The story has a dual timeline between the present (2017) and the past (early 80s) flipping between the story of Lore, a woman who was married to two men at the same time and Cassie, a true crime fanatic and aspiring writer whose blog material keeps her immersed in murder. Cassie is fascinated by Lore’s story, how her double life ended when her first husband kills her second husband and has spent the last decades in prison. Lore’s first family has stood by her while her second family vilifies her and mourns the unnecessary death of their father. Cassie’s obsession is starting to impact her own relationship as her focus takes her away from planning her future. As Cassie explores what and why Lore led a double life, she learns more about the complexity of Lore, her motivations and actions, it’s not as simple as it first seems.

I enjoyed the story which had a steady pace and was easy to follow despite the dual timeline. It was also interesting how the author focused on these two characters and the relationship they form. I would calling it a simmer vs. a slow burn and it held my attention and pulled me through to the conclusion.

More Than You’ll Ever Know
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (Rounded up to 4 ⭐️)
Genre: Thriller / Mystery
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 6/7/22
Author: Katie Gutierrez
Publisher: William Morrow and Company
Pages: 448
Goodreads Rating: 4.18

TW ⚠️: Alcoholism and domestic abuse

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Company for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: In 1985, Dolores “Lore” Rivera marries Andres Russo in Mexico City, even though she is already married to Fabian Rivera in Laredo, Texas, and they share twin sons. Through her career as an international banker, Lore splits her time between two countries and two families—until the truth is revealed and one husband is arrested for murdering the other. Fast forward to 2017, Cassie is immediately enticed by what is not explored: Why would a woman—a mother—risk everything for a secret double marriage? Cassie sees an opportunity—she’ll track Lore down and capture the full picture, the choices, the deceptions that led to disaster. Soon, her determination to uncover the truth could threaten to derail Lore’s now quiet life—and expose the many secrets both women are hiding.

My Thoughts: The story is narrated in alternating timelines from 1985 by Lore to the present, 2018, by Cassie, in their persepctives. The first two parts are more historical fiction with a twist of domestic drama and were a slow burn for me. However, the last part was the mystery aspect and was fast paced and page turning. The book was a little long for me and some parts probably could have been cut to get the book around 300 pages. The characters are well developed with depth, mystery, emotion, infallible, and secrets, and at the same time relatable and real. The author’s writing is complex, intriguing, and creative. My biggest concern was there was a great deal of Spanish in the book with no translation and I had to look up the words that I did not know, or skip them. However, with this being a debut novel, this author can only grow and I know she will do great things! Overall, a good read and I would most definitely pick up another novel from this author.

The premise of this book hooked me — a young journalist in 2007, Cassie, goes after the story of a woman in 1983 who had two families, one in the U.S. and one in Mexico, (children and step-children involved!)which ended in one of the husbands dead in a hotel room. What could make a woman want too families? It sounds so exhausting and so.much.work. —especially since the woman, Lore, has a senior position at a community bank in Laredo, Texas.

Cassie is broke and in a relationship with a really nice guy who has a great family. But she’s not happy in the relationship. Cassie’s mom is dead, her dad physically abused her mom and is an alcoholic, and she has a younger brother who she left with the dad. Lots of unresolved issues there, but honestly — I didn’t care about or connect with Cassie.

What I learned about a female who has two families is that they are just as unlikeable and selfish as a male who does the same thing. It’s just not interesting. There is a story in there, but not the one I spent 448 pages reading. The unrealistic thing I could not wrap my head around is why Lore would talk to Cassie. Why would she open that door? The reason given just didn’t work for me.

I did love the descriptions of Laredo, Texas, which were spot on! It is such an interesting area of the country.

A woman living two lives, married to two men, that all ultimately ends up in one husband murdered and one in prison. What a premise, and this author definitely delivered!

Now, to be clear, this book is definitely not the thriller I went into this expecting it to be. It has a much slower pace than I was expecting so I'd categorized this more as a mystery. But despite this I was pulled in the whole time and didn't want to put this book down. I just love when authors are able to use little details you don't initially notice to pull the story together.

I loved both Lore and Cassie, they were both great and believable characters. I'm still not sure if Cassie's relationship added or detracted to the story, but I guess it did round her out more. I did love how her family dynamics played into this though and added layers to her, helping us better understand her career choice. And Lore was just a fantastically complicated and incredible and flawed character. Her character was written so well.

Overall this was a fantastic book that I highly recommend!!

More Than You’ll Ever Know is a gripping fictional “true crime” novel set in South Texas and Mexico. Lovers of true crime and mystery will definitely want to pick up this novel once it’s released. Twists abound!

In 2017, Cassie Bowman is obsessed with true crime podcasts, TV and literature. As a novice journalist she has aspirations of revealing the perfect true crime story that will gain her fame and fortune. Browsing the internet, she discovers an angle that she believes worthy of her aims and skills: a woman who was married to two men at the same time that resulted in a murder. Cassie puts her life on hold (she is engaged) and goes to Laredo to track down the story.

Back in 1985, Lore Rivera is married to both Andre in Mexico City and Felix in Laredo. She loves them both, but is risking family, both husbands and a successful banking career to maintain a dual life. It can’t go on. Cassie burrows into Lore’s past to fashion a crime story with a female slant that will show Lore’s point of view. But which woman is learning the most about herself?

Gutierrez consistently uses a dual timeline to show what both women have to gain and to lose through actions, past and present. The first half of the book builds their characters. It is very slow and could have used some editing. In the second half of the book, the action picks up, but by then interest has somewhat flailed. Neither woman is very engaging, sympathetic or riveting. Mistakes and assumptions are made by both, as more family drama is revealed. Not really a thriller, but an exploration of marriage, family, loyalty and duty. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

I had a hard time getting into this. Good premises but a slow burn read. Also pet peeve when Spanish words or any other language words are used people who don't speak the language have to either go with the flow, figure it out, or look the word up takes away from in my opinion the flow of reading a book. Even if its just a word here or there.


Thanks to the author the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Interesting plot about a woman who marries a man in Mexico despite being married to a man in the US. Her husband in Mexico is murdered by her US husband who is convicted and sent to jail. A journalist tries to get the woman to tell her side of the story and how she ended up being married to two men. The book switches back and forth in time so the reader gets the background but also understands the aftermath of her decision. Good read.

This book is about Cassie a true crime blogger wanting to write a true crime novel about Lore a woman with a double life. Lore has two husbands, one in Laredo, Texas with whom she has twin sons. She meets Andres in Mexico City who has two children and marries him also. One of the husbands will die.
This is a slow burner literary suspense about two women who for purely selfish reasons do whatever it takes to get what they want. In the case of Lore, she had to realize that this could not last forever. She loved both men. Eventually, it would be found out.
Cassie is a woman with a chip on her shoulder who is broke and wants to make it big even at the cost of losing family and fiancé. Neither of the woman are truly likable.
The book was well over 400 pages and it was hard to get into initially. There was much time spent reading about how the relationships grew. But after about 1/4 of the book I really wanted to find out what would happen. I enjoyed the story about Lore. This is a debut book by Katie Gutierrez and she did a good job.
I want to thank William Morrow and NetGalley for my early ebook copy. The book goes on sale June 7.

This book introduces us to Cassie, a true crime obsessed blogger/journalist, and Lore, an older woman who was involved with two men, Fabian and Andres, at the same time, that ended with the murder of Andres.

From the beginning, we think we know who killed who, and the premise of the book is that Cassie is writing a novel about Lore, from Lore's perspective, on how she became entangled, and married, to both men at the same time. However, as the book progresses, and Cassie digs further and further into the past, and Lore's relationships with her two husbands, her children, and her extended family, things are revealed to not be as they seem.

Do not go into this book expecting it to be a nail biting thriller. This is a domestic drama, about family, relationships, and how the choices we make have a ripple effect and impact those around us.

I enjoyed this book, and felt the build up and reveal to all have been done very well, and also enjoyed how Cassie and Lore grow and change as characters, and become closer to each other. I was satisfied with the ending and how it wrapped up, and would recommend this to readers who enjoy domestic dramas and mysteries.

Thank you to William Morrow, Book Club Girl, and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this novel for this review.

This is a story about the lengths we'll go to protect family.  It is 1983 and Lore Rivera is married to Fabian Rivera, the mother of twin boys, and an executive at a community bank in Laredo, Texas.  She travels to Mexico City to attend a wedding hosted by one of her clients, and there she meets Andres Russo.  She does not let on that she is married, and the two soon fall into a relationship -- aided by the business trips that she regularly makes to Mexico City.  In 1985, despite still being married to Fabian, Lore gets married to Andres and splits her time between the two countries.  Two years later, the truth comes to light, and one husband is arrested for the murder of the other.

In 2017, struggling writer Cassie is engaged in her usual practice of scouring the internet for true stories that she can write-up for the website she works for as a freelancer.  She comes across a news article detailing the murder of one of Lore's two husbands by the other.  Cassie is immediately intrigued by what more is behind the story  -- she is sure it has the making for a book that will finally launch her career.  She convinces Lore to agree to a series of interviews about what led to that fateful day, all while doing her own research.  Cassie soon discovers the story is even more complex than she could have guessed.  But as she finds herself pulled deeper into Lore's web, Cassie is also facing the prospect that secrets from her past that she has kept hidden from most of those who came to know her as an adult -- but not Lore -- will come to light and undermine the life she has carefully built.

This was a terrific book, combining the best aspects of a family saga (really the saga of two families) with a murder mystery.  The structure of the novel, switching between the past and present and the perspectives of the two main characters, worked well for building suspense.  This book excels at unfolding the mystery over the course of the story, providing just enough new information to keep the reader hooked at each stage of the story.  I'm excited to see what comes next from this author!

Strongly recommended!

I found the premise of More Than You'll Ever Know very intriguing, but I struggled with the length and pace of the book. The book is broken into three parts and due to the incredibly slow pace of parts one and two, I considered giving up on the book a couple of times. It does pick up a bit in part three but by the time the twist is revealed I had already figured it out. It should also be noted that this book is more of a family drama than a thriller.

QUICK TAKE: first of all, love the cover. Unfortunately, I struggled with this book that totters between a journalist investigating a Dateline-esque murder mystery and the woman at the center of said mystery. I was bored by both timelines and I think in an oversaturated marketplace of thrillers and domestic suspense novels, this one just didn't rise to the top for me.

What would it be like to live a double life? To truly love both husbands, both families? Lore (Delores) did just that; and 30 years later, journalist Cassie starts to converse with Lore after discovering her story. Told in two timelines, 2017 and 1985+, each woman has reasons to hide parts of herself from the other, as Cassie begins to unravel the events of Lore's life and has a reckoning with her own childhood. Honestly, I did not find Cassie's story all that neccesary to the novel and it grew a bit tiresome. I would also quibble with the propensity of the author to throw in Spanish phrases/conversation - making it a bit more difficult to follow some of the emotions of the characters.

More Than You'll Ever Know
by Katie Gutierrez
Pub Date: June 7, 2022
William Morrow & Company
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
* Mystery * Thriller * Fiction
Two husbands? Two Lives? An evocative drama about a woman caught leading a double life after one husband murders the other, and the true-crime writer who becomes obsessed with telling her story—this masterful work of literary suspense marks the debut of an extraordinary new writer.
This book was a disappointment for me. Overall, this is a decent debut with an interesting story. I would definitely read another book from this author, but I hope it’ll be a bit shorter in length.
This was not a thriller for me.
3 stars

I absolutely loved this book. I am pretty picky giving out 5 stars and this one had that quality that I will be thinking for months that definitely gets 5 stars. The book has dual timelines, but not in a typical way - it's one storyline threaded across both time periods. Lore was one of the most interesting characters I have read in some time and it was really brilliant to have the book split time between seeing her "live action" in the mid-80s when she was involved (and married!) to two different men in two different countries, and then hearing her recollection of the time as she talks to Cassie, a true crime writer. I felt I had a good grasp of all the characters, even the more minor ones like Lore's sister Marta while at the same time, being able to focus on the main characters of Lore, Fabian, Andres, and Lore's twin sons. I also loved the mix of Spanish words and phrases into the book - it added so much flavor to the book and even though my Spanish skills are only passable, I was able to catch on to most of it and enjoyed looked up the words I didn't know. I'll definitely be recommending this book to anyone that will listen - it isn't a fluffy book but would still make a great vacation read!

While a murder lies at the heart of this story, it feels like the book is just as much a character study around the two protagonists, Lore and Cassie. Happily married in the 1980s, Lore goes on a trip to Mexico City and meets Andre and falls in love. Falls in love so deeply that she begins a relationship with him and ends up marrying him - despite still being married to Fabian and being mother to their twins, cuates, Gabriel and Mateo. Andre offers her things that don't or no longer exist in a relationship with Fabian that has spanned decades. In trying to have everything, Lore ends up losing when her deception is found out, Andre ends up in dead and Fabian ends up in prison for his murder. Cassie, approximately thirty years later, is trying to elevate her career in true crime, and a story about Lore is too hard to pass up. Cassie feels like she has a unique edge in telling Lore's story; she comes from a home with an alcoholic and abusive father, and a mother that died giving birth to her much younger brother, Andrew. When she graduates from high school she has a difficult decision to make. Does she stay to ensure her father is truly staying sober and taking care of Andrew, or does she leave when she has the opportunity to escape and pursue her own passions? Even though the circumstances are completely different, both women have the opportunity to pursue what makes them happy, but it comes at the cost of people that mean the most to them. This bonds the women together, but the bond Cassie's made with Lore puts her in an ethical dilemma as she slowly begins to discover just exactly what happened the day Andre died? Do Andre's children deserve the full truth? Is it worth destroying the fragile family bonds that have been rebuilt by Lore, her first husband and her sons? This story by Gutierrez tends to drag at points, but it also does at really great job of examining the choices women have to make between themselves and the people they love. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Someone is leading a double life, and it isn't the husband.

Dolores "Lore" is caught between two worlds. One is with her loving family in Laredo, Texas. Her and her husband, Fabian have twin boys. She risks more than she bargains for when she marries Andreas Russo in Mexico and the dance begins.

Her double life will soon unravel when she is caught, lies are revealed, someone ends up dead.

This is one long book, close to 450 pages. The premise is intriguing and my expectations were high, I was expecting a "gripping" mystery. This is very much a slow burn, family drama. If you go into it with those expectations, it may work better for you.

I found it thought provoking, and I did want to finish and find out the deets, but the ride needed some more energy and intensity. This was a debut, and I like to give debut authors another chance.

A fun buddy read with Jayme, Michael, Michelle, DeAnn, and Regina. Go check out their awesome reviews and find out who solved the case!

Thanks to Scene of the Crime and NG for the arc. OUT June 7, 2022

This debut novel really grabbed me in the final part. We have two viewpoints presented – Cassie – a true crime blogger; and Lore – a woman who is leading a double life.

Cassie becomes obsessed with Lore and her life of deception. Lore is married to two men and has a family in Mexico City and one in Laredo. How she manages to keep up the charade for years is an interesting tale! Things explode when her first husband murders her second husband.

As Cassie digs deeper into Lore’s life and story, she tries to understand Lore’s motivation and justifications. It’s a slow burn story as we follow Lore meeting Andres at a wedding in Mexico City, witness them falling love, surviving a major earthquake, and eventually to the fateful day when Andres is murdered.

This one has a lot of Spanish phrases that I thought added to the authenticity, but I would have appreciated a few more translations. I think it could have benefitted from editing to make it shorter. This is not a fast-paced thriller but does have a mystery element. I did enjoy exploring how and why someone can build a second life. It was also interesting to read about Cassie and how she becomes obsessed with the subject of her book. Is that a good thing or the only way to get it done?

My first buddy read and it turned out to be a bust!!!!

DNF at 28%

The pace is too slow, there is far too many Spanish words and terms for anyone unfamiliar, the Mexican economic crisis of the 80's is too boring a subject matter to hold my interest, both Lore and Cassie are very unlikable women, and at over 400 pages this is much too long and I dreaded whenever I had to pick this up.

Thanks for the company Jayme, Michael, Holly, DeAnn, and Regina. Some of us liked this more than others but I'm the only one to abandon it. Make sure to check out their thoughtful reviews!

Thank you to Scene of the Crime and NetGalley for my complimentary copy.