Emma Westly, 47, highly successful CEO of a wind harvesting company is content with her life. Every moment of her day is spoken for, a relationship is the last thing she's looking for. A chance encounter with photographer Matthew changes things. Matthew is still grieving for his wife who died less than a year ago under tragic circumstances. Will Emma be able to get past the fact that he is still grieving?
I "rediscovered" Adele Parks last year when I read Just Between Us. I loved the book and was shocked at how long it had been since I'd read anything by the author. My enjoyment of her last novel, combined with the buzz around First Wife's Shadow, meant that I just had to read it.
I went into the novel completely blind, apart from knowing chapter 28 was an OMG moment. I am so glad that I'd avoided any reviews that might contain spoilers as this meant that each twist and turn had the full impact that the writer intended.
Emma is a complex character. In a profession which is dominated by men, she is driven, assertive, meticulous and hides her emotions. Part of this is her nature but some of it stems from her childhood when her parents died in an accident and she was shipped off to boarding school by her indifferent grandparents. Emma has to remain aloof and self-assured in order to be taken seriously in her job but this makes it difficult for her to meet anyone, and trust them. Thankfully, Emma has a couple of friends who act as her sounding board and keep her grounded.
Although Matthew is ten years younger, his tragic background gives him an air of maturity. He isn't pushy, in fact, it is Emma who does all the running. He makes it very clear to Emma, and her protective friends, that money is the last thing he's interested in. We slowly learn about the tragedy surrounding Matthew and the spectre that seems to be plaguing Emma. Emma is well aware that negotiating the presence of a dead wife is far more difficult than negotiating the existence of a divorced one, after all, a dead wife can do nothing wrong.
As Emma falls in love with Matthew she ignores the warnings of her friends and all the red flags that should make her hesitate. When things around her begin to go wrong there is a concern that her obsession with Matthew's dead wife has made Emma unhinged.
To say more would spoil the plot, suffice to say that this will only take you to the mid-point of the book. What follows is a series of twists that will have your head spinning.
Author Details
Adele Parks MBE was born in North Yorkshire. She is the author of 21 bestselling novels including most recently the Sunday Times and eBook Number One bestseller Both Of You. Over four million UK editions of her work have been sold and her books have been translated into 31 different languages. Adele’s recent Number One bestsellers Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck were shortlisted for the British Book Awards and have been optioned for development for TV. She is an ambassador of the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency: two charities that promote literacy in the UK. She is a judge for the Costa Awards. Adele has lived in Botswana, Italy and London and is now settled in Guildford, Surrey. In 2022 she was awarded an MBE for services to literature.
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