An intriguing historical novel from the outset. London and New York society at this time has been bought to life with a well researched descriptive novel. Nothing is as it seems and due to the tight lipped approach to appearances by the extremely rich section of New York the truth has to be teased out.

Unexpected is the best way that I can describe “The English Wife”. I was drawn into the story immediately; the depth of the characters and their connections kept me turning the pages. It was a page turner for sure!
The story begins at the end and then retraces what had occurred previously.

Bay Van Duyvil, the eligible, handsome, and wealthy New Yorker goes to London for work and when he sails home, his English wife accompanies him. His mother is aghast. She was shocked that her son brought home an English wife and an assertive one at that.
…

The most anticipated lavish and oh so decadent party is finally happening; all of the richest and most famous people in New York are attending. There has been so much speculation about Bay and his wife. Now everyone will get to see them together in person.

The evening is cut short when a heinous murder is discovered. It shakes up the entire city and everyone is gossiping and surmising what happened.

I enjoyed the mystery and the efforts of the two characters who were determined to find out the truth.

I received an advance review copy of this book from Great Thoughts Ninjas. All opinions are my own.

The author weaved a tale of intrigue, mystery, and suspense through the backdrops of New York and Europe. The plot had kept me hooked until the very last page. This book was certainly a who dun it for the ages. I felt as if I was transported into a movie and I was reluctant for it to end. There were twists and turns galore. And just when I thought I had one suspect pegged another appears. And the true villain revealed at the end took me by total surprise.I was taken on a fanciful ride and enjoyed every moment of it, I highly recommend this book, I wish I could have given it more than 5 stars.

The English Wife is set during a time when your wealth and stature is everything. When the son of a prominent family returns from a trip with a wife that nobody knows and comes from nothing, it kinda raises a few eyebrows. Rumors of affairs start about Annabelle, and then Bayard is found dead and she goes missing and their children are left parentless. But why, is the biggest question and where is Annabelle?

The cast of characters was wonderful and there quite a few too, and they were complex but fleshed out. The main ones, Annabelle and Bayard each had their own flaws and secrets. But with each other, they could share them with the other. Bayard was the one I questioned at first, even though he knew Annabelle’s secret, he still married her and took her home. So many times I kept trying to figure out why too. Annabelle was a mystery all which ways around, but the more I read, the more I understood her and really did enjoy her character. Such a strong girl for a young woman. Now of course there is Bayard’s mother, who is a piece of work. But, she is his mother, and is overprotective of her boy, so I tried to give her a little slack. Janie, his sister, was quite, reserved, does everything her mother tells her and stays pretty much in the shadow. That is until, the death of her brother’s death and the horrible things that were being said about him. This is one determined young woman, and she is set on finding out the truth of what really happened that awful night.

The reporter that is on the case was quite the pain in the ass at first and I did really want to slap him a few times, but he was a reporter and they try and get the story however they can. Janie and his interactions together was tension filled and it so obvious what was going on, just not to them. I found it all kinda sweet and the romance did take a back seat to the murder mystery. None the less, I enjoyed every little bit I could get of them.

The story is given in two time lines. The past is about Annabelle and Bayard’s meeting and how they end up marrying and moving back to his home with family. Then, there is the present, that is filled with scandalous rumors about them, and his death and her disappearance and being presumed to be dead. Over the course of the story the two time times converge and the pieces to start to fall into place, revealing secrets and leading up to the big twist at the end that was just amazing!

This book has so many things going for it, it was hard to put down. The setting was vividly described and it felt you were right there with them. But the family secrets, and the murder to the slow burning and unexpected romance, kept me turning the pages. This was a fantastic historical murder mystery, and I would certainly recommend it for fans of historical fiction.

Loved This! I love a historical mystery and this one really fit the bill. There was a bit of a twist in the end that surprised me, which is always the sign of a good book.

Georgie is struggling to survive on the stage of London when New York Socialite Bay Van Duyvil enters her life. They band together and forge an alliance and a marriage. Together they take on his Mother and New York society. But when tragedy strikes at their house warming party the truth of their life together may be revealed. A story of family and truth and unlikely alliances.

Lauren Willig has created a lovely mystery/historical fiction with snappy dialogue and enough layers to keep readers guessing to the very end.

Recommended for readers who want to lose themselves in a mystery with some romance along the way, The English Wife may just fit the bill.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review,  so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
This story is about Janie Van Duyvil, it starts on the twelfth night in1899, at a Shakespeare themed ball where Janie and her cousin Anne find Janie’s brother Bay, dying from a stab wound along with his wife Annabelle who is  missing, presumably fallen into the river below. They were considered high class  society, so naturally the couple’s murder lands on the front page. The press rolls in and speculates on the deaths. Did Annabelle kill her husband, then flee? Was it a love triangle, as there were rumors that Annabelle was having an affair with the architect of their new house? Did Bay kill Annabelle and then himself? The story then starts to alternate between time lines: the 1899 which is the present, Janie searches to find the truth behind the murders, along with the past, when Bay and Annabelle first met and courted. Janie finds herself pairing up with James Burke, a newsman working for a paper with a bad rep who wants to write real news. Annabelle and Bay have secrets, lots of them. I dont want to spoil anyone so im going to bring my review to a closing. I really enjoyed this book, I love the time period, the mystery, to see what it was like living in a high class society and obviously the characters of Janie and Annabelle. I give this book a 5 star rating!

I received The English Wife from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I have read many books written by Lauren Willig and have enjoyed them all. This book was no different, and I would really give 4.5 stars.
The English Wife brings to life the Gilded Age at the turn of the century. Lauren Willig did a wonderful job with describing the attitudes that were prevalent in American Society during that period. Burke is a reporter searching for a story and Janie is the sister of the murdered Bay looking for the truth. Janie approaches Burke for help. Together and separately, they work to uncover what really happened the night of the party.
The book really kept you guessing as it progressed and surprised me with revalations. I believe the book dealt more with the who cast of characters; the good, the bad, the gray. Willig made the reader think about what everyone was hiding and how unfair life can be. The story takes place in two timelines: the past five years with Bey and Annabelle and the present search for truth.

This was a wonderful book but does require concentration, especially in the beginning with all the cast of characters. Because of that, I did have to set it aside for awhile until I was ready to follow all the characters and their connection with one another.
I look forward to what Lauren Willig writes next.

London and New York in the Gilded Age. A Murder. A suicide? An actress. A Knickerbocker descendant. What starts in London as an unlikely romance, tragically ends in New York under a cloud of rumors. Whodunnit? Was she having an affair with the architect? Did he kill her in a fit of rage? Did SHE kill HIM? Is she even dead?

So many questions arise when Bayard Van Duyvil is found stabbed by his own knife and his wife Annabelle missing. What is going on?? Flashing back to when they met, and forward to after the alleged murder, you are completely enraptured by the life of Bay and Annabelle, their truths, their secrets, and everything they fought to have. Janie, Bay’s sister, is the unexpected sleuth in this web of mystery and her only goal is the truth. With the help of a reporter found lurking in her kitchen, they work to find the truth.
Willig’s latest is a tantalizing tale in an age where reputation and name are everything. Slightly slower in the start, this story quickly picks up and you’ll find yourself closing the book at 2 a.m. after a full night of binge reading. The English Wife is a must read for 2018.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and the Great Thoughts Ninja Review team for an advance review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

A murder in an aristocratic household? Unheard of and especially during a ball with hundreds of guests in attendance.

Bay, Annabelle's husband and Janie's brother, could not have killed his wife and then killed himself. Janie was determined to find out who the real killer was.

We follow the family as the book goes back and forth in time making the connections for us about who was who and what the circumstances were.

And what marvelous connections and secrets this family has.

The biggest bomb shell came right after Bay and Annabelle were killed.

A family member of Annabelle arrived at the house to give his condolences, but also gave some unsettling information about Annabelle.

THE ENGLISH WIFE was very proper, and the characters were portrayed as very proper as was expected in the 1800's, but were some who they said they were?

THE ENGLISH WIFE was difficult to connect with at first, but then the book became difficult to put down.

The ending revelations will be "burning" in your thoughts and have you wanting to talk about the book with everyone.

If you enjoy the 1800's, drama of privileged families, mystery, and secrets, THE ENGLISH WIFE will be a late-into-the-night read. 4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher, NetGalley, and Great Thought's Ninja Review Team. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. Gilded Age books aren't always ones that I rush out to read but I found this one intriguing. It was a geniunely delightful read.

I enjoyed this book, especially the many twists and turns where no one is what she/he seems. Set in the Gilded Age, it has all the earmarks of a historical thriller with an intricate plot. The characters are well-drawn and the author sustains the suspense until the end.

I'm sure this book will appeal to a certain kind of reader, but I am not that kind of reader. I don't get drawn in by grand houses and costumes and tragic backstories - I want good writing, strong, credible characters and a solid plot rather than vague hints at things that happened years earlier. Unfortunately in this book, I felt that the central plot was slow and sometimes tedious and while there were a number of interesting sidelines, many of these simply fell into the tale and out again without any development. The last few chapters were reminiscent of a daytime soap-opera, with a dramatic confession in the drawing-room (in the style of Agatha Christie) and the deus ex machina of the fire. Many of the threads of the story were simply left to hang - so much so that I suspect that the author had ideas of writing a sequel. We never find out what happens to some of the characters: Did Georgie survive? What happened to David? Did the extremely unpleasant Giles simply go back to his life with nobody any the wiser regarding his past behaviour? The only thread which is actually drawn together at the end is the predictable-from-the-start romance between Janie and Burke.

Sometimes the problems with a story can be tempered by great writing, but there is nothing here to rescue the tale. The writing is clearly intended to reflect the era in which the story is set, but it comes across as pretentious and contrived. There is far too much exposition, and I became irritated by the conceits used, such as frequently referring to Mrs Van Duyvil as "Janie's mother".

I did finish this - but in all honestly, the only reason I did so was that it was an ARC. I try very hard not to abandon a book that I received as an ARC; as I see it, I have made a deal with the publisher to provide a rating and a review, and doing that without finishing the book seems somehow unfair. Under normal circumstances, I would have abandoned this by the 20% mark.

Janie an heiress, and Burke a newspaper reporter are thrown together in a plot of murder, dark secrets, and secret identities.
Janie and Burke are an unlikely pair. Normally they would not associate with each other. However, to solve the murders of her brother and sister in law they have decided to collaborate. What they discover will turn the blue bloods and the common folk upside down.
Very entertaining. 5 Stars

The English Wife is a historical gothic novel in the style of Victoria Holt and it grabbed my interest right from the start. The Gilded Age of Newport and New York was vividly drawn against family secrets and class distinctions. The plot moves quickly and left me guessing right up to the end. I received an ARC through netgalley and had not read anything by Lauren Willig before but after thoroughly enjoying this book, it will not be my last.

Engrossing murder mystery set in 1899, with another timeline five years in the past. The victim’s sister, Janie, surreptitiously works with a reporter to discover the truth. The two timelines eventually converge and reveal who killed Bayard Van Duyvil, the eldest son of an “old money” New York Hudson River family. The earlier timeline follows how Bayard met his wife and continues to the murder scene. The other follows the effort to find out what happened after the murder. All the characters have secrets, and the family’s honor must be protected.

The writing was elegant and fitting for the era. I thought the first two-thirds of the book were very well-planned. The two timelines provided a bread crumb trail to additional clues, and it was difficult to guess the outcome ahead of time. Unfortunately, toward the end, it devolved into a soap opera, and I found the ending improbable and unsatisfying. It also left a fair amount of the storyline up in the air.

The writing style counts for a lot in my enjoyment of a novel, so even though I didn’t care for parts of this book I would read this author again. Recommended to fans of mysteries with a romantic element and Victorian-era historical fiction.

*Thanks to Netgalley for giving me a free copy to review*

Forgetting the plot was the best way to read this. All you need to know is it's a murder mystery set during the turn of the century.
The Story~I don't get surprised easily in ordinary non-mystery books. And when I read a mystery I am almost guaranteed to never guess the perpetrator correctly. This was no exception. The whole story wouldn't have happened if not for this relatively small thing, thus making it all the more fascinating how one thing shapes so many lives. I thought it a well-executed (ah, the pun) story with plenty to intrigue me. And it handles the jumps in time without me ever liking one side more.
The Characters~If I were in Janie's situation I would've been the same. That's pretty good since I hardly ever relate to characters. As for everybody else, wow, they were distinguishable from one another. They all had certain quirks and flaws and a different voice. Well done. *insert applause here*
The Writing and Dialogue~What initially drew me in was the clean and precise writing style. Sure, it's an ARC and I found several mistakes throughout, but that aside this stands out as a carefully sculpted story with not a lot of filler. There were several good lines of dialogue and metaphors/similes. I especially liked the one about Janie being a plague:) I also appreciated how the dialogue never sounded 21st century.
The Ending~As with any mystery, it's made or broken by the resolution. Do you believe the motives and do the people support the motives? For the most part I'd say yes. But the denouement was a little too much like Poirot in that the main characters are in the room and the guilty party admits what they've done and why, followed by the chase/action sequence. The reason for this "chase" came across as a mite too convenient and "yeah right." One character leaves in a throwaway sentence and Janie doesn't address the elephant in the room. I could've used an extra chapter to tie things a little neater.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this and can definitely see myself reading it again.

At the start of this riveting Gilded Age mystery, a man is dead. What happened? One thread of the story follows his sister Janie in her quest for answers; another details his courtship of his wife five years earlier. With a compelling combination of historical detail, strong characters, and intricate plot, The English Wife will grab you immediately and keep you guessing until the shocking end.

The story starts right in the middle of the action: On frigid Twelfth Night, 1899, in the middle of a Shakespeare themed ball, Janie Van Duyvil and her cousin Anne find Janie’s brother Bay dying of a stab wound and his wife, Annabelle, missing, presumably fallen into the river below the folly. As part of high society, the couple’s murder is front page material. The press descends in droves, speculating on the deaths. Did Annabelle kill her husband, then flee? Was it a love triangle, as there were rumors that Annabelle was having an affair with the architect of their new house? Did Bay kill Annabelle and then himself?

From there out, the story alternates time lines: the 1899 present, as Janie seeks to find the truth behind the murders, and the past, when Bay and Annabelle first met and courted. Janie finds herself pairing up with James Burke, a newsman working for a paper with a bad rep who wants to write real news.

Annabelle and Bay have secrets, lots of them. To tell here would ruin the book for readers; suffice it to say that neither is who they appear on the surface. But it’s not just their story. It is also the story of Janie. At the start, Janie is the person who melts away into the background. Her mother is a verbally abusive control freak, and Janie is her favorite target. She’s spent a life time learning to disappear. Her cousin Ann even stole her fiancé. Her growth and flowering through the story is wonderful to watch.

There is a lot of description of all the trappings of wealth; the clothing, the jewels, the house décor. And while it might seem a bit excessive, it really belongs there: the wealth, the society it embodies, is, if not a character, is certainly a force in the story that exerts itself mightily on the characters.

I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the characters of Janie and Annabelle. The identity of the killer actually took me by surprise. Five stars.