I found the beginning of this quite slow to get through, but I think that was more a *me* issue as I was in the mood for something that would grab my attention straight away.

If you’re a fan of slow burn, psychological thrillers then I’d definitely recommend this.

Some twists were slightly predictable and I didn’t like any of the characters. There also seemed to be a lot of “filler”.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

This book grabbed me from the first line, however I did find it quite slow for the first half, once I got passed the halfway mark I found it really picked up. There is so much deceit in this book and I adore domestic thrillers. If you like slower paced books this would be a great book for you as the story is still great! I am giving this 3.5 starts(rounded up to 4)

This was a decent story that took a really long time to tell. It centers on Lorraine, who runs a retreat aimed at saving failing marriages, along with her husband Victor. When Victor is killed in an automobile accident while with an unknown woman, Lorraine realizes that there were secrets being kept that she will do anything to avoid coming to light. You also get chapters told by a filmmaker named Gail who is making a documentary about the retreat, and the girl who was in the accident with Victor.

There are literally no likable characters in this entire book but I was ok with that because I did think that they were all well-developed. I enjoyed the way the mystery unfolded and all of the characters were able to figure out the answers they were seeking, but it was just really slow. I think the same story could have been told in a lot less pages, which would have moved it along more quickly. I enjoyed the end of the book and thought it worked for the overall storyline.

Overall, a pretty good story but was just a little slow. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Marriage Retreat by Laura Elliot
General Fiction (Adult) - Mystery & Thriller

Lorraine learns the dark truth about her husband, Victor Gordon and his mistress, after his death. Lorraine and Victor have been married for 26 years and they run a Rekindle Connections program in their small town. Having this type of business, the couple had maintained a great reputation and now Lorraine must keep a lid on the events unfolding around her. Lorraine is filled with hurt and anger at this newly discovered truth and wonders what the mistress will reveal once she is out of her coma.

This is such a great thriller read. One that kept me on my toes, guessing what was going to happen next. The author did an outstanding job with the plot, the characters and their lives unfolding in front of us.

This is a great mystery and thriller read.

This was my first time reading a book by this author. I was excited for the suspense, but it happened a little slower than I typically prefer. The first half was a bit of a struggle to get through. I just didn’t really connect with any of the main characters. Glad I hung in there though, because it did finally pick up near the end.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

" The Marriage Retreat" by Laura Elliot, is a psychological thriller that invites us to travel along as a women learns that everything she though was true in her life might not be.

Lorraine and her husband Victor run a successful spa like marriage counseling program set on the grounds of her family's historic estate in Ireland. Her world is set spinning when she is informed there has been an accident and he won't be returning from a speaking engagement in England. Lorraine is intent on keeping their business alive, but she is continually stunned by what she finds around each corner.

Lots of twists and turns to keep the reader involved .

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this booking exchange for an honest review.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

My Husband saved other people’s marriages...But his secret will destroy ours...

Honestly this book was a big struggle for me. Probably the longest a book has ever taken me to read because it just didn’t keep my interest like I’d hoped. The book has a good story line, but it’s long winded. The first half of the book was so slow and jumped around a lot. The second half of the booked picked up and kept my interest a little more which is why I gave 3 stars instead of 2.

Lorraine is an odd character and I didn’t really relate to her much. The “no name girl” kept my interest though and I liked reading her portions of the book. It was interesting to read what was going on in her mind from the start of the book to the end. Things in the book, especially the end threw me for a loop.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of The Marriage Retreat in exchange for my honest review.

For me this book was much too slow, I found the situation Lorraine found herself in rather dramatic but I think I could have stuck with it easier if there hadn't been so many other characters.

A very slow read but I should think many people would enjoy this.

The first line of the book instantly grabbed me!

I thought the book was slow in the first half. I almost didn’t finish it. It did pick up in the second half though! The twists were good! I don’t know that it was a psychological thriller. It didn’t really grab me like that. Overall, it’s a good story, I just wish the first half wasn’t as slow.

"The Marriage Retreat" by Laura Elliot is a gripping and emotionally charged thriller that explores the complexities of trust, secrets, and betrayal within a marriage. The story's premise, where the protagonist is forced to confront her husband's hidden past after his death, creates a compelling mystery that keeps you hooked from start to finish. As the layers of deception are peeled back, the tension rises, and the shocking truth behind the woman with no memory is revealed. Elliot masterfully weaves a tale of grief, anger, and the lengths one will go to protect their family. This novel is a rollercoaster of emotions and suspense that will leave you questioning the boundaries of trust and the consequences of lies.

The Marriage Retreat is a story about grief, pain, and a tangled web of deceit. I usually love a domestic thriller especially from Bookouture, but this failed to hit the mark for me. I had a few problems with it mainly the believability of the story. Now, as a reader I know that you need to suspend a fair bit of disbelief in reading, but I did feel that certain aspects just weren’t the actions of a rational human even during the fog of grief.

The story follows Lorraine and Victor, the owners of the well renowned marriage retreat, Serenity Falls. It’s a roaring success with only a few failures – a journalist who is infamous for covering the gang land murders that are rife in Ireland. He has a personal vendetta against Victor after indirectly ruining his marriage. When Victor dies in a road traffic accident and the small detail of an unknown female being his passenger, the journalist vows to discover Victor’s secrets with devastating consequences.

Lorraine is flummoxed to who the woman could be. The police ask if he had a daughter in which his wife staunchly denies but she’s still confused to who she could be. The news is a devastating blow, and she starts to question the validity of their marriage. Their business deals in the sanctity of marriage and to think that Victor was keeping secrets from her brings out a rage that she didn’t know resided within her.

So, the issues I had with this book stem from a letter that Lorraine discovers amongst Victor’s belongings. The contents shock her, and she immediately travels to another country to basically go on a fact-finding mission. I mean I can understand someone having that knee jerk reaction but for me I thought it was awfully drastic. I think if I really wanted to find out who the woman was then I’d have handed the letter over to the gardai and let them deal with it. It could just be me but that kind of irked me a bit.

The woman with no name is in a coma and one thing I did enjoy was the chapters while she was under. It went with the idea that the patient was able to hear everything and react to it in their mind. Those chapters were fun and enlightening.

I wanted to love this story more but as previously stated it just wasn’t something that really resonated with me. I also found the first 70% incredibly slow, the last portion of the book was fast paced and it was a great ending to the story.

A slow paced thriller,especially during the first half, but picked up in the second half.
The book had some good twists, but I had trouble staying focused on it, didn’t really get attached to any of the characters -including the main one, Lorraine.
A good story overall ... just too long.

Oh what an amazing book! I love this author and I will read anything by her - I clear everything else when I sit down with one of her books for I know I will be gripped. She raises the bar with every book and this one is just wow! A masterpiece. Needless to say I read it in one breathless setting. A beautifully written, suspenseful, wonderful stunner of a read. If you haven't read it, do so now.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a an honest and fair review. The first line "My husband saved other people’s marriages, but his secrets will destroy ours…" this line was all I needed to be intrigued by this book. Set in a couples retreat, where couples go to work on their relationships issues I was very invested in finding out just who the lady was that was found with Victor when he had his car accident, I stand in the mortuary and take a deep breath before identifying the body of the man I’ve been married to for twenty-six years. Honesty and trust were the bedrocks of our marriage, and we helped other couples repair their relationships too.
Now my whole world has been turned upside down and I don’t know what to think. A woman lies in a coma, in a stark, white hospital room. She was by Victor’s side when he died. The police have been unable to identify her and I’m forced to confront the painful reality that my own husband was hiding something. My grief is laced with anger. How could he lie to me?
But as I begin to uncover the secrets of my husband’s past, I discover the shocking truth about the woman with no name and no memory. And to protect my family, I have to make a choice.
A choice that will turn me into a liar, just like Victor.
And will end in murder… Another enjoyable thriller from this author, it was well paced with some good twists. It will definitely leave you side eyeing your partner and wondering if you really know as much about them as you think you do. #themarriageretreat #lauraelliott #bookouture #tea_sipping_bookworm #goodreads #kindle #netgalley #getlitsy #thestorygraph #thriller #bookqueen #bookstagram

This was the first book I've read by this author, I was intrigued by the synopsis but found myself bored while reading the book. I found there were too many characters and the plots dragged on. Maybe 2/3 of the way through the storyline got a little bit better and more interesting.
ARC from Netgalley

Very slow paced domestic thriller. Loved the promise of a marriage retreat but too many characters sadly to follow to find out who “no name girl” was

I am very conflicted about this book and I have no idea where to begin.

<i>The Marriage Retreat</i> focuses on Lorraine and Victor Gordon's hotel-turned-marriage-retreat for couples struggling, offering a five-day stay to rekindle their connection. But while the two are helping others stay connected, their relationship is not what it seems.

This is a very slow-pacing thrilled and I skimmed pages because the descriptions wouldn't end. It easily could've been half the book and it wouldn't have changed any single important detail to the main story. I felt like the story was just rambling and rambling for pages and, as much as I read, I was getting nowhere.

Lorraine, the main character, is unlikable and couldn't relate to her at all. She claimed that she, too, had so many secrets from her husband, but I only read one and her husband knew it.

There were too many POV changes and I didn't particularly care for any of them.

Based on the description, I didn't think Victor would die so early in the book and spend the rest of the book exploring that. It was just too long. I almost DNFed so many times but stuck around and, honestly, I wasn't that impressed.

</i>Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for a free arc. </i>

Laura Elliot’s The Marriage Retreat is the story of Lorraine and Victor Gordon. After Lorraine receives some shocking news, she realizes that appearances aren’t always what they seem, and one action will have shocking consequences for those involved. One of the main questions in the novel is - do we really ever know those we think we know? I voluntarily read this complimentary copy of this well-written book full of secrets that will have you guessing until the end.

I was really excited to read this as the synopsis is so intriguing (and although it rarely impacts my decision to read a book, I loved the cover too!). Unfortunately while it had initial promise I didn’t finish it. I found it very slow to gain pace and thus it was hard to be that interested in any of the characters or the central mystery.

⭐⭐ The Marriage Retreat by Laura Elliott
Rapid Review
Billed as a psychological thriller, this was a slow paced book that did not draw me in.
Though the setting is a marriage counseling retreat, there were too many intertwined characters that were not necessary.
The car accident death of Victor Gordon with a mysterious surviving girl was a great premise.
The unraveling widow, Lorraine Gordon is an interesting character with a past that dark.
This book would have been wonderful if a tad shorter by cutting out the unnecessary characters.
I was granted this ARC by #NetGalley and #Bookouture. Thank you for this opportunity.