Gloria lives in northern Michigan on a decent but remote patch of land. 2 years ago her husband died of colon cancer and now she often feels lonely. She lost contact with her son Ethan after reacting badly on his revelation that he’s gay, something she now regrets. The zealot ladies of her church ostracised her for being the mother of a gay person. So now she’s stuck in a rut with only a pile of self-help books to keep her company. When a woman is found dead on a nearby beach, she feels a bit uncomfortable with living so far away. She puts up an advert for the apartment above her garage because money is tight. But when a younger woman asks to lease part of her field to park her trailer (sorry, tiny house), she accepts. When they find out that they’re both widows, they connect pretty well and become friends. Gloria starts thinking of Beth as the daughter she never had. The same week, she rents the apartment to Joe, a painter but Beth doesn’t seem very pleased with the new neighbour.
When Gloria seems him going into the woods at night with something that looks like a rifle, she starts to worry that he could be the killer. Personally, I don’t believe those lurk in the woods at night to search for victims. But who knows?
Beth tells that she’s a travel writer with an assignment to write a series of articles about the area. Gloria introduces her to Amanda, her former tenant as a source for information. Then, the young woman goes missing. But after a while, Gloria notices that some of the things that Beth tells aren’t true.

The story of the friendship between the 2 women is told by Gloria alone. After every chapter, there’s another one about what happened in the past, told by Beth. She starts out as a happily married woman who just finds out about being pregnant. She’s a successful journalist and her husband is a hotshot investment banker. But things go awry. It’s clear that she’s hiding certain things about her past from Gloria, but that’s not a crime, is it? Is she feigning her friendship? Is she a killer? All those things are possibilities that are merely hinted at and never said outright. Suspicion creeps upon you, the more you learn about her past. But all those things have to be considered in the right light and with the circumstances taken into the account. Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be and other times they are.
It’s a very slow book, only in the last quarter things pick up a bit and actions start to happen. The largest part is more a feel-good story that focuses on the different sorts of family- and friendship- relations and their dynamics. The whole segment about Beth’s mum, dad, and sister is drawn out too long for a psychological thriller. It’s not a bad book, but the blurb and the classification are a bit misleading. It was not what I expected. I kept on waiting for the misleading or creepy to happen and stir up the tension, but the suspense was on a rather low level. Now the last quart of the book was great, with an emotional ending. But I guess this book wasn’t exactly my thing.
I thank Bookouture and Netgalley for a free ARC; this is my honest unbiased review of it.

An atmospheric psychological thriller with two strong female leads. Gloria lives a lonely life since her husband died full of routine and monotony. Her life changes with two events that are seemingly unrelated. A dead body of young woman is found near her property. A travel writer, Beth, comes to stay in a trailer on her property. Gloria is temporarily eased to have company in close proximity. In addition, both women have are widows. But what does Gloria actually know about Beth other than what she told her? A taut mystery that explores loneliness and female companionship. I found myself gasping from breath as this book hurdled toward a terrifying conclusion. How well do we really know anyone?

Two Widows has many twists and turns to the plot. Gloria lives alone until a young woman pulls in with her tiny house. They form a friendship, but then Beth's actions become odd and suspicious. Readers learn about Beth' story and all the anguish she endured. The ending is satisfactory. This book kept my attention. I had to keep reading without breaks so I knew what happened.

Wow. I had absolutely no idea I would love this book as much as I have. I really haven't been able to put this one down. I have been gripped from the very first page and found that I have very quickly devoured this book in just one sitting. 
This book is completely unpredictable and I have been kept guessing from the very beginning of this one. I haven't been able to work out where the author would take this story. 
This is completely different to anything I have read previously and I have been completely gripped by the author's writing style. I have felt as though I have been right there with the characters and the scene has been portrayed clearly. 
I can honestly say that I am definitely a fan of this author after reading this book. I haven't been able to put it down. This is most definitely a five star read. 


Public review to follow on blog tour

Two widows who connect through their stories of having lost a loved one and trying to explore new parameters of life.

Gloria lives alone in an old farmhouse. Widowed and grieving her husband, mourning her broken relationship with her estranged son, lonely Gloria searches for answers in self-help books.

Beth, freelance travel writer arrives with her trailer to live on Gloria’s land. Gloria is relieved not to be alone and feels safe.

But then two young women are found murdered in decades. Gloria starts to wonder… what does she actually know about Beth?

I found this book very well written. The book is narrated in alternating chapters between Gloria and Beth. I liked the character development of both the Gloria and Beth, wherein their past and present was revealed so as to gradually lead up to the suspense part of the book.

It was a page-turner for me with all the twists and secrets. I had made so many guesses but all of them turned wrong.

My only disappointment after reading this book, was its ending. After such an amazing plot throughout the book, it just kind of felt flat for me.

But keeping that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Thank You to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!!

This was a super fast paced read. Told in alternating points of view, it's the story of Gloria, an older woman living alone on a huge farm, and Beth, a younger woman who rents land from her to park her tiny house. Both women are recently widowed and seem to have nothing in common, but become fast friends. Central to the story is a string of unsolved murders happening nearby.

I enjoyed the cadence of the alternating chapters- the ones from Beth's perspective were told in the past, and explained the chain of events leading up to the present, which was told in Gloria's chapters. I found both women to be endearing, albeit a little naive, and their friendship felt realistic.

The murder mystery was interesting and provided me some surprises, though I do feel like it all got wrapped up a little too quickly- there was a lot leading up to it and then it tied everything together abruptly, Along those same lines, pretty much every problem anyone encountered in the book got solved without much work- it felt like an issue was identified, an action was taken to fix it, and then everything was fine. It would have been good to have a little more conflict, or at least perseverance, throughout.

That aside, I liked the book and I stayed up late to finish it. I'd be interested in reading other books by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review. Two Widows is a domestic thriller told in a dual narration by Gloria and Beth. Gloria is an older woman who lives on an isolated farm. Gloria has been widowed for about two years and is struggling both financially and emotionally after the death of her husband. A formerly religious woman, Gloria mishandled her adult son's disclosure regarding his sexual orientation and thus finds herself alone and forced to rent out a portion of her property in order to make ends meet. Beth is a young widow who rents out a field on Gloria's property to temporarily park her tiny house while she conducts research for a travel magazine/blog.

Although there are some 30 years between them, the women form an unlikely but ultimately unbreakable bond. The author uses the clever device of plotting the book in alternating chapters from Gloria's view in the present to Beth's view from the past. Although there is an underlying murder mystery (multiple murders in fact) this book is at its core a character study of two women who overcome heartache and make a conscious choice to embrace love and forgiveness. The author tackles some really tough topics in a very clever manner and I was actively rooting for both Gloria and Beth.

The novel has some twists and turns and was a fast-paced read. Although I felt that the wrap up of the murder mystery was a little too neat and tidy and thus a bit unrealistic, I was so invested in both Gloria and Beth that it did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. The ending was quite emotionally satisfying and I highly recommend placing this novel on your summer reading list.

Very well written story. Lots of layers, good characters, a few red herrings.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a character study of two women, the older Gloria, and the younger Beth, both trying to move on after their lives have changed. With a murder mystery thrown in. I enjoyed reading about and getting to know more of the two women and their different paths up to the present. Their friendship is forged and both women act differently because of it. The mystery hung over the story but didnt consume it until Beths backstory begins to dissolve. It wraps up rather too neatly in the last few pages. I would call the resolution a cozy mystery rather than a thriller. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it, because I did, very much.

Thank you to netgalley and Bookouture for the arc of Two widows by Laura Wolfe.

This follows a woman named Gloria in whom lives alone in her farmhouse in which is fully neighboured by empty acres of land, this is miles from any nearest town, she is a Widow and is hardly grieving her husband's death and she is mourning for her broken relationship with her son whom she is estranged too, so she is lonely and all on her own she she ends up searches and delving for answers and help from self-help books and has only photographs in which have severely faded and she had stacks upon stacks of unpaid bills. Then mysteriously the dead body of an unidentified young woman is found upon on the beach near her house....

but When freelance travel writer Beth comes with her trailer to live on her land in which makes her so happy to not be alone anymore but the thing curiously is that the police have no suspects for the murder which occured so Beth makes her feel much safer to have someone else nearby... Turns out which Beth is a widow as well so the both of them bond and become closer and get to know each other they start in which to share secrets with each other... she thought that Beth had told her all her secrets she was hiding but She was wrong.

I loved this book, read within 1 day, it had me gripped wanting more as of their secrets and all the twists which happen it was well written and loved it

5 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I saw the synopsis of this book and I was like yeahhhhhh count me in, there’s murder, there are deadly secrets and this book promised to keep me awake all night; so yes, I want a bit of that pie.

When a book is described as “A totally gripping mystery and suspense novel” then yes I want it, sign me up.

This book also promised to be a delight for fans of “The Couple Next Door” and “The Woman in the Window”, my excitement was off the roof, I couldn’t wait to start reading.

The author used multiple POV, constantly switching between Gloria and Beth’s voice. Gloria’s voice shared recent happenings while Beth’s voice was a narration of the past. That way we were able to understand what happened in the past that led to recent happenings. Although the past majorly covered Beth’s story. This really helped the plot of the book progress naturally, I was never confused or lost at any point while reading the book, it has a very solid and beautiful plot.

There were several OMG moments in this book. I didn’t want to move, I just wanted to keep devouring the pages. It’s definitely a page-turner and sometimes your heart is going to be racing so fast at the discovery of new information, I had so many predictions and theories but they all flopped at the end.

And that’s where things begin to go wrong, towards the end of the story.

The end of the book felt rushed and my spirit was crushed. It seemed the author just wanted everything to end. This book started on a high note, “an unsolved murder’ and the author was able to sustain my interest until the end was revealed.

The end of the story was a tad bit disappointing, the revelation was not as thrilling as I had hoped for.

I love the character development in this book, watching Gloria become this strong woman who no longer needed validation from her Bible Study Group, she truly understood what love and friendship should be about.

Another character that I liked was Caroline and this even surprised me, she grew on me. The sisterly bond between her and Beth was something that warmed my heart.

I wanted to give Jason a hard knock on the head and I wished his character was explored more, I would have loved to see what was going on in that fraudulent head of his but I guess the author stuck to the title and focused on the two widows.

Crime, marriage, friendship, miscarriage, drug abuse were some of the themes explored in this novel.

I would recommend this book to other thriller lovers and I do hope they love the ending more than I did.

Gloria lives in the outskirts of a small town on her farm in Michigan. She is all alone out there and is actually frightened. She is recently widowed so the loneliness is much more intense. A young women has been found murdered on the beach. A young woman with a tiny house being pulled behind her big truck is interested in renting a bit of land for a few weeks to rest from traveling on the road. Gloria is more than excited. This will give her the companionship she craves and the much needed money she needs to fix her windows. Now if she could only find someone to rent the apartment over her garage she'd be all set.
As the story progresses it brings these two women together. Both are widows. Even though there is an age difference they do become friends.
There is another murder. Together they are determined to bring justice to the victims.

this is so good .Elizabeth has it all lovely house loving husband and they are expecting a baby but does she have it all .Gloria lives on her own now as her husband has passed away .i so do not want to give the plot away so its a must read how it all comes together is brilliant .

Gloria thought that Beth had told her all her secrets. She was wrong.
How refreshing to read a thriller that isn't predictable. I thought I had it all solved until the truth was uncovered.
Laura Wolfe knows how to catch a readers attention.
A suspenseful storyline that I thoroughly enjoyed and recommended.
I want to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and author Laura Wolfe for a pre-publication copy to review.

As always thank you to Bookouture, you publish the best thrillers on Netgalley!

Two Widows is brilliant! I thought I had the plot figured out and then boom! I’ll meekly admit I didn’t have the plot figured, turns out I had nothing figured! Lots of red herrings but overall this is a clever story of friendship, loss and darkness. I read in two sittings because Two Widows was perfection! Don’t waste your time reading reviews just pick it up and read it! I promise you won’t regret it.

5/5

This is a hidden gem of a novel!! A stonking good read, that kept me guessing at items. It is not predictable like many books of this genre. Definitely worthy of 5 stars!!

I received this ARC from @Netgalley. I have to say it was extremely refreshing to read a thriller that wasn't predictable. There was a lot of moving factors and I thought I had it all figured out until about 85% when the truth was discovered. This book is a great discovery book, not only of the characters self reflection but the solving of TWO small town mysteries. Each character grows within the storyline and the author brings up some controversial topics and how the main character struggles with acceptance and chooses family over small town bullies. The only con of this story is I was not gripping the book needing to finish. I enjoyed the story overall and would recommend it but its a light read and great for true crime lovers and investigating readers.

Summary....
Gloria lives alone in an old farmhouse surrounded by empty land, miles from the nearest town in northern Michigan. Widowed and grieving her husband, mourning her broken relationship with her estranged son.
Then the dead body of an unidentified young woman is found on the beach near Gloria’s house.
Beth arrives to with her trailer to live on Gloria's land. Gloria is happy to not be alone. She feels after!
They start to share their secrets to each other....
But Gloria begins to wonder and think… what does she actually know about Beth?
What really brought her to this isolated spot? So far away!!! How did Beth's husband really die?
Is it a coincidence that she’s arrived just as this small town has seen its first murder in decades?
Gloria thought she knew all of Beth's secrets?...… Could she be wrong????

WOW!!!! I have not read a book this good some time!
It had me hooked from the very beginning and I could not stop till I finished!
I had to keep going, had to know how this ended!
Laura Wolfe really knows how to catch a readers attention.
The details, the suspense, the not knowing...….. that's what I love!
And she fulfilled every bit of that in this book!

I can not wait to read more her!
Thank You so much NetGalley and Laura Wolfe
For this gifted ARC
Much appericated and I'm honored I was able to read & review

Thank You
Rubie Clark

An easy read with the main characters being interesting people. However I was expecting a twist in the story which I didn’t get.

what a great thriller! The first 3 chapters I was still in doubt but I am glad I read on! Good story, well-worked out characters. The storyline of the 2 main characters is very well constructed. It is nicely balanced and they complement each other well. Exciting, unpredictable, mysterious but also heartwarming.
And in the end the cover made sense! I was puzzled about that.

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance in exange for a honest review.