My Rating 3.5 Stars

For a moment, while reading The Starter Wife, I was reminded of Rebecca by Daphne DeMaurier. That feeling did not last too long in the book.

Was Claire Westcott, married two years to a man nearly twice her age, Byron, living in the shadow of his first wife, Colleen? Colleen, a successful painter, apparently committed suicide almost twenty years ago. Currently, the closing of the case of the suicide begins raising questions to Claire. While the police have finally vindicated Byron, rumors have not. Claire begins believing the rumors. Did Byron kill Colleen after all? Is Claire safe?

This entire story is relayed in two narrations, both in first-person. Quite naturally, we have Claire, with her everyday life and actions. Then we have someone unnamed, a person obsessed and who is stalking Byron. She is determined to save Byron. In dialog, she is quite clear that Byron's wife is not worthy of him. She will do anything she can to stop any harm from coming to Byron. Yes, she will go to any means necessary.

My connection to the classic that I alluded to at the beginning of this review? Claire is beset with jealousy and unease with any feelings Byron might have had towards Colleen, who was the starter wife. Claire is living in Colleen's house and enjoys the benefits from the the wealth that Colleen amassed due to her paintings, as well as her years as a college professor. Byron is also a professor, and seems oblivious to any feelings of uncertainty that Claire has.

With two unreliable narrators, and with a man like Byron, it was rather hard to feel drawn into the characters and their stories. However, I do think the story was done quite well, especially when a massive twist occurred in the story. I was absolutely riveted from that point on and my jaw simply dropped at the shocking conclusion.

I am glad to have read this book by Nina Laurin, even with the absolute crazy characters, and I definitely look forward to reading her books again in the future.

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a gripping read. The Starter Wife is a well-written domestic thriller that got an interesting premise, an unreliable narrator, a not so surprising twist and can sometimes be predictable but it definitely make up for an entertaining read. Despite finding some parts slow, I was absorbed in Claire and Byron's story from beginning till end. It is my first book from the author and will certainly won't be the last.

<b>My thoughts:</b>
This one started slow, then picked up and I was really enjoying it. The author did a great job of creating totally detestable main characters.

Byron is a college professor. His first wife, Colleen, was an artist with mental health issues who ended her own life...but her body was never found. After a few short relationships, Byron met and married his second wife, Claire.

Byron and Claire are living in the house he lived in with Colleen. Exactly like it was when she was alive...and yes it’s creepy and Claire isn’t happy about it. Still eerily decorated with her paintings. Although Claire did convince Byron to take down the nude one of him and Colleen that hung in the bedroom above the bed. Byron is still obsessed with his dead wife.

They also live off Colleen’s savings, but this doesn’t bother her. Claire is an unpublished writer and quite happy to spend her days lounging around, being spiteful and ungrateful. When she starts to get strange emails and phone calls, Claire begins to obsess over Colleen’s death and believes she may still be alive.

None of the characters are likable, but Colleen was my least favorite character. Just as I was anticipating all the big reveals, I turn the page and...the Epilogue is there! I was left confused, stunned and wanting a cleaner ending. Unfortunately, the ending brought down my rating, but others thought it was great.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!

<b>My Rating: </b> 3 ⭐️’s
<b>Published:</b> June 11th 2019 by Grand Central Publishing
<b>Pages:</b> 352

I read a lot of thrillers, and lately a lot of domestic thrillers in particular. I love this genre, but it does start to feel formulaic after a while and it's hard to find one that feels truly original. Starter Wife is just that - a taut, tightly plotted domestic thriller that keeps the reader guessing right to the end. I don't want to say too much about the plot as this one relies on twists and turns, but the characters were well-drawn, the writing excellent, and the twist a genuine surprise. I loved this book, and can't wait to read more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

It’s been a while since I’ve stayed up into the early morning hours in an attempt to finish reading a book. I enjoyed the suspenseful nature of the book. It was a fast paced read, engaging and full of twists and turns to keep me interested.

One of my new favorite books! This author has such a way with words the pages flew by in no time! I can’t wait to see the next work by this author! This was such a joy to read!

Holy cow! This book was one of the most intense reads I've come across yet. Such a whirlwind of intrigue, mystery and emotions - you'll be turning the pages as fast as you can possibly read, until you've reached the end, and even then, you'll be left reeling!

I think I've been reading too much psychological suspense lately, because it's all starting to seem the same. Nutso characters one right after the other. This one had a timeline that was a bit difficult for me to follow, which made it more confusing than it really needed to be. I think if I were to go back and re-read the book now that I know how everything plays out (and the identity of each of the narrators) then I might like it better because I'd be able to figure out who was who through the telling. But honestly, I don't have the time to now go back and re-read in order to have the book gel better.
Let me just say that the narrators are unreliable and I didn't like ANY of the characters so there was no one for me to root for. I want to have someone to get behind and root for the "good guy" to win but in this case it was too muddled and no one was a good guy.
There are some very intriguing twists, which elevated the story a bit.

The Starter Wife has two unreliable narrators. There is the mysterious student who is stalking college professor Byron and his wife and there is Claire, Byron's second wife. The student feels that Byron's wife if not worthy of him and that she must protect him from her devious ways. She actually considers herself his "Guardian Angel", determined that at some point she will be married to Byron and he will know she is the perfect wife for him.

Claire is dealing with feelings of jealousy and resentment towards Byron's first wife, Coleen, whose wealth was responsible for the house they live in and the money they can spend on luxuries. She resents Coleen's former college professor career and also her second career as a painter and she hates that they are still living in the house that Byron and Coleen lived in before Coleen committed suicide.

I can't say that any of the characters in the book are likable although it's hard to know the truth of the other characters because we only see them mostly through Claire's eyes and sometimes through the eyes of the stalking student. When the book starts, Claire begins to get messages from Coleen and phone calls from an anonymous woman, alluding to something that is missing. Claire puts all her effort into finding out who is harassing her while she also is trying to set up fertility treatments behind her husband's back.

The book is very interesting except that the two narrators are so unlikable and seem to have no redeeming qualities that it's hard feel invested in what happens to them. The other characters, seen through those two women's eyes, can't be fleshed out realistically since we aren't getting the real facts about them. I did figure out some plot points ahead of time, but still had no idea how the book would end.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

A first-rate narrative. . .spiced with intense suspension, and endless intrigue that will keep the pages turning way into the night ..

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.


I thought that this would be another story about a woman who’s being terrorized but someone unseen while no one believes her, but I was surprised. The first 2/3 is mostly straight forward and you see Claire begin to unravel. But the twist towards the ending I didn’t see coming. It’s a good mystery book

I love all things by this author. I have always bee pleases with the plot and the thrill of the next page. Thank you for approving this title for me. Keep them coming

This was a fast paced, quick read and I enjoyed it a lot. While the characters frustrated me a lot of the times, it all made sense in the end. This could be a great group book, a lot of interesting debates could form about certain things.

It is a must read for fans of domestic thrillers.

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The Starter Wife

by Nina Laurin (Goodreads Author)





3.88 ·

Rating details · 105 ratings · 77 reviews
From the bestselling author of Girl Last Seen comes "a spine-tingler" (Booklist) of a psychological suspense, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Jessica Knoll.

Local police have announced that they're closing the investigation of the suspected drowning of 37-year-old painter Colleen Westcott. She disappeared on April 11, 2010, and her car was found parked near the water ...more
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Paperback, 352 pages
Expected publication: June 11th 2019 by Grand Central Publishing
Original Title
The Starter Wife
ISBN
1538715716 (ISBN13: 9781538715710)
Edition Language
English

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June 3, 2019 – Finished Reading
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Review
This was only 5 chapters of this book, a sneak preview of this book. From the first 5 chapters, I can tell that this book from just five chapters is going to be a real page turner. Claire Wescott is married to Byron, who is about 20 years older then her and a professor at college. They live in a beautiful home. Is first wife committed suicide a number of years ago but they never found her body. Her name is Colleen. Now, Claire is getting emails from her with pictures of her engagement ring that she accidentally left in the bathroom. One doesn’t know why is supposedly dead wife is doing this and they also live in the home that he lived with Colleen which is beautiful and from her money. I can’t wait for the release of this book so I can finish it. I want to thank net galley for this sneak preview ARC for an honest review. Definitely a psychological thriller!!! I am editing my review because I just received the full ARC from net galley and now I can fully review this book. From the first five chapters I definitely wanted to be able to read this whole book which I can now. Talk about crazy women. I devoured this book in two days and everything you think is going on with his present wife Claire Wescott and her husband Dr. Bryon Wescott, the English professor and his first wife, Colleen, who supposedly committed suicide with no body ever found is such a crazy and wild ride. Finally three quarters into the book, we get the big reveal, we final get the major twist which I never saw coming. I highly recommend this book to fans of Gone Girl and. books of this genre. Again, thanks to net galley for this ARC of the whole book for an honest review!!! This is one roller coaster of a ride. Also it says paperback but I received an e book

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Claire is a writer. Byron is a college professor. After the death of Byron's first wife, Colleen, the two meet and soon get married. Even after the wedding Claire still feels like Byron never quite let go of Colleen. They live in her house with all of her things and the walls are still adorned with all of her paintings. Colleen's death was suspicious with no body ever found. Claire begins to become suspicious of Byron and soon begins a spiral of truth that changes both their lives and their marriage.

I enjoyed this book. I figured out a good portion of what was going to happen very early in the book, however, there were times when the author had me second guessing myself. The characters are quite typical with your average Crazy Ass Psycho. None of this was enough to stop me from enjoying it though, as I found myself wishing I could just stay hid away reading until the book was over. It was such a page turner and I really enjoyed every second of it!

I recommend this book to those who enjoy the crazy female characters and fans of domestic thrillers or even just thrillers in general. I really think fans of crazy women would definitely enjoy the this book a lot.

What really happened to Colleen? Did she die? Or is did she just...disappear? And why? That's the question Claire must face. She's married to Byron and, as the second wife, Colleen hangs over her head in ways that she can't even fully articulate. Now she's getting phone calls......What about Byron? What would you do? Ah- no spoilers. This is a nicely twisty domestic thriller with a couple of things that surprised me, a veteran reader of the genre. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Well plotted and nicely written- perfect for the beach or travel.

It took me a few chapters to get into this one, but once I did, I didn’t want to put it down. Enthralling, disturbing, surprising, and masterfully written. Several times I had to go back to read a section again, and there were a few times that I set it down to process what was occurring in the book. Very entertaining and kept me on my toes for most of the story.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. The opinions shared are my own.

Having read Nina Laurin's previous books, when I saw The Starter Wife pop up for reading/review on NetGalley. It was one I was requesting as I have loved her previous books with their twists and turns. The Starter Wife which seems to be a theme lately for psychological thrillers from Verity by Colleen Hoover to The Wives by Tarryn Fisher and The Third Mrs. Durst by Ann Agguire. In The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin, we have a scene in a diner which feels like an obsessive stalker romance, and then the novel jumps to our main characters who are happily married or so it seems. The female character Claire is about twenty years younger; than her husband. Her husband is a professor at the local college, while she is a stay at home wife trying to write the next best thing. During the book, our main character, Claire, gets a strange phone call asking her where it is? This is just after she tries to sell a painting created by Colleen Westcott, her husband's first wife. After a bit of research, Claire discovers that her husband was suspected of killing his first wife. In the middle of the book, strange things are happening to Claire, and she is starting to convince herself that it's a matter of time before she is gotten rid of too like yesterday's trash. Can Claire find evidence that her husband killed his first wife before she is next? In the third part of the book, Claire's past comes to light and OMG this is where it got exciting and all the major twists and turns and then I did not see that coming parts started to happen.

“I’m overcome with a sensation of vulnerability, alone and exposed in this airy room like a goldfish that becomes aware of her tank for the first time.”

Claire and Byron have been married for a few years. Byron’s first wife, Colleen, died ten years ago in an apparent suicide and to Claire, it’s clear he has not moved on from her death. Colleen’s paintings still adorn the walls of every room in the house they shared and he won’t let Claire redecorate even though she now lives there with him. Even worse, he proposed to Claire with a replica of the lost emerald heirloom ring that he had given to Colleen.

Claire’s insecurities regarding her infertility, inability to have her writing published and Byron’s hangups on Colleen start to get the best of her. When odd things start happening - for example, strange emails appearing and disappearing - Claire begins to convince herself that Colleen didn’t actually die.

Is Colleen alive and coming back for revenge? Is Claire losing her mind? Is something entirely more sinister going on?

This book was intriguing and kept me guessing. I didn’t feel particularly invested in any of the characters and there were a lot of loose ends that weren’t addressed. All in all an enjoyable read for any thriller lover looking for a bit of crazy!

This book had me trying to figure out "which one is the crazy one?" from the very first page.

Claire Westcott is the second wife of literature professor Byron Westcott. His first wife, Colleen, died from an apparent suicide.

Was it really suicide? Is Byron trustworthy? Is Colleen even really dead?

As a domestic thriller fan and I love a good twisty book that escalates to the perfect "wait, what just happened?!" moment. The Starter Wife definitely delivered on the twists and turns, but there was enough remaining unanswered questions and general reader's confusion at the end that I decided to go with four stars instead of five. This is definitely NOT a passive read. If you do not pay close attention, you'll likely end up confused as the book progresses.

I enjoyed the book enough that I plan to read it again with the "knowing what I know now" perspective. This is one of those books that has a completely different story the second time through, once you know all the character's secrets. I'm sure I'll be able to find the missing pieces that I need to answer those lingering questions in there somewhere!

Be sure to add The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin to your "To Be Read" list, available June 11, 2019.

Special thanks to author Nina Laurin, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced review copy of The Starter Wife in exchange for an honest review.