I love this book and all of the different boxes it checked for me: female drama: check. The church ladies, Mary, and Mary all provide more drama and mystery than you can shake a spatula at. Illicit romance: check, I can't give that away, but be prepared. Twist after twist: check. You will not believe the way this story unfolds throughout and at the end. The suspense is unreal and makes this an excellent and unexpected read. This author also manages to tackle some important social issues, so extra points for her there! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This book was a real treat!

The Pastor’s Wife was overall a good read. Martha comes off as mysterious, and the pastor and his wife seem like the perfect couple on the surface. I thought I had the plot figured out early on, but it definitely took a different direction—which I appreciated. It wasn’t predictable, and that kept me engaged.

That said, I wasn’t a fan of the ending. It felt rushed, and I was left wondering what happened to the cop who was supposed to help Martha. I really wish the conclusion had been more developed, with more closure around the cop, Mary, Charlotte, the town, and especially Martha.

Thank you Bookoutre and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Told in multiple POv’s this thriller will have you questioning who to believe, is it Mary the Pastor’s wife or Martha the new woman in town.

Set amongst a small town church community filled with drama and so many secrets, this thriller will have you immersed, wondering where the truth lies and enjoying the ride as you find out.

I recommend this for a quick read that will keep you engaged throughout.

Well this reaffirms my belief that you should never trust a pastor… KIDDING… sort of 🫣

As some who loves thrillers and has a ton of religious trauma, I knew I hadddd to read this when I saw it on NetGalley. Not gonna lie, the first 70%ish or so of the story kind of dragged on for me, but I was locked in for the last 30%! I guessed some of the plot twists, but there were a few that had my jaw on the floor. If you’re looking for a twisty story with dark religious themes and small town vibes, definitely check this book out!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!! 🫶🏼

I absolutely loved how this juicy, thrilling story unfolded between the Pastor's wife and the new secretary. A delicious read that I could not out down. Clever writing, unexpected twists, and intriguing characters.

ARC Review: The Pastor’s Wife by LynDee Walker

Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Setting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Themes: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Emotional: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️
Enjoyment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, LynDee Walker, and Bookouture for the advanced copy and audiobook!

This was hands-down my favorite read of the month so far. The Pastor’s Wife is a gripping, twisty small-town thriller that had me hooked from start to finish. Told in dual POVs—from the seemingly perfect pastor’s wife to the newest woman in town who takes the job as church secretary—the story unfolds in a close-knit community where everyone knows your name… and your business.

It’s one of those towns where everyone pretends to be perfect, especially in church, but behind closed doors? Secrets, lies, and plenty of gossip. You know something shady is going on, but you’re never quite sure what—addiction? affairs? theft? maybe something much darker.

The suspense builds with each chapter as you try to piece together what’s really happening and who can be trusted.

Fast-paced, intense, and packed with tension, I couldn’t stop listening/reading until I uncovered the final truth. If you enjoy thrillers full of secrets, small-town drama, and layered female characters, this one is for you.

I enjoyed the digital copy as well as the audiobook, but with the dual POV I think I preferred the audiobook with the different narrators voicing each character.

The Pastor’s Wife by LynDee Walker
Holy cannoli, this was dark! But it was a slow descent into darkness, the further I read. The way this was curated was brilliant. The story within a story, dual narration, and perspectives were fantastic.

With delicious deceitful secrets and a need to please and feel wanted, Martha was the perfect candidate to be Mary’s friend. But Marth was not the naive waif Mary assumed. Plot. Twist.

I enjoyed the buildup of this story. I liked Martha, even though she had something she was running from in her past, and her closet had some skeletons. She was a young woman who had survived trauma, and that made her wise in ways the average person just couldn’t fathom.

Mary was well written, almost too perfect. Her ability to be whatever she felt folks expected her to be was bonkers. The way her character developed from start to finish was twisted.

This is my first LynDee Walker book, and it will not be my last. I enjoyed her writing style, and she knows how to tell a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Publication date: June 16, 2025
Publisher: Bookouture

twists, twists and more twists!

The Pastor's Wife was a page turner! I devoured this book on the first day of my summer vacation. This has everything I love about a good thriller. I will be recommending this one for a long time!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC!

Wow! The twists in this one were simply shocking! It took a little while to get there, but once the first twist hits, they keep rolling out. Then you just keep turning the pages so quickly that you just devour the book! I mean… I need to talk to someone about this book because WOW!!!!!

I enjoyed the chapters being told in the two different POVs – Martha’s and Mary’s. It was so interesting to see the buildup of the two meeting and then how things played out from there. The secrets and lies that were revealed!

I never imagined that this book would end the way that it did, but it was a fantastic ending. It did leave me with question that I would love to ask the author, but otherwise, I think it was the perfect ending. That’s all I’m going to say about that because I will not spoil the book for anyone.

This book is written really well and it’s really well developed. I think thriller readers will really enjoy this one. It’s out now, so get your hands on it!

Twisty, tense, and totally unputdownable.

Whew. The Pastor’s Wife by LynDee Walker was a ride; and not the peaceful, tulip-lined stroll through small-town life the opening chapters lull you into expecting. Nope. This thing takes a HARD left into “wait, WHAT?!” territory, and I was absolutely here for it.

The story flips between two women: Mary, the seemingly picture-perfect pastor’s wife with a glossy smile and tightly controlled life, and Martha, a broke young woman with a messy past who's just trying to disappear in the sleepy town of Whitney Falls. Their worlds collide (literally, there’s blood!) and from there, the tension builds like a pressure cooker.

Martha moves into the garage apartment behind Mary’s house, and you know something’s off, but it’s hard to put your finger on it at first. Then you start noticing the cracks: Tim’s weirdly controlling behavior, Mary’s too-quiet demeanor, the creepy black car that keeps popping up. 👀 And once the secrets start unraveling? WHOA. That last third of the book? Chef’s kiss. Just twist after twist after twist. I pride myself on guessing plot turns, and this one got me good.

I’ve been a LynDee Walker fan thanks to her crime thrillers (Faith McLellan is my girl!), but this psychological suspense debut is a whole different flavor, and she NAILED it. The pacing was brisk, the dual POVs added great depth, and while, yes, the drama gets a little over-the-top at times, honestly, I was having too much fun to care.

If you’re into small towns hiding big secrets, women finding their power in the unlikeliest ways, and plots that leave your jaw on the floor: this one’s for you. Definitely recommend for fans of Freida McFadden and Gone Girl-style stories.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is everything for a perfect summer read! So much is going on in this book but not where you have trouble keeping up. It keeps you hooked, you’ll want to call into work and stay up reading! lol no but seriously I highly recommend this book!

And Breathe!!!!

The Pastor's Wife by LynDee Walker was an excellent book, it was a totally gripping psychological thriller packed with great twists and turns throughout that just took my breath away! It has great characters, and they all have dark secrets which will have a way of coming out into the open. . . . . Once I started to read The Pastor's Wife was just what I needed to read in the shade in my garden. Great read for a hot summers day,

Another 5 ⭐️ read I highly recommend, Great Holiday read.

Big Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

I enjoyed this book! The story blends suspense, twists, and emotional depth, especially as it explores grief, betrayal, and the masks people wear. Walker’s writing is immersive, and the pacing keeps you hooked all the way to a satisfying ending.

Reading the first few pages of The Pastor’s Wife, I was hooked. I loved the story told from two perspectives and was excited to see the mystery unfurl. I cared about the main characters and was invested in Mary and Martha and couldn’t want to uncover their past lives and consequences of their intersection in a small Southern town.

Somewhere around the middle, I found it dragging a bit but the twists and turns at the end came quickly and were surprising. For me, the revelations were a little outlandish but I was willing to go along for the ride.

Overall I enjoyed this title and recommend it for fans of psychological thrillers.

Thank you to Bookouture, Net Galley and LynDee Walker for the opportunity to read this ARC.

LynDee Walker delivers a riveting, fast-paced psychological thriller with The Pastor’s Wife. The story plunges readers into a seemingly perfect life that slowly unravels, revealing dark secrets and shocking betrayals. The tension builds with every chapter, and the twists keep coming — just when you think you have it all figured out, Walker throws in another curveball.

The characters are well-drawn and complex, particularly the protagonist, whose voice pulls you right into her world of suspicion and deceit. With crisp writing and a relentless pace, The Pastor’s Wife is impossible to put down. Fans of domestic thrillers packed with suspense will find this one a real treat.

This was a book full of twist and turns that takes the reader on so many journeys - i had so many suspects for who did the crimes. And when I say crimes this was a wide variety with multiple perpetrators. The author has the type of writing style which draws you in and compels you to turn the page and before you know it you have been reading for hours and the book is finished

Rating: 3.5 ⭐️
Pub Date: June 16, 2025
How I Read It: 🎧

Synopsis
Whitney Falls was supposed to be the perfect small town for Martha to disappear to. She wasn’t supposed to make any new friends, but when the pastor’s wife saves her from an accident, and covers for her, she befriends her, becomes a regular at church, and the pastor and his wife welcome her into their home with open arms. But something is off about Pastor Tim and his wife, Mary. There’s also a strange black car that’s been watching Martha every time she visits Mary. Martha eventually makes a discovery that has her wondering if her friendship with Mary was real or planned. Everyone thinks Tim and Mary are saints, but they may actually be sinners, and Mary knows their secret.

My Thoughts
Well, I didn’t see that coming! I knew the Pastor seemed weird, like he was hiding something, and I didn’t trust Mary one bit, but was not expecting where the storyline went! I picked this book up because it was set in the south and I loved a good southern read. I read both the digital and audio versions of this book. With the audio version, the narrators did a great job with the female voices, but I was a little confused with the male voice because it sounded more like an old man than the handsome young man Pastor Tim was supposed to be. This was a pretty decent thriller, that gets dark at times, but had my attention for most of the book because I couldn’t wait to see what Tim and Mary were hiding and what Mary was trying to run from in her past.

Themes
🫣 Suspense
🔪 Murder
Kidnapping
Multiple POVs

Ratings
Characters: 4 ⭐️
Pace: 3 ⭐️
Enjoyability: 4 ⭐️
Narrator: 3.5 ⭐️

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc. I really enjoyed this one! My first by this author but I need more. Love that the plot was different than others and I felt like I knew the characters.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
Oh. My. Gosh.
I thought this book was going one way and then BAM! It went a totally different direction.
Martha is new to town and she befriends Mary, the pastor’s wife. They hit it off right away, but things aren't always what they seem.
This book explores the dark underbelly of small-town religious life. Lyndee Walker is a new author to me, but I look forward to more books by her. Many thanks to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#ThePastorsWife #LyndeeWalker #NetGalley #Bookouture #BooksOnTour #BookLove #Bookstagram #NewBook #ILoveBooks #BooksSetInASmallTowm

This was a dark read. The subject matter is not light. There were twists - some that were more predictable than others.

The characters are not particularly likable and you had no idea who to cheer for. There are lots of religious overtones.

Though there were a few parts that dragged a bit and the book felt longer than it needed to be. Overall, this was a dark, interesting thriller.

This is my first book by this author but I would definitely read more of her work.