A dark domestic thriller was this with an abuse theme at the core which involved mysteries of the past mixed with the realities of the present, making it quite interesting in some ways. My second Liz Lawler book saw me read this at one go to know how the human psyche could be twisted and turned.

Tess, an operation theatre scrub nurse, married vascular surgeon, Daniel. With whirlwind courtship and fast marriage, followed by a new house in a different area saw Tess centered in a plotline where Daniel started changing his attitude and slowly transforming her, making her subservient. Would she ever break free?

The prose sped up as I read incredulously at all the things that Tess underwent. Things escalated, along with my desperation at wanting to help her escape his abuse. The author brought out my emotions as every cell in me, which screamed woman, hated the abuse shown.

There were many twists when an old woman came up to her to warn her and when a shocker when she found something hidden in the house. The suspense ramped up, and the last few pages brought the story to a train stopping finale.

And then came my niggles… Why didn’t she just walk away? The reasons given felt too flimsy. Being a doc, I understood the medical jargon, but so much was not needed to the plot. The subplots felt to be too unbelievable and farfetched. Even after he shoved her hand in boiling water, she sympathized with him a few pages later.

But then again, I have met a few women like this. I have been one.
Overall, an interesting book which a great final twist.

A thriller that will have you looking at the marriages around you....those "perfect" couples who are just a little too perfect!

Tess ignored all of her friends and co-workers friendly comments to slow down and really know her new boyfriend when he proposes after a few months. He's the most handsome, loving man she has ever met and he loves her! How could her life be anything except perfect. They marry and move from the city where she has family and friends to a huge country home where she knows no one. As soon as the door closes on her old life, the new one is not quite as perfect as she envisioned. And then it gets worse.....

This is not your typical thriller built around domestic abuse. This woman will find the strength to save herself. The journey from the courtship to the end of the story is tense, sometimes horrifying and extremely well written. It gives me chills to think about it......

First, I want to thank Liz Lawler, Bookouture, and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I can bring you this review.

WOW!! Liz Lawler you get the award for writing the most despised character I ever read in your latest book The Next Wife! Oh how Dr. Daniel Meyers rubbed me the wrong way to the point where I wanted to go into the book and tell him off. He belittled his wife Tess, wanted her to be someone she wasn’t, did things to her I was totally shocked at! His personality and behavior just totally floored me!

The graphic designers of this book really did an amazing job thinking of such a creative piece. It was so creepy but so perfect because this book was like that.

The deeper you get into the book we see the shift in Daniel's personality. We learn there area a ton of hidden secrets in his past-some very shocking revelations when they come out. Mind blowing ones that I never saw coming. But it explains why he is so messed up in the head.

Many times I felt scared for Tess and wanted her to get out of the situation she was in.

This book has triggers for people who were verbally and who were sexually abused.

This is a book that will make your blood boil.
Daniel is charismatic to others and the perfect husband to Tess when out in public, but behind closed doors he is abusing his wife.
It starts off with small things like telling her how to dress and then escalates from this point onwards.
Tess is confused by his change in behaviour and can’t understand why he’s being so cruel to her.
She then finds a journal from a woman experiencing the same things as her and she starts to investigate.
It all becomes clear later in the book but does Tess have the courage to get away from Daniel?
This is a taut domestic thriller which some readers may find uncomfortable but it’s a well told story.
A great read.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Tess and Daniel, a match made in heaven? It would appear so until the real side of Daniel comes out once they are married and by then it's too late.
I hated Daniel.with a passion and despite reasons becoming apparent for the reason he behaves as he does, I continued to hate him..I thought Tess was quite naive and had opportunities to get herself out of this toxic marriage.
Having said all this, I did thoroughly enjoy the book and it was a satisfying read

I could not put this book down and read the whole thing in one day!
Absolutely Gripping and everything a good thriller should be!

Nurse Tess Myers feels she is the luckiest woman in the world. Newly married to Daniel, a gifted surgeon, she has just moved from London to Bath to start a new life with him. In London they were the happiest of couples. Now, however, she finds herself living with a vastly different man.
I could not believe what Tess went through but she is certainly a tough character. Daniel is charismatic, the perfect gentleman in public. Behind closed doors he becomes someone entirely different. There are moments in this book which I found upsetting, but Tess is determined to fight back and her spirit made me want to know how all this ended.
A gripping read with a great twist. Highly recommended.

The Next Wife by Liz Lawler is another fabulous read from an author who can certainly spin a twisted and heart stopping tale that will have you gripped from the word go. The tension is palpable from the start, and you will be breathless until the end.

Tess believes that she has found her ideal partner in Daniel. He is handsome, charming, and a brilliant surgeon. What more could Tess want in a husband? But almost immediately following the nuptials, Daniel begins to reveal a side of himself that Tess could never have foreseen. The alarm bells are ringing, subtly at first, but then escalating to such abuse that Tess knows she needs to escape the domestic nightmare into which she has entered. And as hints about Daniel's past come to light, Tess must do everything she can to escape her terrifying new reality.

This is a twisty tale that had me holding my breath throughout the narrative, so engrossed was I in Tess's plight. This is an addictive read, and I cannot wait to see what Ms Lawler delivers next. 4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

The story centres around the perspective of Tess, who has had a whirlwind romance and quickly married her partner Daniel. They moved from London to a grand house in Bath. But it seems as soon as Daniel enters the house he becomes a different person overnight, leading Tess to realise he isn’t the man she fell quickly in love with. We also see from the perspective of Martha, an elderly lady who hangs around Tess and Daniel’s house for hours on end, and she seems to becomes easily confused and muddled. Martha tries to warn Tess but her warnings are all over the place, and leave Tess feeling confused. The story is built on lies, and comes to a great, unexpected finish.

I have read all of Liz Lawler’s books to date and really enjoyed them all, and this one was no different. I felt this was a slow burner, but the twists and turns made the book a page turner. I enjoyed the characters, Tess was soft and nice, while her husband was horrible (which made the book better), but the character of Martha was wonderful. I feel that the character of Cameron could have been explored further as he sounded brilliant, and I wish he’d had a bigger part in the story. The writing was great, and flowed nicely. I would definitely highly recommend this book to all.

The Next Wife is a domestic thriller. It is also the story of a woman who experiences horrific emotional and physical abuse by her husband. If that will make you uncomfortable in any way, this is not the book for you.

Tess Morris has married the man of her dreams after a whirlwind, brief courtship. He’s Daniel Myers, a respected London surgeon, with a gorgeous city apartment. In weeks, they are off to Bath for his new position at a local hospital. Their new home is an immense, completely furnished Georgian stone mansion. Within days, Daniel’s controlling nature becomes apparent. His behavior escalates as Tess feels trapped in a loveless marriage. Who can she trust? Meanwhile, Martha, an elderly woman, watches the house almost daily. Her caregiver, worried about her worsening dementia, tries to persuade her to stop. Why does she think Daniel is someone else who once lived in the same house? Why is she obsessed by Tess?

For the first half of The Next Wife, I couldn’t understand why Tess didn’t just leave Daniel. Run away while he was playing golf. Walk out when he was in the operating room. Then I realized that this is classic behavior. The abused wife loses her sense of self. Tess is a broken woman. The surprising conclusion of this thriller will take your breath away. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Liz Lawler for this ARC.

Tess finds out what her husband is really like just a few months after she marries him. She thought he was perfect. She thought their married life would be perfect. But she was wrong. She doesn't seem to get anything right and she's starting to be afraid of him. He has taken away her band card and phone. When a stranger comes to the door arning her she can't trust her husband and she tells her to ask him what happened to his first wife.

**TRIGGER WARNING** This story covers: serial abuse, controlling behaviour, emotional abuse and murder.

Test married Daniel after a few months and moved away from London to live in Bath. Tess thinks she's married the man of her dreams. After all, he's a well respected surgeon. This is a fast paced gripping page turner. Imcouldnt put the book down as I needed to know if Tess was going to be okay. I never saw the revelations coming in the last few chapters. Loved it.


I would like to thank #NetGalley, #Bookouture and the author #LizLawler for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.

Really great read where it all comes together beautifully at the end. None of those annoying bits of plot that go nowhere and really believable characters.

The Next Wife is Liz Lawler’s third psychological thriller and is a heart-stopping, dark and twisted story of what really goes on in a marriage behind closed doors. We meet nurse Tess, who has been swept off her feet by Daniel Myers, seemingly the man of her dreams and a handsome, prominent and well-respected surgeon, in a whirlwind romance. They wed within months of first laying eyes on each other, but Tess believes it's perfect and that's he's the one for her so she figures, why wait? They marry and move from London to Bath for a slower pace of life but as Tess begins to notice Daniel carrying out small controlling behaviours she remembers that their neighbour, an elderly lady named Martha King, reminded her to ask her husband about his first wife and exactly what happened to her. Daniel then begins keeping tabs on her like a child — he doesn't allow her to use her phone and bank account freely and even chooses what she can and cannot wear. But when Daniel makes a terrible mistake and lets Tess take the fall for it, she suddenly doesn’t recognise the man she married. She is now caught in a deadly game she didn’t realise she was playing.

This is one of the best domestic-based thrillers I've read in a while; it's captivating, terrifying and heartbreaking to see how the domestic abuse situation starts to break Tess as a person. You can tell Lawler has researched the issue of abuse and controlling behaviours thoroughly as well as the shocking impact they have on the victim, and you can't help but really feel for Tess who is in quite the predicament. As someone who has been subject to abuse before it felt very authentic and brought back many memories that I would rather forget. Of course, friends and family warned her about hastily jumping into the lifelong commitment of marriage and she feels like a fool for moving forward despite not knowing Daniel very well at all. But she is concerned she may get the dreaded "I told you so" response if she leaves him. It's fast-paced, well written and there's a whole host of twists, turns and reveals, some of which caught me off guard. Can Tess escape her monster husband and his flurry of physical, sexual and mental abuse or will she die trying? Highly recommended. Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC.

This was a book that kept me gripped from beginning to end, a well written storyline with characters that you were rooting for and characters that you hoped a big massive dose of karma came and kicked their backside. The storyline had me feeling like I was living the nightmare alongside Tess, the ups and downs, the stress of a manipulative master mind and the everyday self doubt. Overall a really good psychological read that takes you on a rollercoaster ride you won’t forget.

Well this book had more twists and turns, than a go on the waltzers lol!!

Not having read anything by this author, wasn’t sure what to expect. At times the storyline had some heart in your mouth moments. A number of the characters - you knew they were connected in some way but some I didn’t guess until right at the end!! Definitely worth a read - enjoy!

Thanks #bookouture and #Netgaley

PUBLICATION DATE 3rd Nov 2020
#bookouture #netgalley #thefirstwife #bookteview

Instagram/bookstagramshaz.com

Tess thought she was the luckiest girl in the world, meeting such a charming, handsome surgeon. After a whirlwind courtship, the happy couple moved from London to Bath. Then her charming husband started to show his true colors.

A book with domestic violence is always a touchy subject and I always take on a little of the mood of the book I’m reading. If I could only be content to read lighthearted, happy books, but I love a good psychological thriller and this one delivered.There was a sense of suspense as you wondered if Tess’ life was in danger and if her husband murdered his first wife. I’ve always wondered why you would stay with someone that makes you so unhappy, but I guess you need to walk a mile in their shoes to understand their choices.

By the end of the book, I was on the edge of my seat. The book is one part drama, one part mystery and an overall thriller

The Next Wife has so many things going for it. It is atmospheric with overtones of a gothic novel. A neighbor believes this man who brings his new wife to the Victorian mansion in quaint Bath is the same man who committed murder there several years ago. You could almost feel the stuffiness of the old wallpaper and fixtures and inhale the dusty curtains as Lawler takes us on a tour of the house through the eyes of new wife Tess.

It's a domestic thriller, but unlike so many novels on the market, Tess's husband Daniel doesn't use gaslighting to control Tess. [Trigger warning] Daniel systematically incorporates “punishment" and approval/disapproval and some very abusive actions, alternating as "a very nice guy" to mold Tess's behavior.

Tess only stays because Daniel has put her in a very compromising position - she needs to get proof of any of his lies to clear her name and make a break. But someone is watching her every move and time is running out. While the events toward the end of the book are a little over the top, I was still riveted to the pages, wondering what more could possibly happen?

I love Liz Lawler's style and I will definitely check out the other books in her catalog!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance reader's copy for review.

Far from a light or easy read, this is a deeply uncomfortable story of misogyny, domestic abuse, loneliness and damaged minds. I found it incredibly difficult to read hating the manipulation and control of a vulnerable woman

Thank you to Net Galley and Liz Lawler for the advanced copy in return for my honest review of this book. Be sure to get a copy – out November 3, 2020!

Tess and Daniel met in the OR and had a whirlwind romance that ended them up married just months later. Daniel then surprises Tess by purchasing a mini mansion in the suburbs and uprooting their life from the city. Slowly, Daniel’s demeanor towards Tess begins to change and he becomes controlling, jealous, and overbearing. Tess gets to a point where she is worried for her safety and realizes she needs to start making decisions about her future before it’s too late.

This was such a great read! I could not put this down and really enjoyed it from start to finish. I felt for Tess and was so frustrated by Daniel. I legitimately gasped out loud when I found out who was keeping an eye on Tess all along. Go out and get this book! You will not regret it!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. This is my first book by Liz Lawler and it won't be the last. The character development is incredible; my heart broke for Tess and I cursed Daniel throughout the book. There are twists and turns. Really enjoyed this!