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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Rounded up to 3.5 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⚡️
Amnesia plot lines are my weakness. I was hoping for more in-depth character development but instead the author chose to check off the boxes to get through the “outline”. Writing was so-so and my least favorite phrase “a beat of time” (I mean, don’t we all have a word or phrase that just makes you cringe?) was over used. For a 5 star amnesia read, I recommend Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson.
Amnesia plot lines are my weakness. I was hoping for more in-depth character development but instead the author chose to check off the boxes to get through the “outline”. Writing was so-so and my least favorite phrase “a beat of time” (I mean, don’t we all have a word or phrase that just makes you cringe?) was over used. For a 5 star amnesia read, I recommend Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson.
Honestly any book that keeps my attention and that I finish in one sitting gets five stars from me. It was a short and easy book packed with a really good mystery. I do wish I knew more of her husband's background and what the outcome is with him. That's all I'll say so that my review doesn't have any spoilers.
mysterious
medium-paced
I picked this up on a whim in a used bookstore. It's the first time I've read anything by this author, and I was pleasantly surprised. It is a bit of a slow start but once I got about 1/2 way through it started getting interesting. An easy and quick read
I could see things happening from a mile away so nothing was new to me. This is basically the movie secret obsession but with white people. Overall I liked it but it was nothing special.
Originally published at Desert Island Book Reviews
Don’t let my three-star review fool you: I did enjoy this book. For all its faults, The Twilight Wife was an engrossing story and a very quick read, both important for a thriller. So why only three stars?
First of all, despite my feeling that this was a great story with mysteries to be uncovered, I kind of felt like I’d read it before. Specifically, I felt like I was re-reading S.J. Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep. And I felt this way from the very beginning. Maybe I’m just convinced that any book about a wife losing her memory is basically the same. I don’t know. In any case, the similarities were definitely there and hard to overlook, especially because it made some of the key plot points a little predictable for me.
Second, through much of the book, Kyra’s memory loss/amnesia situation just didn’t feel very genuine to me. Frequently, Jacob would get annoyed with her for forgetting things they’d already discussed, but every time she remembered something on her own, it seemed to stick with her. Maybe it was the medication stopping her from making new memories, but it still struck me as odd that she’d remember and fixate on certain things while failing to remember actually going somewhere just a week before.
That said, I really did enjoy reading this, and while I definitely felt the lack of originality in overall concept was an issue, I still wasn’t entirely sure exactly what happened. The story drew me in right away and I wanted to get to the bottom of Kyra’s accident and memory loss. I wanted to figure out what the deal was with the different men she had memories of and why she had lost only four years (a weirdly specific amount of time) of memories. These questions kept me reading and I finished the book in two days’ worth of short(ish) reading sessions.
So, would I recommend reading this? Well, that depends. If you’ve never read Before I Go To Sleep or you have but you don’t really remember it, then definitely go for it! It’s a great book if you don’t have another similar book in mind to compare it to. If you have read it, though, The Twilight Wife might be a little too predictable for you, and unless you’re really good at overlooking predictability in a thriller, I’d skip it.
*ARC from Touchstone via NetGalley
Don’t let my three-star review fool you: I did enjoy this book. For all its faults, The Twilight Wife was an engrossing story and a very quick read, both important for a thriller. So why only three stars?
First of all, despite my feeling that this was a great story with mysteries to be uncovered, I kind of felt like I’d read it before. Specifically, I felt like I was re-reading S.J. Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep. And I felt this way from the very beginning. Maybe I’m just convinced that any book about a wife losing her memory is basically the same. I don’t know. In any case, the similarities were definitely there and hard to overlook, especially because it made some of the key plot points a little predictable for me.
Second, through much of the book, Kyra’s memory loss/amnesia situation just didn’t feel very genuine to me. Frequently, Jacob would get annoyed with her for forgetting things they’d already discussed, but every time she remembered something on her own, it seemed to stick with her. Maybe it was the medication stopping her from making new memories, but it still struck me as odd that she’d remember and fixate on certain things while failing to remember actually going somewhere just a week before.
That said, I really did enjoy reading this, and while I definitely felt the lack of originality in overall concept was an issue, I still wasn’t entirely sure exactly what happened. The story drew me in right away and I wanted to get to the bottom of Kyra’s accident and memory loss. I wanted to figure out what the deal was with the different men she had memories of and why she had lost only four years (a weirdly specific amount of time) of memories. These questions kept me reading and I finished the book in two days’ worth of short(ish) reading sessions.
So, would I recommend reading this? Well, that depends. If you’ve never read Before I Go To Sleep or you have but you don’t really remember it, then definitely go for it! It’s a great book if you don’t have another similar book in mind to compare it to. If you have read it, though, The Twilight Wife might be a little too predictable for you, and unless you’re really good at overlooking predictability in a thriller, I’d skip it.
*ARC from Touchstone via NetGalley
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a good thriller! It definitely wasn’t perfect, but I enjoyed the read. I actually liked several parts of the ending and I could see it as a movie playing out in my head. I love it when books create imagery enough to do that, but without becoming boring.
I liked it as an audiobook and it was a bit spooky at times (to me). The narrator did a great job. Narrator ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I liked it as an audiobook and it was a bit spooky at times (to me). The narrator did a great job. Narrator ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Gaslighting
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated