The Silent Bride by Shalini Boland
Alice and Seth are a match made in heaven. He is everything she has been searching for; handsome, accomplished, clever, funny; total and utter husband-material. She is all he could possibly want in a wife; beautiful, successful, confident… and so the inevitable proposal is eagerly accepted by Alice and the wedding is planned and set.
| The Silent Bride by Shalini Boland | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Kerry King
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| Summary: Alice and Seth are the love story of the century. He is a dashing doctor and she is beautiful and successful in her own right and when Seth proposes it is a dream come true; until their wedding day and Alice sees her fiancé waiting for her at the altar … but it isn't Seth and no one will believe that she does not know this stranger. Worse, still, everyone including Alice thinks she is losing her mind. | |
| Buy? No | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 271 | Date: June 2023 |
| Publisher: Thomas & Mercer | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1662507083 | |
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When the much-anticipated day arrives, Alice is walked down the aisle by her father, beaming with pride and excitement as she surveys the congregation – their friends assembled to celebrate this joyful day and when Seth turns to face his approaching bride, Alice's world implodes because she has absolutely no idea who the man at the altar is, who is waiting for her to become his wife.
On the arm of her father, half way down the aisle, Alice begins to panic; she turns to her dad and he looks confused and slightly annoyed. She turns back to Seth-not-Seth and then back to her father, the bewilderment etched across her face. Where is the real Seth? Why do her friends look concerned? Why can't they see that this is not the man Alice agreed to marry?
I was absolutely mesmerised by the blurb and the first two chapters of this book. It promised me a rollercoaster ride of the best kind of disbelief… until it turned into the worst, eye-rolling kind of disbelief where I just thought nope.
I wanted so much for the story to be anything but what it was. I'm not going to spoil it because on the face of it, if you have the patience to wade through the pile of maybes then you might enjoy speculating how it will turn out. I, however, did not… when it seemed absolutely apparent that the twist in the tale was not going to grab me by the short and curlies and re-engage me, I pressed on with the ensuing meh-ness of the trajectory until the big reveal. I can't remember the last time I was met with a similar anti-climax but I think it was the final episode of the final series of 24 which skipped 12 whole hours with a 12 hours later sub-title bringing what should be a 24-episode series down to a 12-episode series. Which, if you ever watched 24, was a huge let-down.
The other issue I have with the big reveal was how utterly incongruent and basically unbelievable it was, particularly after reading the pre-story of Alice and Seth's relationship. All was actually not quite as it might seem, with Alice appearing to be willing to change her personality and behaviour, by and large, to suit the slightly domineering, insecure and unattractive traits that emerge in Seth's personality which end up looking very much like those of Alice's ex-boyfriend.
In summary, it was kind of a book of two parts… it may have fared better if the fantastic opening idea – and it was, I kid you not, a fantastic premise – had an entirely different and better imagined explanation and ending than it did… it wasn't a total loss but I was disappointed and I hate it when that happens. When a book looks this promising, I feel a bit mugged off when it's not the page-turner I feel I surely deserve!
I haven't written Boland off as an author though; I hear she has a three-book deal with the publishers and I am still excited to see what else she has up her sleeve. Certainly Thomas & Mercer have an enviable stable of thriller writers and I am certain they know what they are doing.
I would suggest that The Silent Bride could well be right up your alley and if you have read and enjoyed Midsummer Magic by Julia Williams which was published back in 2013 you may draw some similarities with the storyline and like it despite my thoughts. If not, fear not, you will most definitely enjoy The Last Passenger by Will Dean which we at Bookbag LOVED particularly for its jaw-dropper of an ending.
I would like to thank the publishers for providing this copy for us to review.
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