I am delighted to be part of the #blogtour for The Dream Wife, the debut novel by Louisa de Lange and my thanks to Orion for my advanced copy.
About the Book: Annie is the dream wife.
Mother to two-year-old Johnny and wife to David, she is everything her husband expects her to be – supportive, respectful and mild – but what he expects isn’t who she truly is.
Annie is a prisoner in her home.
Her finances, her routine, her social life are all controlled by him. It’s the love for her boy that she lives for, and at night she dreams of a world where she is free.
But Annie is going to fight back.
And you won’t believe how she is going to do it . . .
My Review: OK, so I am struggling here to write a review which doesn’t give anything away but does let you know how much I enjoyed this rather odd book. Reading through other people’s reviews the word “strange” has appeared several times and I do have to agree with the other readers because The Dream Wife is certainly different to the usual psychological thrillers.
Let’s start with the basics: Annie is married to an utter b*stard – David is a controlling, violent, pig. He sees women as objects and has absolutely no redeeming qualities in my opinion. He also has the MOTHER from hell – an utter nightmare who dotes on her son, treating him like a king and dismisses Annie like she is something found on the bottom of her shoe. Two utterly revolting and dislikeable characters in one book – WOW – my kinda book!
Annie has a 2 year old son – Johnny (David Johnny Jr), who she ADORES and will do anything to protect. Her relationship and absolute unconditional love for her boy is a joy to read and when the book starts veering off course from the normal psych thriller you understand that her decisions and behaviour is to protect herself and her son.
To say much more will give away the storyline and I think there will be comparisons to another cross-genre best seller, but personally I thought The Dream Wife was addictive, fast paced and several WTF moments. The ending left me slightly confused – but that’s not unusual for me. If you are looking for something different, something to keep you guessing and glued to the pages – then you should definitely read The Dream Wife.
About the Author: Louisa de Lange is a freelance copywriter, mum of a little boy and a keen runner, blogger and photographer. She is currently training to take on her first ever Olympic triathlon. She studied Psychology at university and it turns out the combination of psychology and motherhood is a potent one. You can follow Louisa on Twitter: @paperclipgirl
