Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - My Lovely Wife

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

28 reviews

katwebb's review

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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

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keppers_jax's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

So many plot twists!

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augustinedreams's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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jennabeck13's review against another edition

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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

4.0

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

Genre: Thriller

About 370 pages

When you’ve been with a romantic partner for a while, it can be hard to keep things fresh. Some couples decide they need more date nights, to spice things up in the bedroom, etc., but Millicent and her husband keep things fresh by selecting women to murder. You heard that right… This couple has killed several women and gotten away with it. But in order to keep it going, they need to set up a fall guy. In an attempt to do so, they create a media frenzy like never before that is now affecting their children. With things not going as planned, they must choose between their kids and their favorite “pastime”.

WHAT DID I JUST READ? This book was CRAZY and I could not put it down. The two main characters are disturbing and diabolical. I disliked them as humans but at the same time couldn’t get enough of them. There was a ton of dark humor that landed perfectly and enhanced the storytelling. I don’t want to go into more detail for fear of spoiling things but if you haven’t read this already, ADD IT TO YOUR TBR.

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alba_marie's review

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

3.75

3.75 rounded up.

I'm not always a mood reader, as I'm usually too focused on my library holds pile. But one of my goals this summer was to read more of my own books. I was in the mood for a dark thriller, so I chose this one, which has been on my shelf for months since I excidedly picked it up from a free book drop.

I appreciated the dark, nebulous atmosphere of husband and wife killing team. Told from the pov of the hubby, who assists his wife in the capture of the women but isn't there for the killing itself, we enter dark suburbia where this team has decided to kill to essentiallybhave better sex.

It isn't all that believable, but it is fast paced, grim, and thrilling. The husband isn't likeable. In fact, he's kind of pathetic and a bit of a doormat. The wife is a venomous viper, a terrifying black widow. It sounds cliche, and it probably is, but maybe that's what made it gripping.

Suburbia is boring, which is kind of the point of the book. They are bored, so they kill. Living in a gated community isn't as all its cracked up to be - or as safe as everyone thinks it is. I guess murder is the easy way out. Instead of admitting and problems or finding excitement in a more legal way, they've discovered they get turned on by becoming serial killers, while also unsuccessful parenting two teens.

My main complaint with the book was the ending.

I enjoyed the cat and mouse chase game. But I didn't like that he got away scot free and is convinced of his innocence. He isn't innocent. He may not have killed most of them or called the shots, but he was a willing participant for a long time.... and if the ending is a clue, he isn't going to stop.

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ramreadsagain's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

A solid thriller, manages to bring something fresh to the genre, and not feel “tropey”. I also liked how the violence towards women was never a main part of the book, unlike with some thrillers that often have a lot of gory detail.

Great twists and a good page turner. Definitely recommend for fans of the genre.

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cbirv's review

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dark mysterious tense 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

3.25

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minimicropup's review

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

1.0

I listened to the audiobook and the first bit was great - I was expecting it to continue where…

this couple starts off at super toxic codependent relationship vibes where you hate them but can’t look away as the husband scouts out vulnerable women and the wife kills them out of a mish-mashed motive of personality disordered revenge/rage/past trauma and they get away with it by copycat murdering

. Instead it was one of the most child-centric parenting struggle motif books I’ve ever read. Like a weird slowly evolving custody battle…It’s kind of impressive, that someone could write a serial killer duo turned spousal revenge story into a drama about the struggle of parents who probably don’t even want kids but have them now so they over-compensate and resent. That’s my take on it at least. Somehow this story was so boring, I kept waiting for the good parts to morph into something but it didn’t and there was a bit of villain monologue at the end. Mid book felt like a lot of Rory being into video games, bribing his dad, and sucking at school, and Jenna being too dense to read the room that no one cares about her sports points. Oh and the parents are so focused on hiding their serial killer lifestyle from their children that the kids are written as if they’re their landlord/boss/religious deity in a way. Sorry, it just wasn’t for me but I thought the premise was unique

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meeklovestoread's review

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I'm not gonna lie this book was pretty slow for me. Meaning it just lacked the fast paced nature that I'm used to with thrillers. I almost put it down due to the lack of shock value. It felt just a slight bit boring, but I continued because I was determined and I loved Millicent as a character. And I'm glad I continued because although I thought the big twist was obvious but it's always nice to know the how. And my goodness Samantha did NOT disappoint on HOW. Everything was great. And it all tied in together. The events after the big twist were so satisfying that it saved the book for me. I was originally gonna give it 3.5/5, but I really loved how Samantha tied things together. Overall the story was great. It was entertaining too don't get me wrong I just value mini twists in my thrillers if that makes sense. I'd still recommend this book though.

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chellebell048's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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