The stunning cover caught my eye first, and then the synopsis intrigued me. What we got was a fairly entertaining thriller with many secrets, twists and turns. 

Ultimately though I was a little disappointed. There was a lot going on plot wise, which I think led to a lot of inconsistencies (to the point that some things were left unresolved) and unrealistic and contrived plot points.  

Jess (the protagonist's daughter) was a great character but unfortunately didn't have enough page time for me.

This is a very readable suspense novel.

Matt goes missing leaving his soon to be bride Amy wondering what has gone on and who is the other woman who has also reported him missing.

While you think the story will go along one path, there's an added layer to it and it gets interesting.

Two weeks before Amy and Matt’s wedding, Matt phones to tell Amy that he will be late coming home as he has to wine and dine a client but when he gets home, he needs to talk to her about something.  But Matt doesn’t come home, not that night or the next, leaving Amy no choice but to report him missing.

At the same time, a woman named Fiona also reports Matt missing, informing police that he was going to leave Amy for her and it is revealed that Matt was living a double life. 

The story slowly unfurls in the voice of Amy, Fiona, Jess (Amy’s daughter) and an unnamed voice from the past. 

Amy’s past and present lead us through the story, with glimpses of her past relationships and friendships
Somehow as Amy fell quickly head over heels for Matt, she failed to notice that her daughter was less so, she failed to register how quickly all of her time was consumed in her relationship with matt and that her rose-colored glasses kept her from seeing things that were right in front of her face.

I loved the cover art; it was what first attracted me to the book.

The main character, Amy, was hard to like.  The overall plot was slow and at times, repetitive and the portions involving the police were less than believable.

I don't normally read thrillers but thought I would give this one a go for a change of genre. It certainly kept my interest and the pages turning as there is a lot of suspense.

What a great story, it had me hooked right from the first few pages. Fantastic ending, could not have predicted that.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance review copy of The Vow

Amy, a herbalist living near Brighton is two weeks away from her wedding day when she gets stopped by a stranger on the street. She tells her that her life is in danger. Thinking the woman is simply a mad old lady, she ignores the message and goes home to finalise her seating plan with her fiancé, something they've been looking forward to for weeks. 

She then receives a call from her finance Matt saying that he's having to work late. This isn't abnormal as his job often involves entertaining clients, but when he signs off the call with the phrase 'take care', her instincts start to feel that something isn't quite right.

That night, Matt never returns home and concerned, Amy reports him missing to the police. Things then take a sudden turn when another lady reports her lover missing - a lover with the same name and same description. When the reality dawns on her that the man she was due to marry has been living a double life, she is determined to find out what has happened to Matt so she can understand the truth once and for all.

This book held a lot of promise for me. I loved the concept, the storyline and this felt like quite a unique thriller, nothing like others I have read before. The book is told between the viewpoints of Amy (fiancé) and Fiona (lover) as well as Amy's daughter Jess and the different dialogue helps build up a tension and back story.

However, there is a lot of repetition in this book - with the same information being repeated multiple times as Amy speaks with someone else, and as a result I found myself skimming a bit. Some bits just aren't believable either and I found the ending a little lacklustre, with some parts that I felt would be more crucial to the plot being simply glossed over or dismissed.

Sadly it didn't blow me away as a result, but a good read none the less.

This one definitely kept me guessing until the very end! Such a great read!! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Imagine planning for your wedding and two weeks before it happens your fiance disappears without trace. Imagine someone you have never met stops you in the street to.say you are in danger.. Imagine everything is being twisted to point the finger at you. A psychological thriller with a twist in the end that nearly hits the mark but for me the storyline was drawn out a little too much which resulted in a loss of impact at the end where everything became rushed. A good story though and well worth a read.

Couldn’t put this down from the minute I started it it was that good.
Excellent plot and story line which certainly held my attention the whole way through and I tried to turn detective whilst reading.
Absolutely brilliant book I highly recommend.

The book synopsis really drew me in and the book lived up to my expectations. Kept me guessing throughout and I highly enjoyed unraveling the mystery. Cant wait to read more by this author!

Absolutely ripped through this well-plotted and intriguing novel! The pages turned themselves and I am so grateful to Avon and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this. Will be looking forward to reading more by this author and have recommended highly to friends.

This is a very fast paced psychological thriller and once you start it's almost impossible to stop listening!  I didn't know what or who to believe and it tied me up in knots as it has so many twists and turns, with a great ending.

The narration by  Sarah Durham, Julia Bird, Julie Maisey and Joseph Balderrama was great, and the cover of this book is gorgeous!

This book kept me guessing from the start. The twists and turns came thick and fast and there were several ways the book could have gone. I enjoyed the book because it was a break from the usual formulaic psychological thriller. Recommended.

This was a very quick read, mainly due to fact I struggled to put it down! Amy, a herbalist who lives near Brighton, is looking forward to her dream wedding. She never imagined she’d be lucky enough to get a second chance at love, but here she is living with the man she loves. Her daughter Jess has just gone to university so it’s just the two of them. Upstairs hangs the pink dress she chose alongside a soft grey one for her daughter. One morning as she delivers an order, Amy is stopped by an old lady in the street who tells her to be careful because her fiancé isn't what he seems. Slightly shaken Jess rakes a call from Matt, he seems distracted and tells her he’ll be late home because he’s out with a client. He says ‘take care, babe’ - something he never says. Jess is unsettled, but tries on carry as normal, but when Matt doesn’t return that night she goes to bed fully expecting Matt to be next to her as she wakes. However, his side of the bed is empty. This is just the start of a nightmare scenario for Amy and her daughter Jess - where is Matt, who is he and do the secrets of the past always come back to haunt us? 

This is an engaging thriller from Debbie Howells. I love the way she builds the kind, gentle character of Amy, to the point where we believe in her, When the narrator  changes we have to re-evaluate everything we know. Is Amy telling us the truth or is she deluded and dangerous? I really wasn’t sure till the very end. I think her job as a herbalist also helps to make her trustworthy because when someone is a healer we imagine them as empathic, kind and gentle not capable of murder. The other woman has a credible role too, she works as a solicitor so the police might lean towards believing her version of events. I loved the opposing chapters, especially when we start to encounter the third, unnamed narrator. We have no idea which woman is speaking about the events of 1996, or could it be a third party. Howells drops enough red herrings to distract us - the WPC’s strangely selective answering machine, Amy’s friend who claims to have been propositioned by Matt at a partner or even one of the other women that have become Matt’s victims over the years. The subject of coercive control has been utilised a lot in fiction of late and here it is only part of the story, but explained well nevertheless, The discussion of gaslighting was accurate and explains why we have a fairytale narrative about Matt from Amy whereas her daughter and her friends have seen a slightly different picture. The scene where he has convinced the normally vegan Amy to eat meat was particularly chilling. The ending, when it came, was slightly too sudden as often happens with kindle books because if you don’t keep the word count displayed you don’t have any idea where you are in the book. On the whole a very enjoyable and readable thriller that can easily be devoured in a weekend.

Incredibly complex and twisted. 

After a strange phone call, Amy’s fiancé is not seen again. After reporting it to the police, a few days later another woman reports her boyfriend as missing. Her boyfriend, is the same man as Amy’s fiancé. How’s is this possible? How deep do Matt’s lies run?

As I said, complex and twisted. Just as you think you have it figured out there’s another layer to the story that comes to light. Unreliable narrators, you’re unsure of who is telling the truth through the entire story. Started slow but ended strong for me.

I first was drawn to this book from the cover. I love it and think it is very eye catching. This is a great psychological thriller and if you pick this one up, I promise you won't be able to put it down! I don't want to give too much away but lets just say this is a book you want to check out. It is like Lifetime movie!

I was not a fan of this book, I'm afraid to say. The writing itself was jarring and repetitive in sentence structure: every other sentence went like this: "Looking out over my garden, I reached into my pocket." Next sentence: "Opening my phone, I clicked onto my Netgalley." Turning off my Kindle, I rolled my eyes. Persevering anyway, I stuck around to see what happened. Getting to the end, I found the resolution to be contrived and am typing this review, 

I don't want to give away any spoilers but (spoilers) THREE characters who changed their name to mask their real identity?! This is convenient for the author to trick the reader, nothing else. 

It was also repetitive: once information was imparted to the reader, every single character had to repeat that information in their dialogue at least twice. I read the same information in almost the same words at least eight times. What happened to summarised dialogue?

All in all, this was an easy read but not one I would recommend.

Matt and Amy are soon to be married and have decided to write their own vows.  Amy was divorced long ago and is the mother to Jess who is in her second year at university.  Amy is an herbalist growing many of her own herbs, and preparing concoctions for her clients.

Amy is disappointed when Matt calls to say that he won’t be home until later as his boss has asked him to take an American client to dinner.  As it gets later in the evening and Matt doesn’t come home, Amy gets nervous when he won’t respond to her texts.  The next day she calls the police who start to check into his disappearance.  But some things that Matt told her are turning up to be untrue.  When a lovely floral arrangement is left on her front porch and she realizes that the stems have been wrapped in a bag of blood, she is hysterical and calls the police again.

This book delves into Amy’s past plus that of another character.  It shows how easily some women can be led by men.  Grrr!  Grow up, ladies and don’t let yourselves be pushed around.  The author keeps the reader guessing almost all the way through the book which makes one wonder what and whom to believe.  This is certainly an unusual and compelling plot, and I applaud the author for her creativity.  The only complaint I have is that I feel there was too much repetition of conversations which is not necessary as the reader has already read them.  Perhaps next time those repetitions can be deleted.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The book was really interesting and was definitely a page-tuner. My first read from the author and definitely won't be the last!

The story is told from three perspectives - Amy, Jess and Fionna - all with different personalities. I immediately warmed up and liked Amy's character. Although she came across as very naive but she was a likable and a very kind character, who would do anything to save her life and spare herself a bit of happiness after everything that she had gone through. 

The only minor point that I didn't like was that Jess had a lot of involvement with investigating Matt's disappearance, which made me question the police, their skills and their competence. I understand that Jess was doing absolutely anything in her power to make her mother happy, but surely what she was doing was supposed to be a task for the police?

I was stuck to the book and couldn't let it go until I finished it. I highly recommend it! I am looking forward to reading more books from the author.

An intelligent and absorbing psychological mystery thriller that keeps you guessing till the very end.

We meet Amy and Matt who are about to get married in a couple of weeks. Suddenly Amy runs into a complete stranger who tells her that her life is in danger, and suddenly her Matt goes missing and the wedding is off.

Then we meet Fiona who claims that she was Matt's secret lover, and she had photos of them together as evidence.

What follows is an intriguing quest full of surprises to know what really happened to Matt, enjoy! 

Thanks #Netgalley, #Avon, and author #Debbie Howells for a chance to review this book, highly recommended.