Afternoon Everyone,

Happy Sunday and happy last weekend of November. If you haven’t got your Christmas decorations up already then it’s likely you’ll be doing it in the coming week like me. I’m a bit of a grinch and can’t bring myself to have them up any earlier than December. I usually dread doing it however I’m really looking forward to it this year. New home, new stuff to Christmas-i-fy. I’m really looking forward to the cottage looking and feeling cosy and cuddling up with my winter reads.

Book 📖

Thank you @suewatsonwriter and @bookouture for this advanced audio copy of The New Wife in return for an honest review. The New Wife was published on 19th November 2021 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Georgie’s son Sam is marrying his childhood sweetheart and girl of his dreams; Lauren. The two families have always been close and have always considered themselves to be one big family, but this marriage makes it official. Georgie is so proud of her son and of herself after raising him on her own.

The honeymoon period doesn’t last long. Lauren is found dead only a few weeks after the wedding and everyone is heartbroken. However behaviours start to appear suspicious. Georgie starts to worry when her son disappears to meet someone in secret immediately after speaking to the police. Lauren’s best friend Sadie has always behaved questionably but Georgie is looking at her even more closely now.

Georgie is desperate to find out what really happened to Lauren and who was really involved. To the point where she may very well end up putting herself in grave danger.

General Thoughts 🤔

I thought that this book was great. The storyline wasn’t overly complex and it was easy to follow, but it was tense and it burnt slowly which kept me reading/listening, eager to find out what would happen next. There were twists and turns in the book that took me by surprise a couple of times, however ultimately I had guessed how the book was going to end. I wasn’t at all disappointed mind, it was a brilliant way to conclude the story.

Characters 👫👬👭

The whole book was written from Georgie’s perspective and told through her voice so she was naturally the character that I felt like I knew the most. She seemed to be a lovely lady who just wanted the best for her son and lived to ensure that he was happy and successful in life. There were times when I felt quite frustrated by her as she seemed scared to stand up to the Jacksons and defend not only her son but herself. However I also appreciate that she was under an immense amount of stress and probably felt the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Lauren’s mother Helen was a character I felt an immense amount of sympathy for. She was submerged in grief after her daughter’s death but as the story started to unravel, I was left wondering whether she was grieving just her death or a life that she herself had missed out on. Out of all of the characters in the book, I think that Helen’s secrets were the biggest and affected the most lives and this was why she thought her only option was to numb her pain with alcohol.

Writing Style ✍️

I liked that the whole story was told from Georgie’s point of view. It was an interesting choice as it could have been told from many of the characters perspective. On reflection, I think that Georgie was the only one who wasn’t harbouring a huge secret and didn’t have anything to hide so maybe that was what influenced the choice.

I really enjoyed the pace of this book. It wasn’t fast but wasn’t too slow that I lost interest. I was hooked once I started listening and then the slow burn unfolding of the story had me reaching for my headphones at every opportunity.

The narration of this book was fantastic. Tasmin Kennard did a great job of becoming Georgie and capturing her thoughts and feelings through the narration. I found her really easy to listen to.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖️

I liked this book when I was listening to it and then once it was done and I had had time to reflect, I loved it. I was engrossed from the very start but it grew and grew the further into the story I got. If you’re interested in this book I would definitely recommend the audio book as it was a great listening experience.

😍😍😍😍😩