Reviews with content warning for Cancer - The Wife Between Us

The Wife Between Us is broken into 3 main parts. Part 1 really got me hooked, wanting to know all the secrets and things left unsaid, as is necessary with any good book. We follow Vanessa's story as she mourns her [previous] marriage with Richard and begins stalking Nellie, Richard's new fiancee, in the weeks leading up to their wedding. Part 2 delves more into Nellie's relationship with Richard and how she is enamored with him and the lifestyle that being with him affords her. It showcases a bit of how she deals with Vanessa stalking her as well. Part 3....was kind of a shitshow, if I'm being honest. I felt like it was all over the place, which made it hard to follow. This section was the least surprising of the 3, which didn't exactly push me to finish the book, but I did.

This book had several twists and turns. I didn't necessarily suspect any of them, but I won't say they really gave me a huge shock factor, either. Without saying too much, I will say that the one that really surprised me was when we found out more about the relationship between the dual narrators, Vanessa and Nellie. I was also surprised by the final twist in the epilogue; that one I totally didn't expect. Other than that, I felt that the other big twists were just, "meh."

Overall, I didn't love this book. I'm glad I didn't spend the money to buy The Wife Between Us; I listened to the audio book on Libby. I will give the authors another try, as I already own An Anonymous Girl, and that one seems to have higher praise than this one did.

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leahsbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

I went into this trying not to fall into the pitfalls described in the summary. The story is told from two perspectives — one is Vanessa’s, the ex-wife, and the other is Nellie’s, the soon-to-be new wife.

At first, Vanessa does seem to fit those assumptions. She’s been struggling to move on since her divorce, working at a low-paying job, living with an aunt, and barely managing to hold it together. A lot of her behavior does seem obsessive and jealous, as she seeks out opportunities to watch Nellie covertly, and she wants to do whatever she can from stopping the upcoming wedding from happening. But as the story unfolds, it’s clear that Vanessa has secrets — a lot of them.

“She isn’t privy to the real story of our marriage, though. She thinks he chased youth, casting me aside, following the pattern of so many men before him. She thinks I’m a victim; just another woman cut down by the approach of middle age. The compassion would be erased from her expression if she knew of my role in our demise.”

I couldn’t help but like Nellie. She’s sweet and so naïve, and I couldn’t help but notice how many times she mentioned that Richard was “too good to be true.” And that little voice in my brain started reminding me that if something seems to good to be true, it probably is. (Ironically, that little voice sounds a lot like my mom’s). It was clear that she didn’t know that Richard was married when they first started their relationship, and if he was lying about one thing, it made me wonder what else was hidden beneath the perfect, polished surface that Richard presented to the world.

“Her relationship with Richard is now public, though it began when he and I were still married.”

There were so many plot twists that I never saw coming. I had an inkling of what might have been coming, and while I guessed a little of it, there were more that I didn’t. And every time I thought that I had my finger on what was actually happening, I honestly didn’t. Because this was next level stuff going on. It reminded me a lot of the twists in Gone Girl, and kept me hanging on, hastily flipping pages until I got to the very end.

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lilacsophie's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

4.0

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