Loved this!! When Jess’s fiancée Matt disappears shortly before their wedding, we start to see the unraveling of their relationship! Told over various points of view - it really had all the bits I love about a thriller! Abuse, murder, gaslighting, stalking, a few twists thrown in for good measure and I was hooked!
There are so many amazing books of this genre around but this really did raise the bar! If I had to find a negative it would be that I finished it as I am left with a sad, empty feeling! Brilliant and I will most certainly recommend!

This book gripped me from the beginning. With so many gentle twists and turns it keeps the story building throughout and I especially enjoyed the way that the author referenced the same story from different points of view. Such an enjoyable and hard to put down read that I have already recommended to several friends.

This novel was pretty good I am enjoying these kind of marital issues dark novels more and more as opposed to the typical romance novel that I usually gravitate towards. I would recommend this to someone looking to get their feet wet in a more somber dark novel.

How painful is it to find out that the person you thought you would be spending the rest of your life with is living a double life? And went missing a few weeks before the wedding. I mean seriously, how awful is that. This story was told on multiple POV, and each of them is very interesting.
So many secrets and shocking revelations. A story about love, cheating, and deception. It is a good read.

This was a gripping thriller with some fantastic elements, especially regarding the mixed incentives. It’s been a while since I’ve read this one, so some of the details escape me. I do know I enjoyed the overall book and thought it was an interesting story.

What. Did. I. Just. Read? I loved this from cover to cover and had difficulty putting it aside to get actual adulting done this weekend.

A great read. Well written and flowed flawlessly. Domestic noir and deep dark secrets this book is really hard to put down xx

Two weeks before her wedding her fiancé disappears. What happens after this is not what you think. This book is quite a rollercoaster and from the beginning had me reading late into the night. This author throughout the book describes people and places so well and without overkill.
I can thoroughly recommend this book and enjoyed the easy flowing writing of the author

Two weeks before her wedding, Amy's fiance Matt disappears. Desperate and humiliated, she is forced to call off her wedding. Was she ghosted? And if so, why? Or is it something far more underhanded? Because, shortly after Amy reports Matt's disappearance, another woman named Fiona reports her boyfriend missing. He matches Matt's description, and Fiona claims he was going to leave his fiance for her. Could Matt really be living a double life?

This story is told from multiple perspectives: Amy, Fiona, Jess (Amy's daughter) and a narrator from 1996. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives as well as the past narrative. The first part of this story is so good! There's lots of twists and revelations that make you second guess the characters. However, the second half of the book really lost momentum. The plot became convoluted, unrealistic and repetitive. It was hard to get through and felt like it was tacked onto the original story by another writer.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found this one good at the beginning and middle and then the ending just sort of went limp. The chapters were nice and short and the characters were easy to understand. It gripped me in completely but I was a little disappointed in the ending. It was a type of book where I thought there would have been more twists and turns but was more predictable. Overall it was a good read but not exciting enough for me

A truly gripping work of fiction. Amy is about to marry her fiance Matt who disappears, Jess is Amy's daughter who dislikes Matt from observing him go from a perfect partner to a contolling bully. Then there is FIona, Matt's lover. The book is cleverly written from the points of view of the three women. Amy was two weeks away from marrying Matt when he vanishes without a trace. Fiona believing that Matt was leaving Amy to live with her belives Amy had something to do with his disappearance. As Matt's double life unravels and the past emerges the book draws you into a 'who is telling the truth' scenario.
This is a brilliant read, full of love, betrayal, loyalty and deceit. Be warned that once you open the book you will not be able to put it down. Highly recommended.

We meet Amy and Matt, they are a few weeks away from getting married when Matt disappears.

Amy is frantic and reports the disappearance to the police. Supported by her friend Cath and her daughter Jess she struggles through the loss of her partner. Mysterious things happen to Amy during this time and each time she is questioned by the Police we get an insight in the the relationship Matt and Amy had.

The police officer supporting Amy tells her that Matt was seeing somebody else at the time of his disappearance. The pieces of the puzzle drops into place.

Throughout the book we have snippets of another story and as the two move together more is revealed.

Enjoyable read, would recommend, thank you to Netgalley the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Before I go any further I'd like to raise my hand and say that my rating and review will definitely be in the minority. This is one of those books that everyone I know who has read it has LOVED it.... apart from me!

I just did not connect with this in any way at all which was a huge disappointment after hearing such rave reviews about it.

Now dont get me wrong, the start of the book started to pull me in pretty quickly, I do love a good strong start but (for me) it just didnt seem to pull me any further. It just felt like I was walking through treacle trying to get through it.

I'm definitely not knocking it at all, this is 100% me just not telling with it and I do like the authors writing style, just at this time - maybe in the wrong head space- it didnt work for me.

I did enjoy the plot and I didnt guess the "whodunnit's" whichnis rare for me so a thumbs up there.

Personally I wouldn't describe it as a thriller, more if a murder mystery type genre but once again that could be done to me as I read an awfu7lot of thrillers and this didnt feel like it sat comfortably in that category.

2.5*

Thanks to netgalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC

The Vow is a twisted psychological thriller with enough turns to keep you second guessing everyone until you reach the end.

As much as I love murder, horror, and all things dastardly, I'm very rarely kept up all night flipping pages in a book because I have to get to the end before I can sleep. But something about The Vow kept me up until I saw it through to its conclusion.

"[Try] to imagine the kind of sick bastard who sends flowers with their stems encased in a bag of blood."+

While this is a domestic psychological thriller, Howells manages to craft a story that keeps pushing forward. Even the pauses are pregnant with anticipation and when the story slows I wasn't left feeling like this would be a great place to stop and do the dishes. I still wanted to know what would happen next.

Amy (the main of three narrators throughout the book) is unreliable, but unlike Gone Girl's Amy or The Girl on the Train's Rachel, we're never sure what she's saying isn't true or that her judgment has really been impaired. And the complexity of her doubt, and our doubt of her, is another element that drives this book to the end.

Howells uses her background as a florist to fill the novel with the secret language of flowers, an added element that offered some Victorian-era villainy to the plot without playing too heavy-handedly into symbolism. A balance I found impressive here and lacking in similar genre books.

The eventual revelation of the villain and conclusion of the plot does require a bit of suspension of disbelief, but as with every good mystery, it doesn't matter if a story like this happens often only that it could happen once.

Similar books to read now: Sophie Hannah's The Other Woman's House

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This was a great read about a wedding that is about to happen and living a double life. You will get sucked in right from page one and enjoy it until the very last page.

The Vow is the first book I’ve read by Debbie Howells and I really enjoyed it. It has everything you could want: secrets and lies; a missing person and enough pace to keep you entertained throughout. I found this to be an easy entertaining read that I could immerse myself in. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and the author for the chance to review.

I have mixed feelings about his novel. It started really well with an unexplained disappearance and excellent development of a creepy, haunting atmosphere, but I struggled to understand the main protagonist’s motivations and the dénouement was predictable. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed Debbie Howells’ engaging writing style and seeing how the story, told through three different perspectives, slowly unravelled. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers Avon UK for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

On Goodreads 2 stars is equal to “It was OK” so I don’t feel too bad about rating the book 2 stars on there, because the book was exactly that – OK. I’ll admit this book dragged for me and I didn’t really enjoy it. Then this morning I finished it – yay, a little happy dance. Then I read the authors acknowledgements at the end and then felt bad. At the end of the day this is the authors baby. She’s put her heart and soul into writing this book so who am I to knock it.

I’m not knocking it as such. It just wasn’t what I was expecting and it wasn’t really my kind of book, plus I’ve read it to the backdrop of some pretty rubbish weather, grey skies and drizzle on a daily basis so maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this type of story at this particular time.

I wouldn’t say it was a thriller and for me personally I wouldn’t describe it as gripping either. It plodded, at an even pace. I would describe it more as a murder mystery, a who- dunnit, midsomer murder kind of a story with a bit of domestic noir threaded through for good measure. Hence, I found it all a bit depressing if I’m honest. It is also based around a criminal investigation, again just not my cup of tea. I don’t really like detective stories and the two detectives lacked any kind of personality.

The plot itself was quite an interesting one I thought. I’ve read a few reviews where it’s been said they guessed who did what etc. Well I didn’t. I never do in these kinds of books so that wasn’t a problem for me. In fact that’s what kept me going. There was no way I was reading so far and then giving up without finding out the why’s and the wherefore’s of who did what and why.

Once I got to the final chapters, and down to the nitty gritty of the great reveal I got quite engrossed and did enjoy the ending so all wasn’t completely lost. Just not really my thing overall. I've rated it 3 stars here and will also rate 3 stars on Amazon because really my disappointment is down to personal taste (and present mood) rather than there being anything greatly wrong with the book itself.

Review to be posted to blog nearer the time of publication.

The Vow written by Debbie Howells, is an engaging read. Amy is walking down a road when a stranger approaches her and warns her that her life is in danger. That night her fiancee Matt also fails to turns up at their house. With days passing on without Matt reappearing, the wedding is cancelled. In the very next turn of events, Amy is arrested when another woman reports Matt's missing.

Amy's daughter who has been suspicious of Matt begins to dig deeper in his past and make discoveries about her mother's past. Layers of truth begin to emerge as the book moves forward. The story is intriguing and the writing is fluid. A very imaginative story indeed.

I was really intrigued by the concept of this book but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations. I was keen to find out what had happened to Matt but I thought the execution was a bit clumsy and I found the conversations to be quite stilted at times between the characters. Also, one minute the police were being friendly with Amy, then they were suspicious of her, then they were chatting with her like they were friends... it was all a bit odd.

Amy's character has a lot of secrets, even from herself, and I enjoyed finding out her past as this unravelled alongside the main storyline. It was clever that you didn't really know who to believe between Amy and Fiona, the other woman.

Amy's daughter Jess was the best character in the book and her parts of the story kept me engaged. Although Jess' boyfriend Rik seemed a bit unnecessary to the story as she would ask him to look into something but then find it out herself.

I still think the author had a good idea for the story but the writing could have been improved. I really hate to write a negative review but unfortunately this book just didn't work for me.

I gave this 2 out of 5.