We are entering into the time of year with a large number of book releases, so be prepared for a blitz of reviews over the coming months. First up is Kimberly Belle’s latest release, My Darling Husband. The Kindle and Audiobook versions of this novel release on December 28, 2021, and the Paperback original version releases on March 8, 2022. Be sure to get your hands on this fun and exciting read!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
About The Book:
Everyone is about to know what her husband isn’t telling her…
Jade and Cam Lasky are by all accounts a happily married couple with two adorable kids, a spacious home and a rapidly growing restaurant business. But their world is tipped upside down when Jade is confronted by a masked home invader. As Cam scrambles to gather the ransom money, Jade starts to wonder if they’re as financially secure as their lifestyle suggests, and what other secrets her husband is keeping from her.
Cam may be a good father, a celebrity chef and a darling husband, but there’s another side he’s kept hidden from Jade that has put their family in danger. Unbeknownst to Cam and Jade, the home invader has been watching them and is about to turn their family secrets into a public scandal.
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 4 stars
I enjoyed this year’s offering by Belle much better than last year’s Stranger in the Lake This one, although it doesn’t really have any truly shocking twists, is a tense thriller from start to finish.
After picking up her six and nine year old kids from school, Jade Lasky heads home and is faced by a masked man with a gun in her garage. He restrains all of them and says that he will let them go if Jade’s husband Cam, a wealthy chef-owner of many high end restaurants, brings him $734,296 in cash by 7 PM. If not, he will kill the children first and then Jade. As Cam sets out to try to gather the money, Jade and the kids try everything they can think of to get out of their frightening situation.
The tale is told from multiple points of view: Jade, Cam, the intruder, and sprinkled throughout is an after-the-fact interview with a very snarky Cam. We learn that each of them are hiding things, but some are hiding much more than others. The tension is palpable throughout, I tore through the pages at a rapid pace to see what would happen next and was pretty satisfied with the ending even though it was a little more open-ended than I would have liked.
There are a few things that require a bit of suspension of disbelief–especially when Cam is thinking that the insurance adjuster will just write him a check on the same day as the fire. Yeah, anyone who has dealt with insurance claims knows that it is an extremely slow process.
Overall this is more of a thriller than a mystery or suspense novel, but it also has some humanity and an intriguing look at wealth disparity and privilege. Kimberly Belle writes some very exciting books and I look forward to her next one.
About the Author:
Kimberly Belle is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of seven novels, including her latest, My Darling Husband (December 2021). Her third novel, The Marriage Lie, was a semifinalist in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Mystery & Thriller, and a #1 e-book bestseller in the UK and Italy. She’s sold rights to her books in a dozen languages as well as film and television options. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, Belle divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.
Social Links:
Author website: https://www.kimberlybellebooks.com/
Facebook: @KimberlyBelleBooks
Twitter: @KimberlySBelle
Instagram: @kimberlysbelle
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kimberlybelle
