I had a difficult time remaining interested in this book. I didn’t particularly like the main character but the concept and plot were okay.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45288571

If ever there was a book that I thought would end one way but went down a different path, it would be The Last Wife. While it seemed straightforward, a woman's best friend dies, woman steps into her friend's life, woman gets involved with friend's husband, there was nothing predictable about this story. I was so far off course that I may have to turn in my super sleuth reading cape, or at least send it off for some badly needed maintenance.
Marie made a promise to her best friend Nina that she would look after her family when she died. Marie has always been obsessive about her relationship with Nina, but now she must take care of Nina's husband Stuart and their two children, Felix and Emily. This isn't a hardship for Marie since she always thought Nina had a perfect life. When her relationship ends, Marie moves in and discovers there were secrets Marie kept from her. Suddenly, Marie isn't sure if stepping into Nina's shoes was such a good idea since one of those secrets changed the direction of Marie's life.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that Marie's character takes a 180-degree turn. Obsessive stalker or believer in truth and justice? I preferred early Marie but still kept flipping pages to see which version would be left standing. Not what I expected, but still a unique tale of being careful of what you wish for.

I am a big fan of thrillers and had previously read Karen Hamilton's "The Perfect Girlfriend". Although underwhelmed by her last novel, I decided to give The Last Wife a go... unfortunately came to the same conclusion.

I can get on board with a unreliable narrator in the right circumstances, but wow... "The Last Wife" was made up entirely of unreliable narrators, who were unlikable characters with no redeeming qualities. I just find this type of story disappointing - perhaps I've read too many of them!

The writing style was pleasing and the mystery kept me reading, but overall just wasn't for me.

Always the third wheel in any childhood friendships, Marie has learned to navigate her social awkwardness by sticking to Nina. When Nina dies, she extracts a promise from Marie to always care for her husband and children. Little could Nina have imagined just how far Marie would take that request. Longing for a family of her own, Marie offers to move into Nina's home to "help out" Nina's husband, Stuart and care for the children. But someone is not happy with this turn of events and leaves threatening messages for Marie. Marie is not about to give up what she's longed for all her life no matter what it takes to keep Nina's secrets from the past dead and buried.

Hamilton takes a painfully socially awkward child and allows us to see her as the insecure and therapist needy adult she has become. When the opportunity arises to finally attain the "perfect life" that Nina had, Marie's true "cuckoo" nature reveals itself. She is willing to take over the nest, raise the young as her own and defend by any means necessary to keep the illusion of the perfect nest safe and secure.

I want to first say that I LOVED The Perfect Girlfriend, and I was SO excited to delve into another novel by the same author.

So, this one starts in a similar fashion of crazy. Like, there’s crazy, there’s CRAZY crazy, and then there is Karen Hamilton character crazy, which is over-the-top insanely, obsessively crazy.

So, we begin there again.

I was all in!!!

However, this story fell flat pretty early on and just couldn’t seem to recover.

The characters became annoying and lost most of their characteristics along the way.

The book was about 100 pages too long.

The whole back story was rather boring and I just didn’t care enough to rehash it 72 times.

This book could have really gone crazy train, but it didn’t at all, in the end. It turned into an uninteresting family drama.

I’m am sorely disappointed in this one.

But maybe that’s because I was expecting more - others may love it.

Every once in a while, that character comes along that you can’t decide if they are a villain or a hero, friend or foe, trustworthy or a pathological liar, and, for me, Marie is absolutely one of those characters. ⁣
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⁣After the death of her best friend, Nina, Marie abandons her old life to move into Nina’s home and care for her grieving husband and children. In Marie’s mind, she’s fulfilling Nina’s deathbed request to “protect” her family after she’s gone, but, to the rest of their family and social circle, it’s far too soon, and Marie is perceived as trying to assume Nina’s place as wife and mother. Soon after moving in though, Marie learns that her friend’s life wasn’t as picture perfect as she had assumed it was, and she is forced to take steps not only to safeguard Nina’s memory, but also to protect everything that Marie herself has manipulated into place.⁣
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⁣Karen Hamilton’s The Last Wife is a unique, completely addictive novel where the reader gets to decide whether Marie’s actions are justified or not, whether you can see yourself in her shoes making the same decisions, or whether your superior moral code is offended at the thought. It’s a twisty, intense ride through Marie’s mind, and I absolutely loved and was captivated by every second of the journey. The Last Wife is by far my favorite kind of suspense, one where you logically know the actions of the characters are wrong, but does the end justify the means? You decide. ⁣
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⁣Thanks to Karen Hamilton, Harlequin Books, and Netgalley for the chance to review this phenomenal book⁣.

Marie and Nina are best friends, so when Nina dies, it’s only natural that Marie steps in to help her family. Secrets are revealed and friendships are tested. A good read!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

This book was just okay. I didn't speed through it the way I did The Perfect Girlfriend. The premise was interesting, but the further I got into the book, the less invested I was in what would happen to the characters. There were some good twists and Hamilton's writing was on point. It just wasn't the story for me.

My thanks to Harlequin and Karen Hamilton. I've been on a roll the last year with this publisher. "Still befuddled that it's Harlequin! "
I just didn't like what I read of this book. And no, I didn't read far, so take this review with a grain of salt!
I hate these kind of books. I can't blame it on the author. This may just be a great book. But, it is not a book or story for me. I have a tendency to spill my guts. I'm not someone who holds back. So, I often have a hard time putting myself "there."
I have some good reads friends who didn't read it review this book. That should have been my first warning!

I was disappointed in this book, mainly because I really enjoyed the authors previous book, The perfect girlfriend. There were too many storylines and I felt like the main character was poorly developed. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

2.5/5

The Last Wife is about best friends Marie and Nina. After Nina dies from cancer, Marie does what she can to fulfill her promises to her late best friend. She takes care and protects her family. But her motives are not wholly selfless and she creates a stir in the community when she fully takes over Nina’s life. Marie starts to learn that her best friend’s life may not be as idyllic as it seemed and that Nina had some secrets of her own.

I liked this novel for keeping me hooked. It definitely had all the makings of a psychological thriller: a possible unreliable narrator; secrets and increasing tension. However there were elements that fell flat for me. I didn’t think Nina’s secret was that compelling even when it was fully revealed. I also wish I had more of an insight about Marie’s obsession with her best friend. There were some hints throughout the book and you could make your own conclusions from those, but they was no real clarity. Finally the climax fell a bit flat for me as there was no real emotional investment on the final victim. Lastly while we learned so much about Marie who’s the narrator, the other characters fell flat for me.

I like Karen Hamilton’s writing and ability to build suspense. But this book was just ok for me. Thanks so much to the publisher and Net Galley for an advanced reading copy.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Karen Hamilton, author of “The Perfect Girlfriend”, is back with her latest novel, “The Last Wife”. Hamilton is known for her psychologically twisted, suspenseful novels, and I went into this story with those expectations and Hamilton delivered….sort of.
Nina and Marie had been best friends for years, and when Nina was diagnosed with a terminal illness she made one request of Marie- ensure that her family was taken care of. After years of struggling with infertility in an unhappy marriage, Marie jumps at the chance to immerse herself into her best friends’ family, under the guise of fulfilling her best friends’ wishes. Now, Marie is living Nina’s life; living in her house, raising her children, even married to Nina’s husband. But when threatening letters and packages start coming to the house, Marie wonders what secrets Nina was hiding and what kind of life she so readily jumped into.
Hamilton really had me on the edge of my seat in “The Perfect Girlfriend”. I loved the “Single White Female” vibe of the obsessive, possessive and completely psychotic main character. “The Last Wife” started out the same way; Marie, always jealous of Nina’s life, gets the chance to take over and literally replace Nina, and jumps at the chance. The novel starts, from Marie’s perspective, describing her thoughts and dreams to literally take what Nina has.
However, soon the novel started to be something else entirely. Once Marie has Nina’s life, she becomes immersed in solving the death of her ex-boyfriend, who died while he and Marie were on vacation years ago. Now, Marie is focused on finding the killer, and revealing the secrets of everyone in her new life. I felt like I was reading two different novels.
I loved the crazy, obsessive, stalker Marie, and I wanted more of her. I wanted more of her background, more of her whacked-out relationship with Nina, more of their history together. After marrying Nina’s husband, Marie becomes completely sane, and turns her focus on Nina’s secrets. What happened to crazy Marie?
Both the plot lines in this novel are good, but I wish Hamilton had chosen one and stuck with it. Of course there are a few twists throughout, and the ending brings about all the right answers and associated feelings of contentment, but I felt like I was reading two novels at the same time, and it really didn’t help the flow of the novel. I was left confused and disjointed, and I would’ve loved a more consistent plot. However, Hamilton has writing chops (I witnessed them in “The Perfect Girlfriend”) and for the most part, they are on display here. If her next novel is organized and flowing like “Girlfriend” was, I’m all over it.

I love this genre, and I thought the blurb sounded interesting. Sadly, it didn't pull me in as I'd expected.

I wasn't a fan of the writing style, and I found the book confusing overall. Was perplexed by Marie's motivations. I never connected with any of the characters, and I struggled to finish it. Actually, I wasn't even all that interested in finding out how the book ended. The twists weren't even twisty. Instead, they were predicatable.

I don't believe I've read anything by Hamilton, and I'm not sure I'll seek out other books.

Marie promised her best friend Nina that she would take care of her family when she passed. As it turns out, Marie can’t be trusted, Nina couldn’t be trusted, and who knows who actually can be trusted?

WTF did I just read? I still don’t really understand what the point of this book was? Was Marie trying to take over Nina’s life? Is that what she wanted? Or did she just want a sperm donor? I am still just sitting here baffled trying to figure out what I was supposed to get out of this story. Marie seemed like one of those people that cannot stand when her friend has other friends. She was super clingy and overall I just had no feeling towards her. I felt bad for her fertility struggles, but that’s about it. And Stuart was definitely one of those men that can’t be alone. Taking up with your dead wifes best friend like ten minutes after she is dead? Greg was also incredibly weird and sitting on a super high horse that kind of made no sense. Overall I just don’t understand what the point of this one was.

I love domestic thrillers but this just didn't really work for me. I was excited about the premise of this book and I liked the first half but then it fell flat for me. The second half seemed like a weird mystery and I'm just not sure what happened to the story.

Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced copy.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I found the plot of this book to be very intriguing, but the writing and storyline just didn't match up to my hopes! This was very hard to get into. Also, maybe it was just my Kindle, but there were formatting issues throughout this that took away from the enjoyment of reading.

The Last Wife is the first book that I've read by Karen Hamilton and I am sad to say that I did not enjoy it as much as I hoped. The premise was intriguing, but unfortunately I never became hooked. I found the characters unlikable and none of the "twists" particularly surprising. I saw the book through to the end, but there were several times that I considered not finishing.

Marie and Nina have been best friends since childhood and when Nina is diagnosed with a terminal illness, she asks Marie to make sure her final wishes are carried out. Marie is more than happy to look out for her friend's family. If Nina had known how little she could trust her friend, she would have never left her husband and children in Marie's care. Marie was envious of Nina's perfect life, and she desperately yearned for a family to call her own.
Marie moves into Nina's home to help her husband Stuart with the children however, Nina's close friends and mother are furious with Marie for trying to take over Nina's life. Within a few weeks of her arrival into the home, Marie starts receiving threatening messages. She also discovers that her friend took her biggest secret to the grave with her. As she starts looking for answers on what happened on their vacation years ago, she starts to realize Nina may not have led such a perfect life that she always believed.
This is the second book I've read by Karen Hamilton and I have to say I admire her unique writing style. She is great at making all her characters unlikeable, and that was true in this case as well. Marie is the narrator for this story and she's not the most reliable when she gives details on events. Her biggest desire is to have a baby of her own, and she will do whatever it takes to get pregnant. Most of the characters in this book are manipulative, and as long-buried secrets start to come to light, it's nice to see some of them get what they deserve. and always be careful about what you wish for because wishes can quickly turn into one's worst nightmare.
I have to give a big thanks to Net Galley for allowing me early access to this book.

This is the second Karen Hamilton book I have read and while I loved the first book, I thought this one was just okay. I thought it dragged a bit (for me personally) and I didn't find myself wanting to pick it up to read after I'd set it down, I did finish the book to find out what happened but found it a little anti-climatic. I will definitely read another one of her books as I enjoyed the first one so much. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Devoured this. A beautifully portrayed unreliable narrator in Marie, plus the type of twisty unpredictable psych thriller plot that I love based in a beautifully obsessive friendship.