I loved the setting of Big Sur and the town of Carmel. The descriptions of the house and the views transported me there and were enjoyable to read. However, the main character, supposed to be well educated but just seems too trustworthy and naive. I personally didn't like this book and it seemed to be too predictable.

Shades of Hitchcock. Or more Du Maurier. It is taut and unbending in its spiral of emotion and intrigue. A widow coming to grips with lost is given a new twist through characters of shady background, with agendas of their own. It is gripping and holds you captive till the end. I love it ,every word.

A lonely widow, struggling with her grief, receives odd messages and gifts plus she worries that someone is using a drone to spy on her. Vulnerable, she seizes on a friendship with triplets in their late teens as surrogate children but soon suspects they have an ulterior motive for their kindness...
The Wife's House begins as a psychological thriller. The mysterious messages, gifts and the drone spying on her begins to develop the tension and raise questions about what the widow is hiding and who would want to harm her.
She has intense vulnerability. Never given a name, which is very peculiar, the widow has been bullied and has low self esteem so she earns our sympathy. Childless and lonely, her motivations are easy to understand but her actions stretched credibility in my opinion.
I seriously had to suspend my disbelief at reading this book. The plot developments were so extreme and unlikely that it frustrated me at first but then I focussed on the positives. The writing is very good and the descriptions of the widow's experience over the course of the book were vivid and easy to imagine.
The suspense and tension builds up well and there are plenty of hints about the various mysteries in the plot. Juan's death becomes suspicious and we wonder what has been buried behind the house. Perhaps the widow is not quite what she appears...
Plus the full truth of the triplets motives needs to be explored and revealed. The triplets are almost like the baddies from melodrama once they show that they are too good to be true, but they are not quite as united as they seem which gave them a humanity and potential for redemption.
Overall,The Wife's House was an entertaining read. The ending was brilliant as the strands finally come together. It transformed into more of an action thriller as the widow fights to save herself from people, nature and unknown enemies.

This is a tricky one to review....it had all the elements to make it a great book but for me it just didn't hit the mark. I found it a little irritating that the main character is never named, but that is a rather small niggle. My main issue is that it is very unbelievable. This is probably more about me than anything else - I am aware that it is a fiction but for me I like to be able to relate to a thriller and be able to picture myself there, for me this was just too out there. I would say as thrillers go it was good, just not for me.

I love the concept of this book: a widow with a secret who remains in the cliffside dream-house she lived in with her husband. The book itself was well-written, and the author did a good job of crafting unlikable characters. But the believability of this novel drove me nuts. I can appreciate an unlikable or unreliable narrator, but I had to suspend a lot of belief to imagine anyone being as gullible as the main character in this novel. But if you are a lover of action-packed plotlines with lots of twists - this will be a really fun read for you!

The Wife's House by Arianne Richmonde is a pyschological thriller that you will not forget easily once finished. A story that has you glued to the pages from the off. Straight away I loved the house on the cover of this book and the author certainly carried this feeling on throughout the book. Her descriptions created more of a feeling of being there. It seemed like a paradise in my imagination.
This house is occupied by a widow. Her husband purchased it for them both, their dream home. Her husband,Juan, died in a traffic accident and she is left to mourn and live in this fabulous sleek house on a clifftop alone, and she vows never to leave their house. Mrs Trujillo (we are never told her first name) goes for a walk and she meets a set of triplets Jen, Dan and Kate and she finds herself relying on them more frequently. The story then slips into her past and we discover all about the widow.
This is a story that deals with grief, manipulation, lonliness among others.We see how lonliness attributes to manipulation and boy, does the author do it well! There were characters in this book I didn't trust from the beginning and I though the widow was so naive at times, I wanted to shake her. This story was atmosheric from the start and then started ramping it up to creepy levels.The twists and turns added to the tension and I was unable to put the book down at one point, food was rather late that day. A thrilling and creepy read for me anyway, another new author discovered!
Thank you to Bookouture Books-On-Tour and Netgalley for the book so I could enjoy getting creeped out for my review today!

Our main character (who is incidentally, never named) is left living alone in her magnificent clifftop home (aptly named Cliffside), when her husband Juan is killed in a tragic accident not long after they’d moved in. The house is a stunning glass structure, built far away from its closest neighbours and the nearest stores. Anyone else would probably feel quite vulnerable living out there by themselves … so isolated. But not our protagonist. She adores this house, and having no close friends to speak of and a chilly relationship with her family in England, she has sworn that she is never leaving this house that her husband bought for her, even if he’s no longer there to share it.

But then a number of events occur that make her feel less secure than she previously did. She feels like someone is watching her; someone who might mean to do her harm. Mysteriously at around the same time, she meets a set of triplets walking in the woods near the house. They’re in their late teens and they tell her that they were the previous owners of the house she now lives in (well, their mother owned it, and they lived there). They ask if they can come and re-visit their old home and she willingly agrees, glad of the company. And from here on out, things start to go a bit pear-shaped!

It’s obvious to the reader that all is not what it appears to be. The triplets who at first seem innocent and guileless, are very clearly not! The current owner of Cliffside finds herself becoming more and more reliant on her new-found friends and as the lies and the twists become more and more absurd, it becomes a breathless race to the finish to discover (or maybe uncover?) what exactly is going on here.

Ok, I’m going to be very honest … this is a really far-fetched story! But you know what … it’s FICTION!! And sometimes in order to enjoy a really great piece of fiction, one needs to suspend belief and just ‘go with it’. From the very first page, this is full of suspense and drama, with that ominous undercurrent that keeps you reading late into the night because you just cannot put it down, and you want to know what’s next! With unlikable characters, and a wholly unreliable narrator thrown into the mix, the entire story becomes even more intriguing. For me one of the most interesting things about this book was that the main character remains anonymous throughout – you never learn her name. I found that incredibly unique, and it added to the overall chilling tone.

This is a 4-star read that will have you on the edge of your seat … just remember to breathe!

Favorite Quotes:

Since my husband’s death, I’d been making foolish decisions. Buying stuff I didn’t need, not being able to follow my instincts, losing and misplacing things, my brain scatty and unfocused. I couldn’t rely on myself to do the right thing. It’s a strange feeling when you can’t trust your intuition anymore. I was a cat without whiskers, a black sky without stars.

There were several “Klinics,” though, in and around Zurich. One was a sort of “quack” place— not that I’m against alternative medicine— but when someone has stage four cancer, a colonic irrigation, suction massages, and injections of mistletoe (really?) are unlikely to do the trick.


My Review:

I struggled with this book, valiantly I might add, as I despised ALL the characters, and I do mean ALL of them. I only had positive feelings for the dog. The human characters were either manipulative or vile beings, stone-cold sociopaths, selfishly annoying, or in the case of the main character - incredibly limited in functioning brain cells. One character had snarkily noted, “How you ever got to be an attorney, I’ll never know” I had the same thought - all the way through - how could she have been so gullible?

But then again, I couldn’t seem to help myself either. I wanted to unravel this tangled mess as I was curious to know the real secrets buried beneath all the sinister maneuvering and deceit, and I had a feeling those secrets would be huge. While the pacing of the vast majority of this tense tale was agonizingly slow, the last few chapters zipped and pinged with action-packed and clever twists and reveals that almost made up for the disappointing lead-up, almost. The wily author did keep me reading with cunning elements and an intriguing premise, but the framing and tedious execution were a disappointment and could have been so much better.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend! This book was fast paced, I couldn't put it down as I was so eager to find out the truth! The characters are highly unlikeable but this just adds the tension, along with the brilliant weather descriptions in the final chapters. This story wrapped up nicely and I feel all loose ends were tied. The only thing for me that stops this being five stars is some of the slightly unbelievable events throughout the book!
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Thank you to netgalley, bookouture and Adrianne Richmonde for this advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Arianne Richmonde’s book THE WIFE’S HOUSE has a little bit of everything: fabulous glass house set on the Big Sur coastline, lots of suspense, a husband’s tragic accident, something that’s mysteriously hidden, and a widow living alone until someone comes knocking... make that someone more like triplets. A triple threat —or are they there to be her friend? As the story unfolds, who can the woman really trust? And what really happened to her husband on that dark & stormy night? Find out by picking up THE WIFE’S HOUSE today.

The main character of this story (who was never named) was a complex, flawed character who I honestly can't say I found very likeable and therefore I struggled to feel any sympathy for as the story unfolded and her perfect life started to crumble faster than the cliffs that her stunning house was built on. She came across as someone who preferred people to do things for her rather than doing things herself. But how much of her behaviour could be traced back to her upbringing? And for someone who used to be a solicitor, she made some really stupid decisions. I mean who in their right mind allows not just one but three virtual strangers to move into their home especially considering you are harbouring a secret that you don't want anyone to uncover. The reader quickly suspected that Dan, Kate and Jen were not the charming kids that they were pretending to be and that eventually their true colours would be revealed. But why were they targeting our main character? Were they behind the droids and other mysterious incidents that the main character had expierienced? Or were they being manipulated by a unknown puppet master who had their own personal reasons and motives? I loved the descriptions of the stunning house on the cliff top with its stunning views,it had its own unique personality and was a individual in its own right.

This is a well written, slow burner that builds in intensity,a sense of foreboding permeates the pages as the story unfolds. There was some unexpected twists and turns in the last thrilling chapters of the story. I think you can figure out my opinion of the characters when I say that my favourite character was Beanie the dog. Although I did find myself surprisingly experiencing some sympathy for one of the triplets. I thought this was a very enjoyable, gripping thriller and would happily read more of this author's books in the future

This book kept me on the edge the entire time I was reading it. The author does a great job of describing the characters, along with their demented minds. My thought as I was reading it was no one in their right mind would invite three young adult strangers into her home, even asking them to move in, no matter how lonely. The ending of the book was a shock, and also far-fetched, although in this day and age anything is possible. If you’re looking for a psychological thriller that’s nearly impossible to put down, this book is for you. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Bookouture. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is how psychological thrillers are done! “The Wife’s House” is a masterpiece of slow-burning tension that builds into heart-racing action and relentless shock twists. It truly is edge of your seat reading.

After the death of her husband, a lonely widow grieves in their beautiful, modern cliff top mansion. Alone and struggling to cope with the loss of her husband, she spends her time drinking champagne and wandering around her estate. She is put on edge when she receives a threatening message, telling her she is being watched. When she spots three young adults strolling through the woods on her estate, she is immediately suspicious. However, they strike up a conversation and it transpires that they used to live in the widow’s beautiful glass house. Forging a friendship with the threesome, she invites them into her home...but are they really who they say they are and what exactly do they want? And what’s buried in the woods?

The suspense rolls in and takes hold, like the cloud and mist blows in to engulf the beautiful glass home, Cliffside, in “The Wife’s House”. Richmonde has created an exceptionally well paced psychological thriller that builds a multitude of layers, creating tension, action, emotion and excitement that culminates in an exhilarating conclusion. This novel is completely worthy of a blockbuster movie adaptation and the twists and turns would lend themselves well to a big budget production. After slowly reeling me into the life of the widow (who’s first name is never revealed), events took a sharp turn from establishing a great sense of claustrophobia (especially effective in a setting that is the essence of vast open space and freedom) and paranoia, to 6th gear action and suspense. I was literally glued to my Kindle for the last half of the novel and couldn’t get through it quickly enough. Plus - oh wow - the shock twists!! I had some suspicions of one of the reveals, but there are SO many - I hadn’t guessed 99.9% of them. This made “The Wife’s House” a breathtaking, gasp out loud read that, for me, is exactly how a thriller should be. Richmonde has created a story that speaks to our most guttural fears that our sanctuary, our home, is no longer our safe space. This made the narrative equally as affecting as it was exciting - another mark of a great thriller.

I found the cast of characters really engaging too. To begin with I was worried that the widow was going to be too weak a heroine, that I ultimately felt little sympathy for or connection too. However, Richmonde has very cleverly created a character that the reader goes on a rollercoaster of a journey with, growing with the character and ultimately becoming fully invested in her plight and efforts for survival. I also enjoyed not knowing exactly what she had buried in the woods for the majority of the narrative, which kept me pondering on whether she was as plain and innocent a character as she initially seemed. The widow’s husband, Juan, is a well crafted enigma and I found myself hypothesising over his demise and his actions whilst alive. Juan is ultimately at the heart of this mystery and I enjoyed the flashback memories of him and his relationship with his wife, which helped develop the plot and keep the suspense hanging thick in the air. The triplets - Dan, Kate and Jen - are also really interesting characters and I enjoyed the sadistic, macabre and at times, plain psychotic, personalities. What I found most intriguing was not knowing what their intentions were, how much of their story was true and as events developed, how their plan for the widow was going to play out. They are fantastic villains, but extremely plausible and realistic, making them all the more sinister. Pippa - Juan’s longterm friend - is a memorable character too. Not knowing whether she is trustworthy or not heightens the tension and I found myself questioning her motives at many different points. Richmonde has created a rich tapestry of characters who perfectly complement the most vivid one of all, Cliffside - the modern masterpiece mansion on the rugged Big Sur coastline. This isn’t the first novel where a house is as much a character as the people within the narrative, but Richmond does it extremely well. There are notes of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca”, with Cliffside being as large and forbidding a place as Manderley. Cliffside (and it’s location) is both a marvel and a horror - a glass cage one can chose to hide in, or could equally find themselves trapped in. Richmonde creates such rich descriptions of the house and the surrounding landscape that I could really picture it - a place of outstanding beauty and gut-wrenching despair.

This is a really powerful psychological thriller that hooked me in and didn’t let me go until turning the final page, when I finally got to breathe again! I highly recommend “The Wife’s House”.

A gorgeous house in stunning surroundings but deep dark secrets are lurking within the walls.

The wife, is struggling to live her life despite living in the stunning Cliffside house. Her husband, Juan, was killed in a car accident 7 months ago and she is now battling depression and loneliness. But she has made a promise to herself, she will never leave the Cliffside.

One day whilst out in her grounds she comes across three young adults, Dan, Kate and Jen. It turns out these three are triplets and they used to live in the Cliffside. Soon an unlikely friendship strikes up between the four of them but all of them are keeping secrets !!

This is a great psychological thriller with plenty of lies and secrets to keep you entertained throughout. I wouldn’t say I warmed to any of the characters and you definitely have to ignore how gullible the wife is but all in all it’s a very entertaining read.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

I was a bit wary in the beginning because the familiar female character who drinks was how it started. However, once it got about halfway through the pace picked up and what a ride it was!

A widow still grieving and drinking her way through her loss and isolation in a big house on a cliff when she met triplets. She has a secret and so do they. Who can be trusted? Which ones are the villains?

As the story unfolds, more info is provided in flashback about her husband and how he obtained the house. More confusion as to whether the husband was a bad guy. Then there is Pippa. Friend or foe? Then came the part that almost felt claustrophobic for me, much as the character was feeling.

Though her gullibility and triplets' lies were a bit much, I took as possible since she was still grieving the loss of her husband.

As the suspense moved to action, then the pace picked up and I was fully hooked. Lots of truths are discovered and things start to make sense. The weather adds to the drama and makes it more believable.

When the climax occurs, it is fast-paced and action-packed. Then there are a few loose ends that are all tied up to my satisfaction.

I do not often read thrillers, but I have read and enjoyed books by this author. She has proven to deliver once again. Her other suspense book, Stolen Grace, was good as well.

Note: I received an advance reading copy from NetGalley. This is my honest review. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy, too.

The Wife’s House by Arianne Richmonde was a thriller that will leave you at the edge of your seat. When her husband shows her the house on the cliff, she falls in love and decides to live there forever. Then her husband dies in an accident on the roads to the house. She is now lonely and a bit lost. We never really get to connect with her on a personal level, but I think that was the author’s intention. While trying to decide what to do, she meets triplets who change everything. But are they who they say? With secrets and lies all around, how will all end? A gripping and thrilling read!

Mesmerizing!
This new to me author just swept me up, captivated my senses and took me on this twisted, fast paced thrilling ride. I’m certainly a fan and I will certainly be looking for more of her stories!!
A good intention by a lonely widow goes awry with terrifying results.
These characters were the type you never want to meet in real life ! Eeery how nice they were, but I can assure you, this story affirms nothing and NO ONE is who they appear to be.
Suspenseful and haunting, the author took me on a gut wrenching jaw dropping journey that caused me physical react. Many times I wanted to scream at the heroine, except we never got her name.

The build up, the mounting secrets that bind these “strangers” together, I couldn’t put it down to discover who’s who and what’s.
The ending was a jaw dropping WTF!!!

Wow!! This story begs the question how far would you go to keep a secret and how willing are you to forgive!

My only issue was and while it didn’t take away from enjoying the story, the ending felt rushed and I never learned the heroine’s name.
Yet...I’d love to read more about these characters!
4.5 stars!

✨Book Review ✨

The Wife’s House by Arianne Richmonde

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

Today is the publication date for “The Wife’s House!” Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Although I really enjoyed the premise and narration, the twists were too farfetched yet predictable for me.

I liked the cozy and unsettling setting. This book is a fun, easy summer thriller if that’s what you’re in the mood for.

Honestly, this was a hard book for me to read. I’m not sure I would have finished it if I hadn’t received an ARC from NetGalley for it.

Starting with the positives I guess, I liked the short chapters. It is a very easy book to read. Even not being 100% invested, I read this one in two sittings.

What I didn’t like was....everything else. I’m getting a bit perturbed by almost every “psychological thriller” involving a woman with a drinking problem, who is extremely gullible, hiding secrets, or can’t trust herself. It’s awful honestly. Has anyone else noticed this trend? It’s like a completely nonsensical plot is dreamed up, and then an attempt to make the story believable is made by writing in an unreliable/ weak/ drunk main character.

This book was impossible for me to believe, impossible for me to relate to any characters. The main character, a lonely widow, was never even named. The triplets, who very unbelievably come into the story, were just awful.

There are some twists and turns, but it is all super predictable, at least it was for me.

Overall, not my favorite read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A widow is left with only their shared dream home, following the death of her husband, Juan, in a traffic accident. The modern and imposing Cliffside perches perilously atop a cliff in Big Sur, California and its grieving owner vows never to leave her sleek, glass home. Whilst out walking one day, the lonely wife, Mrs. Trujillo (her first name is never disclosed) meets seventeen-year-old triplets Dan, Kate and Jen, and she becomes more and more reliant on them. What follows is the wife's story...

In The Wife's House themes of grief, loss, paranoia and duplicity are explored. In a first-person narrative, the reader is treated to a wonderfully oppressive slow-burn thriller. Amongst the lies, suspicions, concealed truths, stress and anxiety, lurks the nameless, mysterious protagonist. Arianne Richmonde's descriptions of Cliffside and the locale are brilliantly atmospheric and creepy and I often felt as though I were there, taking in the beauty of the coastline as I listened to the crashing waves. A captivating, and very highly recommended, intense psychological thriller, complete with a cracking finale.

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