The premise of The Wife’s Mistake is intriguing right off the bat - a woman wins the lottery and immediately her life is thrown into turmoil. I really enjoyed the elements of suspense from the very beginning of the book, and I think the fact that the characters in the friend group are all suspicious it added to the suspense but also kind of backfired on the author because it made none of the characters likeable. Because of this, I found myself rooting for nobody throughout the book. The last 20% of the book offers so many twists it kept me wanting to read more, which I always love.

This is the 1st time I have read anything by this author and different from what I normally read.
I enjoyed the story on the whole there were several things happening in book. A lot of relationship issues and trust issues going on. Would read another from this author.

I'm a bit torn about this book. the first 80% of the book was so slow and sometimes repetitive, maybe because I didn't like any of the characters or what they were doing. But the twists in the end were really great. I would have preferred more of the ending and less of the beginning.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for access to this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for an early copy of The Wife's Mistake. This was a slow burn, when it got to 70 % the biggest SHOCKER happened, I was Like NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was very Fast reading after that, many loose ends came together sooooo fast. The story and the characters were good and interesting but I can't say enough about the ending, it was Terrific.

“The Wife’s Mistake” is a thriller by Lorna Dounaeva. I cannot say that overall I liked the book, but I think that the concept is a good one. One day, Natalie wins the lottery - 12 million pounds. She decides to hide this fact from her husband, Hayden, who she believes is cheating on her. Hayden discovers the winning ticket and together the two begin speculating what to do with the money. First - there was a LOT of internal discussion by Natalie to not tell Hayden about the winning ticket. I felt it could’ve been more concisely summarized as that section seemed to be more about a lack of trust/communication between the couple. After deciding to cash in the ticket, things don’t quite work out how they expect them to - Natalie’s new coffee shop is vandalized, their friends start acting oddly around them, and odd things happen in their lives. Twists and turns happen - the basic take-away may be “don’t trust family bonds to always be there for you.” I found the backstory parts to be a bit too sudden and, in the end, I’m pretty sure that not one of the characters grew over the months this book took place. Additionally, while the beginning hooked me in, it took me a while to get some of the secondary characters separate - and I feel that there were a few too many holes in the story that needed closing (such as who was breaking into their apartment?). Overall, it wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t as solid as I was hoping it would be. This was a quick read - so that’s a note in its favor.

The book was ok. I didn't feel like it flowed smoothly; very choppy. You would be in the middle of reading a chapter and something odd would happen that was supposed to connect the stories, but it just fell flat. Some parts were shocking, while others were very predictable. It did keep my attention enough to finish it; but felt it would have been written better.

This book starts off with a splash – literally! The windows of an expensive glass house are shattered and there’s a cherry red Ferrari in the pool with a body inside. To find out how things got to this point, the story takes us back in time to the day Natalie buys a lottery ticket on a whim after a bad day at her barista job. To her utter shock, her ticket is a winner – 12 million dollars! After some drama, she and her husband Hayden cash in the ticket. But the lottery winner’s curse and secrets for Natalie’s past soon rear their ugly heads.

This is a slow burn suspense with plenty of twists and secrets. I liked the way friends and family members started to come out of the woodwork after Natalie and Hayden’s win was publicized. The author definitely keeps you guessing about which characters are money grubbing and which ones have some sneaky motives. The last 25% gets seriously twisty as past secrets start coming to light. Whoever said money is the root of all evil might have been onto something!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing me an advance copy of this book.

I liked the book overall. It kept my interest. I liked the Robin twist along with Liz’s sense of humor ( with Daisy being potentially Natalie’s daughter for a minute). The characters were likable and relatable. It was an easy read and I could keep everything straight.

What I didn’t like:

No closure on who was messing with them when they first won the lotto ( around their apartment leaving notes and breaking in)

The book went on far too long about Natalie telling or not telling Hayden about the winnings. This could have went on for a chapter or two. Instead it went on for much longer than needed.

No closure on Daisy potentially seeing Natalie at the conference.

I also didn’t like the ending with Liz and how she got the money after Heather died.

I felt like there could have been more written about the loose ends versus the part about potentially not telling Hayden about the winnings.

Overall I would recommend as a quick/easy read.

Thanks NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Lorna is a new author to me. I really like her narrative style and I enjoyed this novel. Family secrets, twists and turns, it’s a reasonably shorter novel but still packs a punch.

This book was a short read. It’s about Natalie and her husband . Natalie has a winning lottery ticket and only tells her sister because she suspects her husband is cheating. Her sister knows all her secrets and just may not have her best interest at heart.. This book shows the dark side of family. Jealousy, bitterness and resentment and it’s result. .

I enjoyed this book! I think it is spot on with how couples fear showing their true selves because they are afraid of how the other will react. Which in turn leads to all sorts of problems for Hayden and Natalie.

I also loved the play out of how different people become when money is involved, your closest ally could be your biggest enemy.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookotoure for this ARC!

I recently finished reading "The Wife's Mistake." Sadly, it wasn't very good. The concept of the story was good, but it could’ve been better.

My big problem with this book was that the characters didn't grow or change. The main character is thought to have a perfect life but is always afraid and suspicious. But, the reasons behind her worries are only partially examined or explained.

Also, the story seemed easy to guess and needed new ideas. The discovery of a secret message and the main character's wish to hide her secrets was overdone. It did not offer anything new in the thriller kind of story. The pace of the book might have been faster; this was sort of a slow burn.

The writing style could have been better, but nothing significant. The writing needed to be deeper, which made it hard to get into the story.

Ultimately, "The Wife's Mistake" could have been good. But it just needed to deliver better. Not having enough character development, an easy-to-see storyline, and okay writing stopped me from enjoying this book thoroughly.

Thank you to Bookouture, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

The Wife’s Mistake really grabbed me from the very first chapter. I really liked how the storyline began with Natalie winning the lottery but not trusting her husband enough to tell him.

I felt like it wasn’t really a thriller until the end. A LOT of different twists and secrets were coming out so I didn’t mind. It was a slow burn that was definitely worth it.

I really enjoyed the plot, the mistrust Natalie and Hayden had for each other and all the secrets that came out along the way. Definitely add this one to your TBR

This was not gripping me at all but i read on and eventually the story got going. I cannot imagine winning big on the lottery and hiding the ticket regardless of the reason? The characters although mainly awful were written well. A decent read once i got into it. Many thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

I love a slow burn with a great twist at the ending, Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

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Hey all! This one wasn’t very thrillers until like the last 20%? 25%? If you’re up for a very very slow burn go with this one but I personally felt it was way too slow for me for the thrills to start. Still when they did start they kicked off well and the character dynamics are good. Thanks for the ARC and Cheers

A bit of a slow start hut soon picks up and towards the end you get some really good twists. The characters were all pretty unlikeable in their own ways and it does make you winder about you own nearest and dearest should you ever win such a prize lol. Really well written though and easy to get completely lost in

After a slow start The Wife's Mistake started to get better, full of twists that kept me wanting to keep reading.

"The Wife's Mistake" started with a good premise; a woman in an unhappy marriage wins the lottery. However, the read was a very slow burn, with characters who were difficult to engage or connect with. This was not a great read for me, but fans of Lorna Dounavea may enjoy. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The Wife's Mistake by Lorna Dounaeva Slow and perplexing beginning, that transitioned into a gloomy story. The story is full resentment, anger, and jealousy between generally unlikable characters.

Thank you to the author, Bookouture. and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.