Evening Everyone,

Hope you’re all doing well. I’ve had to pull back ever so slightly on the amount of reading I’ve been doing over the last week or so as I’ve been super busy. Very exciting news; WE’RE MOVING HOUSE! So there’s lots of sorting, organising and packing going on in my life at the moment. Unfortunately that means less time for fun stuff, but it will all be worth it. We’ve bought a gorgeous cottage in South Wales and we absolutely cannot wait to get in there. Not long to wait and I’ll have some gorgeous new setups for book blog photos.

Book 📖

Thank you to @bookouture and @LouiseVoss1 for this advanced copy of His Other Woman in return for an honest review. His Other Woman is due to be published on 2nd July 2021 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Alanda and Liam are in their mid-fifties and happily married with three grown up children. After a devastating family bereavement, Liam needs some time to clear his mind so signs up for a solo three week walk around Spain. The entire family support him on this endeavour and rally around to see him off on his travels.

A couple of days later, they’re unable to contact Liam. He has vanished completely. Fast forward a couple of months and Liam has zero memory and has fallen in love with another woman. Once Alanda is able to locate him, which woman will Liam decide he loves more?

General Thoughts 🤔

I spent the first half of this book questioning what on earth I would do if I was in this situation; and not just from one perspective. The answer is I really do not know, but what I do know is that it would be absolutely devastating for all parties involved. This story was certainly emotionally gripping and got it’s claws into me. Especially during the awkward moments when Alanda, Liam and his new woman Katya were all together in the same room. I could feel the tension leaping off the page.

The second half of the book kind of dropped off a little for me. Nowhere near to the point where I wanted to stop but I didn’t think that it was as dramatic as the first half. The emotional tug was a lot more subtle and the story was more of a slow burn. I struggled to get my head around some of the decisions that were made by all of the characters but I think that that’s a good thing. Everyone makes bad decisions for the right reasons, or certainly for what they believe to be the right reasons.

Characters 👬👭👫

I have thought about the characters in this book long and hard and I am still undecided about them. I can’t decide if I liked them or not but I think it’s because I have tried to put myself in their shoes and the truth is, I just can’t. I don’t know what I would do if I was any of them. Nobody was to blame for any of the dramas that unfolded and that meant that I was clinging onto the hope that somehow, everyone would end up living happily ever after.

What happened to Liam was terrible and I felt like he was dealt such a bad card after he returned home. A part of me expected him to just pick up where he left off, but I also understand that it just wasn’t that simple for him.

I felt huge amounts of sympathy for Alanda whilst Liam was missing and also once she found him. I think I would have likely reacted in the same way. But then afterwards, I found her to be at the worst selfish and at the least, foolish. She actually made me feel a bit frustrated.

Writing Style ✍️

This is the first Louise Voss book that I’ve read and I’m pleased to report that I really enjoyed her writing. The story was told from multiple perspectives which I am always a fan of. She definitely has a special gift for creating emotional tension. There were chapters/sections of the book where I felt like I was living the scene myself.

What I didn’t know until finishing, is that this is the first non-crime fiction book that this author has written in quite some time and as a crime fiction fiend, I definitely would like to read some of her earlier work.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖️

I gasped many times, I’m fairly sure I audibly said WTF a few times and I was all in with this story. It was emotionally draining at times and a bit of a slower churn at others. All of that said, I think it’s obvious that I enjoyed reading His Other Woman. I know lots of my friends will too, so I will definitely be recommending this book.

😍😍😍😍😩