Pretty Little Wife

I haven’t written a book review in a long time, so I thought I would dip my toe in the water with this first one. This book was one of my Book of The Month selections from well, November 2020! I seriously meant to read it then, but there have just been so many things I’m trying to balance with work, writing, studying, and creating content for my blog and Vocal. Sometimes it feels nice to procrastinate by writing something for a Vocal challenge, or just because, so here I am. One of my goals is to write a book review each month, and currently, I’m behind for 2021, but hoping to read some more books soon. I have four more BOTM books to read, and I keep ordering more books, just loads to read.

From the very first page of Darby Kane’s Pretty Little Wife, scratch that, the very first sentence, I was hooked. Darby Kane was a former trial attorney who writes romantic suspense stories, and her background in law shows in this story. Nothing feels too over the top and unrealistic. When you find out who the culprit is at the end of the story, the delivery has a lot of thought. Since this story talks about missing persons, a few excerpts of a true crime podcast were incorporated, which was super relatable because most people I know listen to true crime podcasts. Lila Ridgefield, the wife in question during the story, was a peculiar character to follow. I often read stories where the main character or narrator wasn’t likable, but I felt like Lila was likable. With their back and forth, the dynamic she and the investigator had with different servings of sass was enjoyable to read. I might not want to be best friends with her, but I enjoyed seeing her grow as a character the more I read, though I will leave it up to you to decide how much she grew.

The story goes faster the closer you get to the end, and when you finish the book, you’ll wish there is more. Reading this book in little chunks was kind of hard for me. I wanted to stay up late and finish the book whenever I read, but I was excited when I finally finished the story. When a mystery is involved, it’s always fun to figure out the different puzzle pieces and connecting points. I feel like there were moments where I thought I knew how it was going to end, and others where I just wasn’t sure if my theories would be correct.

There was a scandal, crime, punishment, and some humor to this novel. Pretty Little Life was one of those stories where I want to say less so that I don’t accidentally give away any plot points. Sometimes with suspense stories, there might be disturbing scenes that might cause the imagination to run wild. I don’t think that was the case with this story. The details were just the right amount. I usually cannot read stories repeatedly, but I think this is one that I would read again, especially to see if there were any small details that I might have missed. I would recommend this book to a friend, and I think I would convince some people who aren’t big readers to read it. I would also give this novel a four out of five because while I did enjoy the story and thought it was a good read, I didn’t love it. I think there might have been a couple of components missing for me, like some more backstory to a couple of the supporting characters and even the main character Lila.

---

Thanks for reading! I wrote this review for fun, with no obligation to write it.