This one had me hooked immediately. A missing husband, cheating, betrayal, & so much more— & all of a sudden it lost me. There were so many things going on, so many random characters, & so many deaths. It just didn’t seem realistic to me when it was all said & done. There was information given that went absolutely nowhere when I thought for sure it would tie things up & bring it all together. I also guessed a couple big twists from the get-go. Nothing really shocked me it just confused me further. Bummed that this one ended up not being for me. I did LOVE the narrator on this one though!

The Marriage Counselor - Dea Poirier

A story of lies and deceit!

I thought the opening of the story was great - we meet Adele who has a visit from the police telling her that her husband has been reported missing, and his work place were not even aware of Adele's existence, and from there follows a lot more twists and turns. I enjoyed the communication between Adele and the local police officer Cameron (Adele's ex-boyfriend), I felt this added so much to the story. I personally found the book a little predictable as I did guess the ending pretty quickly, but still enjoyed the ride.

Overall plenty of suspense and I very much enjoyed the ending (as it was what I was expecting/hoping it would be) but it did not grab me as much as I had hoped. Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for the advance copy in return for my honest thoughts.

This was a deliciously twisty thriller. When you think you have it figured out...you don't. Buckle up for this wild ride! Who is really the enemy....

The Marriage Counselor
By Dea Poirer
Narrated by Stephanie Cannon
Pub. date: April 24/23
Format: advance copy audiobook 🎧

Adele is a marriage counselor. An occupation chosen to follow in the footsteps of her late parents. Adele benefited from their legacy, as just their name drew clients to seek her out. That was until her husband went missing; secrets came out tarnishing her parents; and patients were found dead.

This book was fairly suspenseful. The reader finds themselves wondering what all of the events have in common, if anything. The flow is good keeping the reader interested. Unfortunately, as the book carries on, the story seems disjointed. There were characters who seem important however their storylines fade out leaving the reader wondering what happened to them. On the other hand, for one who is not usually good at figuring out mysteries, I found a major clue to be very obvious. Lastly, with little or no warning, the story came to an abrupt turn. Then everything seemed to move at double speed coming to a quick end.

I think this story had everything that could have made it quite enjoyable. The concept was interesting, the narration was good and the characters had the possibility to be quite unique. Sadly it just did not live up to my expectations.

Many thanks to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook for my honest review.

The Marriage Counselor was a rollercoaster ride for me but not for the right reasons. I started out really liking the story. Adele is a marriage counselor and her husband Patrick goes missing. After her husband is missing people connected to both Adele and Patrick are turning up dead.

I was on the edge of my seat for a good portion of the book. Then the roller coaster started. The ride I went on was me hoping this would not take the obvious and boring twist. Unfortunately, it did and I saw it coming from a mile away.

This may be more of a problem for me. I go through a lot of books. I keep very close to a book-a-day pace (thank you audiobooks). This is not just a strange flex, which it kinda is, it’s just to explain how this could be a me problem. With the number of books I go through, there are some twists that seem like the easy way out to me that I come across so many times. If I didn’t go through so many books it’s not something I would immediately expect and would probably be more forgiving of.

I still enjoyed this book even though the race to the end was not the race I wanted. The story showed a lot of promise and I was left wanting so much more. I still would recommend this book.

🎧 Audiobook Review 🎧
The Marriage Counselor by Dea Poirier
Pub Date: 4/24/23

How would you react if your husband not only went missing, but you found out that his coworkers didn’t even know he was married? And to add insult to injury you’re a marriage counselor who is blindsided by this info? 😬 How embarrassing!

This is the situation our main character Adele is thrown into at the start of The Marriage Counselor and the twists only keep coming from there! I was hooked pretty quickly with this thriller and it was absolutely a wild ride!

The narrator did a phenomenal job with this book in my opinion! The actual content of this book was a little confusing though, so I think listening vs. physically reading was a bit of a setback. For a book that is only 277 pages there is a lot of characters and a lot of twists. While there was a plot line or two that I didn’t feel was tied in fully I still enjoyed the story overall.

This was my first book by Poirier and I would absolutely check out more by her in the future. I’d recommend this one for fans of Freida McFadden and Kiersten Modglin! If you’re in it for the twists, this book is for you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thanks to Bookouture Audio & @netgalley for the advanced listening copy! All opinions are my own.

I was teetering between 3 and 4 stars for this for several reasons. First of all, I loved the concept of this and thought it was going to play out very differently than it did, so part of my dislike for some of this is probably due to my own expectations. That being said, there were several plot holes and some things either didn't make sense or weren't explained fully so I was left wondering and very confused. It almost felt as if there should be a sequel to explain things, which shouldn't be necessary in these types of domestic thrillers. After you read this, you will not know who did what or the motives behind it. I'm still not entirely sure what happened or why. I was also expecting this to be more of a thriller but it just felt like a convoluted mystery. The major plot twist was easily predictable and I rarely can predict the twists. This was disappointing. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This thriller was interesting! There were so many twists and things that I did not expect. Adele's husband goes missing and she finds out that he has been stealing money from others and lying to her for a very long time. They are trying to find him and people keep getting murdered left and right. Some parts were confusing and didn't make sense, but the ending put it all together. I think there needs to be more explanation to some of the parts.

I loved this thriller of an audio about a marriage guidance counsellor whose life is torn about after her husband goes missing and she finds out she didn’t know him at all. As her life is threatened it’s a race against time to find out the truth before anyone else gets hurt but is everything as it seems. This keeps you on your toes and has a very satisfying ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookoture Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Imagine the shock and fear of finding out one day that your husband has gone missing, While trying to figure things out, Adele realizes her husband has been lying to her for a long time. This as the start of the book was gripping.

This book started off very strong and hooked me from the start. The narrator did a great job. The story is fast paced and filled with so many twists, however it did not ‘WOW’ me overall. There were a few parts where I was left confused. I’m truly still figuring out “who dunnit?” Overall I would recommend this book as an easy read.

3.5 rounded up to 4 for goodreads.

The audio narrator was good in this one. If you listen to a lot of audiobooks you know an audio narrator can really make or break a book. Good choice on using Stephanie Cannon for this one.

The overall story was a quick and entertaining read.

The main character was pretty unlikable which would usually make me dislike the book but that wasn’t the case in this one. I kinda liked that she was awful. Well maybe awful is a little harsh…but she’s not someone I’d want anything to do with. She’s got a weird vibe to her. I did like her best friend Tara though. I sort of wish there was more detail in regards to their role in the story though.

Emma (the MC’s asst) was a freaking lunatic. The entire time I was like who does this girl think she is talking to her boss like that. She was a complete loon and that temper….

The pacing in this one was good but I felt that the ending was a little rushed. In fact, after the last sentence the audiobook starts talking about another book so I was a little confused like “wait…that’s it??!?!” I can’t say the ending was bad though, it totally worked but just felt abrupt to me. I think that exact ending might’ve working better in a screenplay. Either way I still enjoyed the book.

I can definitely say I recommend this one. I’d read another book by this author too.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would! Currently, the only issue I have with it is that she routinely talked about not finishing college but you do need a masters to be a counselor but that was the only issue with the counselor part of it.

I did not enjoy the plot twists I do not think they were thought out properly and it ended with a lot of loose ends despite Cam's confession at the end it feels like we never got exactly closer with her parent's death/legacy. Overall I feel like the storyline is good and that some of the plot twists are good but there are just too many of them. Also, I wish we got more insight into how she set Emma up.

Adele is a marriage counselor who’s husband Patrick is reported missing after he was supposed to return from a two week vacation. Adele does not seem very concerned, but calls around to check in with his friends. That is when she discovers that he had many secrets and maybe Adele didn’t know her husband as well as she thought she did. Or did she? Maybe Adele knows more than she is letting on. While this book kept my interest and I wanted to know what was happening, it was a bit confusing. People around Adele start being murdered and Adele also seems unaffected. She also doesn’t seem concerned about her own safety even after being warned by Cameron, the officer on the case that just happens to be a former flame. The resolution seemed rushed and I am still a little confused, mainly about the lack of any kind of emotion from the main characters. I enjoyed reading it, but feel like the motivation and characters could have been better developed.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this early read audiobook in exchange for my honest review. THE MARRIAGE COUNSELOR will publish April 24, 2023. #themarriagecounselor #netgalley #deapoirier #bookouture #ARC #psychologicalthriller

This was definitely a plot twisting, keep you on your toes type of mystery thriller. I enjoyed all the steps of the investigation, and how we had all the details to try to solve the killings, but we never really knew who it was. It was very fast paced and entertaining. I devoured it in one sitting.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the voice of the narrator! It was smooth and super easy to listen to and get lost in. The story is about a woman who’s husband goes missing one day and she discovers she never really knew him at all. There were some twists and turns I didn’t see coming but most of the book was fairly predictable to me, having read hundreds of this genre before. The story was still well written, I just wish they would have delved further into the couples backstory. If you’re into psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators, you should check this book out!

A few mixed feelings about this one. It started of interesting with a missing husband and the mystery as to what happened to him and a trail of lies he left behind. Unfortunately it just nosedived for me the characters where very unlikeable and the front cover of the book did give away a bit of the plot. I didn’t enjoy the main twist felt a bit over the top. I did however enjoy the final part of the book and a last little twist I wasn’t expecting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookoture Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review!

When successful marriage counselor Adele’s husband suddenly goes missing, her world begins to fall apart. Adele realizes her husband has been lying to her for a long time and she is furious. Not only is this a blow to her heart, but she also believes it is a blow to her business; after all, how could a competent marriage counselor not see the lies within her own marriage?

The premise of this thriller is really fun, and I could not wait to read it and see what happened. I will say that there were many twists, and the story was fast paced which is something that I enjoy in a thriller. Unfortunately, this book did not work well for me overall. As I said, there are many twists, and in this case, I believe there were too many. I started to get confused as the reveals continued to add up. I was left confused by this book; I am not sure of everything that happened, or which character did what. It is difficult to go further into depth than that without giving anything away. I just felt like I wasn’t sure who was guilty.

I have to say that the author did a good job at keeping me engaged and interested in the story. I couldn’t stop listening until the end; but the last 20-30% of the book was confusing. The characters were not my favorites, they weren’t very likeable or unlikeable.

The audio narrator did do a good job, and I enjoyed listening to this book. I don’t think anything was taken away by listening to the audio, in fact, I think hearing the tones of the characters voices added context I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Overall, I was *so* hoping this would work out for me because the premise and beginning of the book drew me in. I loved that the author kept the pace so fast, I just wish there were less twists and more of a completed ending. For that reason, I’ve decided that this is a 2.5 rounded to 3 star read for me.

As a well-known marriage counselor, Adele's entire professional career is based on her ability to see couples for who they are and help their partners see it, too..... so she's understandably shocked when her husband goes missing and she founds out he's not at all who she thought.

The books grabbed me from the beginning and the first half was pretty fast paced and compelling. Then in the second half as the crimes kept piling up and things were a bit all over the place for a good chunk, yet the ultimate ending was a bit obvious. Still, the story kept thing moving quickly and the narration was excellent. I would definitely try more from this author.

This is a lot of rich people problems. Also don't date cops involved in your friends /spouses murder investigations.
It was good though. I was surprised often and the narration was great. The end was wonderful.

I have to admit; I guessed nothing right in this book. I really was fooled. Adele, a marriage counselor, receives a visit one day from her ex, who is also a cop. They are doing a welfare check on her current husband. She finds out that his job doesn't know she exists. She finds out he was cheating, lying, stealing money, etc. All the things you would be horrified to know your ex was involved in. But where is he? Did he run away? Did someone get revenge on him? Who will end up dead? Great book! Shocks like crazy in this book!