Yikes. This book is about a lot of things and nothing at all.

A husband and wife go out to dinner and on the way home, they get into an accident. The husband tries to pin it on the wife. Essentially, this is the book. However, there were so many crazy subplots thrown in.

The amount of times that i rolled my eyes during this book has to be a record. NONE of this was plausible. None of it made sense. It is supposed to be a thriller. I was not thrilled.

The events that take place are comical. In no real world are things happening like this. And the dialogue... what?!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for the advanced audio version in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book was WILD!! I was hooked from the beginning and could not wait to see how things played out. I am shocked at the events in this book. It was so crazy and wild. I could not believe the corruption in this book. This was a great read and loved every second of it.

The Anniversary by Cole Baxter was a fantastic book for my daily commute. It grabbed my attention and twisted and turned until reaching a satisfying end. The topic was handled well and showed the power of women uniting to defeat a common enemy.

Cole Baxter writes great twist and turn novels that keep you guessing until the end and this is no exception… a surprising ending. He develops the characters in a way that helps us develop a ‘relationship’ with them. Baxter leaves you wondering… who can you really trust..?

Thank you Netgally, Cole Baxter and Bookoture for this read.

Mixed feelings about this one because like? Yes? The mystery was interesting but I hate when the antagonist is so mustache-twirlingly, cape flippingly evil that there is no way the protagonist would have married him. We never really get a motivation for his behavior other “you were easy to manipulate” but frankly why did he wait five years to try and kill her then?

Maybe it’s just because I like my heroines a little less likeable and my villains a little more accessible, but I’m begging for a little more nuance to our characters before we have to start color coding with black/white hats like an old western movie. 💀

Read if you liked: it did have cult undertones so I would say any of the books from my religious trauma list.

The characters in this one were awful. The husband in this one is so controlling and the fact that everyone just goes along with whatever he says is too much. I like a good domestic thriller but this one was way over the top. Some events happened to other people in this one and it would have been more interesting to get the story of how it all happened vs the main character just telling us.

It felt too long in parts, too! We talk about this accident that happened for the entire book with a few things thrown in but it just dragged on. There were some suspenseful moments but they just happened and then we were talking about the accident again.

This was a miss for me.

In the book The Anniversary by Cole Baxter we meet Tom and Catherine after celebrating their anniversary while leaving Cincinnati they got in a car wreck killing a young woman. Tom was driving but told the police it was Catherine and it will be her contradicting him that will change everything. Tom gaslight Catherine at every turn telling her she drinks too much something she barely does and when she finds out he does have siblings and parents again tells her he told her this already something she knows isn’t true. Tom is a big fish in the town of Eldon and he has many secrets he needs to stay hidden along with his corrupt family and Catherine denying responsibility for the wreck will put him on the hot seat unfortunately it seems everything Tom does Catherine gets blamed for it. All their friends agree even trying to beat her into submission to say she did it but Catherine is slowly gaining allies and people willing to stand by her. Unfortunately it seems Tom has friends in high places can Catherine get out of this unscathed and show the world who Tom really is or will it end in disaster? Let me just say Cole Baxter is talented enough that it keeps you wanting to turn the pages but no book ever ends without some eye rolling in a lot of suspending of belief involved. I listen to this one on audio and thought the narrator did a pretty good job although Catherine almost came off babyish but having said that this is still a book I definitely recommend it was a fun way to pass the afternoon and it’s just good enough to keep your attention I want to thank Bookoucher audio for my free arc copy via NetGalley. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I will say one thing about this book, the action and anxiety started from the very first chapter. My heart was in my throat a lot, not knowing what was going to happen to Catherine next. The amount of gaslighting in this book was insane. I wonder if that's what it's really like being with a narcissist. It just seemed... too much.

That is where my problem lies with this book and why I couldn't give it 4 stars, as much as I wanted to. Everything in this book is too much, too far-fetched. How Tom had such a hold on everyone was crazy. I understand small towns, influence, and secrets, but this went beyond that. The way everyone was acting, you would think the town was a secret cult, and Tom was the leader. However, it never gave you enough back story to determine what was going on. The town and the power Tom had over it were made to be such an important and central part of the storyline, but we never figured out why. The only explanation we got was "they're all related" and "everyone is his cousin." That in itself was a little too much to believe. Then it goes on to imply that his reach goes farther into the much larger town of Cincinnati and even the entire state because, guess what, the governor is his cousin too. Give me a break. Give me something just a bit more plausible or at least more of a back story as to why almost everyone is willing to do literally anything for this man. If the author wanted me to believe that they were all cousins close enough to do this much shady stuff for each other, it should have at least been set in backwoods West Virginia. Then it MIGHT have been a little more plausible.

Also, what kind of person basically gives their 14 year old daughter to a 30 year old man to be groomed. This just screams "cult," not "cousins," and I think I would have enjoyed it more if that had been the case.

However, I thoroughly enjoyed certain things in this book. Jessica was a badass. Catherine was a badass. The detective was a badass (even if I was expected to believe that he wouldn't check seatbelt bruising patterns as soon as the question arose of who was in the driver's seat).

I know this is "ficton". Maybe it's just me, but I do like my thrillers to have a little more realism in them. At the very least, give a little back story where it's warranted.

The Anniversary starts with Tom and Katherine celebrating their 5th anniversary, they are out at a nice restaurant and are having fun. On the way home Tom drives like a maniac, crashes and kills someone. But, not is all that is seems.

I enjoyed listening to this book, a bit far fetched, but a twisty domestic thriller. There’s a lot of lies and no-one to trust. The narrator read very well and kept me listening, finished it in one sitting.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

The book starts with Catherine and her much older husband at their anniversary dinner /drive home. And then there is an accident. And Catherine wakes up and is blamed for DUI and a fatality. Enter Catherine being railroaded to think she is crazy and a murderer. Who is out to get her? She knows she wasn’t driving and seeks out to prove it while being treated and isolate due to her injuries. She has a few allies along the way in the form of a best friend , detective, and someone who was in the other car. But her hubby has connections. Will Catherine be able to identify what happened and how to prove it?

I had a hard time getting through this one. It did not hold my attention. The way the characters behave and treat eachother is not realistic. I couldn't get past that. The narrator was lovely. Generously rating it with 3 stars.

2.5- 3⭐️

I’ve tried sitting after I finished to let my thoughts settle but I am struggling to write this review. I’ve never come across a book before that was so slowly paced but that had my attention. It picked up at the end but as the saying goes….it was too little too late. The age gap was creepy because Tom is introduced to Catherine when she is 14 and they’re married within a few years 😬 I feel with how Tom is supposed to be this big mastermind of who knows what but he’s barely in the book and there’s hardly any interactions between him and Catherine. While this one didn’t do anything for me, I am still curious about the author’s back catalog.

What an amazing read! Kept me on my toes the entire time, and I couldn't stop listening! Highly recommend!

.75⭐️ thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this Audiobook.

I will say this book didn’t have the normal plot setup that most domestic thrillers have and I appreciated that.
This was my first book by Cole Baxter and I’d be willing to read another by them.

This story follows Catherine and Tom who have been married for 5 years. They go out to a nice dinner for their anniversary and Tom pressures Catherine to celebrate with alcohol which she knows she shouldn’t do. They get into a car accident that changes the trajectory of their relationship and life.

Ugh. I can't remember the last time I actively despised every single thing about a book, like I did with this one.

The only positive thing I can say is that grammatically The Anniversary seemed intact, even though it's hard to tell with an audiobook. Regardless, bravo to the copy editor on that feat.

Everything else? Crap. Crap characters doing crappy things. Unbelievable scenarios that never resolve with something that makes them even slightly palatable. Overall, this book carries all the triggers and none of the satisfying resolution. If you loved Jane Doe as a great revenge story against an example of a horribly entitled and controlling man, you will certainly NOT love The Anniversary.

Did I finish it? Yes. Do I wish I had bailed after the second chapter, when I knew in my gut I was going to regret sticking with it? Also yes.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture Audio and Cole Baxter for this pre-release audiobook of The Anniversary narrated by Stephanie Cannon. This review will be shared on Goodreads and NetGalley.

2/5 stars.

After a beautiful anniversary dinner ends in murder, how could the man she loved ruthlessly blame her for it? She wasn’t even the one that was driving the car, why is he making these false accusations?

The story started off promising and I was wondering what direction the book would take, but as it went on I found myself zoning out a bit. Stephanie Cannon did a good job narrating but the storyline just didn’t pull me in and keep me focused.
I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters unfortunately. The story had potential but it felt unrealistic. Overall it was not executed as well as it could have been.
⭐️⭐️/5

It definitely kept me on edge the whole time, but seemed too similar to the housemaid and the perfect marriage. It was very much a tug of war between what seemed realistic and what was just a spiral of the story especially the last half of the book.

DNF at 26% this is not a very well written or thought out story. Suspension of disbelief can only go so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.

First I’ll start with the positive… The narrator did an amazing job and was by far the best part of this audiobook. Her voice was perfect for the main young, naïve character, Katherine.

The Anniversary had the potential to be a great thriller in the first quarter of the book. However…
**Spoiler**After Katherine got into the car again with Tom is when this story lost all credibility. The dude tried to frame you for murder and tried to kill you and you’re still sticking around?!

Also, the word “cacophony” was overused to the point of distraction. I’m not sure why this bothered me as much as it did, maybe because there are many other words and phrases that could have been used to convey the same message.

This Audiobook had my emotions all over the place. I never hated a man more than I hated this husband!! He was very cunning and calculating in his moves against his own wife. She was so blindsided that she had no way to defend herself. It was an edge of your seat can't wait to see how this is going to play out type of book. I really enjoyed it! I would recommend it to all my book friends.