The Honeymoon by Shalini Boland
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 13th July 2024
Published: 13th July 2024
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
It was the perfect romantic honeymoon. Until her husband disappeared.
It was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives. But for newlywed Stella, the dream honeymoon has turned into a nightmare overnight. Her perfect husband, Austin, has vanished without a trace.
Alone in Venice, Stella frantically searches for him. But as fear turns into confusion, she finds herself questioning everything she knows about the man she married. Has Austin really abandoned her, or has someone from his past finally caught up with him—the business partner he threatened to sue? The obsessive ex-girlfriend who refuses to let go? When Stella becomes convinced someone is following her, panic sets in.
As hours turn into days and clues start to unravel dark secrets, a terrified Stella can’t help but ask herself: is her husband who she thought he was at all?
MY THOUGHTS:
The perfect honeymoon...until her husband disappeared...
Stella and Austin are newlyweds just arrived in Venice for the picture perfect honeymoon. After a sumptuous dinner, a little dessert and some rambunctious love-making, Stella awakes to find Austin dressing in the dark. Upon enquiring he tells her the restaurant phoned - he left his credit card there. And so he is just popping out to collect it and a few other things from a nearby supermarket. He kisses her goodbye and leaves their suite...and he never returns.
Frantic with worry, Stella alerts the hotel reception and retraces her steps back to the restaurant to enquire as to whether Austin made it there or not. The fact he had does little to ease her mind because where has he gone from there? And why did he not return?
As hours turn into days, Stella must inform her in-laws, Rob and Vicki, who jump on the first available flight out there to join her in her search for Austin, as the police continue their enquiries also.
But the longer Austin remains missing, the more Stella begins to question just how well she really knew the man she married. And has she just made a big mistake in doing so?
Told in the NOW and THEN present-and-past-format, this tale is a slow burn for Shalini (I'm used to her fast paced pageturners) and as the story unfolds, we begin to see that all is not as it seems.
While this was not one of her best, it was still a fairly quick read and I felt the final chapters and Epilogue were its saving grace as Shalini has always been the queen of the last minute twist...and she did not disappoint! She delivered not one but TWO shocking revelations that not even I saw coming. And it was these in the final few chapters and Epilogue that saved what was something of a pedestrian read. I know what Shalini is capable of and I can't wait to see what she delivers us next!
I would like to thank #ShaliniBoland, #Netgalley and #AmazonPub for an ARC of #TheHoneymoon in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Her debut psychological thriller "The Girl from the Sea" published in June 2016 reached Number 1 in the US Audible charts. Her second thriller "The Best Friend" published in October 2016 reached a high of number 10 in Amazon's UK Kindle charts. It also achieved number 1 in all its categories and was a Kindle All Star title for several months in a row.
Shalini has recently signed with Thomas and Mercer publishers with her first publication with them being "The Silent Bride".
She is also not a morning person.
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10 Things My Readers Might Not Know About Me
My dreams (nightmares) nearly always involve the characters and settings that I’m currently writing about. For example, last night I dreamt that I’d abducted a baby and tried to hide him in my husband’s car, but I couldn’t get the doors to lock. It was awful! Maybe I’d have a better night’s sleep if I wrote rom coms.
I love all fruit except bananas. The smell, texture, taste – ugh. No. Just no. Keep that evil fruit away from me.
I write for a living, and so does my husband, but neither of our children are particularly avid readers. My eldest is dyslexic and has never enjoyed reading or writing. My youngest quite enjoys it, but has to be pretty much forced into trying a new book. How did this happen? I have no idea. We always read to them when they were younger. We have a houseful of all kinds of books. Ah, well, I’ll keep trying.
When I was nineteen, I hitchhiked at night in Israel and ended up in the middle of nowhere convinced I was going to die. Turns out I only needed to walk another two minutes to find myself back at the kibbutz where I was staying. I’ve never hitchhiked since.
My writing companion is a little Poodle/Lhasa Apso/Terrier cross called Jess who sits at my feet while I type. Sometimes she sneaks up onto the sofa and rests her chin on my keyboard. I’m not sure I could write without her nearby.
When we were in our twenties, my husband and I set up VW car shows. Our events were all jinxed. Over the course of six shows we had four instances of major theft, a forest fire, the worst storm on record, someone set up illegal rave, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, and an actual bomb scare with police cordoning off the area and evacuating everyone. Plus, we only made a profit during our first show, the other times we just about broke even. Not a huge success.
Nearly all my novels are set in and around the area of Dorset where I live. I moved here when I was eighteen, but I feel like this is my true home. I love it – the towns, beaches and countryside are beautiful.
Good coffee and chocolate are my weaknesses.
I used to be a singer songwriter and once sang on stage at The Brixton Academy in front of four thousand people. I don’t know how I did it. I’m such an introvert these days.
I feel very lucky to write for a living. Every day, I’m truly thankful and appreciate that I’ve finally discovered what it is I love to do – it only took me forty years to work it out! It isn’t always easy and some days I need a kick up the backside to stop procrastinating and get working. Other days are overwhelming and I do get anxious about what my readers will think of each book. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. I only hope people will continue to enjoy my books and allow me to keep doing what I love.
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