THE REESE WITHERSPOON X HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“One of the most twisted and entertaining plots.”—Reese Witherspoon“Whiplash-inducing.”—New York Times Book Review“Such fun you’ll cheer [Emily’s] chutzpah.”—PEOPLE“This thriller will hit close to home.”—Refinery29The most twisty, addictive and gripping debut thriller you’ll read this year.HE LOVES YOU: Adam adores … home.”—Refinery29
The most twisty, addictive and gripping debut thriller you’ll read this year.
HE LOVES YOU: Adam adores Emily. Emily thinks Adam’s perfect, the man she thought she’d never meet.
BUT SHE LOVES YOU NOT: Lurking in the shadows is a rival, a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves.
AND SHE’LL STOP AT NOTHING: Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.
The Other Woman will have you questioning her on every page, in Sandie Jones’ chilling psychological suspense about a man, his new girlfriend, and the mother who will not let him go.
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A delicious page-turner! It usually takes me weeks to finish a book but I could not put this one down! I finished reading this book in a day and a half! Highly recommended!
This book was so good it makes me want to sit and have a chat with the author! You did it! And this is your debut album?! Congrats! Really, I love it! I loved your “acknowledgments” mention too, about how your family didn’t know what you were getting on with. I love how you talk! We would just say, “didn’t know what I was doing.” And how crazy fun and difficult is THAT for a secret? I would be talking about the book that I was writing, if I was you, allthetime! In fact, my husband is probably glad I finished it off today so he can know the end and I can shutupaboutit. But…I might not be able to, you know, because a great book follows you and sits with you a while and makes you ask questions because you’re still thinking about it, and so now that you know how it all goes down, you just want to peek back and read sections again and…find how magically you tucked it all away until it was needed for the amazing reveals along the way. Wow, yes, really proud of you. Fabulous idea in the first place, the title, you know, the meaning. Thanks! So much. I didn’t have work today because, I’m assuming, of things shutting down because of the coronavirus regulations, so I had more time to read, and I’m so glad I did! It was exciting, funny, dreadfully horribly awful, made you question, stirred up your anger toward characters, made you skeptical, made a detective of you, took you away on a great escape, and then it really did also have a perfect ending. Some books you know they’re getting to the end, because, well, it’s all virtually happened and it’s just time, or because you see you’ve not very many pages left unread, but this was perfectly lovely in how I never once got bored or wished it would just end. I never thought it took too long to end either. You really did it! Thanks so much! Again, congrats! Wow. Good job!
Unexpected read!
Not the other woman you might be thinking about. Talk about the mother in law from hell. Emily meets the perfect guy, Adam and his mom Pammie is part of the package. What do you do when the other woman in your man’s life is his mom? This story left me guessing and was a real page turner. I had to keep going from page 1 to figure out what the heck was happening here. It is a fun ride that will keep your attention until the last page.
This is the second book I’ve read by this author and what I like most about her writing is that things are not always what they seem. The prologue is an excellent teaser and provides a sinister and lasting undertone. I listened to the audio and don’t know who I was more annoyed with, the protagonist, her fiancé, or her fiancé’s mother! The story is as frustrating as it is riveting, with plenty of unexpected developments that continue to the last page. Well written and enjoyable.
Sorry, but this book is a Kardashian; famous for somehow, inexplicably being famous even though it is utterly devoid of substance.
I know everyone is losing it over this book and I feel like I am always the voice of dissent but COME ON. This author “borrowed” shamelessly from three familiar books and/or movies, slapped them all together and hoped no one would notice.
I loathed Emily; she was weak, spineless, needy and mute at all of the wrong times but prolific when she needed to just shut it. It was so implausible, so annoying and so painful.
I can’t stand books where people don’t just talk to each other about stuff that everyone on Earth just talks about…reading 309 pages of Emily’s long-suffering was excruciating.
Rather twisty. Gobbled this one up to see how it was going to end.
Not one of my favorite books. Very predictable and the characters were irritating instead of endearing.
I usually like books that Reese Witherspoon endorses but can’t give this book a great review. It’s a psychological thriller — Emily meets Adam, thinks he’s her soul mate except for the fact that his mother seems to be doing everything she can to break them up. It just seems to drag on with plot twists that, to me, seemed contrived. Adam’s 100% loyalty to his mother should have been an eye opener for her. I didn’t hate the book but didn’t love it either — but you might!
Emily has met the perfect man, if only his mother wasn’t part of the package. Lies abound and clues to the truth are sprinkled in and hard to miss – unless… I won’t say more to avoid spoilers – but definitely a fun, fast-paced psychological thriller.
Holy Mother of God. This book was insane! I almost had an anxiety attack reading this — it gave me ALL the emotions from start to finish. The Other Woman by Sandie Jones was a whirlwind of a thriller that left me speechless at the end.
Emily has met the perfect man, Adam. He is attractive, caring, attentive and loving. I guess you could say he is a little bit too caring of his mother, Pammie. Emily at first sees this as a doting son taking care of his lonely, older mother. Little does Emily know the battle has only begun with Pammie.
Adam’s mother goes from lying, scheming and even manipulating her way into Emily and Adam’s relationship. Like any true man, Adam is oblivious to his mother’s antics. He defends his mother and often blames Emily for the rift between the two women. But one has to wonder how far will Pammie take her battle to get Emily out of Adam’s life, and why is she going to such extremes?
“You’re never too old for your mum to care about you.”
This book made me realise I really don’t want to get married just for the mother-in-law aspect! I guess the cliché of mother-in-laws was taken to a whole new level with The Other Woman. There’s one thing to be rude and coy about the fact that you don’t like your daughter-in-law, but the pure evilness from Pammie made me gasp at certain points. I was right there with Emily through the horrible schemes Pammie was putting her through. I couldn’t put this book down and read it in one night, with multiple glasses of wine.
I was completely addicted to this book and I loved every second of it. The Other Woman by Sandie Jones was a cluster-f*ck of emotions and that bloody ending stayed with me for days. I raved about it to all my girl friends at my book club. I couldn’t believe this was Sandie Jones’ debut novel either? Can she just please write another book ASAP because I need that type of emotional rollercoaster in my life again!
Read my full review here: https://bit.ly/2U5NC5I
I received this ARC from the publisher. This does not influence my review.
I wanted to love it. I really did. And I was into it..until about the halfway mark. Where one sentence at the end of a chapter made me be quite done with Emily. When you marry someone, more often than not family comes with. So her constant complaining about how would she ever be rid of his mother was getting on my nerves. She completely ignored all the blatant signs on why you shouldn’t marry someone but I’m not judging or hating on her for that….let’s be real here…we’ve either been that person or we know that person. I did like the ending. The twist was good. I did figure it out but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. I’ve read a lot of psychological thrillers so i’m not new to twists. Although I’ll have to say this didn’t read too much like one. That being said I didn’t hate it. LOL. I would be up for reading another book of hers to see how her writing changes.
“The Other Woman”, a psychological thriller, is Sandie Jones’ debut novel. It is worth noting for some readers that this book is written in United Kingdom (British) English. Here are a few examples of some of the terms used:
* Tights (pantyhose)
* Tea (used for meals – lunch or dinner in US)
* Chuffed (very pleased)
* Hen Do (bachelorette party)
For United States readers unfamiliar with the terms, this book can be a challenging read as you try to figure out what is being referred to or said which could be a deterrent to reading it, or making it less enjoyable. As I had read another “Brit Chick Lit” book prior to this, I caught on pretty quick.
Anyway …
“He loves me, she loves me not” is the tagline – in essence referring to Adam loving Emily, and his mother (Pammie) not loving her. And, Pammie will stop at nothing to push Emily away forever. But, why?
Warning – you won’t know until the LAST eleven (11) pages of the book what is going on, which is the main “reveal”.
The main protagonist of the story, Emily Havistock, is a seemingly smart woman. Despite some missteps in her career, she was smart enough to dump a boyfriend (Tom) she caught cheating on her – with one of her friends (Charlotte) no less.
So, when Emily meets Adam, she thinks he is the perfect man, despite what happens on the drive to meet his mother. This exchange between Adam and Emily is what I feel would’ve served as a WARNING to get out of the relationship before meeting the mother. Adam’s reaction to something that Emily said was far, far too severe.
Then, there is Rebecca … and Adam doesn’t want to talk about her – yet someone misses her.
The series of the cliché “evil momster-in-law” issues begin with a misunderstanding between Emily and Pammie over Boxing Day (the day after Christmas).
Through each stage, Pammie ups her game against Emily – inviting herself along to functions, snide comments, fake health issues – those things.
I don’t want to spoil it, but these “issues” get annoying after a while, along with Adam’s ignorance and/or denial of it. He fails to even consider that what his mother is doing is wrong – and that should have served as yet another warning to Emily. Leaving Emily to wonder what she did to deserve everything that Pammie was doing to her.
There is also Adam’s brother – James. James is everything Adam isn’t. So why doesn’t Emily call it off with Adam? Why is she hanging on to him? And, does James have his own agenda?
Around two-thirds in, Emily learns Pammie has lied about something. But, Pammie threatens Emily with a “truth” about James. Emily also learns she’s pregnant (and is hoping it will save the relationship), which I felt was a bit cliché.
There were some twists I didn’t see coming, which were original given the cliché “momster-in-law” vibes. The last 19-20 pages were a definite shock as a lie became the truth and revelations were made. It was definitely a LAST-MINUTE reveal for certain. It isn’t a happy ending – very few of the psychological/suspense thrillers I’ve read end up happy, but it was the best case outcome.
I did manage to read the book in two (2) days. It was a “can’t put it down” novel type of read, though I think it was more or less out of morbid curiosity to see where it was going and hoping the end was worth the hype.
For me, this book isn’t a re-read though and I’m glad I borrowed the book from the library instead of buying it. The blurb made it seem interesting, and having the ARC of “The First Mistake” to read and review, I wanted to read Jones’ first novel to get a sense of her writing style.
My discontent with this novel was with Emily. I couldn’t really show any empathy or sympathy towards her. I know everyone seemingly had it out for her, but she came across as too naïve, if not downright ignorant. If that isn’t want the writer intended, sadly it happened. I couldn’t buy Emily taking all that “abuse” and still sticking around, especially when Adam is so oblivious and unsympathetic to her.
In addition, Adam’s reluctance to discuss Rebecca is another issue. I get that losing a spouse or partner is traumatic. However, there are millions of other people who have lost someone (AIDS, Cancer, Military deaths, car accidents, shootings, etc) and still discuss it with a future partner. Usually it is discussed not only to heal and gain closure, but to include the other partner in their lives. If they don’t – are they really ready to move on? Again, another warning.
If a mother-in-law to be is acting like Pammie, it is usually because:
#1.) She really doesn’t like you
#2.) She really wants to protect you from her son/daughter
If you’re curious about this book – check out your local library before buying it.
Boy, this was a very readable and very twisty book! Right when I thought I knew what was going to happen, the author threw me for a loop with one of her many plot and character twists. Two words that kept coming to mind while I was reading this book were paranoia and monomania.
The Other Woman is an excellent read, especially with its unexpected ending, and I highly recommend it.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are solely my own.
Wow what a riveting story! My first book by this author but it certainly won’t be my last. This was a page turner, I was so totally wrong about what was happening in the book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that loves suspense/thrillers.
I read this book at the recommendation of Reese’s Book Club. It was well written and definitely a page turner – especially towards the end!
This suspenseful and disturbing story follows Emily as she falls in love with Adam and realizes his mother hates her. Like hates her enough to threaten her and cause a rift in Emily’s relationship with her son. This book made me very thankful for my husband and a loving mother-in-law!
The storyline keeps you wondering what will happen next and then throws a major plot twist or two at the end. If you enjoy a good suspenseful tale (along the lines of Big Little Lies), then I definitely would recommend this book!
I finished this book on Audible today and I can’t figure out what to say except…WOW!!! I feel like I got open hand slapped in the face with that plot twist! Thank you, Reese Witherspoon for choosing this for her book club!!! Now, are you dying to know what happens?! Tough! You gotta read/listen to it! I would be doing you a disservice if I even gave you a hint of a hint. Enjoy!
Kept my attention from beginning to end. Shocking ending!
Great book and story. Totally unexpected ending.
This story was okay, however I did get impatient with the main character as she seemed to be so clueless sometimes! The title character is her mother in law to be, who seems to be causing all the trouble. The ending is quite good.
It was one crazy ride. It was written in the veinof The Woman on the train. It kept you guessing till the end.