After the sudden death of her ex-husband, Brian, Lauren helps Brian’s much-younger widow, Jessica, arrange the funeral and settle his affairs. Although they were once adversaries in the battle for Brian’s heart, Lauren agrees to pitch in for the sake of their troubled sixteen-year-old daughter, Emily. But Lauren gets much more than she bargained for when information comes to light about Brian’s … Brian’s shady business deals with his old college friend Jordan Connors and the crime lord Jorge Arena, jeopardizing Brian’s estate and throwing the women into the world of high-stakes illegal gambling.
With only a few days to find out where Brian hid millions of dollars in bonds and in fear for their lives, Lauren, Jessica, and Emily must set aside their differences and work together to secure their inheritance and evade Jorge Arena’s murderous crew.
Widows-in-Law is a gripping tale of mothers and daughters, wives and ex-wives, broken and remade families, and unlikely partners-in-crime. Most of all, it is a moving story about the women left behind to clean up the messes men make.
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Fun book in which adversaries turn into the only people who can save each other.
Great book. Really enjoyed it. Loved the ending.
Best book I’ve read in a long time. Unusual and fast paced plot. Good characters. Did not want to put it down.
“Widows-In-Law” by Michelle Miller opens with a frightening confrontation and two women flattened against a plank avoiding gunfire. How did they get there?
Readers go back in time to mid-October. Lauren Silverman, the “first wife,” juggles relationships with her ex-husband Brian, his current wife Jessica, and her daughter Emily, now living with Brian and Jessica. The group struggles with all the things that happen in “extended” families, and had reached a tolerant truce. That all ended with a phone call, “Brian’s been injured.” Sorrow, chaos, confusion, and trauma follow any death, but especially Brian’s.
The story includes flash backs detailing the past events that shaped characters. The casual conversational style helps readers get to know the participants and to see events from several perspectives. Little details come out piece by piece as Lauren and Jessica struggle with their new situation. There are money concerns, two households to maintain, bills for education, mortgage, and the orthodontist, but Brian’s job should provide earned commissions to allow them time to sort out finances. A call from Brian’s company changes all that. “Is there a problem?” Well, yes, there is a problem, and there is no money due to Brian’s family.
Events continue chronologically and quickly starting on October 18 and ending on December 1. Readers follow the search for answers day by day as indicated at the start of each chapter. The plot shifts points of view, with side-by-side story lines following Jessica, Emily, Lauren, and others. It seems that Brian had many secrets, dangerous ones, complicated ones, illegal ones, deeply hidden ones.
Colorful descriptions put readers into the scenes. “The streetlights still glowed outside Brownie’s but the sky had become sepia….The gray sky ripened into pink and orange as she rode downtown.”
Fear and tension fill every page. “An icy fear kept Jessica’s muscles stiff and her mouth dry. She was trapped between Lauren and the silent man.”
Lauren, Jessica, and Emily form an unusual alliance of women forced by circumstances to clean up a mess left by a death, to work together for mutual good, and to secure a financial future for each of them. I was given a review copy of “Widows-In-Law” by Michelle Miller and Blackstone Publishing. It is full of secrets — codes, trips, money, and influence — all unveiled in surprising and dangerous ways. It keeps readers turning pages, anxious to learn what disaster or solution waits on the next page.
The wife and ex wife each had defined opinions of the other. I loved seeing how they grudgingly came together for a common cause then learned and grew as women.
A different kind of mystery. Not very realistic but entertaining
A great read full of intrigue and so many twists and turns. A page turner with the characters coming together after having been caught up in a life threatening situation unbeknown to them until it became clear that the deceased husband/exhusband/father had placed their lives in danger due to his unsavory activities.
I had to put this one down because I couldn’t get into it.
Great story – raced through just to find out what happened next.
It is hard to find a good suspense that captures your imagination, but Widows in Law grabs hold the instant you start reading, to the point that I could not read this book fast enough. The story line is engaging and relatable, and the plot has so many twists and turns that there was never a good stopping point, so I had it read within hours of finishing, staying up way past my bedtime, just so I could see how the story played out.
The characters interaction with one another is unique, which is refreshing, and you truly connect with the characters and the unusual situation they find themselves in. There is strong language in this book that I personally could’ve done without, but given the setting and circumstances it did make it feel authentic.
A rollercoaster of suspense and emotion that has your heart pounding until the end, Widows in Law was a rush that I thoroughly enjoyed!
*I have reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are completely honest, and my own.