Everyone at some point has seen an influencer or reality star doing something and so I found the premise of this book really interesting and couldn't wait to read it, however, it was so much better than I thought it would be.
It kept me hooked and I couldn't put it down I read it in one very short sitting. I would definitely highly recommend

Madison March is a Trad wife with a difference - she is an influencer with thousands of followers seeing her perfect life and family on line but the truth is very different. Her public persona is a lie as is her life with her controlling husband and as the mask starts to slip so does her future. I was not expecting the twist in the story about her past and it was done seamlessly. A very good but uncomfortable read at times.

This was quite a fun modern idea for a novel and certainly taps into the current obssession with influencer groups like the #TradWives.
Easy to read and with a few twists it was quite fun and pacy, BUT I think I would have liked it to be a bit more complex, really digging into the insecurities and darkness that could exist in such a world, or maybe the lack of feeling/connection with reality and the toll it takes to create such a superficial world. I liked the physical / criminal / thriller story but think could have benefitted from more of a psychological approach.
Also think there were some unexplored areas - like the relationship with rival influencer Camilla that could have gone further.
Overall a good read but still think there is scope for a novel to really dig deep into how influencer life can take over and affect your family, life, reality, soul etc.

Madison's life seams perfect on the outside but what horrors and depravities lurk within?
A great read and sometimes a hard read for all of the right reasons.

Hopefully if any of the negative points of this amazing work of fiction ring true with any readers they will please seek help, talk to someone. It is a great thing to be a 'trad wife' and an privelege to be able to do this if the right circumstances allow and feels right but not if forced to do so.

This was such fun. I pretty much neglected everything in my life to read it in a day and a half. It’s told from three POVs and does a delightful job of telling a story full of secrets and lies. Recommended.

I read a digital ARC of this book via netgalley.

I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading this, to be honest I didn't even know what a Tradwife was!

But what a great psychological thriller.

Madison March is a trad wife with millions of followers, a perfect husband, children and family life.
Her instagram account paints this perfect picture for all to see, and in this day and age, what's unusual about that?

This twisty thriller made this book hard to put down, I enjoyed it from start to finish.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I absolutely hate the whole trad wife trend so I thoroughly enjoyed how this one ended.

Tomorrow I'm putting in my two weeks' notice.  From now on, I will be a proper, submissive wife, just as the Lord intended: to cherish, serve, and obey my husband; to cook his food, mend his clothes, and, most importantly, to keep the home fires burning.

Yeah... I would never do that.

Madison, on the other hand, made that choice and dedicated her life to her husband and children. This Wonder Woman is also a top influencer. She's got hundreds of thousands of followers and nearly as many dark secrets.

I loved the book! It's gripping, twisty, and dark, keeping you on edge the whole time. I'm usually quite good at predicting book endings, but I didn't see those twists coming!
You should definitely read this!

Living life online. Trad wife lifestyle. Totally dominated by rancher husband.
Life is not what the camera protrays. Secrets and lies. Dual time lines of living a traditional life.
You will be horrified and amazed as the story unfolds.
An unexpected ending that will astound.

Madison March is the perfect wife, with the perfect family and the perfect life. Her Instagram shows she spends her days baking sourdough and picking vegetables from the garden while watching her children play in the fields surrounding her Montana homestead. Dinner is always on the table for her husband, and they end their days sitting on the porch, watching the sun go down.
It’s a life anyone would dream of and aspire to and as the snippets and comments from the TradWife's Instagram show many do aspire to live that 'dream'.

In reality though, as this clever book shows, that dream may in fact be a nightmare!

Having just finished watching the Netflix Documentary Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing when I started reading this book I was struck by similarities between the two - particularly the manipulation by mothers of their children to portray a particular picture (and also ensure a particular lifestyle). The patriarchal, misogynistic backdrop in which the main protagonist finds herself is similarly also very disturbing with clear elements of coercive control evident throughout. So the book itself has lots to make you think - and to make you grateful for ie not being in that TradWife's life! I have to admit that I hadn't guessed who the man was who was coming to the farm looking for Mrs March and I thought the end twist was great. I enjoyed this book and am grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

An easy read thriller that grips you from the start and has some good twists I didn’t see coming. The world of Trad Wives was alien to me and the insights given into it in this book made me think it’s best left like that. Seemingly perfect lives posted on Instagram but hiding dark secrets. It’s a very well written book - none of the characters are particularly endearing, some are very easy to dislike and add a decidedly menacing element to the story. Overall a very good read that will keep you turning the pages.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review and to the author for her insights, imagination and hard work.

💭 #QOTD What is your favourite meal?

Title: The Trad Wife's Secret
Author: Liane Child
Pages: 350
Rating: 3/5
Spice/Romance level: 🩷🩷 (FTB)

#Arc eCopy ( #gifted ) - review left voluntarily
UK publish date - 22nd May 2025

Madison March portrays the perfect wife, perfect family on her Instagram. Where "men are men" and the wives are subservient (even if the men might be wrong)

They live on a homestead. Everything is made from scratch and the aesthetic just seems like a "perfect life" but is everything really as it seems?

When I saw the Instagram post announcing the closure of @_trulymadison_ I had to read this book. I was intrigued.

The book is written from different perspectives and I really enjoyed the plotlines. There were even some twists that I just did not see coming!

I found some of the story validating. I find myself sometimes comparing myself to the perfect instagram influencers. Their homes. Their lifestyles. (My mind went to Mrs Hinch and Stacey Solomon) And mostly, I feel a bit rubbish about myself. So this book validated that the perfect aesthetic is just that, and there is a lot more going on behind the camera, and that life isn't suitable for everyone!

I was pushed to feeling uncomfortable with the m!sogony, and how things are just accepted because whatever the man says goes. Even if you don't agree with it! The same with

I enjoyed the intensity . The questioning of how far would you go to be loved. To be wanted. To be seen and for all of your followers.

There are things that happened in this book which had me infuriated. From domestic and child abu$e, r@pe, lack of consent, the "you owe me" mentality. Without it the plot wouldn't be able to contribute but it had me frustrated that someone would stay in a relationship like this.

Overall, I was completely hooked. This was another book I binged in a day. It was fast paced and gripping, with a great unexpected ending!

You'll love this book if you like
- thriller
- secret lives
- trad wife secrets
- books with twists
- behind the Instagram
- so many lies

I love the hype there is around this book at the moment but that always makes me nervous to start it! However I can definitely say this title not only lives up to the hype but surpasses it by a mile! An amazingly twisty thriller peppered with social media quotes and insights. I love the complex characters of both Madison and Cally and the differing views they have throughout the story. A deliciously untraditional thriller which looks at how social media and real life don’t always align. @_trulymadison_

I requested this one on netgalley a while ago and it was lower down my TBR pile when I started seeing all the other posts about it. I thought it would be good but gosh it lives up to its hype.

It's written from the POV of three women , Brianna, Cally and of course Maddison. The chapters are short and the suspense of the story keeps you hooked and wanting 'just one more chapter' (spoiler alert- you can't stop at just one more).

The women and their story is a lovely story of friendship (in some cases) as well the gripping thriller storyline. I could just imagine this as a film but nothing will be as good as the book.

A great book that is definitely a must read for 2025. I would recommend it to anyone.

This is an easy 5 star read. It had me gripped from the very first Instagram post I saw announcing the closure of the Truly_Madison account. I just knew I had to read it and I was not disappointed at all.

The story follows several POVs including Madison March, her children’s tutor Cally and the mysterious Brianna Wyoming. Madison is a traditional wife, a stay at home mum who cooks, cleans, looks after her 4 Children and her Macho Husband, Michael all whilst creating content for her millions and millions of online followers!

I loved Madison and her somewhat perfect lifestyle. The prologue had me guessing what happens right from the very start. I’m pleased to say I never saw the twist coming, it was so clever how everything pieced together in the end!

I imagine this will be the book of the summer if not the year when it is published on 22nd May. Everyone wants to be online famous with millions of followers but I’m sure that opinion may change once you have read this and seen the challenges it may come with!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

I really liked the concept of this book and at first it felt modern and intriguing.
At first the March family felt quite real and the Instagram/TikTok addictions felt genuine given the current climate.

After a few chapters, every character became less and less relatable or even likeable. The motivations for Cally to stick around felt weak, especially given that her other options were blatantly spoken of. Brianna felt insanely childish, and the phone addiction felt incredibly forced and unrealistic. Michael had no characteristics other than ‘controlling cowboy’. I could go on.

The idea of delving into the murky life behind a TikTok family is a good one, I just think the author failed to make even one character likeable. Had there been one normal character, I would have felt more connected to the book and had someone to root for. I assume this was supposed to be Cally, but she felt very shallow and difficult to care about as well.

The twist didn’t really have much impact as, by that point, I didn’t feel strongly for any outcome so didn’t care for the wellbeing or backstory of anyone.

Overall there’s a good idea here, just executed poorly.

A great read. A well constructed story with many twists and turns. I did not see the ending coming. I enjoyed the characters and thought they were well constructed. The world of the influencer and the tradwife is interestingly portrayed. The - spoiler alert - coercive control theme is well handled. A good book would highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley, and the publisher, for this ARC copy of The Tradwife's Secret. This book was an easy read- and I flew through it. I thought the characters were well-written, and had sufficient depth for the genre. This thriller takes the trad-wife controversy, and turns it into a satisfying thriller. The twist at the end works well with the story, and I just really enjoy a book with multiple POVs.

Book review

The tradwife’s secret by Liane Child
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

👋 morning everyone,

I just devoured ‘The Tradwife’s secret by the talented @LianeChildAuthor and finally found a book I could not put down!

First a little bit of blurb for you all “This book dives deep into the seemingly idyllic world of Eleanor. From her meticulously organized home to her lovingly prepared meals, her life appears to be the epitome of domestic bliss. But beneath the starched aprons and freshly baked scones, a secret simmers, threatening to unravel everything she holds dear.”

I loved that the illusion of a perfect life was completely turned on its head in this book, I think we all feel like we are not measuring up at times and its so easy to feel like a failure for simply not being able to achieve this ideal perfect life that is impossible to actually achieve !

This book starts with a dark undertone running through it but as the pages turn the plot becomes darker and darker and had my completely hooked ! I really don’t want to give anything away but if you have read it please let me know as I need to talk more about this !!

I wish that I could believe that the dark undercurrent in this book was far from reality but after also watching ‘Devil in the family’ on Disney its terrifying that this is far closer to reality for some than we would ever imagine.

With the documentary about Ruby Franke and the memoir written by her daughter, interest in this book should be strong. The novel needs another pass through editing before released to the general public, but I think those who seek out thrillers and ripped from the headline stories will enjoy it as a quick, mindless read.