This was very enjoyable and I couldn’t put it down but I feel like there was more that could have been wrapped up. Like I have questions but maybe it’s just me and they are answered and I missed it.
The story begins with Annie and Mark’s wedding day and all seems well except for an unexpected guest. At the wedding Annie’s mom finds out that Mark’s been married before which seems weird for her mom not to know.
The story jumps around from there. It goes into Annie and Mark’s past until it comes to a surprising head.
The narrator was really great!

I am not sure why the Greek mythology had to be added into the book. It took away from the story at least for me. Also the timeline of the story was a bit confusing so maybe if I had the book it would have been easier to follow along. I also really did not like the narrator and the lack of voice changing. There were some thrilling bits to the story but overall there were too many misses for me to enjoy.

I just have to start by saying, this book wasn’t anything like I was expecting… This new thriller by A. E. Gauntlet focuses mostly on Annie, whose life takes a definite turn when she first spots Mark on the train during her daily commute.
Their whirlwind romance leads to a wedding day which includes an unexpected twist when a mysterious stranger named Cameron is present not only at the wedding but also the reception!

We learn that not everyone is quite what they appear to be, and there are a lot of dark secrets hidden in the past. But the biggest question of all is where is Mark's first wife? And who knows the truth behind her disappearance?

The narrative cleverly intertwines Greek mythology throughout, which added depth to the suspense. The characters are interesting, and the plot had me unsure right to the end. If you're looking for a unique read with a touch of mythology, this just might be the one for you!

This one is not for me. Slow and non exciting narrator and it just did not grab me. I really tried to listen to this but it just not get better for me. I am sure other might enjoy. I have read so many great thrillers this year

Thank you so much to Macmillan for the gifted audiobook!

Unfortunately as far as the audiobook production on this one, it is definitely what is bringing my rating down. I was too distracted by the narrator's accent to get locked into the story. Not that she's bad it's just that it's not my preference to listen to audiobooks read by narrators with such a strong accent. It takes away from the story which already was struggling in this case.

I did love the cover though and hope this one is still a success!

This is out on August 13th!

What starts out as a fun, popcorn thriller, morphs into a long lecture on Greek mythology with an ending that left me questioning ‘why’?

When Annie marries the man of her dreams, she spots a stranger at their wedding and gets super spooked

The unclear transitions between timelines totally worked for me and kept me on my toes. From reviews, I know some readers were thrown with the lack of clarity, but I kinda liked the quirk

We had bride Annie, present and past. Then her childhood and a couple of other people’s point of views - I’m all for that and always love hearing from other characters

However, Annie kept whittling on with her Greek mythology stories and I was just not onboard. They totally took me away from the narrative and it felt like two competing genres - domestic thriller vs mythology 101

I struggled to get to know who the real Annie was . I wanted to understand her, but I know I didn’t. The rest of the characters felt like extras as I was unable to get to know them either

On the one hand I wanted to know more and found the pace fast. But somewhere in the middle, it slowed and confused me. Even when the twist arrived and I was surprised, I was left not knowing ‘why’. It’s hard to predict something if the clues and motives aren’t provided

The book has high reviews and I was reminded of Alex Michaelides and his love of Greek mythology.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review

2⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an early release of The Stranger At The Wedding.

Annie sees Mark everyday on her daily train commute and one day she finally gets the nerve to give him her number. Then that sets off a very quick romance and eventual wedding. Annie is unnerved to see a man at the wedding no one seems to recognize and requests he be escorted out. As soon as they begin their honeymoon Annie notices a change in Mark and that makes Annie nervous. What did that stranger say to Mark to make him be so cold to her. She has not worked so hard to just let everything slip through her fingers. Will the past stay buried where it belongs?

I listened to the audio of this book and it was very difficult to follow. It jumped from past to present and it was sometimes hard to distinguish who was speaking at any given time. I could not get into this story and it was kind of predictable.

Pub date 08.13.24

This book takes place at Annie and Mark’s wedding, where an unknown guest makes his presence known once he starts asking questions around and suspicions arise about him.

The story itself was great, and the narrator really did a great job. My biggest complaint is the timeline jumped around so much without telling me which pov it was coming from, so I did get confused/probably missed something because I honestly did not realize who’s pov it was.

That coupled with the constant switch to Greek mythology (which I have no interest in) and then immediately back to the story, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have.

Overall rating 3.5

I wouldn’t discourage the read, but it wasn’t a favorite.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my ALC!

#MacAudio2024

🎧🎧 Book Review 🎧🎧 Weddings are meant to be such a happy time. Annie’s wedding to Mark is missing that joie de vivre and A.E. Gauntlett takes us on a journey through multiple points of view, taking us on a wild ride through the past and present to find out what has transpired to bring them to this moment. Secrets are a normal part of life and we naturally bring some into a marriage but what happens when the secrecy reaches an unhealthy level? The Stranger at My Wedding is a dangerously delicious psychological thriller that might just leave a slight pit in your stomach wondering how well you really know the people in your life…

Review is on Goodreads and will be posted on instagram closer to publication date and on Amazon when published!

𝗠𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 3 ½✨⭐️
THE STRANGER AT THE WEDDING
🤍𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: thriller
📖 288 pages
𝗘𝗺𝗼𝗷𝗶𝘀: 💍👠🩸😱🚂🕵🏻‍♂️💀🐇✍🏼📔
𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: 8/13/2024

𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱? 👍🏼

💛𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲💛

Thank you @macmillianaudio @henryholt @netgalley for the #gifted copy!

This thriller is an easy, bingeable read that quickly pulls you in. The story is told from multiple POV & timelines, setting the scene well & keeping you intrigued about how everything will connect. The inclusion of diary entries & Greek mythology stories adds an enchanting layer to the eerie mystery.

Throughout the book, I found myself eagerly taking notes, trying to connect the dots & understand the characters' motives amidst numerous red herrings. While it’s full of secrets, death, & mystery, something was missing to give it a full 4 star rating. However, the unexpected twist at the end elevated my rating, making the conclusion particularly satisfying.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
◽️ multiple POV & timeline
◽️ Greek mythology
◽️ a shocking ending

𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁: Annie, who never believed in love, meets Mark during their morning commutes. They connect deeply at a trauma survivors' counseling session, despite hiding their troubled pasts. Their whirlwind romance leads Annie to feel sure about their wedding day. However, at the altar, she notices a stranger in the crowd. This encounter makes her question Mark's past & their seemingly random meeting.

The Stranger At the Wedding by A. E. Gauntlett, follows the shotgun wedding of Annie and Mark. Though Annie never thought she believed in love, she falls in “love at first sight” with Mark upon meeting. The story opens up with the wedding, leaving brief breadcrumbs about the stranger, Cameron, and the uneasiness left with his presence. As the story continues, secrets are threatened to be revealed that could change everything- and make Annie question whether or not it was love at first sight or a well concocted scheme.

This story adds in brief stories of Greek gods and Norse gods, which was charming at first. Who doesn’t love a good rendering of Pandora’s box? But I found as the story progressed, it would flip into Greek mythology without warning and caused me to pause and re-evaluate what was going on. Is this different in the physical book? Maybe. But the narrator of the audiobook didn’t easily distinguish the change in narration.

Overall, I’d give this story 3.5 stars, rounded up. I feel like sometimes I’ll read a story and I’m just not in the right place. If I were to pick this story up at another time, I might have enjoyed it more. I feel like this one will be a major debate for end of summer reading!!

As always, thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this ALC in return for a an honest review!

Annie meets Mark on the train during her commute to work. At first, they just exchanged glances over several encounters until Annie got the courage to slip him her number. The only problem was that she didn’t see him on the train for weeks and loses hope. Their paths cross again at a therapy group and take off from there in a whirlwind romance.

This book will take you through their meeting, quick relationship and union, and hints at a troubled past that they are each hiding from each other.

At their wedding, all is perfect until Annie spots someone unfamiliar in the crowd. She gets an instant dread that her hope for a happily ever after may not be her reality.

It goes through perspectives of Annie, Mark, and Cameron who is hired by someone who knew Mark’s first wife who went missing to track down the truth about what happened to her. Cameron reveals infidelity and a not so perfect marriage between Mark and Hope.

Will the secrets come to light for both Hope, Mark and Annie? Who is the mysterious man at the wedding? And can they get their happily ever after?

I did the audiobook on this one and had to rewind a few times to catch what POV I was reading from. It could’ve been more clear the character in the scene and time frame.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date 8/13/24.

Wow this book had me at the beginning and would not let me go! It was so fast paced, I did not want to put it down. So so good!

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The author has a way of capturing my attention instantly. THE STRANGER AT THE WEDDING is a hard one to put down and can easily be listened to in a days time. Highly recommend.

Many thanks for my gifted copy!

The Stranger at the Wedding was a blip of what happened in this book. The story was okay (and a bit evil) but it was very hard for me to follow the character POVs while listening to the audiobook. That is the leading factor to my lower rating.

Thank you NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and Henry Holt & Company for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you MacMillan and Henry Holt for early review copies of this slow burn suspense read. This is one book that I preferred to read, the non linear timeline was easier to engage with through the book, it worked better for me as I didn't have long chunks of time to get into the audio, which I think would have made that easier to get into. The narration and production for the audiobook were strong as always though and I valued the pacing and style of the audiobook. For listeners I do recommend getting into the style of the book and giving it time to unfold if you listen to it!

For the book, this is a wild slow burn, I wasn't sure at first what kind of themes would ultimately be present, I thought it might be more a standard rich bad people with secrets kind of story but once the pace gets going and things happen, it's kind of a twisty wild read. I ended up enjoying it a lot but I will admit I needed to stick with it for it to have a pay off... a little too slow burn at the start but the later part of the book was strong!

3.5 ⭐️’s
Told in multiple points of view, this book was rather a slow one. It starts at Annie and Mark’s wedding, where Annie is unsettled by a stranger in the crowd that no one seems to know. The more she glimpses him, the more unsettled she becomes. We then are thrust back to Mark’s first wife, a wife that has gone missing with no trace. A marriage that had its issues (something the reader determines from Hope’s diary), leaving Mark as a person of interest in our minds. It hasn’t been that long since Hope disappeared, but when Annie meets Mark on a commuter train, she’s in love at first sight. Taking a bit to connect, they are soon in a whirlwind relationship and getting married, but where is Hope?? Mark and Annie have some bumps along the way, but seem to have weathered the storm, but when the stranger shows up at their home, Annie’s past secrets come to light. All is not what it seems and it’s a good twist…that is if you don’t see it coming. Interspersed stories of mythology made the story not flow as well as it could and frankly, I could have done without them. Overall it was on the slow side, disjointed and fairly predictable. As a dual read/listen, the book was voiced well and the narrator helped move the story along, but in the end it was just OK. Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC and ALC of this book.

This is a slow burn, and not really in a good way. Sadly I couldn't get into the story or the characters. There was no feeling, no emotion, nothing to keep me wanting to come back. The plot line is non-linear, which I usually am fine with, but this one was not executed well and was very confusing.


I was given an ARC copy of the audiobook from NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book.

Oh wow!!! I did not see that plot twist coming!!! This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last! Such a good story!

Annie thinks she's found her true love in Mark, but a stranger at their wedding throws everything off kilter.

This was a really good twisty thriller. Here's what I loved:

The multiple stories: You get this story from so many sides. At first, you follow Annie as she experiences her wedding day. From there, you get Annie's childhood, along with Mark's first wive's (Hope) journal, and the detective Mark's father hires to find Hope. All of these stories come together to really pain the picture of what is going on.

The mystery: I found myself hooked and wanting to know what was going on the entire time. I didn't trust anyone which is the sign of a good thriller.

The setting: I love British novels because the settings are always amazing. Annie owns a farmhouse that truly jumps off the page.

The narration: Loved the narration. Her British accent really got me hooked.

All in all, this was a good and twisty thriller.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!