A year ago, I read The Perfect Ruin by Shanora Williams so I knew I would want a taste of The Wife before, and she did not let me down.

Summary

After Samira Wilder is fired from her latest job everything appears to be going south. However, after picking up a quick gig she meets pro golfer Roland Graham who is nothing less than Prince Charming in the flesh. They hit it off immediately. So well that Samira and Roland get married soon after. Though instead of staying in Miami where the media is going crazy over their newfound love, Roland moves Samira to his mansion in Colorado.

Upon settling into her new home Samira stumbles across old journals that belong to Roland’s late wife, Melanie. Curious about Melanie’s life before her tragic passing, Samira dives into the journals learning more about her husband’s previous wife and more about her husband. Is he who he shows himself to be? The further Samira reads the more she fears her husband. Maybe he is who the media says he is.

 

For Authors

If you are writing a twisting thriller, The Wife Before is great to add to your TBR list. It demonstrates how various twists and turns can all eventually bring you to one place while leaving you questioning the ending. And that’s what it’s about. Leaving the reader wanting more, guessing, thinking, et cetera. If you are able to captivate your reader into wanting more from you they may be more likely to read other books you’ve written.

 

I advise time and time again the importance of reading if you are a writer. Reading helps us to see how to master the craft and areas we can fix on our own, especially when the book hits on significant areas that are within our own story.

 

So, again, if you have plot twists take a moment to read The Wife Before as a reference on how to twist your story and bring it full circle.

 

My Review – Spoiler Ahead

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There is nothing more scandalous than finding an old set of journals written by a dead woman. Just saying. There is always so much to be revealed.

Nonetheless, this book had a good pace and had a lot of development in the end. Not the characters though (laughs). I honestly did not like any of them, but I don’t believe that to ever be a deal breaker when reading a book. Honestly the denseness of some characters is the reason I will continue to read just to see how far they will actually go. For instance, Samira reading the journals in the first place. I have had my fair share of reading another person’s journal and it is not a place I care to be. So for her to read his dead wife’s journal I am not sure exactly what she expected. Though with the media surrounding Melanie’s tragic disappearance I guess it sparked Samira’s curiosity just a bit too much since she technically did not know Roland all that well to begin with. I assume sure thought she’d get some edge with reading Melanie’s journal. And Roland being Prince Charming, I knew would flop. People who are written perfectly, without flaw usually have a lot of flaws, and this his flaws showed up and they were dark. Not normal like other humans.

 

So, all in all the characters were not likable but interesting enough to keep me reading and that is what’s most important.

 

Now let’s really get to what had me in a chokehold. A major part of the story was that Roland may have killed his late wife. And if you have read the book your can understand that it was with good reason. My thing is, how did all of that transpire and Roland ended up being on top when we got a chance to experience the dark side of Roland.

 

Here’s my theory.

 

It was all Roland, and the maid helped him do it. I will not say she played a large role but I am convinced she wrote the journals. There is a specific time where the maid tells Samira to not read those journals, and then nothing is ever said about it again. And honestly, did the maid even appear again after that!? I personally think the maid wrote the journals and tried to “deter” Samira from reading them to actually get her to read them so that she would become more and more curious about what happened. From there now that she has all this evidence, she would want to bring all the truth to light which is why she visits Melanie’s offender. Ironically, Roland becomes involved and ends up killing the offender and finding Melanie in the deep freezer!? It just seems to be far too perfect of a scenario for Roland. He goes from being an accused wife killer to now the hero of the story. Sounds like a well thought out plan to me.

 

So now that Roland looks like the hero, Samira is willing to become the villain.