This is an easy 5 star read. It had me gripped from the very first Instagram post I saw announcing the closure of the Truly_Madison account. I just knew I had to read it and I was not disappointed at all.

The story follows several POVs including Madison March, her children’s tutor Cally and the mysterious Brianna Wyoming. Madison is a traditional wife, a stay at home mum who cooks, cleans, looks after her 4 Children and her Macho Husband, Michael all whilst creating content for her millions and millions of online followers!

I loved Madison and her somewhat perfect lifestyle. The prologue had me guessing what happens right from the very start. I’m pleased to say I never saw the twist coming, it was so clever how everything pieced together in the end!

I imagine this will be the book of the summer if not the year when it is published on 22nd May. Everyone wants to be online famous with millions of followers but I’m sure that opinion may change once you have read this and seen the challenges it may come with!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

I really liked the concept of this book and at first it felt modern and intriguing.
At first the March family felt quite real and the Instagram/TikTok addictions felt genuine given the current climate.

After a few chapters, every character became less and less relatable or even likeable. The motivations for Cally to stick around felt weak, especially given that her other options were blatantly spoken of. Brianna felt insanely childish, and the phone addiction felt incredibly forced and unrealistic. Michael had no characteristics other than ‘controlling cowboy’. I could go on.

The idea of delving into the murky life behind a TikTok family is a good one, I just think the author failed to make even one character likeable. Had there been one normal character, I would have felt more connected to the book and had someone to root for. I assume this was supposed to be Cally, but she felt very shallow and difficult to care about as well.

The twist didn’t really have much impact as, by that point, I didn’t feel strongly for any outcome so didn’t care for the wellbeing or backstory of anyone.

Overall there’s a good idea here, just executed poorly.

A great read. A well constructed story with many twists and turns. I did not see the ending coming. I enjoyed the characters and thought they were well constructed. The world of the influencer and the tradwife is interestingly portrayed. The - spoiler alert - coercive control theme is well handled. A good book would highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley, and the publisher, for this ARC copy of The Tradwife's Secret. This book was an easy read- and I flew through it. I thought the characters were well-written, and had sufficient depth for the genre. This thriller takes the trad-wife controversy, and turns it into a satisfying thriller. The twist at the end works well with the story, and I just really enjoy a book with multiple POVs.

Book review

The tradwife’s secret by Liane Child
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

👋 morning everyone,

I just devoured ‘The Tradwife’s secret by the talented @LianeChildAuthor and finally found a book I could not put down!

First a little bit of blurb for you all “This book dives deep into the seemingly idyllic world of Eleanor. From her meticulously organized home to her lovingly prepared meals, her life appears to be the epitome of domestic bliss. But beneath the starched aprons and freshly baked scones, a secret simmers, threatening to unravel everything she holds dear.”

I loved that the illusion of a perfect life was completely turned on its head in this book, I think we all feel like we are not measuring up at times and its so easy to feel like a failure for simply not being able to achieve this ideal perfect life that is impossible to actually achieve !

This book starts with a dark undertone running through it but as the pages turn the plot becomes darker and darker and had my completely hooked ! I really don’t want to give anything away but if you have read it please let me know as I need to talk more about this !!

I wish that I could believe that the dark undercurrent in this book was far from reality but after also watching ‘Devil in the family’ on Disney its terrifying that this is far closer to reality for some than we would ever imagine.

With the documentary about Ruby Franke and the memoir written by her daughter, interest in this book should be strong. The novel needs another pass through editing before released to the general public, but I think those who seek out thrillers and ripped from the headline stories will enjoy it as a quick, mindless read.

The story follows the dual lives of Madison and Brianna with POVs from a multitude of characters. The story picks up when a new tutor, Cally, is hired and witnesses first hand the cracks that influencer Madison tries to paste over in her seemingly perfect life. Brianna's story follows her and her boyfriend, Jonah as they struggle to make their dream of a traditional homestead a reality.

I will start this review by saying that if you are a true tradwife and not a tradwife influencer be aware this book may not be for you as it unfortunately does paint a particular view of the culture. As a tradwife myself I had to remember that this would be based on a small subset of us and to try not to take some of the views personally.

That said, I did enjoy this book. It certainly showed the toxic side of the culture both with the narcissism of some influencers promoting the lifestyle, the delusion of many online who may blindly follow a movement without truly understanding it and how even in a lifestyle that is generally a good supportive environment, when a husband does not hold up his end of the arrangement in an appropriate fashion, this can lead to a dangerous household.

I did work out the twist, but not until quite late into the book and had a few false assumptions about the twist turned around. The characters were well developed and the multiple POVs really helped you feel as if you were in the story with the characters.

Would definitely recommend this book but would strongly suggest that people reading it do so understanding that this is a toxic representation of the tradwife culture not what all of us experience.

If I can give you one piece of advice, read this! I loved it, loved Madison and Lori, loved the dynamic between them, loved Cally and her rule breaking on the homestead! The insight into the world of influencers is a powerful one, which a huge emphasis on everything you see isn’t quite what it seems. The man / woman divide is highlighted well and shows the impact of misogyny and equality on women over time. The multitude of difficult topics are covered well by Liane, using tactful language and respect towards victims / survivors of abuse. There’s a multiple POV which is always a winner for me, and short, punchy chapters leaving you desperate for more! If I could change anything, I’d have loved more of an insight into Michael’s childhood! But overall, worthy of a 4.5!

Wow! I just finished the book and I’m still processing all the twists. Sometimes I can guess them ahead of time but I wasn’t able to this time. Still trying to figure out who’s the unreliable narrator and who’s the sociopath. I think they both might rhyme with Tradison Tarch!

I received a free copy of the ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you HQ and NetGalley for an EXPLOSIVE read!!!!! This was an amazing book, I LOVED IT!!!! I felt sooooo horrible for Bri, sad story her life. Michael was such a jerk, a disgusting human being. Lori was the best character and Cally was just there for no particular reason. When this plot All comes together, that was a WHOAAAAAAA MOMENT!!!! Never could have guessed how this would turn out. Great, Great, Great read!! Thank you again.

Started well but fell away from the middle onwards.

Madison March has it all – the perfect home, the perfect kids, the perfect husband and the perfect Instagram account. Madison shares her idyllic life, baking, picking vegetables, doing fun things with the kids on her social media and has built a million dollar brand around #Tradwife. But when the camera’s stop rolling all is not as it seems...because Madison has a secret – she has a housekeeper, the clothes go to the laundry, and she can’t really cook.

Michael March is the husband. He spends his days away from the homestead running his ranch and preparing for the end of days by stocking his huge bunker with supplies. He expects absolute obedience from everyone – not even Madison is allowed to disagree with him or ask him to do something. He believes in discipline for the children and no fun before the chores are done. He also has an eye for the ladies and his romancing of the children’s old tutor is repeatedly hinted at. Michael struggles with Madison’s ‘fame’ and is wildly jealous when she wins an award and he misses out…has this pushed him to breaking point?

Lori is the housekeeper and cook for the March family. Like all the other employees she has signed a non-disclosure agreement to protect the family secrets. She arrived at the homestead with Madison and has been deeply loyal to the family….so loyal in fact that even she is hiding a couple of huge secrets…

Cally has arrived at the homestead as the children’s new tutor. She doesn’t follow social media much but knew who Madison was. She is shocked at what she sees behind the scenes but has signed the NDA and really needs the money…because she has a secret that she is fleeing from too.

With all these characters I was hoping for something interesting, but what I got was a tale of shallow women, misogynistic men and characters that were so one dimensional they could have been made of cardboard. Honestly, the book has so many people keeping so many secrets it should have been called ‘Michael is the only honest person.’

For the first half of the book I was invested and interested in finding out what was happening. But then the secrets start to get revealed – some of them were good and I hadn’t seen them coming, others were utterly bizarre and I found myself thinking ‘What? Is that all?’ It all comes to a grisly head when a face from the past shows up to spoil the party (again, I kept thinking ‘that’s ridiculous!’). Just when I thought it couldn’t get anymore silly, it did. I was left feeling like the author had so many ideas for the secrets being kept that she just thought ‘what the hell’ and used them all. It left me feeling #disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A bit of a slow burner with a great twist at the end. Madison is the perfect wife and mother at least on her social media site but everything that is recorded and viewed is definitively not as it seems.
Lots of twists to keep you interested where the two stories merge.
A sad life which actually happens in real life of the perfect media life.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review.

Just not for me. Way too far fetched and unrealistic. I just found myself saying, ‘As if!’ on so many occasions. Subservient, shallow women, misogynistic men. Too much.

Ooof, this was a miss for me. The premise of a tradwife and secrets drew me to this book, and I was looking forward to Madison being a surprising badass. However, the delivery was so awkward I had to DNF. The pace was choppy and the descriptions felt so fake and forced. The characters were pretty cliche and one dimensional. The formatting on the ebook was all over the place and in desperate need of editing before publication -- I don't know why single quotation marks and left sided formatting was used. Paragraphs had weird breaks and words were smashed together. This was all too distracting from the story itself.

This book is fairly difficult to review in my opinion. It wasn’t a bad read and did have a decent twist/reveal in it but just reinforces the message that men are evil, controlling and misogynistic. For this reason whilst reading the book I was inwardly furious. There was however one male character who was the exception!

The other thing the book does is show the dangers of social media and people believing it is all true when the fact is it is all heavily edited and manipulated.

The fact that it was a “happy ending” for the only people I actually liked throughout the book was just a little twee for me as if the book needed a chocolate box and ribbon ending

This book! This book here! This might be the most entertaining book in a long time! Yet, somehow, it also managed to be thought-provoking, all while still being extremely entertaining.
This book’s title feels and reads like the most click-bait-y and cliched internet article titles – yet the book itself is that with a way more substance than you’d ever expect.
To break it down nicely, now:
Toxic influencers. (I know we all love those!)
Instagram, oh, so much Instagram.
Fake, fake, fake lives.
Far right-wing “traditional values”.
The horror show of “American values”.
Tradwife lifestyle. In detail.
Yucky family dynamic.
Toxic masculinity.
Drama. And twists.
And a satisfying ending, albeit one that will keep you wondering if the FMC was a villain or a victim after all that’s happened there.
And now, a warning: don’t you ever, ever read this addictive popcorn thriller with a bonus layer of depth if you are someone who wholeheartedly believes that this tradwife tradlife is the best thing ever and it should be the only way to live for everyone anywhere.

The book’s pub date is set to the end of May. I strongly feel like if any of those tropes are ones that you enjoy, then this book is soo worth preordering. Really. Seriously.

This was the best guilty-pleasure popcorn thriller that I devoured so quickly!

Here's what I loved:

* The feeling of seclusion: the characters are secluded, and the author made me feel like I was.
* What is portrayed on social media vs. real life: We all know that what you see on social media isn't real. This book explores this dynamic and adds another layer of deceit.
* The alternating POV

Thanks for the advance review copy.

The Tradwife’s secret is a well-paced, captivating thriller that exposes the appearance and reality of social media influencers.

Madison March spends her day being a traditional housewife on her vast Montana homestead property. She documents her life on social media for her millions of followers. But behind the camera, her life is very different. Her seemingly perfect life, husband and children are a product of meticulous planning. She has assistants, IT people, and a nanny and is now looking for someone to homeschool her children in the traditional values that she wishes to portray.

The Tradwife's Secret is a compelling read that delves into the contrast between public persona and private reality. It uncovers the ‘fakeness’ that followers are trying to achieve and finding impossible to attain.

Narrated from multiple points of view, Madison, Cally, and Brianna, each character brings a unique perspective and adds layers and depth to the narrative.

The alternating perspectives are seamlessly integrated, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the characters' motivations and conflicts. The pacing is well-balanced, with moments of introspection interspersed with plot-driven action.

This was an excellent thriller with a new look plot. An unputdownable read.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

Madison March is the queen of the tradwife influencers. Her social media is flawless, her beautiful kids featured in wholesome fashion, and Madison, herself, is always gorgeous and perfectly turned out. Behind the scenes is another story, and we see the cracks in the veneer as told through Cally, a woman brought into this family’s life to help homeschool the March children. Cally’s job requires anonymity and secrecy, which suits her as she is trying to stay one step ahead of a debt collector who will go after her brother for the tidy sum of cash she owes from a loan gone bad back in Boston. We also meet Lori, who does more work behind the scenes to make Madison’s life go than Madison does herself. As Cally’s stay on the March ranch goes on, she learns that the life portrayed on social media is all smoke and mirrors to put the March family in the most perfect light.

Told in a separate timeline is the story of another tradwife, who embarks on this lifestyle with much different expectations than what she finds in reality. Homesteading life is hard and often stark, especially starting with nothing but a plot of land and an abandoned house on a wide-open prairie during the cold winter months.

Towards the end of the book we learn how these two stories intertwine as a crisis on the March ranch comes to a head and the truth about the real Madison comes to light. She is nothing if not a survivor and is someone who knows how to reinvent herself, especially in times of crisis.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great story with so many twists and turns in it. it kept you hooked in from page 1 right the way through to the very end.