This book is a solid 4-stars for me. The Scandal had more twists and turns than almost any book I've read and literally kept me guessing on every single detail until the very LAST page. The writing could be a bit repetitive at times with the characters reiterating their stories/feelings about things again and again. However, looking past that, I found this to be a page-turner and a true race to put all of the crazy pieces together. What a twisty, beach read!

(Also posted on my GR account!)

Without being too spoiler-y., this book was reaaaaally similar with that other book. And tbh, nothing is new under the stars anyway, so I kept giving the book a try after I was around 30% mark. Besides, I did care for the characters, and that was important.

However, I couldn't shake the feeling of 'been there done that' while reading it and for that I gave it 3 stars.

***This ARC was generously given to me by NetGalley***

Not everyone is as they seem and not everything is as it seems. This book kept me on the edge of my seat! Definitely a page turner!!

Three “friends” if you want to call them that-Marisa, Claire and Elly. Just when you think you have it figured out...something else happens!

Marisa is dealing with an empty nest and a husband who doesn’t really care to have anything to do with her.

Claire is dealing with fertility issues and a caring husband-who surprise is the one with the fertility issues or is he?

Elly believes she is helping women by outing their cheating husbands. All because she knows what it feels like. But who is she sleeping with this time???

Who is Jodi? How does she play into this? Who’s baby is she carrying? Who killed Jodi?

Ooooooh The Scandal by Nicola March… just loved this, my first read by this author but after reading this, it certainly won’t be my last if this one is anything to go by!

Marisa, Elly & Claire, 3 best friends, each one different in their own right but gel together and each one with their own secrets, all putting on a façade unbeknownst to each other!

The book is told 4 fold, POV of Marisa, Elly and Claire and then another girl called Jodi. Jodi is pregnant and arrives in the Hamptons hoping to cash in on her one night stand from her “baby daddy” which starts a house of cards to come tumbling down!!!

I could not put this book down, I was invested with each of the women, each with their own tale to tell and being drip fed their secrets from their point of views, I loved that you just had no clue who the father of Jodi’s unborn child was or as it turns out the murderer!!! We were kept guessing right up to the end and oh what a REVEAL….

It’s a hard one to review without divulging too much so I’ll leave it there but suffice to say I will be highly recommending this book to my friends/family.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Four women with intertwined lives - 3 friends, and a pregnant woman. Each keep secrets from each other but their lives start to unravel. Had some good twists. Quick read.

This was a fabulous read full of treachery and deceit.

The Scandal was incredibly well crafted, as well as being twisty and thrilling, I loved the writing style of Nicola Marsh and the plotline had a totally unique spin. The story was mesmerizing and so different to all of the other novels about domestic abuse and cheating partners. Each character had their own undisclosed secret which helped this completely enthralling story. The ending was remarkable and not what I had been expecting at all.

I can't wait to see what wonderful treat Nicola Marsh has in store for me, next!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Thank you to Bookouture and Net Galley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this book. Just when I thought I had things figured out, the author threw in another twist. It is a quick read with lots of suspense. Recommend for all readers that like suspenseful books!

A good read about friendship, betrayal and secrets. A quick read with a few twists thrown in.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I would fully recommend this book as the plot was twisted and unexpected until the very last page! Great characters, story-line and ending!

Absolutely fantastic had me gripped!!! Loved it! Can't wait for more from.this author. Storyline was great, characters were easy to.connect with

Thank you for the advanced copy

This book was a page turner and a half. After every chapter I read I had to continue on because I just couldn't get enough of the characters and the mystery surrounding all of them. Without giving away to much this story is all about three women who come together in a book club. These three women all have large secrets that they are hiding not only from each other but also from their spouses. While I don't usually like changes in point of view in novels this one was done very well and it almost had to be done that way in order for the reader to really get all of the secrets that the author scattered like breadcrumbs through the story. I liked how each secret was brought out to the reader so you could really feel the tension and see how it was hidden from everyone, cheating, babies, and abuse nothing was off limits in this book and I really enjoyed it. This book kept me guessing right up until the very end and that doesn't happen to often. Great story, and a must read for lovers of all genres. You will not be disappointed. The only thing I have to recommend is that you clear your schedule because once you start this book you will not want to stop until you get to the very end. Great read this book will have you talking about it for ages to come. I'm very glad I got the chance to read this one, everyone should put this on their list and check it out.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for providing a free copy of The Scandal by Nicola Marsh in exchange for my honest review.

(Synopsis) Empty-nester, Marisa feels isolated and lonely after her twins leave the home and her massive mansion no longer holds any appeal. She desperately tries to find things to distract her from the secret she’s deeply buried within by scheduling mindless activities and “gardening” club meetings. Enter her great friends, Elly and Claire, who should be her respite from what she’s avoiding, but both of these women also have their own secrets they are concealing and grappling with while sipping coffee and talking about neighborhood gossip. Then one day, a pregnant young girl named Jodi arrives on Marisa’s doorstep asking for her aid. All of the lies come to the surface and life is never the same.

The novel’s quick pace and multiple perspectives allow readers to experience life within this community of secrets. All of the characters’ backgrounds are well-developed and unique. In this genre, it is easy to fall back on the same storylines to create suspense and mystery, but Marsh avoids those traps by creating characters that are familiar and realistic, but not stereotypical. The high point in this novel is Jodi’s plotline and journey to finding the father of her unborn son. Jodi is complex and likable, yet something is off about her pursuit. Readers will pull for her to find resolve with a one-night stand. The story moves along quickly and comes to a head with an unpredictable event half-way through the novel which makes the story feel much richer and intriguing. The twists and revelations are well-done and not easily dismissed as predictable.

Although the strengths of this novel heavily outweigh the weaknesses, I think the use of four different storylines made it feel a bit more like a soap opera and not a solid, thriller novel. All of the women have tremendously shocking secrets while their husbands demonstrate suspicious behavior. This can be exciting at times but often times overwhelming and overtly shocking. It makes for more of a jumbled mess of people’s sins to distract from the actual point of the novel.

Overall, I rate this novel ⅘ stars for the use of suspense and character development. I would recommend this novel to all of my domestic thriller friends.

This novel is set to be published on July 25, 2019.

I. Loved. This.

I won't be surprised if this novel goes the way of Big Little Lies. There is SO much going on, the set up was excellent, and the story came together so well at the end. There was no over-explaining, the three main women were morally grey, real, intriguing, and there was so many plot lines that hook you in and keep you guessing and second-guessing throughout.

I didn't see the ending coming until the moments that it was happening. So many characters were set up well to be the perpetrators of the few crimes involved, it was impossible to pick who it could be but I was very satisfied with the outcome.

I believe this is the first Nicola Marsh novel I've read and I would very happily go back for more like this.

Everyone has secrets but some can destroy lives. These three friends seem to have it all but each is hiding behind a happy facade. Elly knows that she is about to destroy someone's marriage and she justifies it by knowing that it happened to her and she knows that the town will turn against her as her whole new life is a lie. Claire can't believe that she won't be able to be a mom as she needed to be so she could make up for her affair years before. Her husband Dane has lied to her about his sperm problem and when she finds out it could destroy everything. There might be a chance to still be a mother as a young woman has turned up and their friend Marisa can help with the adoption. But Claire thinks that there is more to the story as the young woman is looking for the baby's father and she has been found dead and the suspect is close to home. Marisa doesn't know how much longer that she can pretend for she is so unhappy and is afraid of being alone. She can't wait for her husband Avery to go to the city so she is alone and she can just be herself. She is tired of all his ways but can she walk away that easily? She can't believe that the young woman has been killed and she knows that her husband had something to do with it as he wasn't home until the next morning but who will believe her? Can these three friends make it through this stressful time stronger or will the lies tear them apart?
A good read. We are always to quick judge by what we see and not we actually know. I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchage for my honest review.

I am afraid to say, I Did not finish the book. It was just not one I could connect with anyone. I felt it was at halfway just a chore both the women and men were just nothing I wanted to try to figure out.

I was intrigued to read this book after seeing the high praise and rating on Goodreads. Thankfully I did not read any reviews because then my expectations would have been higher as would have been the disappointment.
I don't like giving long negative reviews so I will keep this short. I thought the story was very average, the characters and twists quite predictable.
The narrative of the three women wasn't engaging enough for me and extremely repetitive. The latter being a problem for me because I felt the women were not evolving. None of their stories struck a chord.
I would rather not mention the men in the book because each was worse than the other with no redeeming qualities. Even the one who seemed the best of the lot by the end was made to be volatile probably to taint him with suspicion as well. Like really?
The twist, in the end, was hardly a revelation to me. I had already figured it out quite early in the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the plot. Was very hard to put down.
I give this book 5**** just because i loved it
Cant wait for other books

This was an interesting mystery but kind of predictable. I enjoyed it but it didn’t blow me away. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

Marisa, Elly and Claire—3 best friends with seemingly perfect lives, but all of them are harboring some deep secrets.

Marisa has been married to Avery for 21-years. She escaped her terrible childhood only to be a trophy wife. She dedicated her life to raising her kids, but now that they’re in college, her life is lonelier by the day. So she has delved herself fully into being a social worker and helping others.

Claire, a local police detective, desperately wants to start a family with her husband Dale. She thinks a baby will absolve her of her previous sins and give their marriage a fresh start. But when she discovers her husband is infertile, she’s not sure their marriage can survive the years of secrets between them.

Elly moved to this small town after leaving her “perfect” life that turned out to be a lie. Now she has a secret lover that no one knows about, not even her best friends. And if they discover who she’s been sneaking around with, they won’t forgive her and she’ll have to start her life over yet again.

A young pregnant woman named Jodi arrives on Marisa’s doorstep unexpectedly and since Marisa has a thing for strays, she helps her. Jodi is there to find the father of her baby and her arrival sets in motions a series of crazy events...

The Scandal by Nicola Marsh is a stand-alone twisty women’s fiction meets mystery novel. I really enjoy dramas about various women who have secrets where there’s a central mystery driving the whole story. This book didn’t do anything wrong, but it didn’t do anything particularly new either. The twists were okay, if not a little predictable. 3/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Nicola Marsh for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent book! I definitely didn't see the ending coming. There were characters to love, characters that you felt indifferent to and totally slimy characters. My favorite was Marisa, the mother figure. Trapped in a loveless married, so far away and pining from her twin girls in college. Thank goodness for her quirky group of friends to keep her busy and happy.

You HAVE to read this!

Thank you to the author/publisher/Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.