Solid 4 stars. Although I really enjoyed this book, I felt it was a little slow for at least the first half of the book.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and and review this book.

I give major kudos to an author who can write a mystery that throws me off. This book did that, several times. All the way to the last page.

OMGee!!!!! The twists and turns in the book were unbelievable!! I could not put this book down. I have read a lot of thrillers, but this one has beat them all. It pulls you in from page 1!! A must read. 5 million ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In The Bride, Alice’s luck has run out. She’s just lost her job, and her fiancé admits to sleeping with another woman. Fed up, Alice welcomes the summons from her friend, Joanna, to come to her house and meet her new fiancé. Joanna and Alice haven’t seen each other in ten years, and she’s concerned that Joanna and Mark have only known eachother for a month. When Alice gets to their apartment in a new development on a deserted wharf, Joanna isn’t there. When Alice gets Mark to finally talk about Joanna, he caves and admits she’s been missing for two days.

This book fell flat for me. I got through 30% of the book before the first big twist, and it felt like I had to trudge through a lot of exposition to get there. The chapters felt a bit long to me, and each chapter ending tried to salvage the story by introducing a mini twist. The ending seemed a bit too predictable to me, and I didn’t really understand the motivations of each character. There were some minor characters that got introduced for no reason other than to contribute a minor detail to the plot and then fade back into the background.

I was a little disappointed, but I still think suspense fans should give this a try. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for lending me a copy!

A quick and light read that (for me) lacked realism and pace. What started out as an interesting proposition quickly petered out half way through.

It definitely felt like there were two halves of the book. Neither of which we’re truly explored. The first half follow Alice, a self pitying mess of a woman who seems to flit from one misery to the next without backbone or any basic desire in her life. The choices she makes and the ways in which she is so easily ‘played’ are just a bit too annoying for me to find any real connection with her. The second half is more focused on Joanna but sadly by the time I got to this part I was already loosing interest.

The twists were a bit too obvious, I couldn’t really engage with any of the characters and all of the obvious red herrings you could think of were used as a platform for the upcoming twists.

It’s always a shame to finish a book that didn’t really do ‘it’ for me. Especially when I feel like I was sucked into the marketing of its twisty plot.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to download a copy of this book. As always my thoughts and reviews are my own and they will not always be the same as everyone else’s.

Let's go ahead and put this out there, The Bride is like Gone Girl, but without the husband focus. Don't get me wrong, he's in the story, but we don't get his point of view, so it's Gone Girl but with only the wife and her childhood best friend.

Here's what went wrong for me.

The story was slow. Really Really slow in developing. When action parts would happen, they would be anti-climatic and not have a huge impact on the story in the end. Which was really disappointing, because it felt like this friendship relationship could have been explored even more deeply, but with some different events compelling the story.

This was just a slow build to the culmination, which is the last 25% of the book. At this point, things really get going and it's actually really well written. The plot moves, the action is jam packed, and the psychological thriller aspect seemed to really take charge. The characters behave in certain ways based on their inherent psychology that is bizarre but weirdly understandable, forcing the reader to question who is really the messed up person in each scenario.

Obviously, in the end, there is clearly a winner for the truly damaged person in the story, but again, the ending wasn't for me. I know some people will love it. I loved the ending of Gone Girl because I though it was poetic justice. These two horrible people deserve each other and I didn't want anyone to end up happy. I just didn't get that same satisfaction from the end of The Bride; however, I know that a . lot of people will like the twisted, cliffhanger ending. It is fun to sit and imagine what could have been and what will happen with these characters now.

All in all, I enjoyed the book, but really loved the writing. With more events and maybe a slightly different story and different characters, I can easily see Wendy Clarke knocking one out of the park for me. In fact, I plan to read her next book just to see what she does.

Thanks Netgalley for my review copy.

My thanks to NetGalley for gifting me with this ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Alice is old school friends with Joanna but hasn’t seen her for 10 years. Alice receives a text from a Joanna saying she’s getting married to someone she’s only known for a month. This happens just as Alice’s life is falling apart so they arrange for Alice to visit Joanna to meet her fiancé Mark.

I have mixed feelings about this book.
I loved the front cover and the synopsis, both drew me in and I really wanted to get in to it and enjoy the story but I struggled.
It took me ages to get in to it properly and when I did I found myself wanting to give Alice, the main character a slap for being so stupid. I understand Alice is vulnerable but some of the decisions she makes made me want to scream as they made no sense.
For me this book wasn’t a psychological thriller with twists and turns until the epilogue which is the reason for my 3 star review.

Man. I have thought more about this review than any positive review ever.
If it weren’t for receiving an ARC on Netgalley I wouldn’t be reviewing the book, I’d just leave it with no rating and no review.

Let’s get into it.

The strength of the book is its subject matter (it has nothing to do with being a wife) - a long term friendship with unhealthy power dynamics.

The writing is painfully simple - the narrator tells us her feelings more than showing. And the “showing” doesn’t make logical sense (basic stuff, that I had to reread to be sure - characters do things they’re not close to or the amount of time that passed doesn’t make sense).

The characterization is...odd. It’s not that the main character is unlikeable, it’s that she doesn’t have any personality except obsessing over others or being compliant with what people want.

A lot of the sense of foreboding is created through a character’s continued bad decisions - she is both afraid and continually puts herself at risk (for no logical reason).

One of the big twists of the book is badly executed. Instead of misdirection or a lying character, the book itself lies. It gives you a look into someone’s thoughts (1st person inner monologue) and in the next chapter- “nope, that actually wasn’t true. They’re thinking this.” To be sure, I went back and checked - every big reveal is this same switch “my thoughts were clear that X, but ACTUALLY Y!”
That’s not a twist, that’s just bad suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wendy Clarke, and Bookouture for an advanced copy of “The Bride”. I found this book to be a little slow at the start but became quick paced at about 15% in. While it was a quick read for me, I found parts to be a little too far fetched. It seemed like every character in the story was unhealthily obsessed with Joanna. I also thought the chapters told through the other perspective were misleading at first but not in the “oh I should have seen it coming” way. When I went back to reread it, I only became more confused.

I found most of the book intriguing, but the twist and the ending were not my favorite.
If you were a fan of Gone Girl, this would be a good pick for you.

***Review was posted to Goodreads account.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchage for an honest review.

I am giving this book 3/5 stars for the epilogue only. Without it I would only give it 2/5.

I feel like this book was split. The first half of the book was very dull about an extremely whiny woman. She had zero backbone to her, I understand she is upset because her fiancee just revealed that he impregnated another woman. So, when she got a text message from her childhood best friend whom she hasn't seen in ten years, she was happy to have someone take her mind off of her troubles. Only her troubles are about to get much worse when she goes to visit her friend and it turns out she has been missing for days.

I love psychological thrillers, this one fell short for me. It was very bleh until the end where it was twists were coming out of everywhere! The epilogue though....loved that!

I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review. The Bride is the first novel I've read by Wendy Clarke. The book captured my interest from the beginning as it starts with Alice waking up in a hospital with her best friend Joanna by her side. Knowing this is how the story will ultimately end, the reader is immediately given a sense of foreboding.

Readers quickly learn that Alice and Joanna were best friends in school but that the two women have not seen each other in 10 years. Despite this fact, when Alice receives a text message from Joanna asking her to come to London to meet her soon to be husband, Alice sets off on the trip basically no questions asked. Of all the dubious decisions that Alice goes on to make, this one is perhaps the most understandable as Alice has suddenly found herself unemployed and single after her longtime partner has cheated on her.

Once Alice arrives at Joanna's luxury apartment in a converted tobacco warehouse on the docks of the Thames, she is met by Mark, Joanna's fiance'. Despite being told that Joanna will be away for a few days, Alice accepts Mark's invitation to stay in the apartment with him until Joanna's return. Alice slips into Joanna's life like a second skin, enjoying her home and all of the luxuries it entails. Eventually, Mark confesses that Joanna is missing and Alice becomes complicit as he lies to the police about Joanna's disappearance.

There are some definite twists and surprises throughout the book and eventually readers are able to see events from Joanna, the bride's point of view. This is where the book really picks up and the claustrophobic sense of dread increases. I read thrillers on a regular basis and I am usually able to suss out many of the big reveals in books early on. This book did have a few surprises and while some were outlandish I did appreciate the author's willingness to think outside the box.

I found the ending of this book to be chilling and I would have preferred that there be more of a glimmer of hope for Alice. All in all, this is a twisty thriller that is worth a read.

I'm actually torn about rating this book.

I'm a fan of Wendy Clarke, and the book had its moments, but my overall reaction was flat and confused.

Joanna and Alice were best friends, but lost touch for a decade when suddenly Joanna texts Alice inviting her to meet her future husband Mike. Having been through a rough patch in her life, Alice grabbed the opportunity as a good distraction, however, when she arrives Joanna is missing and she is alone with the fiance.

The narrative is mainly told from Alice's perspective, with some additions from Joanna.

However, this is a really slow burner where the action doesn't pick up any momentum until about 70% of the book.
Also, although the ending seems shocking, yet the build up left many unanswered questions, and some of the characters' decisions defied logic.

Thanks #Netgalley, #Bookouture, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is the first Clarke book I've read. I was interested from the very beginning. I loved the cover. It was simple and intriguing. The book had great flow and I felt invested in the characters. I felt for Alice right away. You knew there was a reason from her past that was causing problem in her current life. Alice was doomed in her relationship with Drew. She hadn't fixed her issues with Joanna and therefore that relationship or any other relationship would not work. When Alice made it to Mark and Joanna's apartment right away you can something is very wrong with the situation. At first Mark just tells Alice that Joanna is gone on course, but soon he confesses that she is MISSING. Alice is such mess that she follows along with Mark's ridiculous plan, she doesn't get her cell phone charged, and she keeps searching for answers in the New Tobacco Wharf. So many times I found myself annoyed that Alice wouldn't do the things I wanted her to do. It was a quick read and I was interested the whole time. I will definitely look for more of Clarke's books in the future.

*My thanks to NetGalley for gifting me with this ARC in exchange for a fair review.*

⭐⭐ Stars

The Bride is a twisty adult thriller about a woman named Alice who, when her life is turned to shambles, jumps at the chance to escape it by way of an invitation to visit from her best friend Joanna. She claims she is getting married and that Alice must meet him beforehand. When Alice arrives she finds that Joanna is missing, and feels compelled to stay and comfort Mark, Joanna's fiance. But nothing about the situation is quite what it seems and Alice finds herself wondering who she can trust and if she's in danger herself.

To the good: It is certainly a page-turner in its own right. I finished in just about six hours between two days simply because I wanted to know if my assumptions about the plot were correct and to see if and how Alice was going to grow from the meek creature we see at the beginning.

Unfortunately, this was just not for me. Alice was a hard character to follow, as she did not have a sense of agency and everything in the book happened TO her. She made no real decisions that mattered and that makes for a difficult character-reader bond to form. I was wrong about the twist, to a point, and while that usually thrills me the sheer amount of "twists" thrown in came across as terribly contrived and did not serve to satisfy in the end.

There were plot threads left hanging or others that were tied up in ways that made no logical sense to the narrative. Characters existed and died without having added anything to the plot but a convenient device that could have been replaced by anything else. It was rather frustrating, to be honest. The dialogue was unrealistic and carried not a shred of urgency, which was very odd considering the circumstances and my particular pet peeve of using names like punctuation was very prevalent here. It made it hard to focus on what was happening.

In the thriller genre the surprises and twists must matter, and a good amount of these ones did not. I think culling some of the less relevant plot threads and focusing on cultivating true suspense would do wonders for this novel. It had an interesting premise, it really just needed to be narrowed down.

I like a good suspenseful thriller but this one fell flat. The two main characters Alice & Joanna haven’t seen other for 10 years when Joanna asks Alice to come & stay with her & meet her fiancé Mark. When Alice shows up to visit, Joanna has disappeared & Alice is now stuck staying with Mark until Joanna returns. There are a few twists & turns towards the end that kept me going. Otherwise I might have not finished the book entirely. It was a bit hard to follow. Thanks to NetGalley & Bookouture for the ARC.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. From the moment Alice arrives at the new luxury flats to meet old friend Joanna who isn't there, something feels very wrong. Nobody at home to miss her, no job to get back to, no family or boyfriend to worry if she doesn't come home, a phone that no longer works, almost every flat in the block empty and just a deserted area outside. A feeling of unease crept over me as Joanna's new husband persuades her to stay, and that feeling never left. Lots of twists, lots of unanswered questions, and a shocking and scary ending that I did not see coming.

oh crap this book is freaky as hell. i liked it a lot but i didn't enjoy it as much as i enjoy other books. i loved this other book more than this one. people have a lot of feelings boaut this one.

Joanna was Alice's best friend, but they haven't seen each other for 10 years.
So when Joanna texts Alice, asking her to meet Mark, her husband to be, Alice, having lost her job and her fiance, jumps at the opportunity of a distraction and rekindling their friendship.
But when she arrives at Joanna's address, only Mark is there while Joanna is away on a course, seemingly having forgotten she invited Alice over.
It soon turns out though, that Joanna is in fact, missing.

The story follows Alice's first-person point of view and is later joined by Joanna's account of events.
I've not read anything by Wendy Clarke before, but found the blurb of this book interesting and was excited when my ARC was approved.
However, I'm really torn about the rating.
The story was good and really intriguing, but it was a slow-burner.
The action picked up at about 70% in, and it did have me racing through the rest of the book, but for the majority of it, despite being thrilling and creepy, I found it lacked suspense.
It's hard to explain without revealing spoilers, but Joanna's narration felt somewhat unreliable.
Even as I write this, I'm unsure about the rating. I feel like 3 stars is not enough, but equally the slow-burning plot doesn't warrant 4 stars which I reserve for books that have me on the edge of my seat throughout. For this reason, I decided to settle on 3 stars with a promise of reaching for other novels from this author.
It's definitely a book worth checking out.
Thank you @netgalley , the publishers and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! I hope I can give this 10 out of 5! This book was amazing.I did not want to put this down, high praise to Wendy Clarke for The Bride. This book has so many twists and turns it is great. Fantastic read. Recommended. Thank you net galley for allowing me to review it.