I’m confused…why aren’t we seeing this around bookstagram more?? If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers, especially ones with a little steam this is for you!

That said, DO NOT READ THE GOODREADS SYNOPSIS friends! What you need to know is this: the opening scene hooked me immediately- there’s been a murder but we don’t know who or why. Cut to Melanie, the narrator of the story, she’s a suburban mom who, on paper, has the perfect life. Except not quite. And when she begins making one bad decision after another (including a steamy affair) the story takes on a roller coaster of a ride plot! I binged this in a day and was so entertained. The end got a little nutty but I didn’t care, I found this to be propulsive and a definite must listen!

Thank you to @harpercollinsca and @netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

This one is out now !

This is my second read by Seraphina Nova Glass and she’s quickly become a go-to author for slow burn domestic suspense done right !

I love her writing style and was immediately hooked by the story. The prologue does a bang up job setting the stage.

On the surface, Melanie Hale is the perfect wife. But there’s so much more to Melanie than meets the eye and some days she wakes up barely recognizing the person she’s become.

I loved how character-driven the book is. Even when Melanie is making very questionable decisions, I got why she was making them and the character arc felt real.

I also loved the dynamic between Melanie and Valerie and definitely could have read more of their interactions.

If you’re a fan of slow burn thrillers like me, definitely add this one to your reading list. I can’t wait to read more from Seraphina Nova Glass in the future!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this copy!

Melanie Hale is an upper middle class housewife who takes care of her husband, two kids and her dying mother in law. She’s in love with her husband. Her husband suggests she join a writers group at their local bookstore to get her out of the house and possibly resume writing again. She meets Luke. A handsome romance novelist giving a reading. Despite what she has at home, she begins an affair. This double life eats at her but she still doesn’t stop until one night she goes to Luke’s to try and end it but finds him dead.

Domestic thrillers are my favorite. I had a hard time liking Melanie because of the affair. I don’t know why it bothered me so much. Because she still loved her husband and did it anyway? Why it made me think of my husband of 29 years and the hurt it would cause and a book has never done that to me before. Despite that, I devoured this book. It is so well written and the suspense just builds and builds until the very end. A definite must read!!!!

Such a Good Wife was such a good book !
I really enjoyed the dynamic well crafted characters . The plot was twisty and engaging .

This was an entertaining and quick read. It was a simple "who did it?" There is a lot of character growth in the story without losing who the character truly is. I recommend this story for people who like quick reads but ones that are also no too complicated.

Thank you to the publisher, Graydon House, for providing me with an ARC of Such a Good Wife in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist
If I could, I probably would have swallowed Glass’ previous novel Someone’s Listening whole. I loved every page of it. So, when I found out Glass had written another book, I could not have gotten my fingers on a copy fast enough.

As some may have already gathered, I am a female of a certain age who decided not to partake in the rather “typical” lifestyle of a female of a certain age. Meaning, I’m in my late thirties and never want to have kids.

I just started a new job that could be promising and having children is the furthest thing from my mind. This makes understanding what stay-at-home mothers go through on a daily basis very difficult. I can’t imagine what their lives are like and the challenges they face. Perhaps sometimes I am even a little judgmental of them as well. Sorry, I’m only human.

Such a Good Wife painted the picture of a stay-at-home mother in a light I never could have imagined. It made me realize that maybe things aren’t always as perfect as I thought they must be for those living this family-bliss type of dream.

The Details
I want to say that the protagonist is naïve and out of touch with reality, but she really isn’t. Thanks to Glass’ impressive creation of Mel, I found myself sympathising with a woman who gave up her career aspirations in order to care for her children.

I see her as someone who made a great sacrifice, who is tired, overwhelmed, feels lost and alone, and feels like she missed part of her life. It explains her actions and I’m hard pressed to blame her for them.

The story itself is well written. The focus is purely on Mel as she navigates through this twisted mystery and messy psychological thriller.

The writing is clear and with enough detail to paint a full picture of a woman who is about to lose everything without getting tangled up in too much extra fluff.

Actually, I wish there had been a little more narration around the affair. I don’t mean any more sex scenes or other explicit content, but more scenes of both of them together to establish the affair as more solid. The affair itself is more told about than shown which kind of works but makes it less concrete.

The Verdict
Such a Good Wife was such a good read. It kept me spellbound until the last page and even beyond.

Overall, I truly appreciated this insight into a woman’s psyche as she navigates the challenges of being a stay-at-home mother and her rising desire to feel once again like a woman.

I would recommend it.

A very special thanks to Harlequin, NetGalley and the author for the review copy. Y’all are in for a truly special read with this one. It’s got so much goodness, it’ll be hard to put it down!

Melanie Hale is a Wife, Mom to two kids and a caretaker to her Mother in Law. An aspiring writer living in a small town in Louisiana, Melanie’s life is like most stay at home Moms, until she meets Luke Ellison. That’s when the story begins and trouble finds its way into her backyard. Murder, domestic violence and Alzheimer’s disease are just a few of the many subjects in this story.

I absolutely loved this read, I enjoyed reading it at night once my husband and kiddo were asleep. It was like a movie that you just didn’t want anyone to interrupt you watching. I could vividly picture the story as it was happening and for that, I highly recommend this to you my friends.

Without a doubt, a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read! It’s available wherever you purchase your books from and I’ve no doubt it’ll intrigue you, the way it did me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Seraphina Nova Glass and Harlequin for the free book in exchange for an honest review.

I had heard a lot of great things about this novel so I had to give it a try and I found parts of it a bit slow, but it was filled with information that you needed for other parts of the novel. I really enjoyed the twists because I didn't fully see them coming and even though I guessed the ending, I found it very enjoyable.

This book started off with out main character Melanie deciding to do something for herself for once and joining a book club. Melanie is happily married with two children however she doesn't always feel satisfied in her life for some reason so she believes that this book club will help her explore herself and express what she doesn't know how to. Things are going quite well for her when at her book club meeting she runs into a local author named Luke and things start to take a drastic turn. What turns from a casual chitchat quickly turns romantic as the two connect on many levels the only problem is Melanie is married still. One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was how it was told through Melanie's eyes. She knew that's she was in the wrong for having this affair with Luke however she just couldn't stop her connection that she felt for him. I was screaming at her the whole time but she did make for a character that I loved to read about but would hate in real life. When Luke is suddenly found murdered, it leaves Melanie as a main suspect, and the only way to clear her name is to find out who really did the deed. This book had so many twists and turns but it was very interesting. I loved this book I loved the characters and thought that they were all very well written and very relatable. The only thing that I didn't like about this book was it didn't grab me as a reader very well in the beginning and as much as I liked the plot I found myself putting it down very easily, however once I got a few chapters in it was like the world stopped turning and I had to see what was going to happen next. Very good read a few things that weren't my favourite but overall I really enjoyed this story and I'm so glad that I got the chance to check it out.

Ooh, this book was so TWISTY and great. I loved this mystery and the uncomfortable situations the characters were in. It was a great read.

DNF 22%.

I couldn't read another story about a "stay-at-home mom" bored and cheating. This book has other layers to it, but I just could not get into it. Felt like I had read it a million times before.

From the outside Melanie seems to be the perfect wife, she has two kids she adores, a stable and loving marriage with her husband, basically everything she wants and needs. But inside she’s struggling with feelings of inadequacy and a general sense of unease. On a total whim she begins an affair with a local author, Luke. Then she finds him dead and shit hits the fan. This was one of those reads were the characters are continuously making the worst choices possible so on one hand I was screaming in my head to stop being so stupid, but on the other hand I was egging them on because piss poor decisions make for juicy reading. This one was puzzling with lots of back and forth as far as trying to figure out what was going on and how Mel was possibly going to be able to keep her affair a secret. The ending was super strong and really surprising to me, I really liked this and will be going back to read the authors previous book for sure. The narrator Xe Sands is also one of my faves so listening to this was a win for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUCH A GOOD WIFE is an entertaining domestic suspense novel. Glass writes well and, for the most part, the story moves at a good pace.

Characters: Mel is an intriguing main character, especially since she doesn't always make the best decisions. Glass does a good job of showing how overwhelmed Mel is. She has a very full plate with all her responsibilities. Her children, Rachel and Bennett, are also conveyed nicely. Mel's mother in law, Claire, is a little mysterious with her dementia and I wasn't sure if that was meant to be a red herring. Collin, Mel's husband, is likable but a bit of an afterthought in terms of character development. My main complaint is with the character of Luke, who never seemed to come alive on the page for me.

Plot: The plot is well done and I enjoyed trying to figure out who killed Luke and why. I also felt for Mel and it was suspenseful to be in her shoes.

Setting: The Louisiana setting is fun and adds a unique element to the story.

Pacing: The middle sags a bit . Also, I found my attention wandering in the beginning as I read about the set up for the affair. Mostly, however, the pacing was good.

Ending: The conclusion wraps things up nicely.

I didn’t love the cheating aspect, because her husband was a good person, but it made for a good book. I really enjoyed this one and the author’s writing style.

Very amazing psychological thriller, an ending I never saw coming. Would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is a thriller lover!!

This was an interesting psychological thriller. I was surprised at the ending of the book. I did not really care for the main character as much as I would have liked. I liked her husband and the kids and I did like trying to figure out who committed the murder. This is a pretty good story. I received a copy of this book from Harlequin for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

I didn't know exactly what to expect going into this book but after reading the synopsis I was intrigued and wanted to pick it up. While slow burn isn't always my favorite thing, the level of suspense and twists and turns made it an exciting slow burn. I really enjoyed the amount of character development we got as the story unfolded as well as all the psychological aspects to it. Melanie is a really relatable character that is definitely someone who can resonate with readers. If there is one thing that will immediately draw me in it is a story that goes includes psychological elements. The ending I felt was perfect and this is definitely a suspense filled story that I would recommend for anyone who likes thrillers. While this is my first read by this author, I will definitely be checking out her other works in the future.

On the surface, Melanie (Mel) Hale’s world is fulfilling. She’s married to Collin who’s a successful provider and dotes on her. They have two children, Rachel and Bennett who is on the spectrum, and she is the primary caregiver for her mother-in-law Claire who is suffering from the final stages of dementia. But deep down, Mel feels a weariness, questioning whether there’s more in life and if she made a mistake in not pursuing her own dreams as a writer. When Collin signs her up to participate in a writer’s group and makes plans to free her up time wise so she can attend, it sounds like the perfect balm. Though the group is a disappointment, Luke Ellison, the local writer reading a passage from his published book to a captive audience nearby is certainly not. Their later meeting at the bookstore’s cafe is life changing. And when he turns up dead, things get desperate.

One of my most disliked book tropes is cheating partners so I coached myself to have an open mind about Mel before I even began this story. Surprisingly (even to me!), I was able to do that and just follow the flow of the story. But, I couldn’t help prodding her from the sidelines to not make the choices she eventually fell prey to doing. I could see the train wrecks coming (yes, there were multiple ones), even though they were not predictable. What was fascinating to see was how far Mel was willing to go to protect herself, her children and her husband. She took some treacherous, dangerous paths that shocked me but, in the end, we’re understandable.

This story crashed my sensibilities, had me rooting for someone I wasn’t even sure I liked let alone admired. I still can’t believe I wanted her to come out of this unscathed and to not be implicated in Luke’s death. There are a few red herrings and they are oh, so good. While I had a suspicion as to what caused Luke’s death, I was still surprised at the outcome. But, the mystery takes a back seat to the brilliance of Mel’s characterization. I’ve never been so conflicted about someone I normally would have easily written off. That’s a tribute to the writing and the outstanding performance by the narrator, Xe Sands. Despite my high expectations of her, she made this story come alive for me in giving exceptional voice to Mel. I’m thrilled I opted for the audio version but don’t expect a tidy little ending. It was perfect.

Fantastic thrilling read that was hard to put down. Will absolutely read more by this author. Loved it. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

Run do not walk to grab this book. One of the best I've read in a really long time. I even gave up dinner so I wouldn't miss a word. Thrilling!