Book Description
My life was perfect until she came along. Norah.
Younger, prettier and about to marry my own ex-husband, they are a walking cliché.
I hate her. I hate them both.
She’s taken everything from me – my husband, my life, my home - but I refuse to allow her to take Cassie, my beautiful daughter. That's a step too far.
Now I’ve discovered that Norah plans to have a baby of her own and that causes me no end of problems. She could destroy everything and reveal my deepest, darkest secrets.
That can never be allowed to happen.
No matter what it costs…
A brand new psychological thriller that will keep you guessing till the end! Perfect for fans of Sue Watson, Nina Manning, Shalini Boland
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Ex-Wife' by Sally Rigby and Amanda Ashby
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Sally Rigby, Amanda Ashby, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random resources Tours.
Publication date 19th April 2023
This is the first book I have read by either of these authors
I was originally drawn to this book by its gorgeous eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that this book is 'A brand new psychological thriller that will keep you guessing till the end! Perfect for fans of Sue Watson, Nina Manning, Shalini Boland.' I am a huge fan of all three of Shalini Boland and Sue Watson so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Boldwood. I have yet to read a book published by Boldwood that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of 27 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is written in third person perspective with the main protagonists being Alice Hargraves, Cassie Hargreaves, Norah Richmond and DI Belinda Day. The benefits of third person perspective with multiple protagonists are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.
WHAT did I just read!!!! WOW!!! I mean seriously Wow!! I was NOT expecting that lot fair play!!! This has GOT to start with a MASSIVE WELL DONE SALLY AND AMANDA!!!! Ooopps sorry, yes, needed a minute to get over that but I've just left you hanging there... Sorry.... Let me tell you more...
Firstly let's start off with the writing style, etc!! This book is an extremely well written book by this amazing author which had me hook line and sinker!!! It is so smoothly and beautifully written with vivid descriptions I completely forgot I was even reading a book a few times. The blurb, title and cover really fit the storyline. Sally and Amanda work perfectly together to create an absolutely explosive and addictive storyline that had me hooked from the gripping first chapter to the absolutely shocking ending!!!
As you can tell I LOVED the storyline. I found it to be realistic, very fast paced and I read it in just several hours!!! I loved the setting and atmosphere and just well... Everything!!! Twists after shocks after turns!!! Arggghhh... Its so hard to NOT say anything about them as it will give too much away and spoil it for future readers but it definitely left me speechless over and over!!! I have read hundreds of psychological books and it gets harder and harder to keep my interest and to shock me but these fantastic authors managed it hook, line and sinker Just brilliant fair play and all links in and wraps up perfectly!!! Alice Hargreaves is on trial for the murder of her ex husband Mark's new fiancee Norah along with something else that I will not mention as I do not want to spoil it for future readers. All the evidence points in her direction and as the saying goes 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!' Alice has accepted her fate and is just waiting to see what she is sentenced to. Sally and Amanda take us back to 6 months ago and to what led to this trial. We see the relationships between Alice, her daughter Cassie, her ex husband Mark, Mark's new fiancée Norah, Cassie's new boyfriend Scott and Norah's brother Felix. I will go into more details of what I thought of the characters later in my review. During the book Sally and Amanda weave the storyline along with the past and present together perfectly and leading the readers up to some extremely explosive twists that I would never have seen coming. I cannot remember the last time I flew through a book so quickly. Each and every time I went to put it down to do something my fingers were itching to pick it back up as I just HAD to know what happened next!! Amanda and Sally's evocative writing skills ensure you are sucked deep into the storyline seeing everything that is happening and feeling the tension, stress and suspense that each of the main characters are going through. My heart was in my throat throughout reading this fast paced, gripping and gritty psychological thriller! This may be the first book I have read by these amazing authors but if all their books are like this I cannot wait to get stuck into them and I have added all their previous books to my wish list already and look forward to what they come out with next!! It is ram packed with family, lies, twists, heartbreak, twists, friendship, tension, stress, suspense and everything you could ask for in a psychological thriller. I can't say more than that as I don't want to spoil it for future readers so if you want to know you'll have to grab yourself a copy!! You won't regret it!!
It is set over multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture
Just like with the storyline the characters come to life with Sally and Amanda's fantastic writing skills. They are well rounded, realistic and strong making them all the more believable. Alice's life falls apart as she is arrested for the murder of her ex husband Mark's new fiancee along and her ex husband and daughter shun her. Being a parent myself my heart absolutely broke for Alice as she not only had to deal with the heartbreak of losing her husband but also deal with the attitude and problems that come with raising a teenager that has her own problems along with a family seperation added. I really liked AAlice but I could have shouted at her on a few occasions for some of the things that she did. However, it feels like she cant do right for doing wrong when it comes to her daughter Cassie and while she dislikes her new boyfriend Scott, neither do Mark, Norah or Felix, Cassie does what the majority of teenagers do and the more her parents didn't want her to do something the more she pushed against them. Regardless of how annoyed at Cassie |I was at times my heart also went out to her as she was going through problems with Scott along with the breakdown of her family. Where most teenagers would go completely off the rails I do believe that Cassie's behaviour was pretty mild compared to most others would have been. I actually liked Norah too and although she did get engaged to Mark not long after he separated from his wife, she was not the one who had been in a relationship so she didn't really do anything wrong and she was actually a likeable character. I wasn't a huge fan of Mark but I will say that he didn't slate Alice in regards to her parenting skills and they did try to do their best and work together with Alice for Cassie. The only one I actually didn't like was Scott who I didn't trust from the start and didn't like the way he was with Cassie. I won't go into more details as I don't want to risk giving anything away but Amanda and Sally really have done an amazing job constructing an addictive and explosive psychological thriller with fantastic and varied characters that you just won't be able to put down!!
Congratulations Sally and Amanda on an explosive success!!! Welcome both to my favourite author club!! Here's to many more successes 🥂!!!
Clear your schedules before picking this up as you will not be able to put it down!!! "
Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the first chapter of Sally and Amanda's 'Remember Me?' which looks just as addictive as this one and one Im looking forward to reading myself!
Overall an absolutely page turning, addictive, gripping and explosive must read that will keep you addicted from the very start to the fantastic ending!!!
Genres covered in this novel include Psychological Suspense, Women's Psychological Thriller, Domestic Thriller, Hard-Boiled Mystery, Crime, Domestic Suspense, Thriller & Mystery Adventures, International Mystery & Crime, Coming Of Age Fiction, Women's Psychological Fiction, Suspense Thriller, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Psychological Fiction, Women's Writers & Fiction, Psychological Literary Fiction, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Crime, Thriller & Mystery Adventures, British Detective Stories and Mystery amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors, fans of Miranda Smith, Sheryl Browne, Sue Watson, K.L. Slater. Nina Manning, Shalini Boland, Lisa Jewell, Ruth Ware, Gillian Flynn and anyone looking for an explosive page turner!!!
318 pages.
This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle via Amazon, free on kindle unlimited and £9.99 in paperback at time of review which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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Author Bios
Amanda Ashby and Sally Rigby are a crime writing partnership. Both authors live in New Zealand, have been friends for eighteen years and agree about everything (except musicals). They decided to collaborate on a psychological thriller which they then entered into a competition, run by Boldwood, and which they won!
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Purchase Link
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3IaIhSM
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