This is a complex psychological thriller that will keep you guessing as to who the bad guy/woman is in the story. There are plenty of secrets in Rosedale, and not all of them are good. There were plenty of twists that happen as the story wraps up. Some of them can be guessed at but why just enjoy the ride as the story unfolds?

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this eCopy to review

His Last Wife is a psychological thriller following Anna as she becomes Cary's 2nd wife. However, Anna struggles to live up to his 1st wife Presley as she is not of the same social status, is trying to become a mother to Presley's daughter and worse of all live with Presley's mother. Anna becomes convinced that Cary was involved in Presley's disappearance and is worried for her own new life, but he doesn't realise how far she will go to keep her new status. Whilst the characters are all deplorable, the plot is full of many twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end.

A fast paced read

I didn’t love this book at first but the stars started accumulating as it went on and OMG did it ramp up toward the end! No spoilers here but it was almost impossible to write this review without them. I’m desperate to discuss this book with anyone who will listen!

I was puzzled by every twist and turn and beyond shocked by the ending. If anyone says they saw it coming, they didn’t.

This was my first Ruhi Choudhary book. I wasn’t blown away by her writing style but the story itself made up for it. I’ll definitely check out her other titles.

I recommend this book if you’e into domestic thrillers, psychological thrillers and/or suspense.

4.3 rounded down to 4.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

This is a domestic drama full of hideous characters doing odious, repulsive things.

Readers will have to completely suspend disbelief at this mishmash timeline with all of the nasty people involved.

Anna meets Cary Danvers when he is a patient seeing a therapist after his wife went missing and is presumed dead. There is nothing about Anna that matches Dr. Danvers’ social position, yet he becomes romantically involved with her and takes her home to meet his infant daughter. Soon they are living together. Unfortunately, his missing wife, the perfect Presley Scott, still looms large over the household, especially since her mother, Juliet, lives there too. But it’s Anna’s complete obsession taking over the daughter, Harper, and becoming her “mommy” that really sends this novel into the next dimension. You know what happens next is not going to be good. In fact, it’s beyond terrible.

The novel is divided into several parts with different points of view. I listened to the audio version while reading along and it was difficult to tell who was speaking at times. As previously stated, the characters were all deplorable with their secrets, lies, and actions.

Thank you to Bookouture for providing the ARC copies for me to read and review. This was not my cup of tea.

An enjoyable thriller with narrators I couldn't quite trust making it a twisty read with unexpected revelations. I loved the style and the way the story unfolded. The upper class closed suburbian setting worked well for increasing tension, creating secrets and alliances that may not be as they seem. I could easily imagine it being made into a tv series as very visual. I will read more by the author

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

Anna is moving in with the love of her life. Cary is handsome, rich and has an adorable daughter, Harper. After Cary’s wife, Presley, was abducted some time ago, Anna takes on the role as Harper’s mother. However this new ratchets to riches lifestyle is more complicated than Anna imagined. Not only does she has to handle Presley’s mother, who has a strong dislike for her, she also has to impress her new neighbours with dinner parties and get togethers. All of this would be fine if she hadn’t found Presley’d diary one day. A diary where she confesses that Cary is abusive. With a locked room she’s not allowed to enter and the dark secrets from the diary, Anna starts to winder if she really knows the man she’s fallen in love with.

We all know the set up for a domestic thriller; There’s usually a sketchy husband, a naive woman and lots of secrets. Yet I found this thriller surprising and well-executed. We mostly gets Anna’s point of view, but in between we get snippets from “the watcher”, which was a nice element to keep the suspense. Further into the novel we also get a new point of view that changes up the pace and the character dynamic.

I thought I knew where the plot was going, and though I predicted one of the twist I was surprised by others and shocked by the ending. The more we learn about Presley’s disappearance, the more complicated the mystery gets. What drives the novel is the lies and secrets both from Cary, the neighbour, the diary, but also from Anna herself. She has her own secrets that always leave the reader a bit in the dark, which I love.

I enjoyed the novel and would recommend it if you’re looking for a new and suspenseful domestic thriller.

3,75 ⭐️

His Last Wife by Ruhi Choudhary
(Narrated by Penelope Rawlins, Kelly Burke)

The stroyline was developed fantastically. Chapters after chapters. It led you to somewhere, but then there was another secret revealed. The core characters were smartly sculptured, then the author added more characters that deepened the whole story!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my copy.

Pub date: April 25, 2024

This was a fast-paced and twisty read! It centers on Anna, who falls in love with a man named Cary and his young daughter, only to find that his wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As she gets more embedded into his life, she finds out that there are secrets kept by pretty much everyone around her, though she also has secrets of her own.

The chapters are primarily told from Anna’s POV, with some also from Cary’s wife, Presley. You also get some told from the POV of a mysterious “watcher”. Both Anna and Presley were understandable characters even when decisions they made weren’t appealing. The twists toward the end of the book were really good and there were a few that were big surprises. I liked the way the book ended as well. The only thing that bothered me is that baby Harper seemed much older than she was supposed to be based on the way she spoke. I had to force myself past that.

Overall, this was a fun read with some great surprises and I read through it pretty quickly because I couldn’t wait to see what happened. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Choudhary knows how to write some of the most vile characters and include such intricate plot twists that leave me in bewilderment!
I kept wondering as I read what are the whys and where fors with Anna because the whole situation was awkward. Moving into a house where it clearly belonged to the missing wife and trying to place happy home made my skin crawl.
I couldn’t out the pieces together and then the narrative switched to another character and it began to come together.
Honestly, the only character I liked was Harper. The others were just nasty and I wasn’t sorry to read about their fates.

Omg I read this book in less than a day, I couldn’t put it down I literally did all my household stuff while holding my kindle reading. I was not expecting the plot twist or how it would end. This book was amazing!!!

WOW! WOW! WOW! When Anna meets Cary and their friendship starts to blossom into something more, he confesses that his wife, Presley, my not actually be dead as he had led her to believe. Presley disappeared soon after the birth of her and Cary's baby girl, Harper, and her body has never been found. By this point, Anna has already fallen for Harper and Cary, and the little girl is calling Anna mummy.

The neighbours and Presley's mother all have prefect Presley on a pedestal and Anna struggles to feel accepted, and then she finds Presley's diary and everything turns on it's head in spectacular style!

This fabulously written and faced paced story is narrated by a few characters, including an unidentified "watcher" and all of the characters were intriguing and fascinated me in their own way. I really couldn't see how Ruhi Choudhary was going to pull all of the different elements together and then it hit me out of nowhere... A twist to die for! As the twists kept coming and the book reached a gripping conclusion with my heart racing, there was still MORE and I would never ever have predicted that one in a million years! Well played, Ruhi!

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Ruhi Choudhary and Bookouture, for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I’ve always been a fan of the Mackenzie Price series, but now Ruhi Choudhary has written His Last Wife, a standalone psychological thriller, and I have to say, the whole story gripped from beginning to end.
Anna meets surgeon Cary Danvers when he visits the therapist she works for. He is undergoing long term counselling following the disappearance of his beautiful and accomplished wife Presley a year ago under mysterious circumstances. An amicable chat moves on to a lift home, then coffee and within a short time Anna has moved in with him and taken over responsibility for his small daughter, Harper. Her home is a luxury neighbourhood occupied by well heeled individuals. Some are friendly, some not so much. There is also one big problem, however. Cary lives with his mother-in-law Juliette, and she makes it very clear Anna cannot come close to the clever, gifted person her daughter was, and does everything in her power to trip her up. For a moment this felt just a touch like Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca: the grieving widower, his new wife and the formidable housekeeper Mrs Danvers (used coincidentally for Cary’s surname) who keeps the memory of his first wife Rebecca very much alive and is keen to make the new wife feel insecure and inadequate.
However, this story is worlds apart from Rebecca. As Anna gradually settles in, she realises the neighbours have secrets of their own, Cary may not be quite the man she thought he was, and there are issues about Presley’s disappearance that don’t quite add up. But investigating further could well lead her into big trouble, and, of course, it does.
Written from Anna’s, Presley’s and a mysterious watcher’s viewpoint, this is a cleverly constructed novel full of twists, turns and the most surprising and nail biting of finishes. Highly recommended.
I would like to thank Boldwood, the author and Netgalley for an ARC of His First Wife in exchange for an honest review.

I was able to read an ARC through the publisher and NetGalley. This was my first book by this author and I’m impressed! The author did an excellent job with character development. I was drawn into the story and rooting for and against various characters. The story was suspenseful and I was back and forth with my theories as I read. The ending contained a number of twists, which is something I like in a good thriller. I would recommend this book & plan to read more from this author. Thankful I was exposed to her work through NetGalley!

I could not put this book down! The multiple perspectives and timelines keep the reader intrigued, along with all the secrets the neighborhood is hiding. I can honestly say that I did not expect the twist towards the end, but I would have liked a bit more closure during the final scenes.

It’s really hard to know what to make of this one. Good potential and strong writing but the execution left something to be desired. It was a bit too convoluted and it felt like there were parts that were too complicated and others that were glossed over when they needed more depth. It was a quick breezy read though and an author I would try again

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy

I was underwhelmed by this book. The main character felt kind of flat and I struggled to care about her character arc.

At first I wasn’t really hooked, I even told a friend she shouldn’t bother requesting this. Slowly I got more and more into the story, and about 60% in I was fully hooked. I even told my friend she needed to try to get the ALC. Then the twist at the end happened and my jaw dropped. I immediately told my friend I was mind blown and she needs to listen! The ending absolutely blew my mind! There were multiple twists I didn’t see coming. Absolutely recommend!!!!

His Last Wife is a mysterious thriller involving secrets, lies, and more secrets! Captivating writing and realistic characters make this book easy to devour.

Anna starts to fall for Cary before finding out that his wife has gone missing and she recognizes the story from the news. She’s already fallen for his daughter and wants to stay in their lives. She finds out details from the missing wife’s disappearance are not what she was told and the wife’s mother is not going to make anything about this relationship easy. Anna has a secret of her own though. This was such a gripping story I could NOT put it down and read it in under 24 hours. I screamed at the twists and was totally blown away!!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Ruhi Choudhary, and Bookouture Audio for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I hope others enjoy this too on April 25th.

I have posted my review on Goodreads, in my Facebook book club, and will post a Tiktok review within the week before it releases.

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley and the author in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This is my first novel by this author, and it was a decent, fast-paced read with great pacing, tension, and suspense. The characters are all well-written, but I found most of them incredibly unlikable. It was obvious from the beginning that Cary wasn't honest, and his lies and secrets were bizarre. I did find some of the plot twists predictable, though the final twist at the end was well-executed and unexpected. I'm giving this book 4 stars and look forward to reading more from this author.

Fantastic! A thrilling entry in the psychological thriller genre with twist upon twist. You'll never guess what is going on in this book and then when you get to the end, your jaw will be on the floor, and you'll look back and see all the carefully placed clues Choudhary left for you. Fast-paced, riveting, stunning and deliciously creepy. Don't miss this one.