I finally was able to pick up this book, and I'm sorry I didn't sooner. If you are looking for a twisty mystery that keeps you guessing until near the end, this is for you. I flew through this book in just a few days, as it was easy to pick up and get back into the story. This is written well enough that you are rooting for the main character, while all the while wondering who is good, who is bad, is all this in her head? The author does a satisfying job of keeping you guessing (I only guessed a few things) and then wrapping it all up with answers. Trigger warnings for emotional abuse, divorce, and npd.

First and foremost- thank you to Netgalley, Sandie Jones, and Minotaur Books for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I think I can confidently say that SJ is here to stay! I loved The Other Woman and I could not put down The First Mistake, as well (well tbh- I didn’t want to put it down but having a baby sometimes takes over your life and you are forced to put it down)!

This was a fast paced, suspenseful thriller that kept me on my toes! I had the ending pegged pretty early on (with this genre being SO popular right now, it is almost difficult to be shocked or surprised by your standard twists and turns) but I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to future books by the author!

Sandie Jones has easily become one of my auto buy authors. I enjoyed The Other Woman and truly enjoyed The First Mistake. This is one of my favorite type of thrillers. Domestic thrillers in conjunction with friends and lovers intertwined. This has it all twist, turns, and an unexpected ending. Sandie has a way to write her characters that you truly get attached to them and in The First Mistake she continues her style.

I was hooked from page one and that's all I need a good hook and I can't put it down. Every page I turned I needed to know more and more. I loved the twists and at the same time found myself screaming at the book. There is a lot of foreshadowing that I feel gave me an ominous read at times.

Highly recommend this read and can't wait for her next THRILLER!

Sandie Jones is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. Couldn’t put this down and ready it quite quickly with all of the plot twists. If you’re looking for a good, quick thriller this is the book for you!

Pretty good mystery. Fast paced. The ending was not the best though.

Alice is living the life. Remarried after losing her first husband, raising her children and running a successful business, she's got all she ever dreamed of. When her husband Nathan starts acting strange, Alice turns to her best friend Beth. One thing leads to another and Alice begins questioning if she's trusted the wrong people.

Alice is blissfully happy in her 2nd marriage to Nathan - and she certainly deserves happiness after losing her 1st husband Tom in a tragic skiing accident. After the accident, Alice had a nervous breakdown and was "saved" by Nathan and now has the perfect marriage and family life. She does, however, still struggle with anxiety and her overall mental health - so thankfully she has her best friend Beth to lean on during the tough times. Alice starts noticing Nathan acting strangely and fears he is having an affair. Beth also starts acting weird. Alice starts to question everything she thought she knew and everyone she thought she loved.
This book was very entertaining - I didn't know what was up and what was down. POVs in the present, in the past, several twists and turns - this was a dizzying thriller that kept me turning the pages until the very end!
Thanks to Sandie Jones, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this great book!

This was an interesting premise but ultimately ended up being just okay for me. Entertaining and interesting...but not mindblowing.

Um, I guess I'm lost or I missed something. I just didn't click or anything with this book. Sadly, I had a hard time finishing this book. I think it's because I didn't connect to any of the characters and I couldn't shake the feeling that I missed something I needed, somewhere. 
I voluntarily read a copy of this book from Net Galley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and this review is left of my own free will.

What an amazing story, full of twists and turns. I thought I knew what was going on and then there I was, confused again. I didn't know what was the truth and what was a lie. All of the characters in this dramatic tale were ones that I both loved and hated simultaneously. I wasn't sure who my sympathies should be with.

This is probably one of the best psychological thrillers that I have read this year, and honestly I have read quite a few. This one will keep you guessing to the very end and have you shaking your head that that ending.

So many people loved this book, but I really struggled with it. I prefer more mystery in my suspense-thrillers, and while this one did pose some questions, I never felt that nail-biting tension that I love. But if you like thrillers that heavily center around lies and deceitfulness, then I'd recommend The First Mistake.

This was a great edge of your seat book! This book kept me captivated the whole time! I could not put it done!

This Book was very confusing
,and the ending was so abrupt and just left unfinished. I tried to like it but I just couldn’t.

Holy draaaama. I liked it! This one is a tad predictable...maybe a result of reading a lot in the genre. But it is entertaining and an enjoyable, quick read. Definitely recommend this domestic thriller if you want a binge-worthy next book.

After reading The Other Woman some time back, I knew I would be reading Jones’ next novel. So, I jumped on the chance to read The First Mistake and let me tell. It was one hell of a ride! So many thrills, so many turns, so much page turning awesomeness in one book!

The characters that Sandie Jones creates are magnificent. They fill the roles within this story perfectly. The story line Jones creates is out of this world. She takes a gripping, twistful story of one woman who may have made the first mistake of trusting the woman who is now her best friend and throws it to her readers like it’s the next home run. And, with the way this story had me up late into the night, turning page after page, after page, it was definitely a home run in my book! I mean seriously. What better way to lose sleep over than to read a book like that!?

This is highly addicting, 4 star read in my book! If you want a suspenseful, captivating, heart pounding ride, then grab this one up now. Jones has a knack for getting inside the mind and twisting it up while the pages are turning.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and was under no obligation to post a review, positive or negative.*

As I said before, the book started a little slow and I couldn't put my finger on what was going to happen. The story starts off with Alice noticing some odd things about her husband Nathan; flowers are sent to the house, she finds texts and emails, and everything points to his cheating.



Her best friend, Beth, is acting a little weird as well as other people in Alice's life. As a reader, your head starts to spin with all the different plotlines that could play, especially if you read a lot of domestic thrillers.



Alice has a lucrative home business, two children, and what seems to be an undying love for her first husband who tragically passed away. She has a fear of flying that prevents her from doing a lot but tries to hold it together as much as possible.



The more things start to unravel for Alice, the more she starts to spiral without having any concrete answers. Once everyone, Alice and the reader, finds out what's going on, the point of view of the book changes and you get more of the full story. The reader starts to understand why things are the way they are, but you also become incredibly confused.



The character of Alice was a bit annoying and I couldn't stand Nathan or Beth either. They seemed a little whiny and just strange. I wasn't crazy about the writing either but that's beside the point...



Jones' big twist, the entire point of the story, was pretty shocking and made everything worth it. It was something I didn't see coming and I honestly don't think anyone could ever predict the 'twist'. That part of the story, the big arc, made everything worth it and I'd re-read the book just to get that adrenaline rush of finding out what happened again.



The second half of the book was much better than the first, and like I said, it made everything worth it. What I didn't like about "The First Mistake"? The ending! Oh, the ending made me so angry. It was left super open-ended and came at you way too fast.



It was so fast that I couldn't even really understand what was going on; I had to go back and re-read a few pages because I was so confused. It wasn't satisfying and just overly annoying.



Would I recommend this book? Probably not. I think there are better ones out there. I know a lot of people love Sadie Jones and while this wasn't my favorite, it was a nice introduction to the author and I'm curious to read one of her other books.

I was excited to read this book because I loved Sandie Jones’ debut The Other Woman. Jones does it again with another great suspense novel with tons of twists!

First, I would like to thank Netgalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with a free Kindle ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

When I started reading this book, I was concurrently reading another novel with a similar beginning, so I had to set this one aside in order to prevent confusion. The book is broken up into three parts. Part I was mildly interesting as Alice begins to suspect her second husband of cheating, whilst continuing to struggle with the grief of her first husband's death almost a decade ago.

In Part II, the book changes from Alice's narration to that of another character. I do not want to spoil anything for anyone, so I won't even mention this character's name (don't peek!). This was my FAVORITE part of the book! I was so obsessed with these characters that I couldn't put the book down and stayed up until my boyfriend got up and started getting ready for work! o.O There are two words for this section: ultimate betrayal!

Part III brings everything together. I had already figured out how this book would end in Part I, but reading Part II made me question everything I suspected. I felt that the conclusion of the book was rushed and that the Epilogue was so short that it could have been omitted.

Nonetheless, this book became unputdownable at the conclusion of Part I and I stayed up all night to finish it. This book will have you loving the characters you hate and hating the characters you love!

#netgalley #thefirstmistake

I enjoyed this psychological thriller. It revolves around a wife Alice, her second husband Nathan, and her best friend Beth. You are in for a twisty swerved ride. It did take me a while to get hooked into the story but once hooked you didn’t want to let go.

This book is full of twists and turns. I thoroughly enjoyed Alice’s games throughout this book. The 2nd half is far better than the 1st. A solid read.

I have absolutely no idea what the hype about this book phenomenal is all about! Because of the rave reviews, I was expecting a spectacular thriller when I decided to read this book but when I started reading it, I kind of started to get the feel of an okay-ish book right from the beginning. But I continued on because in one of the many praising reviews I read that the book's 2nd part is better than the 1st and that in the 3rd part everything comes together, so I ploughed on despite not liking the main character one A very predictable read. The writing was okay but the characterization was poorly done.

Though one thing I can say for sure is that the 2nd part of this book was way, way, way better than the 1st part which is a shame because the 2nd part is all about the secondary character, who BTW, came across more real than everyone else in the book. So the characterization was poor so was the originality. Even though I enjoyed one of the twists, the overall story was still below average.

The writing seemed immature and felt like it was someone's debut novel rather than having been written by a bestselling and well-established author. Most of the scenes were either too cheesy or outright cringe-worthy. And there was no sense of structure to the plot.

Now, you might find this book an absolute hit if you read thrillers rarely, but if you've been an ardent thriller lover, you'd know the book for what it really is in the first couple of pages.