce will leave her with nothing, thanks to a prenup. Instead, she takes her time plotting a murderous revenge with help of her loyal cousin Ricky. Her plan is simple = she'll kill Jared and set Tina up to take the fall. That way she'll stay free to inherit what she really loves: Jared's money. And with Ricky's help, it all seems possible.

With well-developed characters. lots of twists, sinister secrets and fast pace, I was quickly pulled into this story. I couldn't wait to see how this story would unfold, and what the outcome would be. The story is told from Elouise, Jared and Tina's perspectives. There were parts that seemed a little far-fetched. I liked how the story ended.

I would like to thank #Netgalley #InkubatorBooks and the author #EmilyShiner for my #ARC of HerHusbandsSecret in exchange for an honest review.

As always, this author never ever disappoints. She manages to create a thrilling edge of your seat read that you can not put down until it is finished.

Emily Shiner blows me away yet again! I have been a big fan of Shiner for a while now, and every book somehow gets better and better. Her Husband's Secret was so thrilling, I read it in less than 2 days. I loved the plot, the characters, and the ending. While some parts felt a little predictable, it was still a great read and I will be recommending it to everyone!

Emily Shiner is definitely an author I have to grab ahold of and her latest book is a great, fast paced read.

Thanks to NetGalley & Inkubator for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is my first reading of a book by Emily Shiner (a quick Google shows she has several other thriller books published already, and seems to be fairly popular overall).

This was a quick and easy read, so it's good for anyone who wants to take it on holiday with them or doesn't want to do anything too taxing. Having said that, I didn't find it "thrilling" enough for me, and I'll outline why below.

Eloise spends the entire book telling the reader how smart she is, how she's always one step ahead of everyone else. And decides to put a loose cannon into the mix like her cousin Ricky? That's not a smart move at all, and she quickly realises that. Yet when she panics, she calls Mr Loose Cannon in to solve her issue? Come on.

Tina is a more believable character than Eloise, but one scene featuring Tina really stuck out to me as something that was quite unrealistic - Tina going to a bathroom in a restaurant and some random woman coming up to her to tell her how hot Jared is? I actually had to go back and check if the author was a man because of how odd this was. So I was even more surprised to be reminded that the author was a woman.

I worked out the twist within about five minutes of Tina's perspective, and really the only thing I was waiting on was how badly Ricky was going to mess things up for Eloise. It's definitely not the best thriller novel I've ever read, but I think the author does have potential so I will try her other published books before I fully make my mind up on her. I'm just afraid that this book does not cut the mustard for me, sorry.

Eloise seemed to be well intentioned. Her plan, however, didn’t go as planned. Turns out they all had secrets! Karma’s a *$#@#! Her Husband’s Secret is a fast paced, page turner. I liked it.
Thank You to NetGalley, Inkubator Books, and Emily Shiner for the opportunity to enjoy this ARC.

This book has it all!! A jealous wife, a crazy relative, a husband with secrets of his own…
This one was definitely a page turner. I couldn’t wait to see how this story ended.
Sweet, innocent Tina has been down on her luck for a long time. When she finds a way to get out of her shared and too-small apartment with a creepy roommate, she jumps at the chance! Doing so sends things spiraling out of control.
Will things turn out the way she hopes they will? Or is it really all just too good to be true?
Told from three points of view, you won’t want to miss this story—it’ll keep you on your toes from beginning to end.

With thanks to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Her Husband’s Secret is a fast paced thriller detailing Eloise’s plan to take revenge on her cheating husband, Jared. However, her plan will have far reaching consequences beyond Jared…

As always, I enjoyed the multiple perspectives. It added well to the suspense and character development. This felt like a different angle to most thrillers, which build up to revealing the motive behind their actions, whereas Her Husband’s Secret outlines Eloise’s motivation from the early stages. In this case I think Ricky was a pivotal character in continuing building suspense and maintaining a sense of uncertainty regarding where the plot would end up.

I found the ending very satisfactory and fitting. Overall, an enjoyable thriller I would recommend for summer! Emily has a very captivating writing style and I would read more by her in the future.

This was the first book I had read from Emily Shiner. It is psychological thriller set in the US. As a British reader I wasn't sure how I would get on (often finding books from across the pond more difficult for me to get into when compared with my comfort zone of home grown narratives!). This book was pretty easy to read however.

The story is about a single mother, Tina, who finds herself (along with toddler son, Luke), in a house share where she feels unsafe, when an unsavoury character, Ricky, moves in. This is enough to make Tina want to move out, the dream being to own her own place.

Her dream is realised, but unbeknownst to her, this is part of a very well executed plan with murderous intent by the wife of the man who fathered Tina's son - yikes!! This is a book with a devious plot that very much supports the notion that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!

I found the book a little slow to start, but was sufficiently gripped to see it through to the end. The end was fitting, I will saw no more!!

My thanks to Netgalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

I'm usually a big fan of Emily Shiner's work but man, this was just not it. The premise of the story is great but the execution falls flat. It had really great potential, but again, it just did not finish strong. The story did keep me interested the entire time and I was working so hard to figure out how everything was going to play out. However, once the ending was coming, I was so disappointed. Nothing truly got resolved and it felt like the rest of the book was a waste. I really wanted to love this one but... I'd pass on this one. It's just not worth the investment.

Revenge…
Revenge is sweet - isn’t it? It should also always be served cold so they say but it’s always possible that it may well just bite you instead of the intended recipient. A slow burn novel of revenge, secrets and lies where nothing is quite as it seems. Characters are well drawn and the narrative edged with menace. Whilst not the best in this author’s canon, still a reasonably suspenseful read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book. This book took me on a ride of what was going to happen? How dare her husband cheat? And is that child his? I love Emily Shiner books and can't wait to read the next one.

I have never read any of her stories…and I would have to give it a 3 out of 5. While I LOVED the story, and really enjoyed reading this book, I felt like it went 0 to 100 really fast. The beginning was a slooowwwwwe read and then it was real serious. It left me wishing she would have taken the time to explore those alleys to increase the storyline! So many things left unsaid and so many roads untraveled. You simply can not do this story justice in the 289 pages she gave me.