Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of The Divorce Lawyer by Ellie Monago. I had read "The Custody Battle" by this author and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to reading this book. I struggled with this one and felt bored. It was hard to pick up again. It didn't grab me to keep my interest. I figured out what was really going on so I read to watch it play out. This one wasn't for me but others may like it so give it a shot.

Esther, 51, is a well-known and respected divorce lawyer always representing the woman. She knows how to help women who are being abused by their usually sociopathic husbands to get a good divorce settlement along with the wife getting to be the primary caregiver for any children. Because of this, men do not like her.

When she is approached by billionaire Peter Trombone to represent him against his wife in a divorce, she at first says no. But he tells her that he knows something that she did and will expose her unless she agrees. The divorce process is cold, cruel, and abusive to the man’s wife with him getting primary custody of their young son.

Peter made his money through inventing technology apps. Some he actually invented and some he stole. He is a hard man and no one says no to him. Avery is a female technology inventor who has become a billionaire herself. She, too, gets what she wants.

Esther’s father had been a harsh man to her and her sister, Dot, which has influenced Esther to remain single and to make it her mission to save women from abusive husbands.

When both Peter and Avery end up shot to death, the police are trying to piece together who may have done this. At the same time, Esther is being harassed via a tech app and she wonders if someone is after her.

This story is way too long and rather boring at times. The characters are mostly unlikable which h makes it hard for the reader to feel sympathy for anyone which can be what draws a reader to like a book. Unfortunately, this one was just OK.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I tried, I really tried to finish but when I had picked up three different books in between reading sessions and finished all of them, I decided to bite the bullet and put this one to rest.
I’m sure there are people who will love this, it was a little slow for my taste but that’s a personal opinion. I didn’t like the main character either, I feel like that made a huge difference because I had no one to root for.

The Divorce Lawyer is a very slow burn of a story which unfortunately did not work for me. It did not have the twists and turns that I would expect from this type of book and there wasn't one likeable character in the whole book. It wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Thank you, Bookouture and NetGalley, for my place on this recent book tour.

This psychological thriller has many unexpected twists and turns that kept me hooked throughout. Although a bit of a slow burn for my personal preferences, I soon became engrossed in the storyline, and it didn’t take long to find the writing style flowed well.

The narrative revolved around blackmail and stalking, heightening the suspense and maintaining my interest. The characters were not just well-developed but also had layers of secrets and motivations that were unveiled as the plot progressed. The protagonist, Esther, was a particularly intricate character, and I found myself deeply engrossed in her journey.

Including a lawyer theme was a unique and intriguing aspect of the story. It added extra depth to the plot and held my attention until the end.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes psychological thrillers or stories with a legal aspect or theme. It is a well-written and captivating novel that will keep you guessing until the end.

This was such a good book! It was so different than I expected! It had great character development. The storyline was well thought out. It had several twists, plus a surprising twist at the end!

Thanks to NetGalley and the editors for an ARC of this book. This is my honest and unsolicited review.

I loved this book! Was the main character Esther likeable? She was a character I loved to hate, yet I found myself rooting for her. I found that I truly loved the self-reflection she did while the plot developed. Esther is intelligent, powerful, and a ruthless family attorney. She thinks she’s helping families by eliminating bad men from their kids’ lives, but is she duly helping? I can relate to Esther and the way she operated from a place of trauma. She thought she was doing the right thing for her clients and society, but her thinking was one tracked. As time goes on, we see Esther self-reflect and think about her actions. I thought it was commendable that she took the time to self-reflect and become selfless in the end.

The plot developed at a great pace. The suspense building was there as I was furiously flipping the pages to discover what would happen next. There were twists and turns that were appropriate, and some of them gave me pause. This was very different from Monago’s last book, The Custody Battle, but I enjoyed it just as much.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book was so great. It’s been a while since I’ve read a psychological thriller, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the twists and turns, and the surprise ending.

Esther’s family motto is “Esther knows best”, but does she really? Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and Ellie Monago for allowing me to read and review an advance reader copy of The Divorce Lawyer!

I really liked this book!! This thriller really pulled me in right from the start. From what I read from the synopsis of the book, I had NO IDEA what was coming in this book. There’s murder, stalking, egotistical billionaires, and crazy intense/scary Silicon Valley tech in this book.

Esther was a really riveting main character to me. She’s obviously flawed, but she is ruthless as an attorney, doing her best to get what she thinks is best for her clients. The character arc for Esther in this story was SO impressive to me. We start the book with a slightly egotistical, Esther-Knows-Best, morally superior Esther, but she is so broken down by the end of the book. From her own investigations into who is stalking her and who committed the murders, Esther comes to realize that she may not have been doing what was in the best interest of her clients, and she may very well be making their situations exponentially worse. Esther goes from believing that she is one of the best people that she knows, to completely hating herself and everything that she has done, overwhelmed by guilt for her actions.

I feel like we don’t normally see this level of character development in thrillers. They’re usually focused on the mystery, twists, and turns, but Esther as a character really impressed me throughout this book. From “celebrating” Peter Tramboni “winning” his divorce settlement in the beginning of the book, to taking drastic action that is much to her detriment to protect someone she loves at the end of this book, I feel like the Esther we end this book with is completely different than the Esther we started this book with.

I definitely did not guess the ending of this book. I had absolutely no idea who the murderer was or who was stalking Esther until the twist reveals happened. I love a book that keeps me guessing until the end! I highly recommend this book to fans of the thriller and mystery genres, and to fans of Freida McFadden and Jeneva Rose!

This book was a cautionary tale about what happens when you stray from your convictions about what is the morally right thing to do. It's also a wake-up call about the ubiquitousness of surveillance and technologies that can be used for evil in the wrong hands.

Monago builds on the character of Esther, who insists that she deals in "family law" not divorce. But up until now, she has worked as an advocate for women in what she considers bad relationships, working to win custody battles. Peter seems determined to threaten to expose her secret, forcing her to take his custody case, and someone is anonymously messaging her with ominous disappearing texts in an app called Sleight, which was created by Peter's prodigy, Avery, Ellie begins to spiral down wondering if she really is the "good" person she thought she was, and if now Avery, or even her boyfriend, know her secret too.

The author is a practicing therapist, so there is a ring of truth to the custody and mediator portions of the book. Almost all of the characters in the book were unlikeable, so not everyone will like it, but it was quick-paced and an interesting read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance reader's copy.

In The Divorce Lawyer, an advocate for women finds herself representing the man this time and he is far from needing her advocacy. There are twists and turns and a surprise at the end!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

Overall this book wasn’t giving a suspenseful novel that I’m used to or the legal thriller vibe I get from other authors.
The Avery mystery went unsolved. Was her purpose just for the #metoo movement?
The moment with the child custody mediator felt manufactured…
Maybe 🌟🌟?

Absolutely loved this book! Kept me guessing! Was a real page turner and kept my attention the whole time!

This was my first book by Ellie Monago and I didn't realize it was part of a series, however I think that this book worked as a standalone. The one piece that might have worked better was my connection with Esther. I found it slow to decide if she was going to be a likeable or unlikeable character. Throughout the book, the reader follows Esther's point of view as she is being stalked and a suspect in an investigation. This book gets the reader to reflect on how far will one go to protect those they love? By the end of the book, I found myself hoping the best for Esther and enjoyed watching her character arc grow. Once the plot took off a bit more, I couldn't stop reading as I tried to figure out with Esther what was going on and who could be trusted! Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

Wonderful. Loved this one so much. One of my best reads of the year so far. Thrilling from start to spellbinding end - this is a brilliant, brilliant read.

My first time reading #EllieMonago and I really enjoyed #TheDivorceLawyer. It’s a real page turner and I couldn’t put it down. It had me totally hooked right to the end.
It’s well written, fast paced, it has clever twists and turns with a surprise ending. Just brilliant. An easy read.
I enjoyed the storyline of blackmailing and stalking as it added tension.
Esther is a complex character who I did like and enjoyed learning her story and secrets as they unfolded. The other characters I didn’t really like as I couldn’t connect with them.
Definitely recommend, if you enjoy psychological thrillers, lawyer themes you’ll like this book.
With thanks to #NetGallery @Bookouture for an arc of #TheDivorceLawyer in exchange for a honest review.
Book publishes 10 May 2024.

This book had me uncertain whether I was coming or going.
I thought Esther was a really cold fish as well as harsh and unyielding. Even after the hold was revealed that Peter had had over her, I still couldn’t quite figure out the ends and outs of the story.
I didn’t understand why Esther made the choices she did at the end and I didn’t agree with them.
It was an interesting read.

Esther is a divorce lawyer. She usually fights on the side of the women getting them what they want, mainly child custody. But she just finished representing very wealthy man and she got him what he wanted. But he’s not done with her – after all he knows her secret. Then he’s found dead… and she becomes a suspect. Esther tries to figure out who the killer is while also dealing with some issues of her own.

So this was interesting. I was into it at first, but then it kind of fell flat for me somewhere in the middle. I wasn’t able to root for any of the characters, all of them were very unlikeable, from Peter, the wealthy man Esther represented, to Esther herself, the officers, and Esther’s significant other.

The twist wasn’t really shocking. It was just kind of blah for me, and I don’t even know how Esther got the conclusion that she did. She got to it, and she was right, but huh? The ending was a bit of a surprise as well.

I think the book did a really great job of illustrating how contentious divorces can be, and show how the result of any divorce, especially with children involved, can shape people. There’s so many pieces to take into consideration when it comes to a divorce. It’s not all black and white, unless you’re in specific situations.

Overall, it was an okay read. Some will love it!

I really had alot of hopes for this book based on the blurb and the cover, but it fell a little shot for me. Without giving spoilers, too many characters are introduced for no other reason than to confuse you. Some of the final aggressors don't make sense. There was a chance to go truly ballistic here and I feel the author took the least interesting one. Good bones but didn't bring it home in my opinion

I'm not going to lie, I struggled with this one. I felt a little bored throughout most of the book, I found every single character unlikeable, and the twists just weren't enough to reel me in.
As always, this is my own personal opinion, and I always encourage everyone to read it if it sounds interesting to them. It wasn't for me, but it might be one for you.