In The Wife Before by Shanora Williams, we meet Samira "Mira" Wilder who seems brash and immature at first glance. Mira, constantly in and out of work due to issues with being on time and getting along with her employers, lives with her best friend, Shelia, in an apartment in Miami and is financially supported by her brother, Kell. Kell is engaged and has just found out that his fiancee, Ana, is pregnant. While Kell didn't mind supporting his sister, even when Ana didn't like the idea, he tells Mira that he can't  continue to support her while juggling the new responsibilites his growning family will bring. Going home and hoping to find support from Shelia, instead she is told that Shelia won't support her the way she is used to Kell doing. Shelia's boyfriend, Ben, gives Mira a lead for a waitressing gig - one night's work at an exclusive event hosted by Lola Maxwell, a local, ultra-wealthy socialite.

Even though she hates waitressing, Mira takes the gig where she literally falls into the arms of a sexy and mysterious man, Roland Graham. The two share a quietly intimate moment and Mira leaves him, sure that he will find her again. Using his status as a wealthy pro-golfer, Roland manages to get Mira's phone number from the vendor who supplied the waitstaff and invites her out for an evening. Sparks between them fly, and even when Kell finds out about the relationship and reveals a shocking secret Roland was keeping, Mira can't stay away from him. Their romance continues at a breakneck pace, and soon she finds herself married to Roland and living in his mansion in Colorado.

Feeling a little alone and bored, Mira searches for something to do. Finding a shed full of his late wife, Melanie's, belongings, Mira offers to take on the project of emptying it. While sorting through the stuff inside, she stumbles across some journals that Melanie wrote and starts reading them. The journals reveal deeply intimate and shocking secrets and now Mira feels even more isolated and weary of the gaps in Roland's story surrounding Melanie's death.

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This book was an interesting read.

Shanora has a good base story here, but it didn't feel as fleshed out as it could have. There were times throughout the book where the writing was inconsistant and the characters felt a little flat. The world the characters lived in felt real and I could easily picture it in my mind but the characters lacked that same amount of depth. It felt like the information was there about the characters, but it wasn't connected back to them very well.

I enjoyed the level of intrigue and suspense - even when I found the writing style annoying, I wanted to find out what happens next. While this was not a book that couldn't be put down, I did look forward to picking it back up when I did need to step away. There were several twists that took me by surprise as well as several well loved thriller tropes to keep me happy and comfortable.

Overall, this book left a very 'meh' taste - it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. This was the first book I've read by Shanora Williams and I would like to read another book or two by her to see if this is just her style or if her other books are more well rounded.

The way this book chronicles two very different women married to the same man shows just how complex and contrasting relationship dynamics can be different individuals. This one is loaded with heavy topics being mentioned ranging from substance abuse, CSA, grooming, and extramarital affairs to name a few. I'm a huge fan of 'journal reading' and enjoyed the back forth between Samira's present day life and Melanie's personal journal.  There were quite a few plot twists with the final one making me say, "HELL YES, YOU GO GIRL.  YOUR SECRETS SAFE WITH ME."

It's a solid read worthy of being recommended. Verity vibes, less children dying. Way better ending.

Seemed slow and repetitive at times. Interesting twists. 

Audiobook/Audible: Didn't love the reader. Character "voices" seemed inconsistent, even with back to back dialogue.