After weeks of requesting and waiting… and waiting, I have read My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing. Thanks to booktuber BooksandLala, I got really interested in this book and had to wait almost 2 months just to get my hand on it, but I did, and I have A LOT of opinions. So let’s get to the review.
Title: My Lovely Wife
Author: Samantha Downing
Pages: 374
Format: hardcover
Genre(s): adult mystery, thriller, crime
Publication Date: March 26, 2019
Triggers: cheating, murder, suicide, poisoning
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this wildly compulsive debut thriller about a couple whose fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting…
Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.
We look like a normal couple. We’re your neighbors, the parents of your kid’s friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.
We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive.
Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.
First thing first, Millicent. She was so evil, probably one of the worst characters you’ll ever know in a book, but she was awesome. I’m not going to say why she was so evil (not spoiling this for you guys), but just know she was. When I think of how Millicent looks in my head, she reminds me of the Evil Queen from Snow White, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, and the ‘Other’ Mother from Coraline.
That’s exactly what went through my head lol. Honestly, you basically know she’s evil after reading like 10 pages, so I’m not spoiling that she’s evil.
Next, the plot twist. My god, I did not expect it coming. Can’t say, but usually I can pretty much guess what’s going on like by halfway through the book. Nope, not in this book. I had absolutely no idea, and I loved it.
Last but not least, the constant thrill this book gave me. I was constantly feeling like I was on a roller coaster, and every chapter I just felt like I was going up and down, it was constant. It’s what made me not put the book down at all.
I only disliked two things, sadly that’s what made me not give this book a 5 star rating. First the writing. Although the chapters were short, the story was great, the writing was just… weird. It was written in a weird way, the conversations between the husband and Millicent was just weird. Nothing flowed, it just kinda was like basic conversation. I don’t think they had much personality. I feel like they were meant to have personality, it was just that the writing let them down.
Next, which was huge for me, was we never found out the husbands name. Like, what was it???? I hated reading the entire book from the perspective of a character I had no idea what his name was. It was a big thing for me, it bothered me the whole time. Did I miss his name being said? I don’t think so lol.
If you read this book, does anyone know the name of the main character???
I actually LOVED that we never found out the husband’s name. I think that it keeps you close and distant at the same time, we look at him in terms of who he is to his family, a husband, a father. Which keeps us looking at him in a family way, but then we also never feel like we know him personally. I think keeping his name out of the story was really interesting! This was a 5 star read for me.
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I totally see why she did it, it just bothered my nosy-self and took my mind off the story itself at times! I’m glad you liked it though! It was a great story.
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I can get how you would feel that way too. I loved the plot twist, I totally didn’t see it coming. AND THAT ENDING! OMG! It was really good, I want more thrillers like this. I feel like I don’t read a ton of 5 star mysteries and thrillers.
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I desperately wanted one chapter from Millicent’s POV because she was so incredibly chilling. I wanted to know what was going on in her head. Also, not knowing the husband’s band bothered me as well. It dehumanized him a bit.
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*name not band 🙄
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