Reading Between the Wines book review #4/130 for 2024:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book: Two Dead Wives
Author: Adele Parks
Available now!

Sipping thoughts: Wow this book felt like I was reading two storylines at the same time. I loved how there was a major reveal so early on so that you were able to see a second part of the story unfold. This was my first Parks book and I definitely do not want it to be my last.

Cheers and thank you to @HarlequinTradePublishing and @Netgalley for an advanced copy of @TwoDeadWives.

#TwoDeadWives #AdeleParks #HarlequinTradePublishing #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

I must have missed something that other people saw or you need to read this author’s other book but it just did not come together for me. My pet peeve to is it had so much COVID restrictions stuff in it. I am so done with that. It was four years ago. I don’t want to read about it. Warn people!! The book is hard to describe. A missing woman who is a bigamist but a runaway bride with brain cancer in thrown in there along with a crazy “friend” of the bigamist. The writer is English so there are a lot of colloquialisms thrown in. I just did not enjoy the book at all. It seemed a bunch of mish mash to me.
#netgalley #harlequin #adeleparks #twodeadwives

It's a mystery as to why Kylie was kidnapped. It is a mystery as to why she disappeared. But the biggest mystery for DC Clemmons to solve is why the woman decided to become a bigamist.
The plotline is quite attention-grabbing! A bigamist woman is missing, and both of her husbands, including her sixteen-year-old stepson Oli, who is not taking betrayal well.
DCI Clemens still digs into the mystery alongside his partner Tanner, who is so focused on putting the blame on Daan, the wealthy, influential husband who lived in the same apartment where his wife was captured and chained to the radiator. Clemens empathizes with Kylie, even though she lived a double life with two different men, creating two different lifestyles: once an upper-class wife of a rich husband, connecting with VIP personas and A-list stars. She was also a devoted mother to two teenage boys, pursuing her secluded life with recently divorced Mark.
We don't know the whereabouts of Kylie, but as time passes, the hope of finding her alive becomes more impossible. There's no body, but the officers found enough evidence to build a case to convict Daan. And Daan has every intention to prove his innocence, pointing his finger at the person who is in a relationship with both of the men.
In the meantime, we get introduced to a new character, Stacie Jones, who lives a secluded life with her old father Kenneth in a seaside town. She left Paris due to her changing health condition and recovery from alternative cancer treatment therapy, which comes with side effects like memory loss.
Could she be connected to the big mystery? What happened to Kylie? Is she really dead, or is she still hiding?
This was a heart pounding mystery once it got started. It took a bit for backstory but once it got going, I couldn't look away. This was an incredible novel and I'm going to go back and read the first book in this series immediately. What a great time!

This one is told from many different perspectives. It all starts when a husband learns his wife has a second family. When he finds out she is already missing and presumed murdered. I did like the different spouses’ perspectives especially in this story. It was an interesting take. I was rooting for the two stepsons, especially Oli. I did find it a touch long. I also found you didn’t need to read the first in the series, this could have easily been a standalone.
3.5⭐️

Wow! I liked it! Adele Parks has pulled it off again. Exactly whose /which wives are dead? I had so many questions. Her flair of writing and command of the English language always makes her books so enjoyable to read.
Don’t read any spoilers before you begin Two Dead Wives but make sure that you read the “Spoiler Alert” at the end of the book.
Thank You to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Adele Parks and for the opportunity to devour this ARC.

Adele Parks excels at writing complex stories with creative characters. Two Dead Wives is a page turner you won’t be able to put down. The kids, Seb and Oli stole the show for me. I loved their interactions and how they helped move the plot when the grown-ups had everything in knots. Two Dead Wives is a great premise, carried out with an expert pen. Adele Parks is a must read for me.

I did not realize this book was a sequel, but loved that it could also be read as a standalone. I found the beginning a bit slow but once i got half way i could not put it down.

A definite on the edge of your seat book. Well developed story line with many twists along the way. I enjoyed it a lot, but definitely on edge reading it.

I wanted to start my review with OMG! Seriously! This book was so good. I think we all love a good tale about revenge served cold. You will not see the final twist coming!

I was so excited about this read, as I loved the prequel "Woman Last Seen". Two Dead Wives didn't disappoint and lived up to the hype. I coudln't put it down and it kept me reading with all the twist and turns. This is a must read if you love mystery and thrillers!

Stacie Jones is fortunate to have her overprotective father caring for all of her needs. Or is she? Stacie has returned home from Paris, and apparently is much in the need for a desperate brain surgery. No worries, her father will care for her.

There is another story in Two Dead Wives. There is a woman who was a bigamist, Kylie Gillingham, and her loss has left more than a few people grieving, not the least her two husbands. How will life progress now that Kylie is gone?

There is a curious thing about the way this story is delivered. While it is the 2nd book in the DCI Clements series, she played more like a minor character. I was much more invested as to what was going on the Stacie. Or what secrets Kylie had kept.
Aside from that, this was a very good read, very intriguing and had a satisfying conclusion.

Many thanks to MIRA and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Holy Hell! I was not expecting what I just wrapped up reading. Going into this book I had not yet read Woman Last Seen so I had to pause and read that first (highly recommend!) before getting into Two Dead Wives. This book gripped me from the onset. There’s good development with some of the characters (can we talk about the needed depth added to Daan!), enough scandal to make this story juicy and twists to keep you thoroughly engaged from start to finish! I look forward to the next book Adele Parks puts out.

Wow! What an amazing follow up to Woman Last Seen! I could not read this book fast enough. The characters are spectacular, and the pace of the plot is perfect. I loved the themes of family, motherhood, and sacrifice in this shocking thriller. I thought the end was really satisfying. I highly recommend any book by Adele Parks, but this one especially.

I tried several times to move ahead with this book-I wanted to read it because it is labelled a thriller-but I found the plot to be so confusing and the characters so uninteresting that I could only read a few pages and felt I didn’t have he interest to continue on. The parts about the man trying to communicate with the missing mother’s kids seemed so silly and unrealistic. I’m a big fan of the thriller genre but unfortunately I found nothing suspenseful about this book., and characters such as the police officers are introduced and then disappear for a long period of time.,I had no idea what the author was trying to do with the plot.

As someone who didn't know this was a sequel until it was done, I LOVE that it is a sequel that you can read and still follow along, and now I get to read the first one! Just meeting the characters in the second book, I fell in love with them, and can't wait to learn more about them as I read about their history in the previous book.

The writing is captivating, and the character development was solid. I did kind of see what was coming, but there were a few surprises that threw me, and regardless, it was one of those books I couldn't stop coming back to. I was hooked. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a good thriller this year, and if you're like me, you just might get two good reads out of it, because I will now be going back to read the first one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

3.5 rounded to 4 stars.

Two husbands are under suspicion for the murder of their wife. The same woman. Leading a double life. Kylie, a dead bigamist.

This story is told from several points of view. It does make the story interesting. The story told from her stepson's perspective was quite emotional and enjoyable.

I didn't mind this book. It kept my attention but I felt I was a little lost at times. I think should have read Both of you first. But all in all it was a good novel. It was a bit long and at times over the top at times but overall okay.

Thanks to net galley and HQ for this arc!

I’ve always been a fan of Adele Parks, her mysteries will easily draw you in and the storylines are always enjoyable to follow. I did have a difficult time initially getting into the book, waiting for the plot to draw me in. It is a sequel, so having read the first book already, I still needed a little refresher. The book did a good job tying up loose ends, but overall wasn’t a “stay up all night” kind of book like she usually writes. I look forward to trying her next book!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book.

There are two things about this book that I regret and neither of them are because I didn't like it. First, it took me forever to finish it and I kept wanting it to be over but that is absolutely no reflection on the story itself, life just got in the way of me being able to spend as much time reading as I would have liked. Second, I did not realize it was a sequel when I requested it, but the good thing to come out of that is now I want to read the prequel! Even though this is part two, obviously you can read it as a stand alone because I just did, it made complete sense and was very good and even though I kind of know the ending of the prequel I feel I must read it now.
It was kind of multiple stories rolled into one but they all worked very well together. The characters were all very unique and some I liked (I can't help it but I liked Stacie's dad) and there were some that I didn't like (Mark and Daan) but then Daan surprised me and I kind of liked him, for a minute. I was kind of hoping for a different ending but am okay with it and it does make more sense than the one I was hoping for.
There were some twists, some edge of the seat moments and overall I'm glad to have read it. Now, I need to go find the first one.

When I first read the front page of this book, the character name Kylie Gillingham sounded familiar and then I clicked that this book was a sequel to Women Last Seen which was when we saw Fiona kill her best friend Kylie who was living a double life - one as Leigh and the other as Kai. Leigh was a stepmother to two boys and lived a homely life, but as Kai, she was a single woman and married to a rich wealthy husband. Her lives were completely different and she ran in different circles. That was until her friend Fiona got jealous and took matters into her own hands. Kylie's husband Kai is the main suspect, but Mark's sons Oli and Seb are about to discover the dark truth about Fiona and Kylie and learn what happened and where Kylie is. The other storyline that runs through this book is Stacie who we learn has amnesia, she can't remember her life but has these fleeting memories. Who is Stacie and how does she connect to Kylie? What dark secrets is Stacie's dad Kenneth hiding as we learn the connections in the last few chapters between Kylie and Stacie? I would say overall that this is a good thriller, but only read it if you have read the first book otherwise, you will be feeling confused as you try and connect the dots in this giant web of deceit. I do find Adele Parks, a hit/miss author for myself but the DCI Clements series is definitely hit-worthy for readers who love missing people, double lives, and family stories.

What a roller coaster! It took some time for me to get invested in this book but there was a certain point where I couldn’t get enough and was desperate to find time to keep reading! I still don’t know whether to like or dislike Kylie but there was definitely a very clear villain in this revenge story. This book is full of complicated relationships and complicated feelings and I’m here for it!