The Woman I was Before is a great drama that is engrossing and we'll written. This is a must read book for the year.

I received The Woman I was Before as an ARC from Netgalley. I love this book!! It tells the story of three woman - Kate, Gisela and Sally - who meet after moving into a new housing development. The life that the women post on Facebook is nothing like their actual lives. Their Facebook lives are perfect and hide the problems that they are actually having. I loved how the story went back and forth between the women's actual problems and their Facebook postings. By the end of the story, the women have learned to rely on each other and are lifelong friends. I highly recommend this!

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

I loved this book and found all the women relatable in one way or another.
This is my curse book by Kerry Fisher and I’m looking forward to more by thus author.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A juicy domestic drama you’ll love especially if you are a Liane Moriarity fan like me. I love reading about strong female characters and friendships. It’s my first Kerry Fisher novel and I’ll definitely be back for more.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Rating 3.5 stars!

The Woman I Was Before by Kerry Fisher - the cover of the book got me going and I knew I needed to read it. I hadn't heard of author Kerry Fisher, but I saw she had written a few books prior. I requested the opportunity to review the book from Bookouture through NetGalley and was approved!

The Woman I Was Before gives readers an up close and personal front row seat so they can watch the drama begin to flow on Parkview Road. The neighborhood consists of bright, beautiful new homes with pretty people on the outside.....but what's happening on the inside? Because of the perfect picture lifestyle that people often post on their social pages, showing off to people that they are very happy and that they’re living a drama free life…..the ability to make everything so beautiful on the outside on Facebook and Instagram..... but what's real?

The story is told from the perspectives of three neighbor women, Kate, Gisele, and Sally.  Gisela's constant posts of family and new purchases make it seem that she's living quite the glamorous life.  Sally and Chris seem to have the ultimate go-getter type of stress-free and no kids type of marriage.  Kate and her daughter Daisy, are social media shy and they seem to be running from something.  

Throughout The Woman I Was Before, I felt that each of these women's characters were well written and it was easy to connect with them as they were so relatable. I actually felt pretty bad for them watching their lives fall apart as their secrets were revealed. 

I enjoyed the story and the book overall and felt that the topics were current and real. They actually caused me to think about my own social media posts and status, and how my live shows up in social media.  I really liked the writing, and I want to go back and read Ms. Fisher's other books as well.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Bookouture through NetGalley in exchange for my review.  I would like to thank Bookouture for allowing me the opportunity to participate, read and review this book. My views are my own and are in no way influenced by anyone else!

I really enjoyed this book- I easily connected with the 3 main female characters and easily got swept away with their paths that took them in different directions. perfect for a holiday read.

I am a big Kerry Fisher fan and was excited to receive a copy and of her newest book The Woman I Was Before.
I found this book very hard to get into....each chapter was a different characters story and it was tough to keep track of everyone.
It did come together at the end but unfortunately I just didn’t really get invested.

I love Kerry Fishers books and this one didn't disappoint. A book woven around three women who have recently moved into an estate. Three very different women, each with something to hide.
Are they as ideally happy as they appear?? Or are their perfect Facebook posts really reflecting their true lives??
It proves that sometimes all is not always as it seems!!
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this book.

Special thanks to Bookoutre and Netgalley for my ARC of “The Woman I was Before”. This is perhaps one of the most honest portrayals of real life behind closed doors and the life we portray as we’d like it to be especially when it comes to social media. Just because there is a picture depicting a party doesn’t mean it was actually a good time. How we wish the world sees us through the lens of social media and how we actually live are often two different stories..

In this novel Kerry Fisher has cleverly weaved a tale of 3 different women who wish their lives resembled the closest with the pictures and status dates they put online. Their reality is something different all together. I could relate to each female character and wish I could know them in real life. Then I paused and realized I already do know these women and I resemble one of the characters. We are all one of these women in some way.

A really enjoyable and educational story about the lives we think we should be leading rather than enjoying the one we have. The message of enjoying THIS life should be the take home. We don’t need to pretend to be anything more than we are.

This is a interesting look at three women all living in the same housing tract. All with secrets and hidden lives they never show each other. Their entire being is based on how they appear as 'perfect" to each other and everyone else on the street while hiding their truth and not living with any sense of honesty to themselves or each other . Its a picture perfect view of millennial life today and how they live feeding off the untruth of social media.
Its a modern day look at the vapid women that subsist off of men and don't appreciate their grand lifestyles as they complain and whine endlessly about their "terrible problems" which are not problems in any true sense. The women are irritating and very unintelligent. They are not good Mother's and have no clue how to be a wife or Mother. Their secrets do come to light and sometimes collide with each other which was the most interesting part as a reader you cannot wait for them to revel. They could be all of our neighbors . I found the use of their constant social media and hashtags for every events in their life very sad. and bothersome A true look at the sad people today that exist only to appear perfect on social media. Its realistic and interesting look at millennial lifestyles and the grand scale of dishonesty they subsist on .

I seem to be making a habit of reading new to me authors recently and so far not one has been a disappointment. In fact I loved this book so much, Kerry Fisher has gone straight onto my must read authors list.

The Woman I Was Before tells the story of three different women, who all move into a new housing developement around the same time. Kate is a single mother to teen Daisy, and running from her past. Sally has an extremely successful career , but feels something is missing in her marriage. Gisele seems to have the perfect life – a happy marriage, two teenagers with promising futures and enough money to fund her taste for luxurious shopping – but behind the perfect family image she portrays on social media things are unraveling.

What I absolutely loved about the this book was that despite the three women all being very different, from each other and myself, I found them so utterly relatable. This is a very honest depiction of family life from three different view points, referencing the image we portray on social media and the truth behind that image. I know I’m not alone to have felt jealousy and inadequacy when looking at posts on facebook – and I’m guilty myself of presenting the one photo where everyone is smiling between the arguments and general drudgery of daily life. Who hasn’t? Kerry Fisher expertly uses this obsession we have with perfection and self doubt created by social media to tell the story of these women.

Each has a secret they’re hiding, and all were fascinating, relevant and believable. I was drawn to Kate the most, whose secret remains a mystery for most of the book. I desperately wanted to know what she was running from, what she had done that was so bad. Her story is the most heartbreaking, yet hopeful and inspiring and I loved seeing how she developed throughout the book.

I also really enjoyed the fact that the woman where all a similar age to myself (between late thirties and early forties) meaning that their problems, feelings and insecurities where ones I also recognised. Again, the author captured this perfectly and by the end of the book I felt these characters where people I knew, could be living on my own street – even seeing myself once or twice.

There’s some heavy themes in this book, which Kerry Fisher deals with sensitively, but there’s also dashes of wit and humour at times which I really enjoyed. I had absolutely no expectations when I went into this book, but after spending a few hours in the company of her characters, I know I’ll be looking out for more from this author in the future. Written with empathy, warmth and searing honesty, The Woman I Read Before is a fantastic book which will make you cry and smile in equal measures. Perfect.

A delicious domestic drama pact with fascinating characters and plenty of secrets!

Kerry Fisher as woven together a compelling tale with threads of secrets and lies. This book gives you a front row seat as the drama begins to unfold on Parkview Road. Beautiful new homes, bright shiny people, but what is really going on behind closed doors? In today’s world where so much is shared on social media, is anyone’s life as good as it appears to be on Instagram or Facebook?

Three women who appeared to be quite different on the outside, have all recently moved to Parkview Road. Kate and her daughter Daisy, are running from something a horrible mistake, but what is it? Gisela is living quite the glamorous life, but are things as glitzy as they appear? Sally has the ultimate marriage a love like no other, but how thick is that line between love and hate? Everyone has secrets, things they don’t want to share with the world, but what happens when these secrets are revealed?

The story is told from the perspectives of all three women, Kate, Gisele, and Sally. I felt as though all three of these women’s characters were extremely well drawn, and I think everyone will find one of these ladies relatable. I saw a little of myself in each of them. I had so much sympathy for these women as I watched their lives unravel as the secrets and lies were revealed. The story behind Kate and her daughter’s running kept me guessing the entire book... and I never got that right! I wouldn’t classify this as a thriller, but it sure was an addictive read! Recommend!

*** many thanks to Bookouture for my copy of this book ***

Wow....just, wow.

Can I get away with just writing that for my review?

No?

Damn it! I don't even know where to begin. I have the thoughts in my head but they just don't want to spill out in a coherent manner, so I do apologise in advance if the phrase 'wow, just wow' appears multiple times throughout this review!

'The Woman I Was Before' is a drama filled, wow-tastic, mystifying, magnetic, thought-provoking read which made me say 'oh my word....' out loud more than once. Wow...(see, told you).

Three narratives, three different women, three VERY different lifestyles, all joined together by one little detail; they're neighbours. A single mum, a mum with two children, and a lady who wants to be a mum, yet each of the women think that the other ladies in the street have much better lives than theirs. Why do they feel like that? Because of social media. Because of the 'perfect' lifestyles people showcase on their social pages, showing off to people that they are very happy and that they're living a drama free life.....

If only it were that simple...right?

The author isn't saying that people who update their social sites with pictures and updates, telling others what they're up to and such, are falsifying their lifestyles. She's not saying that everyone on social media is pretending to be something that they're not. Instead, Kerry Fisher, along with help from Gisela, Sally and Kate, highlights just how flawed society is when it comes to social media, and how people are very quick to compare their own lives against a little snapshot which only gives a glimpse into 5 seconds of a person's life. I'm sure we have all scrolled down Facebook, looking at people's pictures and feeling a pang of jealousy at how happy people look, or how we wished our lives were like there's, right? But how many of us have actually stood back and thought that we don't know what else is going on in their lives?

'The Woman I Was Before' isn't several chapters of women comparing themselves to each other, it's wayyyy more than that and, to be honest with you all, I wasn't expecting just how deep the storyline ended up being. I have to be careful of spoilers here, but there is a lot more to Kate, Gisela, and Sally which meets the eye. They all have their own reasons for the way that they come across, yet they are all so afraid of showing their flaws in case people no longer want to be around them. It's a shame that we have reached a time where people are too afraid to be themselves because of how other people perceive them, and yes, I am guilty of doing that. We all are. However, when you read just how devastating it can be for a family involved in the constant pretending and uncertainty of who they actually are, it can be quite an emotional thing to read.

Kerry Fisher always amazes me with every story she produces, yet with 'The Woman I Was Before', this author has gone above and beyond and produced what I think is her best book to date. I was in awe at the complexity of each character and their journeys - they're all so different yet still very similar. One character in particular was involved in a situation which put my heart in my mouth in shock. I guess part of me saw something like that happening, but it still came out of nowhere and left me flying through the pages to find out the outcome of the event. I mean, why does it always take a shock to the system for someone to realise that things aren't right?

I went through a variety of feelings whilst reading Kerry Fisher's latest novel, such as anger, devastation, empathy and of course sadness. I was hooked by the dramatic suspense and constant urge to find out more. Whilst I wanted everyone involved to be happy and have the ending that they deserved, I knew fine well that life really isn't like that and, seeing as the author had written a story which was so in keeping with modern day society and the challenges that come with that, I knew that the conclusion would be a realistic one.

Wearing my heart on my sleeve, 'The Woman I Was Before' captured my heart and soul from the very beginning. The suspense was out of this world and the fact that the characters went through relatable things meant that I was able to fall into their lives as though they were really happening. I absolutely LOVED this book and I wish I could climb to the top of a hill with a megaphone and shout about it until I'm blue in the face. Honestly, wow - this book is everything I could have wished for and more. A stunning, addictive, and empowering read which made realise that I deserve to NOT compare my life to Jane Doe's on Facebook because I am worth way more than that because I am me, and there is only one of you. What could be better than that?

Is the grass always greener on the other side? This is one of the questions that comes up quite often for me while reading The Woman I Was Before. Kate, Giselle, and Sally all move into the same subdivision on Parkview Road along with their families. Kate is aloof, but no one knows about the secrets she is carrying. Giselle seems to have the perfect family, hosts elaborate parties and seems to have it all together. Sally and her husband seem to not have a care in the world and are child free. While navigating their new found friendships, social media, and their families, nothing could have prepared them for the truth. Can their friendship survive through all the chaos especially after a devastating accident brings all of their secrets to light?

Kerry Fisher writes with such realism and brings forth an emotionally gripping story of three women who seem to have their lives put together, but when you look closely enough and really get into their lives you can slowly start to see what is really going on beneath the surface. Bonds form among the women as they face day to day challenges while putting on a brave face. With issues many women face, Fisher shows what true family life is like with all the harsh realities, doubts, victories, and emotional breakthroughs.

Told through the eyes of Kate, Giselle and Sally each alternating chapter brings us closer to each of these women. I felt myself bonding with each of them and found myself engrossed in each of their stories. Kate was a bit harder to figure out especially when it came to her secret. When the truth is finally revealed I was really shocked as I never would have thought of that. I could empathize with each of the women as they are all going through their own trials, but through it all I can see how each of the women grows as the story progresses.

The Woman I Was Before is such an easy read that grabs you right from the first page and I really had a hard time putting this down as I connected with Kate, Giselle and Sally pretty early on in the story. They are such well developed, three dimensional characters that I think anyone can and will sympathize with and maybe even find something relatable. Their stories really draw you right in and made me think of how we can judge someone, like a neighbor, based on what we see from the outside. Truly an eye opening read and one I can highly recommend.

Oh my goodness. I LOVED this book. I loved the message contained within it about the way we live our lives today. I loved the characters. I loved the plot. I loved the writing. Please buy this book. I want you to love it too! Five fat stars from me!

As with all of this author's books, this one too was a heart warming, addictive, absolutely brilliant read. A wonderful story of families and relationships, what we keep from others and what we share. The author expertly and gently delves into the real lives being led behind the perfect facades presented on social media and the often very wide gulf between the two. This book gives a glorious insight into what it means to be a family in today's world, how hard it is to live privately in a society that urges us to share, where almost nothing is sacred, Just brilliant. Highly recommended, A must read.

This book had me captivated throughout!
The Woman I Was Before is the story of 3 women and their families who move into a new housing development and become neighbours. It is a wonderful reminder not to judge or make assumptions about other people. Each chapter is told through the perspective of one of the women and we discover that their lives are not as perfect as they appear on social media.
Kate is a paramedic and very private. She doesn’t have any social network profiles and is frantic that her teenage daughter wants to post online. But why, what is she hiding?
Gisela’s days are spent drinking champagne and spending almost indecent amounts of money. She is a social butterfly, welcoming to all but friends with few. In reality she is struggling to deal with her children’s choices and her life is far from prefect.
Sally is child free and care free. Except she is desperate for a child and her husband refuses. Will her desire for a family ruin her marriage?
I was utterly absorbed by the lives of these women and the book is so clever for showing that our Insta-perfect world is a false representation, often hiding a painful truth. It has such a powerful message about the dangers of judging others. The book is so well written that I felt like I knew these women and really cared about the heartbreak they all experience during the course of the book.

I loved this book. It is so relatable and relevant to our lifestyles today and the way we use social media to create who we want to be. The three women in this story envy each other based on what they see posted on Facebook. Once all the secrets come out they realize things are not always what they seem to be. I definitely recommend this book it is a well written story with likable characters and a unexpected ending.
Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read this incredible book.

Besides the fact that the writer has a great first name, this book was a great read. It takes on the premise of social media FOMO.

You have Sally who makes every post picture perfect even though her marriage seems to be falling apart, due to her desire for children when her husband does not.

Gisela posts about her glamorous theme parties, champagne toasts, and new purchases. Her life seems perfect to outsides but nothing is as it appears.

Kate seems to shy away from the limelight, the one without a social media presence which makes it seem like she is hiding something.

Their worlds collide and they learn to lean on each other even when life isn't as picture perfect as people would like them to be.