Harriet made a deadly mistake as a teenager and now her mistake is coming back to haunt her. The twists were surprising, but the climax left a lot to be desired. The plot was fun and I enjoyed the characters. Overall, this was an enjoyable fast paced read that held my attention from the first page.

The Mistress Next Door is a twisted domestic thriller. The story is told from two points of views, mostly Harriet's, and a few chapters by the mistress.

Asha and Harriet are at the park when Amira, Asha's daughter, is injured on the playground. While trying to calm her and clean up the scrape, Tilly one Harriet's twin daughter goes missing in all the drama over Amira. Harriet calls to her and starts to get worried as they search for Tilly. The police show up and begin the search for Tilly.

Harriet is forced to call her husband who is out of town on business in Paris. Only she is unable to reach him. She leaves many urgent messages as do the police. Everyone is searching when Harriet finally takes Tess home to wait for them to continue the search.

Tilly is later returned to Harriet, and she is relieved but can't shake the terror she still feels. Oliver finally calls late in the evening to find out why she left the urgent messages only to find out that Tilly has been returned. He lets Harriet know that he will be home the next night, only he is delayed and returns home much later than expected.

Harriet tries to have a serious conversation with him, but he can't be bothered since he has to get to work. They just need to put the conversation on hold until Christmas vacation time several weeks away. Meanwhile, Harriet is getting threatening messages and notes which heighten her already frayed nerves.

Harriet is not sure who to trust now that she is afraid the truth about her past is going to come out. She is finding signs that Oliver is being unfaithful, again. She tries to follow him but doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. She overhears a conversation in a sauna with two of her friends who are discussing Oliver is cheating on Harriet and everybody know. Devasted she is determined to discover what's going on.

Everything comes to a head a few nights before Christmas at a party with all the neighbors when Harriet's children are taken to another neighbor's house without permission. Will all the secrets finally be revealed and will the children be saved.

Not your typical who did it. The story has many moving parts, many possible friends who could be the mistress what happened in the past when Harriet was a young girl. and a child who goes missing. It is riveting as each chapter ratchets up Harriet's fears over her children and her marriage. Oliver is hopeless, while at home he is a good dad, once he walks out the door, his other brain takes over and he can't be bothered. Harriet's circle of friends are all possibilities as they act strangely while she tries to find out who the mistress is. All in all, it is a good story that will keep you reading until the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC! I think this story had a lot of potential, but the plot fell through for me. I didn’t enjoy the twists or the red herrings throughout. This was my first read by this author, but I’d give them a try again.

This author has quickly become one of my favorites. I have read several of her books and they are always gripping page turners.

Harriet and Oliver have three daughters. Oliver works hard and is hardly ever home which causes tension. Harriet becomes suspicious of her husband when she receives a terrifying note after one of the twins disappears. Thankfully she is found quickly.

She finds out that he has been seeing her best friend. Oliver has cheated in the past. Harriet also has a past that she has not shared with her husband.

What are the motives of her best friend? Harriet has no idea what is coming next.

There are so many twist in this novel that I was engaged with EVERY word. Thank you Bookouture and Netgalley for this novel due out Feb 15, 2023.

#lesleysanderson, #themistressnextdoor, #bookouture, #netgalley, #booksconnectus, #bookstagram, #bookreview, #stamperlady50

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Mistress Next Door’ by Lesley Sanderson in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Harriet and Oliver live in Prospect Close, a pleasant neighbourhood where everyone knows each other. But someone living close by intends to do Harriet harm and she knows why but doesn’t know who. When she receives threatening written notes and texts messages she worries for the safety of her twins, Tilly and Tess, and baby Lucy.

‘The Mistress Next Door’ is an enthralling thriller that’s kept me gripped from the beginning. There’s lots of intrigue and suspense that increases as the story progresses and we learn the secrets that Harriet kept hidden that start to emerge as the chapters go back in time to 2006. The tension builds nicely until we get near to the conclusion which makes interesting reading but I thought was a bit of a disappointment. Nevertheless, it’s a good solid read that I’ve enjoyed and can recommend.

Great blurb and the first couple of chapters really grabbed me but then it just dragged and just went through the motions with not much happening. There was a past and present timeline running and I love when there is a storyline running in the background that builds suspense but this one didn’t really give you anything to grab onto. There wasn’t any twists to keep your interest. I found Harriet as a character extremely annoying and repetitive and as for Oliver 🤬. Unfortunately I didn’t feel I really got to know any of the characters which for me is crucial in a read. The ending was really rushed like it had to fit in to a certain number of pages and how it all came together along with the ‘why’ was a little underwhelming. I was looking forward to this one and the blurb had me intrigued but unfortunately it just didn’t live up to the expectation.

2.5/5 🌟🌟/🌟

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read #TheMistressNextDoor

The Mistress Next Door is a domestic thriller with many dark secrets and cheating husbands.
When reading the first few chapters it seemed like an overwhelmingly amount of characters to get to know. It took me awhile to remember and figure out who exactly they were. Once I figured this out, I started to enjoy the storyline a lot more.
Recommended for readers that are looking for something in the suspense/thriller genre.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was captivating from the very beginning. I wasn’t expecting the drama to start right off but it did and as a mom, my heart was pounding.

Lies, secrets, kidnapping, affairs, crazy ex’s, death…this book has it all. It kept me hooked. I will say there were a couple of times I got a little lost/confused, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any lovers of suspense.

SPOILERS:
I secretly do wish we had gotten to see more of the continued life of Harriett, and more of Oliver's demise. But that's just me being the bitter divorcee that I am. I love that Harriett's character wasn't dependent on a man for financial stability. She had her own business and stood her ground, knowing that she could provide for herself and her kids just fine on her own. That is refreshing.

Harriet and Oliver live in a posh neighbourhood with their 3 daughters, twins Tilly and Tess as well as infant Lucy. After Tilly disappears Harriet starts receiving threatening messages. Does this have to do with what happened when she was a teenager?

I really wanted to love this book but I just found the writing to be a little chaotic. The dialogue between characters was hard to distinguish at times. Personally I felt the story dragged through the middle, only to have it come together in the last few pages.

Wow. Fantastically well written with so many threads intertwined you only truly understand what is going on in the final few pages. So easy to develop empathy for a number of the characters. Who knows what goes on in a quiet suburban street?

This book was a quick read and overall I enjoyed it. The female MC showed so much strength. Not sure I would have been able to hold it together the way she ultimately did. The reason I rated it the way I did was because at times I felt the story dragged in parts.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an advanced copy for my honest review!

This book had me suspecting EVERYONE!! I loved the characters, I loved the wealth, I loved the suspense. A great plot twist at the end!

The story was pretty nice and the build up was done in a good way. Unfortunately there were a few consistencies in the story which made it difficult to follow.
The great mysterie in this story is the identity of the mistress. But this was very easy to guess from even the first moment she is introduced in the story. So there was no surprise there for me. And so a lot of the suspense of this story was gone pretty quick.
There are still a few nice plot twists and it wasn't a bad story. Just not one in my top thriller reads.

I really liked and enjoyed this book. It has some good twists, but there were also a couple things I guessed from the start. The length of the book was perfect! It kept me engaged and I felt like it didn’t drag. Even though I didn’t love the book, I did find myself wanting to keep reading it because there was enough that had me coming back. Overall, the book was good and I look forward to reading more from Lesley Sanderson.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.

Harriet lives with her husband Oliver and their three girls, twins and a baby. When one of the twins, Tilly, disappears from a play park and then Harriet receives a threatening note, she starts to panic that someone knows her deep dark secret.

Her marriage is also unravelling. She suspects that Oliver is having an affair, after all he’s done it before and all the signs are there.

The book occasionally dips back to 2006 and slowly reveals Harriet’s big secret.

Along with that we have the build up to who is sending the notes and who Oliver’s mistress is.

I enjoyed this, although I felt there was a lot of characters to try and follow. The build was slow but this was good for suspense.

Wild, Propulsive, twisted and clever! What a Fantastic Read! 4 STARS from me WOW ! This was a new author and I can't wait to read more by Lesley.

I really enjoyed this book. An intriguing, suspenseful read with a cocktail of relatable but suspicious characters. I quickly connected to Harriet and felt for her because of the guilty secret she was keeping and her worries about her husband. The story kept me guessing until the end.

The Mistress Next Door isn’t really a thriller but there are some moments of suspense. This is one of those books that you keep hoping will get better and it does as the intrigue develops. However, throughout the entire book I had a feeling of deja ‘read’. I was invested/intrigued enough to preserve to the end. The author wrapped up all loose ends and concluded the story with a satisfactory ending.
2.5 rounded up to 3/5
Thank You to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The Mistress next door by Lesley Sanderson is the first book from the author I have read. I heard some good review on Goodreads so I thought I would give it a go.
Harriet and Olive live in Prospect Close. A small community that everyones is there for each other. But, also everyone knows each other’s business. Sometimes this can be a hinderance than a good thing. Harriet has 3 daughters with Oliver. Twins Tess and Tilly and baby Lucy. When Tess disappears whilst playing in the playground. Harriet is frantic but she is later found. She is told by her daughter that a nice man took her.
That is not only Harriets problem. She thinks her husband is cheating on her again. Even so he told her that he wouldn’t do it again and mysterious threatening notes are being hand delivered to her home. Who is threatening her and why?
Thank you Bookoutre for a copy of ‘The Mistress next door’. In most parts of this story I enjoyed. It was a tense gripping thriller. But towards the end of it, I found it to be a little confusing and found the conclusion quite disappointing 4 stars from me.

A very enjoyable thriller. I've not read this author before so I will look out for some of her other books. Thanks Netgalley for the early review opportunity.