The Daughter-in-Law - Shalini Boland

Reading Challenge Category: Free ARC from NetGalley

Official Blurb:

Your new husband has a shocking secret. Would your mother-in-law kill to protect it?
From the moment I meet my new mother-in-law in her beautiful country house, she makes it clear I’m not welcome. Lilian Fletcher hates me for marrying her precious boy on a golden beach far away from her.
Starting our marriage living in the Fletchers’ family home is a nightmare. Then I discover Seb was married before and his first wife is dead. I wonder why the man I love didn’t tell me the truth. And I wonder what happened to her: the woman who came before me. How did she die?
Lilian’s steely blue gaze follows me everywhere. Then the accidents start to happen, and I know she is behind them. It starts with small things, like a dropped birthday cake, a spilt glass of wine. But then my mother-in-law accuses me of something terrible. This woman is determined to get me out of her son’s life.
Now I wish I’d never met my handsome, clever husband. Or come to this luxurious house that feels more like a prison.
But I have secrets too. And no-one knows who I really am…

My Thoughts:

This grips you right from the prologue, who is on the ground and who is standing above?
This was a very fast-paced story and is relatively short, but you feel as if you are getting the whole picture and nothing drags.
You really feel for Caroline with how her in-laws acted when they met her. She’s in a foreign country and far from everything familiar to her, and to top it all off, everyone seems out to get her. Seb really annoyed me; he was so oblivious to anything. Talk about having your head in the sand; he was so far in that it was practically popping back out in Australia! He was unsupportive of Caroline, and I was getting angry on her behalf.
As the story progressed, I started to wonder about Caroline and her motives. There was just something not adding up, and I was quite happy when I guessed correctly! However, I hadn’t imagined all the ins and outs of the story, so it still made for a great read.
This was a classic chewing gum for the brain read. You can just sit back, relax, and know you will get a good and fulfilling ending.
This is the second time this author has managed to get me out of a Psych Thriller slump this year. It doesn’t seem to matter how many books she brings out in a year; it isn’t affecting her performance. So, bring on the next one!