Maggie does not like the new person, Simon, her mother is involved with. There is something dark and disturbing about him. Glen, her dad disappeared two years ago. No one knows where he is, dead or alive. He did leave a lot of unanswered questions behind. A secret life no one knew about.
Maggie and her brother Conner are trying to come to terms with the loss of a father. A possibility of Simon as the stepfather doesn't sit well with Maggie. Worse he's a teacher at her school so she sees him constantly. Still it seems strange the way he just landed in their lives. Almost like it was all planned. There cannot be that many coincidences that would place him in their family. Now all Maggie has to do is convince her mother that he is not who he portrays himself to be.
Excellent, titillating, great read!

This was an incredibly intense read. A true psychological thriller. How well do we really know the people we think we know best? How easily can we be deceived and manipulated and lied to? This story grabbed me right from the start and I couldn't put it down. This is a great book to curl up with on a stormy day and read in one sitting.

Nina lost her husband and the world as she knew it in a most tragic way. His boat was found with his dog on it alone, surrounded by a whole lot of blood. But no body. With no way of knowing if her husband is dead or faked his own death and escaped Nina moves on with her life. Her and her two kids move in with a new man, much to the chagrin of many of her closest friends and family. She continues to learn more about her past and her current relationships each day.

If I'm being honest, for a large portion of this book Nina drove me crazy. Her choices and decisions were so frustrating, but I guess that was the point of this story - it's easy to be critical as an outsider. The story flips back and forth from different characters POV's throughout, but it was always at random and never clearly indicated (though it only took about a sentence or two to clue in so not too confusing). Certain parts of this story had my nerves up the way you feel when watching a horror film and you now something bad is coming but you don't know when. It created the perfect level of anxiety you want when reading a psychological thriller. I would be very surprised if this isn't one of 2020's top psychological thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is one of the best books I have read. It could be made into a movie. I liked the fact that the story was told from different character perspectives. There were twists and turns and it had me on the edge of my seat. It had a solid plot and made me think and ask questions and put pieces of a puzzle together and at one point my heart was racing. I look forward to more books from this author. I highly recommend this book.

After her husband disappears, a women gets involved with a new man who becomes more and more controlling. This was readable but pretty much the same old story with stereotypical characters and a predictable storyline.

If you are a fan of anxiety producing thrillers The New Husband will be the RX for you. I really enjoy a domestic drama but the horror vibe of this one was too stomach churning for me and I found myself having to here and there turn to something more tranquil.

This book started off slow for me, but boy did it pick up. Parts of it terrified me! If you like thrillers, like I do, this book is for you!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I have never read anything by this author but I certainly will be looking up more books!

Unfortunately, I did not care for this book. I know that I’m not in the majority. I felt the first half was terribly slow and the second half I kept rolling my eyes. I could not find the connection to the characters that I really wanted to find.

I enjoyed The New Husband, the tension throughout the book was amazing. The kids, Maggie and Connor, were truly well developed, and I absolutely love the fact that Maggie was not your perfect, child that she was a child being bullied in school.

There were unique twist and turns throughout the book, but there were other things that were a little predictable. Also I think the title was a little off.

I don’t want to say too much, because it would be so easy to drop spoilers, which I don’t want to do. I loved the ending though, very fitting.

2 years after the disappearance of her husband Glen, Nina has moved on and moved in with a new man, taking her two children to live with her boyfriend. But how much does she know about this new man and how much does she really know about her last one?

What I liked best was the characterization of the villain and the daughter Maggie. They both felt realistic, fully fleshed out characters with agency and personality.

What I didn’t like first and foremost was the pacing. I didn’t really feel like much happened for the first third of the book, and 100+ pages of limited development or exposition had this reader reluctant to keep going. At some point, I stopped caring altogether about Nina’s chapters and focused on Maggie’s. Finally around 50%, I felt semi invested but it was very much a rough start.

It was frustrating watching Nina be so dense. As a social worker of all things, you’d expect her to be a bit more intuitive and aware of the people around her. And when Simon turned into a creepy version of the peloton husband, I just wanted to shake (or slap) some sense into her. She had these moments of being a rational human and then they would disappear abruptly. It got to the point where I was questioning the author’s opinion of the entire female gender if he (and I could tell it was a he before even looking up what DJ stood for) honestly believed any woman would be that delusional. The ending/epilogue where it seemed like he was breaking the fourth wall a bit did nothing to improve my opinion because everything Maggie was saying about Allison was inapplicable to Nina who had somewhere else to go and didn’t know the full depth of the relationship problems but knew enough to have left.

In the end, I did still want to know how it would resolve and that kept me from making this an early DNF of the year. Thankfully the last 20% of the book was a big improvement over the frustration of the rest of it. The intention and ultimate messaging was good, but I didn’t think the Nina character was written in a way that conveyed it authentically. I would’ve rather read a book from Allison or Emma’s perspective.

The New Husband by DJ Palmer was amazing! I loved this book so much! DJ does an amazing job telling a story through different characters and it is done seamlessly! I was on the edge of my seat with all the plot twists! The New Husband is one of my must reads for 2020!!!

I loved this book!!! Filled with twists and turns! Told from a couple different characters, but well put together. Love can be great, but can keep you blinded also!! Such a great ending! Definitely will be following this author!!!

The New Husband tells the story of a master manipulator. Nina Garrity, reeling from the disappearance of her husband Glen, meets Simon Fitch, a teacher from her daughter's middle school. Still fragile (emotionally and financially), Nina falls in love with Simon and moves in with him. Nina's son embraces Simon, but her daughter Maggie sees Simon as evil. As their relationship progresses, Maggie becomes more suspicious of Simon and even Nina's closest friends question his motives. But who should Nina believe?

Told from alternating perspectives (primarily Nina and Maggie), The New Husband was a wild ride. D.J. Palmer does a fantastic job of developing each character and their actions. Specifically with Simon, I kept questioning whether he was doing things because he cared or because he was possessive. To sum it up, I could not put this book down!

The Mail Order Standoff is a set of four historical stories of brides who may be a bit reluctant.
Right on Time by Angela Breidenbach: Timothy leaves his home of affluence to travel across the country to Texas to try his hand at ranching and possibly earn the hand of the owner’s daughter. What happens when she learns of her father’s plan?
Pistol-Packin’ Bride by Margaret Brownley: Elizabeth Colton is all alone in the world and decides to travel to Texas as a mail-order bride. Her first encounter with her reluctant betrothed is doomed when she shoots him and is jailed for attempted murder. Fortunately for her he is a lawyer and tries to help her.
The Bride Who Declined by Susan Page Davis: Rachel is living in Boston and had written to Randolph Hill in consideration of being a mail-order bride. After a few letters she decided the wild west was not for her and politely told him so. She now receives a letter from his attorney telling her he passed away and left his ranch to her. Only problem is she must live there for thirty days. Can she last thirty days or will she give up? If she makes it thirty days what will she do with the ranch?
Twice the Trouble by Vickie McDonough: Twins Keeley and Katie Quinn are to be wed to Texas cousins. The men are expecting sisters but don’t realize they have been writing to identical twins. What happens when one of them falls for the wrong cousin or do they both agree they need to switch before marrying?
I enjoyed this book a lot. Each story is very well-written and logical in most circumstances. Some parts are laugh out funny and others very sentimental and touching. I give this book 5 of 5 stars.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Reviews are all over the place for this and I get all of them.

I agree that it was a little slow to start but when it did? It zooooomed and it was a really wild ride.

The writing is quite good. The author expertly shows us how emotional abusers ramp up gradually making their target feel crazy; the gaslighting in particular was so perfectly illustrated. (TW here, BTW.)

The real star of this show, however, is the characterization of 13 year old Maggie. She is everything.

Thank you to D.J. Palmer, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I recently read Saving Meghan by Palmer and loved it. I have recommended it to many patrons and they all love it and want to read more by Palmer. They will be so excited in April to be able to read this book. Such a page turner. I loved it!

How well do you really know someone? Just like reading a story and you think you know what's going on , or what may happen to the characters , then Surprise there's a twist you didn't see coming , couldn't fathom anything like it happening , great read , thrilling , mind blowing , surprising to the core! Nina and her family are going to go through something harrowing , something that as a reader , was a surprise twist didn't see coming .if you like Psychological thrillers then you will love this book!

Solid thriller. At some points the story dragged and then it would pick up again.
Simon is a creepy guy, in reality I think any woman would’ve notice his weirdness. The signs were all there. I wish Nina would listen to her daughter Maggie.

The New Husband was such an interesting story - things looked normal until you look at them through the eyes of Maggie, the daughter in this book. Maggie sees things others don't and her experiences lent creepiness to this tale of a family trying to move on after the death of the husband and father.

D.J. Palmer has quickly become a favorite author of mine because he has a way of pulling the reader in, leading them on while building the story and through small hints and foreshadowing, turns things around on the reader before the even realize it.

If you like psychological thrillers and stories about families dealing with the aftermath of tragedies, this book is calling your name. If you haven't read anything by this author, remedy that quickly!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC at my request. Thoughts in this review area mine.

Every now and then I like to mix up my reading genres just to spice things up. This was the case with The New Husband. A trickle-fed plot filled with suspense and intrigue, it kept me turning the pages till the very end.

When Nina’s husband mysteriously disappears while fishing one morning, very few clues were left behind. Presumed dead, she eventually starts dating again- dating the man who happened to find her missing dog. Simon is perfect. He does everything right like she’s known the man all her life. That comfort eased her broken heart and helped her transition into a new life with her two kinds, and Simon, after the accident. Her son attached quickly to the new guy, a teacher from his school, but daughter Maddie didn’t trust him. There’s a look in his eye that she’s observed. One that brings shivers down her spine. What’s mom’s new guy hiding?

One issue I had with this book is the flip flopping from third person point of view to first. And when we went to first person, it was often someone else. Not always the same person. It might’ve helped to label it at the start of the chapter. Nina... Maddie... etc. but then we were switched to third person again. It broke up the flow for me and it’s not my preference. Stay with third or first, don’t flip flop.

A first read for me with this author but definitely one I’d check out again in the future.