This was my first time reading a thriller by Shanora, and it did not disappoint!

Jolene is the picture-perfect governor's wife, and they appear to be the perfect couple to the public. Dominic, the governor/Jolene's husband, owes a lot of his success to her but comes with emotional baggage and trauma that he can't seem to shake. Unfortunately, that results in a very toxic situation between the two behind closed doors.

I'm not going to lie -- I wanted to curse every damn body out in the book, LOL. The characters were stressing me out; between yelling at Jolene to "stand the hell up" and wanting Dominic to get hit by a bus, I wanted to smack every damn body. There's also an important undertone of the importance of friendship between women that I really loved.

I really enjoy Shanora's writing, and recommend this book if you enjoy domestic/political thrillers. Just check your triggers before reading because there are some heavy scenes in here.

4.25 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .25 stars! Thank you to NetGalley for this arc. Dominic is the governor of North Carolina and he is currently running for his second term. Jolene is his wife who has always supported him and been by his side making sure that he’s successful in his personal life and in his career.

The story starts with Dominic about to start on the campaign trail, and he finds a note on his desk about a secret only he and two other people know about that can ruin him and his chances of becoming governor for a second term. This causes him to start acting different and Jolene starts to question him, but he doesn’t feel comfortable telling her what happened. Jolene has been asking him what is wrong and because he isn’t sharing any details, she is determined to find out the truth.

It is told in dual timelines and multiple POVs. We learn about Dominic and Jolene’s past which determines why they are the way that they are in the present. There are also other people involved in the secrets that Dominic has and we find out why he’s so scared about the truth coming out. This book is not what I expected, in a good way! I thought that I knew what was going on, but I had no idea! This is a fast-paced psychological thriller and grabbed me in from the first couple of pages, and the ending was not what I expected! There was a lot of twists and when I thought I figured it out, something else happened to change my mind! I definitely recommend!

𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔, 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒔. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓.

I'm always excited to see a new release from this author. I love her characters and the terrible situations she puts them in. As a huge fan of the show Scandal, this book had the same vibes.

Dominic Baker dreams of being governor of North Carolina. With his beautiful wife Jolene on his arm and her working her magic behind the scenes, writing his speeches and hiding the bruises, he's sure to win...until they start seeing a strange women turning up at every campaign event. A woman who stares at Dominic and makes him feel as if she knows all of his secrets.

She knows something, all right.

Dominic has been straddling two personas; one, the charming politician on the precipice of greatness, and two, the monster who uses people, especially women, for his own pleasures and then discards them like trash. Turns out that someone knows what he's been up to.

I discarded three books after reading this because they didn't come close to measuring up to the level of dread and excitement that was infused on every page. I am not usually affected by much, but do heed the author's message at the beginning for some troubling situations. Some of the dialogue hit very close to home.

Thank you so much to Dafina/Kensington Books for this early copy. THE BITTER TRUTH will publish June 25, 2024.

This was a dark and twisted thriller that focuses on all the things that can cause people’s true demons to come to life…. Money, power, greed, and ohhh sweet revenge!
Jolene is introduced as the supportive wealthy housewife to Dominic, who is running for his second term for Governor. To the outside world they seem like the perfect couple, but to those close to them .. very close they knew the dark truths and secrets. There is also Brynn who has her POV chapters. How is she connected? Keep reading! The darkness starts when Dominic starts getting threatening messages about his past that he doesn’t want anyone to know. And thus begins the ride of who to trust, who is lying, what are they hiding, and most importantly, what lengths will they go to protect that from coming out?
This book was definitely a very easy read and kept me wanting to keep reading because it was definitely giving good twist and juicy details. However I did find the first half to be more interesting than the second half due to the fact that I felt the second half started to drag a little bit and started to become a little bit more than a little bit far-fetched. I will say I didn’t see some of the twist coming, however like I said the ending and how it all wraps up and everyone is connected was just a little bit too far-fetched and unrealistic for me. I did really enjoy how the author focused on female empowerment and of course this was a book filled with men with huge ego, driven by power and the desire for everyone to think they are these amazing trust individuals, when in fact who knows who they really are.
Simply due to a lot of eye rolling moments thinking about how a lot of the stuff wouldn’t ever happen. I am going to write this book a 3.5.
Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Kensington Publishing for the ARC!

Loved this!! Shanora has a way of making me feel like I am watching a movie in my head while reading her books. Flew through this in 24hours and enjoyed it all.


Thank u, netgalley and publishers, for the e-arc

This one was crazy! Shanora writes a great thriller. This book has a lot of twists and turns and keeps you on your toes until the end.

We've got another thriller from Shanora Williams and you know I loved it!!

The conversational writing style and multiple POV's combined with the twists and turns made for a delicious story!

This was definitely a wild ride that had me hooked from the beginning. I really thought I knew what was going on but baybeee- I was wrong!

This comes out on June 25th and you should definitely read it too! Thank you to Netgally for letting me read this early!

Always love a good stay up way past my bedtime suspenseful book and this was it! I always love her books and this was fantastic! Highly recommend

Shanora’s best thriller yet! I was hooked from the very beginning. There are so many twists. This book had me guessing until the very end. Will be recommending this book to all of my friends. This is a very fast paced read.

The Bitter Truth is an engaging and entertaining thriller that follows the mishaps of a politician and all he is willing to do to get and keep his position of power, and how the lives of the people around him are affected by it. Throughout many twists and turns you end up being witness of the consequences of his actions. There's not much character building, but the story is moderately paced for the readers enjoyment.

Firstly thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

This book was really enjoyable - great characters and just when you thought you have it all sussed out then another twist happens . All main characters had their own say in individual chapters and this was a timely political thriller which shows that all things that happen in the past may not stay in the past .

Great book would highly recommend

First and foremost I would like to thank NetGalley, Kensington Publishing and the author Shanora Williams for the advanced copy in exchange of my honest review.

The Bitter Truth drew you in (the reader) immediately and I must admit with the suspense, mystery and short chapters I was hooked at first: Not to mention there was some surprising moments. But then half way through, unfortunately I found it a bit repetitive and slow. I really wanted to love this book but it was not one of my favourite Shanora Williams thriller.
Even though I was a little disappointed, I still continued to read and I am still glad I finished. I felt that all the main characters got what was due to them in the end which was good. There was some parts I wasn’t a fan of.
If you like a fast paced thriller with some jaw dropping moments, I say give this book a chance. Even though it wasn’t my favourite, Shanora Williams is still a great author and I encourage everyone to read her books.

The Bitter Truth is a fast paced domestic thriller set in the dirty world of politics. Filled with money, power, greed, entitlement, lies, murder and revenge, this is a book that is a true page turner.

Dominic is a Governor that is seemingly charming, but he has a past that he would rather stay hidden. He's made some bad choices in his life, but he will do anything to get ahead. His wife, Jolene stands by his side and supports him every step of the way, but she has begun questioning her husband and feels as if he is hiding something. When messages start turning up eluding to something that happened in Dom's past, he starts to suspect that his past is catching up to him and will do anything to cover it up.

The Bitter Truth is told in 4 parts with multiple POVs with Brynn, Jolene and Dominic being the main characters with a side of Daphne and Shavonne to get the full perspective. Each chapter is rather short, making for a very fast-paced story that keeps you turning those pages. Williams also dives into the past so we can understand what is currently playing out in the lives of Jolene and Dominic. We must understand Brynn's role in Dom's past to understand the complexities of the lies trying to be covered up.

Williams took a domestic thriller that was set in the political world and didn't make it overly political, which I appreciated. She focused rather on the lies and revenge aspect along with female empowerment that played quietly in the background. Filled with many twists and outrageous turns and evil men in power, I couldn't help but want to root for the women in the book. The men, for the most part, were horrible people that were all about power and entitlement. I couldn't believe how far actions were taken and did have to suspend my belief for some parts of the book, although those were the parts that got my heart racing and rooting for a positive outcome.

Overall, this was a solid thriller and I enjoyed the multiple POVs, although I don't think they ALL were needed. There were some parts of the story that were a bit unbelievable and came together too easily, but I also was able to suspend my belief to just enjoy it for what it was. The story of power and burying the truth was too good to ignore when revenge came into play.

Shanora Williams is officially one of the authors I will drop whatever I'm reading for when she has a new release out! I could not put this book down and loved it so much!

Special thanks to Shanora Williams and NetGalley for this early release of The Bitter Truth in exchange for my honest opinion. Overall this wasn’t a bad thriller it was good. The first half in my opinion was much better than the second half. Because I read a lot of thrillers I feel like it’s getting more and more difficult to shock me or stand away from the crowd of other thriller books. A lot of this book seemed far fetched. The premise was awesome and the characters were likable. After part 2 began it just kind of lost me. Things didn’t make sense to me and I found myself saying really ?? And how is this even possible …then again it is fiction so to each their own! I wouldn’t say skip this I just wouldn’t say it’ll be an unforgettable thriller you read. This was my first book by this author but I am open to reading more of her work in the future!

This story sucked me in from the prologue. It is fast paced, suspenseful and the chapters are short. I love a good revenge plot and this one got a little dark with major power dynamics at play. All the makings for a solid thriller. I really enjoyed this story for the most part.

Jolene and Dominic are a married power couple in politics. Dominic is the governor of North Carolina.

Things start to take a weird turn when Dominic starts receiving threatening messages. The messages leading Dominic to believe someone knows about his past. Something or someone could make his whole world come crashing down. What did the governor do? Does Jolene even know about the secrets he keeps?

Boy, this one was a wild ride for sure! Secrets, lies and murder. Who is telling the truth? I just love a juicy domestic storyline! This was my first Shanora Williams read and it will definitely not be my last! Thanks so much to my favorite publisher @kensingtonbooks, @ShanoraWilliams and @netgalley for the opportunity!
Release date June 25,2024
4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TW- rape, suicide, mental illness, weight issues

Thrillers draw me in each time I read them. Those one sucked me in from the get go!

A politician, check
A stalker, check

Shanora totally nailed this one. Can't tell you how many times I wanted to jump ahead to find out how this was going to pan out.
That's how you know it's a great story!

Definitely one click this one!

Dark and twisty! Governor of North Carolina, Dominic Baker, is running for a second term. His wife, Jolene, is the perfect politician’s wife with a warm smile and friendly word or handshake for his supporters. College sweethearts, they appear to have the perfect life. At one of the political rallys, a woman approaches the power couple with a gift. But does she have an ulterior motive? Dominic had a complicated childhood that has haunted his adult life. He is a bad man who has done very bad things. It only stands to reason that someone who was wronged may come to exact revenge. But who could it be? He has very powerful allies that help him clean up the messes he’s made.

This is my first book by Shanora Williams and I’m so glad I have a few of her other works on my bookshelf! I don’t generally enjoy political thrillers but I loved this one! The politics do not dominate the story line. This is a story of heinous crimes done by a man with a god complex and much deserved revenge. This story was complex, intricately plotted, with well developed characters. I did not see the twists coming and found the ending to be very satisfying.

Thank you Netgalley, Kensington Publishing and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on June 25, 2024

It was well written. Who would have known it was a setup from the start? I believe Shanora did an excellent job of connecting all the characters just in time for the grand finale at the end. I love how Shanora had the female characters work together to take down the no-good Dominic! Good work!