3.25 stars

This book started off really strong and instantly hooked me. I loved getting both women’s sides of the same story — it added depth and kept me intrigued. The dual perspective was definitely a highlight.

That said, as the story progressed, it felt like it lost momentum. It started with so much potential, but then didn’t quite deliver. The ending twist didn’t land as I was hoping, and I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed.

This was my first book by this author, and while it didn’t fully meet my expectations, I’d still be open to giving her another chance. I liked the writing I just was hoping for a bit more payoff in the end.

Can audiobooks be described as unputdownable? Because that’s what this was! I finished it in a day. The book starts with Elizabeth, being informed that her husband, Don, is missing presumed dead. Suspiciously, she’s uncovered a message from him to another woman - seemingly another wife. Next, we’re introduced to Corinne. Her husband didn’t call her at an agreed time, and now he seems to have disappeared.

What follows is back-and-forth narrative of each woman’s story, filled with lies, suspicion, and intrigue. It was gripping and clever, and the writer does a brilliant job of balancing the POVs, showing each woman’s assumptions and revealing their secrets. It is a fast-paced thriller with twists, turns, and jaw-dropping reveals. The narrator did a fantastic job, she paced it well and differentiated the characters enough.

This book started really strong. Was a very good premise that held my attention. Also very easy to listen to/read as I did both. I just think the middle got a little boring and it took awhile for anything to happen. Could have cut out a few chapters in my opinion.

I enjoyed this one! Not a storyline I have ever heard before, not terribly plausible, but that's fiction, right? The writing was good, the storyline interesting. I would read this author again!

Title: The Double Wife
Author: Gina La Manna
Format: 🎧
Narrator: Tegan Ashton Cohan
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Audiobook Pub Date: July 15, 2025
My Rating: 4.3 Stars
Pages 333

Story is told from the POV of Elizabeth and Corinne.

Elizabeth Bentley believes she is the perfect wife to her highly successful husband. Don, the CFO for a large tech company. However, one evening, she finds a letter from Don to his wife… but it isn’t to her but another woman.
Elizabeth doesn’t know the best way to approach Don about this.

One evening two police officers appear at the front door and inform Elizabeth there has been an accident involving her husband.
A couple is out walking near the lake and spot the ice crack and watch as an ‘ice hut’ sinks. They believe someone is in the hut and call 911. Don loves to ice fish and his car is parked nearby, it is believed Don was in the hut. However, after a search of the lake they have not found a body. Elizabeth is in shock as Don never told her he was going ice fishing and they planned to go out for a pre-anniversary dinner that evening.
As the police investigate, they believe Don is dead although his body is never found. Elizabeth believes he staged the whole thing and does her
own investigation!

Narrator Tegan Ashton Cohan did a great job performing the characters especially the teenage girls with their typical teenage typical attitude. At first I had a difficult time with the voices of Elizabeth and Corinne as they were so similar but the story ‘had’ me so I quickly knew who was speaking by the foul language!

There were surprises!! In fact, this was much better than what I expected!
My first read but am definitely looking forward to reading another Gina La Manna story.
Hmmm Book #2 of this would be interesting.


I want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for granting me this audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for July 15, 2025.

A popcorn thriller (in the best way!) starring two very different, but equally watchable, women and the (absent, but very felt) husband they share(d). While the ending didn't work for me, the ride was so fun it's still a 4!

Premise - After her husband, Don, disappears in the eve of their anniversary, Elizabeth Bentley becomes the police’s number one suspect. There are just two problems with their investigation: there’s no body and Elizabeth isn’t Don’s only wife.

While Elizabeth and Don lived the high life, Corinne is a lifelong con woman who married Don after he knocked her up 18 years ago, and has been living an unexceptional middle class lifestyle with him ever since. Now Elizabeth and Corinne have to team up to figure out what happened to Don, before his disappearance irreversibly upends their lives.

The voice was delicious and the pacing immaculate. If I could have binged this in one sitting I would have, but life intervened! Even so, it was a two day read (or listen, in my case).

Unfortunately, the ending fell apart for me - I just didn't buy it, especially one of the characters' self talk/rationalizations in the epilogue. That's just not how a person would react, at least not in that first moment of surprise. Anger would have come first, or something bigger and less considered than what happened.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Tegan Ashton Cohan. She did a great job of making Corinne and Elizabeth distinct characters, both in their voices and the personality of their speech. It made it easy to follow the story and both women were fascinating to watch! This is an easy audiobook to lose yourself in, I highly recommend.

Thanks, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! This book was amazing. So many good plot twists. Wasn’t expecting the kids to be the ones to do everything and I wasn’t expecting the mistress wife to be behind it all. This was such a good story!

What do you do when you are the perfect wife and you find a letter your husband has written to his wife. Only it’s not you. Elizabeth is stunned and confused and when her husband goes missing, all bets are off. Did he leave to pursue an alternate life with another wife? Or did he meet a sinister end. And if he did, who ended him?

So I grabbed a few audiobooks for the weekend that were only mildly interesting . When I started it was a basic domestic thriller but I settled it. Then we started to get introduced to other characters. Full disclosure, I don’t have my name in many books as characters so 100% this book with the use of “Corinne” got me fully engaged and I’m glad it did.

This book had many twists and turns and it was smartly platted and written. I enjoyed it from “beginning” to end.
It was narrated by Tegan Ashton Cohan and she did a fabulous job. She spoke at a an ok pace but I quickly sped it up after assessing the different voices she used for the various characters. They were all appropriate and consistent. I especially like the snark and angst used for the teenage characters

In all this was a solid thriller and a good audiobook presentation. It comes out July 15th 2025 so get your copy asap and support indie authors!

I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC from Dreamscape Media through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My general rating system is below. Since I primarily read ARC books I rate according to how I think like minded readers will receive the book. I will round up or down depending on many factors and try not to let my personal wants affect a books ratings.

⭐️ Hated It but pushed through as so don’t DNF ARCs I have received.
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, content issues, poorly edited.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but it had something that stopped me from rounding up. Usually the book may have much more potential than what was given. I recommend it but with reservations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I Really enjoyed it or think others will. These are solid reads that I definitely would recommend for a variety of reasons.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! These are books that remain rent free in my head for well after unfinished the book. It can be for a variety of reasons from being very well written or just the vibes that captured my mind. These books are also ones I would probably read again.

Elizabeth Bentley is the perfect wife. When she finds a letter from her husband Don addressed to his wife but it is not to her things start to go downhill. Don goes missing, the police show up, there is no body, Elizabeth needs to find answers. This was short so it was concise. There was a lot of twists which I liked and I did not see coming at all. I did not know who to trust throughout the whole book which kept me listening. If you want to listen/read a mystery with lots of secrets, this is it!