The French Wardrobe

By: A. R. Shaw

Narrated by: Sara Morsey

A husband's fears become a widow's nightmare. The death of an overprotective husband brings his widow's world crashing down. In her quest to survive life alone she makes a discovery not only about her strengths but also about his fears. Fans of Girl on the Train, The Husband's Secret, and Gone Girl, will like The French Wardrobe. From the best-selling author of the Graham's Resolution series.

©2016 Annette Rachelle Shaw (P)2017 Annette Rachelle Shaw

More contemporary chick lit than thriller

Unfortunately this book wasn’t as much of a thriller as I had hoped for. There was a ton of build up and waiting to figure out what was actually going on but when it all came out it was really rather anticlimactic. Vivian the main character had always been sheltered and protected by her husband to a point where he always needed to know where she was and have her check in and through out the book we never know why except that he is being threatened in some way. Vivian never questions this or worries and nothing happens. This builds anxiety rather than suspense over time for the reader because little is actually revealed. Instead throughout the book much time is spent talking about Vivian piecing her life back together after her husband, Todd’s, death which is understandable, except that most of that includes talking about a complete overhaul of her wardrobe. This is the bulk of the novel. If the book was meant to be just a contemporary, literary fiction book minus the thriller aspect it would have worked out fine except that the whole time there was this underlying layer of anxiety because the reader is wondering what’s going on and why Todd was so overprotective. Again I say anxiety because there is nothing scary enough that happens to cause suspense or to make this a thriller. Once there is a noise by a garbage can. There is the son taking on the father’s nagging protective role after he dies not even knowing why himself. Nothing happens until the last quarter of the book. Even then everything is rushed. Also throughout Vivian is the only one who doesn’t seem to be anxious or fearful of anything. This is understandable since no one actually knows what there is to fear even the police.
The writing of the book isn’t bad and the narration is well done. The narrator suits Vivian’s character quite well.
Overall I just wanted more out of the suspense aspect of the book. I wanted a big bang and all I got was a little pop. I didn’t feel wowed. 2.5 stars.
I would like to thank the author/narrator/publisher for generously providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Not what I expected

I expected more of a thriller, full of suspense. Instead, the book focused on a widow dealing with the death of her overprotective husband. There was a lot of detail of Vivian's "finding herself" through something called "The French Wardrobe" and the author went into great detail of her buying and selling items of clothing in this regard.

The last hour of the book finally revealed some of the reason for Todd's protective nature, but there wasn't much suspenseful about it IMO. Without revealing spoilers, I found the whole thing a little unbelievable and the ending was just too easily resolved.

The narrator did a pretty good job, but her performance couldn't save what I found to be an overall boring and disappointing story. I was given the chance to listen to this audiobook by the author/narrator/publisher and I chose to review it.

Excellent book

Wow! An ending I did not see coming! Excellent narration, great story, and great characters. I was completely lost in this story and listened to it in one sitting.

Very good!

Great story and believable characters. The narrator was perfect for the part. I recommend this.

Must keep reading for some interesting outcomes

This book has interesting components that meld into a compelling story. A mother of two grown children suddenly loses her husband in a bicycle accident. He had always been overly protective of her. While she's struggling to overcome her grief and try to find her footing in her new life, she branches out to resume some things she loved in her previous version of life, and to restructure other aspects.

As she's starting to recover, the reader learns of some disturbing events that she never knew about. The ending is particularly clever and surprising.

This is the first book I've read by the author. I will be reading more of her work.

I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrator was excellent.