The Man I Married falls into the recent spate of books with the theme: “Is she crazy or does she have a horrible husband who is gaslighting her?” This book is hard to review for me. On the one hand, it’s very well-written, super creepy, and the suspense was very good. On the other hand, some of the things that happen here are so obviously manipulative and horrible that it’s very difficult to see Lucy continue justifying them through most of the book. You have to really suspend your disbelief to think that Lucy wouldn’t see some of these things sooner. I know that this sometimes happens in real life, but the way it was written here got very hard to read for me. Really when I’m reading books like this, it’s for a vicarious thrill, so I’m looking for the hero or heroine to rise up and take charge of the situation, or to figure things out and outsmart the baddies. Or the book could go another way and maybe she really IS crazy. This book spent a lot of time in between with Lucy cowering and flipping out, which while understandable in real life was just kind of hard to read.

There are also a couple of very interesting subplots, but one of them gets dropped entirely by the end of the book, which I did not understand. The other one, about Lucy’s husband’s previous girlfriend, is very interesting. I would have liked to have seen it developed more and earlier. I think having both subplots going on detracted from the main parts of the story I found most interesting.

Overall this book was very well written and had very good potential, But I had some trouble identifying with and understanding the main character at times. 3.5 stars - I’d definitely try this author again, because she has a very suspenseful, fast-paced and page turning style. I seem to be in the minority with my opinion on this one, so your mileage may vary. Either way, I look forward to reading more reviews to see what others thought.

Thanks to Hera, NetGalley and Elena Wilkes for the ARC.

I made it about 15% into the book and knew that this book wasnt for me. Lucy is a probation officer, the main protagonist of the story and I disliked her thoroughly. Shes an adult and yet her actions are dumb and incredibly reckless. She meets Paul, a complete stranger in a bar and gets drunk. Her behaviour seemed incredibly irresponsible and I didnt like her one bit. Also, there was a lot of focus on other personal issues. I'm not a fan of that in my thrillers. Instead I like them to be fast paced and get right to the plot. That didn't happen in this book and it made my focus stray. This was not my kind of thriller. 2 stars!

Although I enjoyed this debut novel, I am getting bewildered by the number of books centring on a strong, feisty woman who turns to mush when she is attracted to a man ... inevitably a man who is not to be trusted. The clues to his personality are there almost from the outset, the lies, the half-truths , the manipulation, the mental bullying and yet ... do women like this still exist? Have they not read enough books to warn them of the future dangers?


I am of course being a bit tongue-in-cheek here as this was a nicely constructed and plotted story although I did find the Gould sequences to be rather unclear and underwritten - was there a connection other than to mess with Lucy's head?

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was a suspenseful page turner and completely believable even though this is fiction. Lucy and Paul are well developed characters, but the question is, how well do you really know your spouse? This book had many twists and turns and surprises throughout. Some parts were predictable and other parts were not but it was a thrilling and chilling read overall. I would definitely read more from this author and recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Elena Wilkes and Hera Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 8/26/20

A page-turner that was hard to put down. I didn't know what to expect when I picked out this book but ended up being pleasantly surprised. Thank you to NetGalley and Hera Books for my copy.

The Man I Married is Elena Wilkes' debut novel. Lucy is a Probation Officer who meets, forms a relationship with & very quickly marries Dr Paul Webb, senior psychologist. Lucy is a likeable character, although at times I found myself questioning some of her behaviours, and reactions to the situations she found herself in. It soon becomes apparent that Dr Webb is perhaps not who or what he seems, or is Lucy actually losing her mind, or suffering psychological illness herself, as he would have her believe.. Paul's lies, controlling and manipulative behaviour and the discovery by Lucy of a photograph from Paul's past lead to a story full of twists and turns and the emotional abuse of Lucy by Paul

Thank you to NetGalley and Hera Books for this ARC.

Lucy and Paul’s relationship moves quite fast from meeting to getting married. It’s hard to say what we would do in that position as its so easy to be swept off your feet when you feel you have met the right one. Lucy’s life had been up until that point all work and not much fun.

It isn’t long before little alarm bells were going off in my head where Paul was concerned. Like Lucy, to start with you could brush them to one side but they were at the back of your mind niggling away. I couldn’t help but get absorbed with Lucy’s life and her relationship with her husband. The further into the story I got, the more I was pleading with her to be careful.

I thought Lucy’s job worked well within the story and it made for some intriguing reading. One of the offenders that she has to oversee, really gave me the chills. It added to the suspense though and I couldn’t help but feel for poor Lucy as things definitely seem to start spiralling downwards.

The Man I Married may well make you think twice before saying I do! It is a suspenseful read that will have you on edge throughout. There are a few unexpected twists and turns along the way and I could hardly tear myself away from the pages with the urgency to know more. Great debut!

I was privileged to be given an early edition to read via Netgalley. What an emotional book two people who love each other so much and how things can change after reading a text. Gripping psychological book

20% DNF as the writing style was not for me,the conversations way too clunky and forced and found the characters irritating,apologies

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review -
And what a thriller it was - with a startling conclusion
Lucy and Paul fall in love and marry. Lucy thought her life was perfect except for Paul's change of character now and then. And when she found texts on his phone and a picture of another woman - the cat and mouse game began.
What lengths will Paul go to keep his secrets? What is the story of the texts and picture? Will Lucy survive?

Suspenseful book. Well written. Good plot twists that keep you guessing till the last page of the book. Liked the husband's character, but slowly made you start to suspect he wasn't who he said he was. I would recommend it to others.

So this book for me was both postive and negative.
So pros of this book, it was gripping and I couldn't put it down. I was hooked in the fast paced, psychological thriller and trying to work out how it ends. In that sense the book was good and I enjoyed that.
Cons I felt the book had to many stories and plots. You have all this fuss about the sex offender whose harrasing Lucy, to then him abducting a young girl. He then starts sending pics and vids to Lucy of this girl. As a Probation Officer I would of thought Lucys workplace would of done something about it and the police but nothing happened. She just got accused of too much stress. For me nothing was really explained with that and I felt it wasn't very believable either. No way in real life would a sex offender be in a cul-de-sac of families!?
Then there's Paul and Lucy's unexpected meeting. Then the gaslighting in which Paul was doing to Lucy. You are introduced to a whirlwind romance of them both. Weeks and he's moved in. Then they are married. Within that time frame Lucy is feeling on edge. She starts second guessing things and doubting herself. She is being hurt but made out as an accident. But she still is screwed in to want to leave but never does. Now I know abuse is hard to leave, but I found in Lucy's case she knew what was happening but never seemed to do anything about it. Then when she did it was a silly way to leave. I felt that this needed some more background knowledge into gaslighting and abuse. I felt the getaways needed more thought and execution.
Then there's this Caitlin who is another kettle of fish. One moment she's a possible affair. Next she's an ex of Paul's and left him with their unborn child and then she is actually dead and the woman is infact Caitlins sister. Then the sister claims Caitlin and her children were murdered by Paul. All of a sudden this was the full focus of the story and to me it got all confusing and jumbled. One minute Lucy had left Paul and then she's pulled over by police and then hospitilized at a mental health institute. Next thing Caitlins sister gets her out there at the house, Paul is there and next thing hes killed. It all happened so fast I don't know whether it was Lucy or The sister who killed him. Lastly the last chapted got me even baffled. Lucy was with the sister and what I assumed was Caitlins children which I thought were dead. I'm not sure if I read that wrong but I was left confused and didn't get it. With that nothing was said about what happened to the murder of Paul or the sex offender.
Overall this book has potential. I think Wilkes should of stuck with just one main plot and focused on executing that and making sure she had background knowledge on the important parts. I think then it would of been more realistic and more understanding.

Interesting story about narcissism and relationships, and how it slowly progresses to all stages of one's life. Lots of good twists and turns, although the ending - well, it wasn't what I expected. Great debut novel and I would definitely recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for allowing me an ARC.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this one!
I’m obsessed with words like husband/ wife/ sister etc... so I was excited to dig into to this one and was not disappointed !
You know when two strangers meet in a bar and have a whirlwind romance - followed by a wedding within months - things are bound to go array ! And they did !!!
Paul - psychologist and Lucy- probation office have what seems to be all the tools for a successful marriage other than the fact they married quickly !
It doesn’t take long for Lucy to notice some not so favourable behaviours from Paul!
He is controlling and manipulative - so much so that soon Lucy is questioning her own sanity !
Remember he is a psychologist - but what else is he ?!
I love how the author manages to get her readers involved into Lucy’s day to day life and inner monologues ! At one point I was questioning my own sanity !
Will Lucy ever be able to sort through her muddled brain ?!
Is Paul really just trying to help her?
I loved the twists and turns , the interconnections between the characters was really well developed ! I’m a hard customer to please with my endings and I’m happy to say this one left me satisfied !
Definitely not my last read by this author !

I liked the premise of this book but found I just couldn't engage with any of the characters. The ending was predictable and I felt the plot was spoon fed to us. hopefully lots of other people have liked it though.

Overall, I would give this book three stars and a recommendation. I think it would be a perfect book for a book club selection!

The first third of this book was mostly building backstory. We meet Lucy, an overworked probation officer. She’s recently gotten out of a terrible relationship, and one night she meets a man at a bar. He’s Dr. Paul Webb, a psychiatrist who works with the same prisoners and parolees as Lucy.

Weird stuff starts happening to Lucy. Disturbing calls about a kidnapped girl (possibly from a parolee), a rose on her doorstep, a woman following her. Meanwhile, she falls for Paul and they get married in a whirlwind. Lucy is put on leave from work, as nobody believes her about the phone calls.

Crossing into the second third of the book, this book ramped up like a roller coaster. Now that Lucy is isolated, Paul becomes a totally different person.

Honestly, I was a little confused by the end of the book. I read it and re-read it, and I went back to the beginning, and I could never figure out what happened with Simon. There were some unanswered questions left at the end.

Overall, I really enjoyed the main characters, and the pacing in the latter two thirds of the book. The story was gripping and thrilling. I’m giving 3 stars, only because I was annoyed with having unanswered questions, and the pacing in the first third of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hera Publishers for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was intrigued by this book and kindly given a ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Firstly in this book you have to be able to suspend ALL disbelief.

Lucy is a prison officer dealing with a very harrowing offender being let out, along the way she meets prison psychologist Paul.

As soon as that happens you just have to go with it.

I found this novel hard as there was a great story but too much was impossible to believe, too many red flags to be ignored.

I enjoyed it a little.

And then the ending...

I have no idea, not a clue. Not great.

How well do we really ever know anyone?

Even the person we exchange vows with and sleep next to each night?

Lucy loves Paul but Paul is a douchebag with some spicy secrets. But is he crazy or is she?

Love, love, loved this dark and cray-zee story!

Thank you to Elena Wilkes, Hera Books and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really good page turning thriller that kept me engaged and interested. I liked how the narrative changed throughout the book to view the story from different angles.
I think that this book would appeal to a lot of people and would spark some interesting discussion as a book club read.

My thoughts about this cleverly written, outstanding debut thriller,was fantastic.What you do if you begin, to discover your partners darkest secrets.what I loved about this brilliantly written twisted thriller, was the first half of the story, starts to builds up for the 2nd half with full of suspense,was just fast moving with full of suspense, which I thought was just brilliant.The 2nd half of the story defiently tooks my breath away. Debut author Elena Wilkes's has written a powerful story,that truly deserves appreciation, and applause,love how she manages, and balances the story and its fantastic characters together, which is just incredible. The characters are brilliant, be it Lucy, who I thought was just fantastic,and  Paul's character who has a dark past, that will shock you. I so much loved this book  that is something different, I've read over the past one year. This is one of the debuts, to watch out for that is just brilliant, this will take you on a journey, to find your partner who you married, has a dark secret past. Highly recommended.I would like to say thank you to Author Elena Wilkes, Hera Books,Netgalley and Sarah Hardy of The Bright Side Publicity for giving me a chance and review this outstanding thriller.💥💥💥💥💥⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐