The Love of My Life

By: Rosie Walsh

ISBN: 978-0593296998

Publisher: Pamela Dorman

Publication Date: 03/01/2022

Format: Other

Audiobook narrated by: Imogen Church and Theo Solomon by Penguin Audio

My Rating: 4 Stars

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

“Rosie Walsh’s The Love of My Life is my favorite kind of thriller—gripping, heartbreaking and impossible to put down.”—Laura Dave

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ghosted comes a love story wrapped in a mystery: an up-all-night page-turner with a dark secret at its core

I have held you at night for ten years and I didn't even know your name. We have a child together. A dog, a house.

Who are you?

Emma loves her husband Leo and their young daughter Ruby: she’d do anything for them. But almost everything she's told them about herself is a lie.

And she might just have got away with it, if it weren’t for her husband’s job. Leo is an obituary writer; Emma a well-known marine biologist. When she suffers a serious illness, Leo copes by doing what he knows best – researching and writing about his wife’s life. But as he starts to unravel the truth, he discovers the woman he loves doesn’t really exist. Even her name isn’t real.

When the very darkest moments of Emma’s past finally emerge, she must somehow prove to Leo that she really is the woman he always thought she was . . .

But first, she must tell him about the other love of her life.

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Praise

“Readers won’t be able to stop turning the pages to see how the past and present inevitably collide in Rosie Walsh’s latest. The Love of My Life is a poignant love story, a propulsive mystery and a cautionary tale about the secrets we keep. I couldn’t put it down.“

—Greer Hendricks, New York Times bestselling author of You Are Not Alone

“Walsh’s hugely compelling The Love of My Life instantly pulls you deep into the interior of a marriage. Part thriller, part mystery, part heart-wrenching love story, this is a treasure for book clubs everywhere.”

—Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push

“Rosie Walsh’s The Love of My Life is my favorite kind of thriller—gripping, heartbreaking and impossible to put down.”

—Laura Dave, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me

“A bruising and beautiful mystery that kept me guessing till the very end, The Love of My Life delivers on every level. I’m a huge fan of Rosie Walsh.”

—Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of We Begin At The End

“How do we really build a new life? About the mystery of identity and the sometimes cost of love, Walsh’s latest is a stunner.”

—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of and With or Without You

“The Love of My Life is an extraordinary novel. Rosie Walsh combines the emotional punch of the best of romance with the page-turning twists of the most masterful thrillers. I was torn between pausing to weep, and ploughing on to solve the mysteries.”

—Clare Pooley, New York Times bestselling author of The Authenticity Project

“Walsh masterfully shows both [protagonists’] points of view while maintaining an intoxicating air of mystery…a propulsive thriller with heart that will keep readers guessing.”

—Kirkus, starred review

“[A] heartbreaking thriller…[that] explores the complexity of secrets in marriages…Walsh cleverly integrates twists that not even jaded readers will be able to predict…that builds to an emotionally raw yet satisfying conclusion. Walsh is a writer to watch.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“What do you do when you find out everything your wife ever told you about herself is a lie? Allow Rosie Walsh's love story slash mystery, The Love of My Life, to explain.”

—Marie Claire

“Perfection. Every word. Every moment. Every emotion. Brave, heart-breaking, and hopeful. A breathtaking story.”

—Lucy Clarke, bestselling author of One of the Girls

“Brilliantly plotted and beautifully written, what really elevates Rosie Walsh's book above the competition is the characters. Contradictory, flawed and entirely human, I loved and rooted for them like real people.”

—Kate Riordan, author of The Heatwave

“Wow, this book! With The Love of my Life Rosie Walsh has achieved a very rare thing: a totally heart-rending love story that is also a page-turning thriller - how does she do it?!?! Addictive, moving, totally unputdownable. It really is superb and has Netflix series written all over it.”

—Katy Regan, author of How To Find Your Way Home

My Review

THE LOVE OF MY LIFE by Rose Walsh revolves around Emma and Leo. They have a young daughter named Ruby and seem to have a perfect marriage. He’s an obituary writer and she is a well-known marine biologist who once had her own BBC program.

However, Emma is hiding a huge SECRET. She has not revealed this to her husband. The only one who knows is her friend Jill and her therapist.

She has cancer and is now in remission. Her husband, Leo gets concerned when he discovers something that points to his wife's disturbing past. Why is she holding on to these pieces of her mysterious past? Everything about his wife is false.

Atmospheric. What is real and what is fictional? Who are the Rothchild's? What is Emma so afraid of?

Heartbreaking, complex, and mysterious. There is a strong sense of foreboding and you know something is dark and sinister under the surface.

The novel keeps you glued to your pages turning, but you are desperately wanting to hurry the book along to discover the secret past life of Emma. Especially in the first part of the book. Seems to be confusing and I was like, "PLEASE, just get to it."

I kept listening dying for answers. Fortunately, the second half speeds up a bit but the answers do not come until toward the very end. Can Emma face the traumas of the past?

She has only believed what she has been told. A stolen life. A hidden truth. Gaslighting.

"Only when something is damaged beyond repair that we realize how beautiful it was."

When Leo finally discovers all the secrets, will their marriage survive when all the pieces are laid out on the table and revealed? Is forgiveness possible?

I adored Leo! A cautionary tale about the secrets we keep in our marriages. Fans of domestic and romantic suspense, as well as authors Liane Moriarty, Lisa Jewell, and Jodi Picoult, will enjoy this one.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Imogen Church and Theo Solomon by Penguin Audio for an entertaining read. A slow burn as the huge mystery is slowly revealed.

@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks

My Rating: 💗💗💗💗 Stars

Pub Date: 01 March 2022

Tags: #romanticsuspense

#domesticsuspense

#womensdomesticsuspense

#contemporarywomensfiction

#motherhood #marriage #gaslighting #mentalillness

About the Author

Photo by Verity Rivers

Rosie Walsh is the author of the international bestseller, THE MAN WHO DIDN'T CALL (which was a New York Times bestseller in the US under the title GHOSTED). The book was published in thirty-five languages and has sold more than 1.5 million copies. Her next novel, THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, publishes in the UK and US in Spring 2022, with translations following around the world. THE LOVE OF MY LIFE has already spent several weeks in the top ten bestseller list in Germany after an early release.

Rosie came to writing after a career in factual television, which took her to some of the remotest places on earth. She wrote her first novel while living in South America, where she met her partner, George. They now live in Devon, UK, with their two young children.

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