Sylvie is penniless and is searching for a job. She ends up being employed by handsome, perfect, Adam Barnett to take care of his recently disabled wife, Victoria. When Sylvie arrives at their beautiful home in Montauk, New York, she discovers that Victoria had the seemingly perfect life. As the story goes on, strange things begin to occur, and she realized not everything may be as it seems. The story sucked me in right away, but then the ending came. It was four stars going into it but then the story seemed to get away from me. This was very similar to Verity by Colleen Hoover. It felt like a rewrite of the same story. The writing was decent, but I couldn’t get this out of my mind.

The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden is a great read – atmospheric and twisty. Sylvia becomes a caretaker to a seemingly unresponsive Victoria after an accident. Hired by her reclusive writer husband, Adam, Sylvia moves to the edge of Long Island to be live in help. The characters were well developed and a little unlikeable at moments. The plot was engaging and kept me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed the twist! Recommended reading.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

Despite the somewhat amateurish writing, I found this book really drawing me in. Though the plot isn't exactly original, the author keeps it fresh and moving along with some interesting twists.

Reading Between the Wines book review #121/115 for 2021:
Rating: 4 ½ 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷 (rounded up to 5)
Book 🎧: The Wife Upstairs
Author: Freida McFadden
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
RELEASES on November 23, 2021!!!

Sipping thoughts: Yes, this is the baby that the other book The Wife Upstairs and Verity would have if they got together. I actually liked the similarities because there were enough differences to make the book its own. I could not decide what and who to believe and I kept changing my mind. But let me tell you one thing I did not change my mind about and that is how I was so annoyed and wanted to scream at and smack one of the characters. I am sure I gave myself a headache for the amount of time I rolled my eyes in anger and annoyance. But that made the book even more intriguing because I had to see if the character would get what was coming to them. The twists were really good. I was going to rate it an all out 5 stars but the ending was a little too “yeah right” for me, but I still rounded up because I really enjoyed it. One thing I want to make sure to say is the narrator was phenomenal. I loved the voice and cadence and can’t wait to hear more books read by the narrator, Angie Kane.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley, @fizzziatrist and @DreamscapeMedia for an advanced copy of @TheWifeUpstairs.

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The words of wisdom always advise appreciating what we have because it can be taken away from us in a spear of a second. Victoria had it all, a job she loved, a grand home, and a handsome and successful husband. One dreadful slip on the stairs took it all away from her, leaving her partially paralyzed.

Desperate, broke and two days away from being homeless, Sylvia accepts a job from a guy she meets at the dinner. Since her arrival at the beautiful mansion, Sylvia gets an uneasy feeling about the house. However, despite her sixth sense, Sylvia decides to stay. On her very first day she discovers a diary, and what's inside surprises and shocks her. But what to believe, a charming and handsome Adam, or the words of paralyzed woman written in the diary?

While reading the novel, I had a very strong feeling that I am re-reading "Gone Girl" all over again. Fortunately, the twist at the end turned the novel in a different direction. I enjoyed the plot, fast and engaging read. Only one part has annoyed me, the naiveness of Victoria, and her behavior throughout the novel. She had an "immature victim" written all over her. No wonder she's ended up in the position we found her in. Nevertheless, I've enjoyed the story. Thank you NetGalley and Hollywood Upstairs Press publisher for a free and advanced copy of the novel.

I really enjoyed this book and kept wanting to get back to it to find out what would happen. The characters were interesting and well developed and the plot very engaging, with some nice twists. I do have a few quibbles, though. I found it a little disturbing how stupidly most of the women behaved and how several people ignored their gut instincts. There was a passage in the diary when Victoria said that love was not a strong enough word for how she felt about Adam. I immediately thought of that part in "Annie Hall" where Woody Allen says, “Love is too weak a word for what I feel - I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F's, yes.” And sure enough--what VIctoria said was nearly word for word the same thing. I suppose if you're writing a diary for yourself or your future children you wouldn't necessarily include an attribution, but giving Woody Allen credit could have been done by Sylvia musing that Victoria was channeling Woody Allen or must have been an "Annie Hall" fan, or something like that. Finally, Victoria consistently refers to someone in her life by one name in the diary, but when she speaks she uses another name for that person. This made for a dramatic reveal, but made no sense since she gave Sylvia access to the diary and presumably wanted to get her point across, but she failed to do so with this inconsistency. But other than these criticisms, I thought the book was really well written and great.

I enjoyed listening to the audio version of this book and thought the narrator was really good, making the three voices (Sylvia, Victoria before and Victoria after) very distinct and fully realized. The Victoria before part could be a little annoying, veering into "dumb blonde" territory, but you could always tell who was talking. One other minor criticism--this bothers me every time a narrator does this--was that she sometimes used a question inflection for the "he asked" part of the sentence as well as for the question part. For example, "'How are you feeling?' he asked?" rather than, "'How are you feeling?' he asked." The voice should drop at the end of the sentence. However, she didn't do this all the time or too egregiously, so all in all I thought she was an excellent narrator.

Many thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an audio e-ARC of this book.

First, thank you NetGalley for allowing me to listen to The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFaddea.
The book begins when Sylvia meets Adam (who is a famous author), and he asks her to work for him as a caretaker for his wife Victoria. Sylvia is totally broke and the money is too much to give up so she moves into the beautiful gated estate that Adam and Victoria live in. Victoria lives in her bedroom taken care of by a nurse and now Sylvia.

Victoria can only communicate using a few words, but she communicates enough to tell Syvia about her diary and asks her to read it. Sylvia begins to read and at first it is a lovely love story. Soon, however, this starts to twist and turn. Is Adam really the man Victoria thought she married? He is super controlling, and Victoria has no life at all. So I am thinking it is a story about a controlling husband who ends up hurting his wife. But really, the story then twists!

The story switches between Victoria’s life as shown through the diary, and Syvia’s thoughts on what is going on in the house as she gets to know Adam. Should Sylvia help Victoria or Adam? Who is the true antagonist of the story?
I could NOT quit listening. I had to find out was Victoria evil or is Adam evil?

Simply: Wow, I loved this book!

The book starts off with Sylvie, a unemployed girl who is approached by a rich good looking guy in a diner about coming to work for him and his wife at their enormous house out in the boonies of NY. (Obviously this girl has never seen a scary movie or read a scary book, because we all know this is NOT going to end well). All that aside, she agrees to the great pay and easy job ultimately. The wife has been left severely brain damaged after a tumble down the windy stair case (RED FLAG SYLVIE!!). Anyway she takes the job and Vikki the wife manages to communicate to Sylvie that she needs to read her diary to find out about the true Adam (gosh I forgot his name...??) So the chapters involve the present time of Sylvie and Vikki's diary. The more Sylvie reads the diary (which FYI if I was reading some of the stuff that apparently happened in the diary I would not have trusted him more than I could throw him) the more sinister the couple's marriage appears. I don't know how she continued to not read the diary all the way to completion...so this was a flaw of the book, Sylvie was pretty "dumb" when it came to agreeing and going along with everything that Adam did and said. So yes she was a pushover. I think I am glorifying this book a little, but it caught me at the right time and mood. But the writing was VERY face paced and EASY to read. The build up and reveal were perfectly timed. The book did not drag and definatly will keep you on the edge of your seat.
This was my first book by Freida McFadden who apparently is a doctor, as a dietitian her references to feeding tube and formulas were for the most party spot on.I think I will add more of her books to my TBR for sure after reading this book. You will enjoy this book, just let go of completely believable and you will have a great ~10 hours reading this book! Enjoy!

Thank you Netgally for the advanced listener version of this audio book. The narration was fantastic.

Sylvie accepts a position caring for Adam's injured wife, Victoria. She thought Victoria had the perfect life before her injury... until she discovered Victoria's diary. Things may not have been as perfect as she thought.

I have mixed feelings on this one. First, it was kind of repetitive, which made it drag. I swear, some of the sentences were identical. (Had I not been listening to the audiobook, I may have researched that more.) Secondly, it was pretty predictable. I didn't dislike the book- I just wasn't wowed by it, either.

The audio narration by Angie Kane was ok. I hated the chapters from Victoria's diary. The narrator switched to a breathy, annoying tone that drove me crazy. Other than that, the narration was fine.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Okay.. wew were do I begin. First I would like to say that even though it's similar to Verity I did a appreciate her twist on it. I see reviews on here , being upset with the author for having a similar story but you have to remember that everyone and I mean everyone learns and gets inspired by other artist. I myself sing and have covered many songs and people still enjoyed it because guess what, everyone has their own twist on things
With that being said let's get into the book
Did I start this book at night and finished it this morning. Yes I did. It was that good to me. The pacing sometimes felt off and I would have condensed some of the filler scenes, however when it got good it got good. I would read this or listen. To the audio because the narrator does a fantastic job!

Sylvia Robinson can't believe her luck when she is asked to be a live in "friend" for a wheelchair bound woman who has suffered a serious injury. In the right place at the right time, this job is perfect for Sylvia who has recently lost her job and boyfriend and is running late on her rent. Although the house out in the middle of nowhere New York gives Sylvia the creeps, she can't turn the opportunity down. It doesn't hurt that the husband and her new boss is gorgeous. But once Sylvia moves in and secrets are uncovered, she soon realizes that life in the beautiful house may not be all that she was hoping for.

I loved this psychological thriller! It was well-paced and the mood was set perfectly. There were just enough twists and turns to really up the creepy factor. The characters were well-developed and you didn't know who to trust. Although there were parts of the book that were obvious, there were some real jaw dropping moments. I could not put the book down for the last 50% of the book.

I would also mention that this book is very similar to Verity, by Colleen Hoover, which I know many others have mentioned. Having read Verity first, earlier this year, I cannot help but draw similarities. In the end, I still really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to any psychological thriller-lovers.

I didn't like this. The plot was too byzantine and the writing was not great.


Review copy provided by publisher.

This book had my attention from the beginning. I loved the characters and wanting to know more about them. I liked the diary entries as well. It gave me an insight into Vickie’s life before. Although it gave me similar vibes to verity i thought it was pretty different. This is my first book by this author and i will be picking up more as i thought the writing was intriguing.


My received the audio from NetGalley on a read and review basis. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

"The Wife Upstairs" is an okay thriller but it's one I've read or listened to a thousand times. If you've read one, you've read them all. It's a Jane Eyre retelling again. It's a good one, but similar to the rest, nothing exceptional or notable. 3/5

Sylvia is hired by a handsome recluse to care for his wife with a brain injury. As she settles into life as a caregiver, Sylvia begins to uncover dark family secrets.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was all just a little too unbelievable. Then, when I got to the end, it was REALLY unbelievable. The narrator was good and it was an easy read, but I knew the ending from the beginning.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC!

2 1/2 stars rounded up to 3? I guess? I am on the struggle bus with this one. This book sucked me right in from the very beginning. The narrator was fantastic! The way she depicted Victoria was spot on and really gave you a sense of her struggles. Unfortunately it was the plot itself that had me all 🤨🤔. I was getting some pretty serious Verity vibes while listening to this. The debilitated wife upstairs. The husband of questionable moral character. But this one just kept getting more and more ridiculous as it progressed until I found myself eye rolling by the end.

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, and the author for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

The Wife Upstairs
Freida McFadden
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Victoria Barnett has it all.

A great career. A handsome and loving husband. A beautiful home in the suburbs and a plan to fill it with children. Life is perfect—or so it seems.

Then she’s in a terrible accident… and everything falls apart.

Now Victoria is unable to walk. She can’t feed or dress herself. She can’t even speak. She is confined to the top floor of her house with twenty-four-hour care.

Sylvia Robinson is hired by Victoria’s husband to help care for her. But it turns out Victoria isn’t as impaired as Sylvia was led to believe. There’s a story Victoria desperately wants to tell... if only she could get out the words."

Okay, so hear me out! You may have seen the comments that this novel is “just another” Verity. The general plot could definitely be considered similar, however the focus of the books is very different…. Verity is much more about the relationships between the “new woman” and the family (much heavier on the romance aspect) and The Wife Upstairs is much more heavily focused on the relationship between husband and wife. In general, I MUCH preferred the plot line of this novel… it was actually everything I wanted from Verity. I highly encourage you to read what the author has said about the similarities/differences between the two if you had a similar gut reaction.

👍🏼

• I love a thriller that flips between past and present relationships, especially through a plot device of a diary, letters, etc. where we’re left wondering just how reliable a narrator is.
• The pacing of this was incredible, every chapter left you wanting more. I finished this in less than a day!
• I HIGHLY recommend the audiobook. The narrator did such a great job with cadence and tone, my heart rate was definitely up.

👎🏼

• The only thing I didn’t love revolved around how quickly she found the diary.

!!

Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse

Well that was a mind blower of a book. I was sure I knew what happened. Then I wasn’t. Then I was FOR SURE I had it. And I didn’t but I did. Yep this review has whiplash just like the story. Terrific mystery for sure.

I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator was awesome. Victoria’s voice could not have been easy and she was so believable I forgot she wasn’t really Victoria.

This book is dangerously identical to Verity by Colleen Hoover, which resulted in some mixed feelings. Obviously I loved this book (because it follows the same plot line (and I lovedddd Verity), but I also feel like CoHo was robbed a bit. Plus, it lacks the steam of Verity, which was fab. The audiobook narrator did a great job, especially with Victoria’s slurred/impaired speech. Still entertaining to listen to!

The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden

Victoria Barnett has it all, a great career, beautiful house and a handsome and loving husband. But then a terrible accident changes everything.

Her accident leaves her unable to walk, let along dress herself and even speak much. She is now confined to the top floor of her house with care from others.

Adam, Victoria's husband hires, Sylvia Robinson to help care for Victoria.

But Sylvia soon realizes Victoria may not be as impaired as she was led to believe! Victoria is trying to say something...

Can Victoria convey what she needs to before it's too late? Can she be trusted?

A new author to me! I was captivated from the beginning!!! Great story!!

Thank you Freida McFadden, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio to listen to this book in return for my honest review!