Note: This is categorized as a Netgalley Review. I received an e-copy of this book from Netgalley and Minotaur Books in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. 

When I saw the Popsugar reading challenge prompt for “A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover,” I didn’t even have to dig around to find a book that would fit the prompt. I’ve had this e-copy of The Other Woman by Sandie Jones for awhile now. My Netgalley backlist is massive and I’m really trying to get caught up on reading and reviewing. (The way Netgalley works, the higher your reviewed and read percentage, the more likely you are to get approved for titles).

Even though I hadn’t read this book yet, the cover has stuck in my mind, especially since I got a very similar shot taken at my own wedding (see the images of the cover and my wedding dress below)! I knew this was a domestic thriller (which is a genre I really enjoy) and it had gotten some pretty decent reviews on Goodreads and Litsy, so I was excited to get a chance to dive into it. I also used this book for the #Booked2019 winter prompt “A new to you author.”

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TW: domestic abuse, violence, language

Emily was not expecting to meet the man of her dreams in a bar. But Adam was perfect and kind and made her laugh. She knew right away that he was the one for her. But then she met his mother.

Pammie seemed kind to Emily, at first. But her hatred for Emily didn’t take long to rear its head. Her manipulation seems to know no bounds, commenting on Emily’s weight, outright lying to her, constantly demanding all of Adam’s attention. When Adam proposes, Emily starts to see the real Pammie—the one who will do anything to keep Adam all to herself.

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I started reading this book on my Kindle during a slow afternoon at work. I had most of the afternoon to read it and by the time there were only 20 minutes left before I went home, I was 75% done. The book was really picking up tempo and I wanted to finish it before I had to drive an hour home and then work out and make dinner. I just couldn’t wait that long to find out the ending! So of course, a project came across my desk and I had to put my book down.

When I finally got home and went to work out, did my Kindle come with me to the elliptical? You bet your butt! I’ve never pushed myself as hard as I did when the big twist came at the end of the book. My husband thought I was a little crazy, but this is what we do for really good books.

The suspense is really well executed. Pammie is a good villain and I really believed that Emily was going to be stuck with her forever. In some books, this stalemate could make the plot stagnant. However, Jones keeps enough variables in play that you’re never sure which character is going to have the upper hand. Jones reveals the book’s amazing twist right when another shift of power would have started to bore the reader. Her pacing is spot on, which always takes a thriller to the next level.

Some of the characters, including Emily, can be a bit whiny and stereotypical. Adam is the macho man who works in software and comes home drunk at 3 am. His brother, James, is always jealous of Adam. Things like that. While these tropes are tired, and certainly didn’t work for some readers, I didn’t seem to mind them. Perhaps because I read a nonfiction book with an even more whiny narrator a few weeks ago, so I didn’t find this as hard to believe.

A quick note about the twist. I desperately don’t want to spoil it for you, because I honestly didn’t see it coming, and things like that should always be unspoiled. But. The twist twists a lot. The “bad guy” shifts a lot. And I didn’t think it needed to. So, without spoiling anything, the twist is unnecessarily messy, which is why I only gave this book a 4/5.

However, I still definitely recommend this book. The characters are easy to connect with (perhaps because they are stereotypes, which means we know what to expect of them) and again, that twist, guys. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be good. If you like domestic thrillers, I recommend this one. It’s a nice change of pace to incorporate the mother-in-law, when so many of these books just focus on the husband and wife.

What’s your favorite domestic thriller? Share below!

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Pages: 304
Rating: 4/5