megan_prairierose's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the pacing of this book and the plot. It was a bit rushed at the end but not enough to take away my enjoyment.
ashak's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this book up with trepdition for I have never read Barr before. But she writes well and keeps you interested throughout. Although the book is compared to rebecca, I wouldnt say the same, but yes the underlying theme is similar to the du maurier novel but far more contemporary and less complex.
An enjoyable read. Would recommend.
An enjoyable read. Would recommend.
lissan's review
4.0
A book I picked up at this year's book festival. The theme made me think of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, but it is nothing like it. Lily Button grew up with her grand parents after her own parents deserted her at a young age and emigrated to New Zealand. When they die she is on her own, without much experience of either life and other people.
She ends up in a city nearby and is happy to run into Al who is working for a municipality center, advising and helping people in need. He inspires her to get a job, guides her in educational matters and finding a place to live. She ends up in a family with divorced parents and children from their different marriages. It is a total new daily life for Lily compared to the quiet life she had with her grand parents. Slowly, slowly she starts embrace a normal life. She finds several jobs cleaning people's house. One house belongs to Harry and Sarah Summer. He is a lawyer and famous TV personality. She gets enthralled by their house and their life. When Sarah dies during a holiday in Barcelona, she is there to comfort the devastated widower.
It is a rather slow book as far as action is concerned, at least in the beginning. But it really helps building up the characters and gives us time to get to know Lily and her world. The story develops nevertheless all right and in the last part of the book it speeds up. Lily is charming and you really feel with her and you are happy when she is doing well. It is not just an ordinary love story, but mixed with a little bit of a mystery. Not all people are what they seem to be. It is a very well written and easily read story which also makes you think about life and its relations.
Review from my blog thecontentreader.blogspot.com
She ends up in a city nearby and is happy to run into Al who is working for a municipality center, advising and helping people in need. He inspires her to get a job, guides her in educational matters and finding a place to live. She ends up in a family with divorced parents and children from their different marriages. It is a total new daily life for Lily compared to the quiet life she had with her grand parents. Slowly, slowly she starts embrace a normal life. She finds several jobs cleaning people's house. One house belongs to Harry and Sarah Summer. He is a lawyer and famous TV personality. She gets enthralled by their house and their life. When Sarah dies during a holiday in Barcelona, she is there to comfort the devastated widower.
It is a rather slow book as far as action is concerned, at least in the beginning. But it really helps building up the characters and gives us time to get to know Lily and her world. The story develops nevertheless all right and in the last part of the book it speeds up. Lily is charming and you really feel with her and you are happy when she is doing well. It is not just an ordinary love story, but mixed with a little bit of a mystery. Not all people are what they seem to be. It is a very well written and easily read story which also makes you think about life and its relations.
Review from my blog thecontentreader.blogspot.com
thenotoriousmeg's review
3.0
I'm a big fan of Emily Barr, though she's hard to find in the states, a good combo of travel and chick lit. This wasn't as interesting as her early works (I think Cuba/Cuban Heels was best), it's still a fun read with a nice bit of mystery. The pacing was a bit weird, with all the action happening very quickly at the end, but really enjoyed the first half and glad I hadn't read the cover before starting.
leahmichelle_13's review
4.0
I’m a huge Emily Barr fan, I wasn’t able to get into her earlier work, but since The Sisterhood came out I’ve been hooked. I eagerly read The Sisterhood, followed by The Life You Want and The Perfect Lie. Emily is undoubtedly the Queen of suspense with her novels having brilliantly spooky plots with many twists and turns so I was thrilled when I received a proof copy of her new novel The First Wife. It’s billed as a modern-day Rebecca, but having not read Rebecca I have no idea how accurate that description actually is. The book actually sounded similar to Dorothy Koomson’s novel The Woman He Loved Before, not in style (they’re two entirely different authors), but plot-wise, about being the “second” wife, if you will.
The First Wife is an interesting novel. Like Barr’s previous novels, there’s an edge of suspense to it. An edge that it isn’t all as it seems and there’s a certain aura to the novel where you wonder when the bottom is going to drop out and it’s all going to go bonkers, it’s all going to implode. I thought the initial plot was excellent. I was entranced by Lily Button, entranced that this young girl didn’t know life, that her life revolved around her grandparents until they died and she was suddenly thrust into the world. I found Lily’s naivete charming, rather than annoying, and I liked seeing how Lily became somewhat smitten with Harry Summers and how their relationship evolved once his wife, Sarah, killed herself in Barcelona.
I admit, I did find the suspense lacking a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it was there, and like I said, I was waiting for it all to drop, but it was miles more sedate than The Sisterhood. The synopsis makes a big mention of a ‘shocking discovery’ about Harry’s wife Sarah but the action of the novel is relegated to those final 50/75 pages. Up until then, it’s a fairly pedestrian novel. Very readable, but not what I expect from an Emily Barr novel. I still enjoyed it, mind, because Lily’s story and how she goes from a practical hermit to being out in the world and making her own money is indeed very interesting. I liked the house where she lodged, I thought the family was lovely, and I liked her friendship with Al, and her burgeoning relationship with the Summer’s. I also liked the story about Jack, a New Zealander fed up with his life and wanting to break free and visit Europe. It was all done very well, it just didn’t make my heart race as much as The Perfect Lie did.
The characters were very intriguing people. I liked Lily, I liked her naivete, as I’ve mentioned. I found her fascinating and although she’s probably not the most affluent heroine ever, I felt she carried the book nicely. I wanted her to get a life she deserved, because if anyone deserved a nice life, it was Lily. I really liked the family she lodged with, Julia and John and their four kids, particularly Mia, who was close to Lily’s age and who was close to Lily. I never really clicked with Harry Summers. Obviously, the synopsis hints to something dangerous/shocking having happened to Sarah and I just felt suspicious of both of them and couldn’t really get a proper hold on either of their characters. All I wanted to tell Lily to do was run away as fast as she could. Not only because they were suspicious but because Harry was, frankly, old enough to be her father which made me feel very icky indeed. Jack was one of my favourite characters, his storyline did seem a bit strange, coming out of the blue, but I really liked him and I admired the fact he was willing to leave New Zealand to fulfill his dream of seeing Spain.
I must admit, I did find the latter stages of the book to be beyond the realms of believability. Lily takes off to Barcelona and I just felt that from what we knew of her thus far, it wouldn’t be in her make-up to do that. I found it hard to believe that Lily would survive the bustle of an airport and the flight to Barcelona and the enormity of being in a city where people speak a different language. It might have been necessary to the plot, but it was entirely out of characters for me and it sort of spoiled it a little bit. You don’t give us a character who in all of her 21 years has only ever left Cornwall a couple of times and then have her, on a whim (suspicious, or no) head to Barcelona. Nevertheless, the ending was very fast-paced and frantic and everything all sort of spilled out in one long shocking confession. I’d rather guessed most of it, I will admit, about Sarah, about Harry so it was rather anti-climatic in a sense, but still dramatic in others. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The First Wife. I don’t personally believe it was as good as The Sisterhood, but it was good enough and I struggled to put it down!
The First Wife is an interesting novel. Like Barr’s previous novels, there’s an edge of suspense to it. An edge that it isn’t all as it seems and there’s a certain aura to the novel where you wonder when the bottom is going to drop out and it’s all going to go bonkers, it’s all going to implode. I thought the initial plot was excellent. I was entranced by Lily Button, entranced that this young girl didn’t know life, that her life revolved around her grandparents until they died and she was suddenly thrust into the world. I found Lily’s naivete charming, rather than annoying, and I liked seeing how Lily became somewhat smitten with Harry Summers and how their relationship evolved once his wife, Sarah, killed herself in Barcelona.
I admit, I did find the suspense lacking a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it was there, and like I said, I was waiting for it all to drop, but it was miles more sedate than The Sisterhood. The synopsis makes a big mention of a ‘shocking discovery’ about Harry’s wife Sarah but the action of the novel is relegated to those final 50/75 pages. Up until then, it’s a fairly pedestrian novel. Very readable, but not what I expect from an Emily Barr novel. I still enjoyed it, mind, because Lily’s story and how she goes from a practical hermit to being out in the world and making her own money is indeed very interesting. I liked the house where she lodged, I thought the family was lovely, and I liked her friendship with Al, and her burgeoning relationship with the Summer’s. I also liked the story about Jack, a New Zealander fed up with his life and wanting to break free and visit Europe. It was all done very well, it just didn’t make my heart race as much as The Perfect Lie did.
The characters were very intriguing people. I liked Lily, I liked her naivete, as I’ve mentioned. I found her fascinating and although she’s probably not the most affluent heroine ever, I felt she carried the book nicely. I wanted her to get a life she deserved, because if anyone deserved a nice life, it was Lily. I really liked the family she lodged with, Julia and John and their four kids, particularly Mia, who was close to Lily’s age and who was close to Lily. I never really clicked with Harry Summers. Obviously, the synopsis hints to something dangerous/shocking having happened to Sarah and I just felt suspicious of both of them and couldn’t really get a proper hold on either of their characters. All I wanted to tell Lily to do was run away as fast as she could. Not only because they were suspicious but because Harry was, frankly, old enough to be her father which made me feel very icky indeed. Jack was one of my favourite characters, his storyline did seem a bit strange, coming out of the blue, but I really liked him and I admired the fact he was willing to leave New Zealand to fulfill his dream of seeing Spain.
I must admit, I did find the latter stages of the book to be beyond the realms of believability. Lily takes off to Barcelona and I just felt that from what we knew of her thus far, it wouldn’t be in her make-up to do that. I found it hard to believe that Lily would survive the bustle of an airport and the flight to Barcelona and the enormity of being in a city where people speak a different language. It might have been necessary to the plot, but it was entirely out of characters for me and it sort of spoiled it a little bit. You don’t give us a character who in all of her 21 years has only ever left Cornwall a couple of times and then have her, on a whim (suspicious, or no) head to Barcelona. Nevertheless, the ending was very fast-paced and frantic and everything all sort of spilled out in one long shocking confession. I’d rather guessed most of it, I will admit, about Sarah, about Harry so it was rather anti-climatic in a sense, but still dramatic in others. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The First Wife. I don’t personally believe it was as good as The Sisterhood, but it was good enough and I struggled to put it down!
More...