After breaking up with his long-term girlfriend, Charlotte, Ben can't believe his luck when he bumps into the beautiful and charming Bella in a bar and she actually seems interested in him. A couple of months down the line he's introduced her to his friends and family and is totally loved up. But it's a total shock when she tells him she's pregnant with his child and wants to get married before the baby is born. As the weeks roll by Ben begins to realise that Bella might have indeed been too good to be true. But by then it's too late.


As the mum of a little boy, the idea that he could in the future fall victim to a master manipulator like Bella terrifies me to the core. In the space of just a few months Bella ensures that she has Ben all to herself, since she systematically alienates all of his friends and family and subjects him to both emotional and physical abuse. Though Ben's story is at the very extreme end of the scale, the scenario is a horrifyingly believable one, and one which succeeded in really getting under my skin.


The narrative is split into 3 parts, the first 2 of which are the same story but told from the opposing perspectives of Ben and Bella respectively while the third part brings us to the fast-paced and nail-biting conclusion. Though I was hooked on the parts of the story told from Ben's point of view, I found part 2 a little too repetitive and, for me, the pace stalled a little here. I also found Bella's voice pretty annoying, with several words and phrases being overused, which just jarred with me slightly. Having said this, I'm sure this was entirely the author's intention - I mean, we're definitely not supposed to like her!


Some of the scenes where Ben is made to suffer at the hands of his wife make for very uncomfortable reading. However, I felt that the topic was handled sensitively.
A decent psychological thriller for fans of a slightly psychotic female lead.

A brilliant book, Keeps you guessing right up until the end and grips you from the beginning. The characters are well developed and the plot is executed perfectly

Well, what a story that was!! I certainly wasn't expecting the ending! I enjoyed my first Ms Warner book and will be watching for more!

Wow - what a great storyline. It starts with Ben, just getting over the break up of his relationship with Charlie, meeting the mysterious Bella. Very shortly afterwards, she becomes pregnant and the pair get married. But is Bella the lovely young lady she appears, or is there a darker side hidden away?

The book is cleverly written. I was a third of the way through, worrying that it would be slow going, when the focus shifted and the whole story was told again, but from Bella’s perspective. A master stroke, as it brought the tale to life again and things became clearer. I couldn’t wait to read on, and see how it would end, If I had to make a criticism, it would be that the ending felt a little contrived after the excellent intricacies of the plot. However, I enjoyed reading the book so much that it really didn’t matter in the slightest!

I loved the changes in Ben and Bella as the book progressed, even though there were times when I could have happily clobbered him for the way he behaved. The underlying story of spousal abuse was sympathetically dealt with and was very believable.

One of the best stories I’ve read.

4.5 stars

Ben is recovering from the break up with his girlfriend, Charlotte when he goes to a bar with his best friend, Matt and meets Bella, the most beautiful girl he's ever seen and, much to his surprise, Bella is interested in him. Their relationship quickly escalates, but Bella is not the perfect girl she makes herself out to be and is hiding a very dark secret, she alienates herself and Ben from everyone close to them in order to keep whatever she is hiding under wraps, then a sudden death changes everything and events go from bad to worse.

SHE is told mainly from Ben & Bella's perspectives and, although the dialogue is repeated in part one and two by each of them, it works because it's as it would be in real life when two people are both describing the same scenario and that makes the book more realistic. The author makes her characters believeable, I instantly hated Bella but really felt for Ben, although, at times, I wanted him to stand up for himself more, but, not having witnessed behaviour like this myself, I can't say if I would react any differently should it happen to me.

This is the first I've read by this author and I believe her normal genre is romance, I have to say she's cracked it in the thriller genre because this got me hooked from the start and I couldn't put it down, finishing it in less than 24 hours. It's a story of secrets and lies, but most of all revenge and Bella exacted her revenge perfectly, did she get the required outcome though? You will just have read it yourself to find out. I highly recommend this one.

I'd like to thank HQ and Netgalley for the approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

I saw it coming - but the twist still shocked me to the core! This was such a brilliant book - so well-written and what surprised me the most is that the author has deviated away from her usual style. Helen Warner usually writes romances (I've never read them and only discovered Helen through being given this book to review) and her style and covers are completely different to this. But I like it. I love it in fact! When an author can deviate from their comfortable genre and trip head-first into writing psychological thrillers like this - well, it's amazing. If you're a fan of Helen Warner... say goodbye to her now and welcome HC Warner to the table. She'll have you hooked.

This book intrigued me.

Beginning... that had me hooked.

Reaching the middle... well it became a bit repetitive in places

But the ending, well that surprised me.

I thought I had it all worked out but there were enough twists to keep me guessing.

SHE was not all that I thought it would be, by the end it somehow became more.

Very cleverly written, I just felt there were a few chapters told from alternate points of view that weren't really necessary as they didn't add any detail that was of value to the story.

Overall, a book to watch out for.

Have just finished She by HC Warner and am so glad I had the opportunity to read this. When Charlotte breaks off her long relationship with Ben just as he’s about to propose, it turns his world upside down. Enter beautiful Bella - confident, impulsive, deceitful, calculating and out for revenge. She doesn’t care who gets hurt in her quest to get even and sets her sights firmly on Ben. Engineering a meeting, Bella turns on the charm so Ben takes her back to the flat he shared with Charlotte and she doesn’t leave. Bella has a plan, but first she must exclude Ben’s family and friends so that he is really alone. Bella thinks that they only need each other, and makes it really hard for their friends to stay in touch. A sudden tragedy throws her into a panic - this was not meant to happen, and triggers a series of events which is only the beginning of the nightmare. Keeping secrets, the desire for revenge and control over another are at the heart of this story. Is beauty only skin deep? This story will have you reaching for it whenever you have a spare moment, the pace of the book holds your interest and makes you want to know more. I did particularly enjoy where the book flipped to give the viewpoint from Bella, and at times did find myself softening towards her, but fortunately not for long! Her treatment of Ben made uncomfortable reading at times and it did feel as though he was a bit of a wimp not standing up to her. You wouldn’t really want Bella to become a member of your family. Thank you to NetGalley for a complementary copy for my kindle. I will be sure to look for more from Helen Warner!

Ben can’t believe his luck when Bella walks into his life. Sexy, impulsive and intelligent SHE is everything he ever wanted – isn’t SHE? This is the story of Ben and Bella’s relationship and the secrets, lies, vengeance and betrayal that lie at the heart of it.

The book was written in four parts; the build-up written from Ben’s (and his family and friends) point of view, then the build-up again but from Bella’s perspective, and finally the climax and aftermath which were both written from multiple view points. There’s been some criticism of this format, with some feeling that parts one and two are very repetitive, but personally I couldn’t disagree more. Yes the events and dialogue were duplication but with such a different perspective on the same thing it felt completely new and totally fascinating how (as in real life) two people can interpret the same thing in such different ways.

Bella is a dark, manipulative and evil character but seeing events through her (albeit twisted) view I could totally understand the reasoning behind some of her hurtful actions. She really is one of those characters that you love to hate. But, then again, I loved all the characters. They are all totally relatable, likeable and described so well that they are easy to picture. And, the dynamics and relations between them all cleverly constructed from childhood friends Matt and Ben, to Ben’s idolism of his father and the tense mother/daughter-in-law relationship.

In fact, this was brilliantly written throughout. The writing is really emotive, particularly the funeral scenes which really resonated with me, generating strong emotions thinking about my own loved ones and the impact of each of them in my life. The slow spiral of abuse was also carefully crafted, with the author describing everyday mundane activities such as dinner with friends or plans for Christmas over the course of a year to highlight the gradual submission and dominance of the main characters in a non-sensationalist way. That said, and without sensationalism, the author still manages to keep the pace fast and the story moving on towards its explosive ending.

Tension is built right from the start with a letter from an unidentified man to his child and we are left guessing right until the very end as to whether this was written by Ben, his dad or Bella’s dad. However, whilst it’s clear that events and family relations between Bella and her father have had a very big and disturbing impact on her character and actions, disappointingly her back story is something that was only ever mentioned in passing and never really explored. What did Bella’s dad actually do – we’ll never know....

All the way through I was convinced that I’d be giving this 5 stars but unfortunately this was like many of the thrillers I’ve read recently whereby I am completely captivated throughout, enjoying every page but upon conclusion and reflection the expectation was better than the actuality. What let this down for me was the clichéd and predictable motive behind it all – the big mystery of who SHE is was unfortunately all too obvious and slightly unrealistic. I also disliked the fact that by the end everyone knew who SHE was yet they all continued to pretend otherwise to spare each other’s feelings, so in a sense it was a bit anti-climatic as whilst there was an explosive ending there was no big reveal as such. All-in-all though I really enjoyed this and would totally recommend it.

This book wasn’t for me. I didn’t manage to finish the book as I just couldn’t motivate myself to keep reading....this rarely happens to me. I don’t think it’s the storyline or the author’s fault, it’s just a different type of book to those I usually read. I’m rating an average 3stars as I never completed the book and don’t feel a negative review is deserved for that reason. Thank you NetGalley for my advanced copy.

I honestly thought this novel was going to be a love story.
It was but WOW with a stupendous twist that I am not sure anyone could have thought of
Bella is the main person in this book it starts where she is in a pub and randomly meets a quiet,gentle guy called Ben
She is a very clever manipulator she tells Ben she is pregnant very quickly into their relationship even he knows she must have got caught on their first night together but he will do anything for this stunning dark haired dark eyed goddess who he knows could be with any man
Time progresses and Bella has had the baby but refuses to let anyone visit including his parents and his best friends, he is upset by this but Bella always wheedles an excuse out
She has Ben with no family and no friends whilst she goes to work and Ben stays home with their baby, the down trodden husband until whilst on a rare occasion whilst bathing their daughter the baby pours a bucket of water over the side of the bath and onto Bella s phone and she asks Ben to fix it
What he discovers will change him forever

I raced through this and thought it was refreshing to see domestic suspense explored in this way - where the gender dynamics are bit different to the norm for the genre. This a very fast, commercial and thrilling book. I flagged a little when the same events were repeated from a different POV and thought more could have been done with that, but otherwise I did enjoy the switches in character. For fans of quick, gripping and escapist reads.

I enjoyed this at first, but the middle section was a bit boring. The story was repeated exactly (but from another character’s point of view). Almost as if the author had assumed I didn’t read the first part. Loved the twists, but the repetition annoyed me.

#She #NetGalley
Deceptive and Riveting.
Ben who was dumped by his previous girlfriend, Charlotte meets a beautiful girl named Bella in a restaurant when he was sitting with his friend,Matt. Bella is a beautiful, violent and manipulative girl who comes in his life when he needed someone like her the most. Immediately they fall in love with each other and one day she told him that she's pregnant and asked him to marry her and start a family with her. They got marriage and then her behaviour changed towards him and his family. She wanted him to cut off from his family. They became parents of a beautiful daughter named Elodie. And then a tragedy happened which changed everyone's life. The story is told in four parts with different POV's of Charlotte, Ben and Bella. The story seems simple but its not. As the book moves forward, twists unfold one after the other. Who Bella really is? Why she wanted Ben to cut off from his family? Read this amazing psychological thriller to know more.
All characters were awesome. Ben, Charlotte, Peter and Bella are my favorite characters which keep you engaged till you turn the last page. Although other characters like Jo, Leo, Matt and Freya are also interestingly built.
Narration of the story is awesome. All POV's are interesting.
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for providing me an advance copy of this awesome psychological thriller.
Highly recommended.

I’d like to thank HQ and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘She’ by HC Warner in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Ben can’t believe how lucky he is when the glamorous Bella takes an interest in him and within weeks she’s telling him she’s pregnant and persuading him to marry her. But Bella hates Ben’s family and friends and makes things so unpleasant that he finds it easier to lose contact with them. Then the unspeakable happens and Ben’s father Peter has a heart attack which unleashes the dark side of Bella’s personality.

The ‘She’ in the title is Bella, vindictive, cruel, manipulative yet beautiful whose mood swings cause untold damage to Ben who’s scared of Bella when she attacks him but too embarrassed to tell anyone. Parts 1 and 2 are the same story but written from the viewpoints of Ben and Bella, the details of the domestic abuse Ben suffers handled with sensitivity and compassion. The story has a strong plot and is extremely well-written, it’s disturbing with breath-taking suspense, twists and turns, and an unbelievably shocking ending that mirrored what I hoped would happen. I’ve not had the pleasure of coming across anything by HC Warner but after reading ‘She’ I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more from this particular author who definitely deserves 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy of She by H C Warner, coming January 2020.

This was a really intriguing read, following the story of Ben and his girlfriend Bella, who is not all she seems.

I love books with chapters following the perspectives of different characters, although this was slightly different because a large chunk of the story is told twice from two perspectives.

I enjoyed the plot twist, and overall it was a good read.

Very enjoyable and well written a nice twist with the way it is written I enjoyed that look forward to more from this author !!

A very interesting book that presents a predictable plot that is thoroughly enjoyable. I kind of knew what was going to happen but it still was a book that I enjoyed reading. There were things that I found a bit unbelievable but then again, this book did for me what it was supposed to: it was a straightforward story with a really manipulative and wicked female protagonist.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the way it was written in parts although I was puzzled at first when I started to read Part 2 and found it was the same story but from the point of view of Bella! It made perfect sense! Good characters, a bit of intrigue, secrets and drama, well done.

Absolutely loved this book! So much you question and as it all starts to come out, there is shock and disbelief in there surrounded by a keep it coming feeling!