What a gripping thriller.

This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

The Marriage Secret by Carey Baldwin is a fast paced thriller that kept me guessing until the end!!
Holly has an emotionally abusive husband and a new baby. She struggles with her marriage and is also trying to protect her daughter, Jolene. Did anyone else have the song in their head every time they heard her name?
I finished this book in one day- once I started reading , I couldn’t stop!! I don’t want to give any spoilers, but this book was a roller coaster ride. I want to thank the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Wow what a brilliant book
A book with plenty of twists and turns
Has you hooked from the first page till the last
Thanks NetGalley

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good, fast moving domestic thriller that offers plenty of surprises along the way to keep your mind reeling. While the characters are both infuriating and naive, the plot and the twists kept me entertained and I really liked how this was set up. I didn't fully love the ending and thought it was a bit weak and convenient, but I thought it was also fitting in the end for this couple. I did like the ending twists and thought it ramped up the drama a bit. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to publisher, author, and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I haven’t been able to get into thrillers lately but this was such a great one to break that slump! Fast read that kept me guessing the whole time. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Bookature,NetGalley, and Carey Baldwin for this ARC.

Love Domestic Psychological thrillers and this one didnt fall short with its great twist at the end!

#NetGalley #Bookature #CareyBaldwin #TheMarriageSecret

No marriage is perfect, but this one is chilling. The Marriage Secret was quite a page-turner for me, from the very beginning. The more-than-one mysterious POV and the way the events unfolded hooked me right away. The pace was almost perfect.

Here are some things I LOVED about the book:

🧡 Some of the twists
I wasn’t completely happy with how part of the plot had developed (more on that below), but the twists were interesting enough to keep me hooked. It’s both good and bad when something is too difficult to predict, but many things in this book were well done.

🧡 Keeps you guessing
The book started strong, which was one of the most positive points. Once you hook the reader, it’s harder to let it go, mostly because it kept you guessing through foreshadowing. The questions in the book? I wanted the answer to them too. Once the book answers some of the questions, then more doubts arise. It’s a great motivation to keep reading.

And this is what I didn’t like as much:

🌧️ Sub-plot shift
Sometimes you’re just convinced that the story will reveal something specific (about a particular character or situation), and then it goes in the opposite direction. In this case, I wanted to know something about the character Zach, to the point that, once this was revealed, I wasn’t sure what other information I was looking forward to discovering anymore. The great foreshadowing technique from the beginning was gone for a moment. Was this now a tale of a woman’s escape? Would there be any other twists? For me, this shift happened in this book, approximately in the middle. I hadn’t stopped reading until that point, and then it took me a further week to finish the book. This was how much of an anti-climax shift it felt for me.

🌧️ The ending
Obviously, I won’t be revealing too much to avoid spoilers; however, I wasn’t entirely happy with the ending. It seemed a bit farfetched, and it pretty much turned all characters into unlikeable characters.

Overall The Marriage Secret is just my type of book and I enjoyed it a lot. I think most will appreciate the twists and surprises, especially if you love a good psychological thriller where nothing is what it seems.

The Marriage Secret was a great page turner with twists that kept me guessing. The writing was good and I look forward to reading more by Carey Baldwin.

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a domestic thriller, and I have to say - Baldwin did not disappoint! There’s so many twists leading up to the grand finale that was pretty unpredictable.

Questionable things: The characters, Holly’s “big” secret, & the ending. The characters were SO infuriating and at times their relationships were tough to read. It’s hard to continue reading something when you dislike all of the characters - don’t let this turn you away from the story. Holly’s “big” secret wasn’t overhyped in my opinion. Lastly, the ending was unexpectedly BUT it kinda seemed far fetched (I still liked it).

I have a psychology degree so I may be a little bias when it comes to reading any thriller - I love anything with a psycho 😂 I thoroughly enjoyed reading this domestic thriller & you should definitely check it out!

Trigger Warning ⚠️: domestic violence

A good psychological thriller that keeps the reader engaged from the start. I would recommend this book to my friends and I will look for more titles by this author.

This book was SO good! I gave it four stars on Good reads, and finished it in one day. She had a secret to protect, but Zach married her anyway. Their life seemed perfect to everyone on the outside. This is the type of book with twists and turns that you don't see coming! If you like thrillers, then I would highly recommend this one!

This book is full of twists, gaslighting and unfaithful spouses. It was amazing. I fell into this book and read it in a day. Loved the way it turned out in the ending.

This is a typical thriller of a woman who is in a toxic, abusive marriage and what she does to take her life back.

Goodness gracious! What a riveting domestic thriller and I mean that. Zach is extremely mentally abusive to his wife, Holly. Full of secrets and wanting to discover kept me engaged in this page-turner. Worth a read for the twists alone. Love this!

The first few chapters had me going “Woah!” The pace was quick and thrilling from the get go and I finished this quite quickly. This is the kind of plot where you know who the culprit is but you don’t know the motive.

This story follows Holly who seems to have it all - the dream life, Zach the perfect husband who is a dreamy doctor, a beautiful home and soon they will have their own child. Sounds like the perfect life right? What could possibly go wrong? Zach is the perfect husband to everyone who knows them however, they don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. Zach is controlling and aggressive to Holly leaving her no room to breathe but she can’t escape as he threatens her with a dark secret. But things took a turn when Holly found a secret of Zach’s too! How will she use this to her advantage?

Zach’s character is pretty hateful and it really made me wonder why Holly stayed with him all this time. It seems she had seen this side of him even before she had the baby and had plenty of chances to get out but she didn’t. The dark secret he had over her is not worth all the fear he put her through in my opinion so that was quite a let down. Zach’s mother, Frances is also another piece of work who seems supportive of Holly but will never question Zach’s actions out of her loyalty for him even when she knew it was wrong.

The plot and pace is quite well written. I enjoyed reading this even when the plot is quite predictable. I love how the author made me question Holly’s sanity. Was she imagining things or being overly suspicious? The plot twists were quite good but I feel the ending is a little unbelievable for my liking.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the arc.

If you like thrillers, you’ll like this.
If you’re a survivor of abusive and controlling relationships like me, be warned, this book can be very triggering.

I love thrillers, but I was thrown by the abuse and controlling behaviour and didn’t expect to feel the way I did reading this. It was actually difficult to read and it took me several sit downs to get through it all. There is great character development and I enjoyed that. This is a well-written novel, but despite the content, it still wouldn’t be a top thriller for me, but it’s a good one.

This was delightfully delicious and everything I like in my trashy thrillers - and that really is a compliment even if it doesn't sound that way. I sped through the pages, relishing every sordid detail, as if you can sit back and take pleasure in just how sordid some of it is. Only in books, my friends - I would only every tolerate this in books!!!

I had high hopes for this one, and on the whole I wasn't disappointed.
Zach was a horrendous character, so hats off to Baldwin for making him so detestable. His gaslighting of his wife was just awful and really got my blood boiling!
I did find the story wane a little but then when Zach gets suspected of a woman's murder, this book goes places! I wish Holly could have had more of a backbone though, she was infuriating to me at times.
But that ending! Worth it.

This story is an unexpected page turner and had interesting twists and turns. Please be aware it may be triggering for those who have been involved in domestic violence or been gaslighted by a partner. This story took a few chapters to get into but I was unable to put it down until I finished it one sitting.

Thank you to the Author, Publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC.

What a wild ride. Gaslighting to the MAX in this one. It frustrated me, kept me curious and had me questioning my theories. Fantastic execution of this one!