I’m happy to say that I am bringing my review for After The Wedding by Laura Elliot. Thanks to Bookouture for my copy of the book to take part.
Everyone said she was the prettiest flower girl. But now her dress lies on the floor. It’s wet and torn, her shoes are lost. ‘Tell us what happened to you?’ her daddy sobs. Christine shakes her head. All she can remember are the red rose petals scattering like drops of blood spilling to the ground.
When Christine Lewis was a little girl, she witnessed something terrible at a wedding and buried it so deep in her memory, she managed to forget it ever happened.
Years later, Jessica Newman walks into the successful advertising agency Christine runs with her husband. Jessica is beautiful and excellent at her job but her presence triggers disturbing memories for Christine. Fragments of the wedding are starting to flicker in her mind and an unexplainable ball of dread begins to form in Christine’s stomach. Jessica is slowly beginning to destroy Christine’s marriage and her business. Why can’t anyone else see it?
Christine and Jessica’s lives were connected long before they set eyes on one another. But in unlocking the mystery of what happened at the wedding all those years ago, is Christine prepared for the truth she’s about to find?
An absolutely gripping and emotional page-turner packed with suspense that will have you completely hooked. Fans of Lisa Jewell, Gillian Flynn and Sally Hepworth will be gripped by After the Wedding.
This is a psychological thriller that doesn’t start at breakneck speed but nicely lays the foundation for an addictive and suspense filled story.
The prologue shows us Christine, a little girl who witnessed something at a wedding that her brain locked away to protect her from. She cannot remember, we see she may have almost drowned and all she remembers is roses, red like blood. This prologue catapults the reader into the book straight away.
The story then fast forwards a couple of decades, Christine is now married and runs an advertising agency with her husband. Their new employee Jessica seems to be bringing things back to Christine. Who is Jessica and what is she here for? These two women are, unknown to them, about to begin to uncover dark secrets from their pasts.
The story is told over multiple points of view, I always enjoy this type of story as you get to know the characters, their states of mind and sometimes, their motivations too.
This is a story that begins slow but as the foundations of the story are in place, the speed does increase. The characters are very well drawn and this does give the story more depth as well. Not that all the characters are likeable but they do all fill their roles very well within the story.
The fact that it is a Bookouture book did make me want to read this as I have yet to discover a book from Bookouture that I don’t like. This proved no exception.
Laura Elliot has written a psychological thriller that brings the suspense and intrigue, along with the twists and turns that kept me reading one more chapter. A psychological thriller I can definitely recommend.
Buy Link https://bit.ly/3fbOWwJ
Author Bio
Laura Elliot lives in Malahide, a picturesque, coastal village in Dublin, Ireland. She enjoys writing psychological thrillers — in the UK she is published by Bookouture, Sphere and Avon — and by Grand Central Publishing in the US. Her novels have also been widely translated.
AKA June Considine, she has written twelve books for children and young adults. In her earlier career, she worked as a journalist and magazine editor.
For more details check http://lauraelliotauthor.com/
Social Media Links
Website: http://lauraelliotauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Elliot_Laura
(@Elliot_Laura)
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