The Wife Between Us is a fascinating story! A psychological thriller, a romantic suspense, a story with so many twists and turns I couldn't keep my head on straight. I didn't heed the warning in the synopsis that told me not to assume anything. In fact, I think the authors pulled some reverse psychology on me, because I did the complete opposite and made assumptions all the way through this book!

All we know from the blurb is that there is a jealous ex-wife who can't stand the thought of her husband marrying a younger woman. And as the story rolls out, that is exactly what it sounded like was happening. But it was more than just a jealous ex. We get the story of a woman who is so despondent over the dissolution of her marriage and the loss of the man she loves that she is spiraling into the deepest pits of despair.

We get a story that is so multilayered and convoluted, I wasn't sure what was up and what was down, what was real and what was imagined. I've seen the term "unreliable narrator" used generously as people are talking about this book and that is exactly what I thought while reading it. But perhaps we should be using the term "unreliable reader" because looking back at the content of what is told to us, the information and clues are often there, we just choose not to see or hear them because we've gone into this book with preconceived notions of what is going to transpire.

I am not exaggerating when I say that nothing is as it seems throughout this book. All the way to the very end, the authors hit us with twists and turns to this story. Surprises around many corners and revelations that I couldn't have guessed no matter how long I sat there and tried. I have to admit I had a little difficulty in part one truly understanding exactly what was going on, and only after reading back over certain scenes in that part did I comprehend what I was reading, and then the light bulb went on. But I finally got on the right train (of thought) and then I couldn't put the book down. I had to know what was happening, like really happening and not just what the "unreliable narrator" was telling us. It's a rollercoaster ride for sure! I know I will continue to think about this book for days and weeks to come, going back and analyzing certain parts over and over again to see where I missed the clues, or how I construed something differently than what it actually was.

I commend Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen on this riveting tale that kept me glued to the pages until the very end.

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Sometimes a book just isn't what you need at that moment...and maybe this is a case of "It's not you, it's me"...
Leah's Bookish Obsession
The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks,Sarah Pekkanen
Book Title: The Wife Between Us
Author: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
Genre: Mystery | Thriller
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Setting: New York City & Suburbs
Source: I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.



⇝Add to Goodreads⇜








Plot: 4/5
Main Characters: 4/5
Secondary Characters: 4/5
The Feels: 3/5
Pacing: 3.8/5
Addictiveness: 2/5
Theme or Tone: 3.5/5
Flow (Writing Style): 4/5
Backdrop (World Building): 4.5/5
Originality: 5/5
Book Cover: 4.5/5
Ending: 4.2/5 Cliffhanger: nope
Steam Factor 0-5: 3
Total: 3.7/5 STARS - GRADE=B




I don't know what it was about this that would not let me stay interested in this. It seems to have everything you would want in a Mystery/Thriller, including several 5-star reviews, and yet, I just couldn't seem to care enough about it. It just seemed to have the depressing feel to it and I found myself not wanting to read it. So…it took me a while to finish it…

But really…

…The Wife Between Us is a haunting story with a cleverly crafted plot and twists you won't see coming. Overall, you probably shouldn't let my feelings on it sway you into not reading it because plenty of readers loved it.


⇝Will I read more from this Author?⇜ I don't know, maybe not…maybe yes.

So I had heard nothing but praises for THE WIFE BETWEEN US by the duo of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. I had no idea it was going to be so addictive and twisty! I read this book in two sittings (only because it was 3am and I made myself go to bed) and I couldn’t stop!

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife and her obsession with her replacement. You will assume you are reading about a woman about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves. You will assume the first wife was a disaster and that the husband was well rid of her. You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships. Assume nothing

I can only put the blurb in because it’s so true. You will make so many assumptions as you read this book. I’m telling you now, none of them will be right. As soon as I thought I had everything figured out, I was thrown a curveball. I think I said, “NO! WHAT THE HELL?!” at least three times to my friend as I was reading it. This is one of my top books I’ve read for 2017 – despite it coming out in 2018.

Overall, if you love twisty psychological books, then you need to pick this one up. Unreliable narrators, different POV’s, and multiple twists you won’t see coming make for an addictive and page turning read!

I give this a solid 5/5 stars!

Vanessa was married to a charming rich hedge fund manager Richard and seemingly had a perfect life. But Richard is now engaged to another while Vanessa is picking up the pieces of her shattered life. Vanessa in an alcoholic haze and ridden with jealousy starts stalking the fiancée but nothing is what it seems.

This book is a gripping domestic tale of deceit, love, relationships and betrayal. Full of twists and turns ,unreliable narrator and a complex storyline makes it a compelling read. A great addition to the domestic psychological genre

Many thanks to the authors, St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for a honest and fair review.

Many of my Goodread friends raved about this book... Well, I’m the odd one out. I was enjoying this for awhile, but then confusion set in for a good portion of the book, and I just simply didn’t enjoy it anymore.

However, thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

3 1/2 - I liked the writing style of the book, the characters were believable. I thought the title was well done. I think would have liked the creepiness of the sister more developed and his back story peeking out more through flashbacks.
The twist at the end was a good one, did not see that coming.
For all the books out there wanting to be the next Gone Girl, this is probably the closest to that. I think it could be adapted into a movie very easily, almost felt it was written with that in mind as some of the details would be more tense in a movie vs. written form. I enjoyed the book and it was a fast read, you want to know what will happen next.

This is the best read I have had in a long time. It was very refreshing to not be able to predict the twists and turns in this. I was on the edge of my seat reading this! I genuinely appreciated not being able to figure out what was next and I never anticipated the end. Bravo!

http://stephnoelpeterson.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-wife-between-us.html

This book helped me get out of a reading slump, and for that I'm grateful. A page-turning, psychological thriller, The Wife Between Us has two female co-authors, and I enjoyed the idea of the two writing alternate chapters, one as the disgruntled ex-wife and one as the nubile young fiancée (I have no idea if that's actually how they wrote the book). For the vast majority of the book, Vanessa/Nellie, the ex-wife, is written in first person, which adds to the sense that she's an unreliable narrator, bent on stalking the replacement wife-to-be. Emma, the fiancée, is written in third person, which gives the reader a bit more distance when we consider her motivations.

This vastly entertaining novel contains plenty of twists and turns, most of which are well-disguised. A few, however, are not, which is why I went with four stars, rather than five. It's no spoiler to say that Richard is a troubled man, and the fact that he will have issues with all of his ex- and future wives is glaringly apparent from early on. The secondary characters provide some welcome texture and depth, especially Sam, Vanessa's best friend, and Maureen, Richard's sister. All in all, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a clever thriller or needs a fast-paced plot to break them out of a reading slump.

This was one twisty turny roller coaster of a book. Just when you think you see where the story is going, whammo, the whole thing changes. Hendricks and Pekkanen do a masterful job of keeping the reader off kilter and wondering what is going to happen next. If you follow my reviews, you know I love an unreliable narrator. Vanessa is one of the best I’ve read in a long time.

If you liked Gone Girl or Girl on the Train, you would like this book. Actually, even more because the characters are relatable and real. Any of us could be Vanessa.
Read my 5-star review of The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2181532388

I am so lucky I caught this book when the publishers were letting you download it right away for three days. I kept seeing it pop up in the book community so I knew it was something I needed to grab. I am happy I didn’t let this opportunity pass me by.

In the past couple of years I have fallen for the marketing that compares a book to Gone Girl. Finally I have found a book that deserves that comparison. If you guys enjoyed Gone Girl, I know you’re really going to enjoy this one.

I don’t want to say too much about this story because I don’t want to give it away. The summary describes this perfectly that it’s best to assume nothing. I went in not knowing much about this book besides it having a lot of positive feedback. I did find it a little slow at the beginning but by the end of part 1 I was hooked. I even had to go back and reread because I wasn’t sure if I ended up reading correctly. After that moment I was hooked on this book. I didn’t want to put it down.

If you guys are really into thrillers like me you’re going to want to check this book out. It was a fun book with a lot of unexpected twists. I am so happy to finally find a book that is similar to Gone Girl. I can’t wait to read more from these authors.

*I just want to thank Netgalley for giving me early access to this book to give my opinion on it.*

I'd like to give this book 10 stars! On my top 10 psychological thrillers/suspense that I've read this year. I'm so grateful for the ARC and netgalley approval. There were at least 10 moments when I literally shouted "what?????" Because of the twisty turns and unpredictable outcome! Loved it!!!

Read my 3-star review of The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2146839280

Wow! Get ready for deception, twists, and turns throughout this read. I don’t even want to begin to summarize the plot other than to say that it involves the deconstruction of what appears to some an idyllic relationship. But, that is only on one level.

Suffice it to say that fans of Gone Girl and other psychological thrillers should love this book; I did. Don’t miss out on what is sure to be a best seller.

Boring, convoluted, bad writing, stupid characters. The oddly specific descriptions of the most mundane details and random brand name dropping for no reason was really distracting. I thought there must be a significance to some of it, any of it, but there was none. I hate to leave such a negative review on an ARC but it was just that bad, sorry.

When the authors said "Assume nothing" they weren't kidding! The teaming of Hendricks and Pekkanen brings readers a psychological suspenseful thriller that will be a 2018 hit and hopefully the twosome have more plots and twists in mind for future novels. The question is how much do you know about the man you are ready to marry? What are the truths, the half-truths the lies, or the coverups? Is it happiness forever or will life take a twist, a turn, you never saw. What happens if your husband's attentions wander, or obssession becames a part of your life, or trust becames an issue? Finish part one and you'll think you misread or missed something. Hit part two and your mind will spin. Dive immediately into Part three and gasp in surprise. A non-stop read you won't want to miss.

This book was amazing. Greer Hendricks takes a common conceit - a bitter ex-wife, the young replacement, rising jealousy - and gives it so many twists and turns you'll feel like you're on a roller coaster. She masterfully uses intertwining points of view and unreliable narrators to keep you guessing the whole time, and just when you think you've figured everything out she pulls back yet another curtain. Even then, once you're convinced that you know everything there is to know, she manages to surprise you one last time.

The Wife Between Us is Greer Hendricks' first novel, and she knocks it out of the ballpark. Hendricks combines themes of jealousy, revenge, betrayal, and abuse into a chilling thriller that you will not be able to set down.

Wow...this book was really good. It pulled me in at the beginning and kept twisting throughout. Right when I thought I had it figured out, I’d learn something new. This is a must read.

Now that The Wife Between Us has been written, I kind of feel like there’s no need for any other domestic-suspense-with-unreliable-narrator novel, ever. This book marks the apogee of the genre, featuring a narrator as unreliable as an ’87 Yugo with engine trouble and more misdirection than a Penn & Teller show. It was co-written by two authors, and you can just picture them emptying a bottle of Pinot Grigio together as they gleefully try to one-up each other with crazier and crazier twists.

Like several other novels of its type, such as Michael Robotham’s The Secrets She Keeps and Jane Corry’s My Husband’s Wife, the book tells its story in alternating chapters. We meet Vanessa, the ex-wife of wealthy Manhattan financier Richard Thompson (no relation to the musician, presumably), who has been replaced by a younger, fresher model. Nellie is the adorable blonde preschool teacher who simply can’t wait to have kids (Vanessa never managed to get pregnant) and settle into domestic bliss as the new Mrs. Thompson. Vanessa, reduced to waiting on her former “friends” as a saleswoman at Saks, is determined to stop their impending nuptials. Her chapters are told from a first-person perspective, while Nellie’s are in third, so there’s never a problem keeping them straight.

Is Vanessa delusional (her mother suffered from mental illness)? Jealous? Convinced she has unfinished business with her ex? Did Richard dump her because she’s an alcoholic (there’s a lot of drinking in this book)? Just what is he up to on his frequent business trips? And what skeletons lurk in Nellie’s closet? You can try to guess everyone’s motives, but when everything is finally revealed, you’ll probably be shocked. I was, and I’ve read a ton of these sorts of books. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, you got me good.

By now, you probably have an idea of whether or not this book is for you, and I don’t want to risk spoilers (you can download the first four chapters here). It’s completely nuts and more than a little gimmicky, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had a lot of fun reading it.

I’m excited to be on the official blog tour of The Wife Between Us and bring you this review. The book doesn’t come out until January 9, 2018, but it’s already getting a lot of buzz, and rightly so! The Wife Between Us is a twisted psychological suspense novel about the complexities of marriage. Nellie is poised to marry her Prince Charming. Set in New York City, she is a preschool teacher who also tends bar to help make ends meet. All that is about to change when she meets Richard, a handsome, wealthy, charismatic hedge fund manager who sweeps her off her feet. This would not be a suspense novel without some red flags popping up though. Who’s on the other end of the hang up calls Nellie begins to receive? Why does she seem to be running away from her former life in Florida? As a reader, you get this sense of impending dome.

Then, enter the ex-wife, who seems a bit unhinged. She’s living with her Aunt, working part time at Saks, trying to bounce back from the divorce that left her questioning everything from her mental stability to her lack of ability to conceive a child. Let me warn you though – this is NOT what it seems! The book is divided in three parts, with alternating chapters from Nellie’s point of view and the ex-wife’s. At the transitions from each part, there are twists… big ones! So much so that after part one, I immediately went back and reread part one to make sure I understood it correctly!

This book has twists and turns; it has great character development, and many moments when the plot crackles with tension. This book is for all you domestic thriller lovers out there. Read it closely and carefully, so as not to miss any of the details that eventually fall into place beautifully. This book has already been optioned for a movie by Steven Spielberg’s production company, Amblim Partners, the same company that brought The Girl on the Train to the big screen.

*** Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.