Reading Between the Wines book review #73/130 for 2024:
Rating: 4 🍷🍷🍷🍷
Book: The Stranger at the Wedding
Author: A.E. Gauntlett
RELEASES August 13, 2024! Get your copy NOW!!!

Sipping thoughts: Oh my!! I was not expecting that to happen! I couldn’t wait to see why there was a stranger at the wedding and if he had ill will against Annie, Mark, or both. I would have never guessed what the stranger’s master plan was and why he was there. The last 20% of the book just blew my mind.

Cheers and thank you to @HenryHoltAndCompany and @Netgalley for an advanced copy of @TheStrangerAtTheWedding.

#TheStrangerAtTheWedding #AEGauntlett #HenryHoltAndCompany #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

Twisty and enticing. I had no idea what was really going on until the big reveal. And it will leave you shocked.
Annie is so excited to be marrying Mark. Surrounded by family and friends, it promises to be a beautiful day. However, as she stands at the alter, gazing adoringly into Mark's blue eyes, she notices that there is a person attending that was not invited. A person who will bring the whole love story crashing down.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for this e-arc.*

Thanks to #NetGalley and #HenryHolt&Comany for the book #TheStrangerAtTheWedding by #AEGauntlett. Annie and Mark meet on a train and then again at a grieving group. Soon after they are married and should be happy. But something is not right. Is it something to do with a stranger that was at their wedding? Or could it have to do with Marks first wife? Something is definitely wrong.

DNF@ 32%

I normally don't mind when a story is told in a nonlinear fashion, but typically there's some kind of delineation the time has changed or even that the POV had changed. The characters didn't have distinct enough narration to be able to tell who's POV we actually were in each chapter until some small part of context is given. The characters felt bland and one dimensional and If ound that I didn't really care about what happened to any of them.

Alright this one started out so odd and confusing. I could not for the life of me figure out where this story was going or why any of these characters and storylines mattered. It honestly didn’t even start to get good until about 70% through the story, which is why I’m giving this 3 stars instead of 2 because the twists at the end actually ended up pretty good and freaking crazy! What a bunch of psychos! The few Greek myths/stories that were thrown in were pretty interesting but honestly they seemed sooo out of place until you find out what Annie’s job is, but even then it felt unnecessary. This story could have been so much better if it was set up better, the beginning and middle just wasn’t good or gave me any reason to pull me in, thankfully it did get better. I do want to say though the twists at the end do make it worth the read but I could have gone without the first half of the book and about 4 of the characters could have been removed.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co and NetGalley for the earc. All opinions are my own.

I unfortunately found this title to be boring and the characters to be unlikeable. It seemed like too predictive of a thriller. I will not be leaving a review online for this title.

Cameron's arrival at her wedding means Annie has to come to terms with something-but what- about her husband Mark, whose wife Hope disappeared without a trace. This moves back and forth in time, starting with the wedding, and then to the courtship between the two after they met on a train. It's told in multiple POVs (except, oddly, Mark's) and you might find Cameron the most interesting. Annie is a professor of history and expert on mythology so know that there will be references to myths (which might distract if you spend time, as I did, looking up the bits to fully understand the relevance). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's sort of a slow burn but it's also an interesting one.

Arc Review
Publishing Date: 8/13/2024

The Plot-
Annie is standing at the alter when she looks to the crowd of people attending her wedding she notices a strange man, that she never invited and has no idea who he is. Annie’s paranoia seeps out and she begins the realize maybe her happy ending is not gonna go as planned.

My Thoughts-
This is a quick decent thriller. It kept me engaged enough for me to want to know how the story was going to end. Although the ending was predictable the very last piece of the puzzle did throw me for a loop.

The pacing was okay. Slow at the beginning but once it picked up it was an enjoyable ride. The writing is what really dragged this book. Told in multiple POVS and dual timelines, which I love in books, but for this one there was no separation. It was sometimes hard to tell who was telling the story.

I also hoped that the last piece of the puzzle was touched on more. Instead of just ending.

Overall- if you are looking for a quick thriller with unhinged characters this book is for you.

✨Thanks to NetGalley, The Author, & Henry Holt Publishing for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review✨

The Stranger at the Wedding by A. E. Gauntlett
#sixtythirdbookof2024 #arc #thestrangeratthewedding

CW: death, murder

From NetGalley: Annie never much believed in love. That is, until meeting Mark. After crossing paths on morning commutes, they connect at a group counseling session for trauma survivors. Each recognizes something in the other, though both hide their own troubled pasts. It’s a whirlwind romance that propels Annie through their courtship, all the way to her wedding day—a day she couldn’t have predicted for herself once upon a time yet now feels surer about than anything in her life. But as Annie stands at the altar, casting her eyes over the rows of well-wishers, she spots a stranger in the crowd, and she soon learns that her new life isn’t going to be the happily ever after that she had planned. Who is the stranger at the wedding? What really happened to Mark’s first wife? And was Annie and Mark’s meeting as random as it first appeared, or is something more sinister at work?

My thoughts: This one fell a little flat for me. Not enough plot, too much introspection, and I didn’t feel like it all added up. I didn’t warm up to main character Annie, I didn’t see the appeal in Mark, and I didn’t care about their relationship. The last chapter is when all the action happens but by then I was bored. I want more plot in my books. This will work well for people who like character driven novels, and it’s an interesting story, but just not for me.

Thank you to @henryholtbooks and @netgalley for the advance copy. (pub date 8/13/24)

I'm afraid I'm going to join in with other reviewers here in the opinion that this one didn't quite work for me. I enjoyed the opening, and I think the author is excellent in terms of building suspense through their writing. However, the multiple POVs and time jumps were a bit off-putting, not in being difficult to follow but in terms of pulling me out of my engagement with the story. I think this aspect of the book would have been even more troubling on audio. All in all, I just wasn't finding myself motivated to return to the book and ended up DNFing it about halfway through. Even the promise of a good twist wasn't enough to keep me reading.

Thanks to Henry Holt & Co as well as NetGalley for this eArc. Unfortunately, this story was a bit boring. The first few chapters started out fast, but I started to lose interest halfway through. However, I finished the novel in its entirety, but it never fully pulled me in.

I couldn't get through this one. It started out great then went downhill fast! I was too bored and didn't look forward to reading more so i gave up after 30%. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. The author has a way of capturing my attention instantly. I had to keep reading just one more chapter. It was a hard one to put down. Highly recommend.

Many thanks for my gifted copy!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on August 13, 2024.

Thank you MacMillan and Henry Holt for early review copies of this slow burn suspense read. This is one book that I preferred to read, the non linear timeline was easier to engage with through the book, it worked better for me as I didn't have long chunks of time to get into the audio, which I think would have made that easier to get into. The narration and production for the audiobook were strong as always though and I valued the pacing and style of the audiobook. For listeners I do recommend getting into the style of the book and giving it time to unfold if you listen to it!

For the book, this is a wild slow burn, I wasn't sure at first what kind of themes would ultimately be present, I thought it might be more a standard rich bad people with secrets kind of story but once the pace gets going and things happen, it's kind of a twisty wild read. I ended up enjoying it a lot but I will admit I needed to stick with it for it to have a pay off... a little too slow burn at the start but the later part of the book was strong!

I loved hating Mark. He was super hateable. Otherwise I don't have a lot to share about this one. .I guess just be sure about people who you are marrying.

Sadly I wasn’t able to push through and DNF’d about half way through. I couldn’t connect to any of the characters and the timeline was confusing.

3.5 ⭐️’s
Told in multiple points of view, this book was rather a slow one. It starts at Annie and Mark’s wedding, where Annie is unsettled by a stranger in the crowd that no one seems to know. The more she glimpses him, the more unsettled she becomes. We then are thrust back to Mark’s first wife, a wife that has gone missing with no trace. A marriage that had its issues (something the reader determines from Hope’s diary), leaving Mark as a person of interest in our minds. It hasn’t been that long since Hope disappeared, but when Annie meets Mark on a commuter train, she’s in love at first sight. Taking a bit to connect, they are soon in a whirlwind relationship and getting married, but where is Hope?? Mark and Annie have some bumps along the way, but seem to have weathered the storm, but when the stranger shows up at their home, Annie’s past secrets come to light. All is not what it seems and it’s a good twist…that is if you don’t see it coming. Interspersed stories of mythology made the story not flow as well as it could and frankly, I could have done without them. Overall it was on the slow side, disjointed and fairly predictable. As a dual read/listen, the book was voiced well and the narrator helped move the story along, but in the end it was just OK. Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC and ALC of this book.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a thriller about a woman who is in a whirlwind romance and about to get married. When she sees a stranger in the crowd, she realizes that her new life might not be what she thinks.

I usually love wedding thrillers but I just couldn't get into this one. I felt like the writing was just too formal for me and it was really slowing the pacing down. I also felt like it was too slow paced in general. Nothing was really happening for the first half of the book and I was just bored at that point.

I hope others love this one but it wasn't for me.

Nope, not going to happen. So trite and boring...ND also disjointed.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.