Audiobook review

This is the fifth Shalini Boland book I've read and it's definitely the darkest.

No faffing about...

The opening chapter sees a character's head ripped apart by a speedboat propeller.

The plot is quite unusual. It follows the life of main character Anna Blackwell, the 'Past' tells the story of her life with her first boyfriend, rebellious teen Finn, the 'Present' her happily married life with millionaire Will.

The story builds well, with threat and tension building up nicely across the two timeframes and there are some strong shock moments.

I don't remember reading a thriller using a main character in two distinct relationships in different timeframes in this way, so plus points for originality. I know some reviews have criticised a lack of plausibility in this book, but originality, a good level on threat and some genuine surprises count for a lot with me.

The distinctive locations are used well too, they are well described and add to the story without feeling shoehorned in for convenience.

This is the fifth book I've 'read' by Shalini Boland, so it's fair to say I enjoy them, or else I wouldn't keep coming back for more. Two have been on audio and I've read three. I've enjoyed the two audiobooks more, this could be coincidence but I think there's something about the audio experience that boosts my enjoyment of this author's style. I think audio helps me focus on the direction as the plots can start off a little open ended and take time to build momentum.

The audiobook was good, the narration clear, the voices distinct and easy to follow who was who.

A very positive experience overall.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio

Super quick and easy to listen to while I was working. It may be listed under suspense but I didn’t find it really suspenseful- the characters behavior was quite predictable throughout.
Anna is married to super successful and rich Will and all is well in their lives until one day she gets a text from her ex boyfriend that forces her to confront the past that she has done everything she can to bury and hide. As Anna works out how to tell Will what’s going on things spiral out of control and go from bad to worse and she doesn’t know how to make things better without telling Will everything. When she finally decides to break down and tell Will how will he handle it? Will they both come out of it alive?
Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

The Millionaire’s Wife
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 9/19/22
Author: Shalini Boland
Publisher: Bookouture
Narrator: Katie Villa
GR: 3.91

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Bookouture and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: When Anna Blackwell opens an email from an unknown sender, the shocking image attached shatters her perfect world. A woman has been killed. And Anna knows who did it. The past is catching up with her. Is it her turn next? To protect herself and her husband Will, she must tell him the terrible truth about her first love. But as the secrets of her life unravel, Anna begins to realise that she is not the only one who has been living a lie. Anna doesn’t know who to turn to: her best friend, her parents, her husband. But she knows that her ex-lover is dangerous and she must stop him, before it’s too late.

My Thoughts: Even though the original book released in 2017, a new audiobook version of this book releases on the 19th of this month and I was very fortunate to listen early. The narrator was so amazing, she can level her voice to the character, whether it is a concerns a mother, lost and confused, or a hardened criminal, she matches the character. The narrator brings the twists to life in this story. I devoured this audiobook in one day, it was that good. Now I am a Boland fan, so that helps. The storyline is a little out there but this is fiction and an author can explore unrealistic territories and be a best seller, so that did not bother me. The story is narrated by an unreliable narrator. The characters were well flushed out, well developed, mysterious, and creatively written. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, tension, and full of twists. I would recommend picking up this audiobook when it releases later this month, or better yet, preorder and help the author!!

Everyone has their secrets. But this one could destroy EVERYTHING!
When Anna Blackwell opens an email from an unknown sender, the shocking image attached horrifies her – but it’s the words in the email that threatens to shatter the perfect life that she has managed to carve out for herself.

Is it her turn next?

To protect herself and her husband Will, she must tell him the terrible truth about her first love. But as the secrets of her life begin to come to light, Anna begins to realise that she is not the only one who has been living a lie.

Anna doesn’t know who to turn to: her best friend, her husband, her parents? But the does know that her ex is dangerous and she must stop him before it’s too late…

This is my eighth book by Shalini Boland and I seem to love each book that she brings out just a little more each time!! I love the fact that this book is also set in Dorset, which is close to where I live. It brings an extra special element to a book when you know the location where it is set. I loved the characters (loved to hate some of them) loved the storyline – which gripped me from the very beginning and the amazing twists that constantly had me guessing and rethinking everything I thought I’d figured out – all the way through!! Can’t wait for the next one!!

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to the audiobook for this one and i’d highly recommend it! Kate Villa does an excellent job (as always) with the narration.

My thanks to the author and Bookouture Audio for my advance copy to review via Netgalley.

Due out 19th September 2022!

Featuring ~ single 1st person POV, dual timeline

We follow Anna and Finn beginning in 2007 and then Anna and Will beginning in 2017.
Anna's past is catching up with her in the present with lots of secrets to go around. I was pleased with a few of the twists. A decent suspenseful thriller with some implausible moments, but still fast paced and engaging.

I thought this one sounded familiar when I started listening to it, so I'm mad that I didn't check here first since I read it back in 2019. I am NOT a re-reader! I didn't write a review back then, but I gave it 4 starts and I give it the same now.

Katie Villa did an alright job narrating for 7 hours and 25 minutes, easy to follow at 2x. Her male voices were okay, except for the professor's.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC of the audiobook version. I couldn't stop listening to this one! It was so good. Very gripping and I like the back and forth of time in the beginning all wrapping up at the end. Great writing and narration.

Love this author! What a fantastic book! I was gripped since the first page and could not stop listening. The best book I've read in a long while, could not recommend this one highly enough.
Thanks for the opportunity to access this audio ARC. I really enjoyed listening to this on audio as it gave the characters a bit more personality and when I read the second half on audio book I found myself relating and visualising the characters better which meant that I got into the book more.

I am a Shalini Borland fan and this is one of her best! Opening with the “accidental” death of a rich, young wife, Borland weaving a tale of a young woman, her rich husband, and her bad-boy ex. Told in both present time and flashbacks the reader learns the backstory of Anna, her ex Finn, and her husband Will. There were plenty of twists and turns. I had difficulty turning it off! This was excellent in audio. I thank the publisher and NetGAlley UK for the opportunity to listen to this audio ARC.

Anna is stunning; she moved to England from Sweden with her parents two years ago and is the odd one out at school until she meets Sian. They get along well with another lone.
Fin is the popular boy at school, and Anna is surprised when she attracts his attention and they quickly become an item.
They move in together after finishing school; it's only a cramped little bedsit, but it's all they can afford.
Anna notices some characteristics in Fin that make her uncomfortable, but she dismisses them because she is blinded by first love.
As their finances deteriorate and they are evicted, they relocate to his father's garden shed. When an unexpected event occurs, their opposing viewpoints and Fin's ridiculous ideas of how to deal with it come into play.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of The Millionaires Wife by Shalini Boland. Although you are aware of the plot early in, this book was very enjoyable. I liked it! 4 stars

Okay this was very unexpacted but in a good way!
If you read as many psychological thrillers you might think that you know them all. But I could not have been more wrong.. There are plenty of old and new secrets and some super-twisted characters appearing in this fast paced story.
I truely enjoyed the narration of the audiobook and was really hooked!
Thank you #Netgalley and #Bookouture Audio for this advanced listening copy

The Millionaire's wife is the story of Anna.
Anna falls for local boy Finn as a teenager. She decides not to return to Sweden with her parents and not attend college. Instead she opts for a life with Finn, believing love will conquer all.

Life with Finn is not all she thought it would be.

The timelines go back and forth between when she was young and the present. She is now married to a millionaire.

When a woman is hit and killed by a speeding boat, Anna's past is about to come back to get her. Just what is she hiding anyway? What happened between her and Finn? Read or listen to it for yourself and find out.

I listed to the audio version of this book and thought the narrator did a great job. I especially liked that she didn't over emphasize the drama and thrilling aspects as some narrators do.

Thanks to netgalley and Bookouture Audio for the arc.

I'm a fan of this author's previous books and I really enjoyed the narration in this one. I also really liked the timeline switching, I think that always brings a lot to a story. However I found most of the plot just unbelievable and found that nothing really sold it for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen and review this to title
This was a little confusing at the beginning with the timeline and back and forth but I was able to follow along after a bit.
Plenty of surprises and weird twists.
I enjoyed it and it was an easy listen.

I finished listening to “The Millionaire’s Wife,” in two days because I loved it so much! No lie, I was actually even ok sitting in traffic to get through this one!

“The Millionaire’s Wife” is about, you guessed it, a millionaire’s wife named Anna who seems to have the perfect life until a woman is killed on the other side of the world and her past comes back to haunt her. Anna quickly realizes how dangerous one small lie can truly be.

The pacing of this book was perfect! I was never bored, and every time I thought I had figured out what was happening there was another twist. Anna, while flawed, is also a very root-able character.

I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone, but especially fans of the thriller/ suspense genre. Thank you so much to the author and NetGalley for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

This thriller had all kinds of twists and turns and I enjoyed the ride. So much so, I basically binged the book.
However, I would have preferred a different ending. To me, I felt like the author did a great job at hinting at an unreliable narrator but, the narrator ended up being the victim.

My sincere thanks to the author and NetGalley for the gifted review copy. This book is available September 19th.

The Millionaire's Wife was hard for me to fully get into. It's not that it was bad, Shalini Boland wrote with such detail that it was easy to see the scenes in my mind's eye. The story was just so outrageous and too convenient for my taste. I rated it 3 stars because there were some parts that were really good or showed true potential.

Given all of this, I would read another book by Shalini Boland again in the hopes that this was a one-off; her writing is very beautiful.

Katie Villa was a fine narrator for this story.

Thank you to Bookoutur Audio for providing me with an ALC.

This had one really crazy wild turn in it that really caught me off guard. To be honest though, it felt very anticlimactic towards the end.

🌀Synopsis
Anna starts dating Finn as a teenager. She opts to stay with him instead of going back to Sweden with her family she chooses to stay with him. They majorly struggle with bills causing a rift in their relationship. When Anna gets pregnant Finn wants her to get rid of it. He even comes up with a plan for them to get a lot of money easily. Anna thinks he’s insane and leaves him behind for what she thinks is forever.

Then Finn’s wife ends up dead and Anna hears from him shortly after. His plan- they marry rich people and then kill them so they become rich and get back together. Now he expects her to kill her husband so she can inherit all of his money. The problem is Anna truly loves will.

Through a shocking twist Anna finds out Finn doesn’t want to be with her anymore after all but he does want her money. He steals her daughter ( since she didn’t end the pregnancy) and tries to con her into killing Will.

Anna won’t give up though and faces Finn head on, desperate to get her daughter back.

This book by @shaboland was a quick read with tons of shocking twists! I really enjoyed the audiobook. It was well narrated and I finished listening to it in less than 24 hours! I recommend this book if you like fast paced psychological thrillers that have tons of twists!

Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

Yet another firecracker of a novel by Shalini Boland, I have read a few of her books and this one didn't disappoint either. Totally gripping from beginning to end. I was pulled into this from page one, I just could not put it down. As soon as I thought I had worked it out it took another twist and turn. Fantastic read. If you like a dark domestic thriller then this is perfect.

I can't wait for Shalini's next release, she has her own unique style I truly love, I know you will too if you try this book.
#NETGALLEY #THEMILLIONAIRES WIFE