This debut by Darby Kane is brilliant! Love the plot with so many twists and turns- I didn't see most of them coming! Lila and Aaron are incredibly flawed characters but you can't help but find yourself rooting for Lila. The plot developed beautifully and I love the added element of the podcast and journalists seeking out the real story when even Lila isn't sure what happened. This book is just excellent and I can't wait to read more from this author!

2021 is starting off great thanks to Darby Kane! Pretty Little Wife is a complex and tightly wound story that is equally chilling and psychologically delicious. Darby Kane writes in a hypnotic (and at times frantic) way that makes this story impossible to put down! The characters are all so well written and the pacing is phenomenal! If you’re looking for your next domestic suspense read that will keep you well up past your bedtime and make you nervous to turn out the lights, I highly suggest picking up Pretty Little Wife!

Definitely page turner. Characters are flawed yet likable. The plot moves at a decent pace, and there were moments I had to re-read to confirm I was understanding. Overall, 4 stars only because the ending just didn’t do it for me. But still a great read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"If you read just one Thriller this year, do yourself a favor and pick up Pretty Little Wife."

My full review will be going live on FreshFiction.com, and I will update with the link once it does.

A pretty little life for the pretty little wife? Hardly.
Lila is the trophy wife of the town's popular, handsome coach and teacher. But things aren't always what they appear to be. Lila finds incriminating video evidence of her husband's infidelities with some of his students and has finally reached the end of her rope. After completing her well planned 'suicide' of her husband and leaving him and his car to be found at his school, she's finally free. The only problem is that both the husband and his car are not found where she put them and he's officially a missing person now. Was Lila mistaken? Was he still alive plotting his revenge on her now?
Enter the doggedly persistent and determined investigator who's convinced the wife did something or is involved with the disappearance somehow. But is she? With no evidence of wrong doing and no body even Lila's not sure what happened. Who will discover the truth first? You'll be racing through this one to find out!
The plot is so finely crafted with twists and turns I didn't see coming I was often left with my jaw dropping. All the characters are so well drawn it's as if you're in the room with them. The suspense and that ending are spot on.
So all I can say now is if you're looking for a psychological thriller that will keep you guessing, then look no further than this one!

Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane introduces us to Lila Ridgefield. She is a former lawyer turned realtor and married to Aaron, a beloved high school teacher and coach in their perfect little town. They seem to have a wonderful marriage, but everything is not what it seems. Lila wants out and she wants out now. Divorce does not seem to be an option for her.
Recently three female college students have gone missing from their town. There’s a popular podcast about the case. So when Aaron goes missing people can’t help but wonder was he involved? Are the cases related? Lila knows the answer because she was the last one to see Aaron‘s body before it disappeared. Yes, you read that correctly.
With a smart and relentless female detective breathing down her neck, Lila needs to find out what happened to Aaron before the police do. Nobody can be trusted. Everyone is a suspect.
I very much enjoyed this book. The way it is written you don’t know everything that Lila knows even though most of the book is from her point of view. Some of the chapters are from the police detective’s point of view and I liked the back-and-forth. Lila was an interesting and deceptive character with a complicated back story. I thought this plot was fun and I liked how little by little secrets were revealed. I know that I definitely want to read more of this author’s books. Thank you to net galley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

"...𝐻𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑅𝑌𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑒, 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑆𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡!"
" 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠, ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦"

The first 30 minutes of the book, my heart raced and I was shook to the core because it reminded me so much of my own marriage!!

Anyone ever involved or know someone who is in a toxic relationship this book is for you!

This one is going to totally shock you, it is not the typical broken marriage thriller!

The protagonist is an extremely smart, clever, brilliant and sneaky female who you will end up respecting her and her choices to get away from a monster husband!

Put this on your TBR list now!

Thank you #netgalley and #prettylittlewife to be able to share my honest opinion!

When Lila’s husband, Aaron, goes missing, Lila becomes the focus of the police investigation. Did she do it? Or is she innocent? Can the police assemble enough evidence against her? Is the investigation properly focused? Should they widen their list of possible suspects and look elsewhere?

If you liked Gone Girl, then there’s a good chance you’ll like this book. I think this one is better than Gone Girl. It starts slowly, but when it finally picks up, it moves at lightning speed. You’ll need to push through that slow part. I know that I almost stopped reading before things began moving.

The characters are interesting. I didn’t feel a close connection to any of them. I didn’t like Lila, but I came to understand why she was made to be unlikable. At heart, I think she was a good person. I loved Ginny Davis, the CID investigator, and her husband. She’s law enforcement at its best, and he’s everything a husband should be. Without giving much away, I’ll say that Aaron is scum, a teacher who entices his female students into untoward activities, just to add another notch on his bedpost and then dump them. That aspect is the core of this book, but it isn’t delved into in great detail, which is a good thing. I don’t think Aaron’s actions can be brushed aside just because his father was brutally mean and physical abusive.

Despite the slow start, this book turned into a very good mystery. Once it got going, I had a hard time putting it down. Readers won’t want for surprises or plot twists.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank them for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

I was not sure at first what to expect as there are a plethora of wife thrillers on the market right now.
However Darby Kane definitely has her own niche. This had my attention from page one. The twists and turns started early. The setting was good, the character development well done.
I really had no idea of the end, and that makes a successful thriller.

The character of Lila was well developed.
She is strong , a bit mysterious, and very complex..
So many twists and turns!
The many supporting characters and their questionable behavior add to the mystery component.

This will be well received by readers, both those that are avid thriller readers and those who may just be happening upon a good book.

thanks for the opportunity to preview this book, readers wlil surely enjoy this.

Lila found out her husband’s dirty secret. She killed him and stashed his body in his car and drove it to the school parking lot. She made the murder look like suicide. When Lila finds out the news that her husband is missing she isn’t surprised, but she is surprised to hear that his body and car are not where she left it. Is Aaron alive or did someone move him? Also, there are college girls going missing. Could there be a link?
Pretty Little Wife is definitely a fast read. Lila is cold and unflinching. She almost seems emotionless. She was a great character to follow. The twists were not shocking and were meh. I did not find pleasure in this thriller and thought it was lukewarm and I have been finding thrillers to be not the greatest lately. If you want a fast read then pick this up.

A twisty domestic thriller that keeps you riveted until the end. Marriage is idyllic, isn’t it? Find out what goes wrong in this quick read of a roller coaster ride of a story.

Aaron and Lila are damaged goods, both coming from highly dysfunctional families, both distant introverts who needed plenty of space. They understood each other and their marriage was one of convenience and comfort.

Their comfortable relationship becomes unhinged when Lila discovers a terrible secret about Aaron. A secret she can't live with so she tries to take matters into her own hands but everything gets turned around as Aaron suddenly disappears.

This is a fantastic debut thriller. Fast paced, entertaining, gripping.

Thank you HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent, had me on edge from the first page to the last page. Lila, Aaron and Jared Payne (wife, husband and brother-in-law). Lila the aloof and apparent pretty little wife or arm candy to Aaron Payne. Aaron Payne the school teacher and coach is loved by all or seemingly loved by all. Jared Payne the brother-in-law who Lila seems to get along better than her husband. Women in this town are missing and then Aaron, Lila's husband is missing as well. This was so good, a lot of mystery and I figured out who was taunting Lila but the shocking reveal at the end was on a whole other level.

Enjoyable read. I found this book to be a good thriller. I would recommend Pretty Little Wife if you need a good thrill and want something not so light.

When Lila Ridgefield discovers that her husband, Aaron Payne, has been having sex with his students and video taping them, she becomes furious and wants revenge. She wonders how long this has been going on, especially when he knew about her childhood trauma. Lila begins to plan his murder, and when she thinks she has taken care of him, all her planning blows up!
Ginny, the investigator, suspects that Lila killed her husband, but there is no body. So begins a game of deception, investigation, misdirection, and having your the best-laid plans go awry.
This is a well crafted thriller with a surprising ending. Twisted!!
Thanks to Goodreads, Scene of the Crime/Harper Collins and Net Galley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

This book gives me the shivers.

I don’t know why, but I do like a thriller in January. I always read suspenseful books quickly; I can’t wait to know what happens. This one was no exception. From the beginning, I wondered what the wife did, but there were several surprises along the way... and I have to admit, the ending was pretty creepy!

I feel like their synopsis that includes - shouldn’t a dead husband stay dead - with the notes... I never thought they were from the dead husband - I guess they want to make you wonder all possibilities before you begin the book.

Lila lives an idyllic life with her husband Aaron in a college town in New York. Then Aaron goes missing and it’s pretty apparent that Lila had something to do with it, but why? A quick read with an unlikeable main character. There was a definite “woman power” theme going on throughout the book that was a little heavy handed towards the end, but overall it was a pretty good book.

As Pretty Little Wife opens, Lila Ridgefield has concluded that her controlling husband Aaron (a pillar of the community and beloved high school teacher) is a monster. Lila found Aaron's intimate videos of female students.

Fast forward 6 weeks and Aaron is missing. Sheriff's Office C.I.D. investigator Ginny Davis starts asking questions.

Lila starts to receive taunting notes and wonders if they're from Aaron. As the plot progresses, readers learn more of her dark back story.

Darby Kane ties up this intricate mystery in a stunning knot of a conclusion, one that I did not expect. If you're looking for something different (and well worth your time) in mysteries, open this one.

I really liked the premise and I wanted to get into this - but a couple things snagged my focus. I felt like the main character (while intentionally cold and disconnected) was too hard to relate to - and it started to "feel" long at the mid-point. While I've seen mixed reviews on this thriller, it wasn't for me - but I appreciated the opportunity to read it!

My second most-read genre is suspense or thrillers after romance but I generally only read those written by women because I got tired of reading violence against women written by men. A delightful micro-subgenre (totally making this up here lol) is thrillers written by romance authors. We have Victoria Dahl writing as Victoria Helen Stone, Nalini Singh, and now HelenKaye Dimon writing as Darby Kane. Romance writers know what makes plots move forward and what keeps readers on their toes so to me, this just makes sense.

I found this book really suspenseful and filled with messy characters, which is exactly the kind of thing I like in both romance and suspense. Lila discovers her husband is trash so she kills him, and sets the scene perfectly for someone to find the body…but the body is gone. From there I pretty much couldn’t tell anything that was going to happen and I was surprised at every turn. My favorite piece that was included was that there’s a podcast happening at the same time as this because there are other disappearances that have happened in the area over the last few years. That felt like such an interesting and fun thing to include.

I judge suspense books differently than romance obviously – there’s no HEA here in that there’s no two (or more) characters living happily ever after here. But I judge suspense based on if the plot feels complete and if I’m satisfied by the ending and if enough of the threads are wrapped up. In Pretty Little Wife I was super surprised at the ending and more than satisfied. Darby Kane definitely has a future in this genre!