When Anna meets Cary, life is like a fairytale, has she finally found her happily ever after? Life with Cary and Harper is the life Anna dreamed of. The only problem; Cary’s missing wife Presley.

This happy family life soon turns into a dark, twisted, claustrophobic life when Anna moves into Cary’s home in Rosedale. Everyone has secrets, and Rosedale is bursting at the seams with them. Can Anna keep her teenage delinquencies a secret from her new friends? What happened to Presley? Who wrote the sinister notes left around the house? Who is always watching?

I requested this book on NetGalley because the blurb sounded interesting and I’m happy I did! The book was slow paced at the start, and then sweeps you into the tornado that is life in Rosedale, much like how Anna’s life seems calm and well paced until she meets Cary.

The characters were really well developed. Each were introduced to the reader at face value, but their secrets and flaws were slowly revealed as we spent more time in Rosedale.

I did not predict the twists and turns in this book. The author leaves snippets of information that make you think you have the mystery all figured out, and then pulls the rug out from under your feet and shows you how wrong you were. There were so many twists at the end that I think I’ll be unravelling myself for days.

This book is advertised as a psychological thriller, and the description speaks of a husband's secret about his first wife's disappearance. What is missing is the CONTENT NOTE just before the Prologue. It reads, "This book contains domestic abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual assault." If this content note had been in the description, I would not have selected this novel. As soon as I read the note, I did not continue with the book. It may be finely and skillfully written, but it is not my preferred reading material, and it would have been helpful to have the content note visible before the book is downloaded.

Nevertheless, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this book, with my honest review below.

His Last Wife may seem like it will follow a tried and true thriller storyline, and in some ways it does, but it also carries a massive twist that turns everything on its head and had me staying up late to read it!

Anna has met the man of her dreams in Cary and the daughter she never knew she wanted so badly in Harper, but living under the shadow of his perfect wife Presley is hard. Presley disappeared a year before and she’s a hard one to live up to, with her pernicious mother another complication. As the story goes on Anna quickly realizes Cary may not be as perfect as she thought and Presley may not be as dead as she suspected.

I enjoyed this and the twist at the end, as well as some of the smaller twists and turns throughout the reading. Don’t discount the story as going in one direction due to the blurb, it’s well worth the read to have your head turned a bit!

*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*



Cover: 7/10, Author name more highlighted than title of the book + no fancy font and no 'reintegrating' cover (wanting to read it, based on cover design)

Table of content: Yes, but no page indication.

Drawings: No, not necessary.

• • • •

Quotes

'Maybe both of us could use a friend.'

- Dr. Danvers

'Stop shaking like a leaf in the wind.'

- Narrator

'And I'm here rambling like a drunk college girl, and I said the words boobs! Who says boobs?'

- Anna

'She had one of those personalities. The kind that takes over everything and everyone.'

- Dr. Danvers

The world continued to spin, birds chirped, winds blew, rain fell, days bled into nights, but the loneliness was so enormous that all of a sudden nothing mattered. The beauty of the world faded. People's laughter and joy stopped touching my soul. And soon sadness and anger paved the way for a more permanent emotion: apathy.

- Anna

'The bad things take time to come out, my dear.'

- Mrs. Scott

'Luck is a funny thing. It's bipolar. It only knows extremes.'

- Mrs. Scott

'I wanted this world to remember me. I didn't want to take a piece of this world, rather, I wanted it to take a piece of me and keep it forever.'

- Anna

'Sometimes the only way to get respect is to demand it.'

- Seth

'Well, people always have nice things to say about you once you're dead.'

- Alice


• • • •


In Depth Discussion/The Review

Likes;

Trigger warning/content warning at the beginning before one starts reading the book. Important as it might trigger someone and decided to not read it (which wasn't my case as the blurb was good in already telling the triggers, but still thanks for the trigger warning!)

First sentence lures the reader to continue reading.

Good introduction of characters. Getting to know fast their behaviour and interests. No flat characters.

I like that the 'the ex might be better' mindset is discussed in this book as many experience this and seeing Anna going through this makes a reader understand her more and sympthatise with her.

Lots of chapters, so that readers who read chapter-wise can take more than enough breaks.

Chapters made specifically for the "watcher', giving the reader a bit of excitement, that lacked in previous chapters.

I don't know why, but I like when one watches a conversation and describes it to the reader, but they just see it and don't hear their dialogue, so the reader is left with a mystery.

The way Cary acts, his temper and his way of acting, is so intruding. So good written out.

Good writing style (got a lot of quotes out of the book, they are very inspirational).

Some chapters have a sentence beginning like a book begins — a way of making the reader want to read more and buy this book, in this case, start/finish the chapter. A strategy used for page-turner books.

Different POV's towards the end of the story, gives a different kind of enjoyment and excitement of what is coming next.

Most plot twists were predictable and plain or often used. But the last one, that was really unexpected and smart.

Dislikes:

Don't quiet understand why he kissed her if he was theoretically seen still married. And why he wanted to move on so fast. Already gives the reader the feeling that something is wrong.

The 'first steps' scene was a bit flat. He comes in and just says she made her first steps and both showed no reaction. Nothing like 'he celebrated' or 'she was shocked', just like it's completely normal. As far as I know, parents always celebrate it in some way and it was rather down-played here.

The fact that a small child is already using technology (tablet) isn't right and I dislike that it gets mentioned in this book.

I agree with Sadie that Anna overreact over Harper, being sick is good for the immune system and being sick is also normal, as long as it isn't life threatening.

The first plot twist at the end of chapter eighteen was predictable 'cause of previous scenes with both characters.

The 'watcher' and Anna both use the word 'little angel' for Harper and it seems to me that the author struggles to let a character have their own words, their own vocabulary when narrating their POV.

Anna is holding on for a child she never gave birth to herself way too much and says even if she divorces herself, SHE is keeping the child, as if it's her's.

At page 173, line 11 is a indicator of a speech end, but I don't seem to find the start. After the '‘‘Yes’’, she shrugs', there starts another text and at some point it has an ’’ at the end, but no start.


• • • •


Rating

How it works: Only everything that is lower than 9 gets reduced from the final rating. Depending on how strong it inflicted the overall enjoyment of reading it affects differently.

[ Story 7 / 10 ] -

[ Characters 8 / 10 ] -

[ Triggering 0 / 10 ] +

[ Topic/Genre 10 / 10 ] +

[ Writing style 10 / 10 ] +

[ Grammatic and spelling 8 / 10 ] -

[ Ending 10 / 10 ] +

Final Rating

3/5


• • • •


What to do for a higher rating:

First of all, one could fix the speech indicator error I mentioned, as a grammatically mistake is something that shouldn't be in a book who is about to get published. The vocabulary of some characters are a bit too alike and gives the reader the feeling like they don't have their own voice/vocabulary, that could be changed to a different word for Harper for example, instead of letting everyone call her 'little angel', she can also have other suitable nicknames for her age. Except one were all plot twists predictable as they already got told in an indirect way. The best plot twists are those that weren't mentioned at all yet and the plot twist is like it's own little story in a big story.


• • • •


End note/Final thoughts:

I enjoyed the book, even with it's errors and even though I knew almost all plot twists before they were told, I found an interest in the originality of the story and the way it got told. Also, please don't remove the scene where they rest their heads against eachother and rub their noses together (page 81). That's so cute and unique from other stories!



Thank you for the advanced reader copy of His Last Wife by Ruhi Choudhary.



Started the book: 13. March 2024
Finished the book: 14. March 2024
Wrote the review: 14. March 2024

OMG this is such a complex story and this left my head spinning. I was confused in the best possible way, constantly wondering who this person was. I was wrecking my brain, because I was provided with a lots of puzzle pieces, but I did not see which slots I had to fit them in.

I always like it when what comes around goes around,and those who have treated others badly get what they deserve.

If you want your plan to come together, you have to be patient and go over every little detail, but even then there might be a factor you did not take into account, to turn the tables.

Would you like to find out what Anna is hiding and what happened to Presley? There is only one way to see everything unfold. I can assure you, it's a book worth reading. 

I was shocked by the plot. Lies, deceit, manipulation, jealousy are a few of the emotions the author uses as bricks to build the story. This is a well thought out and well written book I found hard to put down. 5 stars

Thank you

Anna has fallen for a man and his young daughter. Thinking his wife has died, she moves into his beautiful home, in a neighborhood she only dreamt of. She craves to be accepted by the rich she now lives amongst, but soon realizes that having money doesn’t mean you don’t have secrets. When she learns the truth about Carey’s wife, will Anna lose everything she worked so hard for?

There were some characters I loved, and some I disliked immensely as the story went on. Twists and turns in every chapter., with a plot twist surprise ending. Author has a great writing style that kept me guessing the whole way through.

Wow! What a ride!!! I will be thinking about this for days. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the copy of His Last Wife by Ruhi Choudhary. The setup sounded like a take on the classic Rebecca, where a new, mousy wife with an indifferent husband tries to take the place of the bombshell wife, so maybe my expectations were too high. It started as a great story, but the uneven syntax made it hard to read. I never felt like I got to know the characters because they were not multidimensional. I liked how the book took a turn about halfway through (too bad an early review spoiled it) but it wasn’t enough to save the implausible events. If you love a shocking final reveal you will love this book, but it wasn’t enough for me. 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this Advanced Reader’s Copy of His Last Wife by Ruhi Choudhary due to be published April 25, 2024.
Cary’s wife, Presley, disappeared and is still missing after being abducted from her car. Anna now lives in Cary and Presley’s fabulous house and the baby, Harper, calls her mama. Anna has to put up with Presley’s snooty mother, Juliet, and the neighbors’ gossip about Presley. One day Anna overhears something frightening – Presley was abducted from her house – not her car as Cary said. Did he have something to do with her disappearance?
Wow – this book! You really got to know the characters well. Or did you? You never knew who was going to be the “bad guy” (or girl). I just thought I knew the plot until all the roller coaster of a ride happened. And the ending – be prepared for a shock!
This was a new-to-me author – I will be looking for more of her books!
#NetGalley #RuhiChoudhary #Bookouture #HisLastWife

This talented author has written a page turner. A missing wife…a new wife…his last? Will she be next? A daughter…secrets and red herrings kept me guessing…this book would make a great movie…it is fiction that, at times, reads like nonfiction. The neighbors gossip…the new wife wonders what happened? A locked room…the recipe for unhappiness…secrets me difficult subjects…thanks Netgalley.

I debited this in one sitting!! Full of secrets, lies and unpredictable characters!!! I really didn’t know how it would pan out! A really great, twisty novel.

Holy cow!!! What did I just read?!? Presley Scott disappears and Anna ends up moving in with her husband and baby, Harper. Anna deals with snubs from paisleys mother and the neighbors. Suddenly Presley returns and Anna has no place in the house anymore. Meanwhile one of the police officers is sure he knows Anna from somewhere. Who is she? How does he know her? And what is paisley up to? So the role paisley played in this story was obvious from page one. However the role Anna played is so out there you will never guess!! The only thing I didn’t like is the author does not describe Harper as a normal toddler would act. Not even close. If I had a kid that advanced and perfect I would have tons of kids. It’s just not believable. But highly recommended! Wonderful thriller