This is a slow burn, domestic thriller that really drew me in! If you like a book filled with lies, secrets and a plot twist, this is the thriller for you! Once you push through the slower start, you will quickly be sucked into the drama wanting to know more! I give this a 3.5 rounded up to 4 due to the slow start.

Thank you to @netgalley and @Bookouture for the opportunity to provide honest feedback in exchange for an ARC version of this book!

When the Guardi went to tell Lorraine her husband Victor had died in a car accident, she just knew they were lying after all her husband was in London given a speech but after a trip to the hospital she learned the guardia were telling the truth and it was her husband who was the liar. That night she gets a call from a reporter named Carl and although he gives his sympathies Lorraine is appalled and knows the real reason he is calling. Carl has a grudge to pick with Victor and Lorraine and their mega popular re-kindle resort Serenity Falls when Victer got in the car accident they had an unknown young adult female in the car and she had no ID and although those close to him do not believe he would cheat Carl wants to find out the truth. He also calls Gail a documentary maker who went to the retreat with her husband Matthew but left alone. She too blames the couple and even though she has moved on unlike Carl his nagging eventually peaks her curiosity. Soon Lorraine will find out she didn’t know Victor as well as she thought and he even changed his will, but once she finds his first attempt at the new will she also finds a letter that brings up even more questions and sends her on a fact-finding mission to Scotland what she finds out could solve the girls identity and what her husband was doing with the young girl but for reasons only the reader and Lorraine knows she keeps it to herself. If only Abigail and Carl could’ve let Carl’s dead dogs lie but they don’t and it changes everything! This is a long book but a very good one it is a twisty roller coaster ride of a thriller and although they did have a couple of eye rolling moments They were very minor and took nothing away from the greatness of this book. I do wish it would’ve been a little bit shorter but that is just another minor point. I want to thank netGalley and Bookoucher for my free art copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Victor and Lorraine are a beautiful couple who seem to have the perfect marriage. They built their lives around their home, Serenity Falls, a picturesque marriage retreat to help couples try to save their troubled marriages. When the love guru, Victor, is involved in a tragic accident with a mystery woman, Lorraine begins to wonder if anything was ever as it seemed. If you like twisty family secrets, this book is definitely for you!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC. I really enjoyed the storyline and the writing. I didn't feel as much suspense as I thought I should've given the storyline, but I still enjoyed the ride! This was my first book by Laura Elliot, and I look forward to reading more.

Thank you NetGalley for this advance reader copy. This was my first book by this author. It was slow in the beginning, but it was well written. And enjoyed how everything unfolded. Will definitely be reading more from this author.

It was a good suspenseful read where I wasn’t quite sure who to like and dislike. I’d definitely recommend this to friends.

Thank you NetGalley for this read!

Wow! What an amazing book!!
Would love to read more from the author.
Thankyou netgalley for the Arc!

Scary, twisty and utterly brilliant plot line. The perfect book to read on a rainy weekend -pick it up and you wont put it down until you have finished it.

I enjoyed this and found it intriguing for the first third or so, but then it got too far-fetched and repetitive for me.
And there were too many little inconsistencies.
The working methods of the documentary film maker also didn't ring true at all. For example, you cannot delete a part of a clip you've recorded in the camera. And film makers are very much known by their names, so would not change them.

This was a good book! I enjoyed the storyline, plot as well as the characters. It started out a tad bit slow but picked up quickly and then I could not put it down! A solid four star read, definitely one you don’t want to miss!

The Marriage Retreat is a domestic thriller that tells the story of the lies a wife finds after the death of her husband. I thought there were a lot of good fleshed out characters. I did think it was a little slow in parts and there were times where nothing was happening. I basically wanted to get to the end to find out what the big twist or reveal was and there wasn't a real payoff for me. It was an ok read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

My husband saved other people’s marriages.
But his secrets will destroy ours…

This book centers around the two main characters Victor and his wife Lorraine. They own a property called Serenity Falls and offer programs to people whose marriages are in turmoil. the property was owned by Lorraine's family and passed on to her. The business is called "Rekindle Connections" and has no lack of clientele. Her husband is a noted speaker and supposed 'guru of love' who is highly regarded by many in the town, his reputation is strong. Victor runs the sessions with their clients and always seems to have people around after him especially women as he is an attractive guy and a smooth talker.

Lorraine is visited by the police and told that her husband Victor has been involved in a car accident and has died. Not only that, there was a young woman in the car who has serious injuries, who is she and why was she in a car with Victor when he had told Lorraine he was away at a different town speaking at an event then where the accident occurred? To say that Lorraine is shocked by these revelations is an understatement, she is inconsolable and leans in her son for support. But soon her son may find out things that may be quite upsetting for him too and he may have many questions for Lorraine.

So did Lorraine really know her husband and who is this young woman that is in the car and who is holding secrets close to their hearts? I have to say I did not particularly warm to Lorraine but was able to empathise with her. Lorraine then visits this woman in hospital, she wants information about her husbands death and is determined to get it. After she is released from hospital Lorraine offers her accommodation at her property to recover.

This was quite a good book and I did enjoy it even though I really did dislike Lorraine's character, it does start off slowly but I felt that was appropriate as the author was setting up the scene. Once it picked up the pace it kept me more engrossed. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book, all opinions are my own.

So when homegirl is like 20 she falls for a man in his forties. They are hippies and he's "spiritual" in the way hippies in the western US are. He gets her pregnant and she decides they need to go back to her home in Ireland to take over the hotel her family has run for generations.
Anyway, they come back (remember she's like early 20s) and her dad dies. She gets depressed and homeboy takes over the hotel after she signs all the property over to him.
Now 30 years later or something he's know as a love guru and they have a reputation for a perfect marriage. He still owns her family's property.
And OH NO he dies in an accident with a young woman in the car. The young woman is in a coma getting excellent care because this is ireland and not the US and homegirl is for some reason talking to her doctors and visiting her (????).
Homegirl is trying to figure it all out because she needs her property back and what if this girl has rights to it or something scandalous. It gets even better when our young lady wakes up.
This is a wonderful example of the issues with age gap relationships.
There is also some disgruntled former customers from the marriage retreat. They don't seem that important.
Homegirl is willing to do anything to protect the property she easily signed over in her 20s.
Also the book covers the dangers of falling in love with comatose people.
Whatever twists you are expecting - You aren't even going to be close. It is very weird and twisty and absolutely lovely.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! The publication date is the 17th August. This is the first book I’ve read from this author and it won’t be the last!

The characters were very well written my favourite character was Lorraine, and I raced through this book. It was gripping from the start and everything that a psychological thriller should be I highly recommend everyone to read this book you wont be disappointed! The plot had me constantly guessing, about what would happen next it was definitely a page turner! I loved the Irish words that were used in this book which reminded me of home. A great book by Laura Elliot!

Imagine if your husband was involved in a fatal car accident with a mysterious woman as his passenger and she survived. This was the start of this juicy story. The million-dollar question of who this woman was and what was her relationship with the deceased definitely intrigued me. You’ll be engaged and anxious to know what this ‘perfect’ couple is hiding. Laura Elliot has paced this domestic suspense perfectly, keeping readers in the dark until the last possible moment. The writing, the plot, the atmosphere, everything is perfect it is beautifully written.

This was definitely a book that proves that nothing is what it seems. I love every second of it.

Great psychological thriller! This is a slow burner book and worth the read. When her husband is killed in a car accident, he is found with another woman. The husband/wife team run a marriage retreat. She is devastated. Who is she? Why was she with him? Everything is NOT as it seems! Excellent book with twists and turns.

Enjoyed the premise but this book wasn’t really for me . The story begins with the death of one of the main characters which initially got me hooked . I wanted to read on to find out what happened but it wasn’t pacey enough for me . The individual characters were well written and the murders were unexpected but there just weren’t any really sympathetic characters to believe in . The ending event was expected so for me there wasn’t any real suspense. Having said that I have bought another of the authors books which sounded more promising,

I really couldn’t get into this book. The premise sounded wonderful and I was excited to be able to get a copy to read. However instead of not being able to put it down, I had a hard time picking it up.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC copy of this book. All opinions are my own. I love this book. It’s absolutely fantastic. It kept me turning the pages and I couldn’t put it down.

By Laura Elliot

Release date: August 17, 2023

Lorraine and Victor run Serenity Falls , a couples retreat. When Victor is suddenly killed in a car accident, Lorraine starts to learn information about her husband. He was found in his car with a mysterious woman no one recognizes-who has survived.
Lorraine uncovers some secrets about Victor’s past and the identity of the young woman and she becomes tangled up in a web of lies. Her intentions are questioned, as she centres herself in the recovery of the anonymous young woman.
A documentary about Serenity Falls brings a number of guests and speculation about the retreat and the marriage that inspired it.

The Marriage Retreat is a domestic thriller with multiple points of view. The novel had some decent twists and turns. I did find it a bit slow paced in parts, but overall enjoyed the creativity and purpose behind the choices of the characters; specifically Lorraine. The last half of the story was definitely more interesting and engaging.

This is my first time diving into a mystery-thriller novel, which was actually what drew my curiosity from the book's brief and cover. I finally decided that I wanted to attempt something new, and Laura Elliot's piece of work was it.

The book's beginning was a little slow in terms of the plot, and at first I had a hard time connecting with the characters. But when the plot then began to develop gradually, Laura Elliot caught my interest and piqued my curiosity about what would happen next. Since they were Irish phrases, there were several words in the story that I had to look up online because I didn't know what they meant. This is also true of the times in her work that I had to read Laura's lines again in order to fully get her meaning.

In addition, as I continued reading the chapters, my curiosity about the story's possible next developments grew. I couldn't stop reading, so there were occasions when I stayed up late to finish it because I was curious to see how Laura would continue to expand her writing. In order to concentrate on the story's primary plot and avoid stretching it out too much, I would have suggested reducing the number of chapters from 69—which, in my opinion, was a lot—to between 40 and 50. Since this was my first mystery-thriller book, I felt that the story was well-written and that I would thoroughly enjoy reading it.

On the whole, I give this book a rating of 3, rounding it to 3.5 out of 5. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.