I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
On a train Annie meets Mark- his beautiful eyes - he’s gorgeous - she falls hard. As her obsession grows she will do anything to have him. And when a stranger appears at their wedding she fears her happiness is tumbling. Can she hold her dreams together? Is she the woman Marks thinks she is? A strange eerie romance!

At Annie's small intimate wedding to her beloved Mark, there is a guest she does not know. Who is this stranger, and why is he there?

Annie begins to doubt herself and we are granted a front row seat to her thoughts as she flashes back through their whirlwind romance and the perfect inlaws....maybe there is something she missed. The two met at a trauma survival group. And Mark's wife was never found. Join the wedding today, and stay up all night as we get to the bottom of who was The Stranger At the Wedding!

#henryholt #thestrangeratthewedding #aegauntiett

Thank you Henry Holt & Company @HenryHoltBooks and Netgalley @Netgalley for the e-arc. All thoughts are my own.


Annie never believed in love until she met Mark. They embark on a whirlwind romance, that propels Annie through their courtship, to their wedding day.

But as she stands at the alter ready to say “I Do”, she spots a stranger in the crowd, and she learns that her new life isn’t going to be the happily ever after that she had planned.


I love books that flip between the past and present timeline, but in this case, things were hard to follow and I never was sure where I was at any given point in time. I found it to be a structural issue with the book and wish that it would have had some help during editing so that it was a smoother read. Had that happened, I think I would have ended up enjoying the book a lot more. I did find the twist of the story to be predictable, which is always a letdown. The characters were written rather shallowly, and I never felt that they were relatable. By the time the story was over I felt that I’d forgotten the characters already even though I’d just finished. It was just that kind of story.

this was a decent story, not my favorite. There were some good parts that kept me engaged, but overall I had a hard time staying engaged. I had a hard time connecting. I also sometimes got confused about who was talking because of the switching of the different points of view.

In this twisty thriller, things aren't quite as they seem -- are they ever in thrillers?!? In many ways, love has gone wrong, but can the main character fix it? She got the man after all -- or did she? Read this book if you're looking for a suspenseful, domestic thriller with a twist I never saw coming!

I was not a huge fan of this book or the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Quick easy thriller, Oh Annie and Mark got some secrets they are hiding!

Story line jumps around somewhat not terribly. There’s some mythology mixed in as well.

Would recommend

This book was a bizarre read. It felt like it changed to a completely different book halfway through. I had a hard time getting engaged with the first part of the book. It ended up being a bit of an intriguing read by the end. I felt like the flow could have been better however.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a very classic domestic thriller in the vein of Gone Girl or The Wife Between Us — new marriage, ghost of the ex wife looming large, diary entries and unreliable narrators galore. The first big twist actually did manage to shake me up a bit!

While this book isn't a standout for me (the ending in particular started to wear thin — it got predictable, and the characters, already a little one-dimensional throughout, completely lost me), it was overall a quick, decent read. I'd rate it at around 3.5 stars 🌟

This book is about Annie and Mark. They first saw each other on a commuter train. Months later, they start dating and eventually marry. Mark has been married once before. What happened to his first wife? Annie had some losses during her life.

On their wedding day, a strange man shows up. Nobody seems to know who he is and why he is there. Why did he come to the wedding, and what does he want?

The book started out slow. Around 30% it really picked up and I had a hard time putting it down. I was not expecting the truths to come out the way they did. The twists in the last 20% of the book were exciting and unexpected.

Idk how to process this book I really like when I can root for a character but everyone was kind of villianish in this story. Usually I don’t mind that but with the plot I really wanted to have a person I wanted to solve it all and come out winning. The mystery surrounding the wedding was fun though.

This book is more of a mystery than a thriller. It was confusing at times as several characters had their own mysteries the reader is trying to unravel. This had great potential but just didn’t quite capture me and I wish the author would have spent more time wrapping up the loose ends rather than stretching the various mysteries out so long. (The Cameron wrap up and the Annie wrap up needed more depth.)

This is one of those convoluted-plot novels that I love as they twist my brain into something resembling a pretzel! We are introduced to Mark and Annie at their wedding and then go back and forth in time to see what secrets each is hiding. Of course each has a "back-story" that compels the reader and had me racing through the pages as I couldn't believe the two stories would have much in common. And believe me...there are secrets and lies everywhere! I also loved the mythological references that the plot lines referenced so easily and am still breathless after finishing this gem of a book!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you Henry Holt & Company for this auto-approve.

This is a contemporary thriller set in London, UK. We are introduced to Mark, a surgeon married to a woman named Hope who disappears from everyone's lives overnight. No one knows what happened to her, what led to her disappearance, except for rumors about Mark and Hope's marriage not working out.

Then we have Annie, a History and Mythology professor who is (happily) single and who, one day, sees Mark during her commute. She experiences an insta crush and, long story short, they end up getting married. The book is divided in 4 parts. Part 1 is the Wedding Day. Part 2 is the proposal, part 3 is the honeymoon, and part 4 is the happily-ever-after. I cannot recall another book title that meant one thing prior to the reading, and a totally different thing after the read. The narrative construction is superb. It is so well done that for a moment I got bored reading because I thought I knew where the story was going and I kept asking myself what the point was reading it, when whammm! There came the unsuspected twist that completely threw me off the loop. Very well done! I also enjoyed the Pandora's box references and other Greek mythology figures. What a treat for me!

The reason why I gave this a 3..5 stars is because the flashback parts were too long, too regular, and not interesting enough. I wish I had experienced more thrill.

I was entertained but I wouldn’t say I was overly impressed by this.

it was interesting enough to keep me engage however there were a few things I didn’t like:

- multiple POV’s and different time frames W/out labels on who is speaking or when. I personally don’t need both but there were a few times I was reading through and the pov would change and I’d find myself rereading a few passages to identify who said what and how we got to this person.

- insertion of flashbacks inbetween certain scenes, the one that bothered me the most was during the proposal. Honestly that added no value, took away from the scene and could have been reflected on in a different way it felt so disruptive and misplaced.


overall, it’s a decent read, I breezed through it, I would recommend to the right person if I thought they were a fit

Did not see the twist coming at all! I really enjoyed the protagonist as a character and I was with her until the bitter end. No one could make me hate you, Annie!

The Stranger at the Wedding
A Novel
by A. E. Gauntlett
I received an advanced copy of this book from Henry Holt & Company via NetGalley.
I believe the book was hard to follow, with too many people, the book waas mussled.
Mark and Annie weren’t the most lovable of characters, and sometimes they were a bit hard to follow. The twist was a little obvious, but not in a hit you in the head sort of way.

Thank you NetGalley, A.E. Gauntlett, and Henry Holt and Co. for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this book, its a good thriller if you are just starting out in this genre. It was also an easy, quick read. I enjoyed both character backgrounds of Mark and Annie and reading to see how their past impacts their future! I was eager to finish this book to find out what happened to the characters!

Review: this is my first book by this author, so I was excited to read this. The plot was a very interesting, and started off strong.

While the first few chapters caught my attention, it was a bit of a slow burn until midway through. Annie and Mark met on a commuter train and fell in love, planning a wedding less than a year later. At the wedding, a stranger named Cameron, shows up at the wedding poking around and asking questions. After this, the plot slowed down.

The book really picked up in the midpoint and has some good twists and turns. The ending was really great as well, and I didn’t really see where it was going to go.

My main issues with the book were the different timelines. It wasn’t clear what POV or timelines the chapters were. It made it very confusing to read and really impacted my reading experience.

Also, while I felt drawn to Cameron, I felt that Mark and Annie were lacking depth. It was hard to connect to them and they showed very little empathy. Cameron on the other hand was the one I was excited to read about.

Overall, this was a good book but I do wish the chapters had headers and that more action happened earlier on. Fixing those things would make me rate this higher. I’m glad I kept reading and enjoyed the second half.

This book comes out August 13, 2024. Thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Annie reaches the altar and looks out at the people at her wedding, one man catches her eye. She doesn’t recognize him and is curious about his attendance. Little by little, she discovers her new husband might be keeping secrets – but then again, so is she. This book is told from multiple points of view and different timelines, and I sometimes had a hard time figuring out exactly what was happening. There were multiple mythology passages, and after reading the first one, I skipped the others. I understood why they were included but don’t feel I missed anything much by skipping them. The twist near the end caught me by surprise, and I raced to find out what happened. Many thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Co., and the author for the ARC of this title.