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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
One evening Amelia Madison’s car slides off into sea and her body is never found, leaving her husband a widow. Two years later, Elena meets Amelia’s widow husband, Nicholas. She’s grieving for her mother and he is grieving over his lost wife. Soon Elena moves in with Nicholas, but she doesn’t know him well and doesn’t know what he is actually capable of. Elena begins to see the cracks in her marriage and finds the page of a torn letter that scares her. She must find the person who wrote the letter to save her own life.
I found the beginning part of the book to kept my interest for a quite a while and I wanted to know what happened to Amelia or why she appeared to take her own life. However, this novel soon lost my interest because it seemed like there was a lot of repetition on the beatings that Elena took over and over before they were even committed to one another and she took it without trying to get away. I found her reactions to some of the beatings unreal and I found some of the lengths that Nicholas went too to keep the women quiet were also unbelievable.
I felt for most of the characters in this book and I wanted to like them all, but I found myself unable to like Elena for how easy she just went along with what Nicholas wanted and didn’t ever feel the need to run away. But the lengths that Nicholas went to to get what he wanted, even if that was people, who he considers just property. I was surprised by the twists and it really made the ending of the book more enjoyable.
Out August 24th
I found the beginning part of the book to kept my interest for a quite a while and I wanted to know what happened to Amelia or why she appeared to take her own life. However, this novel soon lost my interest because it seemed like there was a lot of repetition on the beatings that Elena took over and over before they were even committed to one another and she took it without trying to get away. I found her reactions to some of the beatings unreal and I found some of the lengths that Nicholas went too to keep the women quiet were also unbelievable.
I felt for most of the characters in this book and I wanted to like them all, but I found myself unable to like Elena for how easy she just went along with what Nicholas wanted and didn’t ever feel the need to run away. But the lengths that Nicholas went to to get what he wanted, even if that was people, who he considers just property. I was surprised by the twists and it really made the ending of the book more enjoyable.
Out August 24th
'The Wife Before Me' is crime writer Laura Elliot's seventh psychological thriller, but unfortunately I did have quite a few issues with it, just as others did.
The plot begins like a romance novel, and i'm not a reader of the genre, so this was quite a surprise to me. It was a rather heavy-handed romance too, I feel the author laid it on thick! I am always willing to read a challenging and intricately plotted book, but there is a cut-off point. This book certainly became a little confusing and convoluted as a result of all of the intricate detail. There are also a vast array of minor characters skirting the periphery of the story, which I felt was unnecessary and added to the problems that were really mounting up by this point. The characters although developed sufficiently were stereotypical for the genre, and I felt that the author was simply painting-by-numbers in producing this story for us to read.
There are many times when it is not made clear at all who is narrating, the prose feels clunky, and the perspective changes between people without any warning, making it difficult for even the seasoned crime reader to enjoy. Also, I feel this book mimics a lot of recent crime fiction in that it features a wife who doesn't really know who her husband actually is, secrets and lies abound etc etc. The slow pace added to the feelings that the story wasn't particularly going anywhere - all of the plotpoints have previously already been done to death. I did manage to plough through it all but found myself wishing I had swiftly DNF'd it and moved on to something better.
Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
The plot begins like a romance novel, and i'm not a reader of the genre, so this was quite a surprise to me. It was a rather heavy-handed romance too, I feel the author laid it on thick! I am always willing to read a challenging and intricately plotted book, but there is a cut-off point. This book certainly became a little confusing and convoluted as a result of all of the intricate detail. There are also a vast array of minor characters skirting the periphery of the story, which I felt was unnecessary and added to the problems that were really mounting up by this point. The characters although developed sufficiently were stereotypical for the genre, and I felt that the author was simply painting-by-numbers in producing this story for us to read.
There are many times when it is not made clear at all who is narrating, the prose feels clunky, and the perspective changes between people without any warning, making it difficult for even the seasoned crime reader to enjoy. Also, I feel this book mimics a lot of recent crime fiction in that it features a wife who doesn't really know who her husband actually is, secrets and lies abound etc etc. The slow pace added to the feelings that the story wasn't particularly going anywhere - all of the plotpoints have previously already been done to death. I did manage to plough through it all but found myself wishing I had swiftly DNF'd it and moved on to something better.
Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
It gets better as you read
I was ready to put it down after 5 chapters or so, but then the story got increasingly deeper and kept me wanting to read more. A little odd ending, but I’m ok with it
I was ready to put it down after 5 chapters or so, but then the story got increasingly deeper and kept me wanting to read more. A little odd ending, but I’m ok with it
First of all, thank you to Netgalley for a free advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
"When the fear of death has been conquered, we become unconquerable."
This is the first book I've read by Laura Elliot, and wow, I had no idea what kind of ride I was in for. The book opens with a tragic scene of Amelia Madison driving off a steep incline into the ocean, despite being unable to swim. She has had nightmares her entire life about drowning. She knew that this was the end of her marriage.
Then we jump forward a few years to the funeral of Isabelle Langdon, Elena's mother. Elena meets a mysterious character who dazzles her with his good looks and his charm. Nicholas Madison is the grieving widow of Amelia Madison, the front page headline of many newspapers after her tragic car fall to the death off of Mason's Pier. Elena knows the story, but still pursues a relationship Nicholas despite his obvious torment over the death of his wife.
We are then pulled into a tumultuous story of the life that Elena is thrust into with Nicholas as her husband. Nothing is ever as it seems, especially when you marry someone who has a history of beating his previous wife. Elena endures more than any character I have ever met in a book, and she does it all while she believes the ghost of Amelia is haunting her.
Beaten constantly and losing sight of who she once was, she eventually cracks and stabs her husband with a rusty ice pick. This launches her into the main bulk of the drama of the book, where we learn more about Amelia's past with Nicholas and how it eventually caused her to spiral out of control.
With twists, turns, and an overall deep plot, this book kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. The ending brought drama and closure.
The main reason that I did not give this book five stars was because I oftentimes felt like the author wrote it with a thesaurus in front of her - using words that were unnecessarily large and even confusing at times. It took away from the story instead of adding to it, and made the book more difficult to read than I would have liked.
"When the fear of death has been conquered, we become unconquerable."
This is the first book I've read by Laura Elliot, and wow, I had no idea what kind of ride I was in for. The book opens with a tragic scene of Amelia Madison driving off a steep incline into the ocean, despite being unable to swim. She has had nightmares her entire life about drowning. She knew that this was the end of her marriage.
Then we jump forward a few years to the funeral of Isabelle Langdon, Elena's mother. Elena meets a mysterious character who dazzles her with his good looks and his charm. Nicholas Madison is the grieving widow of Amelia Madison, the front page headline of many newspapers after her tragic car fall to the death off of Mason's Pier. Elena knows the story, but still pursues a relationship Nicholas despite his obvious torment over the death of his wife.
We are then pulled into a tumultuous story of the life that Elena is thrust into with Nicholas as her husband. Nothing is ever as it seems, especially when you marry someone who has a history of beating his previous wife. Elena endures more than any character I have ever met in a book, and she does it all while she believes the ghost of Amelia is haunting her.
Beaten constantly and losing sight of who she once was, she eventually cracks and stabs her husband with a rusty ice pick. This launches her into the main bulk of the drama of the book, where we learn more about Amelia's past with Nicholas and how it eventually caused her to spiral out of control.
With twists, turns, and an overall deep plot, this book kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. The ending brought drama and closure.
The main reason that I did not give this book five stars was because I oftentimes felt like the author wrote it with a thesaurus in front of her - using words that were unnecessarily large and even confusing at times. It took away from the story instead of adding to it, and made the book more difficult to read than I would have liked.