I enjoyed this thriller where Ria married into the Parker family, where she was happy with her husband Grayson & their daughter. However his family never warmed up to her & didn't really like her. When Grayson leaves & doesn't return back home Ria is forced to accept help from Grayson's mom & sisters. This story is told from mainly Ria's point of view but also the other Parker wives as well.

The Last Wife is the first book I've read by Nicola Marsh and at this point I'm not sure if I'd try another. 

I enjoyed the alternating chapters because it served to help the reader know all of the wives, but sadly, all that did was show me that there were no characters in this book that I liked. I don't have to be madly in love with characters, but I do appreciate having one or more that has some redeeming qualities that will make me like them.  Usually if I'm not caring about anyone, I will DNF the book, but I hung in there with this one.

I often felt like I was reading a script of a soap opera and I'm left not knowing who to recommend this book to. You might enjoy this if you enjoy family sagas, soap opera type stories and stories about the rich and privileged.

I received an ARC at my request and thank Netgalley, the author and publisher for an opportunity to read this book. My thoughts in the review are my own.

Loved this thriller of a book.  Thought I had it figured out several times, but the plot kept twisting and turning at a very fast pace.  Highly recommend The Last Wife!

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Oooh this has everything I love in a book! Powerful family, secrets, lies, bitchy characters, money etc etc etc!
This is the 2nd book I have read by Nicola Marsh and it didn’t disappoint! 
Read it in one sitting - and loved watching the lies and subterfuge unravel!
Pick it up, I guarantee you will read it in one sitting!

Ria is a journalist, a single mother after Grayson, her husband estranged 5 years ago and youngest daughter-in-law to a financial tycoon family in Chicago, the Parkers. Ashlin is the eldest daughter-in-law who maintains her true feelings behind a narcissistic facade as trouble brews in her marriage to Justin, the CEO of the Parkers Company. Shamira is another daughter in law who is a hippy aromatherapist and has a dark past which she fears might ruin her dreamy and blissful marriage to the middle son of Parkers, Trent. May, the matriarch to the Parker family, is what the still keeps the family together, thanks to her official invites to get-togethers once in a while.

Told from the POV of these women, the story divulges into the lives of the family members after Ria gets an email containing secrets on Ashlin, Shamira and Christine (the only daughter to the parkers), that could ruin the Parker family if it leaked. The plot moves on to her trying to find out who sent her this and a compromising picture of her husband, the day after he left home never to return, while the other women face troubling days in front of them. Amidst these, Ria has to protect her daughter at all costs.

As compelling family thriller/drama, it hits the right notch. Many twists and turns but only one stood out among them and that is exactly when I got really into this book. A couple of chapters in the beginning and the second half of the book turned out well. Each character is constructed in their own right and it is justified. Even the characters which seem immature seems realistic, so that is something that needs to be appreciated. 

It isn't something that I would love to read again and again, but it works out well for a one time read. I have heard about Nicola Marsh but I haven't read any of her works. This was good, to begin with. I liked Grayson as a character, maybe it was his infectious charm but I liked his character. The final twist is something that goes unnoticed by the reader throughout the book but it lingers as a doubt. It would have been really good if it explored from Christine's POV as well. I didn't find it as gripping as I expected but it is alright. After everything is resolved, some issues needed to be addressed. That would have been good!

As I said before, it is alright for a one time read, personally. You might appreciate and love it more!

Recommended: If you are into series like Empire and Succession and looking something similar for a read, this one is for you!

This book was pretty interesting to read. I enjoyed it but it was slow at times for me. I like the premise of the book and if you think your family is nuts?? They don't come close to this one. The characters were easy to like and some were just too much. But still a good book.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Like the popular television series Succession, The Last Wife centers around a aristocratic dynasty only the family's ruler here is a Chicago matriarch called May who calls all the shots. May's four children are as different as night and day and so are the family's three daughters-in-law. The main character, Ria, grew up orphaned and made a name for herself as a freelance journalist. May plays the family members like pieces in a chess game, but when the family is threatened it's impossible to tell who's behind the emails and accidents that haunt the family.
I read this book in one day as it was truly impossible to put down. The characters all rang true and the ending came as a pleasant, unexpected surprise. A sequel to The Last Wife would be interesting.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and appreciate the opportunity I had to read an advance copy.

Wow! I thought my family was crazy. Excellent thriller about an extremely wealthy family with a ruthless matriarch running the show. When Ria’s husband walked out on her 5 years ago she was heartbroken but determined to pick herself up and provide for her beloved daughter as a single mother. The only problem is her ex-husbands interfering family, whom she still has strong ties with for the sake of her daughter. When Ria receives an untraceable email containing damaging secrets about several of the women in the family, Ria must figure out who can be trusted with the information. Twisted delicious thriller about a majorly dysfunctional family and the havoc the bring on each other.

This book is more of a family drama than a thriller.  It is centered around a very rich and powerful family, The Parkers.

Ria is married to a Parker, but he disappeared from her life years ago leaving her to raise their daughter alone.  Ria starts receiving emails detailing secrets of the women within her family.  The emails threaten to expose these secrets and Ria is determined to find out who the sender is before their reputations are ruined or worse, someone gets hurt.  She will do anything to protect her daughter.  

I went into this book expecting more suspense, but it reads more like a family drama with some scandals and lots of secrets.  We are introduced to a lot of colorful characters and a lot of drama.  The ending wasn’t shocking and a bit predictable, but I did find myself enjoying the drama that played out.  

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for this advance reading copy.

This was an interesting story, that follows several different women in a family as their world as they know it is threatened by an unknown source. Ria receives some rather damming emails with pictures of her sister in laws and secrets they have been hiding. Unsure of what to do she keeps it to herself, hoping her investigate skills will come to use. Things however do not go as she hopes as someone is targeting them all, one by one and she has no idea what to do. So she looks for the one person who might be able to help, the ex husband who abandoned her and her daughter five years earlier. Intense, emotional and a twist you might not see coming. A satisfying read I would recommend if you enjoy an emotional and thrilling read with a twist you will definitely enjoy.

Happy publication day to this edgy family drama and thank you so much to the wonderful publishers Bookouture and Net Galley for providing me with this advanced copy to review! This book shares a birthday with my eldest daughter and it's also International day of the Girl; a celebration born of the United Nations in 2012 to acknowledge the challenges faced by girls in society, and encourage them to grow into strong, compassionate and independent women who are capable of anything they set their mind to regardless of setbacks. The main protagonist in this domestic noir embodies these qualifies as she faces the obstacles her husband and in-laws (and a mystery email sender) continue to hurl at her. She is a force to be reckoned with as she begins to unravel the threat encroaching on her family (who are wealthy and completely bonkers). I picked the twist but still found the writing style easy and enjoyable to read. It would suit those who enjoy a slow burn and multiple character POV's. My Nana likes to say "How can we expect to have peace in the world when we can't have peace in a family", and while my own family is drama free, you'll find plenty of issues waiting for you behind the cover of #thelastwife 
Star Rating: 💍 💍 💍

Ria is a journalist and just as she’s finishing work, she receives an email. From the sender’s name, it brings back horrible memories of a similar email 5 years ago that ended her marriage.

This email has compromising pictures and information about her in-laws….the fabulously wealthy and powerful Parker family. Who would want this information out in the open? And Why?

What follows is a soap opera of money, secrets, lies, murder and corporate dodgy dealings.

This is so entertaining, well written and twisty with likeable and equally unlikeable characters. So, it’s time to suspend reality and enjoy the sheer escapism of The Last Wife….brilliant. 

Thank you to Bookouture, the author and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest, unbiased review.

The Last Wife is the third book I have read by Nicola this year. It is a fantastic read and just like when I read The Scandal, it was another sleepless night as well as I am pleased to say, another five star read! Gripped right from the start, I couldn’t turn the pages on my kindle fast enough. Everything immediately drew me in. From the striking cover, the blurb and the way Nicola is able to engage you through the prose, I knew I was going to be taken on a wild addictive ride and what a bloody great ride it is!

Nicola has crafted a well organised, page turning plot that is full of lies, secrets and deceit. Family is at the forefront and plays an important part throughout the story, although not in a warm and fuzzy kind of way, but more in the dysfunctional way. In the case of the Parkers, the only thing holding them all together is the family fortune, controlled by the matriarch who is the puppet master pulling the strings. But when the strings are severed and the family bank account is closed, the dynamics shift and the true colours of each are revealed in the most riveting of ways.

Although the majority of the characters are not likeable and I don’t think are meant to be, they are very believable and compelling, which is what I look for when reading a story and what makes them stand out over others. Told from multiple points of view, we are given a great insight into each of the characters and their back stories and how that has shaped them into the flawed people they are in the present. I really enjoyed this aspect and Nicola does a great job in conveying this. I loved how I was kept second guessing who the true villain was and when the mask was removed and the culprit was revealed, it was not who I expected it to be.

As I wrote in my recent review for Nicola’s book Long Way Home, Nicola’s writing just captivates me, engages me and draws me like no other, no matter what genre I am reading from her. She is able to make you feel part of the story and feel all of the emotions that each of the characters go through. There are not many authors that can pull this off for me but she does, so seamlessly. Having had the recent opportunity of meeting Nicola, it clicked into place as to why I feel so connected to her writing. She is as engaging as her writing, which is what comes across for me when I read her work.

The Last Wife is one hell of a read. It is wickedly twisted, highly addictive, utterly deceptive and I absolutely loved it! Of the two books that I have read now of Nicola’s in this genre, she has raised the bar from the first to this one and I can not wait to see what she comes up with next! I should have learnt from when I read The Scandal to make sure that when I start a book from Nicola that I have had plenty of sleep beforehand but the bags under the eyes and lack of coherence the next day just reinforces how much I love Nicola’s work. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review The Last Wife and just in case it didn’t come across in this review I highly recommend it!!

Thank-you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Nicola Marsh for allowing me to read an advanced copy of The Last Wife which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

i wanted to love this book. The cover and the description pulled me in but the plot fell short for me. I disliked everyone and just couldn’t feel anything towards Rita.
I’m sorry and I wish the author much success.

This is a great psychological thriller that had me hooked from the first few pages. 
Ria married Grayson and they had a daughter together, however five years ago he left her, with little explanation. 
His family are very wealthy and have ensured Ria and Shelley don’t want for anything, but Ria also likes to keep her independence. 
The other women in the Parker family all rely on the money they receive from May Parker and are shocked when they learn, it’s going to be cut back. 
Ria is sent some information about members of the family and faces a dilemma regarding what to do about it. 
There’s no love lost with most of the family, but can she really confront them with what she knows?
I really liked Ria’s character and didn’t envy the position she was placed in. 
This is a gripping thriller and I loved the nail biting ending. 
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book that basically reinforces the theory that money does not buy happiness.  May Parker is the head of the the wealthy Parker family of the Chicago area where she loves to control everyone while being highly critical of all of them.  Ria, her ex-daughter-in-law, is the only one who she seems to like and approve of.  One day, Ria gets some strange e-mails that sets in motion a lot of mystery/drama with lots of twists and turn and a very surprise ending.  Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this very interesting edge-of-your seat book in exchange for an honest review.  If you are looking for a good thriller/mystery, this is it.

I found this book to be a little slow in the beginning, only really building once I was halfway through. I love the way it was told from the different perspectives of the women in the family and it felt like the women were the key to the family. I have to say I did guess what the big reveal would be, but I did enjoy it regardless. 3 stars from me as I would have liked it to have got going a bit quicker.

The Last Wife, a mystery/thriller, was a solid 3 stars. The book centers around main character Ria- a single mother and journalist. The mystery starts when Ria is sent an anonymous email threatening to expose the secrets of the Parker family, her ex-husband’s ultra wealthy family. When members of the Parker family start having serious “accidents”, Ria starts to investigate whose behind the email and why. 
I found the Last Wife to be an interesting book and I enjoyed the multiple POVs aspect, however, with the lack of any likable characters in the book, I found myself not enjoying the book as much as I would have liked. Recommended to fans to mystery/thriller books. Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Family; more specifically, in-laws. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Unfortunately, most of us can understand this sentiment, I know I do. Can't live with them, can't live without them... or can you?

"The Last Wife" by Nicola Marsh was an immediate hit with me, 5/5 stars! I was hooked from the thrilling prologue straight through to that jaw-dropping finale! "Trusting his family was her first mistake." Having never read anything from Nicola Marsh before, it was that tagline that initially drew me in and left me craving for more.

As told from the Parker wives themselves; Ria, Ashlin, Shamira, and May are no strangers to protecting what's theirs. The story mostly centers around Ria, the wife of the youngest Parker. Having grown up in the foster care system, Ria never really had a family to call her own until she met Grayson. She tries to be the perfect daughter-in-law and the perfect sister-in-law, to no avail. (Sound familiar to anyone?) All she's ever really wanted was the love of a family. With a family, trust should come naturally, right?

After Grayson goes missing and is assumed to be living a double life, Ria is left to care for their young daughter Shelley and brave the Parker family alone. She has to learn to tolerate her mother-in-law's insistent interference and her sisters-in-law's constant judgment. Suspicion arises when Ria inadvertently becomes privy to the Parker wives' darkest secrets. Why are these secrets being shared with her? Is her family being targeted? Who's targeting them? Is this all somehow connected to her ex-husband? Does her family know more than they're letting? Whatever the truth may be, Ria knows that she must protect her daughter at all costs.

I particularly enjoyed the narrations provided through each of the Parker wives. These insights give you just enough to keep you guessing. The characters themselves are intricately woven and continuously draw upon the idea of a tense in-law relationship. The only thing that didn't really work for me was Christine's character. The connection between the five women in the story could've been a little stronger if Christine had been given her own narration. Fortunately, Christine's and all of the Parker husband's stories came through with enough personality that you could almost feel it coming through the pages.

If you're looking for a story with domestic suspense that'll easily have you swiping your night away, then look no further! This book comes highly recommended by myself and so many others!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and the author Nicola Marsh for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Find this review at Misty's Corner Reviews: https://www.mistyscornerreviews.com/2019/10/the-last-wife-by-nicola-marsh.html#more

This review will also be posted on Goodreads along with Misty's Corner Reviews Facebook Page, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Once this title is released on Amazon, I'll be sure to post this review there as well.

#TheLastWife #NetGalley

I freaking loved this book!!!!!! Seriously I am obsessed. Anything to do with this kind of setting and characters is right up my alley. Nicola Marsh did a fantastic job at keeping you interested and also wanting to read more. I wasn't sure at first what was going to happen and the ending was fantastic...