The Pastor’s Wife started out strong — easily a 4-star read in the first half. The premise was gripping, the writing was solid, and I was pulled in quickly by the characters and setting. I had high hopes for where the story was headed.

Unfortunately, the second half lost its way. The plot started to spiral, and by the time I reached the final chapters, it felt like a completely different book. Things got chaotic, unrealistic, and scattered — and I need my fiction to maintain at least a thread of believability. It was frustrating to see such a promising setup unravel into something that felt more like a soap opera than a cohesive story.

I really wanted to love this one all the way through, but in the end, it just didn’t hold up. A disappointing finish to an otherwise strong beginning.

#ARCReview #ThePastorsWife #BookReview #HonestReview #NetGalley

Lemme tell yall bout The Pastor’s Wife by LynDee Walker—it ain’t your average church whisper story. This one’s a psychological thriller that sneaks up on you and stays in your head 👀.

What hooked me
• 🔥 Fast-paced grit
• 💣 Twists for days
• 🎭 That façade

What worked for me
• Main character energy – She rolls into Whitney Falls with ghosts in her past, and nobody likes her and she has unfortunate luck. But she gets down to business when things seem fishy.
• Atmosphere on point – The small-town church is cozy, but Walker lets that serenity soured. Every corner hides secrets, every gesture got weight.

Where it stumbled
• I felt certain plot turns were a lil’ stitched together a bit too tight. At some points, the suspense outweighed the fluff .
• I read this super quick. Ain’t much standing between you and sleep—this is a page-turner. So if you need downtime without racing heart, maybe pace yourself.

Final verdict:

💯 3.5 to 4 stars from me: ride-or-die for psychological chillers. If you love that mix of small-town vibes, church secrets, and a heroine who ain’t afraid to go deep? Grab this one. It’ll keep your late‑night light on.

My sign-off:
The Pastor’s Wife is slick, it’s juicy, and it WONT let you doze off. Don’t come for it feelin’ basic—it’ll bite you with its big twists. If you’re up for a dark, unexpected ride, join the seat‑belt brigade. 🚗💨

Would I recommend it?
Absolutely. It’s trouble with a capital “T”—and trust, we love a thriller that’s trouble in disguise 😈

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Mary and Martha are new to town but have very different backgrounds and reasons for being there.

Mary seems lovely to begin with and we're pulled into a false sense of security - not because of who she married but because of her personality and the way she seems to treat Martha. I thought she was better than Ruthie but ultimately they both had the same insecurities.

Tim was a terrible person but seemed to be developing some kind of conscience where Charlotte was concerned. Too little too late though!!

Martha is clearly the better person with a better moral compass than those around her. She's a survivor and I liked her instincts.

This has a good few twists and turns that show that there's so much more going on than you initially assume. I like how the characters develop and show that you shouldn't just rely on first impressions!!

Unputdownable right up to its twisted end.

Let me preface my review by saying that the book’s blurb feels almost like it’s describing a completely different story - which works well, oddly enough, because going in with minimal expectations and knowledge about the plot enhanced the suspense and surprises in this psychological thriller.

:LynDee Walker has been a must-read for me for years, thanks to her Nichelle Clarke crime thrillers and especially her Faith McLellan series. "The Pastor's Wife" marks the author's first foray into psychological thrillers, thrillers, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.

Set in the fictional small town of Whitney Fall, AK, the story alternates between two women who are both outsiders: Mary, the new pastor’s wife, and Martha, a struggling young cashier. From early on, it’s clear both have secrets they’re desperate to keep hidden.

LynDee Walker’s signature gripping prose kept me turning pages at a breakneck pace. She masterfully builds tension and atmosphere, making the story utterly compelling, with the suspense even more enhanced by alternating the viewpoints of the two women. While the sheer volume of dark secrets packed into one small town may feel a bit over the top, it adds to the novel’s addictive quality.

"The Pastor's Wife" kept me hooked right up until its twisted, completely implausible but nevertheless gripping ending, making this an unputdownable read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"The Pastor's Wife" is slated to be released on Jun 16, 2025.

Wow. This book is crazy, in the best way possible! There are so many secrets and twists that I can’t say much outside of the synopsis, but we have two very interesting main characters…

Martha has had a hard life, and she has moved to the Ozarks from Appalachia to escape her past. She’s barely scraping by working as a cashier and living in a seedy motel when she goes to make a grocery delivery to the town’s pastor and his wife, Mary. After a series of unfortunate events, this leaves her bloody and broken in their driveway. Mary comes out to help her, and an unlikely friendship is born.

Mary was able to help with the medical aid that Martha needed because she was once a nurse. Now, she’s the wife of Pastor Tim, a charming man in person, but after Mary asks Martha to leave the horrible motel she’s at and live in their garage apartment, Martha soon starts seeing a very dark side to this man. Mary seems scared of him, and as the book goes on, you’ll see why…

The suspense increases throughout the story, and then you get to the first big shock. I was so surprised and happy with that twist, but for the last third of the book, the twists just keep coming. I had figured out one, but the rest…I was clueless about so many of them, and I love that. This whole book was a very entertaining read from the start, but that last third of the book was GOLDEN. 4.5 stars, rounded up for being a debut!

(Thank you to Bookouture for inviting me on this book tour! “The Pastor’s Wife” is slated to be released on June 16, 2025.)

THE PASTOR'S WIFE BY LYNDEE WALKER.
Release date set for the 16th of June 2025.
I'll round this book off to 4 ✨s.
Great twists, liked the premise and the storyline was good.
It took me a minute or two to get fully stuck into this book but glad I stuck with it.
This is my first book by this author and I'll deffo read more in the future.

Sordid and sinful!!!!
Sometimes the most ungodly people profess to be the most pious.
It took me most of the book to figure out who was doing what and why, but I totally overlooked the biggest fraud and sinner of all.
Parts of the story will turn your stomach and make you never want to get close to a place of worship ever again.
The author deftly captures a small isolated community and now everyone is up in everyone’s business, even the bad stuff.

Unfortunately i found the book was not for me,it was a slow start and I found myself reading it in a Deep Southern accent in my mind re the area the book was set and the characters language,this isen’t a bd thing but did take my concentration away from the story and found it difficult to then settle to the book

The story kicks off with all the markings of a gripping thriller - an intriguing setup, well-drawn characters, and an undercurrent of secrets that promises bug reveals. The first half had me genuinely hooked, with the pacing and suspense keeping the pages turning.

Unfortunately, as the story moved in the second half, things slowed down and the twists felt more forced than clever. Rather than deepening the mystery or delivering jaw-dropping moments, the plot developments missed the mark and undermined some of the strong groundwork laid early on. It wasn’t that the ideas weren’t interesting - it was the execution that let me down.

Overall, the writing was solid and I appreciated the unique premise and strong start, but the payoff just didn’t quite deliver for me. If you’re in it for the atmosphere and setup then it is worth the read, just don’t expect the ending to pop.

Well full disclosure this book was disturbing in that the realism displayed insofar as certain crimes that are in the limelight in the news at times. I don’t want to give any spoilers so forgive the cryptic nature.

I was fortunate to be able to do an immersion read for this book with both the eARC and the Audio ALC and it was the perfect experience. Usually when I do such a read I’m trying to ascertain which format suits the book better for those that have a choice of how to read. But in this case they both were equally effective but even better together.

That narrators Stephanie Cannon and Patricia Rodriguez both did a fabulous job with this Duel POV book which centers around Martha and Marys perspective in their mentor/ mentee type relationship and their interactions and life with The Pastor in a multi timeline thriller. They both spoke at a good even pace for the 1x speed but it also translates very well to increasing the speed. I was able to listen to it at 2.5x with no issues. However, I would have listened at 2x speed had I not been able to follow along with the digital copy.

The physical copy enables the reader to more easily follow along with the time line as it does jump around a lot and there are many small sub plots to make sense of. That’s probably where the book suffers a bit as there was a bit too many side issues going on. I will say that I did find the twists a bit predictable but I enjoyed the ride regardless.

So if your looking for a thriller that a bit on the darker side filled with more than a few twisted individuals, this book is for you as it comes out on June 16th 2025

I am thankful to have gotten both a complimentary audio ALC and the eARC from Bookouture and Bookouture Audio through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

The Pastor's Wife started off interesting with the gossipy small town atmosphere where strangers were scrutinized and assumptions made about each other. Martha is new to town and in financial straits, compounded by an accident. Pastor Tim and Mary welcome her to their home and provide friendship and accommodations but sometimes their masks slip. Who really knows what goes on behind closed doors? Everyone has a past, including Martha. Charlotte loses her mother and joins the motley crew. Undercurrents of unease and mistrust blanket the town. Wandering eyes and suspicions mount.

The first third or so intrigued me but the story seemed to derail and entered disturbing darkness later on. The twists started coming, some expected, others surprising. But it felt as though the author wanted to fit in several incidents all at once to make the story compelling. For me it didn't work and became implausible. It's unfortunate as I was hooked to begin with. Pleasant thrillery unease morphed into creepiness fast and I didn't like the directions the novel took. A lot of infidelity going on in this community, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC. This one didn’t quite fit the bill. It was trying to be twisty but in an a way that just didn’t hit the spot.

Whitney is new to town and makes friends with the pastor and his wife. the longer she is around them she thinks something isn't right. lies, deceit, in a small town the book has it all.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC copy of The Pastor's Wife by LynDee Walker.

This is a great dual POV thriller which follows the lives of Martha, our protagonist, who has stumbled across the idyllic town of Whitney Falls and gets embedded in the lives of Pastor Tim and his wife Mary. Mary is seemingly the perfect pastor's wife though we learn that her life is not so picture perfect and her husband can be less than holy especially towards her. There are many twists and turns in this story and the conclusion I did not see coming, certainly not for a lot of the book. This is in my mind the sign of a well written thriller. The characters were well developed and appropriate for the area, the dialect too was good for the area and the descriptions of the places helped you feel inside the story.

The book overall was extremely enjoyable and I read the last 20% in practically one sitting as I was so invested in the outcome.

I shall look for others by this author as she has a talent for southern charm meets gritty underbelly.

Good grief I was hooked. I had no idea where any of this was going and I really enjoyed it. People are not always what they seem to be. The one thing I struggled with was the ending. I undertand that it was done that way deliberately, but I would have liked some kind of closure like a one year later kind of epilogue seeing what happened to the girls and if "Martha" got the ending she deserved and if David would be with her still.

First of all thank you to NetGalley for early access to this book for my honest review. As far as thrillers go it had everything: suspense, small town corruption, unreliable characters. But as I kept reading I felt like there was more and more that was added that was just.. unbelievable? It didn’t need some of the extra stuff to make for a good story.

If you enjoy thrillers read this - it’s a quick read, but it does feel like a lot is happening at times. 3.5 stars

This was a good, slow burn. I loved the characters and was caught up in this story from beginning to end.

The writing style is fabulous with a good flow. If you're looking for a thrilling read with characters that have shady pasts and lots of secrets, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

This book was amazing!! I debated between 4 and 5 starts and settled on 4.5 ⭐️

The amount of LIES, DECEIT, MURDER and SECRETS in the town of Whitney Falls will have you clutching your pearls. Nobody is quite as innocent as they seem and that goes for the majority of the main characters. Some of the twists had. Me. GASPING!

This was my first experience with LynDee Walker and I will be adding more of her books to my TBR. 💯

This one was hard to put down. Can I get a part2? I enjoyed this book so much!! You won’t see the twists coming!

The Pastor‘s Wife by Lyndee Walker, Martha is new to Whitney Falls but she’s been there long enough for her boss at the local grocery stores wife to totally dislike her. So when she is bringing groceries to Pastor Tim’s wife Mary of course Ruth is there to harass her until she is saved by the very nice Mary. Mary wants her and Martha to be friends and will not take no for an answer this is how Martha finds herself living with Mary and her husband Tim the local pastor of the only church in town. Martha left her small town and showed up in Whitney Falls with the secret but before it’s over she will learn she isn’t the only one in the town not only running from a secret but creating new ones. let me just say when the book started I really thought I wasn’t going to like it I couldn’t take Martha’s I’m not worthy attitude but once her and Mary became friends the book got way better this is a fast paced heart palpitating inducing story and although some of it seemed out of the box I thought the way they built the mystery was so good and it made me wonder why the author would take shortcuts to create tension when clearly she is a talented author but I don’t write books so who am I to question her. I did like the book and read it from beginning to end and if you want a fun thriller with a few over the top story arcs then you will definitely enjoy this one I did as I love silly thrillers. as I said be for warned by the time the book is over you will be like oh why did ABC do DEF but ultimately it is still definitely a great read, with some real doozy’s when it comes to twist. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #LyndeeWalker, #ThePastor‘sWife,