Book Review | The Husband's Secret

Title: The Husband's Secret

Author: Liane Moriarty

Publication: July 30th, 2013
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Source: Borrowed from the library

Rating: 3.5/4 out 5 stars

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Synopsis: At the heart of The Husband's Secret is a letter that's not meant to be read

My darling Cecilia, if you're reading this, then I've died...

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive . . . Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all - she's an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia - or each other - but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's secret. 

Review: I did not know what to expect going into this book, so I went into it with an open mind and rather low expectations(since I had no idea what type of turn this book would take). What I found was not mind-blowing, but was a rather enjoyable and entertaining story that kept me guessing, as well as surprising with all the plot twists.

So the characters. I found most of the characters in this novel hard to relate to. Many of them had flaws, but they were the type of annoying, "get over yourself" flaws that drove me crazy at first. However, the more I got to know the women, the more relatable they became to me. I really enjoyed this aspect of the novel because it's true to real-life in the sense that what you see on the outside is not true to what some people are really like. 

Another note on the characters, there are no "bad" characters. You think something bad has happened with the synopsis (and something very bad has happened), but each of the characters have their contributions to the bad things that happen. I sympathized with just about every one of the characters, which was a big surprise for me. I didn't like I'd like the characters, much less sympathize with any of them. This aspect made the whole story change for me. 

The story does start out a bit slow. You don't even find out what's in the letter until about halfway through the book. While I was interested enough to keep reading, I think some people would have more of a problem getting into this book. It's worth it to keep going, though! If you're struggling through the first half, I recommend to push through, it will be worth it!

There are three different POVs within this book. I loved that as the book went on, you start to see their stories intertwine. And not only intertwine, but get more complicated and woven with each plot twist. I guessed right on what the letter was going to say, but every plot twist after that was surprise after surprise for me...in a good way!

Overall, if you enjoy contemporary and  adult novels, then I would recommend checking this one out. If you are looking to branch out from what you normally read and this isn't what you normally would pick up, then I'd recommend this one to you. If the synopsis sounds intriguing then I'd recommend you give this one a shot, I'm glad that I did. 

Have you read this one and if so, what did you think of it? What did you think of all of the plot-twists within the book, did you predict any of them? What are some good adult books that you've read lately?