I honestly don't understand how this book has been marked down in so many reviews!
From the start I absolutely loved this book, and was picking it up to read at every available opportunity.
I found it fast paced, and I was so intrigued to find out what happened in the past etc as it was obvious it was connected to the present.
Would definitely recommend this to anyone :)

I’m sorry, I tried. Really tried. But 35% into the book I couldn’t take anymore. I had to give up. The characters were so 2 dimensional I couldn’t get to know them. Also, mentioning the investigating officer as “WPC Page” really wound me up as women police officers are no longer called this; surely someone should have checked this out?

The writing was not edgy and I have to admit, I did skip to the end to see what had happened. Saved myself at least a week’s worth of dull reading!

Amy is due to get married in two weeks time to Matt, she has been preparing for the wedding for months. She is stopped by a stranger when she is out and is warned of danger to come, this shakes her up but passes it off as nothing.

Things then start to unravel, Matt goes missing after work. He was due to have dinner with a client however he never comes home. Amy is unable to contact him and reports him as missing.

Much to Amy’s horror it appears that the man she loved had a mistress who has also reporting him missing. This thriller had me reading through as quickly as possible, what had happened to Matt. There were a lot of hidden secrets from both Amy and Matt’s passed and things coming back to haunt Amy.

A suspenseful mystery story about trust, guilt, and revenge

Amy thought her life with her wonderful fiancé Matt was perfect, but two weeks before their dream wedding, Matt doesn’t come home from work one night. A panicked Amy gets the police involved, and they start investigating his sudden unexplained disappearance. To Amy’s horror, they soon discover another Matt who fits her groom-to-be’s description has been reported missing, this time by his girlfriend, Fiona. It only gets worse, when Fiona starts to say that Matt was planning to leave his fiancée for her and suggests that perhaps Amy found this out and flew into a jealous rage. Amy initially refuses to believe that her beloved fiancé was leading a double life. Still, as the police start digging deeper, more secrets start to emerge, and Amy may find herself under the scrutiny of the law, whilst at the same time discovering that she may not have really known the man she loved after all.

This was an enjoyable mystery with lots of twists and cliff-hangers that keep you turning the pages to find out what will happen next. The author does an excellent job of building up suspense from the very first chapter. As she gradually reveals more about Amy’s past through flashbacks, and her life with Matt through the viewpoint of Amy’s daughter Jess and other characters, the reader starts to get the sense that all was not as it seemed in Amy’s supposedly perfect life. I found the themes of this book interesting, and the characters’ behaviours and actions all made sense as more about their pasts were revealed.

Unfortunately, despite a strong start, the second half of the story was a bit weaker, with the big twist at the end lacking a punch. Some elements of the book were also quite unrealistic – for example, Jess (a 20-year old university student) discovering lots about Matt’s life and background before the police who are meant to be investigating him! Additionally, I wasn’t a massive fan of Amy as a character, despite feeling quite sorry for her after the way she was treated.

In conclusion, this was a fun and readable mystery story with plenty of suspense and build-up but lacking a good ending to make all the preamble worth it. I would still, however, consider reading more by this author, as I enjoyed the tone and pace of her writing, and the story was easy and enjoyable to read.

Daenerys

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of this book to review.

I was really intrigued by this book, but I found the writing style to be somewhat disjointed and that kept me from enjoying it fully. It was quite suspenseful, though, and I kept reading mainly because I wanted to know what the ending would be rather then out of any attachment to the characters.

This book was a page turner that I did not want to put down! It will have you thinking if you really want to walk down the sole and say your vows!

The Vow was a book that caught my eye, interesting synopsis and fab cover and didn’t disappoint.
Amy and Matt live in Amy’s house, they are two weeks away from getting married. Lots to do with so little time but one evening Matt had a business meeting and didn’t return. Amy rings the police after 24 hours and an investigation starts. Someone else has reported their boyfriend missing at the same time but she is called Fiona and he is called Matt, are they the same person and has Matt been leading a double life?
The book is split into chapters from Amy, jess’s (Amy’s daughter who is at university) and Fiona’s perspectives. The book works well in doing this as you start to realise through Jess’s chapters that maybe things weren’t as rosy for the couple to be as Amy makes out and that maybe both parties are keeping secrets.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This was entertaining, lots of twists and and pretty much unbeliavable at times, reminded me of this other book Gone without a trace and It was heartbreaking the ending was like to Rush to explain everything at the last two pages and women forgiving men too easily kind of frustraiting for that. But the writing was thrilling

This book is a solid 4 stars until the ending. It kept my attention and unfolded in a way which presented lots of plausible explanations. I liked the characters, Amy is naive but interesting. The book lost its sparkle towards the end. And it is not because I hated the ending but the writing felt rushed and not as interesting.

I'd still recommend this book. The good outweighs the bad.

I read this book in two days, I really enjoyed the pace of the book and the twists. I was guessing all the way to the end about who was setting Amy up or if there was another explanation.

However, parts of the story were repeatetive, every set of text from 1996 said the same thing in slightly different words and I didn't feel it added anything to the story. There are elements that if true, would be scary. The police are treating the whole thing as a potential murder trial but haven't considered looking into Matt fully enough to know that he had changed his name. Although they still wouldn't have had the full story from that information, it would make the investigation easier. I also didn't like that WPC Page changed from friendly and helpful to sharp and unhelpful. I don't think this is a true representation of how police officers act.

Overall the story was good and following the common theme at the moment of one's past catching up with them. The twists were good and written in a way that I wanted to get to the end.

Your planning your wedding day to the man of your dreams but two weeks before your wedding he disappears.
Amy gets in touch with the police.
Then another man is reported missing and that man is Matt and Matt is Amy's fiance.
Matt has been leading a double life .
On the morning of Matt's disappearance Amy is stopped by a woman who tells her Matt is not who he seems and she is in danger.
This book goes back to the past which has quite an effect on what's happening in this book.
Brilliant book
Thanks NetGalley.

While I appreciated that the 'reveal' made sense in this book, the whole trip to get there really was too convoluted for me, and the pace was slow and not what I'd expect from a thriller that is supposed to grip me by the throat and keep it that way throughout. The veering POVs throughout made for some confusion, as well, and there were just so many people in there that I got lost sometimes wondering who was who and why they were in the story. I did read to find out the 'why', but it did not keep my attention enough

This is an absolute belter of a book. Tension filled and I probably held my breath for the last quarter as I wanted to find out what happened. One of my ultimate favourites this year.

So many twists and almost-endings but it certainly kept the tension throughout. There were some bits that felt a bit disjointed or unrealistic but the ending was a great conclusion.

Good read, flew through the pages and kept me guessing, kept thinking I’d figured it out and then there would be another plot twist - would recommend!

I don't read many romantic thrillers or thrillers in general but this one had my attention because of the plot. While I want to say it met my expectations but it didn't fully.

The plot starts as a bride is making plans to marry. Writing vows. Strange events occur and the groom disappears. The event after take us back to the heroines teen years in which we see deceptions, betrayals, obsessions and revenge. What is interesting is that it's told f I'm dual POV alternating between Amy and her daughter. Time lines change and might be a little confusing at times.

I think the best parts are from Jess since we get a sense of the character of Matt. But Amy was a tricking situation since she contradicts herself quite a bit. Her being a herbalist was definitely something unique I haven't read before. The flaws about the book in my opinion make the parts of the book that are interesting and twisted unravel a bit. The plot is then a little unrealistic and is repeated a few times with a little variation.

All in all it is a interesting read but the last half made me laugh in thinking that there's no way that this could happen in real life.

I want to thank Netgalley and Avon Books for the ARC.

This novel started with such promise and the synopsis read well; Amy is just two weeks away from her wedding with Matt when he suddenly goes missing. She is very much in love with him and is distraught when she reports his disappearance to the police. Around the same time another lady reports her lover as having vanished. It appears he went missing on the night he went to tell his fiancée he no longer wanted to be with her.

So where is Matt? Is he dead? Or has he simply left them both? Sounds intriguing right? With the story told from different points of view it really did feel it had the potential to be a great thriller with plenty of twists. Somewhere along the line, however, that potential got lost for me. I struggle to enjoy a book if I do not feel myself pulling for the main character and as the story progressed, I found Amy less and less likeable and increasingly irritating.

I also found the police procedural side to be far too much of a stretch to be believable at all. It felt contrived and just, well… off. This is all a shame as I do feel there were the bare bones of a good thriller here, but ultimately, it failed to deliver what it seemed to promise me early on. I struggle to write negative reviews as this book is still someone’s baby and it must be said that there are some very positive reviews for it out there and it kept me engaged enough that I had to read to the end to find how everything unfolded. It just was not really for me.

My thanks to #NetGalley, #AvonBooks and the author for a copy of #TheVow in exchange for an honest review

Amy is marrying her fiance, Matt in a matter of weeks but then he disappears. She reports him as a missing person as does someone else - a woman named Fiona - who claims that Matt was about to leave his fiancee and move in with her. So what has happened to Matt?

The Vow is told from the perspectives of Amy, Fiona, Amy's daughter Jess and includes diary entries from A. N. Other. Debbie Howells' brilliant writing drew me in from the first chapter, holding me captive until the end. The interesting, multi-layered plot was speedily paced and I was never bored. All of the characters were believable and entirely plausible. I was unsure who to trust throughout and I enjoyed the explosive conclusion. A very highly recommended, worthwhile read. 😁

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Avon Books via NetGalley and this is my own unbiased opinion.

this book was ok. the writing was somewhat twee for me, a little hammy and i guessed the ending long before it was revealed. the scenes with the police were the most intriguing for me, where as I didn't find the family and interpersonal stuff gripping. Characters were a little sparsely drawn for me, However it was worth the read. thanks for the opportunity to read this.

I enjoyed this book and I particularly liked how the story is told from three different perspectives, as that’s what usually sucks me into a book. I love hearing the thoughts and feelings of the different characters in order to decide where my support/sympathies lie.

I also appreciated the structural device of bringing in an unknown perspective from 1996, as it created mystery and intrigue.

The themes of the story are obsession, loss, secrets and lies and they really brought my the story to life. I couldn’t help but dislike Matt and his abhorrent behaviour and the author had me rooting for Amy and everything to be put right. .

It’s an enthralling read that will keep you up all night.