The Lost Wife
It’s late at night as a woman with a child drives fast along deserted country lanes. She knows they are coming for her but maybe by hiding in what was to have been a honeymoon cottage she can buy herself more time.
The boy, Josh, is asleep on the back seat and next to the driver, on the passenger seat is a bloodstained wedding veil. She only has £23 in her handbag and a car that will need a refill of petrol very soon. Today was a wedding day that no one will forget.
Harry is a man who keeps secrets from his partner, Lea. Ten years older than her and an apparently successful businessman who works very long hours. She works in an art gallery and has unacknowledged artistic dreams of her own. He’s always disappearing without notice or explanations which has become worse as the wedding day approaches. Also, slowly but surely, he is isolating her from her friends and her life as she loses her job and becomes a stay at home mum. She doesn’t like it and feels that life is passing her by. It’s almost as if he’s changing her into someone else. But she focuses on the forthcoming nuptials when everything will come together and life will be perfect again.
But she feels watched all the time and strange incidents keep happening. A hit and run accident, an unknown intruder in the house and when she confronts Harry’s work colleagues about his repeated absences, apparently on business, they don’t want to be involved. However, it’s clear that they know something and don’t want to tell her.
Will the wedding day be the happiest day of Lea’s life or the worst?
The narrative is told in both the past and the present. The past is the year leading up to the wedding and how Lea gets caught up in the dream while she feels uneasy about Harry and the life choices that she’s made, I found Lea to be quite self absorbed. She is uneasy with Josh and yearns to be out with her friends of her own age clubbing and pubbing instead of staid nights staying in and watching TV.
It's difficult to say much more because of spoilers but I will warn about animal abuse. The plot twist comes near the end. I was expecting it but it did make me want to read the book again to see what I’d missed. However, at times the book’s pace flagged a little as Lea’s musings about her dissatisfaction with her life and concerns about Harry slowed the book down. Harry remained more of a cypher as Lea doesn’t seem to challenge him enough. Is he a gaslighter? Is he coercive and controlling?
I thought that the author handled the two timelines deftly as they collided at the big reveal. I found that Lea was an ambivalent character who seemed to go with the flow without acknowledging her own desires and doubts about Harry and their relationship. It was a one sitting read as I rattled through it and this would be a great holiday read.

I enjoyed the way the author ramped up the tension in this book throwing in a few red herrings and plot twists on the way. However, I found the ending a bit disappointing and felt sad for poor traumatised Josh
Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy of this book

This was good. The story veers so much from the blurb that you wonder what you have missed but it all comes together in the end.
I knew something was off with the misuse of pronouns early on and I had to reread the early chapters a couple of times. However we don't find out the final twist till much nearer the end so I was left confused for a while!
Quite dark at times, the only character worth any sympathy was the poor son, I can imagine he will be in therapy for years! Very enjoyable thriller.

A very clever twist saved this book for me. I never came close to guessing so was delighted with that. However would anyone make the decision Lea made to get married to such an oaf? The distressing side of the book is the way the little boy and the dog were treated. Very upsetting and for this reason I don’t feel I could recommend to my book club pals.

I so very much enjoyed this book very twisty and addictive. Lea and Harry have a son Josh .Harry has never asked Lea to marry him but one night all that changes he proposed over a romantic meal in a restaurant but does Lea want that ? she loves her job at the gallery but on the night of her engagement party something happens and she loses the job that she loves and other things happen. and Lea is scared what if you dont know the person that you live with. I so recommend this book so good

I have only good things to say about this bone-chilling, mind-numbing, dark domestic thriller. I cannot choose a favorite scene from this book. The story alternates between past and present, and both were equally gripping, dark, and filled with unexpected twists and turns.

Speaking of unexpected twists, the ending - boy, now that's what I call a mind-blowing ending. Totally UNEXPECTED and SHOCKING. I was like, wait what?? What the heck just happened? I didn't see it coming - I definitely didn't!

It's made pretty clear to the reader that Lea and Harry's relationship wouldn't survive for long as Harry was manipulative and controlling. Her friends and her mum were worried about her, even on her wedding day, they ask if she's sure about this. Yet, Lea went ahead and married Harry... only to run away that same evening with her son.

Excellent storytelling. Mind-blowing twists. I was hooked from start to finish and I read this book in one sitting. I suppose this is one of the best and twisty domestic thrillers I have ever read.

The cover of this book and the tag line hooked me in but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. I do enjoy a dual time like but this was dragged out and took a while to get through!
I was quite upset by some of the storyline (animal abuse) but I persevered.. I didn’t see the twist coming, that was a positive as usually I’ve guessed!

2.5 stars

This is my first introduction to author Georgia Lees, and if this story is anything to go by it won't be my last.

As I was drawn in from the very first chapter. When a woman injured, clutching a bloodied veil and with a child arrive at a cottage in the Peak District in the dead of night.

A cottage you soon learn was originally booked for her honeymoon.

But where is the groom?

And why does this woman believe she's being hunted?

And as the story switches seamlessly between the past and the present. You start to learn chilling details about a seeming happy family; and what happened to make this woman run.

And with characters that really drive the story and great pacing. This was an extremely engaging and enjoyable thriller. That I'd happily recommend to others.

If you like a clever psychological thriller, this books definitely for you.
I raced through it and the twists just kept coming.
I didn’t guess the ending and it certainly took me by surprise.
A great read and one that I’d recommend.

It should have been have been the happiest day of their lives. They should have had a lifetime of happiness together. But at the end of the wedding, she is fleeing her husband covered in blood…

The Lost Wife is a story that I was quickly immersed in and that I raced through. The story unfolds in two different timelines - the lead up to the wedding and the aftermath of the wedding day. It’s not a book where you will find yourself rooting for anyone. Aside from one minor character and a small child, the characters are fairly unlikeable, and act in fairly peculiar ways. There some very uncomfortable reading featuring animal abuse and child neglect.

On the flip side, it’s a fast paced and tense read so I flew through it. I didn’t guess a major twist and when I looked back all the clues were embedded in the story all along.
I would recommend it to my fellow domestic thriller readers but perhaps not as the best example of the genre.

Thanks to the author, One More Chapter and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

Think about your worst case scenario - you're on the run with a small child, injured and almost out of gas, heading for a remote cabin in the woods, and you need to move from there quickly to stay ahead of the "bad guys". But then there's a snow storm...

Yes, this book is just as tense as it sounds! It's a quick read with the tension sustained throughout. As many reviewers have noted, the letter tying everything together at the end was unnecessary and even left some things unresolved. However, I would still recommend the book for it's ability to set the tone and keep the reading feeling on the edge of terror!

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the advance reader's copy and blogger readalong.

Thank you to @onemorechapterhc for my copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I was supposed to read this as part of a readalong but once I started, it gripped me and I couldn’t put it down! Each chapter is set either in the present or a year countdown to the present day and narrated by our main character, Lea. She is telling the story of their life, and how it all unravelled.

I loved this, thrilling, page turning and suspenseful. And the twist, wow didn’t see that coming at all. Even after finishing and having all revealed, I’m still not sure how I feel about Lea. She seems to be a strong determined woman but at times, seems a bit weak and gives in far too easily. Harry is not a nice character, secrets galore and mood swings like you’ve never seen!

A fantastic psychological thriller that’ll keep you guessing.

Thanks to Netgalley et all for the chance to read this book. It was a fast paced and gripping thriller. When the book begins a woman and her son have gone on the run. This book is fast paced and gripping and perfect for a summer holiday!

Moving between the present time and then moving from a year before gradually closing the gap, this story left me with mixed feelings. I felt I was reading about a woman who was gradually being separated from friends and work by a controlling partner - which to some extent was true. Yet Lea had so many opportunities to escape this relationship, right up until her wedding day. The relationship between Josh and his parents did not seem natural - a father who was always working but invariably there with a solid close relationship with his son and Josh's strained relationship with his mother.
The twist in the plot was clever and explained much once the twist was revealed.
The letter of explanation at the end was a spoiler - did the author not trust the reader to read between the lines?
Nevertheless a page turner. Three and a half stars for me!
Many thanks to Netgalley/Georgina Lees/HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

A woman and child are on the run, all because of the woman's husband. What did he do and why must they hide?

A thrilling and tense plot that keeps you turning the pages. With brilliant twists and turns and shocks! I liked how it went between past and present. Loved it, a brilliant book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book in return for my honest feedback.

Fun read! Checked off all the boxes for me! Compelling characters, edge of your seat story, more twists than a pretzel and a very satisfying ending!

I was intrigued by the title and the description of this book.

This was a good thriller. I was drawn in from the beginning - I was interested in the narrator, I wanted to know what had happened to her and why. She felt real to me, as though she could have been a personal friend or someone that I knew. This was also light enough to read in one sitting.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

A very good read that is quite dark at points and maybe not suited to those with a sensitive nature.
Really loved the dual timeline throughout the book with the present and then the 5 years leading up to it all. Plenty of secrets to be discovered with our characters. I like the book's darker side as it's sometimes shyed away with authors but this doesn't hold back. A very enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and Publishers for the ecopy of The Lost Wife.

The Lost Wife is a thriller mystery, I believe. Well it was a mystery to me and it was so so good. I had an unusual need to figure it all out. I read this with bated breath, I found myself like a nervous wreck!
Briefly The Lost Wife is about Lea and her life with Harry, Josh etc. The chapters go to and fro from past to present. I found it all intriguing, the way the novel was written was so captivating and the build up to how and why it happened was marvellous.
The twist at the end blew me straight out of the water. I did not see that coming and I'm usually great at figuring bits out in mystery novels but not a clue this time.

I really recommend this novel to everyone that loves a bit of a mystery, it will certainly keep you guessing throughout.

**TRIGGER WARNING** Animal Cruelty - Dog Death

A woman and a child arrive at a cottage in the Peak District in the dead of night. Alone. Desperate. Haunted. She knows they're coming for her. It's only a matter of time. Because her husband kept a secret from her. Until he was ready to destroy her.

This story has a dual timeline - the present day and the past - one year ago. A new wife. a bloodied veil, and a child taken from his father were more than enough to pique mt interest. With secrets being kept and some really good twists, I couldn't turn the pages quick enough. I had to know what the something terrible that had happened was. The tension builds throughout. I did not care much for Lea or Harry. This fast=paced read held my attention throughout. I never saw the last twist coming.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUK #OneMoreChapter and the author #GeordinaLees for my ARC of #TheLostWife in exchange for an honest review.