Okay, this is by far one of the best thriller i've ever read!! I just loved this mind twisting book! That ending satisfy me like super satisfy. Love the plot, the flow of the story and yes its build up. Nothing's gonna beat this super wicked level of story.

This Thriller was really well written, although slow to start.
The characters came accross slightly unlikeable and I feel this book always had me guessing which always turned out to be wrong. Still don't feel that there was a clear villain in the story so looking forward to seeing if there is a sequel!
The story contains several trigger topics under-age sex, rape, abuse and exploitation to name a few

A tense, well-crafted read that kept me turning the pages until the end! Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the ARC,

DNF as found quite confusing and hard going and really wasn’t for me, although did try a few times, apologies

My Perfect Wife was not what I expected at all. It took an interesting turn from the start. Usually, in these types of books, the reader knows that the character isn’t perfect but the secondary characters all seem to think so. In this book, we are ALL aware that Elizabeth isn’t perfect. The secondary characters know why and it is up to us, the reader, to find out. A great twist on a story that’s already been told a lot!

The characters in My Perfect Wife make it difficult for the reader to determine what is going on with Elizabeth because they are all so unreliable. Everybody has their own agenda, which means you have to keep guessing what is real and what isn’t. This can something make My Perfect Wife a slow read but the story is intriguing enough to keep going.

None of the characters in My Perfect Wife are particularly likable either, another reason why it is hard to pick a side and make an educated guess regarding what is going on. I feel that sometimes the author does try to push Heather as the character we should like but she fell flat too often for me to do that.

Overall, I enjoyed this domestic thriller with a twist. It left me with a conflicted mind throughout but I like that. It’s great from time to time to read a book that is not all packaged neatly with a bow.

Unfortunately the beginning of this book was too confusing and I found it hard to get into so sadly I had to DNF this which is a real shame as it sounded so good. Sorry.

This was an easy to read thriller that kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend. Claire Boyd is brilliant, can't wait to see what's next!

Oh man I am sorry I couldn't get into this one. It sounded so good and just the description of the house in the synopsis left me eager to read. But alas, I was let down. Struggled to get through it wan was wanting more.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. At the beginning I found it a bit of a struggle, didn't grip me. When I got to the middle it has improved, but I wouldn't say it was my favourite book.

Sadly this is my first DNF of the year, which is never something that I take lightly.
I normally finish a good book in a couple of days/a week maximum and given the current circumstances of being at home all day self isolating, I have been getting through books quicker than ever.
But that was certainly not the case with this book.
When I did pick it up, it felt like a real slog to read and after three weeks, I was only around 30% of the way through and that's when I decided to abandon reading any more.
What I did read was confusing, when it shouldn't have been and in no way thrilling. I found myself starting other books rather than picking this one up again.
My first ever 1 star review but I couldn't give it any more than that unfortunately.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Started this but found it so similar to everything I’ve read thriller wise before. I couldn’t get into it.

Having already read one of Clares books before, I was really looking forward to getting my eyes stuck into this one. It was a bit of a slow burner for me. But in having said that i still really enjoyed. it.

A perfectly nuanced "psychological thriller".
'My Perfect Wife' by Clare Boyd is so good! A perfectly nuanced "psychological thriller", it defines the meaning of the genre, with no crime to speak of. The only crime, finally revealed, had occurred many years back.

At her parents' request, Heather returns to Connolly Close, her family home, to work temporarily in place of her mother while the latter cares for her dying sister in another town. Heather's job is to help her father maintain the neighbouring Huxleys' spacious garden and property, Copper Lodge. Heather faces some trepidation as she will be employed for the first time in her life by her first love, Lucas Huxley.

Set in rural England, thirty-year-old Heather Shaw is one of two main protagonists in this novel, while forty-year-old Elizabeth Huxley is the other. Heather's point of view is told in the first person, while Elizabeth's POV is told in the third person. This style allow the reader to engage closely with Heather's emotions, wants and needs. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's third-person point of view portrays her character as more remote, possibly mentally ill.

'My Perfect Wife' is distinctive in the genre as it constantly gives us divergent, often-conflicting viewpoints of the main characters, their actions and their goals. Clare Boyd has done a tremendous job of giving the reader the two women's opposing perspectives of not only Lucas' and Elizabeth's personas, but also of the Huxleys' lives. Throughout the novel, the reader sees Lucas through Heather's and Elizabeth's eyes, having to sift through the conflicting messages and uncertainty to try to glean Lucas' true personality; while also trying to learn Elizabeth's true nature. Which is right, which is false, is hard to ascertain. The reader is made to swerve in our opinions of the Huxleys: whether they are acting from a good place, or out to fleece someone. A certain fact at one point is turned on its head at another.

Is the Huxleys marriage very happy or unhappy? It's one superlative or another, there's no middle ground about the Huxleys. Is Lucas a successful businessman or in constant debt, trying to salvage his sinking company? Was Heather's love for Lucas ever returned, or just a teenager's fantasy? Is Lucas now trying to use Heather for some nefarious purpose; and if so, what? Can the Huxleys' marriage survive Lucas' attempt to create the ultimate business partnership, to seal the deal of a lifetime for his investment business? Does Heather's return threaten to sink the Huxleys' marriage?

Everyone is painted in shades of grey, not least of all Mr. and Mrs. Huxley, Heather and even her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Shaw. Both Heather and Elizabeth have sympathetic, caring aspects to them, their unique strengths and skillsets, while dealing with each their own emotional issues. Beguilingly, the two protagonists' goals throughout the book are at odds with each other's; if one wins, the other loses, and vice versa. Or are their aims really at loggerheads?

The author ratchets up the tension by creating dependent relationships, all the while that characters' aims are at odds with each other's. Some crimes of behaviour, if not actual crimes, were left unattended, e.g. towards the Polish help, Agata and Piotr, and towards Heather by her awful father.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book's twisting plot and the complex personalities of all the protagonists. The author has contrasted Heather's and Elizabeth's characters, lifestyles and aims in an intriguing way. As seen by Heather, Elizabeth Huxley has the ultimate lifestyle, married to rich, handsome, caring Lucas, living in a house featured in a glossy house magazine, having two beautiful children and round-the-clock employees to cater for her every need. Meanwhile, Heather can only dream of what she let go when she left Connolly Close to pursue a qualification and career. She wonders if she hadn't, she might have become Mrs. Huxley, living in luxury, and still in love with Lucas. Or is all "smoke and mirrors"? The hot weather adds to making for the characters' discomfiture, laying onto the atmosphere.

The ensuing social, sexual power struggles are age-old: money/ class expectations versus independence, youthful good looks versus wealth and financial freedoms. The author doesn't give easy answers, making for a fast-paced, page-turning read. When, Elizabeth decides to reach out to Heather to work together for their mutual benefit, it was a touching turning point.

'My Perfect Wife' covers some sensitive subjects, like parental mind games and physical abuse that doesn't quite encroach criminality, illegal immigration and slave labour in the UK, mental illness, grooming of teenage girls for sex, gambling, even rape.

'My Perfect Wife' is a highly-recommended, fast-paced read, if you're not after a chase or murder story or captive thriller, but an engaging reading full of different personalities. There are intriguing games of mental hide-and-seek played out between Elizabeth and Lucas Huxley that build up suspense. There are many twists and turns, the tension building throughout. The author's intent is to constantly change the reader's sympathies as the book reveals its secrets. It took the last ten percent for the conclusion to be laid bare, with a shocking outcome.

Thanks to #MyPerfectWife, #NetGalley, #bookouture, and Clare Boyd for my Advanced Readers Copy of 'My Perfect Wife' in exchange for an honest review.

This review also appears in Amazon.com, goodreads.com and readersvault.blogspot.com

I finally finished after having to force myself. I had such high expectations having read Little Liar by this author, however, I was very disappointed. I kept expecting to get to the bit where the story would take off but it never happened. I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately for me, it didn't do it.

A very good written thriller.
Plenty of twists & turns
Who do you believe
This story will have you gripped
Thanks NetGalley

I loved My Perfect Wife, it was a great read that kept me guessing to the end. A great page turner that I read in one sitting as I struggled to put it down.

"i loathed this power tussle between me and my father: his ruthlessness, his sporadic violence, that old-fashioned side of him that believed in a short, sharp shock of pain to knock some sense into me, to keep me in line."

i would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an arc, and i would also like to thank our sponsor for this read, covid-19, for providing the necessary conditions for me to read this book. after all, only a quarantine would give me no possible excuse not to finish this, but, boy, is this a slow read. and, when it comes to books, what's worse than a slow thriller? not much.

so, it's been a couple days since i've finished this book and while i don't think i've landed on how i feel about it exactly, the emotion that comes quickest to mind, when i think about this book, is disappointment.

don't get me wrong: it's still a thriller in the way that it constant flips around on itself, leaving you unsure about what to believe and full of twists. in that regard, my sincerest congratulations to boyd because i was left guessing until the very end. i also really appreciated the idea that i was not provided one single villain to blame. boyd goes against all usual thriller rules by presenting a set of circumstances that remind us that everyone can do bad things and, cumulative, that can add up to a very unfortunate result.

however, and as well as this was executed, it is still no excuse for how unbelievably slow this book was.

overall, i just can't get over the fact that i was having to make myself pick this up and read it. and that's just not how i want to feel about reading any book.

Dark and incredibly twisted. It’s not often I receive chills in a book, but I did hereDefinitely a great book that was glued to my hands!

I felt that the start of the book was quite slow to get going, and found I was having to concentrate and force myself to keep reading.....but I am glad I did! Once it got going it was great, a real psychological thriller where I didn't know who to believe at any point. Good book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this Arc.
I always enjoy Clare Boyd's books. But I'm afraid this one left me cold! I think it was the fact that the first part of the book was so slow to take off. I just found myself putting it down and had to try too hard to concentrate. But it won't stop me reading others by Clare.