Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: My Darling Husband

Author: Kimberly Belle

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Recommended For...: thriller, mystery

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Genre: Thriller Mystery

Recommended Age: 18+ (violence, slight gore, home invaders, kidnapping, language)

Explanation of CWs: There is some cursing in this book. The book centers on a home invasion and kidnapping. There is some violence and slight gore.

Publisher: Park Row

Pages: 352

Synopsis: Everyone is about to know what her husband isn’t telling her…

Jade and Cam Lasky are by all accounts a happily married couple with two adorable kids, a spacious home and a rapidly growing restaurant business. But their world is tipped upside down when Jade is confronted by a masked home invader. As Cam scrambles to gather the ransom money, Jade starts to wonder if they’re as financially secure as their lifestyle suggests, and what other secrets her husband is keeping from her.

Cam may be a good father, a celebrity chef and a darling husband, but there’s another side he’s kept hidden from Jade that has put their family in danger. Unbeknownst to Cam and Jade, the home invader has been watching them and is about to turn their family secrets into a public scandal.

With riveting twists and a breakneck pace, My Darling Husband is an utterly compelling thriller that once again showcases Kimberly Belle's exceptional talent for domestic suspense.

Review: For the most part I really liked this one. It read and felt like something that could be a good horror thriller film and the action started from the first chapter and didn’t let up really until the end. The book is also interesting with the back and forth timeline and the multiple POVs. The book had well developed characters and world building. The book was also very evenly paced.

However, usually in thriller/mystery books there’s a second act surprise or twist. This one really didn’t have one and it was kind of weird. It just kept going with the original plot and didn’t stop. I also felt like the book ended a bit abruptly.

Verdict: It was good!

My Darling Husband is a story about Jade, Cam, and their children Beatrix and Baxter (the Bees as their parents call them). The book opens with a total loss fire at Cam’s most successful steakhouse. While he is dealing with that a stranger breaks into his house and holds Jade and the Bees captive. His demand is a very specific amount of money which Cam has until 7pm that day to bring to the house or the stranger will kill Jade and the Bees.

Talk about a great setup to a suspense novel! The story is told from the present with Cam giving an interview to a reporter and from the past, the day of the fire and the home invasion. I love dual timeline books as they normally provide background. This dual timeline seemed to support the present more if that makes sense.

My favorite character is Jade. Jade is a fierce woman and mother and her primary goal throughout the story is to protect her children. As a mother I can relate. This story is so captivating, I had a hard time putting down it down. Lies and secrets are revealed and makes you realize Jade does not know Cam as well as she thought she did.

If you want a book that will keep you reading long into the night while also stressing you out to no end, this is your book! Kimberly Belle creates incredible tension that seems never ending as you will wonder why Jade and her children are being held hostage and if Cam will be able to gather the ransom money in time. You hear the expression "edge of your seat thriller" thrown around a lot, but this book truly is an edge of your seat thriller. I loved it!

This new Kimberly Belle novel will have you turning page after page & reading long into the night to find out what happens next. One of the Queens of thriller fiction!!! I highly recommend this book

A thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, My Darling Husband was an intense suspense about a home invasion of a wealthy Atlanta entrepreneur, Cam Lasky. We soon learn this is not a random crime, and the author works to fill in the blanks as the tension ricochets back in forth between multiple POV's. It was a pretty solid thriller, yet my only complaint would be there really wasn't anywhere for the plot to go to be surprising. I was expecting more of a twist in character development, which did not really come through by the end. I would recommend to lovers of the genre. #mydarlinghusband #kimberlybelle #netgalley #goodreads

3:18pm - Jade Lasky pulls into her home garage. With her are her two children Bea and Bax. Unknown to her, someone else is in the garage. A masked and armed man forces them into their house.

4:07pm - Cam Lasky, Atlanta celebrity chef, gets a call from his wife. She tells him she and her children are being held hostage. He has until 7pm to deliver $734,296 cash or she and their children die.

The next four hours are a nightmare as Jade fights to protect her children and to find a way out, and Cam races against time to save his family. The story is told from the perspectives of Jade, Cam, and the intruder. Tying it all together is a media interview with Cam.

As we wait for Cam to get the money, the chapters with Jade dragged on with not much happening in the house. But the finale is worth the wait. There is one big surprise that I didn’t see coming, but, thinking back, it made perfect sense.

I liked the characters; nine-year-old Bea is my hero. I even liked the intruder…a little bit.

I received an advance e-galley of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A resounding 5 stars.

My Darling Husband captured my attention from page one to the final paragraph.

I found myself holding my breath , shouting at Jade, annoyed at Cam and hoping everyone survives.

Cam is a celebrity chef who has stepped on toes ( that's being nice) and someone is out for revenge.

Jade and his kids are held hostage.

My Darling Husband is wild roller coaster ride that gets better with every page.

You will want to put this on your to read list immediately.

Thanks to NetGalley Harelquin- Trade Publishing (U.S. and Canada) Park Row for a nail biting read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin/Park Row for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by Kimberly Belle - one of my favorite writers! This book is another example of just why - you won't be able to put this one down. 4.5 stars rounded up for the non-stop tension!

Cam and Jade seem to be the perfect power couple. He is Atlanta's Steak King - celebrity chef and restaurant owner - Jade gave up a promising design career to be a stay-at-home mom to the Bees (Beatrix and Baxter). When Jade and the kids are held hostage in a home invasion, Cam is instructed to get a precise amount of money by that evening in order to prevent their deaths. Unbeknownst to Jade, things aren't quite what they seem with Cam and his business empire - what will that mean for her and the kids?

This is a tense thriller that will keep you flipping the pages long into the night. The writing puts you in the scenes and makes you wonder what you would do in the same situation to save your child. Told in alternating chapters between Cam and Jade, along with Cam's interview with a local news anchor, I read this with my heart in my throat. Who is the masked man and why does he seem one step ahead of everything? Don't miss this book!

A very tense thriller from beginning to end. While the twists were not shocking, the story was great. Recommend!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

A home invasion that seems random at first but as time goes on, it isn't. The invasion is about revenge,
Cam Lasky renowned chef and owner of several fine dining steak restaurants.
His wife Jade and their children Beatrix and Baxter come home one day and find a stranger in their garage,
Jade thinks it's the stranger who's been following her.

He requests a ransom and Cam has to scramble to get the money in time to meet the deadline. This isn't an easy feat as we learn since the presumed wealthy chef is in fact broke and overextended. His best restaurant just went out of business due to a mysterious fire and the insurance company won't pay him.

He has to go to an unscrupulous man to get the money and is given counterfeit money but it doesn't amount to the total ransom.

The kidnapper is a former business partner that Cam froze out leaving him financially ruined. He has a daughter who needs treatment and surgery due to cystic fibrosis but Cam told him he didn't care.

As time goes on Jade learns the true nature of her husband's cruelty and shady business practices.

If you're looking for a fast paced read, I would recommend this one ! I finished this in a day - the pace was perfect and made me want to keep going to find out what happens. There are three POV's which kept things interesting, hearing from the husband, the wife, and the man in their home holding hostage. I felt this was more suspense than thriller.

Cam and Jade live a life many are jealous of. From the outside, Cam is a wealthy businessman, owning multiple locations of a top steakhouse. They live in a big fancy house, have nice cars and jewelry, but there is more than meets the eye. One day, Cams most popular location is being investigated for arson. The dame day that his wife, Jade, and their two children, are held hostage in their own home. This man asks for a very specific amount, but why ? You never know what people are going through, the depths of it, and how far they will go to get what the want or feel they deserve. How far will a parent go to protect their children ?

Now this book was a serious page turner! This is also my first book by this author and I have seen great things about her other books. In this one we have Jade, a stay-at-home mom and wife to the “Steak King of Atlanta” Cam Lasky. The action takes place in a single day when Jade and her 2 kids are taken hostage in their home. We get backstory from alternating chapter of an interview with Cam and the events leading up to and through the situation. This was such a fast paced read and had hints at the twists coming, but if I wasn’t obsessing about the book like I was I wouldn’t have caught them.

If you’re looking for a completely binge worthy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish, look no further! Told in alternating timelines - in an after the fact interview with Cam and the day of the home invasion - and multiple POVs, this is an intense domestic suspense that will leave your heart racing! Although some of the twists were a bit predictable, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this novel. I still found myself feverishly turning the pages to find out how everything played out! A definite recommend for thriller lovers.

Uh wow! Kimberly Belle has done it again with a hell of a ride from start to finish. I wasn’t expecting the twists and turns nor the ending. This one is right up there for me with my favorite of hers, The Marriage Lie!

The Story: Married couple, Cam & Jade Lasky seems to have it all - comfortable life, adorable kids, and a successful chain of restaurants - until a home invasion turns their lives upside down. As Cam is racing against time to gather the ransom money, cracks in their marriage begins to surface and Jade begins to wonder if she really knows her husband.

My thoughts: Oh wow, this was one wild ride! It was so intense right from the first page and I finished it in one sitting! Simply unputdownable!

Home invasion?! Every parent's nightmare. As a mother myself, the plot definitely grabbed my attention and had me invested in the story until the end! I just need to find out what would happen to Jade and the kids during these few hours they were hostage in their own home. I think more importantly, I really want to know what would Jade do!

There was a lot of tension in this story as the motive of the invasion unfolds gradually through the POVs of Jade, Cam and the intruder. My favourite character was definitely the daughter, Beatrix.

In a nutshell, this is a must read! It was one non-stop, heart pounding suspense story that will keep you at the edge of your seat!


Pub. Date: Out Now

***Thank you Harlequin - Trade Publishing (U.S & Canada) & NetGalley for this gifted reading copy. All opinions expressed are my own.***

📚 B O O K. R E V I E W 📚

You are looking at my new fav thriller, and probably too thriller of the year 💯🤩

The only reason I didn’t devour MY DARLING HUSBAND in ons sitting was because I had to adult and I needed to sleep 🙄 Seriously, this book is “edge of your seat, anxiety inducing, need to know what happens next” GOOD! Luckily, it just published this past Tuesday, November 30, so you can RUN not walk to go grab your copy’ (or out it on your Christmas book wish list!) Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for my e arc in exchange for an honest review!

Swipe to read the synopsis!

My rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

TW: home invasion, gun violence, shooting, child harassment, holding a family for ransom, insurance fraud, chronic illness,

This book only takes places within like 5 hours, but let me tell you, it’s the WILDEST 5 hours EVER! Seriously! Anxiety inducing, fearing for your life (even tho you are the reader, and in fact, this is all fiction).

It reminded me so much of No Exit by Taylor Adams because I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath the entire time I was reading.

This is all I’m going to say, because I think you should just go and read this book! But also, be wary of the trigger warnings. I have only read one other book by this author, and I can’t wait to read the others I have on my shelves!

Belle's best to date

The intersection of cracks in our society and the implications of what happens when people fall threw them, along with personal slights (perceived or real), AND a Belle's brilliant turn of hand when writing a major case of vigilante verse husband done bad?

Stick it in.a blender. Hit pulverize and you have a thriller that enraptures, refuses to pull any punches and leaves you breathless.

I enjoyed this year's offering by Belle much better than last year's Stranger in the Lake This one, although it doesn't really have any truly shocking twists, is a tense thriller from start to finish.

After picking up her six and nine year old kids from school, Jade Lasky heads home and is faced by a masked man with a gun in her garage. He restrains all of them and says that he will let them go if Jade's husband Cam, a wealthy chef-owner of many high end restaurants, brings him $734,296 in cash by 7 PM. If not, he will kill the children first and then Jade. As Cam sets out to try to gather the money, Jade and the kids try everything they can think of to get out of their frightening situation.

The tale is told from multiple points of view: Jade, Cam, the intruder, and sprinkled throughout is an after-the-fact interview with a very snarky Cam. We learn that each of them are hiding things, but some are hiding much more than others. The tension is palpable throughout, I tore through the pages at a rapid pace to see what would happen next and was pretty satisfied with the ending even though it was a little more open-ended than I would have liked.

There are a few things that require a bit of suspension of disbelief--especially when Cam is thinking that the insurance adjuster will just write him a check on the same day as the fire. Yeah, anyone who has dealt with insurance claims knows that it is an extremely slow process.

Overall this is more of a thriller than a mystery or suspense novel, but it also has some humanity and an intriguing look at wealth disparity and privilege. Kimberly Belle writes some very exciting books and I look forward to her next one.
Publication date (changed) March 8, 2022

This book has me absolutely hooked from start to finish and was near impossible to put down. Following varying POVs during a home invasion, so many twists unfold that I was clamoring to get to the next page. An amazing domestic thriller, rooted in some truth. Definitely recommend! Thank you to the publisher for providing me an e-galley in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 Stars!! Gripping, intense, and an unputdownable binge-worthy read!

This is an entertaining and quick read with a fast moving plot that immediately grabbed my attention. It did slow down a tiny bit somewhere in the middle but I think it was more a case of loss of momentum because of not having the chance to read. Once I was reading again and got back into the momentum it picked up the pace again and I couldn’t wait to finish to see how it all would end. There’s some good stuff in this book. Love the multiple POV’s, the darling husbands interview chapters, and all the layered suspense.

Would definitely recommend!

Thank you so much for my review copy.