A fabulous read! There's everything here - secrets, danger, deceit. The Parker family is mega rich and run by matriarch May alongside eldest son Justin. The family live in Chicago, apart from daughter Christine who lives in New York. As 'accidents' begin to occur to each female member of the family it's clear someone wants to do them harm. But who? And why?

Skilfully written from all the main female characters' viewpoints it's an excellent story which keeps you hooked right until the last page. May is all about appearances. Keeping the family's personal business out of public view. But it's clear when you get to know this family they all have big problems within each of their relationships.. A great weaving of characters through a central plot containing mystery and danger.

Not giving anything away, simply to say, this is definitely a must read.

The Last Wife is a good thriller set in Chicago with the main character Rea trying to fit into her husband Grayson' s high society family with her other caustic sister's in law particularly Ashlyn who is married to Justin in a marriage which is falling apart.But when Grayson disappears Rea is forced to try and stay friendly with the powerful Parker family for daughter's sake who her grandmother and head of the family May adores,but then accidents start to happen to all the sister's in law and Rea realizes that someone is out to destroy the Parker family but why ? The story is told from the all the women in the family points of view and is a decent enough thriller but not the best I have read this year by a long way,I would recommend this book however to anyone who enjoys this genre of book.A decent 3 star read for me.

This was SOME read. Now I know what it means when people say ambook was un-putdownable. I just had to finish this in one sitting. It was just too good to wait until the next day. Ten stars to this author fir her enticing writing style, riveting plot and terrific characters. You will NOT want to miss this suspense/mystery. Ten stars definitely!.

This was a great read for me , even better than The Scandal . It's a fast paced page turner and I was hooked instantly . Ria is part of a dysfunctional wealthy family even though her husband had left 5 years previously she is still included with his family . She is a journalist who one day is sent some emails detailing some family members hidden secrets , instead of going to May the matriarch she starts investigating herself . After several accidents seem to befall different members of the family she reaches out to her ex husband for help .
A good twist , even though I saw it coming did not spoil my enjoyment . This would be a great holiday read .

Growing in the foster care system , Rita vowed to someday have a real family of her own. She succeeds beyond her wildest dreams when she meets and marries wealthy and attentive Grayson. Life is complete when she has a little girl. Of course, her husband’s family has never made a secret of the fact that they think Rita is beneath them. but as long as she has Grayson and her daughter, Rita doesn’t care. Then Grayson disappears and Rita has to turn to the very people she dislikes and doesn’t trust for financial and emotional support. Ah, the in-laws from hell, we all think we have them, but this story takes it to the next level. You might even appreciate your own in-laws after reading this…..maybe

This is a family drama with secrets and lies everywhere.
The story is told mainly from the point of view of Ria who married into a wealthy family "the Parkers."
She had a daughter but suddenly her husband disappears.

Shocked and confused Ria went back to work as a journalist to support her daughter without the help of her in-laws who never really warmed up to her.

Later she started receiving disturbing emails with compromising info about both her sister and mother in-law. Now she has to dig deep to know the truth and who is behind all of this.

The plot is interesting with some nice twists. However, I did struggle a bit with the style of writing.
As there was too much emphasis on thoughts rather than actual dialogue or action. This also made the narrative slow as some information became repetitive. The female characters also lacked distinctive voices, so sometimes I wasn't sure whose point of view is being told.

However, the mystery intrigued me enough to carry on until the final reveal which I really liked.
3.5*** rounded to 4.

Thanks Netgalley, Bookouture, and author Nicola Marsh for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I really loved this book. I found it a quick read because it was easy to get into, the plot and characters were so interesting I found myself engrossed. There a couple of plot twists that threw me, especially near the end. I highly recommend!!

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

This is the second book by Nicola Marsh and I loved it just as much as the first one. The crazy family drama had me hooked from page one! I could not put this down. I figured out a few things as I read but the ending was a real twist! Highly recommend this book and I will; be anxiously awaiting her next novel! Thank you for the advanced copy.

Had there not been so many grammatical errors and several spelling as well, this may have been an enjoyable book. The VERY FIRST word of the first chapter is spelled wrong! To someone who pays attention to things like that, it is a turnoff however Nicole seemingly tries to compensate for those errors by using multiple words throughout the book that I honestly had to look up for the meaning. It did not make for an enjoyable or smooth read but I was intrigued by the description so I tried to power through it.
Ria is May's favorite daughter in law, even though she is since divorced from her son Grayson. May's other DIL's are not at all like Ria. Ashlin (married to Justin) is a stuck up snobby b**** who sleeps around with the family rival. She will stop at nothing to maintain the family name even if it means threatening May or anyone else who gets in her way, Her relationship with Justin is strained and their two children often take the brunt of their mother's foul moods. Justin on the other hand wants Ria, and will stop at nothing to get her, even though Ria does not share the same feelings. Shamira appears like the model DIL on the surface, but we soon learn she too has her secrets and a past she very much wants to run from, but cannot. Christine is May's only daughter, and is an alcoholic, which May is certainly not proud of. The Parkers are wealthy and prestigious, no room for the drama which the children have unfurled. May decides she has had enough. She cuts off the family account which the children have been mooching from for years, leaving them mere stipends each month to spend. This does not sit well with the children, especially pretentious Ashlin.
Meanwhile, favored DIL Ria starts receiving mysterious emails detailing the shortcomings of the other DIL's. She tries to trace the sender but keeps coming up empty. Soon other odd things start happening, Ashlin is run off the road by a mysterious vehicle and ends up in an accident. Someone attempts to poison Shamira by placing a high level of acetaminophen in one of her oil concoctions and a bide rider pushed May over causing her minor injury also. Then Grayson magically shows up at Ria's door after having disappeared 5 years ago. Confused and scared, Ria isn't sure what to make of his return. He tells her he left to protect her and their daughter Shelley after having received the same type of threats and emails she had.
May decides ultimately to sell their family company and calls a meeting of the Parker's at her 20 million dollar home. In that meeting all comes unraveled and we find out ultimately who is behind all of the "accidents' but the story doesn't end there. Was the same person responsible for the emails also? You have to read to the end to find out

This book has family drama, infidelity, jealousy, and secrets to be revealed. It is told from the main character Ria’s perspective as well as her ex sisters in law and ex mother in law.
The book never really gripped me into the story. It was irritating to read repeated thoughts amongst the various chapters. I couldn’t really relate to the women bc their voices were too similar and they weren’t strong, distinct characters. I think the plot has potential, but it just didn’t work for me. Thanks for the ARC Netgalley and Bookouture.

If happy hour—in literary terms—resides with consuming a potent elixir of familial drama topped off with a splash of crazy, then make ready for the Molotov cocktail of dysfunctional relations!

Told through multiple POVs, each player performs admirably in this twisted tale of a house of cards built upon secrets and greed, teetering on the brink of collapse. The Parker dynasty is on the precipice of ruin, and family members Justin, Grayson, Ashlin, Shamira, Ria, Christine, May find themselves to be either one or the other: a potential liability or circumstantial casualty—so many in-laws, so few knives.

'The Last Wife' is corrupt and sinister... but oh so DAMN DELICIOUS!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Nicola Marsh for an ARC of 'The Last Wife' in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

I just loved this book! My second of Nicola Marsh’s books and it did not disappoint. A domestic thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. A cast of very well developed characters that were intriguing and believable. Great display of family dynamics, power struggles and of course those dark creepy secrets. Highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a pretty good plot line, centered around Ria, who married into the prestigious Parker family and never really felt like she fit in. She receives emails with compromising information on her sisters-in-law and wants to investigate both the source of the information and the reasons behind it.

The story itself had some good twists and turns, and the last 2/3 of the book moved at a pretty fast pace. I thought I had figured out who the "bad guy" was a couple times, and then had to re-evaluate when faced with new information. My issue with the book was around the writing style, which is what knocked it from 4 stars to 3 for me. A lot of the book, particularly in the first 3rd, was focused on what people were thinking rather than any dialogue or action- I assume the author did this to set the background but it felt awkward to me. Also, during a lot of these passages where you learned what the characters were thinking, they repeated sentiments multiple times- for example, someone would say "I worry this news will make him despise me" and then say pretty much the exact same thing a couple paragraphs later. If this was crisped up, there would be less of the "thought" narrative and more of dialogue/actions. The last thing with the writing style isn't that big of a deal, but I found somewhat distracting, is that the family was in Chicago and was clearly an American family, but there were many British words and phrases peppered throughout the book- the most memorable was the use of the word "pram" but there were more than a handful of times where a word/phrase was clearly British and I had a hard time picturing an American character believably saying it.

All in all, the story is worth the read if you can get beyond the repetitive and somewhat tedious bits around what the characters are thinking- I did enjoy it overall.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I’ve read by Nicola Marsh and it wont be my last. I had no expectations before starting it but was drawn in immediately. There was a time not that long ago where the premise of hurting people close to you for personal gain ( money, power, greed) would have been somewhat unbelievable but sadly now seems to be realistic and normalized. I found myself stopping other projects ....work.. to pick up this book and read just a few more chapters. It is definitely a mystery but I never felt the need to stay peeled for clues. I could enjoy the story without the added stress of having to pay close attention to fully enjoy the end of the story. The characters were all well developed and each had specific personalities even being from the same family. Each had prior life stories, as we all do, and handled them with their individual character traits in tack. So often an author takes the time to create the characters but isn’t able to follow thru with believable resolution. Everyone resolved issues with one point of view but this author was able to stay true to the individual. The story centered around one expanded family without introducing outside characters so if you really wanted to predict an ending, you knew to focus on family relationships. That would be my only critique and would have liked to have meet colleagues, personal friends or neighbors or others with an agenda. #netgalley

my 1st read buy this author so enjoyed twisty addictive . the storys of the women characters in book .greedy vindictive controlling lonely and pasts don't want to spoil it for readers buy giving story away but so good so recommend a must read.

Ria has been a single mum for five years after her husband disappeared five years ago. She’s a hard working Mother who has to look out for her daughter and although she could be financially secure taking financial support from her missing husbands family she decides to be independent and is a reporter for a magazine.
One day she receives emails showing compromising photos of her sister in law and decides she needs to get to the bottom of who’s sending these emails. Using her reporting skills she doesn’t make much headway. Without giving away spoilers things begin to become clear to Ria but who should she trust? Unfortunately at the same time accidents seem to be happening in the family - or are they accidents ?
Unfortunately not my type of book, the characters don’t seem to develop fully enough for me.

Thank you Net galley for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Fantastic this book kept me questing from start to finish each time I thought u had worked out who was behind the emails anouther twist would emerge and keep me questing again loved the family dynamics and all the diffrent personalities

When Ria's husband walks out on her she is left to look after her five year old daughter. She is now working as a reporter in a magazine
She still visits her husbands family regularly and her wealthy mother and law contributes financial. This is a situation that not all the family approve of.
Unfortunately I did not connect with the characters in this story and I found it hard to keep interested in the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book very hard to get into and got a bit bored with the characters, somehow the story line just didn't seem to flow for me. I must admit I did a bit of skim reading just to get to the end and it wasn't the best book I have read and enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I liked the start of this story but in the middle I became distracted - a bit of repeating and too much redevelopment of characters.

The plot was good and I did enjoy most of the book.

Many Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for an OK read!