Bea Reviews The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle

Publisher: MIRA 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 27th, 2016/January 1st, 2017
Challenges: NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* |OmniLit* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
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Blurb from goodreads:

Everyone has secrets...

Iris and Will have been married for seven years, and life is as close to perfect as it can be. But on the morning Will flies out for a business trip to Florida, Iris's happy world comes to an abrupt halt: another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board and, according to the airline, Will was one of the passengers.

Grief stricken and confused, Iris is convinced it all must be a huge misunderstanding. Why did Will lie about where he was going? And what else has he lied about? As Iris sets off on a desperate quest to uncover what her husband was keeping from her, the answers she finds shock her to her very core.

My Thoughts:

Oh my, this book. So many twists and turns, so many revelations big and small. While I expected a twist at the end, I did not see the one that we got. It took me completely by surprise. "The Marriage Lie" examines the question of just how well we ever actually know another person. It also brings up questions regarding secrets - what secrets we choose to keep and why, what would happen if we brought those secrets out in the open, is it ever right to keep secrets from someone, how will you react when your secrets are revealed? The book also looks at grief, what it is, how we react to it, and how it changes us. For book clubs, there's a section at the end that provides discussion questions, and there's a section where Belle talks about her inspiration and her writing process.

"The Marriage Lie" caught me from the first chapter, I was hooked. I had to keep reading, the story was compelling. It starts with a tender scene between Iris and her husband Will, then he leaves on a trip and Iris's world is ripped apart. She's dealing with grief and with the practicalities of a loved one's death all while trying to unravel why her husband was on the Seattle flight. As she digs, she begins to realize just how much she never knew about her husband and begins to question her culpability in that. Though she's a psychologist and seems to be a good one, like most of us, she has blind spots. She realizes that she willingly overlooked inconsistencies and questions about Will, swept them aside rather than look closer. As Iris learns more about Will and his actions, she has choices to make, including whether or not to keep certain things secret and if so, from whom. Who will she protect and why?

My one real gripe has to do with Iris's family; they seemed too perfect and understanding, or maybe that just says more about my family than the author's writing. Otherwise this story was practically perfect with compelling writing, a sympathetic heroine, and enough twists and turns to give you whiplash.