The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle

Amy       
Lynnie   

mystery

In The Marriage Lie, Iris is stunned when notified that her husband, Will, was killed in a plane crash of a flight on which he was not supposed to be a passenger. He had told Iris he was flying to Orlando, but the flight that crashed was headed to Seattle. While grieving, she is driven to learn why her husband had lied to her about his flight plans.

Amy's Review

The characters were all interesting, the setting of Atlanta was full of fun local references of my home city, and the storyline kept me fully engaged. While some pretty unbelievable things happened during the course of the story, I didn’t let it get to me. I was as determined as Iris to get to the bottom of the mystery. The fact that Iris was a psychologist gave the reader some important insights. I was able to see where things were heading before Iris got there at times, but it was not one of those painful situations where the reader cringes about the character’s stupidity. Instead, I was sympathetic for Iris’ state of mind and gave her some leeway to muddle through most of the time. Although, the one area where I didn’t forgive Iris was that she returned to her job way too soon, without thinking that she could cause hurt or harm to students who looked to her for support. I’m not sure I could allow her to make grieving the excuse for that one. Also, her trip to Vinings alone was just plain stupid. Alas, she wasn’t in her right mind. I had no idea how the author, Kimberly Belle, would be able to suitably end the story but was pleased with her decisions in the end.

The narrator, Johanna Parker, had an odd accent. Her voice acting was really great although she only had a couple different “voices”. I’ll knock her down to an A- because of the limited repertoire and distracting odd accent.



Lynnie's Review

When I first started reading this book I was completely intrigued! What a fascinating and gripping idea- your husband dies in a plane crash, but not the plane that he was supposed to be on! As Iris began to unravel what she thought she knew about her husband more mysteries were created- ooooh. 

And then, they introduced the villain, who was so clearly the villain, that I just spent the rest of the book waiting for Iris to figure it out. I was willing to forgive all the stupid decision Iris made, and I loved her twin brother as a character, but the last 30% or so of the book just confirmed everything I had already figured out. 

I generally don't enjoy mysteries because I am prone to putting the pieces together too early and this was another example. It's just not my genre, though I will continue to try when an interesting premise appears. I know several people who LOVED this book so I'm absolutely willing to believe that it's me and not Kimberly Belle's writing. Bottom line, if you enjoy the thrill ride of a mystery you'll probably enjoy this.