Amelia Madison’s car slid into the sea off Mason’s Pier. Although it appeared that she had escaped the vehicle, she was not a swimmer...her body was never found.

Two years later, Elena Langdon meets Nicholas Madison at her mother’s funeral.

Excerpt of what Nicholas says a few months later: “ Do you remember that glance we exchanged as your mother was laid to rest? That’s when my heart began to beat again.”

Gag! I am not a reader of romance. I really wanted to skim through the courtship phase of this relationship! I am sure the author was “laying it on thick” so the reader would understand How Elena could fall for Fabio, (I mean, Nicholas!) but it was a bit much for me. The dialogue sounded too much like a romance novel and not enough like a real conversation.

Elena moves into the home that Nicholas shared with Amelia. But the master bedroom is kept locked-a shrine to his first wife. Nicholas and Elena share a different room. And, Elena is constantly reminded that she does not measure up to the wife that came before her.

Warning: Both physical and emotional abuse are endured by both women. It is not pleasant to read.

And, I found the ending predictable, as well.

I always appreciate the opportunity to review a book from Netgalley and Bookouture, but I did agree to provide a candid review in exchange for this ARC, and sadly, although I had read and enjoyed “The Betrayal”, an earlier book by this author, I cannot say the same about this one.

All opinions are my own, and you may feel differently than me, so if this sounds interesting to you-pick up your copy on Aug. 24th!

Thanks to Laura Elliot, Bookouture, and Net Galley for the chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review. I have to say these kinds of books are my favorite. I loved it, the only thing that I was confused about at the beginning was who was writing the letters in italics, but I soon pieced that one together too. I liked how the author went from present, past and then back to present. It was definitely the twisty, gripping psychological thriller that it said it was. I liked Elena from the beginning, and hated Nicholas from the beginning. I had it figured out about Amelia from the moment I started reading about Annie Ross. I liked how they twists went. I hated Yvonne and wanted to knock some sense into Henry just because you knew that he knew what was going on. I think that the ending was perfect. The Epilogue was kinda weird but it fit with the story, so read this book, I cant say more or it will give it away!!

Abuse and what happens and could and does happen in real life. Well written book that keeps you on the edge.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an early release of this book

I was really excited by the premise for this book but I felt a bit let down by the delivery. The writing style - third person present tense - made it really hard to connect with any of the characters. The first part of the book read more like a contemporary rather than a thriller which took away from the whole experience for me.
The dialogue felt chunky and stilted which made it difficult to read and connect with.

Unfortunately I DNF’d this one around the 50% mark so I might have missed some big twists and whatnot, but given my feelings about the part I did read, I doubt what happened in the second half of the story could have changed my opinion.

Thank you to bookouture and Laura Elliot for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Elena meets Nicholas at her mother's funeral. They have coffee the day the will is read (as Nicholas works at the finance company that held Elena's Mother's will). They tell each other a bit about themselves. Elena lives in Brisbane yet all of her closest friends live in the United Kingdom. Zac and Elena broke up due to the fact that she didn't want an abortion. However, she miscarried. Saying as little as possible, Nicholas tells Elena that his wife of 5 years died in a drowning accident 2 years ago. Eventually, Elena and Nicholas enter into a whirlwind romance - and the two of them join in a commitment ceremony. Yet, Elena is insanely jealous of Nicholas' dead wife and when she mentions Amelia (Nicholas' former wife) he goes ballistic and begins to get physical. Commitment ceremony or no, I would hightail it out of there, pronto!!!

Nicholas has a rather bizarre mother who disses everything unless it is her son's (or HER) idea. He becomes increasingly jealous and unbearably controlling. Two children and a number of beatings later, Elena learns by way of a neighbor (Billy) who was a friend of Amelia's father, that Amelia was not happy. Elena discovers an "ice house" that lies on Billy's property. He never uses it. It is there that she finds documentation that the house IS NOT in Nicholas' name (until Amelia is declared legally dead in 5 more years). This, among other papers.


Although Elena never goes to the hospital after she is beaten, once she stabs Nicholas in the gut with an ice pick, HE does. Now it is up to Elena to prove that this stabbing is in self-defense. No one believes her because there is no evidence of her beatings by Nicholas. In the ice house Elena finds a letter with a postmark from where Amelia's best friend, Leanne, lives.

Elena is stripped of her children (to grandma & grandpa and daddy, of course). She looks to face court for the stabbing offense in 3 weeks. Elena goes to monumental lengths to find out more about Amelia's past to back her up. She wants her children and her life back... JUST WAIT AND SEE

WOW! One of the best reads of the year ! I was entertained throughout the entire book. The characters come to life and are brilliantly portrayed. Excellent writing - I truly loved this book!

A definite MUST READ!

Many thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a superb book !!!

This book was very slow moving for me. The author does a wonderful job at character development. The storyline creeped at a slow pace for me. The way the story was told was difficult reading for me. I’m sure others will love the book it just was not for my particular tastes. I received an advance review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Wife Before Me made me realise my fortune in never having suffered domestic abuse. This excellent novel by Laura Elliot takes the reader into two wives' lives made unbearable by the actions of the charming and handsome Nicholas Madison. When Elena Langdon meets and falls in love with him she believes she can never match up to the perfection of his first wife Amelia, who drowned. While Elena is grieving for the recent loss of he rmother she tries to help Nicholas with his own grief but is Nicholas all he appears to be?

We are told the story of both Elena in part one and Amelia in part two. In the final section there is welcome retribution. I enjoyed the characterisations, especially of Nicholas, supported at every turn by his mother. Even though I guessed the truth about Amelia it didn't spoil my reading at all. I recommend this to fans of domestic noir. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review The Wife Before Me.

Involved! This book is involved and at certain points quite complex, but 100% worth it!
The story centres around Nicholas and his past and present wives...Amelia ( past ) and Elena ( present ),as the story evolves it is important to keep these 2 separate in your mind.......
Nicholas is a psychopath, a horrible, cruel, nasty man....who, of course, apart from to his wives comes across as an attractive, debonair charmer who has everyone at his fingertips.....
But lets not glamorous Nicholas, he is an abuser, physically and mentally and I hated him! The author created a monster and I detested everything he did and managed to do
Yes its an emotive book!!
The story takes a long look at the past and present and how Amelia and Elena have got to the positions they are in and ultimately what,with the help of lifelong friends, Elena can do to stop Nicholas
To say more would be to give some of the plot away
Dark, disturbing,colder than chilling and with the authors ability to have made a character in Nicholas that scares you as a reader.....it is a cliche to say BUT it is a totally gripping read along with
a great writing style, wonderful descriptions of Ireland, where the book is set, and a wealth of characters it makes for a 10/10 5 stars read

The most compelling, read. I read this in two days. I just couldn't put it down. Quite disturbing and emotional subject matter. The tension throughout the book kept rising right to the last page. Absolutely brilliant read. Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this book.

I have no clue what to rate this....maybe 3.5 stars because I am feeling confused.

Nicholas is a crap husband whose ex wife Amelia died after her car sank into the sea. Now Nicholas is married to Elena who is starting to have second guesses about her new husband. Here's the good about this book. The characters were very well written and you got to experience the feelings both women had. However....that's where the good kind of ends. I <b>hate</b> writing reviews that are less than four stars because I am one of those people that wants to make everyone feel happy.

I had a good amount of tension throughout the book which is why it's not super low. The thing is, the characters , while well written, were also stereotypical. Maybe I am burning out on domestic thrillers/ domestic noir...whatever you want to call it, but I feel like nothing shocks me more. There were A LOT of side characters and honestly it was damn confusing at times. I had to reread chapters because I had no clue who was narrating and it felt a bit choppy to me.

This book was similar to a lot of other popular books involving a wife, ex wife, and crappy husband, but tried to involve other elements <spoiler> What the hell with all the Leanne stuff...is she a ghost</spoiler> Sadly didn't live up to my expectations. Thanks Bookouture and Netgalley for the chance to read!

The Wife Before Me is a brooding read of which you can feel the tension growing through out.

At times this was an uncomfortable read due to the subject matter. From the outside Nicholas is the perfect catch. When we, as well as Elena, get to know him better, well my opinion of him soon changed. He certainly seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders having loved and lost his previous wife but appearances can be deceiving and like Elena, I was keen to know more about his previous marriage and the wife before her. 

The story is split into parts as well as between past and present so we get to understand Nicholas as well as his first marriage more. It certainly makes for some intriguing reading as well as holding a few surprises. 

This is a very dark read of which I was never certain which direction the author would take me. It's one of those stories that you keep saying, just one more chapter, of which of course, one more turns into several more as I was so engrossed. A definite page turner of a read.

Elena is still reeling from the loss of her mother when she meets Nicholas Madison. The two are drawn together and it’s not long before they’re living together. Nicholas’s wife is missing and presumed dead, but what really happened to her and what did her husband have to do with her disappearance? Elena is about to discover she knows very little about the man she’s living with, or what he’s capable of. Scary as hell