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Thanks to NetGalley and Touchstone for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: December 27th, 2016
304 Pages
Synopsis: Thirty-four-year-old marine biologist Kyra Winthrop remembers nothing about the diving accident that left her with a complex form of memory loss. With only brief flashes of the last few years of her life, her world has narrowed to a few close friendships on the island where she lives with her devoted husband, Jacob.
But all is not as it seems. Kyra begins to have visions–or are they memories?–of a rocky marriage, broken promises, and cryptic relationships with the island residents, whom she believes are her friends.
As Kyra races to uncover her past, the truth becomes a terrifying nightmare.
Twilight Wife is a much buzzed about book which is being compared to S.J. Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep, and Mary Kubica’s The Good Girl and it’s receiving plenty of positive reviews, which has me questioning why I just thought it was okay. The premise immediately captured my attention with Kyra, the amnesiac heroine being isolated on an island with a husband and friends she doesn’t remember. The setting is perfectly eerie, and at the beginning it had all the earmarks of a really good suspenseful read, but by the middle of the book I just lost my way. The main reason why I’m giving this 3 stars is because I really liked Kyra. Despite having lost her memories of the past four years, she’s no damsel in distress. She knows there’s something wrong with what she’s being told by Jacob, her husband, and she’s determined to discover the truth, no matter what the cost. She’s a smart cookie, and doesn’t make stupid mistakes while on her quest for the truth, which I really appreciated. And speaking of Jacob, I have to say hated him after the very first couple of chapters. One minute he’s a caring, compassionate husband caring for his wife who’s recovering from a traumatic brain injury, and the next he’s snapping at her when she can’t remember something. Honestly, I wanted to reach in and push him off a cliff! The secondary characters had little to no development and really added nothing to the story. Worst of all though was the mystery, or lack thereof. This had all the makings of a good gaslighting novel, but instead wound up more like a Lifetime Movie of the Week. I had only read the first few chapters when I had pretty much figured out what was going on and this took all the excitement and suspense out of the story for me. There were a couple of surprising twists near the end, but they weren’t enough to save the story for me. Making things worse was that while reading, I couldn’t help but compare it to the aforementioned Before I Go To Sleep (which I loved), but this just further pointed out what I felt was lacking in the book. I will say this was a quick read and I finished it in two sittings, but overall Twilight Wife was a huge disappointment for me. However, after reading all the positive reviews on Goodreads, I’m most definitely in the minority, so if you’re intrigued by the premise, please, PLEASE don’t let my review put you off.
By Hook Or By Book 
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