2.5⭐️

After the death of his wife, Evan, the town’s police chief hires a housekeeper, Ariel, to help take care of things for himself and his daughter, Jessica. But Ariel has an ulterior motive for taking the job.

This book was just okay for me. While it was a fairly quick and moderately interesting read, I did not find it to be overly suspenseful nor did I find the plot even remotely believable. I need to see the staircase in this home that no one can take a tumble down without immediately dying.

While I did enjoy Kate Handford’s narration of Ariel and Jessica, I could not handle the monotone reading of Todd Kramer who voiced Evan. It made certain parts almost unbearable for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Bookouture Audio for providing an audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A good murder mystery/suspense thriller with multiple POVs that have you trying to figure out who the real killer is from every angle. The narrators did a fantastic job distinguishing between characters to keep you hooked into the story and clearly define who was who.

One of the big twists I saw coming from a mile away and the other completely sucker punched me

Did find it sort of cheesy at the end of several chapters at the beginning how the characters kept referencing their secrets by saying something like “I hope she isn’t onto my secret” or “they’ll never know what I’m hiding”

This was my first Emily Shiner read, but definitely won’t be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I think this is a solid murder mystery that had me curious from start to finish. I liked how all the main characters seemed suspicious and the use of unreliable narrators. In terms of an audiobook, the narrators did a good job of giving each character a different voice in the multiple POV style of book. I did guess the murderer before it was revealed, but I did not anticipate all the twists the story nor how the book ended.

What a psychological thriller! I appreciated the ferocity from Ariel trying to avenge Lola after her death. The story unfolds as it seems everyone is hiding secrets and telling lies. Hard to untangle which is true and which is false until the very end. I appreciated that the secrets are only slowly unfolded throughout the story so it makes you want to go back and reread the story to understand the different perspectives.

While this definitely had some twists and turns to it. I unfortunately guessed the ending within the first 10 minutes of listening to the audiobook. it did take time unraveling the details and were still surprises! I'd recommend reading if you like a good psychological thriller.

This was a very intriguing story! The audiobook was very well done and the performance was engaging from beginning to end!

The Wife in the Photo by Emily Shiner.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the eARC in exchange for a review.

A thriller with secrets, twists and turns. After the death of his wife, he hires a housekeeper who is harbouring a ulterior motive! Filled with multiple POV's we discover the secrets of the family, gripping you with every twist. Such a clever ending, just when you think you had it all figured out!

📖 Multiple POV's
📖 Accident
📖 Unreliable Narrators
📖 Dysfunctional Family

This one was not my cup of tea. I think the "diary" plot us way overdone and I hate having an unreliable narrator. This book had some suspense but it was also a little stagnant and had a lot of characters without much meaning.

Started great, but then got jumbled

I really liked the first half of this book. Ariel takes a job as a housekeeper for the recently widowed town chief of police and his daughter. Ariel is really there because she thinks he killed his wife and she wants to prove it. There are some twists and twists on the twists. Eventually things ping-ponged back and forth until I really didn't care too much about what happened. The ending also had a few holes. It started at a 5 for me, but then dropped to a 3.

I absolutely loved this book! Emily Shiner is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! This is such an intriguing and fast paced story. The twists and turns are amazing. I never see it coming! What a great story!

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this arc.

A huge thank you to Net galley and the publisher for the opportunity for an audiobook ARC of this book!

This is my first ever book by this author, and it will not be the last!

Dual POV's and multiple shocking twists that will give you whiplash!

The narrators put on a great performance.
highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so twisted! I did not expect that ending! I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives as well as the diary entry chapters as it all culminated in an intricate story. I had my suspicions as to who killed Lola and I was correct, but I never would have guessed what came in the final chapter of the book. Emily Shriner is becoming a favorite author of mine very quickly.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Bookouture Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest thriller by Emily Shiner and perfectly narrated by Todd Kramer, Kate Handford - 4.5 twisty stars!

Evan's wife, Lola, died from a fall down the stairs. Evan is the town police chief and is having trouble keeping up with his job, the home, and taking care of their teenage daughter, Jessica. He hires Ariel as a housekeeper, but she has an ulterior motive - to find out what really happened to Lola. Ariel is convinced that the evidence that Evan killed is wife is in the house; she just needs to find it.

Told from the POV of Evan, Ariel and Jessica, along with diary entries from both Lola and Jessica, this story kept me gripped and surprised with each twist and turn. Every time I thought I had things figured out, I was wrong. None of the characters were particularly likable, but most of their actions were understandable. Most of them. It was a quick read, full of tension and twists - another great book by this author!

Such a fantastic listen, I couldn't stop! The audiobook of the Wife In The Window was so great. The story was weaved with twists and turns that you never see coming. Not only that, but the narrators make you feel like you're right in the story with them. This was my first Emily Shiner novel, but it definitely won't be my last!

Thank you, Emily Shiner, Bookouture, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to listen to the audio version of this stellar book in return for an honest review.

🎧Audio Book Review🎧

The Wife In The Photo
Emily Shiner

🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is actually the third book that I've read by this author and I really love the intriguing storylines and atmosphere created within their books.

This one starts off from Lola's pov but describes an accident where she dies, but we're not totally sure who the killer is.
As the story then progresses it seems easy to make assumptions ....but is it all as it seems?

I like that we follow this one from different pov's - Ariel and Evan in the main.

Ariel takes a job as housekeeper for Evan after his wife died - she definitely suspects Evan of killing Lola and we also learn that there's some history (and secrets) between her and Lola.

Evan, the local chief of police, loves having Ariel around the house taking care of the jobs he doesn't have time for - but when Ariel starts to get closer to Jessica (his daughter), he starts to feel like things are a bit off.

It's great to see both sides of the story as it means we can get into each of their minds more in depth and see how their thoughts and feelings progress and develop over time.

This also gives us different ideas to mull over and meant that I kept coming up with different theories.

We do touch on some chapters that follow Lola's diary from the past and also a couple towards the end that come from Jessica's diary - both adding another dimension to the storylines as they all intermingle and weave together.

There are a couple of other characters who add another layer to the complex plot and they all play their parts well - feeding us little bits of information, but just enough to form a new theory or add a twist to the plot.

I have to admit that I guessed quite a few of the twists fairly early on but this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story at all. It was good to follow the storylines and see how they came together and of course there was a sneaky final twist that I'm sure nobody would see coming!

I loved that the audio had the different voices narrating. This added a bit of colour to my listening and especially for the chapters from Evan's pov, they really managed to convey a sinister atmosphere.

Another great read.

💕Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my ARC copy - this is my honest review 💕

Wow! This was a wild ride and I was totally here for it...I kinda had a suspicion who the "bad guy" was but DAMN! I didn't expect everyone to be so terrible! This book needs a sequel b/c I want to see how Lola and Jessica work out their detente. This was my 1st book by Emily Shiner and she hooked me right from the beginning so I am adding all of her books to my TBR!


#TheWifeinthePhoto
#NetGalley

An interesting premise of the death of a mother in a wealthy suburb. Initially this fave me Desperate Housewives vibes with the voice of Mary-Alice from beyond the grave. By chapter 9 I thought I had worked out the twist which would have been incredible. Chapter 39 and there it is, as expected, sadly we the audience and the protagonist herself had been spoon fed so many ‘clues’ that the bombshell barely fizzled. Such a shame. Personally I think the number of characters could have been increased; at times this felt like a one person show rather than a group piece which lacked movement forwards in the story. An okay listen - I had the audible version - but I wouldn’t actively seek out this author again. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
With thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in return for my personal, honest opinion.

Lola is found dead. Lolas husband Evan hires a housekeeper to help him and his daughter Jessica. Ariel, the housekeeper, is not what she seems, she will go to any length to find out what happened to Lola.

This psychological thriller kept me at the edge of my seat! This story made me question everyone and everything, no one can be trusted, especially when they all seem so suspicious! I loved how this was told from multiple POVs-this kept with the gripping storyline. The ending was just pure brilliance!

Thank you to @netgalley @authoremilyshiner and bookouture for the Arc copy of this audible book.

3.75 but rounded up.
This was a fun psychological thriller with lots of suspense, drama, and twisty turns. A semi figured some of them out as we went along, but the refills were still so well done that I enjoyed them anyway. I liked the multiple points of view and somewhat unreliable narrators. It definitely had me questioning what to believe.

Evan Warner is in a tough spot. His wife has died. his daughter out of control, and his house is a mess. Enter the new housekeeper. Coming at his Assistant's recommendation, Evan doesn't do his due diligence when making the hire.... and he has no idea who he just allowed into his home.

This one was a pretty quick read and it kept me interested. I love the ultimate ending, I just felt like the last couple chapters were jerky as far as whose version was the truth. Obviously that's the whole point, that you don't know who is telling the truth, but just something about the way it was done was jarring instead of smooth. Still, overall, I really enjoyed it! I would definitely read more from this author!

This book was very good with making you feel uncertain about who the evil one was. Of course near the end, so many crazy things occurred and I was so angry at how things were handled by the characters. It for sure left the door open for another story. I would recommend this book for a quick and fun twisty ride. Way to go Emily Shiner!