Really good book with lots of ups and downs but I really didn’t see the twist coming the way it did. I really have to hand it to Ellie Monago on this one!

The Divorce Lawyer by Ellie Monago kept me turning the pages.
I felt this was well written because it did keep me engaged and wanting to find out the conclusion.
If you want a fast-paced, rapid page-turner and an itch to know more, then this is the psychological thriller for you.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Wow wow wow!

If you want to be angry, frustrated but then followed by satisfaction and karma served then this is for you! It had me gripped, I was guessing throughout the ending and wow!

We meet up with Esther Khan once again after the previous book "The Custody Battle" in which she was the main character's divorce lawyer. Esther has always prided herself on fighting for the rights of women who find themselves victims to men who are little more than bullies. But this time she is fighting for her life. This time she is blackmailed into representing the bully himself - Peter Tramboni. And she hates herself for who she's turning into as Tramboni's minion...because that's essentially what she's become.

Soon after winning his custody case in which he gained full custody of his four year old son Stride (who calls their child Stride?) and a party to top all parties to celebrate his illustrious win, Tramboni is then murdered...and Esther becomes prime suspect.

Added to th mix is Peter's protege Avery who coded and created new technology Sleight (as in sleight of hand "now you see it, now you don't") in which messages can be sent and disappear and where the messages can be read out loud even if the recipient doesn't have the app. The technology seems to be highly invasive and it isn't long before Avery herself falls victim to foul play. And once again, Esther becomes the suspect.

When the reveal does come, it's not as jaw-dropping as it is eye-rolling and head shaking as unfathomable bordering on ridiculous. I certainly didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book, which I found myself struggling with at times too. But this one was bogged down with a lot of tech talk, stupid decisions and unlikeable characters with a plot that just seemed to drone on from beginning to end. I liked Esther far more in the first book as Madeleine's divorce lawyer and thought we would get more of that...but no. This was a let down and a disappointing one at that.

I found this tale to be decidedly dark and depressing and not in an interesting or riveting way.

I would like to thank #EllieMonago, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheDivorceLawyer in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

Holy whizz, what did I read? It was twisted, fast and just a fantastic story. Written with Clever twists and some very unexpected turns in this book. This was a new Author for me, and I want more :)

Despite its promise of shocking revelations, this novel left me underwhelmed. Esther's unlikable demeanor and seemingly endless paranoia made for a sluggish read. The touted twists were disappointingly absent, leaving the plot feeling stagnant and predictable. Regrettably, this book fell short of expectations.

Gratitude to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

⭐⭐⭐
The Divorce Lawyer by Ellie Monago it's a depressing slow-burn psychological thriller with some twists and turns and a surprising ending.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting into this book. I struggle to connect with the storyline and with the characters. I don't know why but the characters were unreliable. Usually, there are at least some characters that I care about but not in this book.

If you can connect with the story it's easy to read and it's worth carrying on as there are some clever twists. I believe that readers who like lawyer dramas will love this book!

Esther Kahn is a ruthless divorce lawyer. She is extreme and typically gets her clients everything they want. Sometimes Esther doesn't stop in line to win so ends up hurting even her clients. She usually works with females but to keep her secret safe she agrees to represent billionaire Peter. And now Peter is murdered and Esther is a suspect. Soon she learns that she is not the only one with secrets...

I am sad that I didn't enjoy this one so much as I loved The Custody Battle! BUT, please give it a go because this could be your next 5-star read!

Thank you, NetGalley and Booktour for this copy!

After trudging through Ellie Monago's The Custody Battle a few months ago, I had suspected that her books may not be for me. After receiving a widget of this one I decided to give her a second chance - everyone deserves one, right? However, I struggled even more with this book. I knew from sentence one that I was going to strongly dislike it. "Stylist" really??? This will be my last by this author.

I found the beginning of this book captured my interest quickly however this did ease off quite a bit shortly after. I found that it was quite dry and not as many plot twists in it as I was hoping for.

Esther Khan, divorce lawyer extraordinaire. Fighting for the rights of females against their male counterpart bullies. Until she’s blackmailed into representing Peter Tramboni, that is. The exact opposite of her usual client. Peter is murdered soon after Esther helps him win his case, and Esther becomes a suspect. Can Esther work out who the killer is, before any harm comes to her?

This book took me a while to read. Esther is unlikeable, comes across as paranoid and borderline neurotic, with the personality of a slug.

The book was described as being “packed with jaw-dropping twists”. Where were the twists? The middle part seemed to drone on for ages, it was predictable and easily to work out who the killer was.

Sorry, but this didn’t live up to expectations for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my advanced copy.

Peter blackmailed Esther into representing him in his divorce and now she's a suspect in his murder. Did she do it? No spoilers from me but know that this takes a while to heat up. There's a lot of nastiness in some divorces and it's all on display here. You might not like Esther but she is good at her job. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read for fans of the genre.

I enjoyed this ARC. It was very easy to follow and had some really good twists. I would recommend it to all my bookish friends.

I am not sure about this book. The main character Esther was just meh. I found that this book definitely shows the heartburn and just stress of divorce cases and how they can be just so stressful!

The twists and turns were there but not until you get 1/2 way through the book. Just seems when you start the book its kinda boring and i found it to be blah.

The book fell flat for me.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

A rich story filled with complex characters with great development. You won't know what the truth is until the end as you are reading this thrilled. The main character is flawed and her journey to find out the truth not only about murders taking place but also herself is quite the roller coaster! You'll both love and hate her by the end.

Esther was a very complex character who seemed to come a long way. I alternated between disliking her and caring for her several times throughout the story. I really enjoyed that aspect. Outside of that, I had a hard time connecting with the story personally. I loved the blackmailing but the tech world is just not my cup of tea it seems. If you are into that, DEFINITELY give this one a read! Lots of twists, red herrings and an ending I didn’t see coming in a million years which is hard to accomplish!

The jury is out regarding this book (no pun intended). I did not like the main characters, especially Esther, and I saw no purpose in Avery. It did make me think about the nastiness associated with many divorce cases and I kept wondering if it was a kind of therapy for the author. The twists and turns from the middle onwards were good so I am giving this book 3 stars. I still don’t know how I feel about it and maybe that is good because to be quite honest, unless a book is really good or makes me think, I often forget about it once I finish it.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to give my opinion.

Unfortunately this was a bit heavy going for me and found it hard to get into the storyline.

It didn't keep me on the edge of my seat, a bit ploddy for me but there was a twist at the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC

The description of this book is what compelled me to want to read it. I felt like this book was slow at the beginning towards the middle of the book is when the book really started to take off for me. The first half of the book was merely a theme of Ether doing her job like she is suppose too. The plot was she went against her moral or better judgement for a case which made up the story. As the mystery of who did it finally unfolded I was in shock. There was a small part of me that thought the main character was "crazy" and I thought I knew what happened but I was wrong. Overall, the the book did have a nice twist at the end but it took awhile to get there.

Esther is a high-profile very successful divorce lawyer. And she always wins for the women she represents. She gets the wives custody of the kids and $$. Until now. Because now her client is Peter Tramboni – the rich, powerful IT entrepreneur. And Esther didn’t want to represent Peter in the divorce, but she had no choice. He knows her secret. And he is blackmailing Esther.

And now Peter is dead. Murdered. And Esther is a suspect. And as she tries to keep her secrets hidden, she learns that the people she cares about the most are keeping secrets from her.

So good! A rather slow start, but once it gets going it just keeps getting more intense. Oh, I could not turn the pages fast enough! I’m getting her first book “The Custody Battle” which was released in February 2024.

Add this one to your TBR and pre-order it now!

The Divorce Lawyer really makes you think about what Divorce really does to families and how it tears families apart. Also, that secrets always come back to haunt you. This book was good, while reading you didn't know who to trust or how the book would end. The author did a good job with her character development in that you learned a lot about each of the characters. The plot twist at the end was one that I didn't see.