💍THE STRANGER AT THE WEDDING💍
𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔢𝔯
𝙿𝚞𝚋 🗓️: 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟹, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺
🌟𝕄𝕪 𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝟛.𝟝 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤! ★★★✬

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝...Annie & Mark meet & fall in love quite fast & are getting married within a year. At the wedding, a stranger shows up & threatens to reveal their secrets that have hidden from each other…

🌻𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢...These characters were completely unhinged which I pretty much love 😆. Weddings are such a fun backdrop in movies & books as the situation no matter what is always tense. Great twists..some predictable but some def not like that ending! 🙌The writing & the flow of the story was all that fell a bit flat & I wasn’t really “rooting” for anyone like I do in all books. Would still recommend.

i did not care for this author's style of writing. Too many analogies and metaphors. The story jumped around too much.

The past stays in the past...or does it? Follow along as Annie meets the man of her dreams, Mark, and they begin their life together. But the past has a way of showing it's ugly head. Wow, wow, wow...I never saw this ending coming and wish I could go back and read it for the first time again. Be prepared to be shocked at the turn of events.

A stranger shows up at Annie and Mark's wedding. We learn that Mark was previously married to Hope and she has disappeared/presumed dead. The plot revolves around finding out what happened to Hope and what this stranger has to do with Annie and Mark.

This thriller was ok. It was told through different timelines and POV which made the story hard to follow sometimes and made the story feel a bit choppy. I felt that there was information that didn't need to be in the story and dragged the pace. About midway through, I had figured out the big reveal.

Confusing at times, but I had to know how it ended.

I couldn't quite form an opinion about anything. I was certain Annie's mom was going to figure more in the story after her drunken behavior at the wedding. I also was quite certain Nate had something more to do with his wife's disappearance. Annie seemed like someone who lucked into a cute relationship at the right time.

I was definitely shocked at how devious Annie was and her decision to meet and marry Mark. The Cameron storyline was interesting but I felt like it ended very abruptly. I think the multiple POVs were also a little confusing, but perhaps that was a plot device?

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book officially publishes on 8/13/24!

This book is what I would consider a domestic thriller. I do believe that it would help good for anyone looking to get into the thriller genre or who is new to the same. This is a quick read with short chapters to keep it fast-paced and the pacing was pretty consistent throughout. In my own personal reading experience of this book, however, I did find it difficult to relate to (or in some cases even like) the characters. I also guessed one of the major twists that was revealed in the end pretty early on in my reading which is unique to my own reading of this book. If you do decide to pick this one up, please check any relevant trigger warnings before doing so.

For a psychological thriller I wasn't overly intrigued by this one. It had a slower build and I got lost on some occasions with the multiple timelines. It fell a little flat for me. I still think its' a solid story that many will like, it just wasn't a favorite for me. Thank you to NETGALLEY and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Decent. The timeline is somewhat confusing . Did think the premise of the story was interesting, but could have mad at least 1 of the characters interesting . 3.5 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley for advance copy.

This was a quick, fairly twisty read. The story begins with Annie and Mark's wedding day after a whirlwind meeting/engagement. A stranger shows up at the wedding and know something. Mark changes after the wedding and becomes broody. Oh yeah, and his first wife disappears. The story is a bunch of cliches, but it does all come together for the most part for a fun read. The mythology pieces were a bit odd, but Annie is a Professor of Mythology so I guess they did fit.

Thank you to #NetGalley, A. E. Gauntlett and Henry Holt & Company for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Stranger at the Wedding was unfortunately not very well fleshed out. For the most part, the characters were flat and unlikable. The plots predictable. I think there was supposed to be a "twist" (because all books seem to need them instead of working harder on the story) but it wasn't very twisty.

I unfortunately had to DNF this story at about 22% in, as nothing with the characters or the mystery had grabbed me by this point. The entire premise of this book is this stranger who shows up at the wedding and causes distress to the bride, but until she kicks him out she doesn’t even have any confirmation that he wasn’t supposed to be there. I felt it would have felt more believable if she had questioned his presence to a few people, asking around about who he was, until it begins to become clear that no one at the wedding knows who he is. As it stands, she just happens to see him during her vows and mentally freaks out because of how he looks - and I’ll be honest, when I first read that passage, I thought she had looked up to her soon-to-be-husband and didn’t recognize him and that he was this stranger at the wedding. (And, to be completely honest, I think that might have been a more compelling story - one where the bride doesn’t know who she’s marrying, but that no one else at the wedding seems to feel the same or believe her).

When the second part started, that happened a full six months earlier and we discovered that the husband in this story had been married before, and that his wife had gone missing - I knew I couldn’t continue reading when even this part didn’t interest me in the least.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For some reason, I thought I had already read this book, so I’m glad I caught it before it left NetGalley! I was thinking of a book I read earlier this year that also had a “stranger at the wedding”, but having someone you weren’t expecting at your wedding is where the similarity ended between that book and this one. This is about Annie and Mark’s wedding, where yes, they see a stranger who claims to know a member of the family, yet nobody knows who they are, so they are asked to leave.

The wedding comes first in the book, and then we go back into the past to see how the couple met, and how their childhoods made them the people they are today. Annie is a mythology professor and Mark, a surgeon. They meet while commuting, and after a few weeks they finally get the courage to go on a date.

Mark is hesitant because of Hope, his first wife. A couple years prior, she left one day, leaving everything behind, including a note basically saying she was done. What did she mean? Done with the marriage, or life in general? The police gave up the case, as people who knew her don’t think she would have harmed herself - she obviously ran off in search of a new life. A part of Mark is still wondering where she is, or if she’s even alive, but when he and Annie meet, the relationship felt very natural and they quickly got married.

Now that the wedding is over, Mark has changed, seemingly overnight. No longer silly and impulsive, he is now brooding and isolating himself from his new bride. Annie is trying to be understanding, but he isn’t making it easy, and she begins to worry. Is it possible that their wedding crasher caused some kind of a change in Mark? Is he missing Hope more than he is excited to be with Annie? Has she made a huge mistake?

There was a lot of the past in this book, and I’m not sure that most of it was necessary to tell the story. Their childhoods were unique, but everyone’s childhoods are, in some way or another, and some of it felt like it was just filler. The present is definitely where the mystery and thrill is, and it was good; I didn’t see the ending coming at all. I don’t think I’d call this a page turner, but it was a very quick, entertaining read. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

(Thank you to Henry Holt & Co., A.E. Gauntlett and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

Thank you, NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company | Henry Holt and Co. books for this ARC for review. It was a pretty good thriller with a twist where you can't really trust or like any of the characters. Annie has never been in love, until she meets Mark when their paths cross on their morning commute. Their love story is not typical, but it is a whirlwind and they end up quickly married, but are they happy? And what really happened to Mark's first wife? Did she really disappear or was it something more sinister?

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Stranger at the Wedding by A.E. Gauntlett
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 288 / Genre: Psychological Thriller
Audiobook Narrator: Sophie Rundle
Duration: 9 hours

Annie and Mark are getting married! This story opens on their wedding day and moves back and forth between before and after the wedding. The wedding where a stranger appears dredging up the past for both the bride and groom. Why? And what are they both hiding?

I enjoyed this thriller. There was always something that’s being kept from you. A lot of hinting and mysterious happenings. Characters that slowly tarnished before your eyes. And a sudden and fabulous twist!

The only thing I didn’t care for were the boring and unnecessary mythological tales in the chapters before each new Part started. I guess it’s foreshadowing but they seemed out of place and broke the flow of the story. Other than that though, I found this to be a really good thriller.

Sophie Rundle did a great job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you, @NetGalley, @HenryHoltBook, and @MacmillanAudio for my gifted copies.

Short synopsis: At Annie and Mark’s wedding, a stranger shows up. Who is he and what really happened to Mark’s first wife.

My thoughts: While the premise wasn’t hugely unique, but a fun ride overall.
I did have a bit of a struggle with the multiple POV and time changes, but once I got the hang of it the I couldn’t help but be sucked into this story. I just had to know the secrets each character was hiding.

It’s really hard to root for characters when they are all completely unlikable, but I think in this instance that was the point.

Read if you love:
- Unlikable characters
- Wedding settings
- Missing people
- Multiple pov

Thank you to Henry Holt and Co.and NetGalley for the free e-copy/audiobook for review.

I must admit, this book threw a curveball I didn’t see coming.

The question posed in the title—“Who is the Stranger at the Wedding?”—kept me turning the pages. Even after the stranger's identity is revealed, the final twist is genuinely surprising.

As a domestic thriller, Gauntlett delves deeply into the characters' relationships. Annie carries a tragic past and a guilt that has haunted her throughout her life, alongside the dark secrets she keeps hidden. Meanwhile, Hope grapples with her fragile state, her strained marriage, and the heartbreak of being unable to conceive.

Despite its somber moments, the story remains entertaining, filled with twists and red herrings that build toward a satisfying ending.

The Stranger at the Wedding by A. E. Gauntlett is a well written debut thriller that is totally worth the read.
This is a wonderfully paced, nail-biting read with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. The plot was intriguing, and the writing made it impossible to put down.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The Stranger At The Wedding by AE Gauntlet, When Annie sees a stranger at her wedding it’s not just the fact she doesn’t know him but the way he’s looking at her just gives her the creeps so later on when she learns he was asking one of her relatives questions about her and their past she is even more alarmed. Annie and Mark has had a whirlwind romance despite recently having his wife disappear and possibly commit suicide Mark is finally rebounding and getting back in the swing of things with unassuming Annie. Both have things in their past their trying to keep covered up but when the secrets start being uncovered it will be devastating for all of them. This is the book that definitely got me out of a reading slump. I listen/read books from the time I wake up until I go to sleep unless I am reviewing but recently I couldn’t find one I could really get into but OMG if this wasn’t that book. From the very beginning to the lock on the basement door I was paralyzed by the narrative and just wish I could read faster. I know I’m going to be sad this book is over and will probably think of many questions I have about the story afterwords but I digress this is definitely a great story and there’s no way someone can figure out the end because OMG I had multiple scenarios and none of them were what happened at the end. This was so good and a book I definitely recommend… Totally loved it! Not to mention her great intertwining of the great Greek myths were so expertly done so kudos to Miss Gauntlett what a great read! #NetGalley,#Henry Holt and Company, #AE gauntlet, #the stranger at the wedding,

DNF at 65%. I truly cannot tell you what I was reading. Everything felt so disjointed and I couldn’t take it anymore. I really had high hopes for this, but it was just too repetitive and went absolutely nowhere.

I've not read any of this author's work before but was very intrigued with this one. I'm very glad I decided to read it.

This is a very good and intense story. It's a bit of a love story and also a family story. With family drama and several deaths. Though none in great detail. In this book you meet Annie. Annie who has fallen deeply in love with Mark. Mark was married before and his wife Hope had gone missing presumed dead. That is the only part of this book that had me scratching my head. How Mark was able to remarry in about a year when his wife's body was not found. How can he do that? Do they not make you wait for a period before declaring a person truly deceased? But that is neither here or there with how the story moves forward.

I enjoyed reading this book. There are a few twists and turns. Annie has a few secrets. She is determined in what she wants and stops at nothing to get it. You learn about her and her sister's childhood. About them as young adults and interaction with their mother and dad. Their grandmother also. You get to know Annie quite well. But not completely. She's something else. Maybe a bit misunderstood. Perhaps underestimated.

Did Mark and Hope really have a great life. Were they honestly madly in love and trying hard to have a child. Or was that just what he wanted you to believe... Or was someone else pulling the strings. Did someone else do something and possibly put the blame on Mark. I have to admit that I didn't see it coming. I missed the twist completely.

While I was hoping for a few loose ends to be covered I did like the ending. I thought it was appropriate. Sometimes in life you get exactly what you deserve. In this case I believe someone did.

Thank you #NetGalley, #AEGauntlett, #HenryHolt&Company, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Four stars.