When the man thinks he is the luckiest man alive and then things go wrong! Think domestic abuse role reversal with lots of drama and jump right on in.

Yeah, how about that Anna? She seemed sooo perfect for Andy but then things start to go off the rails in a big way. This is a well done psychological thriller. A good read.

Great read! I enjoyed every moment and it kept me guessing until the end. I loved the author chose to write about husband spousal abuse because it often goes overlooked or laughed off. Great topic and excellent book. I would highly recommend.

A Suitable Lie by Michael J. Malone
5 stars!

A fun, enjoyable read that kept me guessing until the last page.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley who provided this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

http://stephnoelpeterson.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-suitable-lie.html

Andy Boyd is left with a young child after his wife dies in childbirth. He believes his life will center only on his son until he meets Anna. He slowly realizes after marrying Anna that she is not the woman he thought she was.

This is a good book about husband abuse, a rare topic.

Having lost his wife in childbirth leaving him to raise his newborn son alone,Andy Boyd meets, falls in love, and marries Anna. But Anna is not the perfect partner he thought she would be-she is beyond dysfunctional. Anna is an abuser and Andy is the unfortunate victim of physical and emotional abuse at her hands. My heart went out to him at the same time as I found myself yelling for her to stop. This is a book that I had to put down from time to time in order to control my anger at her as well as my fear for him. Domestic violence is never easy, but this is one of the few books that portrays it in reverse and will awaken you to its reality. I can't say enough good about this book-one that disturbed me deeply and brought out every emotion until I was drained. Unforgettable!

A sensitive subject matter, that I appreciate must have been difficult to write about, but the story just never seemed to gel to me. It felt a bit choppy and disjointed. I wish I had found the five star novel that so many others seem to have found, but I just didn't.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Andy Boyd thinks he is the luckiest man alive. Widowed with a young child, after his wife dies in childbirth, he is certain that he will never again experience true love. Then he meets Anna. Feisty, fun and beautiful, she’s his perfect match, and she loves his son like he is her own. When Andy ends up in the hospital on his wedding night, he receives his first clue that Anna is not all that she seems. Desperate for that happy-ever-after, he ignores it—a dangerous mistake that could cost him everything.

A Suitable Lie takes place in Scotland and there is a bit of a vocabulary difference to this American who has been nowhere but I made it through. It doesn't really distract from the story, just made me wish I had a Scottish to American dictionary. Language barriers aside, what we have in this story, is a man who fell in love, got married and realized his new wife wasn't all she pretended to be.

It is no secret by reading the reviews that this is a story about domestic violence. What I liked is that we have a case where the wife is the abuser and the husband is the victim. There is a scene in the book where Andy tries to call a shelter for help and the woman on the other end of the phone thinks he is playing a cruel joke and making fun of women who need help. That scene right there reinforced a concern I've had for years: where do the men go?

I think Malone did an excellent job of capturing the despair and shame, not to mention fear, felt by victims of abuse. What I didn't like about the story was the secondary plot line involving Andy's friend Malcolm. I'm really not sure how it added to anything other than to cast doubts to Andy's character.

It is always hard to rate an uncomfortable story but I'm going with a solid 3 stars. It wasn't amazing, it wasn't awful and it brought light to a subject I think we need to talk about more.

Being a widower, especially with a young son, was hard for Andy Boyd, but then one night he meets the beautiful Anna, and his life will be forever changed. A Suitable Lie by Michael J Malone is enticing, engrossing and completely immersing. I felt like I was Andy in this book, and his feelings were my feelings, it was an incredible thing to experience.

When Andy first meets Anna, the two couldn't be any more alike. It does help that she's gorgeous as well, and soon the two are married. That's when the destructions begins. On their wedding night, Anna gets physical with Andy, and not in the way he was hoping. She punches him, and though it's seemingly an accident, Andy can't seem to get it off his mind.

Then Anna's mood starts to change, and she becomes jealous, controlling, and even more physically abusive. Soon, Andy doesn't want any part of this relationship anymore, and he decides to separate from Anna. That's when she tells him she's pregnant, and being the good guy that Andy is, he decides to take her back one more time, he doesn't want to put his child in harms way, and this could be the only possible way to protect his unborn baby.

The abuse doesn't end, it just gets worse and worse, until the ultimate price is paid. When Andy finds out a secret that Anna has been keeping from him, his world is rearranged and lost forever. It seems that his marriage isn't all it looked to be, and now that the secret is out, he has to do something about it.

This book was so intense. I had to take a break every now and again, even though my mind was telling me not to put it down! I was getting so upset at Anna, and at times at Andy, for not leaving this crazy woman! The complexity of the relationship was real, and the fact that the abuser was a woman made for an interesting twist, it just made your heart hurt even more for Andy. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, it was a real shocker, and a powerful story that I can't stop thinking about, even though I read it days ago.

Andy lost his first wife tragically during the birth of their son. After devoting 4 years to raising his son alone, his brother ropes Andy into going to a pub with him. Andy meets Anna that night and they have a whirlwind relationship, they fall in love fast and Andy asks Anna to marry him. And she says yes! Everything is finally becoming happy for Andy finally…well that is until Andy’s mom and brother see a different side of Anna.
Anna’s behavior started changing; she became violent and would explode at the drop of a dime……

Wow this book was totally not the norm! The storyline was twisted, the verbal and physical abuse was difficult to read at times but I feel it had to be that twisted. The book was amazing, when I was reading it I was unable to put it down and when I wasn’t reading it I was totally thinking about it!

This book is difficult for me to review. It's a good book, but with an uncomfortable subject: domestic violence from a very different perspective - the woman abusing the man.
Andy, a widower, is raising his little son alone. Still heartbroken four years after his wife's death, he unexpectedly meets Anna, a beautiful, loving young woman and falls head over heels in love. Pat, his young boy, would like a mummy and is crazy about Anna. Andy's mother seems to be the only one hesitant about the whirlwind romance and gently cautions Andy to wait a while longer, see how things go. But the couple gets married and the first ominous cloud appears on their wedding night, when Anna breaks Andy's nose in what is ostensibly a nightmare in her sleep.
What follows are years of unrelenting abuse, even after they have a baby. Andy, a big man, feels he will not and cannot retaliate in kind. Anna is tiny and he could seriously hurt or even kill her. This whole situation was very difficult for me to accept, I hated Anna and lost respect for Andy. How could he subject his 2 sons to such a negative, depressing and emotionally abusive home life?
Because of the extreme discomfort I felt I can only give
the book 3 stars, well written as it was.
Thank you Netgalley and Orenda for the eARC.

This book will make you feel all the emotions, so well written, I loved Andy and his family and I only wanted bad things for Anna. While a work of fiction, it really does make you think. I highly recommend this very compulsive read!

3 1/2 Stars
An engaging read and though I didn't like the characters or subject matter much, I felt compelled to continue. Rather like a voyeur looking into a window that I couldn't turn away from. Malone writes about domestic abuse from a different angle. Rarely do we hear, or read of a husband being abused. It would have been nice to know more of Anna's backstory. Although many parts did not ring true, it was an emotional, fast paced read.

3.5 starts bumped up to 4

Andy Boyd has been single for the past 4 years and raising his son on his own. His wife died during child birth and Andy has shown zero interest in dating anyone else. He has a great job at a bank and has a great relationship with his family, especially his mother and brother. One rare night when he is out at a bar he meets Anna and is instantly smitten. Anna seems like the perfect woman and cares for Andy's son as if he were her own. They become engaged a short time after and, to the dismay of his mother and brother, marry shortly after their engagement. On their wedding night Anna deals Andy a terrible blow, literally. She is not the woman Andy thought she was and he finds himself trapped in a terrifying relationship with a woman who now feels like a complete stranger. Too scared and in love to leave, and too terrified to stay, Andy struggles with how to continue with life as he knew it. He starts to fall apart at work and his family relationships suffer. He needs to find the courage to stand up to Anna without putting his life and his sons' lives at risk.

This book was not at all what I thought it was going to be. It really drew me in and was a very quick and captivating read. The plot and characters were well developed and thought out and I didn't feel myself getting lost with all the people involved in the story. At one point I thought the story was getting a little sidetracked and unbelievable, but then it got back on track and therefore the 3.5 rating. This story deals with domestic violence and I would not recommend reading it if this is a sensitive subject for you. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone else and thank you to the publisher and NetGalley!

Andy suffered the tragic loss of his wife during the birth of their son. Now he’s tasked with single-handedly raising his son. After four years of devotion and being a good dad, his brother decides it’s time to drag poor Andy to a pub and kick up some dust. He meets a beautiful and mysterious woman named Anna. After a whirlwind romance they quickly fall in love and Andy asks her to marry him. Andy feels like things are really turning around in his life. (For the second time). Unfortunately, his mother and brother see things very differently regarding the blushing bride. Blinded by new love, Andy ignores their warnings and rushes full on into marriage.
Things change very quickly for Andy, as Anna's behavior becomes ever-more erratic and violent. Sometimes an unwarranted quip, other times a physical blow.
The book is very well written and the story-line very well executed. It was just difficult to read at times. The abuse both verbal and physical was relentless. Watching a strong, well-adjusted male lose his self -worth, self-esteem and finally himself altogether was almost too much. Was it because it was a woman who was portrayed as the abuser? Hmmm… But at the same time when I wasn't reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about it...wondering how it was going to end. That's a sign of a great book right? One that stays with you all day. One that you can't wait to get back to.
If you have difficulty reading books dealing with domestic violence then this is may not be the book for you. But if you enjoy a good psychological/domestic thriller then you will enjoy this one.
Thank you to NetGalley, Trafalgar Square Publishing and Michael J. Malone for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

To be posted to Goodreads under name Kaceey 3/31/17

Wow. This was a wild ride. I was captivated by this story of a father, Andy Boyd, widowed with a little boy. He falls for his perfect match. But, things take a turn, and he wonders if he knew all he should've before they married, and if his new love could jeopardize everything in his life. I don't want to give anything away, so I'm being very careful, but this subject matter is something that is normally shown in a different manner. The author representing it this way really made me stop and think. I really felt Boyd's dilemma and was trying to figure out what I'd do in the same situation. What would my friends do? I literally lost hours of sleep last night, and I devoured it when I woke back up in the night. Highly recommended.

I didn't finish this one. I thought that the writing style was sub-par and it distracted from the story.

Domestic violence is an ugly secret in too many marriages. Women often feel ashamed and that they are somehow to blame for the abuse. How much harder is it to reveal the truth when the abused spouse is the male partner? After the death of his wife, Andy was sure he would never find real love again, but to his surprise, when he meets Anna, he believes he may have a second shot at happily ever after. But Anna is not at all what Andy believes, and the abuse begins right after the wedding. Embarrassed and terrified, Andy keeps the quiet about the abuse, hoping against hope that he might be able to “fix” Anna. Anna is a controlling, manipulative and scary as hell villain.