Tag Archives: Marriage

Book Review

Review: The Housewife

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The Housewife book cover.

The Housewife
By Natalie Barelli
Poisoned Pen Press, June 2026, 368pp.

The Short of It:

I love a good villain.

The Rest of It:

*No Spoilers* 

Jodie has always dreamed of being the perfect housewife. She gets her wish when she marries Dr. Roy Davies, a renowned psychiatrist with a posh Beverly Hills home. Jodie moves right in, but the neighborhood wives are watching her with a cautious eye. She sure isn’t Deborah, Roy’s first wife, who decided to kill herself by shooting herself in the head.

Oops.

Jodie has some secrets.

As details about Deborah’s death begin to surface, along with the weird, very strange behavior of the housemaid, Jodie starts questioning everything. Soon she’s digging into Roy’s locked office and wondering why there are so few details surrounding Deborah’s death.

I won’t say any more because I don’t want to give anything away, but The Housewife is one of those dishy reads that makes you put the chores on hold. There’s deception, lies, plenty of suspicious behavior, and a nice twist that keeps you on your toes.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Book Review

Review: Seek Immediate Shelter

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Seek Immediate Shelter book cover.

Seek Immediate Shelter
By Vincent Yu
Flatiron Books, May 2026, 304 pp.

The Short of It:

In a life or death situation, a lot comes to light.

The Rest of It:

Imagine going about your day and receiving a ballistic missile threat notification that sends you into a panic to seek immediate shelter.

BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

The people in this small town have only a few moments to make a decision. What will they do? One father pushes his family into a bathtub to ride it out. Another runs around his house with his wife and baby, only to leave her standing in the garage with a baby in her arms. A woman sends an unforgivable text to her daughter.

Chaos. Panic. Hurt feelings and disappointment. Emergencies can bring out the best or worst in a relationship. When you have a critical need and it’s not being met, plus the possibility of losing your life, you make rash decisions.

Then, they receive another message. It was all a mistake. A. FALSE. ALARM.

Your wife is standing in the garage holding a baby you forgot as you sped off. How do you recover from that? Innocent mistake or a shift in priorities? How do you take back a horrific text you sent to your daughter? You can’t.

These inadequacies and insecurities existed long before the emergency notification, but none of these people were at a point in their lives where they wanted to admit it. I gotta tell ya, these characters are not likable. Still, there’s something about their desperation and the way the story is told that holds you there, rapt, unable to let go.

Flawed. Imperfect. Recommend.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.