This was a pretty good plot line, centered around Ria, who married into the prestigious Parker family and never really felt like she fit in. She receives emails with compromising information on her sisters-in-law and wants to investigate both the source of the information and the reasons behind it.

The story itself had some good twists and turns, and the last 2/3 of the book moved at a pretty fast pace. I thought I had figured out who the "bad guy" was a couple times, and then had to re-evaluate when faced with new information. My issue with the book was around the writing style, which is what knocked it from 4 stars to 3 for me. A lot of the book, particularly in the first 3rd, was focused on what people were thinking rather than any dialogue or action- I assume the author did this to set the background but it felt awkward to me. Also, during a lot of these passages where you learned what the characters were thinking, they repeated sentiments multiple times- for example, someone would say "I worry this news will make him despise me" and then say pretty much the exact same thing a couple paragraphs later. If this was crisped up, there would be less of the "thought" narrative and more of dialogue/actions. The last thing with the writing style isn't that big of a deal, but I found somewhat distracting, is that the family was in Chicago and was clearly an American family, but there were many British words and phrases peppered throughout the book- the most memorable was the use of the word "pram" but there were more than a handful of times where a word/phrase was clearly British and I had a hard time picturing an American character believably saying it.

All in all, the story is worth the read if you can get beyond the repetitive and somewhat tedious bits around what the characters are thinking- I did enjoy it overall.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I’ve read by Nicola Marsh and it wont be my last. I had no expectations before starting it but was drawn in immediately. There was a time not that long ago where the premise of hurting people close to you for personal gain ( money, power, greed) would have been somewhat unbelievable but sadly now seems to be realistic and normalized. I found myself stopping other projects ....work.. to pick up this book and read just a few more chapters. It is definitely a mystery but I never felt the need to stay peeled for clues. I could enjoy the story without the added stress of having to pay close attention to fully enjoy the end of the story. The characters were all well developed and each had specific personalities even being from the same family. Each had prior life stories, as we all do, and handled them with their individual character traits in tack. So often an author takes the time to create the characters but isn’t able to follow thru with believable resolution. Everyone resolved issues with one point of view but this author was able to stay true to the individual. The story centered around one expanded family without introducing outside characters so if you really wanted to predict an ending, you knew to focus on family relationships. That would be my only critique and would have liked to have meet colleagues, personal friends or neighbors or others with an agenda. #netgalley

my 1st read buy this author so enjoyed twisty addictive . the storys of the women characters in book .greedy vindictive controlling lonely and pasts don't want to spoil it for readers buy giving story away but so good so recommend a must read.

Ria has been a single mum for five years after her husband disappeared five years ago. She’s a hard working Mother who has to look out for her daughter and although she could be financially secure taking financial support from her missing husbands family she decides to be independent and is a reporter for a magazine.
One day she receives emails showing compromising photos of her sister in law and decides she needs to get to the bottom of who’s sending these emails. Using her reporting skills she doesn’t make much headway. Without giving away spoilers things begin to become clear to Ria but who should she trust? Unfortunately at the same time accidents seem to be happening in the family - or are they accidents ?
Unfortunately not my type of book, the characters don’t seem to develop fully enough for me.

Thank you Net galley for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Fantastic this book kept me questing from start to finish each time I thought u had worked out who was behind the emails anouther twist would emerge and keep me questing again loved the family dynamics and all the diffrent personalities

When Ria's husband walks out on her she is left to look after her five year old daughter. She is now working as a reporter in a magazine
She still visits her husbands family regularly and her wealthy mother and law contributes financial. This is a situation that not all the family approve of.
Unfortunately I did not connect with the characters in this story and I found it hard to keep interested in the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book very hard to get into and got a bit bored with the characters, somehow the story line just didn't seem to flow for me. I must admit I did a bit of skim reading just to get to the end and it wasn't the best book I have read and enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I liked the start of this story but in the middle I became distracted - a bit of repeating and too much redevelopment of characters.

The plot was good and I did enjoy most of the book.

Many Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for an OK read!

You do NOT want to read The Last Wife, I’m surprised it’s even getting published. It’s really that bad.

I can’t think of a single positive thing to say to start my review.

When I started reading The Last Wife I thought the first couple of chapters were okay, the writing style isn’t the best but the plot seemed to move along nicely. Then the characters started repeating themselves, the plot stopped and just seemed to drag on and on....and on.

Ria is supposed to be a likeable relatable character but shes the biggest Mary-Sue since Twilight! A journalist who likes to mention her work constantly but never does any? Don’t even get me started on Grayson. Did Nicola Marsh even proof read this? Did the publisher?

I feel like I’ve been pranked.

I gave up on 92%, the ending was obvious and I was bored. The story is still dragging on and frankly I’ve had enough.

Don’t waste your time with this. I’d rather watch paint dry.

Absolutely loved this book! The story flows, the characters are fascinating and I couldn't tear myself away. Highly recommended.