Thank you to Negalley, the author and the publisher for providing me the opportunity to read and review this ARC novel.

Mark and Cecilia appear to have it all, good looks, successful careers and a loving marriage - but look closer and there are cracks. After suffering a miscarriage, their marriage is a sham. After Mark bumps into a mysterious woman, he gets a new lease on life and wants out of his marriage - at any cost.

Dark and twisty, I must admit I thought I had the plot figured out about half way in. Boy, was I wrong! The author does a nice job of creating atmosphere as opposed to just telling the story and also making me (at least) not like the protagonist of the story. What a cad!

Read it, you won't be sorry.

This is a fantastic debut novel, the twist at the end makes the story.

Mark is married to Cecilia, after having a miscarriage their marriage is not working. When Mark meets Alice he finds a new lease of life. He falls in love, but the only thing keeping them from being together is the wife. She knows a secret so getting out of the marriage will not be easy, but he’s willing to take a risk.

Fast paced, twisty story with likable characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy for an honest review.

First let me tell you, this book gives zero motivation to get married or stay married hahaha. Damn with this chernomarriage!!! This was intense and confusing, and I got so mad and then confused again hahaha and I had no idea what in the actual F was happening!!!!

I'm not into stories with cheating and in here the cheating was pathetic in a new level but I was still super intrigued and couldn't put it down. It was insane. I could figure out some things but not completely. Yes it was kind of predictable BUT not fully and I loved that. This feeling of oh crap I was right but I wasn't hahahaha.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely YES!!!!! I read the entire book in a day, I just couldn't put it down and chapter after chapter there was something new. Love a good intriguing fast paced book!!!!!

TW! loss of a baby.

A man in a shattered marriage meets a woman who sparks new life in him. After losing a child with his wife, he wanders down a path of no return with this new "perfect" woman. Their illicit affair leads to a unspeakable plan for their future.

This book was an interesting read and had some good twists. It had the right amount of suspense and had the reader wanting to know what would happen next. The main character Mark was horrible (as intended by the author I'm sure)... you dislike him almost immediately, and with every chapter you grow to loathe him more. This leads you to root for his wife Cecilia, who truly plays a backseat role in this story. I've never liked a secondary (maybe tertiary) character so much. But you just NEED her to come out of this okay.

This was a debut novel for this author and I'm definitely curious to see what comes out in the future.

Thank you to Net Galley for the early release copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Mark was happily married, that is until they suffered a miscarriage. After that, it all fell apart. Mark didn’t think he could be happy again, until he meets Alice. She is perfect to Mark, everything he would want in a woman. She is a dream come true! Only problem, is he is still married, and his wife is not one to let him go easily, especially considering the secrets they share. But then, Alice comes up with a plan to make it all work out for Mark.

A great psychological thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. however, this is one of those where you need to suspend disbelief . There were a few things that didn't quite ring true and annoyed me a little. However, when I just "went with it" I enjoyed it a lot more.

Mark is happily married to Cecelia until they miscarry their only child.and their marriage starts to unravel. When Mark meets Alice at a party he is instantly infatuated (mayeb too quickly??) . But he's a good man and fights the attraction - sort of.

I dont want to say more since it will reveal too much of the plot. This is better enjoyed if you don't know too much.

I enjoyed the book. It was a quick easy read. Did I LOVE it? No. The characters felt a little flat to me and needed to be developed a little more.

Would I buy this book? Maybe I would get it from the library.

I do want to thank the author, the publisher and #nethalley for the opportunity to read and review the ARC. This did not impact my review.

Well written with good characters. I do wish the buildup had had more suspense bit it was very, very slow. The ending was totally explosive.

DNF @ 36%

This is well written, if a bit slow moving. The only thing causing me to DNF is that the story is told through the POV of an adulterous man low-key going through a mid-life crisis. If the murder aspect of the plot had been faster moving, I might have stuck with it, but 270 pages in it was mostly the main dude justifying his behaviour to himself and nah. I don't need to read about a cheater telling himself the cheating isn't his fault.

First things first: I thought the book blurb gave a little too much away. This made the book a little slow for about the first half since we knew some of what would happen. I think it would be much better going into this one with no prior info.

Mark is happily married to Cecelia until they miscarry their only child. Life after that seems empty and the couple start to drift apart. When Mark meets Alice at a party he is infatuated. But he's a good man right? As the past is slowly revealed we begin to question if this is true.

The two main characters are portrayed well and are easy to understand for the most part. Some parts of the story seemed a little far fetched to me. Their relationships with their friends felt a little off. Perhaps if those characters had been more developed it would have felt more authentic.

A good debut novel. Even though I guessed the ending fairly early on, I think many others would not. I read to many thrillers to be surprised very often. Still a very enjoyable read. I will read other books by this author.

Thanks to netgalley and Inkubator Books for the arc.

The first 3/4 of the book was difficult for me to follow, I typically prefer a must faster paced book. However, the ending of the book made up for it. The ending was completely unexpected and a shocking turn of events. I look forward to seeing more of Eliot Stevens work!

*Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this title*

This will be the shortest review I have ever given. Read this book. It took me a little longer than usual to really get into the story but once I was, there wasn't anything anyone could have done to stop me. The ending absolutely blew my mind. Read. This. Book. Bravo!! Even more incredible is that this was a debut and I can't wait to read more of this author!

Holy smokes what an amazing debut! I almost read this in one sitting because I just could not put it down! MORE PLEASE!

I have to say that although I didn't really find myself "pulling for" any of the characters... what with the cold wife, the cheating full of himself husband, the snobby whispering friends, and the mysterious "other" woman who would I choose? LOL but it was the story itself that reeled me in and held me captivated. I do love me a good revenge story and The Woman on the Bench reeks with it along with loads of deceitfulness and betrayal.

That ending was like WOW!!!!!!

This is a fantastic read that kept me gripped right from the start, I couldn't put it down. It was twisty and unpredictable and kept me guessing.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review -
A shocking ending to a great plan by a man and his girlfriend.
Mark and Cecilia seem happily married but loosing the baby has created a big gap in their marriage.
So —- when Mark runs into Alice - they leave letters under the bench, meet, and the romance gets hot. - all he wants is Alice and out of his marriage but Mark has a secret that only his wife knows and she. Could destroy him.
Does he want Alice so bad he will resort to murder? Can it work? Can he and Alice have a life together?

The Woman on the Bench,

This book was INCREDIBLE. Every time I thought that I knew what was going to happen, I was slightly diverted from the truth. I came to believe in the story I was being told, came to believe that maybe I was imagining things, much in the same way that Mark felt he could be imagining things. The writing was evocative of the paranoia, the stress, of carrying on in an illicit affair, one that drives you mad to the point of considering murder. I very much appreciated the ending and the shift in perspectives and tone. An overall great thriller.

I loved the writing style of this author, and I am excited to see what comes next from him.

Holy moly!!!! Wow!!! and all the great objectives for this one!!
This one actually blew my mind...loved every bit of it and twists that I never saw coming which is always a great thing.
This author will definitely be on my watch list now. Knows how to write a story that pulls you right in.

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

It's the stuff of romance novels: a chance encounter with a perfect stranger. A shared moment. The wish for more.

So it went for Mark and Alice, who encounter each other at a party. Mark is there with his wife Cecilia and doesn't get the chance to find out more about Alice. So, he can't believe his luck when Alice finds him, and they decide to meet at "their bench". The relationship quickly escalates.

At first, we feel sorry for Mark. He's the "good guy". But then we find out more of his back story and feel sorry for his beautiful wife, still hurting from a miscarriage, and Mark's bad behavior during her pregnancy. Plus, she knows something about Mark that could ruin him.

Mark should have known something bad was going to happen. Alice knows much more about him than he does about her. But he's thinking with his emotions not with his brain - he's so flattered by Alice's attention he can't see that he has completely lost his moral compass. You won't even feel sorry for Mark when he's blindsided. He's been so stinking smug about his affair!

Although we can see where this debut book is headed, the author meanders toward the ending so when we get there, it's with great satisfaction!

Thanks to NetGalley, Inkubator Books and Booksprout for an advance reader's copy for review.

I've read far better and I've read far worse novels than this. It was very middle of the road for me, because Eliot Stevens is a good writer. His style simply isn't for me. I struggled with the character development, and all of them fell flat for me. I think with some practice and another novel or two, Eliot Stevens will really find his voice and his novels will be great. But he definitely needs some practice with character development to keep the readers engaged.

Cecilia and Mark put a perfect marriage facade on display for the public. In private their marriage is crumbling and the added hurt is a miscarriage of a child they both wanted. Alice is the key to everything Mark has ever craved for in his life. He sees Cecilia as an obstacle that he needs to hurdle to get what he wishes. The problem? Cecilia hold deep hidden secrets from his past. A story about a doomed marriage, mistrust, and broken dreams. This story has drama, a suspenseful plot and enough twists and turns to keep the reader engrossed with the book.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for this ARC, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Honestly, this book bored me a bit until it reached a third part of the story. but the more I traced Mark's affair to Alice, the more i found intrigues occured. It was shocking me that lastly i loved about the flowing of storyline, especially the way it revealed all the problems within, who truly Alice was, the intruder and a murder plot full of strategy. It was unbelievable to figure out who actually the smartest was.
.
This Story gives me a description about a fatal effect of a married man cheating on his wife. overself passion in love would navigate you willingly doing everything for the sake of a greed that would destroy whole pieces of life. What a good story as a warning for a married couple in order to keep a faitfullness in a marriage.