4th book I’ve read by Keogh. Good, solid book. One woman sees her past lover as her now future. Another woman sees her life in limbo as her family dynamic has changed. Easy to follow. Short chapters. Very entertaining book. Would definitely recommend to others.

I went into this, and enjoyed the story of Hannah, and the problems with her older husband Ivan. Then it changed to Susan and her son going off to uni, and her pining after him, and she was so pathetic and whiny she was properly winding me up!
I persevered and am glad I did. The story alternates between these 2 women. Hannah is stunningly beautiful, and always gets what she wants. She doesn't care how. She's married to Ivan who turned out to be a nasty bully. After a particularly viscious incident she finds a photo of Mark, the last man who'd treated her kindly, and she'd pushed away due to abandonment issues.
Susan is the plain doormat housewife, after her father left she was the eldest so helped her mother bring up her 2 younger sisters and see them get all the opportunities she never had.
The women are both trying to keep hold of Mark (lucky guy, not sure he deserved it!)
The story arc for both women was great, but for Susan in particular. The ending was both shocking and somewhat pleasing. Didn't see it coming that's for a sure. A tense and engrossing read, exploring familiar relationships, love be it a partner, or family and lost hope. Brilliant.

My first read of this author's and not my last!
This thriller was fast paced. The two female characters Susan and Hannah, were strong women. They had their own flaws, don't we all? However the story was compelling and tge characters likeable.
An excellent exciting read that you won't put down.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Boldwood books for giving me a free copy to enjoy

I've read a lot of this author's books and I enjoy her writing style, but I had a real problem with Hannah in this story. She was so horrible, I didn't care what happened to her. I was waiting for Susan to put her big girl pants on and do something amazing, but things just seemed to fizzle out. And the ending was quite random and didn't quite make sense. It wasn't for me, but loads of other people have loved it, so I think it's probably a personal thing.

The Mistress by Valerie Keogh is a fast paced popcorn thriller that held my interest throughout. Both the plot and the characters are well crafted. Told in alternating PoVs of Susan, the wife and Hannah, the mistress, the book is twisty and suspenseful with a bit of drama and bears Valerie's signature writing style.

The ending was not what I expected and I sort of wished it had ended differently. Nonetheless, it is a perfect book for those looking for a quick and exciting read.

Thank you @netgalley @valeriekeogh2 and @boldwoodbooks for an advanced digital copy to read and review. The book comes out on 3/25.

I was a bit disappointed by The Mistress, I read other books by Valerie Keogh and really liked them because they had unpredictable plots, in this case there were no plot twists for me and I could easily foresee where the narration was going. It's as if this wasn't a true thriller. Moreover, I found some details weak, there's something off with the chronology in the plot (Susan is supposed to have basically raised her two sisters and supported them through university years, being 10 years older than her oldest sister and having married later but you can easily do the math and know that she should have started dating Mark when she was 21, so...). I loved how she portrayed the main characters tho, Valerie is great at creating sly, manipulative characters you'd want to punch in the face as if they were real.

This is the story of Hannah and Susan

Hannah chews up men and spits them out.

Susan is a devoted wife and mother, who is lost after her only son goes off to college.

Given the title , you can guess where this is going so I won't give any more details.

The characters are all quite unlikable. I had a hard time finding much sympathy for any of them. There were a few moments when each character got some. That made it hard for me to connect with any of them.

It was a good enough domestic story. Parts of the ending were satisfying and other parts surprising, but not in a good way. I didn't think it really fit with the rest of the book.

I have read other books by this author that I liked more and would read books by her again.

Thanks to netgalley and Boldwood Books for the arc.

Keogh can craft some truly contemptible characters and she has outdone herself with this one!
Hannah was so detestable I read extra fast to see what trickery and manipulation she would wreak next.
Susan lived for others and finally figured out she had no life.
Mark was very weak and gullible.
How can a book with such characters be so good? Keogh makes it all work but I have to admit I was waiting for Hannah to get what was coming to her. She does but who delivers it was a surprise.

I’ll start by saying that this was a gripping read, it held my attention and the whole way through it just felt like a wreck waiting to happen! I couldn’t even guess how it was going to end. However, the ending I found a bit strange. I sort of felt like the author herself didn’t know how it was going to end, so she pulled the mum back into it to wrap it all up. I didn’t love the ending. It felt rushed and random, not really properly linked to the story at all.

A fast paced psychological thriller with a killer ending!
This book is full of undesirable and flawed characters which only enhances the story .
The story includes greed , desire , murder , adultery and a whole lot of manipulation which makes for an interesting read .
I was hooked from the first page .
The story is about two women Hannah and Susan they lead very different lives , until one day Hannah makes herself front and centre in Susan’s life and not in a good way.
An enjoyable fast paced read !
Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books.

I've enjoyed other books by this author but this one wasn't a favorite for me It is about two women: Hannah, a femme fatale type who uses her beauty to get what she wants in life. The other is Susan a married women whose only son is going away to college and she can't bear to be away from him. Susan is married to Mark who doesn't seem to have much of a personality at all. The novel begins when Hannah is being beaten by her older rich husband Ivan. Ivan was in a rage because Hannah lied about taking birth control pills. After Hannah has been beaten into unconsciousness, Ivan suffers a stroke. When Hannah recovers she decides to leave Ivan who is in bad shape and requires around the clock care. She thinks back to a boyfriend she had when she was young, Mark and decides she must have him back. She finds out where he works and lives and shows up his office one day to seduce him.

Hannah never seemed like a real person to me. I wanted to feel for her since she grew up with an uncaring mother but she didn't talk or act in a way that was believable to me. Then there was sad sack Susan. Susan was very close to her son and was having a hard time with him going away to school. She had two much younger sisters but didn't relate well to them and had no friends, hobbies or work. She expected her son to not only call her daily but to give her minute by minute details on everything he did, eat, how he slept etc. Then at the end of the book she is angry and thinks to herself that her son is a 'little shit' for simply answering "I'm Fine" to some of her texts rather that calling for an hour long grilling. To me he seemed like a perfectly nice boy who was trying to find his way in school and life.

As Hannah and Mark begin an affair, Susan suspects something is wrong and is determined to confront her husband's mistress. The meeting between the two women didn't seem realistic at all and when the author tried to throw off the readers by having each woman thinking violent thoughts and a 'bad smell' in the house, it just fell flat. There was also a strange emphasis on little details that didn't add to the story like a whole paragraph on one of the women having trouble closing a door because of heavy rain. The ending was surprising but again just fell flat to me. Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review..

This book was a tough one to review. for the first 2/3 of the book I was along for the ride, following the plot and interested to see what was going to happen next. I was even going along with the story even though I found that none of the characters featured had any likeable or redeemable qualities.
In the last third of the book I felt like the story telling became fragmented and unfortunately some giant leaps were made to wrap up the book quickly as if the author didn't know exactly how to end things. I did finish it but probably wouldn't recommend it for most thriller readers.

This book was so accurate in its sad story about a cheating husband and a scorned wife!
When Susan’s husband Mark begins to act differently, she suspects he’s having an affair.
Indeed he is! He has rekindled the flame with a lover from his college days, Hannah.
Susan is desperate to find out who the woman is, and hires a private detective.
What follows is Susan’s journey of discovery, on her road to “writing her own narrative” .
This book is well written, and hits the mark on all the feelings of betrayal, that women have when a marriage falls apart!
There’s a satisfying twist at the end!!
Thank you to Net Galley and Boldwood books for the advanced copy! My review is unbiased and my true opinion of this book?

The Mistress This book starts out well but goes off the rails after Hannah finds her husband beaten on the floor of the garage.
The story alternates between Hannah and Susan. Very disappointed had potential but left me wondering why?

There is so much more to this than the expected affair.
Told from the two points of view of the mistress and the wife, it's an engaging quick read, that would be the perfect companion to a poolside sun lounger, or when I read it, from the shelter of the couch on a cold wet March day. Very well written you quickly get into both of their minds and despite their weaknesses find sympathy for them.
Strong women are trying to write their own narratives away from the weak men that dominate their lives.
An enjoyable read with an unexpected and brilliant twist at the end.

The Mistress
by Valerie Keogh
Pub Date: 25 Mar 2024

The Mistress is about two women, Hannah and Susan. Hannah is married to an older man and her marriage is far from perfect. After he discovers a secret she is hiding, their marriage is over. Susan finds a receipt in her husband Mark's pocket that suggests he's been unfaithful.

The book is well-paced, Susan and Hannah are supreme ladies with challenges and shortcomings but also women that are strong and independent in their ways. They were both easy to like.

A very fast read, I highly recommend it!

Many thanks to #NetGalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #TheMistress for providing me with an E-ARC of this 5 star book.

Hannah claims she knows men and always get what she wants, her next target is her college boyfriend, Mark. Mark is happily married to Susan with kids, but this won’t stop Hannah. Susan is onto her. The story goes between Hannah and Susan. It’s a bit predictable and slow going. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the chance to read and review this book. It was a good story with the most unlikable characters. I couldn't root for anyone, and all met the fate they deserved. It was well written, and the story flowed well. But the subject wasn't appealing and the idea of someone knowingly going after someone else's husband left me unsettled. Once the story was over and you understand the reasoning for everyone's actions things become a little clearer. I found it a quick read as I was anxious to find out how it would all come together. It didn't disappoint. Good book but not as good as other Valerie Keogh's books.

'Hannah Parker is a woman who always gets what she wants.' That made me sit up and take notice as it sounded like a book that might be pretty exciting and intense. The story was great, there were some twists and turns, it was exciting and I just couldn't get enough.

The characters where perfect for the story and with all the secrets and lies, the mystery and the drama. It makes for a book you can't put down. Wonderful writing and Hannah is a character that makes the story what it is. A gripping psychological thriller you must read and another great book by Valerie Keogh!

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Another great read from Valerie Keogh and one of her best to date. The storyline is not as you would expect. Hannah thought money solved all issues but how wrong was she. Life takes her back to how things might have been resulting in an entertaining outcome. I raced through this book and cannot wait for her next release. Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood for an ARC.