I really liked the development of the characters and the slower pace of this book as it gives you time to really absorb all of he emotions around what is happening.

I appreciated that it showed no character as being completely good or bad and that really as people we are all made up of the grey areas inbetween. Our flaws, the decisions we make and the consequences that come from them make us the complicated people we are.

The point of view change to Helena was fascinating as in real life we will rarely get to see all sides of a story and though very different women Fran’s and Helena’s vulnerabilities and strengths make them both characters I could identify and empathise with.

A woman so desperately needing to escape and be free and then another so desperate to fight and hold on makes The Other Women such a poignant read.

Sometimes an incidental meeting can change everything. Fran met Jack at an auction house, when she went in to check out a dressing table being auctioned. She was attracted to Jack immediately, you see it is easy to feel good around someone who pays attention to you in a nice way when you are married to someone who abuses you, physically at times and emotionally all the time. The relationship between her and Jack became very serious and they had plans to run off to Madrid together. Fran is there, Jack doesn't show. Has something happened to him? Why isn't he there?

The story is told in three parts, Fran's story, Helena's story and the aftermath. I enjoyed the writing in this book and could feel the emotions. Jack and Pete were both a waste of skin as far as I was concerned. Even though Fran was having an affair with a married man, I liked her. She was caring and had a rough life. She was always looking for something to make her happy, which was her big mistake. Helena's story was also fraught with disloyalty and betrayal, but she was not willing to give up on her marriage. This is a very realistic story. I could see the characters as real people in real situations. This is a story about personal growth, figuring out what you want out of life, and loving yourself enough to go after what you want and need.

A bit too slow paced for me in spots and overly cliche. But I was able to finish, and enjoyed some aspects! Clever, thrilling, chilling, and even shocking in some spots! I think it could’ve been shortened a bit and would’ve been a great read, but with the way it was written, I think it feel a bit flat and missed that spot I love. Overall, I would still recommend, as I am a quite moody reader and that may have impacted my view!

This is an intriguing book about the nature of relationships and how we never really know what goes on in people’s lives behind closed doors.

When Fran is left alone at the airport by Jack, who was supposed to be meeting her to escape to a new life together, it is all she can do to try to keep the broken pieces of her life together when she returns home to her oblivious and violent husband Pete.

Jack’s wife Helena is initially portrayed as a manipulative, money-chaser who belittles her husband, which is supposedly what drove him to the affair, after meeting Fran at a local auction.

The first part of the book focuses on events from Fran’s point of view, while the second tells the same story from Helena’s perspective. Then the relationships collide in the final section.

This is more an exploration of the lives of the individual characters than a psychological thriller as such. As a reader, it is impossible not to feel some sympathy for Fran, a woman who has endured so much in life by staying in an unhappy marriage for the sake of her son, whose character is equally compelling.

This is a slow-burner but definitely worth a read!

The book opens with Fran leaving her husband and going to meet Jack the man she is having an affair with. They are to meet and then travel to Spain. The problem is Jack never shows and Fran must get home before her husband finds all that she left. While all of this is going on you are taken back through her affair with Jack the met and the time they spent together.
Helena Jack’s wife finds out about the affair and does not let Jack go and the rest or more of the book is about her keeping Jack and then also how the affair changes everything. A look into family life. An okay story.

While I enjoyed this book I found it hard to keep going at times. Fran is having an affair and all set to leave her abusive husband Pete for new love Jack. Plans are put in place but Jack is a no show at the airport . What happened to change his mind. The book is told from both Fran's point of view and Jack's wife Helena's. Can happiness be achieved at the cost of another woman's marraige. Helena cannot allow Jack to leave. The book explores the deceit of affairs in marraige, how far a woman will go to hold on to their husbands and the struggle to begin again once a marraige has ended.

Fran is having a secret affair with Jack. They are planning in leaving their respective partners and running off to Spain. but Jack never appears, so Fran returns to her abusive relationship. Later on in the boom we find out just how abusive her relationship is and also why Jack was never at the airport. A heartbreakingly sad, but really good read.

Fran is not happy in her marriage. She's taking a huge step but before it's finished, it's failed. From then on, she'll have to rearrange everything in her life to make this new reality fit.
I was eager to read this book. But once I started it, somehow, it was not what I expected. I would have liked some heads up about some intense subjects.
The story has its ups and downs, but in the end, it's a good one.
The characters are well developed and the pacing works, overall.
Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Three sides to every story: yours, theirs and the truth-The Other Woman details a star-crossed love affair between teacher Fran and artist Jack. Both in what seems to be failing/damaging relationships they meet by chance and begin an affair that culminates in the decision to leave their spouses and move to Spain. Told in three parts the reader experiences Fran's version of the relationship-including the reasons for embarking on the affair and wanting to leave her family as well as her perception of Jack's relationship. Learning more about that from his wife's perspective in the second part we learn all is not what it appears. While the first two parts were a little long and drawn out the the third part moves succinctly to a mainly satisfying conclusion-a sold 3.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This book was alright. It dragged on a bit too much & it was clichéd. The characters were very annoying and unlikeable. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

I really enjoyed this book, the first half was a slow burn for me but kept my attention. It's a very compelling emotional read of self discovery. The story is told in three parts and each part moves seamlessly to the next. I also enjoyed the fact that you got prespectives from both sides of the affair.

A story of two women that their stories cross paths when one has an affair with the other ones husband. They decide to run away together until he doesn't show up at the airport.

A well written book that makes you think about life, relationships, chances and the things we take for granted. I would definitely recommend picking this one up.

This book to me was a hybrid of a domestic thriller and women’s fiction. Told in three parts and narrated in first person we start with part one and Fran. She’s in an abusive marriage with Pete and having an affair with Jack. Intending to start a new life together they arrange to meet at the airport, only for him to not show up and Fran having to return home to Pete.

Part two we meet Helena, Jack’s wife. Alcohol dependent and volatile we see the same situation but from a different viewpoint. Part three is when the two lives collide and it all interweaves.

It was unusual to read from the perspective of both the wife and the other woman and I have to say that putting Fran first the author pushes your sympathy more towards her than Helena. But I’m a different kettle of fish and I had sympathy with both. Both are unhappy in their marriages and they just have different coping mechanisms. It’s easy to judge but harder to empathise.

Full of secrets and lies and the fallout of an affair. This had the suspense, tension and cliffhangers of a thriller paired with the relationships and drama of women’s fiction.

“There are two sides to every story. And I do mean every story, no matter how wrong you think it might be.” -Marushia Dark

Thank you to Boldwood Books for including me in the blog tour for 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱! I enjoyed this one. It gave a brilliant insight into two very different lives and then tied it all together perfectly. The writing style was also wonderful! On shelves now, add this book to your tbr!

𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀:
On a normal day, in a normal house, on a normal street, wife and mother Fran has had enough. She packs a case, leaves a note for her bullying husband Pete, and one for her beloved twenty-year-old son Harry, and heads to the airport - and freedom. In another house, on another street, Helena is desperately baiting her husband Jack into a fight. These days it feels like the only way to get Jack to take notice of her. Passionate, volatile, increasingly fragile, Helena is fast running out of hope. What Helena and Fran don’t know, is that soon their lives are going to collide in ways neither expect nor understand. And if Fran and Helena are going to change their own futures, then first they will have to change each other’s.
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I have read a couple of Amanda’s books and I did enjoy them. I read the synopsis for ‘The Other Woman’ and it certainly sounded like an intriguing read. So without further ado, I grabbed my Kindle, grabbed a cup of tea and settled down to read ‘The Other Woman’. Overall I did enjoy reading it but more about that in a bit.
I have to be honest and say that it took me a while to get into this story for some reason. I think part of the issue was that I didn’t take to any of the characters very easily and so I wasn’t really all that bothered about what happened to them. After a short while, I did get into this story. I didn’t find ‘The Other Woman’ to be one of those books that I could read within a single day but I did binge read the book over the course of a few days. I became intrigued by the story as it developed and I was interested in seeing in which direction the story was going to go. I would become so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and I ignored everything going on around me.
‘The Other Woman’ is well written. Amanda certainly knows how to entice the reader in with an intriguing synopsis. Amanda certainly knows how to weave twists and turns into the story with great ease. At times I thought that I had worked out what was going to happen in the story only for Amanda to throw me a curveball and send me down another path entirely. I did feel as though I was part of the story, which is all down to Amanda’s very vivid and realistic storytelling.
In short, and overall I did enjoy reading ‘The Other Woman’. Whilst I did enjoy reading it, it isn’t my favourite of Amanda’s books to date. I would recommend this book to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Amanda’s books in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

I really love it when a book draws me in from the very first page – this time, I was entirely engaged by Fran’s clear voice as she flees her toxic marriage for a new life in Madrid with her lover Jack. She tells us she’s not a risk taker, but life with her husband Pete, on that knife edge where she does all she can not to attract his anger, has become increasingly unendurable.

You sweat with her as she wrestles her suitcase to the station, then through the airport – and await the arrival of the man who’s promised her a new life. And then, you follow her home again – back to her prison of a marriage, where her husband becomes increasingly coercive and unpredictable, awaiting that trigger that could make things many times worse.

She’s sympathetic and relatable, entirely real, a woman you get to know well and like very much – but there’s always that edge to her story that makes you fear the inevitability and impact of what will follow. Things do come to a head – the scene thoroughly shocking and exceptionally well handled – followed by a decision that almost had me on my feet, cheering.

And then the point of view changes – I’ll admit I did find it a bit of a wrench at first – and instead we get to know Helena, Jack’s wife, and follow her over an overlapping timeframe. She’s more difficult to like – her relationship with alcohol, her flashes of anger, her irrational behaviour, and her desperation to hang on to the husband who most certainly rarely makes her happy. First person again, but with rather less appeal for the reader – although her story is compelling, and your empathy steadily grows as her story builds.

The third part of the book brings the stories of Fran and Helena together – Fran’s first person viewpoint again – and we look at the “afterwards” for both women, and what the future holds for them both. This is a story layered with secrets and lies, shocks and surprises – and I really loved both the way it was constructed and the writing itself. There’s a strong focus on the support of friends – Helena has Hugh, Fran has Mel – and family, but those relationships also have their own complications.

Emotionally, the whole book is absolutely spot on – when the characters hurt, you hurt too – and it very much puts you through the wringer at times. But there are moments of joy, and ultimately it’s hopeful and uplifting – but my goodness, it’s quite a journey getting to that point.

I’m a big fan of relationship-based drama, and this is one of the best I’ve read in a while. A definite recommendation from me.

Fran is married to Pete. Pete is a bully and likes things just so. Fran is having an affair with Jack. They are planning to run away and start a new life together, however things don't go according to plan.

Helena is married to Jack and things are far from perfect. Helena is desperate for Jack to pay her more attention, to notice her more, to be hers again but she knows there has been someone else.

Things take an explosive turn when Helena and Fran cross paths.

I couldn't put this book down. I was gripped. It is written so well and it flows brilliantly.

I felt like I was within the family dynamics, watching everything unfold.

Brilliant read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

I read this for a blog tour.
What starts out as a seemingly normal affair gone awry slowly folds out into the full horrors of living with human monsters fuelled by anger and addiction. Both Fran and Jack are running from the spouses they hate when they meet - they both find something in each other that's lacking in their marriages.

But things aren't going the way they want and soon Fran has to make some serious decisions about her life. Jack's wife Helena has to do the same if she wants her husband back.

Two women with their happiness at stake need to find the strength to get what they really want out of life.

Enjoyable and at times shocking, there was a moment when I genuinely gasped with horror, this ultimately redemptive novel is a great read and Fran a strong and courageous character.

4☆ A Compelling Women's Fiction.

The Other Woman is a story about two women who's stories cross paths when one of them, has an affair with the other ones husband. Hence the perfect title name!

Fran is fed up with her husband, she's in a loveless and manipulative relationship. But meeting Jack changed all that. She felt free and in love again.... but there was just one slight problem....Jack is married to Helena.

Helena is fed up with Jack but she's not about to let him leave her, to fall into the arms of another Women for ever. But can she keep him or will she set him free forever!

But is Jack really worthy of either of them? I think not! There better off without him.

The Other Woman  is a story of self discovery and growth, secrets, lies, moving on and how one affair can effect everyone involved.
It was really compelling to hear from both sides of the affair.
The story is told in three parts, each part weaved together perfectly.
If you enjoy gripping Women's Fiction, full of drama and angst, then The Other Woman is definitely the book for you!

This is my first book by Amanda Brookfield and I'm excited to read more.


Thank you to Rachel Random Resources for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This one has lots of moving parts. I liked it, even though some of the time I couldn't remember what characters were doing what. But that was my problem and not the book's. I'd give this one 3/5 stars, because even though it was mostly enjoyable, it didn't hold my attention as well as others.

Interesting and engaging read which I have enjoyed. This has been an easy read but also one that I’ve read quite quickly.

I feel as though this has been quite similar to another book I’ve read. I felt I was able to predict where the author was going to take the story.

I have liked Brookfield’s writing style, I have found that it flows, it’s easy to read and sets a clear picture.

I do like the cover of this one, it’s elegant and attracts your attention. For me this has been a three star read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️