Unfortunately I had to DNF this one. I really struggled to get into it and struggled with the format.

A solid thriller that feeds into the current obsession with true crime documentaries and armchair detectives! A woman leaves her old life to go to America to marry a man accused and convicted of murder but maintains his innocence. She campaigns for his release and he becomes the star of a new true crime show. But once he’s released, she begins to wonder if he really was innocent.... 
a good read although the ending felt a little rushed, hence 4 stars instead of 5!

I did enjoy the plot of this book, I had a friend when I was younger whose mum got friendly with someone in prison. I know! Right?! So reading this reminded me of that fact, right back 30 years or so.

That didn’t have a good ending either and she emigrated from U.K. to New Zealand!

I was fascinated by why a person was attracted to people in jail. Romance blossoming etc. 

Anyway, there was an obvious way of how this came bout in this story. 

I listened to it on audio today, I’m wondering if it would have been better if I read it by physical book or ebook. I remembered then I had this on my Kindle. So I swapped. 
It didn’t really make it better, only that I could hear my inner voice reading it instead of someone else.

I’m glad I read this, there were short bursts of me being engrossed, it did jump around a bit.

The ending was 10/10 though.

This book had great potential but unfortunately I struggled a bit with it.  I couldn’t connect to the characters and found myself skipping through the book at times.

"Twenty years ago, Dennis Danson was arrested and imprisoned for the brutal murder of a young girl. Now he’s the subject of a true-crime documentary that’s whipping up a frenzy online to uncover the truth and free a man who has been wrongly convicted.

A thousand miles away in England, Samantha is obsessed with Dennis’s case. She exchanges letters with him, and is quickly won over by his apparent charm and kindness to her. Soon she has left her old life behind to marry him and campaign for his release.

When the campaign is successful and Dennis is freed, however, Sam begins to discover new details that suggest he may not be quite so innocent after all.  But how do you confront your husband when you don’t want to know the truth? "

Firstly the negatives; I found myself trudging through this book, hoping something good was going to happen soon, as the chapters were short and easy to read, but it was not as thrilling and dangerous as I was hoping for.  There did not seem to be any twists and turns that I was expecting and hoping for and the ending was abrupt, silly and disappointing.  

On the plus side, it was an easy read and well written, and the letters they wrote to each other as they were getting acquainted were a great introduction to the story.  However, it went downhill once they met in my opinion, and Dennis was not quite the psychotic inmate I was hoping for.

2.5 Staars rounded up

Thank you to Netgalley, Amy Lloyd and the publisher Random House UK, Cornerstone for giving me the oppertunity to read this book.

This is the debut book from Amy Lloyd. This book is very slow to begin with and takes quite a while to get going. I felt as though I could not enjoy the characters as much as I normally would with other books, however I still enjoyed the story once it got going. I thought that Amy could have made the story better by putting in a few dark bits and twists and turns, this would of made it harder for the reader to guess whodunit.

An engrossing read: the kind of plot that explores the questions everyone is thinking whenever you hear about prison penpal love affairs. How could this woman believe this man? It’s a rollercoaster of a read that keeps you guessing towards its conclusion.

I'm really not sure what I think about this book. Half of me loved it and and the other half was seriously disturbed! I was fascinated by Sam and the way she thinks andI found it difficult to put the book down. Amy Lloyd has done a great job giving insight into why she makes the decisions but the ending was pretty much what I expected.

What a wonderfully gripping read. This was an amazing thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from Amy Lloyd

One of the best reads so far this year. I absolutely loved this. It was predictable but was still thrilling and interesting. Loved the relationships too.

This book had a real buzz about it when it was first published in December 2017 (yes it has been on my NetGalley shelf for a while, yes I am a terrible book blogger who reads at a snail's pace!).  I received a free eARC copy of The Innocent Wife which has in no way influenced my review.

I keep seeing mixed reviews for this book and I just don't get it.  I know, I know, you don't have to tell me - reading is subjective.  I totally get that.  I'll say this though, if you're anything like me you will love this book.  It has everything I want in a novel.  I loved the small town American feel of it, I loved how the author has used the nation's love of true crime to give it a more authentic edge, I loved the plot and I loved the characters.  This is turning into an epic year of reading for me; nearly every book I pick up just blows me away!  And that includes The Innocent Wife.

Notorious convicted killer, Dennis Danson, comes to Sam's attention when questions begin to be raised over the evidence and trial used to convict him and send him to death row.  An online group start petitioning for his release claiming the Red River Police got the wrong man.  Sam does what any normal (!) 30-something would do in this situation and starts corresponding with Dennis.  Before long a strong bond is formed between them and Dennis sends a visiting order.  Sam drops everything, packs her bags and flies off to Altoona Prison to meet Dennis in person, hoping he's everything his letters lead her to believe he is.  After an awkward start, the couple relax into each others company and before long Sam has extended her visa to allow her to visit Dennis on a regular basis.  Then he's released and everything changes.  Sam is married to a man she hardly knows.  And what's more, what she was once certain of, she's not anymore...

Character, character, character.  I flipping love a bunch of fascinating people!  I really felt for Sam.  I could feel her loneliness, her need to be loved and adored which emanated from the page.  I also found her a little frustrating at times because I wanted her to stop being so drippy and 'woman-up' a bit.  That didn't stop me from wanting to read Sam's story though.  She intrigued me.  I also loved the mysterious Dennis, although I doubt very much I was supposed to!  There was something quite dark and dangerous about him and that appealed. Other characters were great too such as the true crime documentary filmmaker, Carrie, who welcomes Sam to the US with open arms and then becomes her guardian angel.  She just knows Dennis is innocent and will do everything in her power to prove it.

Would I recommend this book?  I would, yes.  It's a delicious slow burn of a read and I loved it!  I was absolutely fascinated to see where the story was going to go and I wasn't at all disappointed.  Gripping, unnerving and it ticked so many boxes for me.  I would not hesitate to pick up another book by Amy Lloyd.  In fact, I can't wait to read more from this author! Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review an eARC of The Innocent Wife.  The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

This was the first book I've read from this author and I enjoyed it very much. It was very well written and the characters were well thought out.

The Innocent Wife by Amy Lloyd is a fast-paced thriller that is gripping from the start.  Lonely Sam strikes up a long distance penpal relationship with a convicted killer.  When new evidence leads to his innocence, he is released allowing them to begin a relationship.  But is Dennis all he seems?  4 stars

I really enjoyed this book.  It was hooking, gripping and everything that a psychological thriller should be.  I cannot wait for the next book by this author.

School teacher Samantha lives in England and becomes obsessed with a man she has never met via a TV documentary. The documentary features death row prisoner Dennis Danson who has spent the last twenty years behind bars for the brutal murder of a teenager when he was just eighteen-years-old.

The documentary looks at the case, new evidence and whether Dennis could, in fact, be innocent. Could he have been wrongly convicted?

Sam begins to write to Dennis and then travels from her home to Florida where she sets about meeting him. Soon they began having a relationship and she becomes his wife. The documentary serves it’s purpose and Dennis is freed. However, Sam discovers her own evidence that could mean that she was wrong and that Dennis really was the killer. He’s also not the man she thought he would be. But what can you do when you are possibly married to a murderer?

The book reminded me of the Netflix series Making a Murderer and the new Ted Bundy Files. As a nation, we seem to have become obsessed with murderers as their lives and reasoning intrigue us and we try to understand the psychology behind such gruesome acts.

The book is quite a slow burner and though it moves at a steady pace, that pace is about as fast as a snail. The plot though was certainly intriguing. Men like Dennis are predators to women like Sam. She is shy and meek and is smitten that he has taken notice of her. She believes that he loves her and wants her. Dennis, however, is the kind of man that women in domestic violence relationships live with. The kind that is nice on the outside to others and a perfect gentleman but behind closed doors it’s like a monster has taken over and you can see the evil in their eyes.

There are some strange and very weird moments in the book that do make you think ‘really?’ Would that really happen in real life? There were also times when I felt like there were passages of information I didn’t need to know, they didn’t add anything to the plot.

That being said I did find myself engrossed in the story and 3/4 the way through the pace quickens and we have an action-packed ending which for some might come as a shock but unfortunately I saw it coming. Though it did feel a little rushed and I it was at this point I wanted the book to last a little longer. This is the type of book that I could see being made into a popular series or movie.

Samantha/Sam falls for Dennis Danson a murderer currently on Death Row. She leaves her simple life in the U.K to visit Dennis after corresponding with him by letters sent back and forth. 
Samantha marries Dennis but when he is released will Samantha feel the same?

Absolutely stunning book! I really enjoyed this and get like it kept me interested throughout the whole book. Definitely worth a read.

** contains spoilers**

The story starts with who is a young school teacher in England. She becomes absolutely obsessed with a man called Dennis Danson. Danson is a convicted killer on death row who has been charged with the brutal murder of a young girl called Holly Michaels. The young girl had been mutilated and the body parts had been dumped in a bayou in Red River, County Florida. It was this murder that sparked a nationwide investigation into the suspicious deaths of other women from the same area. 
Danson becomes the subject of a documentary that goes through all of the evidence from the investigation to see if anything had been overlooked by the police and to try and prove his innocence
We find that Samantha's obsession actually started with Danson after watching the first documentary about him. since then she joins numerous websites and forum chats where other fans of Danson are campaigning and dedicated to proving his innocence. basically it is a fan club. for the most part the people who add to this are convinced that this was a wrongful conviction and Danson is the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice.
Sam decided to write a letter to Danson and is overwhelmed when he replies to her. The letters continue over a period of time and they proclaim to love each other, Samantha decides to use some of her inheritance money to fly to America and see Danson in prison. 
Spoiler 1 ~ the campaign is a success and it isn't long before he is released. 
Spoiler 2 ~ the newly wed couple move back to Danson's hometown where they make their home. They have a cellar around the back of he house and its in there that the 'bad stuff' happens. Sam has a growing sense of unease as the relationship doesnt really go how she had planned. Danson is distance and irritable often going out in the dead on the night with no  explanation. a gut feeling leads her to the cellar and its here she finds a box. In the box are photos that prove he extent of Dennis's involvement with the other missing girls. 

I enjoyed the style of writing and I think LLoyd did an exceptional job of creating a sense on unease in the story. Well written earning a full 5 starts from me.

I wont lie, I was sucked in based on the dysfunctional idea of someone wanting a relationship with a murderer. Samantha didn't know Dennis before he was imprisoned for the murder of a young girl, so what makes her so sure he is Innocent?

Samantha and Dennis fall "in love" via letters and visits, and Dennis began to be portrayed as what someone, somewhere (on another planet) might refer to as a doting boyfriend, I know Samantha seemed to think so. She was obsessed with him in every way possible and wanted to do all she could to get him released.

I think Amy Lloyd executed her idea behind this book perfectly. She tricked me into thinking I wanted the pair to be happy and I began wanting what Samantha wanted. The sexual tension between Samantha and Dennis was uncomfortably addicting to read, and without even thinking, I was beginning to hope Dennis was released so that they could be 'happy' together, yet any other time, I would be disgusted by the thought of it.

I also thought it was really well written which was part of the reason I flew through it so quickly.

I do have to admit that even though I found myself feeling sorry for Samantha, I still felt she was completely deluded and came across pretty self obsessed. Her family were clearly extremely worried about her and the situation she had placed herself into but she gave no thought to them whatsoever.

Unfortunately I have a love/hate relationship with the ending of this book. I absolutely loved the final twist to the story but hated how it was executed. I know this sounds contradictory but I cant say anymore without giving anything away. The book in general was a bit of a slow burner until everything seemed to explode and wrap up in the last 20 pages.

5 stars

Brilliant! Thought provoking! Scary!

Samantha (Sam), a thirty-one-year-old teacher in Bristol, is full of self-doubt, longing for someone to whom she can devote her life. Caring for them, loving them. This love had been rejected by Mark who had dumped her because of her insecurity and jealousy. 

Mark had introduced her to an online forum trying to prove the innocence of Dennis Danson, currently on death row. He had been found guilty of murdering Holly Michaels. There had been other girls who had disappeared from the region, their bodies never discovered. Dennis was thought to have murdered them, but without bodies, charges couldn’t be brought against him. 

Sam and Dennis start corresponding, sharing their innermost thoughts and feelings. Falling in love. Dennis asks her to come to America to be closer to him and help him in the battle to prove his innocence. They meet, Dennis with chains around his ankles and hands and a bullet proof piece of glass between them. This doesn’t deter Sam and she joins the team who are making a documentary that will hopefully prove Dennis’ innocence. Somehow, thanks to all the people in the forum who had worked tirelessly for the past twenty years of Dennis’ incarceration, his case is re-opened, and he is declared innocent. Innocent? A miscarriage of justice? 

Dennis is a celebrity, invited on all the chat shows and in the meantime, Sam is trying to come to terms to being married to this complex man who went away a teenager and has emerged into the world twenty years later where technology helps information spread instantly. 

Amy Lloyd has created a monster of a book. Sam, the insecure girl, desperate for love and stability. Dennis, a charming handsome ex-con, who wants his freedom and retribution for being locked up for a crime he did not commit. Carrie, the enthusiastic filmmaker, who has spent years together with Patrick, the director, making documentaries and trying to find the truth about Holly Michaels’ horrific murder and Lindsay, from Dennis’ hometown, who shares a strange secretive history with Dennis. 

There is one last thing I need to share about this book. Did I like it? Empathise with the characters? No, not really. Do I think this whole thing is simply a figment of the author’s imagination? Absolutely not. This is a real story with a lot of truth in it. 

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.