Amazing!! So original, well written characters that were relateable. Tiwts I didnt see coming. A good writing style that made the pages just fly by and a cleverly plotted out book overall. I'd recommend it to everyone who enjoys thrillers and domestic noirs

This was my second time reading a Kimberly Belle book. I really enjoy it , had me confused at times. . but the ending wasn't what I thought it would be,

4.5 STARS!!
This caught my attention one because of the cover and two because it's set in Amsterdam and involves diamonds. So you can bet I was super excited for this. The Expat Affair was a fun, twisty thriller that focuses on two Expat's in Amsterdam, a murder, missing diamonds, family secrets and affairs. To say I was addicted would be an understatement I devoured this within two sittings as I just couldnt get enough and was loving my time needing to know what was going to happen next and if my suspicions were lining up. My own negative is the amount of repition we have about the diamond business (as someone who's worked in the industry it was probably because I already knew the ins and outs so the repition felt unnecessary for me haha!) But that really doesnt take my rating of the book down as I enjoyed it so much anyway.

Who killed Xander? Kimberly Belle keeps her readers engaged with this new fast paced thriller
Two expat women, Rayna & Willow find their lives entangled following Xander’s brutal murder,
Rayna spent the night with Xander, they matched on a dating app, they both had a lot to drink, the shower running in the morning wakens her, she decides to join him in the shower only to find him dead, strangled with a zip tie and a ginger cut off!, Rayna panics, dresses hurriedly and leaves, she does ring the police.
Willow is married to Xander’s former boss Thomas, he is heir to Prins diamond empire. There are diamonds and a necklace missing from Xander’s safe. Willow starts to receive anonymous threats via text regarding the missing diamonds and Rayna finds herself a suspect for Xander’s murder and the theft of the diamonds, it doesn’t help that she posted a picture of herself to instagram wearing the diamond necklace, she is also being followed and has found trackers in her belongings.
Both women find themselves in a tangle of lies and deceit as they navigate the underground diamond world.
There are other interesting female characters who play a roll in this rollercoaster read, Thomas’s sister Fleur, and Rayna’s room mate Ingrid.
This is an action packed read set in Amsterdam, there are twists and turns which keep the reader guessing to the end, if you are a fan of this author you will not be disappointed.

Many thanks to Net Galley and HQ Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

When I saw this book I thought it was going to be focused on a love affair but I was so wrong. This gripping thriller focuses on the diamond industry in Amsterdam, particularly those connected to The House of Prins.

What a page turner! This thriller will have you hooked from the very beginning.

We follow Rayna, who has found herself in an unfortunate position of discovering her tinder date, Xander - an employee of the House of Prins, brutaly murdered in his apartment while she slept. This paired with stolen diamonds has her pegged as the main suspect, but if she's not the killer then she's a possible target. And Willow, the wife of Thomas Prins CEO of the house of Prins who's trying to hold on to her strained marriage for the sake of their son Sem.

I found both Rayna and Willow likeable and became completely invested in their situations. I loved the setting of Amsterdam, I don't think I've read a book set there before. It is written so well that I felt like I was there in Amsterdam with them. With both women being expats, not being fluent in the language, and unsure of the legal system there it all adds to the tension.

The story is fast paced, high stakes, chocked full of tension that has you on the edge of your seat. I really enjoyed this read. I could see this becoming a blockbuster film.

Thank you to HQ for this advanced copy.

Just like every other Kimberly Belle story, I could not put this down. Dark, unpredictable and beautifully set in Amsterdam, I loved every second of this book, its setting and its characters. Highly-recommended xx

Started great and ended great and kept the momentum throughout
New author to me and throughly enjoyed the writing and will be looking up previous books
Enjoyed the setting of Amsterdam,not ,many books seem to be set there so had my interest immediately
A good read

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

This is a new author to me and the book title read sold it to me
I thoroughly enjoyed this read



Highly recommend

The Expat Affair is a well written and researched book. Nice to have a book based in Amsterdam which is the first one for me and having visited there made it even more interesting. Some good interesting characters and unexpected twists. Another good book by Kimberly Belle.

Kimberley Belle is a new author for me but I was intrigued by the premise of this novel especially having visited Amsterdam recently. This novel follows Rayna, an American expat living in Amsterdam who finds herself plunged into the glamorous but deadly Dutch diamond industry. We have missing jewels, a dead body and a game of cat and mouse as Rayna wonders who she can really trust. The novel also features Willow, who married into the famous Prins family, renowned for their diamonds. She’s unhappy in her marriage and she’s also drawn into the dangerous underbelly of the diamond market but when she meets Rayna, she wonders if she can use that to her advantage. This book certainly keeps you on your toes. It’s fast pace and keeps you guessing to the end. Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and the author for the chance to review.

THE EXPAT AFFAIR BY KIMBERLY BELLE.
Release date set for the 3rd of June 2025.
I thought this was an interesting story.
Love the cover for this one.
It held my attention throughout.
This is my first book by Kimberly and I'll be reading others.

It was brilliantly paced… and from the very first page, I found myself engrossed in the read! I had to remember to breathe, it was so gripping! UNPUTDOWNABLE!!

I absolutely LOVED this book!!! It kept me on my toes the whole time and instantly grabbed my attention. It's a must read!

This book started with a bang, ended with a bang! It kept me captivated from page one I wasn’t able to put the book down, what ending!

A definite five star read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rayna Dumont moves to Amsterdam from the USA for a fresh start following a messy divorce. She hooks up with Xander on a Tinder date and after a night of booze and the etcs, she wakes the next morning to discover his dead body in the shower. Obviously, she’s both shocked and terrified, especially when she believes the killer could still be there in Xander’s penthouse apartment, so she does a runner but once safe, she calls the Dutch police. Another American, Willow. Prins witnesses the arrival of the emergency services and listens to the gossip of the school gate mafia. Willow is married to Thomas Prins, the CEO of a multimillion diamond empire who, it transpires, Xander worked for. What is Willow‘s connection to Xander as it becomes apparent there is one? To add to the mystery of who kills Xander and why, it seems that millions of euros of diamonds are missing from his safe. Has Rayna been unbelievably unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or is she a patsy? A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.

I really enjoy this latest novel from Kimberly Belle which is definitely a page turner for me with a fascinating focus on the diamond industry and a highly dysfunctional family in the uber rich Prins. Just because you’re rich doesn’t necessarily make you likeable and this bunch certainly aren’t, being entitled, devious backstabbers who I wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw them! Willow and her lovely son Sem stick out like sore thumbs. However, characters like that can make for a juicy read as there are so many nefarious deeds and multiple questions about who can be trusted.

I love the Amsterdam setting which is used to great effect in the storytelling, making it an atmospheric backdrop to the plot and it’s certainly action packed from beginning to end. There are numerous twists and turns some of which are predictable and others less so and it does get a bit convoluted towards the end. However, it is still very entertaining as there are numerous villains in this piece and it’s definitely dramatic.

Overall, I enjoy the diamond industry focus on this and whilst they’re not true blood diamonds here, the end result amounts to the same thing.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HQ for the much appreciated early copy and returning for an honest review.

One-time waitress and American transplant Willow and scion of a famous Dutch diamond house Thomas would same to have little in common. And perhaps it is true, Willow now things after some years of marriage and raising a medically fragile young son together.

Because Thomas and Willow both have secrets from each other, and the mysterious disappearance of the famous set of diamonds from Thomas' family business is only one of the challenges currently on their plates...

Two murdered diamond professionals, an American woman in Amsterdam, a family full of secrets, and more twists than you can shake a stick at make this story a complicated and entertaining read. Kimberly Belle has done it again!

A fast paced thriller set in Amsterdam, a city the author knows well. The two protagonists (the ex-pats) though very different women, are well written. I loved the setting and the cut throat world of diamonds intriguing.

two lives become entangled and turns out that diamonds arent either of their best friends.
i never knew a diamond industry book could be so interesting and thrilling,
Rayna has had a bitter divorce after catching her husband cheating. wanting to reinvent herself she gets on with creating a new life, one where she is braver and wilder than before. sh takes this literally when on a night out she instantly falls for the man she meets. hes good looking, charming and ultra rich. there date goes well. but after a night of heavy fun and obvious drinking she wakes up alone. or you could call it alone since the date in question is now dead. murdered to be precise. another terrible thing to this scene is that Rayna slept through the whole thing. oh and Xander has also been robbed.
so yeh, Rayna is now a suspect.
we also have Willow. she married into this powerful game of diamonds that Xander was part of. she married Thomas who was Xanders former boss. things arent so good for her at home right now so this news isnt going to go down well with Thomas. and when Willow gets pulled deeper into what is turning very dark situation she knows she must find the only other person who could help. Rayna. but what comes next shows just how dark and deep this industry is. and neither of them are safe.
this is a fast paced adventure which has a mixture of all sorts of thriller tropes mixed in with an added cat and mouse type boost to it.
you as the reader are both feeling the tension of the woman and also from trying to answer your own questions about just what is going on. who can they trust and who can the reader trust.

This was quite a complicated read, there was a lot going on and quite a few characters to get your head around.
The main two are Rayna and Willow who tell the story in alternate chapters. Rayna is the Tinder date of diamond dealer Xander who works at the House of Prins, Diamond merchants in Amsterdam. Willow is the wife of Thomas Prins, the ceo and mother to his child, four year old Sem. Both women are American expats- hence the title.
When Rayna wakes up after a first date with Xander and finds him dead in the shower, she immediately reports it to the police. Willow has the perfect life as wife of an exceedingly wealthy man but it soon becomes apparent that she has something to hide. As both women struggle to work out what has happened, danger seems to edge ever closer and it takes all their cunning to work out what has happened whilst managing to stay alive.
This was an enjoyable read although I did find there was a lot of detail which sometimes made it difficult to work out what was actually happening.
Both Willow and Rayna were likeable although prone to making some strange decisions. I found the background of Amsterdam interesting and evocative. The author obviously knew the city well and used her knowledge to good effect.
The story was entertaining although overly complicated in places. The subject of “diamonds” was well researched and I certainly learnt a lot about this theme.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.