Rating: 3.5 ⭐️
Pub Date: June 16, 2025
How I Read It: 🎧

Synopsis
Whitney Falls was supposed to be the perfect small town for Martha to disappear to. She wasn’t supposed to make any new friends, but when the pastor’s wife saves her from an accident, and covers for her, she befriends her, becomes a regular at church, and the pastor and his wife welcome her into their home with open arms. But something is off about Pastor Tim and his wife, Mary. There’s also a strange black car that’s been watching Martha every time she visits Mary. Martha eventually makes a discovery that has her wondering if her friendship with Mary was real or planned. Everyone thinks Tim and Mary are saints, but they may actually be sinners, and Mary knows their secret.

My Thoughts
Well, I didn’t see that coming! I knew the Pastor seemed weird, like he was hiding something, and I didn’t trust Mary one bit, but was not expecting where the storyline went! I picked this book up because it was set in the south and I loved a good southern read. The narrators on the audiobook did a great job with the female voices, but I was a little confused with the male voice because it sounded more like an old man than the handsome young man Pastor Tim was supposed to be. This was a pretty decent thriller, that had my attention for most of the book because I couldn’t wait to see what Tim and Mary were hiding and what Mary was trying to run from in her past.

Themes
🫣 Suspense
🔪 Murder
Kidnapping
Multiple POVs

Ratings
Characters: 4 ⭐️
Pace: 3 ⭐️
Enjoyability: 4 ⭐️
Narrator: 3.5 ⭐️

Thank you Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

This was not a “totally gripping psychological thriller packed with twists”. The premise of this book really hooked me and I was looking forward to a thrilling read, but unfortunately this book fell flat.

Most of the book was like a slow family drama, which is a trap a lot of thrillers fall into. We don’t know much about either of our main characters and Martha will hint at her background being so mysterious, but we don’t actually find out any further information until pretty far into the book. By that time, I didn’t really care about her past.

The book switches timelines and narrators. I listened to the book, which made it easy to follow who was speaking. The narrator for Martha was fine, although I didn’t like the voice used for the Pastor. It made him seem like an old man, not the young 30s ridiculously handsome man he was supposed to be.

All of the action happens in the last quarter of the book, which is too far in my opinion. I didn’t think the twists were all that shocking. The very very end was ridiculous and didn’t make sense. There’s no reason things needed to play out that way. It seems like the author decided there wasn’t enough drama, so the story was drug out for another chapter.

I would have DNFd this book if I hadn’t received a copy from NetGalley. I wanted to give an honest and complete review, since I knew there were expected twists at the end.

My first book by LynDee Walker (love the name!), and I was pleasantly satisfied with her writing. The story starts innocently enough, giving you that feeling of wonder about what's about to happen. It turns dark and twisty fast, and as much as I had my suspicions on what was going on, the ending had my jaw drop! The story moves at a nice pace, and the dual POV was delivered flawlessly. The narrators did a fantastic job. Many thanks to the author and Netgalley for approving the audiobook for an honest review. I am definitely going to check out more books by LynDee

twists and turns on twists and turns! Very much enjoyed this ride. The characters were unique and had a great development through the story. I seriously could not stop listening. There were a few times I looked at the progression and felt as though the story should be further along, but I honestly enjoyed all of it. AND JUST WAIT FOR THAT ENDING. Thank you Netgalley, LynDee Walker, and Bookouture Audio for gifting this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the author, narrators, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free e-audio version of this title in exchange for my review.

This book - wow, what a combination! The story started off strong and you could really feel the eerie, creepy coming up. The last half felt - forced. IT didn't really all fit together and mesh. Changing POV's and time lines got to be rather confusing. I'll admit, I didn't fully see the ending - that was a bit of a shock - but this does feel a lot like many other thrillers out. Very much the feel of a certain very popular author that I'm not a fan of.

This was my first book by LynDee Walker. I would try another one by this author.

3 stars - Recommend to readers of other popular thriller/suspense female authors. And do try the audio - it was good to listen to.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Once my British ears had got used to the accents and I had upped the speed a little, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book and it helped get me through some backbreaking gardening days! I was grateful for the excellent recording and clear narration. Told via dual POVs and timelines which I found easy to follow, it was a dark and thrilling story with lots of red herrings. The pace was good and the twists clever but I did find the ending a tad rushed and the tension didn’t mount to the crescendo I thought it would. With so many good ruses along the way, the end wasn’t as imaginative as I felt the rest of the book deserved . No spoilers, but there were also a couple of loose ends at the end that frustrated me. However, overall it kept me entertained and I’m definitely keen to read more by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for an audiobook ARC of The Pastor’s Wife.

The Pastor’s Wife by Lyndee Walker

A BIG thank you to #NetGalley , #BookoutureAudio and the author for sending me this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

About the book: Told from the POV of two main female characters, Martha and Mary. Martha is a young woman that has a terrible secret and is running from her past. She feels like Whitney Falls is the perfect little town for her to escape and disappear. She intends to keep quiet and keep to herself, go unnoticed.
But after a little accident, she ends up making friends with the pastor’s wife, Mary.
Mary is so so kind to Martha. The type of person you just can’t help liking and wanting to be around. Very soon after meeting they become great friends and Martha starts attending church regularly and she is welcomed in their home with open arms. She even gets a job as their church secretary. Everything seems perfect, until it isn’t.
The more time Martha spends with Mary and her husband, the more she just can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right. It’s not just that Mary looks really uncomfortable when Tim kisses her, or the fact that he seems to control what she eats. It’s much more than that. And on top of all this there’s a strange black car that’s been following Martha around.
After creeping through their house one night, Martha discovers something she wishes she never would’ve discovered.
Everyone thinks the pastor and is wife are saints but Martha knows the truth. What will they do when they discover Martha knows their terrible secret?

What I thought: This started off pretty strong for me. It really grabbed me and I didn’t want to stop listening, but then it got to about the half way point and I just felt like it was dragging a bit. All in all though it held my attention pretty well, and I was satisfied with the conclusion. I would rate this book 3 out 5 stars.

Narrators Stephanie Cannon, Patricia Rodriguez did an amazing job bring this story to life!

This book released July 16, 2025

Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture Audio and LynDee Walker for the audio Arc of The Pastors Wife
Narrated by Stephanie Cannon, Patricia Rodriguez

The Pastor's Wife is a duel POV of two women who seemingly come together randomly after Martha delivers some shopping to Mary, the Pastors Wife and strike up a friendship. Through the two POV's we get to see what these two friends really feel about each other. Martha notices all is not what it seems with Mary and feels her Husband maybe into something unsavoury. Mary, has other motivations for having Martha onside. As the plot unravels, there's some good foreshadowing and a great twist near the end. This makes for a very engaging listen and before I knew it, I was near the end as I didn't want to stop listening.

Stephanie Cannon and Patricia Rodriguez did a great job narrating both our FMC's and the side character's. They did however sound very alike to begin with but I did manage to tell them apart after a few chapters.

4 stars

In the book The Pastor's Wife, author LynDee Walker writes about Martha who shows up in the small town of Whitney Falls. She decides to go to the only church in town which has a new pastor – Pastor Tim and his wife Mary. The new pastor and his wife are like movie stars and wield a lot of power in this small community. After becoming friends with Mary, she begins finding out things are not as great as they appear on the surface. But that’s ok, because Martha’s own life is not what it appears to be either. This could have been a great story but it was too predictable and the story was disjointed at times. The audio-book narration started poor but got better as the book went on. If you can’t do a good accent reading, don’t do one. I received a copy of this audio-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me.
I was so drawn in by the title and blurb—it felt like it had so much promise. But once I started listening, it turned out to be very different from what I expected. I kept hoping it would pick up, but ultimately, I ended up disappointed and decided to DNF.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t work for me.

The premise sounded intriguing, but the first third of the book was very slow and lacked the momentum or tension needed to pull me in. I found myself struggling to stay engaged, and by the time things picked up, I had already lost interest in the characters and their arcs.

I do appreciate the attempt at a layered narrative with emotional stakes, but the pacing and execution just didn’t land for me. Might work better for readers who enjoy slower-burning, introspective suspense — but this wasn’t a good match for my taste.

This book was wild, so much going on, so much twist and turns, so much drama, and chaos and the ending was absolutely not what I expected! I knew things that were happening were bad, but not that bad. No spoilers 😊 i was gripped, I really liked Martha, everyone underestimated her, and who she really is. As for Mary & Tim, just wow, the worst of the worst. It shows that the most evil humans hide in plain sight. Recommended read. 5star ⭐️😊

This was an entertaining book to say the least. Was it the best no, a lot of the twists were eye rolling and just fell flat. There were a lot of things that just seemed off and missing for me in this book to make it that much better.

HAPPY #PUBDAY @lyndeewalkerbooks 🎉🎉

The Pastor’s Wife ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was fun! Maybe I’m not as good at guessing plot twists as I’d like to think, but I definitely didn’t predict everything that went down in this one. ESP the first one— I gasped! You’ll know when you get to it. 😉 This book has small town vibes, dark secrets, and complex women with hidden pasts. The audiobook narrators were great and definitely helped hook me from the start. The ending felt a little unfinished and left me wanting a little more, but overall, a quick and enjoyable read, and a fun/different kind of thriller!

Thank you to @netgalley and @bookouture for this advanced audio copy! 💕

#netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleyreview #thepastorswife #booknerd #bookstagram #audiobookstagram #audiobookreview #audiobooklover

Martha is new in town, running from her past, and just barely getting by.

That is until she meets Mary, the local pastor’s wife.

Mary seems to take Martha under her wing. The next thing the young woman knows, she’s gone from living in a dump of a motel to staying in a beautiful room attached to Pastor Tim’s house and from working at the local grocery to being the pastor’s church secretary.

But even though Mary has been more than gracious and giving, Martha starts to think that the pastor isn’t just doing the Lord’s work.

He seems to have a wandering eye, and something isn’t quite right about the big checks coming into the church. Then, people start to disappear. And Mary comes to Martha in need of unexpected help.

I thought The Pastor’s Wife by LynDee Walker was going to be a bubble gum thriller, an in some ways it was, but it also addressed some deep, disturbing issues.

Overall, it was an ok read. It had a lot of moving parts and was a bit unrealistic at times. I gave it three stars.

This is my first LynDee Walker book and I was NOT disappointed! I have added her other books to my TBR. THE PASTOR’S WIFE is well-written and it kept me hooked from the very first page! It is truly a must-read (or listen). The narration and production of the audiobook was very well done, too!

2.5 stars rounded up.

This book started off super fun! I loved the narration, the jumping timelines, and dual narrators with different POVs. The southern accents in the audio book made it a fun listen. The book started off great and got me hooked but about halfway through it felt a little lost. Once it started to come together in the end, it just got a little messy for me and there were lots of loose ends and I felt like shock value was added just for that and maybe didn’t need to added in?

All in all, it was a fun listen but I wish the author went another direction with the ending.

Thank you so much to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the audio book arc!

In The Pastor’s Wife, Mary and her husband Tim, and soon after, Martha, become the newest residents of Whitney Falls. Tim, the new pastor, and Mary have moved from town-to-town with a mysterious past. Martha is leaving her own past behind and trying to remain as inconspicuous as she can. But the day Mary and Martha’s lives collide, they quickly become best friends. Mary helps improve Martha’s situation, and the more time Martha spends with the pastor and Mary, she observes something isn’t right or as perfect as they want to be perceived.

Wonderfully voice narrated in dual POVs by Stephanie Cannon and Pat Rodriquez. It’s very character-driven with plenty of secrets and lies that kept me wondering and guessing! Oh My Bejeezus, I could not have imagined the sinister things that were taking place in Whitney Falls.

There’s no coincidence the two MFC names, Mary and Martha, are symbolic of Mary and Martha in the Bible!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the audio narration. This is my honest review.

First of all, I would like to thank Netgalley, LynDee Walker and Hachette UK - Bookouture for making this audiobook available for review. It was truly a pleasure, I hope the release is a success and I'm already looking forward to the next ones!

With the voices of Stephanie Cannon as Martha and Patricia Rodriguez as Mary, The Pastor's Wife takes us to a small town, where Martha ends up falling in love with Mary, the kind and perfect wife of Pastor Tim.

In the first chapters, it is clear that there is something wrong going on in the lives of both, even though each one does her best to hide it from the other residents of the town (or at least tries).
Martha had no plans to make friends, in fact she preferred to go unnoticed, but the care and kindness that Mary showed her after an accident made her give in and over time she even ended up going to church and the couple's house more often and enthusiastically. We also have Mary's POV, where we can see how she deals with her emotions and how she modulates her actions in a well-thought-out way.
It was with these POVs that the book won me over, I imagined the book taking another direction, until I began to understand how Mary's mind worked.

Since it is an audiobook, it is also essential to take the narration into consideration.
The voices were pleasant to listen to and the diction was very good.
They knew how to apply emotion at the necessary moments, without exaggeration, which contributes to the immersion in the story.
I heard an accent that reminded me of Texas (or some other very similar one, I'm sorry, English is not my native language so I still have some difficulties in that sense). At first I thought it would make it difficult to listen, but on the contrary, it was super easy to listen to and this touch only made it even more interesting.

This book was very suspenseful. The secrets unfolded slowly but they were def crazy secrets! I loved the narration and the characters were misleading which kept the story interesting. ⛪️