This book was so well written ! Plenty of suspense and told by dual POV - Hannah and Susan. What I loved the most about this book was the ending.

I was expecting more from this book … I found myself skimming and just trying to get through it, I was unfortunately bored. This book has two perspectives, Hannah “the mistress” and Susans. Both wives/married, both wanting to be with Mark (lord knows why he was sad and boring). The book was not mind blowing, even predictable in parts. I enjoyed the two perspectives of the women and the story went in a direction I wasn't expecting. I do like the authors writing and detailing, which is why I rated it 3 stars.

The Mistress by Valerie Keogh is an entertaining and engaging story of two women, one the wife, Susan and the second the mistress, Hannah Parker.
When Hannah Parker’s wealthy husband finds out she has been lying to him, he beats her very badly and then later has a stroke. Hannah then needs an exit plan and returns home to her mother’s house.
She finds an old photo in a book of an old boyfriend, Mark who fell in love with her when they were at university. She decides that she will meet up with him again, even though she knows he is married with one child.
So, that is what she does, she ensnares him, like all the other men she has ever known. However Susan, Mark’s wife knows something has changed in her marriage and hires a private investigator to find out who is the woman.
Then when she eventually finds out she tracks her down, believing she has killed her husband. The two women despite their differences, do actually get on and Hannah agrees to leave Mark to his wife. She is really tired of him and cannot envisage living with him now.
What happens to the two women once they leave and go about their separate ways is very clever.
Highly recommended

The Mistress
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Valerie Keogh

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Boldwood Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: She wants what you have...

Hannah Parker is a woman who always gets what she wants.

When her current husband discovers she has been lying to him – again - she knows it’s time to move on and find someone who can give her the life she desires… The life she knows she deserves…

But who will be the lucky man?

When her eye catches a glimpse of an old flame in a photograph, she’s sure it’s a sign. Mark Shepherd has always been in her thoughts – they’d been happy once, he’d adored her, but she’d made a mistake and let him get away. She won’t make the same mistake again….

Hannah is older now and wiser. She knows what men want and she knows how to keep them happy.

So what if Mark is happily married with a family of his own?

All good things must come to an end…

My Thoughts: This book is a clever twist on the typical mistress thriller books. Hannah Parker is married and not happily. She decides she has enough and needs to move on. When she was going through some books, she discovered a photograph of an old flame, Mark Shepherd. She was truly happy with him once upon a time. It does not matter that his is currently married. Susan suspects Mark’s infidelity and decides she will not give up without a fight. What Hannah wants, Hannah gets, or does she? Will Susan keep her marriage, or will the infidelity, secrets, and lies become too much? This follows the cheating husband and mistress trope with a flare.

The story is narrated by the Mistress, Hannah, and the wife, Susan, in their respective perspectives, with an alternating timeline. Hannah is stuck in a marriage with a wealthily 70-year old, whom becomes violent with her after he finds out she has been lying about being on birth control pills. Hannah is a confident, independent, and always gets what she wants. Susan, the wife to Mark, has been married for a while. Their son just left for university, and she is experiencing empty nest syndrome, missing her son something awful, when she discovers that her husband may be having an affair. Susan is a little co-dependent, and overbearing in the beginning, but as her character develops, I really begin to connect with her. The characters were well developed with depth, mystery, secretive, and creatively curated. The author’s writing style was complex, twisty, suspenseful, tense, and engaging from the first sentence to the last sentence.

I really like the spin that the author used in this book. She would give some information, but not all, and fill it in later in pieces. Some readers do not like this style but I think it elevates the mystery. The author opens the story with a bang, then builds the characters up, delivers the plot in twisty layers with deceit, secrets, and lies. The flow and the pace was spot on for this storyline. Then the ending was surprising, not what I thought it would be.

I tend to gravitate towards authors under the Bookouture label, such as Keogh, Hurst, and McFadden, to name a few. This label has some solid thriller genre authors. This was a gripping, captivating, compelling, dark, edge of your seat psychological thriller with a subgenre of domestic family. I love the unpredictability that it veered from the traditional cheating husband. Keogh spun an excellent story of deception, truth mixed with lies, love and hate blended together, betrayal interloped with secrets, and two very broken women. Keogh really nailed this storyline. I really enjoyed this story and would highly recommend to other readers. Available on KU!

Susan thinks she has the ideal life caring for her husband, Mark, and her son, until her son leaves for college and her husband has an affair. Hannah is the other woman. Mark and Hannah dated when they were in college, and when Hannah's marriage ends, she tracks down Mark and proceeds to seduce him.

Hannah is such an unlikable person, and the author does an excellent job of making you dislike Hannah, and then suddenly you feel sorry for her. Mark is an unremarkable character, but I feel like the author did this on purpose so that the story concentrated on the two women. I loved how Susan took charge of her own life in the end. I was practically cheering her on! The ending of the book had me in shock. I was expecting something totally different to happen.

If you like thrillers with characters you love to hate, this is the perfect book for you.

After reading the book I was not surprised or entertained as I thought that I would be. The book disappointed me. In the beginning the story did grip me about the abusive wife and revenge. Once the story transformed to flashbacks it talked about the FMC being a promiscuous lady of the night on a college campus and after college and all she ever wants is money and a sugar daddy. Then her friend Mark is being smothered by his mother because she worries about him going away to college. There is no suspense, thriller or anything that captures my attention and maintains it for the duration of the book.

What a great read with lots of twists and turns. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and a big fan of Valerie Keogh. Would definitely recommend

A very good read that will keep you turning the pages. Mark and Susan are plodding along with their lives, their only son Drew headed off to college. Susan has a classic case of empty nest syndrome. Susan is unaware that Mark’s ex Hannah has decided to win him back, no matter what it takes. The book is fast paced with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. One to read.

There is so much more to this than the expected affair.
Told from the two points of view of the mistress and the wife, Very well written you quickly get into both of their minds and despite their weaknesses find sympathy for them.
Strong women are trying to write their own narratives away from the weak men that dominate their lives.
An enjoyable read with an unexpected and brilliant twist at the end.

Mark is weak! But Hannah is the perfect kind of wicked… I felt bad about her being treated poorly by her husband and her relationship with her mother but MAN is she good at deception. Susan annoyed me but in the best way possible - I wanted her to stand up for herself and stop feeling so bad for herself.. Mark, Mark, Mark… he played right into Hannah’s hands and I loved it

Quick read, great characters… loved it!

A brilliant gripping read. A great tale of love, deceit and lies. The story mainly tells the story of two ladies Hanba and Susan who have reached middle age but have led two different lives. Susan happily married with a son and Hannah who was led a turbulent life but their lives become entwined by Susan’s husband.

A just ok read….didn’t believe the lead was soooo attractive that the situation would progress that far and how stupid a man could be (though that seemed more plausible ).

Another Awesome book by Valerie Keogh, engaging, thought provoking, shocking and just the right amount of suspense. Fabulous. A recommended read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book. This is the first book I've read by this author, and I enjoyed it! I found the story started out a little bit confusing, but as you read on, it starts to make sense. I found that the story was picking up steam more in the last 2/3 of the book. The characters were sometimes hard to like, but overall the story was intriguing enough to keep me interested. The story basically revolves around 3 main characters. The first being Hannah, who is the one we meet first. She is fleeing an abusive relationship and wanting to reclaim a former love she had, but basically threw away when she was younger. You learn pretty quickly what Hannah's ultimate motivations are and what she's after. The love that she threw away was with her former boyfriend Mark. It appears that he's now married to Susan and they have a child. Susan is the 3rd main character. As the wife of the man that Hannah is after, we learn what Susan will and will not put up with. Susan appears at first to be a bit of a weak character, but we learn that she's stronger than she seems. Hannah is more than she seems as well, and meanwhile, Mark really is the weakest link in this trio. He's fairly one-dimensional and is not a strong character or man for that matter. When Hannah makes up her mind that she wants something, she doesn't seem to let anything, or anyone stand in her way...but Susan isn't going to simply lay down and take it either. Although there are no big twists or explosive moments, it was still a quick, easy read. 3.5 for this one. I'll be checking out other books by this author too.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

Hannah has always gotten by on her good looks, but as she got older, she decided marriage was her best option Not just any marriage though, an old, rich man, one who would keep her in the custom is used to, and hopefully not live too long. Hannah does not choose wisely though and Ivan, is a bully who abuses her and almost kills her. She comes across a photo of an old boyfriend,Mark, and remembers how much he loved her, she decides it is time to recapture that feeling. Hannah makes it her mission to win Mark back, but mark's wife, Susan, is not willing to give him up. Susan decides she will do whatever is nescessary to protect her family and wonders how far she is actually capable of going to keep Mark where he belongs.

This was a fun quick read with a great twisty ending. I liked tha pace of this book and the storyline was a classic mistress story but then again it wasn't. Will definitely read more books by this author.

This author has quickly become one of my favorites!

Hannah Parker is a confident, and a very determined woman and it doesn’t matter how far will she go to reclaim what she believes is hers she will get it!
Hannah is extremely unhappy in her marriage to Ian. She wants to recapture her old love Mark Shepherd. The only flaw in her dream is that Mark is now married to Susan and has a grown son. Hannah won’t let that stand in her way and continues to hunt down Mark’s affections without a care for the consequences or lives she’s messes with.
But Susan suspects Mark’s infidelity but is not going to give up without a fight to claim what is hers. Who will be the winner? What will be the consequences of the infidelity, and of all the lies and deception in the marriage? The chapters alternates between the woman and boy oh boy I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!

This story is told from dual POVs, and it also contains glimpses into the past. The characters were well-written. I truly got to know them, especially Hannah. This book had it all - lies, deception, drama, and betrayal. This was a great, page-turning domestic thriller! The characters weren't lovable, but I did feel for both women and their situations. There were twists and turns throughout. There weren't many things that caught me off guard, but it was a very compelling story nonetheless. My first book by Valerie Keogh, but definitely not my last!

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fast paced, snappy book. It had me gripped throughout. The twists are good. The alternating POVs kept it engaging too.

I really enjoyed this book, The Mistress, written by Valerie Keogh. The chapters were short enough to keep my attention and I liked how they alternated between Hannah and Susan’s POV. Some of the twists were expected but the ended was not. I would recommend this book.

The Mistress by Valerie Keogh is another twisty, bingeable read from an author who is very firmly on my must read list.

Susan and her husband Mark have just sent their son off to college, and Sue is devastated to lose her only child. Hannah, meanwhile, has found a picture of her old flame Mark and decides to get in touch, confident that he will be more than willing to fall back into her bed. Will Sue lose the two men in her life at an already very vulnerable time?

Ms Keogh's writing style and well-crafted character development through dual POVs will have you flying through the pages.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.