I met Adele Parks at a screening for the movie adaptation about her book about twin sisters. LOVED the movie & was excited to read her new book. I enjoyed the beginning of the book, the dating/courtship of 47 yr old CEO of Airbright Emma Westerly and 36 yr old freelance photographer Matthew Charlton. Emma feels a bit insecure, "....dating Matthew is wonderful, but negotiating the presence of a dead ex is a new experience & oddly a little trickier than negotiating the presence of a live one." Emma feels "I'm second choice, not second chance" and she'll "never be the love of his life. Only second to her." Her best friend Heidi thinks Matthew is rushing the relationship. She cautions Emma to get a prenup. Emma is the orphaned daughter. Her dad was an alcoholic and Emma tends to drink a lot. At 25%, I start wondering if Emma is an unre6natrator. First she was locked in her sauna and then there's a breakin. Comments are made about her being in perimenopause and not sleeping well and having brain fog. In Chapter 14, Matthew is already moving in with the very successful Emma after only dating less than 4 months. Is Matthew a con-artist? Did he kill his first wife Becky? Adele Parks is known for crazy twists so I'm anticipating something. The scene with the spaghetti sauce has me convinced Emma has serious issues. By the end of Chapter 19, the book seems ridiculous. I was going to skim the rest of the book to see if my predictions were correct. Without 54%, I was so disappointed & disgusted that I just stopped reading it.

I'm being generous giving it 2 stars and encourage you to watch the movie adaptation of Parks other book instead.

I am so sad to say that I did not enjoy this one. It was so slow and dragged out. The ending was not as shocking as I would've liked it to be. It was also pretty predictable to be honest. It just didn't hit the right spots for me with this one.

I am a huge fan of Adele Parks, I have yet to read a book of hers that disappointed me, and this one is no different. I really enjoyed this book, and didn’t want it to end. There were so many twists, it will make you feel as though you are on a roller coaster, and will put the book down with a slight case of whiplash.

The premise of the book without spoilers: After Emma falls in love with Matthew, those close to Emma think that the only thing Matthew is after is her money. Then strange things start happening, making Emma feel as though she may be losing her mind.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and last but not least, Adele Parks for allowing me the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC! I enjoyed Adele Parks’ writing and the storyline was entertaining. I feel I was missing some key elements of the story, but I’m not sure if this was left out or I somehow bypassed it. I did like the plot twist and it was unexpected.

First wife’s shadow by Adele parks

Emma is a CEO who has the world at her fingertips, wealthy, and a life that others would kill for. She meets Matthew who dotes on her and listens to her. After only a few short months she falls in love and marries him. Soon after the once perfect fit turns sketchy, Emma questions her once confident lifestyle into a question of her memory and capacity to handle day to day tasks.

This book was good but also calculated just when you think you know what’s happening it spins you around and points things in a different direction completely. I enjoyed it but also had an idea what would happen. I enjoyed it.

This was definitely a slow burn, the only problem is that it never seemed to pick up. I found the twists and turns to be a bit predictable. Honestly, I feel that all domestic thrillers are quite similar and maybe that’s the reason I didn’t find this one to be unique. It was okay

Emma is a wealthy business woman. She is the CEO and has spent her life building the company and neglecting her personal life. Now, at a conference she meets Matthew a handsome, younger man who is a widower. She is drawn to him and falls into a whirlwind romance. He keeps comparing Emma to his ex-wife Becky who seems to be perfect in every way.

Her friends do not like him and feel she is rushing into a relationship with him and try and warn her. She decides to marry him in a small wedding.

Once married strange things start happening around the house. This is my favorite part as you are not sure what is real and what is imaginary or who is behind it. This had so many great plot twists and just kept wondering how all the dots were going to connect.

A great action packed, twisty thriller filled with love, friendship, revenge, betrayal and obsession. Everyone has some skeletons in their family history but how far would you go to protect the secrets?

This was an enjoyable thriller centered around a successful woman who begins dating a charming widower who seems too good to be true—and, of course, he is. While the premise feels familiar, Adele Parks kept me intrigued throughout. Some parts stretched believability, but the final twist at the very end made for a satisfying finish. Overall, I’d give this a solid 3 stars.

It's rare to come across something that's just the right amount of twisty, even where it's slightly predictable. So, overall, refreshing in a heh heh heh kind of way.

SYNOPSIS
- Emma, a wealthy & successful CEO, has overcome her chaotic childhood marked by alcoholic parents.
- She finds happiness with Matthew, a widower who is about ten years younger than her, and they quickly get engaged after just three months.
- However, Emma struggles with feelings of inadequacy, believing she’s second best compared to Matthew's late wife.
- Strange things also start to happen—the feeling of being watched, things breaking, and missing items in the house.
- Matthew begins to suspect Emma is drinking too much and her friends, Heidi and Gina, to worry he might be gaslighting her. Emma is left questioning what’s going on.

MY THOUGHTS
- This book was a masterclass in storytelling, with multiple twists that are perfectly executed to keep readers guessing until the very end.
- Each twist was seamlessly layered into the narrative. Just when you think you have the story figured out, another revelation turns everything upside down, and you’re left questioning everything you thought you knew.
- The first chunk of the book is from Emma’s POV, and it sets the stage. In the second half of the book, we get more perspectives, and it all comes together. Very satisfying ending.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Very well done thriller/suspense with satisfying ending.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA & Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchanges for an honest review. This book will be published on March 18, 2025.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. This book blew my expectations out of the water. I thought for sure I was going to figure out the book but, all the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat. This book was better than I expected and I absolutely loved it.

Make sure to add this one to your list if you love twists and books that keep you continuing to guess what’s going to happen next.

It's was just an okay book to me! It drug on really slow! Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!

First Wife’s Shadow by Adele Parks is a wonderful, compelling story that will keep your interest from beginning to end. Emma is an older woman who meets Mathew 11 years younger and falls madly in love with him. This is a thriller with many twists and turns as the relationship between them continues to develop and strange, frightening things begin to happen.. I won’t reveal the plot as i don't want to give it away but I guarantee you wont be able to put this book down!!

Emma has been hoping that a special someone will cross her path, and she isn’t disappointed when Matthew, a handsome widower, approaches her after her keynote speech at an organizational meeting.
As their relationship moves quickly, her close friends warn her. She is a wealthy woman, and Matthew lives paycheck to paycheck. Emma refuses to listen, but as their relationship progresses, she learns that he was once married and is still mourning the loss of his first wife.
Soon, Matthew presses Emma to marry him, but she fears she will never be able to fill his first wife’s shoes. Emma is now fearful of him and his insistence that they marry. What are his ulterior motives? Are her friends right?

Adele Parks brings us the story of Emma who is a successful woman with great friends and enjoys her life. She has a routine that she follows daily. All this changes when she meets Matthew, a younger man who recently lost his wife. Conversations turns into dates and quickly finds herself inviting Matthew to live with her. Even quicker is when Matthew proposes to her after knowing her for just a few months. This prompts her friends to question his motives and urges her to make sure that he signs a prenup. As they settle into married life, things start happening. Items start disappearing then reappearing later, items are destroyed then cleaned up, and items are scattered around then picked up again. Emma starts to wonder who or what is causing all of this making her feel afraid and the need to question everyone in her life including her friends and husband. Life takes a deadly turn one rainy night and the result from that one moment affects everything she thought she ever knew. Read to find out what happens to Emma and if her happy life with Matthew is her dream coming true, or if it was all an illusion.

Adele Parks brings us a story filled with mystery and intrigue. We meet a woman whose marriage starts to affect her life. We see how she starts questioning everything including all those in her life when things start happening to her. We watch as these events make her start questioning her own sanity. Is she losing her mind and Matthew's wife is made that he has remarried so soon? Are her friends really mad at her for marrying a man they do not fully trust or know? Or is something more sinister going on behind to scenes? As her story unfolds, we are drawn into what is going on in her life and how she fares in the end.

I have read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I would like to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA for this privilege.

First Wife's Shadow by Adele Parks had me hooked from the very first page. This book is an absolute rollercoaster of twists and turns, and once I was strapped in, I didn’t want to get off. With a story filled to the brim with lies, deceit, and psychological tension, Parks knows exactly how to reel her readers in and keep them on the edge of their seats.

Emma, a successful CEO who’s worked hard to overcome a chaotic childhood, finds herself in a whirlwind romance with Matthew, a widower who seems to adore her for everything she is. Their quick engagement—after only three months—raises eyebrows, especially with her best friends, Heidi and Gina, who are concerned about her rushing into something so serious. And yet, Emma is convinced that Matthew is her perfect match, even as unsettling thoughts start to creep in. She can’t shake the feeling that she’s living in the shadow of his first wife—a woman she never knew, but whose presence seems to haunt every aspect of Emma’s life.

The tension is palpable as Emma becomes obsessed with the memory of this mysterious woman. Strange occurrences begin to escalate—objects going missing, eerie sensations of being watched, and a creeping sense of dread that something sinister is afoot. Is Emma being haunted? Or is she being hunted? The slow-building suspense kept me second-guessing everything, and I loved the way Parks gradually unraveled the mystery, revealing secrets and lies that left me gasping.

I won’t spoil the twists, but let me just say that First Wife's Shadow is a masterclass in psychological suspense. There’s a constant push and pull between what Emma believes to be true and what others are telling her. Is she losing her grip on reality? Or is her fiancé hiding something far darker than she ever imagined? The line between trust and paranoia blurs so effectively that I was questioning everyone’s motives, from Matthew to Emma’s closest friends.

Parks truly knows how to manipulate tension and build an atmosphere where you’re constantly on edge, unsure of who to trust. Each chapter left me craving the next, and the shocking turns toward the end had me turning pages at lightning speed. While the twists were thrilling, they also felt grounded in the character dynamics, making the reveals all the more satisfying (and disturbing).

The only reason I’m not giving this a full 5 stars is because, at times, I felt the pacing slowed just a bit as Emma's obsession deepened. However, this was a minor issue compared to the overwhelming excitement of the rest of the book. The conclusion ties things together with a chilling, yet satisfying, resolution.

If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers full of unreliable narrators, hidden secrets, and twisty, edge-of-your-seat suspense, First Wife's Shadow is a must-read. Parks has proven once again that she knows how to craft a story that will keep you guessing until the very end. I loved every second of it.

This is surprisingly the first book I have read by this author, it is a genre I love and this book exceeded all expectations. A second marriage for Matthew and a first for Emma? This roller coaster of love, lies and deceptions takes the reader on a rollercoaster from its beginning pages. Not wanting to give the story away, I found myself turning off the light …only to give in and continue reading this page turner as I became invested as to what exactly was going to happen to this couple. If there was any fault to be had, it was staying up too late to finish this thoroughly enticing thriller. Now, onto other books by this author!

If you're looking for a fun light twisty little domestic thriller with lots of drama , then look no further First Wife's Shadow needs to be added to your TBR ASAP !!

I don't want to give too much away , so I will keep it short and sweet !

Emma is a successful 47 year old single woman , who is the CEO of a well established company . Then she meets the handsome young hunk Matthew , and instantly there is a connection and romance starts to bloom.

The only problem is Emma's friends think things are moving too fast , and the red flags are popping up everywhere , but Emma is blind to all of this and keeps moving forward and talks of marriage , but quickly really odd things are happening to her , and in her home .

Is Emma the victim of random vandalism attacks in her house, ...or is she being haunted by someone's past ??

This is a fast paced , light domestic thriller with a few twists that will keep you guessing to the end.

I really think fans of B.A. Paris and Rachel Hawkins and Ruth Ware will devour this one!

Thank you Netgalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing nd Adele Parks for this fun twisty ARC !

Respectfully Another Read by Angie

This book is a must read for lovers of thrillers. I was drawn right in from the very beginning. The plot contains many twists and turns and it was difficult to put down. I would highly recommend this book! Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy.

First Wife's Shadow is Adele Parks' newest and in my opinion best suspense to date. Full of lies and deceit, Parks knows how to lure her readers in and hold them there.

Alert ⚠️! How many warnings both from yourself and your best friends do you need?! Meet Emma, a smart, powerful CEO who never took time for love and romance. Self imposed discipline and a rigid routine, she never seems to let down her guard. Enter Matthew, a photographer and recent widower. An instant attraction ensues and it seems all Emma's good sense has flown out the window. Against her friends concerns. (probably even her own) Matthew moves in. Marriage quickly follows and the s##t hits the fan immediately after. When strange happenings begin in her home, Emma is convinced she is being haunted by Matthew's first wife Becky.

In true Adele Parks fashion, the psychological factor shines bright throughout the entire story. The twists had me second guessing where I thought it was going and the ending was mind blowing. I highly recommend this to all psychological thriller lovers.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ publishing for an advanced copy