This is just a frightening book. We follow the main character Ella as she wakes up after a bicycle vs vehicle accident. Her husband at the hospital and he has taken control of her life. The only problem is, she is not married and the man that claims to be her husband is supposed to be dead and Ella was the one that killed him. Ella can't call out for help or else he will tell them about how Ella is a murderer.

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and I could not put this book down. I just had to know what was going to happen to Ella. I recommend this book.

"Work, home, sleep."

That's been Ella Sinclair's daily routine for the past 10 years. She steers clear of all social entanglements, keeps to herself, and does her job the best she can. Then, the accident. A van comes from out of nowhere and she lands in critical care with multiple trauma injuries leaving her encased in a leg cast with a pin in her knee and a broken arm. She's thrown when the nurse tells her that her husband has been to see her every day. Ella has never been married. Under threat of exposure of a past that incriminates her (a DVD), she agrees to go home with Jacob -- and that's when the nightmare begins. NO SPOILERS.

Yes, there's a twist and I still can't get my head around it. I found so much of this domestic drama to be hard to believe and implausible on so many levels. I tried to relate to the main character, but found it impossible as I just wanted to shake Ella until she got some sense. The narrative shifts back and forth in time from Ella's days as a student at university when the calamitous event occurred and her present predicament. In addition, there's a guy from her present work, Liam, who has his own voice and tracks her down when Ella doesn't return to her job. Oh and there's a twin brother, Harry. Yes, it all comes together in a dramatic conclusion and I had to go back a few chapters to see how the author had dangled enough red herrings to lead me astray in my predictions. There were actually still a few loose ends and unanswered questions once the big reveal occurred.

Did I enjoy it? Well, I found it hard to put down as I wanted to see what was on that videotape that would make Ella stay with her "husband" and to understand what might prevent her from telling some of the people she met that she was being kept prisoner. Let me say that I still don't buy it but I had a couple of hours of entertainment while reading. Just make sure that if you read this that you can have a serious amount of skill in suspension of disbelief. Maybe I'm just jaded from having read so many similar books and I'm sure I'm in the minority finding myself incapable of it.

This isn't the first book by this author that I've read, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-book ARC to read and review.

One of the best suspense/thrillers I have read all year. Samantha Hayes sure knows how to keep you guessing. Just when you think you have figured it out, another twist comes out of no where. All of the characters have such strong personalities and they are easy to follow through out the book.
I like that it goes back and forth from present to past and gives you so many details. Great book.

Let's start at the very beginning. As a main character, Ella was very easy to overlook. It was easy to tell that the author wrote her to be very under the radar. However, I found her to be very memorable. Which, in my opinion, was great. Although not a new idea, the author did a good job in her own telling of Ella waking up from a coma and finding out she had a husband. Initially, I found myself feeling very unsure at the direction the book was going to take. Although it was very quickly revealed.

The rest of the characters were not quite as unique although they were made out to be. Not to mention, they were incredibly cliche. I would have loved to dig a little deeper on some of them. Especially the "nerdy" kid from the library. Honestly, I was unsure why he was even in the book because he was keyed in on quite a few times but the story never evolved with him. I kept thinking that he had a bigger role to play.

As for the story itself, I thought that there were a few things that were rather unbelievable. In the end, I found myself having more questions than answers. Overall, it was enjoyable and I would recommend it as a quick read to friends.

HOT DAMN!!! This was one disturbingly dark and addictive read!

This book was claustrophobic, atmospheric, and completely engrossing.... some books you read and some books you live, this was definitely the latter... I was on pins and needles throughout this book, breathing every breath and feeling every fear write along with Ella...

Ella has a secret, a secret so dark that it has her trapped in her own life... work Eat Sleep Repeat.... no social life, no friends, no romantic entanglements, but it is better than the alternative... facing her passed.... then one day she gets in a horrible accident and wakes up in the hospital and is told by the nurse that her husband will be right back... The problem? Ella doesn’t have a husband.... so who is this man? Who is this Jacob? You know he is someone from Ella’s passed, but what does he have over her? And why is she letting him play this terrifying game?

Told from both the present and the past you really get to see Ella before and after the secret that changed her life.... Ella is a very sympathetic character and the more you get to know her younger self the more you realize how much this secret event has impacted her life.... Jacob is a monster, the kind of character you love to hate! He is evil to the core and so cruel, and just when you think he can’t get any crueler he does... there is abuse in this book both emotional and physical, so if that is a trigger for you this is not the book for you...

Absolutely recommend this dark and twisted story with an ending that I definitely did not see coming...

*** many thanks to Bookouture for my copy of this book ***

This is a griping tale indeed... Anna awakes in hospital to be told her husband has been at her side the whole time looking after her and ooh how wonderful he is. Ella has never been married.. so who is this man? When he arrives he is menacing and she has to play along. She is trapped by this man and has to find her way out of this nightmare.

I thoroughly enjoyed this page turner of a book. I was desperate for Ella to find a way out of this awful situation and the story kept me up into the night to find out if she could.

I would give this book 5 stars and totally recommend it. I will be looking for more by this author.

How is your memory? How often do you forget things? Can you forget your husband?

Ella is a person full of mystery. No one knows anything about her at her workplace. She doesn’t have friends, she never hangs out with her colleagues after work. All she does is work, sleep, work. She comes in the morning at work on her bicycle, never chit-chats, finishes her work and then goes home in her mini apartment. And all the same for the next day.

And then, one day, everything changes. She is a victim of a traffic accident. A van hits her and she wakes up in a hospital. And there, right next to her, is her loving husband. Yes, a husband. The one she is pretty sure she doesn’t have. The doctors claim she suffers amnesia, but she , unfortunately, remembers everything. Even the man next to her bed. But he is not her husband. He is her worst nightmare.

Ella is a complex character. From the very first moment, you can see that she is hiding something. She doesn’t socialize, doesn’t talk too much, avoids to express herself. It is too obvious that she is running away from something or someone. And when that someone finally manages to reach her, she agrees to everything, her quilt is too big. As the story continues, her living nightmare is getting worse and worse and finally we find about the reason why it all started. Ella’s story starts slowly at the beginning, to finish with a big BAM! Jesus, I didn’t see that coming.

This is my first book from this author, but definitely won’t be the last! I enjoyed the tension in the story, the mystery surrounding Ella’s past and present and the grand finale at the end! This is a very gripping psychological thriller from the very first page till the last one. I would recommend it!

Suspense, thriller, shocker. These three words describe this book! I never seen the ending coming! This book is at the top of my list for the best of 2018. Samantha Hayes is an Author to remember!! This book will make you not want to leave the house until you finish it!! One of the best 2018 suspense books I've read!!

This books is very well written. It is interesting but seems pretty straightforward because it’s a slow burn. The plot moves between the present and the pst and told from Ella’s point of view. Given that it is slow moving it does take some effort to keep at it. The premise of the book is a standard domestic thriller cliche but still the writing is good enough to keep reading. And that keeping at it is rewarded with a great twist in the end! Not predictable at all.
In terms of character development I thought Ms. Hayes did an excellent job. Ella, Zach, Meggie are all well sketched out. Harry’s character is a little elusive and as Ella’s brother I think it warranted a little more insight or background. I liked the thought process of Ms. Hayes behind how the child was named by Jacob and by Ella herself. It is such small details that make you want to keep reading because you can see the spark that are in the author’s mind. I did find a few loopholes in the plot and found it hard to believe that Ella didn’t try to escape or get help even with a room full of her neighbors, one of whose husband is a detective!!! That was a hard pill to swallow but as the plot unfolds and we learn more about their past and you can emphasize with why Ella is so afraid of Jacob. It does not explain everything away but it does serve to add pause to the readers logical thought and forces the reader to re-consider things more emotionally.
All in all it’s a good read and the ending is truly rewarding!
Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley, #TheLiarsWife

Also shared on: https://romasharma.blogspot.com


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This book was another hit from the author. Good suspense throughout. This is a book I would recommend to others.

Even the blurb for The Liar's Wife made me ask a few questions! The questions only increased when I started reading - at first, small fragments of doubt in my mind until I realised that something was very badly wrong, and I needed to find out what! The tension builds wonderfully, and there were several occasions when I was gasping in horror or literally holding my breath.
In The Liar's Wife, Hayes has created characters who feel very real. They were people in whose lives I became emotionally invested for the time I was reading this novel. Even from the prologue, the protagonist, Ella, seems very aloof, and you have to go back to her childhood to find out why. The Liar's Wife is set over two different time frames - Ella's time at university ten years ago and the present day - and this helped me to see how Ella had become the person she is now. Jacob, on the other hand, is a villain who gave me chills from the outset. His behaviour was often despicable, and he made me feel angry the whole way through. It is very rare that a character has no redeeming features at all, but Jacob falls into this bracket.
Every good psychological thriller has a twist, and I genuinely did not see this one on the horizon. Hayes has plotted ​The Liar's Wife brilliantly to make sure it remains a surprise.

Ella Sinclair can’t let anyone get close to her - she lives a quiet and isolated life, keeping others at arms’ length. Then, while cycling home from work one day Ella is involved in an accident which leaves her with terrible injuries. Waking in hospital, she finds a man sitting by her bed - a man who claims to be her husband, Jacob, a husband she doesn’t and never has had. There follows a terrifying experience for Ella, now in a wheelchair, as “Jacob” tries to force her to live out his own twisted version of family life.

Samantha Hayes is a very skilled writer, and The Liar’s Wife is a highly readable, well constructed story. I really felt the helplessness of Ella’s predicament and applauded her attempts at fighting back.

However I had the uncomfortable experience of guessing early on where things were going and spending most of the rest of the book desperately hoping I was wrong. Because, ugh.

The cover strapline (“Loving husband.... total stranger”) is a bit misleading, as it’s not a spoiler to say the man claiming to be Ella’s husband is not a stranger to her - she recognised him as soon as he appears. We know as readers that it is someone from her past - there are flashbacks throughout to her university days -the mystery is who, and why he is acting this way.

A great read, but with some dark subject matter.

Ella leads a lonely life with work and sleep as her routine. She avoids making friends and it’s pretty obvious early on that she is hiding a secret for the past ten years.One rainy night though her routine is broken when coming back from work Ella is hit by a truck .She wakes up in a hospital from a self induced coma to a handsome caring husband but the problem is that she was never married

The Liar’s Wife is a slow paced psychological thriller told from Ella’s POV going back and forth
between the past and the present. An enjoyable book with a few secrets and a twisty end .

I would like to thank Bookouture & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

<b>My thoughts</b>
<i>”The Liar’s Wife”</i> is a well-written thriller with vivid details and loads of secrets! It was like watching a scary movie...I wanted to yell at the characters on screen—mainly Ella. She’s quiet, keeps to herself and has a predictable life, just the way she likes it.
<blockquote>”Work, home, sleep.” </blockquote>
An incident in her past has forced her to live a reclusive lifestyle, cut off from family and friends. Ella is a very likable and smart character, who does some stupid things. Her husband Jacob, on the other hand, is a detestable character who you hate from the time he’s introduced. I got chills every time he called Ella by her pet name—Ella-bella. It was so easy to picture his creepy voice and the sneer on his face as he taunted her.

It became very intense and detailed as the story unfolded, which made for a gripping read. Psychological thrillers are my main reading genre, so I found the story slightly predictable at times—and I was left with a few questions. But it was well-written, with enough twists and surprises to make it an interesting and worth-while read. Samantha Hayes is a new author to me and I’ll be watching for upcoming books. My Rating: 3.5 ⭐️’s.

Thank you to NetGalley / Bookouture / Samantha Hayes for this digital ARC / in exchange for my honest review!
#NetGalley #TheLiarsWife

<b>Book Description</b>
Loving husband? Or total stranger? 

When Ella wakes up in a hospital following a hit-and-run incident, she is scared and confused. Close to tears, her eyes fall on a get-well-soon card on the window sill and the nurse reassures her that her loving husband will be back soon...

But Ella has never been married. 

In fact, she has lived alone her whole adult life; working hard, rarely socialising, quietly harbouring a terrible secret from her past.

Fear sweeps through Ella when she instantly recognises the man who enters the ward. He is not her husband, but she knows that she must do as he says and play the part of dutiful wife. What choice does she have? He was there the night of the fire, he knows her secret too…

Ok so I have thought about this book for most of today since I finished it...and I still don't know what to say. The main character is so relatable! She went through some trauma when she was in college and she isn't handling it well, but its to be expected. The main 'villain' is evil and written so perfectly! You just can't help but HATE him. Which is the point, but he is just beyond hatable..but you also wonder why he is doing what he is doing. As far as the plot, this book keeps you off balance the entire time! The plot isn't super unique by any means, but its done so well with not a ton of characters that you can't help but wonder and rush to find out what happens. I loved this book! I loved the twists and turns and I loved the whole reveal at the end (which I NEVER saw coming). Overall, I would highly recommend this if you love domestic thrillers.

The Liar’s Wife:

When you think of Psychological Domestic Thriller you think of a book that has a main character that is so sick and twisted it makes your skin crawl. You read these books for that exact reason and you can’t seem to put them down as you need to know what happens next!

Then this book is for you!

It is filled with all sorts of twists and turns that keep you reading page after page trying to figure out what has happened in the past to cause this future to unfold. It is brilliantly written and as the story unravels and you find out the truth you will be shocked at the very least.

No spoilers in this review just a highly recommendation to read this book if you like a good thriller!

The writing was so good! The story and the characters were also quite good. The problem was the slow (so painfully slow) reveals...

It is obvious from the beginning that Ella has issues and when she wakes up in the hospital they are only going to get much worse. “Jacob” is the mystery and of course we are led to believe who he is, but at the same point, led to doubt it...

The neighbors, the baby, the job/apartment dissolve - so many things that could help Ella you would think?!?! Also,
Ella could speak up though she’s being blackmailed so it’s not so easy...

The reveal... it was surprising but not entirely satisfying. It was an interesting and unexpected twist but I wasn’t completely content.

I would try more by this author. I liked the writing and characters but the plot conclusion wasn’t my favorite.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bookouture for a copy in exchange for a review.

Perfect psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! I couldn’t put it down! Highly recommend!

What really drew me to this book was the description- a woman named Ella wakes up after an accident in the hospital. She wakes up from a coma to find out her husband has come in every day to visit her. However, Ella doesn’t have a husband and has never been married. The whole book was filled with twists and just when I thought I had figured the twist I was wrong. Very good for any thriller fans. I’ve also read “Until you’re mine” by the author Samantha Hayes but her new book blows “ until you’re mine” out of the water. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This started out as a promising thriller but by midway, it started to get a bit too unbelievable for me and headed down a rabbit hole. I lost sympathy for Ella who became her own worst enemy, missing many clear opportunities to escape from her tormentor. I got tired of her naivety especially when it came to taking care of the baby. I hoped that I would be rewarded at the end of the book but was disappointed. The ‘twist’ was unsettling, bringing previous bits of the story to a new light, examples of the nightly ‘washings’ and baby ‘secret’ coming to mind. I tried to wrap my head around these earlier obsessions and behavior but couldn’t.