The Honeymoon by Gemma Rogers
Genre: Domestic thriller, Psychological thriller
Read: 22nd January 2025
Published: 18th October 2024
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
In a split second, your whole world crashes around you…
My wedding was the perfect whirlwind of a day. The happiest I’d ever been. That was until I discovered my beloved husband, Ryan, tucked away in a compromising summer house clinch with Liza, his best friend’s wife.
Reeling with this ultimate betrayal, my world in freefall, with nowhere to turn, I flee my own wedding unable to face anyone, not even my family. I just want to escape this nightmare.
With our flight, to our luxury honeymoon leaving in a matter of hours, could ten blissful days of Cretan Island life, minus my cheating husband help me figure out my future? It couldn’t be this easy, could it?
After a few blissful days of sunshine, my peace is shattered with the arrival of my husband, denying everything.
It seems he’s got secrets. Big secrets. More than I could ever have imagined.
With my marriage all but dead I just need to get through the honeymoon and then it'll all be over... won't it?
A pacy, heart stopping, page turning thriller for the fans of Shari Lapena and Lisa Jewell.
MY THOUGHTS:
In a split second, your whole world crashes around you...
It was meant to be the perfect day. Music, flowers, a wedding venue to die for. The bride and groom exchanging vows to love, honour and cherish, forsaking all others...until death do they part. But the ink was barely dry on their nuptials when Kelly caught new hubby Ryan in a compromising yet passionate clinch with his best friend's wife! Can you imagine the feelings of betrayal, not to mention disbelief, at your new hubby cheating on you at your wedding reception?!
Not one for confrontation, Kelly cries off the celebrations with a headache and heads to the honeymoon suite where they were to spend the night. But instead of crawling into bed and pulling the covers over herself, Kelly decides to lick her woulds by embarking on their honeymoon alone, using the ten day break to figure out where to go from here. Packing her things, grabbing her passport and booking a cab, she sneaks out the fire exit and hightails it to Gatwick where she awaits her early morning flight to Crete.
And what a destination to run to to lick one's wounds! Normally I'm not a fan of books set on the continent but I found myself totally immersed in the sun by the pool or at the beach, lapping up the luxury and beauty of the Mediterranean island. She switched off her mobile before boarding the plane only to discover a barrage of messages and voicemails from her errant husband and worried sister upon turning it back on again. She responded to her sister but ignored (then deleted) Ryan's pleas and finally demands as to where she is and what she has done to his passport.
And so Kelly laid back and set herself in for a relaxing ten days. What she didn't envision was Ryan turning up a couple of days later with their best friends Bobby and Liza in tow, apparently having found his passport. She really should have taken it with her; then he wouldn't have been able to follow her out there. And when he did arrive, he acted as if nothing had happened and puzzled as to why she left without him. When she enlightened him he denied everything, saying "it wasn't what you think". No? His tongue down Liza's throat and unzipping his trousers for a quickie in the summer house at their wedding reception was just a figment of her imagination, was it? Kelly was having none of it and told them their short lived marriage was over. And why Ryan thought bringing his best friend and mistress along on their honeymoon was a good idea, she'll never know.
Like Kelly, I wanted to stay on the beautiful island of Crete (and not to mention, in the arms of the delectable Nico, no less) but like all good things, they must come to an end and unfortunately for Kelly, they ended a bit sooner than anticipated when things back home got a little bit stranger. I guess the author had to paint an even worse picture of Ryan than the one we had already. Another nail in his coffin, so to speak. It was a little out of left field and not entirely expected. Was it possible to dislike Ryan even more? Suddenly there were heavies enforcing their authority, throwing their weight and intimidation about as Kelly struggled to piece together just how much mess Ryan had created. This is where the story shifted and dropped off a little, in my opinion.
The beginning of this book was a five star read, for sure, as I devoured every word of every page long into the night. But when things took a turn upon Kelly's arrival back in the UK, it felt like a different book at first and I had to find my equilibrium once again. It wasn't entirely unpleasant (although it was for Kelly) but it was a shift that didn't seem to match the first three quarters of the book. Still, it was a turn of events that knocked the stuffing out of me and kept me guessing until the end.
The drama, the tension, the emotion and the oh so bitchy snarky comments between Kelly and Liza were off the scale. My blood was boiling as much as the Cretan temperatures as I navigated the warzone that had been created. It was a rollercoaster ride that was as anxiety-inducing as it was thrilling and despite the dip at the the last quarter, I could not put it down.
A wholly engaging and thrilling read, lapping up the Cretan sunshine.
I would like to thank #GemmaRogers, #Netgalley and #BoldwoodBooks for an ARC of #TheHoneymoon in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Social media links:
No comments:
Post a Comment