Rating: 3.5 🍷 🍷 🍷 1/2
Book: The Mistress
Release Date: Available Now (September 14, 2020)
Author: Jill Childs
Genre: Women’s Fiction/Mystery & Thrillers

Sipping Synopsis: Laura, a meek schoolteacher, kills her coworker who just happens to be the man she is having an affair with. From that moment on, Laura’s life is turned upside down and she doesn’t know what to do and who to trust.

Final sipping thoughts: I enjoyed this book. I knew the big twist that was coming up, but I just couldn’t figure out why or how. I really loved waiting on the other shoe to drop and was going to rate it 4 stars. However, what happened on the last page elicited an eye-roll, sigh, and a decrease of ½ of a star.
Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @Bookouture for an advanced copy of @TheMistress
#TheMistress #Bookouture #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #AmazonReads #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdagon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #bookreviewer #WomensFiction

I was immediately interested based on the cover and description. An excellent read with twists I didn't see coming. Well-written and fast-paced, I'd highly recommend it.

So good and creepily real. This book had me hooked from the first page until the very last! Lots of twists and turns, most of which I did not expect!

This book had me hooked from the get go. Perfectly written. I loved how the story developed and how deceitful some people can be. I hope there will be a sequel as it is something I would definitely rush to read. 10 out of 10.

Laura Dixon was the quiet shy Primary School teacher. She kept to herself & was occasionally seen as being abrupt. When the charismatic, poetry writing Senior School English teacher seems to single her out, no-one is more surprised than she is. However, before long Ralph becomes her world, but how could he betray her in such a way? When she goes to his house whilst his wife is out she had not planned on the events that followed. She didn't mean to kill him- did she? After that Laura's life goes off the rails completely. She thinks he's following her- she knows someone is. Helen suspected Ralph was unfaithful but what really mattered was her daughter Anna. A six year old shouldn't suffer or her father's sins.

Laura tells the first part of this tale & Helen tells the second. I was unprepared for the paths the story took. I'm not sure any of the main characters were ones I would want as friends! Twists & surprises sprang up & kept me glued to the page. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book begins with Laura (the mistress) meeting up with The married man, Ralph at his house where he seems set on breaking off the affair, while she seems head over heels and tries her best to change his mind. An argument results in a tragedy where Laura has killed Ralph and his wife Helen arrives home and finds Laura and Ralph. Both in shock, a chain of events is set in motion and the story follows the consequences for both women.
I took a while to get into this book, but after I was a few chapters in I was hooked and trying to guess what was happening, there were plenty of twists and turns, an overall enjoyable book! 4.5 stars from me :)

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the arc of this book by Jill Childs.

3 star read for me, i thoroughly enjoyed it, it enthralled me and had me wanting more. This follows Laura whom has found herself drawn into an affair, but this schoolteacher found herself drawn to another teacher named Ralph they have an affair, and everything goes wrong......

⭐⭐⭐

Holy moly, this book was crazy!! I know when you read the title you think to yourself "oh another one of these" but the story is not as clear cut as you'd think. But whoa, the storyline and the ending, just superb.

With short chapters, the end of each one just makes you want to continue reading on. I am a huge Jill Childs fan after devouring The First Wife by her back in August. Highly recommend this one to domestic thriller fans.⁣
⁣

Unfortunately sometimes the cover make the damage and you pass a good book, but i was lucky.. something catch my attention and I came back for this one and i glad I did!

The uniqueness of this book it's not the story so much but the way it's written. The action started from the start with a good twist and continue with more and more twists that leaves you guessing and with the filling that you just have to know what is going on!!

Recommended to everyone people!
Thanks Netgalley, author/publisher for this amazing ARC for my honest opinion.

Wow absolutely loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The action started right from the first chapter, with an unsuspecting twist at the end and lots of twists in between. I’ve read Jill Child’s books before and this one didn't disappoint either.

Laura is The Mistress. Helen is the wife. Both have been betrayed by Ralph and together they cover up his death...
The Mistress is split into two parts, firstly from Laura's perspective as her life spirals out of control thourgh guilt and fear after she knocks Ralph down the stairs and helps Helen to dispose of the body. The second part is from Helen's viewpoint as we see the aftermath of Ralph's disappearance and her attempts to protect their daughter.
Both narratives give us plenty of history as we see how Ralph became involved with both women. I see both women as victims, tricked by a charming man. Initially Helen held my sympathy more as she was the wronged wife but as sinister messages arrive and affect Laura's mental health my sympathy became firmly aligned with her.
Vulnerable, rejected by the man she loves yet keeping his secrets, Laura feels guilty for falling for Ralph and carrying on the relationship when she found out he had a wife and child. Helen has more inner strength, completely determined to protect her daughter from gossip. Ralph is only portrayed through the two women's viewpoints and so not shown in a good light! Selfish, devious and a liar, I have little sympathy or empathy with him.
The writing style is easy to read and the two parts are clearly defined perspectives of the lead female characters. I was expecting the big surprise and the conclusion but that didn't make the book any less enjoyable.
Overall, The Mistress was entertaining with engaging protagonists.

This was one that absolutely grabbed me right from the start, but I felt I lost a bit of that complete hook towards the middle! Overall, I did find it to be very well written, with some amazing character development! Full of twists and turns, shocks, thrills, and chills! Overall, I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a well written thriller, full of the things us thriller lovers crave!

Will buzz up on platforms and use lower amazon reviewer number on release date!

Lots of twists and turns in this book with lots of unexpected outcomes. Kept you guessing the whole time.

This is an amazing read and is screaming out to be made into a film.
The first chapter left me shocked and I compulsively kept reading. I enjoyed this book and the twist at the end.

Ralph is a teacher at the local high school with a wife and an elementary school aged daughter at home. That doesn’t stop him from pursuing a relationship with Laura, who falls head over heels for him. So much so that when he tries to end their affair, she goes a little off psychological deep end. As she continues to display unwanted attention towards Ralph, she is surprised when he finally invites her over to his house. She begs for another chance, sleeps with him and then ends up in an argument with a tragic ending. Just as Laura is panicking about Ralph’s limp body lying at the bottom of the stairs, his wife Helen walks in. Helen is shocked and distraught at what she finds - a dead husband and Laura wearing her husband’s shirt and nothing else. Helen convinces Laura that the best alternative is to cover up Ralph’s death otherwise Laura will be accused of murder and Helen and her daughter will have to live with the stigma of Ralph’s scandalous decisions.
.
An engrossing thriller with surprises and twists abound. I really enjoyed how the story developed and it was not all what I expected based on the title. The character exploration made me feel for both women and I loved how the POV changed about halfway through the book.

Oh my!! The first scene, the first chapter, so unexpected, shocking the socks off me. That was the best. Author Jill Childs knocked this one out of the park. She called it her book baby, and I could clearly see the love poured out in the prose.

Two women: one, the wife and the other, the mistress. And you know it wouldn’t end well. It didn’t, for Ralph, when the wife Helen came to know about the mistress Laura. They were on the edge of the abyss, and one fall knocked them all down. This was Laura’s story followed by Helen’s. And I got the bird’s eye view of it.

Reading the first chapter, I knew the author had written this book to send shock currents down my body. The words chosen had the right emotion attached to it. Little bubbles of excitement ran in me. I was getting the gossip right from the front seat. (Look, I am getting my jollies from where I can. I don’t watch the television. Books are it, for me)

I had to talk about the characterization. JILL made her puppets dance to her every tune, they were brilliantly etched that I thought them to be real. New facets were revealed and gawd, weren’t some Aholes… ahem I mean jerks. You can guess whom I am talking about. Talk about eating the cake and having it too.

The book gathered pace because I was obsessed with it. I couldn’t stop reading, I had to know what the wife thought and what would she do next. It was so goddamn interesting. And the last line… My goosebumps got goosebumps. I couldn’t help but cackle wildly like a witch.

Wicked and wily was this author, she got my goose cooked (and I am a vegetarian). I was curious, hungry to know more every time I turned the page. It was that thrilling for me. I would call this book a domestic noir too.

Ralph invites his mistress Laura over one more time, of course she will come, she always comes. And she doesn’t mean to kill him. However, after he’s dead she begins seeing things and has trouble coming to terms with his death.

Following both the mistress, and his wife, after his death we unravel the mystery of what happened the night Ralph died. Who is at fault, who is to blame.

The book was fast paced and an easy read. The synopsis doesn’t give much away about what the book is actually about. I believe Ralph dies in the first chapter or so and the rest of the book is a mystery as to what it’s actually going to be about. Overall, I like 5e writing style but the story itself was dull and lacking.

This book starts with what I thought was a quite far-fetched scenario but it developed into a compulsive gripping story with so many twists. Fabulous book !! It would make a great film

This book zigged when I thought it was going to zag and kept me guessing (for the most part) right up until the very end. The story is told in two halves. I thought that both characters were interesting in their own rights, and well-written to represent the two sides of an affair. The switch between perspectives preserved a natural flow to the story. I mentioned it kept me guessing “for the most part.” I had an inkling to the crux of the story, but it came to me late in the plot, and I still wasn’t 100% correct. I’d definitely recommend this one. For a detailed review, please visit Fireflies and Free Kicks. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a digital ARC of the book.

I read this for a blog tour.

This was a very twisted thriller that seemed pretty straightforward to begin with but as Laura's mental state deteriorates, and she loses her grip on reality, it starts to become clear that there's something else going on here, something darker and more twisted than first appears.

I really enjoyed this book, the revelations of what's really been going on, then the massive about face a character commits right near the end, completely altering the direction everything seems to be going, it certainly keeps your attention!