Reviews

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

camrajo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book is one that you can't put down. The author wrote in a way, that every chapter makes you want to read another. I loved how the narrator is not named and unreliable. Some of the plot lines were predictable, but a good fast paced book. 

jammy_sam's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Mini synopsis: Suburban married couple murder people to keep the romance alive.

Who this book is for: 

• Readers who love to be in the twisted head and perspective of the evil
• Those who enjoy domestic and psychological thrillers that will keep you guessing
• Readers who can handle reading about unlikeable characters
• Those who enjoy first person POV and unreliable narration

My thoughts:
It isn't often that I delve into domestic and psychological thrillers, but I did enjoy my time with this book! I'd heard about it from a booktuber I watch (Alexandra Roselyn) and decided to check out the audiobook from Libby since it was available. I listened on walks, while cleaning, or while knitting and flew through it, eager to know how the story would end for this deeply unlikeable couple. Probably what was most disturbing to me was how normal these people are outside of their...hobby. I mean, Millicent doesn't seem fun to be around under any circumstances but people can just be like that in normal life without also being serial killers, ya know?

I enjoy that we get the story from the unnamed husband's perspective as he is a little bit unreliable and pretty twisted, but we also get to see in-depth how he feels about his wife and her part in their little hobby. There are a lot of different directions this story could have gone and it definitely has a pretty slow build, but the twists are fun and probably not overly predictable (unfortunately a brief google search about the Netflix adaptation brought up a huge spoiler so I'll never know if I would have been fully surprised or not).

Overall, I had a great time with this one - it's disturbing, mysterious, and we get to follow a pretty unhinged couple as they pretend to be normal, middle-class suburban folk. I spent a whole lot of time rooting for their children, to be honest.

wendythegeekgoddess's review against another edition

4.0

Predictable but it was pretty good

stepharina's review against another edition

4.0

I loved this book! I want to compare it to another book that I loved but I feel like it would give away a little what happens and I do not want to do that. This book was hard to put down but I had been so busy that I could not always get to it. The book was such a weird concept but I think the testament of a good writer is making you like characters despite the crazy things that they do. The characters that you "love to hate". I didn't necessarily hate anyone in the book but once you read it you will understand what I mean. I did not see all of the twists coming so I thought that was great.

I'd recommend this to people who like thriller/suspense novels.

mmajer's review against another edition

5.0

I could not put this book down! So deliciously twisted.

thatlemonadelife's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

emlibrary777's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

plovan's review against another edition

5.0

4.8

heidirgorecki's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Very twisty and a bit dark, which is understandable being a murder/serial killer thriller, but super intriguing and not overly predictable. It was well thought out and I liked that I didn’t have it all figured out. I have such a hard time liking thrillers just because they seem either ridiculous or easy to see the end. This one, while I wouldn’t say it was surprising at the end, was still not something you knew for sure a mile away. You had your options for how it could go but it still made you question which direction or the details of it. Well done.

cosy_aims's review against another edition

3.0

I struggled with this book. The only saving grace for the first 3 quarters of it was the quick chapters! I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the twist but it’s a shame I only found the last quarter of it any good! The husband is such an annoying character! He was such a pushover! I had high expectations but was mainly disappointed.