What a great book with lots of lies, so much drama, and plot twists galore. I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. So many twists and turns in this book it’s going to leave your head just spinning. Absolutely addictive. Who says money can’t change a marriage? You are going to want to read this one in a day!!!! Go make the popcorn and get ready!!!!

Overall, I give this book a 3 star rating. I had high hopes based on the description, title, and book cover but it was a bit too drawn out. The second half of the book moved a lot faster and had an interesting plot twist but I wish the first half was a lot shorter. The ending was epic and definitely surprised me!

This book is a new discovery. It’s my 1st from this author and wow! Such a good thriller with many twists.

The Wife's Mistake talks about a couple named Natalie and Hayden who ended up winning a lottery and how their past comes back to haunt them as they now lead a new life as millionaires.

This is the author's debut. The premise was interesting, the story is mainly told from Natalie's and Hayden's POV mostly. The first 25% part of the story was slightly boring and was slow burn but after Natalie and Hayden wins the lottery then things start to get interested towards the middle. We discover that both Natalie and Hayden are hiding secrets from each other . Natalie's child whom she had given up for adoption might have returned back to her life and someone was trying to blackmail Hayden after hearing the news that Hayden had won the lottery/ Both Natalie and Hayden are unreliable characters which did make the whole story sound interesting. The writing overall was great but however, not much twists and turns are present which you would normally expect in a psychological thriller. However, the ending at the story was great which actually made me give this book a higher rating.

If you are looking for an unputdownable thriller, then I suggest you check out this book--worth 4.5 stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. Many thanks for Bookouture for making me a part of the blog tour. The review is based on my honest nion only.

This was my first book by Lorna Dounaeva, and I very much enjoyed it. I very much look forward to reading her next book on my TBR list “The Perfect Housemate”.

Natalie and Hayden are happy, despite hating their jobs, it’s the only way to keep a roof over their heads. After one particularly bad day at work Natalie buys a lottery ticket on a whim and is beyond shocked when that night their numbers come up. They are officially lottery winner millionaires having won twelve and a half million pounds, however that very night was when their life began to derail. Natalie starts to have suspicions that Hayden is having an affair whilst hiding a very big secret of her own from her husband. Both Natalie and Hayden decide they want to keep their win anonymous however they are outed by someone and before they know it, they are the local newspapers headline! When the news starts to die down Natalie and Hayden find their dream house and quit their day jobs. While Hayden gets to buy the sports cars, he has always wanted Natalie opens up her very own coffee shop, a dream she has had for a long while. Life for them is good. Then Natalie receives an anonymous note saying, “you don’t deserve the money, I do” and then later on a bouquet of flowers with a threatening card. Natalie tries to dismiss her concerns, but they keep on growing…… will she manage to keep her secret from everyone but her sister Liz and get her happy ever after or will the past catch up with her and then she will rue the day she bought that lottery ticket?!!

Despite not warming to any of the characters I did enjoy this read however I did have one character pegged from the start and at the end I was delighted to find out I was correct. However, this did not remove my enjoyment of reading the story at all. I enjoyed hearing the story from both main characters and although I found the start a little slow, things got interesting pretty quickly. I think my only criticism was that I found the timing jumped around a little so sometimes I wasn’t sure where we were in the story but to be honest this wasn’t a major issue, and I enjoyed the book despite this (and also other readers may not find this a problem so it could easily be just a “me” issue). This was going to be a solid 3 stars however because the couple of twists at the end shocked me, I had to upgrade it to a 4 star read.

Overall, a good psychological thriller that I enjoyed, I would definitely recommend this to any reader who enjoy this genre and as I said above, I look forward to reading the next book Lorna Dounaeva has written.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lorna Dounaeva and Bookouture for my advanced reading copy. Out now.

I was asked to be part of a book tour for The Wife's Mistake.

This book had so many twists and turns I honestly felt a bit confused at times. I enjoyed the theme of what happens when a couple who isn't honest with each other win's the lottery. It's the perfect "chiller" book. I enjoyed how fast the book was paced but honestly felt no sympathy or lots of interest in the characters. Most of them made bad decision after bad decision. It was kind of like watching a Maury tv show at times. I kept thinking no don't do that!! Be honest! The ending fell a bit flat for me as I was expecting more of a conclusion. If your looking for a quick chiller book to curl up with a bag of popcorn this would be a great option.

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book. Also a huge thanks to Sarah Hardy who always includes me in great books to review!

The opinions are mine.

You can find my reviews on:
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Goodreads: Nikki- Hedwig's and Hopes

It seemed like all their dreams had come true....the flashy cars, the beautiful house, the money but then come the threats and the fear and they are left wondering how they are going to get through it all. With family members turning on them - who can they actually rely on for help? And as for the supposedly wonderful husband, Hayden, he is hiding more secrets than anyone and if they come out, their perfect new life will come crashing down around them. A really good read.

Wow. Really enjoyed this absolutely thrilling book. Heart poundingly suspenseful with twists that keep on coming, this was a real treat to read. Highly recommend this one.

Natalie and Hayden are married and living in a small flat. Hayden works in hotel management and Natalie is a barista. Hayden is disappointed when he learns that a woman working in the job for less time than he has was recently promoted. Natalie’s dead end job is made worse by her nasty boss and she wants so much to quit.

One day, Natalie decides to buy a lottery ticket. Later that evening, she listens as the TV announcer reveals to the winning numbers and learns that she has won the lottery worth 12.5 Million pounds. She is absolutely shocked but is reluctant to tell Hayden as she suspects he might be having an affair.

After some spying on him and other shenanigans, she finally tells her husband and they get the money. Trying to keep quiet about it, they are outed by someone they told and realize it’s best to have a press conference and announce their win. Natalie wants to buy her own cafe and they buy some cars and a lovely new home. But, when a secret that Natalie has kept for many years threatens to expose her, she has to make some fast decisions.

I found this book to have a fairly shallow plot and rather strange characters. I know the author wanted to make this a thriller but it didn’t quite make it. The storyline was more than it should have been. I also think the author wanted to point out that winning the lottery doesn’t necessarily make someone happy. But, I’m sure it can if you have winners that are stable to being with.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Blimey, this one didn't let up did it? I was only planning on reading a few chapters and saving the rest for bed...that didn't work. I became so wrapped up in the plot it turned into a one sitting read and boy, what a ride Dounaeva took us on!

The plot was multi layered madness with several threads unraveling throughout the book, culminating in an explosive ending.

The characters were well developed, credible and on the whole somewhat likeable.

This is my second read by Dounaeva, I found it to be engaging and enjoyable.

"The Wife’s Mistake” by Lorna Dounaeva was a suspenseful 4-star read. Natalie's life takes a dramatic turn when she wins £12.5M in the lottery, allowing her dream of owning a coffee shop to come true. However, Natalie is reluctant to share the winnings with her husband, Hayden, so she hides the ticket while she discusses her options with her sister. Hiding the winning ticket is the first secret in this novel, but definitely not the last.

The story is told through the POVs of Natalie and Hayden. There were some slow spots, especially at the beginning, but there are so many twists and betrayals that you will want to keep reading. The trust between Natalie and Hayden will be tested, but so will nearly all the relationships between the characters of this book. Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to what Lorna Dounaeva has in store for us next!

Thanks to Bookouture, Lorna Dounaeva, and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read this ARC and share my honest review.

Even inside your dream house you can't hide from your past...

This book might be about the wife's mistake - of which there are many, she made so many stupid and dumb decisions throughout - but unfortunately in this case this one is my mistake. Try as I might I just couldn't get into the story which bordered on ridiculous, in my opinion. I tried to give Natalie the benefit of one too many doubts but I just felt like banging my head against a brick wall. And I've so enjoyed some of the author's other thrillers too! But this one just wasn't for me.

For a start, I just didn't know what was going on with the first chapter. Some dinner party where an engagement and promotion is announced but what was the point of it? And then we rewound to Natalie's first bad decision which lead to plenty more that swiftly followed. OK, so she's in a job where she is under appreciated by a dragon boss and spends most of her days either bantering with the customers or daydreaming about her own coffee shop she dreams of opening.

So when she absently buys a lottery ticket she never thought in a million years - 12.5 million - that she would ever win! But she did. And soon she began dreaming of how she would spend those millions. Ditch her dead end job, buy premises to open her own cafe, step off the rental treadmill and buy a home for her and hubby Hayden.

And then she discovers a text on his phone. From someone called Vivienne. Seemingly intimate messages. Is Hayden having an affair? So what does Natalie do? Confront Hayden, like any normal wife? No. She stalks him. First she takes a glimpse of Vivienne to grasp her competition, who is a Megan Fox lookalike (whom Hayden has a secret crush on). Then she dresses herself up in dowdy women's wear, wig and glasses and follows Hayden up to Manchester for a business conference. What on earth does she hope to achieve? I'm not sure because she lost me there and I binned the rest of the book. It was ridiculous and made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

I really hate leaving negative reviews because I know this is an author's hard work but at the end of the day we can't like every book we read. It's a shame because I have read and enjoyed Lorna's thrillers before but this one just wasn't for me.

I would like to thank #LornaDounaeva, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheWifesMistake in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

This book was nothing like I thought it would be about but it was such a pleasant surprise! The author had little twist thrown in and I loved it. At some points it was hard for me to understand if it was a past or present moment but overall a wonderful book.

Thank you Lorna Dounaeva, Bookouture, and NetGalley for the ARC!

The first bit of the book was more romance than thriller. Natalie wins the lottery but won’t tell her husband because she fears he’s cheating. So she stalks him to find out if he is. 😒. She hides the ticket but yet somehow loses the ticket even after she checks on it constantly. Then her husband finds it and that forces her hand. Still a bit more drama and romance than thriller when people are wanting money from them and getting mad they don’t give them enough. Then someone breaks into their house and leaves a note that they don’t deserve the money. They move into a huge glass house, literally. Someone starts messing with them there too. This is when we find out the wife has a secret that might be coming back to bite her in the butt. There’s a lot more romance drama. Then the husband has a secret he needs to protect. They both don’t talk to each other about what is going on and keep lying and deceiving each other and doing whatever the hell they want. My opinion of the characters and their actions changed frequently. Mostly I was annoyed though. Towards the end it starts to pick up and get more interesting. Just wasn’t thrilling. Mystery Romance, sure. Though it was pretty predictable I still found it entertaining and I would recommend it to those who would like a slower more mystery romance.

Wow, this book completely blew me away! I couldn't stop exclaiming "OMG" at every shocking revelation. I never imagined a story could have so many plot twists, and just when I thought I had it figured out, it twisted again. My stomach was in knots as I kept turning the pages.

The story took off when Natalie and Hayden, this seemingly perfect couple, became millionaires overnight. I found myself getting so frustrated, especially with Natalie and Hayden's actions. The plot was packed with deception, betrayal, revenge, suspense, and crime. It really drove home the message that honesty is crucial, especially in relationships. I'm grateful to the author because this book taught me a valuable lesson. No matter how scared you are of someone's reaction, being truthful and open is essential. Secrets have a way of coming out eventually, so it's better to start with a clear conscience.

Finishing the book felt like wrapping up an intense drama-revenge-thriller television show. It didn't bring tears to my eyes, but it definitely stirred up my emotions. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, the truth takes a sharp turn in a different direction.

If you're into thrillers, mysteries, suspense, and crime, this book is a must-read! It's packed with so many plot twists that you won't be able to put it down.

I want to extend a huge thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this captivating and remarkable book. It's been an absolute pleasure to experience such a gripping story!

The Wife's Mistake is a very twisty and turney book which I really enjoyed. I did find a few of the twists predictable but that did not detract from my enjoyment and the ending was one I did not see coming.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

I have to say I don't really understand the point of the first chapter....it was super confusing. It was only after reading the whole book and going back to that chapter that it made sense. So I think that chapter was kind of unnecessary. It didn't add any value to the book so I think it should have started with chapter number 2. It was easy to get into and follow from that point onward.

I liked the storyline of the lottery win. I think that part should have been included in the summery, I feel like that is such a big part of what the book is about. How we can think we know people and ourselves and how money can change that perception, and show us what the truth really is.

Altogether, I enjoyed this book very much. I read it all in one day. I liked how every character was suspicious and appeared to have something to hide. It made it harder to guess the mystery and actually be surprised in the end, which I was.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this book. There’s a lot of characters and a lot going on. I had plenty of people to be suspicious of. I enjoyed getting Natalie’s and Hayden’s points of view for the same time frames. It really highlighted just how superficial their relationship really was. I don’t understand the point of the first chapter. We never go back to the party as an important event so I’m not sure why to have it be the starting point then go back in time 3 weeks. I kept waiting for the night of the party to roll back around and be important. I also didn’t see the point of a certain character and their storyline. I think the book would have been more focused without it. Overall a great page turner. Thank you to NetGalley for my copy!

This book is well written and it highlights the negative side of winning the lottery. It sure was an eye opener and I could not believe the lengths that people would go to. Highly recommend.