What a great read! This story is definitely something different than the average story of marriage, love and betrayal.

It’s definitely a book I did not want to put down. I
would love to read more about Iris and her attorney.

Love Kimberly Belle and can’t wait to read more.

This is an excellent, page-turning puzzler of a mystery! Filled with multiple twists and turns, this is one psychological thrill ride that is not easy to figure out. The author doesn't go for the easy solution, and there are twists right down to the final paragraph. Highly satisfying, Belle's novel is everything a mystery about a missing person should be — and then some.
Iris and Will Griffith have a close, loving marriage. Everything is perfect — until Will leaves for a conference in Orlando, and is reportedly dead after a plane crash on the way to Seattle. As Iris begins to look further into what is going on, she uncovers lie after lie. Why was Will headed to Seattle? And is he really dead? Can she trust her memories? Can she trust what she is discovering? Can she trust anyone?

Due to writing this up (with no notes) about 3+ weeks later, it's sad to say, but I don't remember much about it. I did enjoy the discovery of new leads and was curious as to where they would lead Iris, and I know that I want to read more by Kimberle Belle.

I listened to the audiobook version of The Marriage Lie recently while on a trip back home to Roswell, GA.  I enjoyed the familiar Atlanta setting, and I especially enjoyed hearing Johanna Parker narrate this story.  Having met her, though, I kept picturing her as the lead character as I listened.  Fortunately, her life is not like that of the protagonist.



Iris and Will have a happy marriage and life is good when Iris's world comes shattering apart.  Her husband Will has left on a business trip to Orlando when she hears about an airplane crashing on its way to Seattle.  Iria has a nagging feeling, but Will was on a different plane.  At least that's what she thinks, and then the airline calls to convey their condolences for her loss.  Iris believes there has been a mistake, but the more she looks into things, the more she discovers she didn't really know her husband as well as she thought. Iris begins getting phone messages warning her to stop looking into her husband's affairs.  She also gets some that make her wonder if Will is still alive after all.  As she continues her search, Iris realizes her life is in danger, but who can she trust?

I found the story engaging even though parts of the plot was a little predictable.  This was definitely an entertaining listen, and I would recommend you listen to the book so you can to hear Johanna's narration.

This didn’t grab me like I wanted it to. Certain parts shocked me, but mostly I felt a little bored while reading it.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this title. Unfortunately in this instance,I didn't connect to the story. As I didn't finish reading, I will not be reviewing this title. Many thanks and I do look forward to picking up another read from this author.

What a great way to start off this new year!

Iris thinks she has the perfect marriage with Will. They both love their jobs. They have a beautiful house. When news of a plane crash comes, just as Will is flying for business, Iris is happy to know it wasn’t his plane. Oh but it was his plane. Will has died in a horrendous plane crash. As she deals with his tragic death, surrounded by a wonderfully loving family, especially her twin brother, things start to come to light. Iris finds out some truths about her husband that she did not know and when text messages start coming in, threatening text messages, she believes her husband is not really dead. Iris begins to unravel the threads of their marriage and Will’s lies and it leads her to places she could not have imagined.

This is such a good, involved read! Your heart breaks for Iris as she finds out exactly who the man she married was. You will let out a little gasp at the end when she makes the biggest decision of her life. I loved all the characters around Iris as well. Her family was great. Evan, a lawyer, who lost his family in the crash, loved him too. In my mind, I have hopes for him. Toss in a few surprises and you will not be able to stop turning the page.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Harlequin and this review is completely my own humble opinion.

I could t connect to the heroine. She was super obsessed with her husband to the point it was annoying. This was definitely not for me.

Honesty. Trust. We see what we want to see. We gather information, use it or ignore it to shape our own beliefs, to make our own choices, to withhold love or to give it freely.

Does one lie negate seven years of marriage? Iris find out when she is informed her husband Will was killed in a plane accident going to Seattle - He was suppose to be on a plane to Florida. That was what the flyer said. Will was suppose to speak at a seminar at a hotel. That is what the flyer said.

Iris and Will by all accounts are crazy for each other. Instead of saying I love you, they affirm that there is no one else. "That you are my one and only. You are my favorite". They have just purchased a new home that they cannot afford ready to fill it with children. They are excited about each other, about the life that they share. Iris' world comes crashing down when the Airlines contacts her and tells her that her is husband is now dead. She can't believe it. As a school counselor, she is overwhelmed with every emotion. Her family pulls together, her twin brother and parents to help her thru this tragedy.

With encouragement from her brother, they go to Seattle to find answers about Will and why he was on his way there. It is there, Iris realizes she never knew her husband and can't understand why he kept this part of his life a secret. Another words he lived a lie. When a stranger approaches Iris that claimed to be a good friend to a Will, she is left with more questions than answers. Her quest for answers becomes dangerous when threatening texts tell her she will be next.

The plot centers around how well we truly know someone and what they are capable of. Iris had to determine where her loyalties laid and what she could truly live with.

A Special Thank You to Harlequin and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

This book was interesting but had a bit of a slow middle section. I did not enjoy the ending and would not recommend it.

Fans of psychological/domestic thrillers, move this to the top of your TBR list.

The Marriage Lie will keep you guessing until the end (... and perhaps tempt you to review your own bank statements, just for reassurance). And that ending! Brilliant.

This was a thrilling, roller coaster ride, page turning mystery! A woman believes she knows her husband and suddenly finds out her husband, her marriage, her life is not what she thought it was.

I was pleasantly surprised with how this story turned out. I was not sure where it was going to go, I was kind of hoping that things were going to turn out much more drama filled. BUT it was still a pretty good read. Things turned out in ways that I wasn't expecting but then some turned out exactly how I thought they would. In the end though I didn't know what was going on and wanted to know what happened. I couldn't imagine having to go through what the wife did. I would loose my mind.

Stevie‘s review of The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle
Women’s Crime Fiction published by MIRA 01 Jan 17

Stories of assumed or multiple identities are always intriguing, especially when the person living a double life manages to fool those closest to them, up to and including their spouse. This story is written from the wronged spouse’s point of view, starting at the point when she discovers her husband’s lie in the worst way possible – and with seemingly no way for him to give her an explanation or an apology.

Iris works in a prestigious private school, and is trying for a baby with her husband of seven years: computer programmer Will. Arriving late to work after seeing Will off to catch a flight to Florida, Iris encounters a mass of students speculating about a plane that just crashed. Although that flight was headed in the opposite direction to Will’s, Iris feels concern for the victims’ families, and for all those students indirectly affected by the news whether they knew the victims in any way or not. Her calm is shattered soon afterwards, however, when the airline releases a list of victims with Will’s name on it.

Iris spirals into grief and disbelief, more so when some of Will’s possessions are recovered from the crash site – none of the bodies are identifiable, because of the violence of the crash – but she recovers enough composure to start questioning everything Will had told her. If Will hadn’t been flying to Florida, what else was he hiding? Iris quickly discovers that the people she meets at a memorial for the victims knew a very different Will to the man she thought she’d married, and that none of the history he’d given himself matched his real family background. Unable to properly mourn a man she no longer recognises, Iris travels to Seattle – where the crashed plane was headed – with her brother. There they hope to meet people who can tell them about the real Will, even though Iris knows she’s unlikely to like what she’ll hear.

As Iris and her brother investigate, it becomes clear that Will was involved in highly illegal activities both in his far distant past and in the months leading up to the crash. Iris begins to have suspicions that someone is watching her with evil intent, possibly because Will isn’t really dead. Soon it’s hard for her to know who she can really trust, or how much danger she’s prepared to expose her family to in her search for the truth.

Although the story was quite well written, I found the characters hard to get to know. While Will is obviously a mystery, Iris and her family held few recognisable connections for me either. Though I quite liked the contrast between Iris and Will’s ultimately sham relationship and her brother’s happy relationship with his husband, I didn’t actually like or dislike anyone enough to care what happened to them. Although the book had some episodes of suspense and peril, much of the investigating and pondering by Iris and her companions felt very slow moving. I don’t really see where any of them might move onto after the story’s resolution, but I can’t bring myself to care much either.

Grade: C

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book by this author I have read. I really liked the storyline. Iris and Will are married and have been for 7 years. They are trying to start a family! Will is flying out to Orlando for work, or so Iris thinks.

A plane headed to Seattle crashes and Will is on it. But why did he lie? What is he hiding from Iris?

Lots of twists and turns in this story and it keeps you guessing until the end. What a tough situation Will puts Iris in. I can't honestly say what I would do in her position. I can honestly say she probably made the right decision, as hard as it was.

I have marked this as 3/5

I read this fairly quickly. The overall story line was very good and interesting.
It starts off with a plane crash in which Iris's husband is on. Although he wasn't surprised to be on that flight. So why was he on it and where was he going?
Intriguing story line right?
There were moments of this book that I did enjoy.
As a whole though, I felt it was rushed and could have definitely had more chapters and substance to it.

I wanted to like Iris. I felt for her. I just didn't like her. I found her to be whiny. I tried to feel sympathetic towards her being she's lost her husband and he had a ton of secrets but I just found her to be a little annoying.
Will was obviously way too good to be true. His character felt "off" right at the beginning and it never redeems itself.
I actually thought her brother and his husband seemed the most interesting.

I did find myself wanting to know the conclusion to this though. There were definitely twists and turns on her journey to find out why he was on the plane and what he was hiding from her.
I do love a good twist to the story and even though I was suspicious, I was surprised by the end. Especially the last page. I am not actually sure what the point in that last twist was but it definitely made for a good ending.

Overall I didn't love this but am glad I didn't give up on it.
I do think the story could have been padded out a little more but overall I did enjoy it.

Read later than planned...that's what having two kids does to you :-)

How can you love a person you don’t really know? This is the abiding questions in Kimberly Belle’s The Marriage Lie. We meet Iris, a school psychologist, on the day after her 7th anniversary, as she learns that her beloved husband Will has died in a plane crash. But wait…he was on the wrong plane, going to Seattle, when he said he was going to Florida. How could that be?

Why did Will lie about where he was going? Was he even on the plane at all? What else was a lie? With help from her twin brother, as well as a lawyer who lost his wife and child in the same plane crash, Iris tries to unravel her husband’s past, while she struggles with the crushing grief and confusion of his loss, and while threatening forces close in on her. Who is Corban, the gym friend of Will’s that Will never once mentioned, but who knows about both of their pasts? Who is tracking her phone and sending mysterious messages from an untraceable number? Where is the money that Will allegedly stole from his work?

The Marriage Lie is an exciting and thought provoking analysis of love, grief, and responsibility, as Iris tries to protect her husband’s reputation while questioning the very foundation of their relationship. It’s an exciting psychological mystery, which kept me on my seat until literally the very last page, as I wondered what decisions Iris could possibly make in this confusing new reality.

Kimberly Belle does an excellent job revealing the conflicting forces of love, betrayal, and honor, without verging into cliché or easy answers. By turns confusing, creepy, and heart-breaking, The Marriage Lie maintains a brilliant suspense until the very last page, with a really just ending.

When a woman hears of a plane crash she's relieved when she hears the flight was enroute to Seattle and her husband was on a plane to another destination. The woman begins to become concerned when she can't get in contact with him and then her world's turn upside down and she's contacted by the airlines that her husband was a casualty on the downed air craft. While looking into why her husband lied about where he was going she uncovers that's not all he was lying about. When his boss tells her he suspects that her husband laundered money and he can come after her for it she gets together with a lawyer who lost his wife and daughter in the crash. A man comes forward claiming to be a friend of her husband's from the gym but is he who he says he is? This was a well written thriller full of twists and turns and had an ending that I didn't see coming.

Holy cow! This book starts off quickly and never does the pace falter at all. I still can't get over that ending.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me this great book.
This is an easy review. You need to read this book!
There, now I'll give a little more input.
This novel kept me up late every night I had the chance to read it. There are so many clever plot twists and it is such a fast paced read, you really can't put it down. The main character, Iris, has a perfect marriage with Will. Or so she thinks.
That perfect marriage gets torn to shreds up one side and down the other, all in a matter of days.
We all have secrets in our lives. This suspense book is full of doozies!
A truly great read that must be on your TBR list.