Novella Review: The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie by Freida McFadden
The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie
Author: Freida McFadden
Published: August 12, 2024
Paperback: 123 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: October 5-8, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Novella Description:
My husband is dead.
I attended his funeral. I watched his casket be lowered six feet into the ground. (Actually, it may have been only five feet, but that still seems like more than enough.) And then we ate an array of finger sandwiches and deviled eggs and miniature beef wellingtons that cost more than my first car.
My point is, Grant is gone. And so are all his many, many deep, dark secrets which I never really ever bothered to ask him about. He is never coming back.
So why do I still see his face everywhere I go?
Jessica’s Review:
This was a fun and refreshing read. I had been in a bit of a ‘book funk’ with the physical book I was reading, and after at least two weeks of not picking that one up at all I decided to DNF it and pick up The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie hoping that Ms. McFadden could pull me out of my funk… And she did: For that I say ‘Thank You’!
It seems that people who have been critical have not noticed what is on the cover: A Satirical Novella. If you Google ‘satire’, this is what comes up: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
And this novella does that! I really enjoyed it from the beginning! I laughed and also had my mouth drop at a couple of the twists. I did actually call the major final twist relatively early on, and when it got there I said, “I knew it!” I was proud I figured out a McFadden Final Twist!
McFadden pokes fun at herself and the thriller genre in general, so if you are a fan of hers or thrillers then you should enjoy this. There are ‘easter eggs’ throughout the novella in regards to her other novels, and you may pick up on them or not depending on how many or how often you read her books.
After it’s over there is a seven page ‘short’ titled BAD DATE SOS!!! That gears you up for her newest novel The Boyfriend which I am currently listening to. (I will probably have it finished by the time this review posts.
The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie is a quick and fun read that I definitely recommend for the McFadden fans and Thriller readers.
Jemima J
Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans
Author: Jane Green
373 Pages in Paperback
Published: June 6, 2000
Dates Read: Sept 20- Oct 11, 2011
My Rating: 2 Stars
Book Summary from Amazon:
Jemima Jones is overweight. About one hundred pounds overweight. Treated like a maid by her thin and social-climbing roommates, and lorded over by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented but better paid) at the Kilburn Herald, Jemima finds that her only consolation is food. Add to this her passion for her charming, sexy, and unobtainable colleague Ben, and Jemima knows her life is in need of a serious change. When she meets Brad, an eligible California hunk, over the Internet, she has the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself–as JJ, the slim, beautiful, gym-obsessed glamour girl. But when her long-distance Romeo demands that they meet, she must conquer her food addiction to become the bone-thin model of her e-mails–no small feat.
With a fast-paced plot that never quits and a surprise ending no reader will see coming, Jemima J is the chronicle of one woman’s quest to become the woman she’s always wanted to be, learning along the way a host of lessons about attraction, addiction, the meaning of true love, and, ultimately, who she really is.
My review in 2011:
A coworker let me borrow the book. She enjoyed it. I liked the beginning and the very end. It’s the rest I have a problem with. With the author’s description of Jemima, I pictured her at over 350 pounds until the author reveals that she is about 5’7 and 217 pounds. That was a shocker! A real woman that size does not match the author’s description of the character. I also have a BIG problem with the way Jemima quickly lost the weight. It was not in a healthy way! It also seemed like a lot of the book dealt with outside appearances and not what’s on the inside, which is what actually matters. This book is not recommended.
[Top]Mad About the Boy
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Author: Helen Fielding
386 Pages in Hardback
Published: March 5, 2014
Dates Read: May 7-29, 2014
My Rating: 4 Stars
Book Summary from Amazon:
What do you do when a girlfriend’s 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s 30th? Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating? Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice? Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant? Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood? Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day? Pondering these, and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and redisovering her sexuality in what some people rudely and outdatedly call ‘middle age’. The long-awaited return of a much-loved character, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is timely, tender, touching, witty, wise and bloody hilarious.
My review written in May 2014:
It has been many years since Helen Fielding wrote The Edge of Reason. I knew the direction she chose to go with for Mad About the Boy,(and knew how unhappy many readers are with this direction) but I still wanted to read it to see the new chapter in Bridget’s life. I really enjoyed the book. I feel that the Helen Fielding did have the readers miss out: There could have been one, maybe two books between “Edge” and “Mad”. I felt we missed out on all the details, which were briefly mentioned in the book which showed us what happened between “Edge” and “Mad”. I would recommend this book for fans of the series.
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