This book was a fast paced thriller. I finished the audiobook in under 24 hours. Overall, I enjoyed it, but there were parts of the story I didn’t like. For one thing, the husband shows his true colors maybe two minutes into the book and yet the main character spends so much time defending him when he is basically a walking red flag. She also has numerous opportunities to get help or at least lay groundwork to get help later and she routinely does the opposite of what she should do. I also think it had a few too many twists. What was the point of bringing in Zach’s father? The ending was a bit too much for me too. It did keep me listening though. Good narration. Thank you to NetGalley for letting me listen to this.

In a Nutshell: A pretty good domestic thriller that offers some surprises along the way. While the characters are infuriating, the plot and the twists kept me happy.

Story:
Holly Bancroft seems to be living a dream life. Married to a wealthy and good-looking OB-GYN and living in a perfect home, she has it all. Except that the truth is a bit different. Ever since the birth of their daughter, Holly’s husband Zach has turned into a gaslighting, controlling jerk. Holly sees no signs of an escape, especially as Zach knows one of her “darkest secrets”. But when Holly too finds out a secret about Zach, she decides to leverage it against him and plan her escape. Will she succeed?
This story comes to us in a third person omniscient narration. I wonder why the GR blurb is written in first person.

The plot of this domestic thriller is fairly well-structured. The pace is very quick, the twists are quite regular, and the ending is pretty unexpected. Ok, so I don’t read too many domestic thrillers. That might have helped me enjoy this more. A part of me couldn’t help feeling that avid thriller readers might be able to figure out all of the twists, because I too could figure out many of them, though not all. A part of the content felt like it has been covered in other domestic thrillers, but then, these books are pretty formulaic. At least the twists progressed more or less naturally from the story, I appreciate that.

Author Carey Baldwin is a paediatrician and she also holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She makes good use of both these degrees in the plot. I liked her writing style to a great extent. For a few scenes, I felt as if the author was in my head. The minute I started questioning something, Holly’s character popped with an explanation of why that wasn’t possible. In a few chapters, the author followed a different writing method, where the events have jumped ahead by many scenes and only through the character’s discussion do we realise what happened in the missing interim. It was an unusual experience, and luckily, it came out well in the audio format too, which is usually much harsher on such experimental approaches. I also loved how the prologue fitted into the actual narrative. Very few thrillers make good use of the prologue. However, the ending felt like it took a step too far. While I did like it for the surprise it offered, I still found it somewhat farfetched.

The characters are going to make or break your experience in this one. I was left enraged by almost every single character in this book. Zach is unbelievable. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why Holly was staying with him. The book does offer various reasons for her continued acceptance of his behaviour, but surely, he crossed many red flags with not just verbal but also emotional abuse. I also found it farfetched to believe that Zach’s nature changed just on the day of the baby’s delivery and then stayed that way. Doesn’t such behaviour change progressively and not overnight? Holly herself isn’t much likeable, though I did feel sorry for her at times. She is naïve and self-centred. She doesn’t want to leave Zach for some past secret of hers that he seems to know. But when this secret came out, I felt like it was a mountain being made out of a molehill. Holly’s mother-in-law Frances was yet another irritating character, one who saw Zach as her baby boy in spite of knowing his shortcomings. Zach’s dad makes a come-when-required appearance without adding much to it. There are a few more idiotic characters in the story, not all of whom are convincing. So if you want a book where you feel strongly about the characters, this will work for you. The only thing is that all your strong feelings will be negative ones!

I heard the 8.5 hrs long audiobook as narrated by Stephanie Cannon. She does an excellent job of bringing this story to life. I loved her narration, and possibly, I enjoyed the story more because of her efforts. If you want to try this, I would definitely recommend the audio version.

All in all, I did enjoy this book, much more than I had expected. It does well for its genre, and the quick pacing helps a lot, even if the characters leave you fuming.

I went back and forth on my rating for this one, because there were certain elements in the plot that didn't gel with me. But I did enjoy the audio version, hence 3.75 stars, rounding up to 4.

My thanks to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Marriage Secret”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

I enjoyed this. I was unsure for a while. But the narrator brought it home for me. The way she made Zach sound like the quintessential, angry, white man is amazing. The twists this book took were a little predictable, until the final twist.

I had such high hopes for this one as I really like domestic thrillers but it was just far to slow paced and uneventful. I felt for the majority of the book there was nothing gripping going on. The blurb gives the impression there are some great revelations but if anything they are underwhelming. When the storyline did pick up I found it very unbelievable and was a little all over the place and for a finish I just couldn’t wait to be done with it. As for the characters I absolutely despised Zack with a passion and Holly wasn’t much better. There were very few likeable characters. The outcome was a welcome surprise but it was a little to late to salvage the experience to get there. I liked the authors style of weaving the story together to bring to a close. I enjoyed the narration and found her engaging but overall this book just didn’t work for me which I was really disappointed about as its a storyline that had such potential and I know there are a lot of reviews that would contradict me but unfortunately that’s my experience.

2.5/5 🌟🌟/🌟

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this ARC thats due to be published on the 11th of Feb.

When Holly and Zach got married she trusted him with her secret. Now they seem to be the happy couple with a baby-daughter to complete the picture.
But Zach starts to control every part of Holly's life and this is getting wirder and wirder.
Until a young woman is found murdered and Zach becomes a suspect. He asks Holly to give him an alibi. Will she cover for her man? Even if it was just for him to keep her secret?
This is a domestic thriller that was a very satisfying read for me!

Thanks #NetGalley #Bookouture for an ARC

A gripping book with lots of twists and turns. The main protagonist is constantly naïve which was abit frustrating however the development of Zach's character makes it so easy to absolutely despise him. Secrets, murder and lies, this is a thriller that keeps turning the pages till the very end, i really enjoyed the narrator as well really bought the characters to life.

This book is available February 11, 2022. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this advanced audio. Get set for one wild ride!
💒 💍
Imagine you have married the love of your love. Holly shared her darkest secret with her husband Zach, and he accepts her, after all it’s part of her past!
👶🍼
Along comes an adorable baby girl, and Zach seems jealous of their daughter. He becomes controlling. Zach is a well respected doctor.
His mother is sympathetic to her daughter- in-law, but her loyalty lies with her son.
👨‍⚕️ 🩺
This novel has everything from secrets, lies, adultery, murder and mayhem. Twisted until the end! I will definitely look for more books by this author. #themarriagesecret, #careybaldwin, #autobook, #netgalley, #booksconnectus, #bookstagram, #bookouture

This book was not what I expected, and I'm not sure if it's in a good way or bad. I was looking for a suspense/women's fiction read, but the story turned out to be a full-on psychological thriller/murder/crime mystery. There is so much I want to say about this book, but I'll start with the good. I'd say that the first 60-70% of this book was quite juicy, but then it started going downhill. Up till then, we see Holly (the MC), her husband Zach, mother-in-law Frances, and her best friend, Tamara. For most of it, I enjoyed the depiction of Zach as the narcissist villain, Frances as a conflicted mother/mother-in-law, and Tamara as a supportive friend still grieving for a lost one. I appreciate Baldwin's talent to keep the reader hooked till the very last page, with little twists that kept me reading. I loved how they bought in subjects of custody, alibis, and having the upper hand, which is an underlying layer in most thrillers, but this book helped me understand what was behind. The revelations that came in left me breathless and unable to grasp the story, but that was more of a negative impact on my reading process than a good one. What I hated the most was the obvious plot hole. The author, editor/s, beta reader/s, and publishers have not even attempted to ground the story in reality. I don't think this is worthy of being called a psychological thriller, as the final twist has zero logic and is full of fantastical nonsense. Holly was a surprise package with many layers, but she behaved like someone with a split personality disorder. At one point, she is incredibly naive and unsuspecting, and the next, she is protective, daring, and planning the most outrageous things. For the record, I love Bookouture, the publisher, and there weren't many reviews out there when I requested this book. If it weren't for this, I probably wouldn't have gotten it in the first place. Also I liked the narrator who was great with the voice modulation and emotions on point. {I got this book courtesy of NetGalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review.}

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the arc of this book to provide my honest feedback on.

First I’ll start with the narrator. I enjoyed this one. A lot of times a narrator can make or break a story but this one I felt did really well. This is a first time reading one of this authors work. The writing was well down, and the story was quick and to the point. I enjoyed the setting, lack of repetition of things, the characters, and the overall plot and thriller aspect. I felt there was a little left to be desired in the Russell department, like that wasn’t really needed and/or resolved but otherwise I enjoyed the story and it was a quick read. Will definitely read more by this author.

3.25 stars

This was a fun book to read. Lots of things happening, not a dull moment.

It reminded me of The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin. Full of twists and unexpected turn of events. So if you are a fan of KM you'll like this book a lot.

We have the story of a couple who seem to have the perfect marriage. But appearances are far from reality. The husband is not as perfect as he is believed to be and the wife has a muddy past.

I do not want to give away anything else, as I want you to enjoy it as much as I did!!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for allowing me to read this awesome book!

“He married me despite my darkest secret. But am I safe now that I know his?” Holly is bound to Zach after she told her darkest secret on their wedding day. He had always been supportive and a loving husband until he started to act differently once Holly went into labor with their first child together. Holly starts to wonder if staying with Zach is safe for her and their child. Then, Zach is a potential suspect after a young woman is found murdered.

This book was a classic domestic psychological thriller with tons of twists and turns along the way. It’s brilliantly written and keeps you on the edge of your seat. There’s gaslighting, privilege, and secrets. As Holly begins to put things together, she forms a plan which unravels in the twistiest ways ever.

I loved the suspense and the storytelling kept me engaged. The narrator was fantastic and kept the characters separated well, and are several different characters involved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book comes out February 11th, 2022.

Feel the need to direct some anger at a fictional character? This is a great choice!

This anger inducing book follows a young married couple on the verge of parenthood. Everything is perfect - until she goes into labor. Something doesn’t seem right with Zack. The machines are going off and he’s unconcerned. Of course, he is an obgyn so everything must be fine….right?
After the birth, Holly has trouble remembering all kinds of things and Zack doesn’t seem to be acting like himself. He’s overly controlling, trying to convince her of things she’s almost positive never happened - or at least happened differently. What’s the truth in this situation?
After Holly begins to figure things out, a young girl is found murdered - and Zack is a suspect. She provides an alibi, and while she knows it’s a lie she stands by her man. She knows something isn’t right, but it’s best for everyone to go along with it.
Things get even more crazy and she realizes - only one of them will make it out alive - but which one?

Shoutout to NetGalley for the audiobook of this one! It was so good, even if it did make me angry!

I received an advanced audiobook review copy in exchange for an honest review

The plot sounded so interesting but the mystery was flat at times, would eventually pick up and crackle for a bit until the next dip. It definitely helped that the narrator sounds exactly how these women talk. Definitely a beach read- an entertaining guilty pleasure. 3.5 rounded up.