Our marriage started out as a scandal. He was my professor, and I was his student. But every scandal eventually fades. I just didn’t know our love would, too.
We had it all—a lake house, two kids, and twenty years of marriage. Except, our marriage was no longer exciting. We scheduled intimacy, ate meals in silence, and became strangers.
Our kids went off to college, and we were now empty-nesters, trying to reconnect. But my husband, a psychology professor and thriller novelist, had other plans. Perhaps writing a fictional novel had him living in a false reality? Perhaps he was having a mid-life crisis?
He didn’t want to reconnect with me; he just wanted to replace me. Worst of all, the girl he was having an affair with was our son’s girlfriend.
Betraying me was one thing, but betraying our son…? I had to make him pay.
So, I hired my son’s girlfriend to lure my husband and to stay away from my son. But soon after, bodies began to turn up, the truth started to blur, and lies began to grow.
My husband swore I was overreacting and nothing is as it seems, but I don’t believe him.
Monica Arya is an Amazon Top 35 bestselling and award winning author. Her books have been #1 bestsellers. She is a multi-genre author, writing both thrillers and romance. Monica resides in the Carolinas with her husband and two children. She loves to connect with readers and you can find her on social media @monicaaryaauthor or www.monicaarya.com
0 stars! Don’t you dare read this book! I’m dumber for having read 54% of it.
Who wrote this?! A 15 year old?! These characters act like complete morons and in ways no normal person would act. Not to mention the author continuously panders to what she thinks SAHMs want to read. Stroking their egos (um, no thanks. I don’t need that forced internal dialogue) on how endlessly difficult it is and “woe is me” and if only my husband wasn’t filled with so much toxic masculinity I could survive in this rich life nestled on a lake house. GAG!
Might seem odd to complain about, but the timing in this book was so off! 6:45am on a weekend and everyone in the house is awake and up. Even 19 year old college kids? And they’re up at that time asking for bathing suits and watching mom shower?? In another part, her daughter storms upstairs, upset and in tears, and 3 paragraphs later, in what feels to the reader like maybe 5 min, the daughter is “sound asleep”? It seems small, but when it happens so often it becomes obvious the editor of this book was either drunk or high.
The writing is so disjointed that at times I had to reread a paragraph because it felt like it was missing a line or two. Tiny details left out and when stacked on top of one another it forces the story into absurd and baffling. Example: Here’s a part of the book that left me super lost, this is regarding a girl that is missing after kayaking - “Apparently the friends were all drinking at the dock and whoever she was with had jumped in the water and must of swam away. Her friends don’t know who she was with. Or if she was with someone to begin with.” Okay, getting past that none of that actually makes sense….. so she’s with her friends, but not with her friends. And she is with one person specifically, but maybe not with anyone at all. Got it, moving on. “What do you mean?…..” “I think someone saw her alone in the water, swam underwater, climbed in, and killed her.” Wait…. WHAT?! She was maybe with someone or not with someone, but then she was actually alone and even though at this point she’s just missing after falling out of a kayak someone made her not alone by swimming underwater to kill her and we are coming up with that theory even though no one saw or heard a thing?!?! See why I feel dumber?
This book had “content warnings”, um… for what? A guy pleasuring himself to an old, hairless doll? I don’t need a warning for that, I just needed it to not be written. I really wanted a content warning for how many times characters lick their lips and brush hairs out of faces. They do one or the other on every other page!
I quit the book, halfway through when the MC finds what we suspect to be a dead body and kneels next to the girl and pulls her seemingly lifeless head into her lap to… you guessed it, brush the hair out of her face. *face palm*
Will I go back and read the rest of this book? Maybe if I adopt the mindset that this is a comedy and NOT ON ANY LEVEL “an addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist” as it states in the title. *eye roll*
Too many ridiculous twists and turns. Not at all enjoyable. You'll find yourself annoyed at the number of plot twists especially since they make no sense.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ What the hell did I just read?? This book was CRAZY good! I am writing this review right after I finished this book, because I just can’t contain myself. This book was SOOO GREAT!! I can’t even begin to tell you. WOW! This is my first read by @monicaaryaauthor but I already have two other books by her coming in the mail as we speak. I ordered them a couple days ago while I was still reading this book. I already knew I had to have and read more books from this author. Omg. Ok, I can’t even put things into words about how much I loved this book. My favorite kind of books are where you get these shocking twists you NEVER see coming and you are left jaw wide open for a few seconds just trying to process everything before you can continue reading. Well, when I say there are too many of those twists to even count, I’m not exaggerating. Holy crap! My head is still spinning. My mind is officially blown 🤯😱 I’m not telling you anything about this book. You can read the synopsis on your own. I am way too pumped right now to write about plot. This author is going to blow up in popularity. You mark my words. Once word of mouth spreads (which it already is) But once that happens and more people start to read her books, you just wait. You heard it here first.😉 If you love twisty, jaw dropping thrillers, you MUST pick up this book and I’m sure any other books she has written. You will not be disappointed. This was a HUGE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars for me! Wow! That’s all I can say. I’m still wrapping my head around everything. ** I couldn’t even wait for my normal posting days to post this review. I had to post this right away. I feel it is my civic duty to get this out there as fast as I can to spread the word about this book. So everyone else can go read it too. I swear I’m not even kidding. 😂
Have you read this book yet? Or any other books by this author? ** Also, give her a follow on Instagram, if you aren’t already following her. Her stories are so funny and she’s just gorgeous! 😍
Kinda bummed with how this book turned out. The beginning was so strong and I couldn’t put it down. First few twists were good and story line still made sense. However towards the end of the book the author added too many twists that actually make the plot not make sense. The twists contradict who the killer is and sequence of events and who was present. I can’t really say much else without spoiling it.
So much lip rolling, clinching and finger wiggling/waggles etc just say pressed lips together and waved.. Better yet stop including descriptions of what their lips and hands are doing so often. Major inconsistency "they found his body" a few sentences later "did they find his body?" "No" So which is it?
This is now my third book I’ve read by this author. Yes, I bought and read one and then quickly ordered the rest and have been binging them. But there’s a few things I’ve come to notice about her books, things that you can always count on in reading Monica’s books: a heartfelt intro which always carries a sprinkle of self-love and encouragement, real life wisdom dropped throughout every chapter, and endings that will leave your head spinning.
This book had it all. The beginning was hilarious, I was happily giggling at all of Nina’s antics with her husband. He deserved everything he got. But between the laughs and suspense, gender roles were examined - from toxic masculinity to the expectations of being a wife and mother. I always appreciate how she deals with these topics in her books.
I loved everything about this book and read it in one day. Once you start you just can’t stop. Some might think the book has too many loose ends, but I think it leaves some of the narrative open to interpretation. That’s the thing I most love about reading, we will each take away something different. Plus it makes for great discussions. As with any psychological thriller, can we ever really trust what is being shown to us?
Anyways, this is a must read! Have fun reading 😈
I’m either reading “Girl in the Reflection” or “Shades of Her” next and I can’t wait to see what these books have in store.
I enjoyed the other 2 books I read by this author but this one was all over the place. It actually started out pretty good, but the last half of the book was a little silly. There were a lot of unnecessary "twists" that didn't make sense, and there was simply too much stuff crammed into the story to try to make it unbelievable but it really missed the mark. Also, there were a lot of typos and poor word choices in my opinion. Overall I like this author but I would recommend skipping this book.
How is this book and this author not more popular?!?!?! 🤯 Twist after twist after twist... honestly speechless. Easily now in my top 5 of best books ever read and will be recommending this to everyone!
Literally mind blown 🤯 full review to come once I process what I just read!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Full review:
“My mother once told me when I was younger that there’s two types of men; good men and men who pretend they are good. The scary part is, you take a gamble and never know which one you’ve got until you’re too far deep in with them”
Nina is a mother of two who fell for her college professor at age 19. Now in her 40’s she feels disconnected from her husband when both kids are out of the house for the first time. Little does she know she is about to find out just exactly why her husband is distant from her and the truth will unravel in many disturbing ways. But what is true? And what is false? Who can she believe? Or simply trust in her life? What a complete ride with book was. I got complete Verity vibes by the end of this book and I loved every second of it!
Monica Arya does it again with another DARK, twisted, suspenseful, domestic-psychological thriller. There are many triggers so please read those before picking up this book. But I loved all the twists and it was a fast read. Monica you are the queen of psychological thrillers!
I'll just leave this quote here to end with:
“We don’t choose the characters in our story, and we don’t choose the way we get entrapped into their plot.”
I've been thinking about how to put my thoughts into words but I really needed time after reading all the crazy stuff..i dont even know if I'm saying it in a good way or bad. There were too many twists. I think halfway through the book the twists started and they did not end until the very last page.A couple of em went way too far and made me wanna retch🤮 OHH one more important thing: NINA is STUPID There I said it. Girl so many red flags and you chose to marry that?????
Plot Nina stays at some lake house with her perfect family who she has been devoted to for a long time. Now that her two kids have left for College she wants to spend her days with her husband making plans and travelling. But she finds out that he might be having an affair and there's more to this crazy family than she thought. Everything starts spiralling after that.
Things I liked
◗ The author talks about how stay at home mothers are not valued enough even after sacrificing their youth and career to take care of the children. And it's talked about a lot throughout this book. "As mothers, we don’t realize we are drowning while trying to be everyone else’s anchor." ◗ I loved her bond with her best friends ,how they stick up to her no matter what. Although that ended tragically. ◗ I loved that ending. Even after being annoyed by all the unnecessary twists and wanting it to end once and for all, I loved that lil open ended twist at the end.
This is the lowest rating that I’ve ever given a book and I’m shocked as I always try to put myself in the author’s mind and envision how hard they worked to create the story and get a book published. This book however does not deserve more than 1 star in my opinion. What was this?! - No likable character - The MC was either very stupid, an airhead, constantly in a state of “woe is me” or stupid (yes I repeated that word) - Excessive repetition/ wording (I skimmed over at least 20% of the story and didn’t miss A THING!) - Timelines were either off or didn’t make sense at all - Too many twists at the end made the story worse
Wow this was terrible (Very sorry if the author reads this review).
4.5⭐️ Holy twists!!!!! 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 I loved this!!!! I didn’t do 5⭐️ bc I did feel like Nina wasn’t too smart sometimes but overall.. wow. Monica Arya is becoming a new favorite of mine.
This was absolutely ridiculous. I only stuck with it as it started out OK, a potential good story, even if it was going at a galloping pace. Then it just got more and more unbelievable, like a bad horror film. So much of it didn't make sense, was hugely underdeveloped and, wow, the amount of twists and turns were ludicrous.
I liked this book a lot starting out. But towards the middle and ending, the plot got so lost. The timelines didn’t make sense, the details were just thrown in there and so unorganized. The book went back and forth and was hard to follow at some points.
I can’t believe I am saying this because I never thought The Next Mrs. Wimberly could be topped but I was wrong. So wrong.
Don't Believe Him by the queen of dark twists, Monica Arya has officially entered the chat. 🖤
My mind has been reeling for days. I’ve had to take a couple days to calm my nerves and process 😮💨
I have been guilty to throw a few books across the room before but I can honestly say this is my first book that has given me a nightmare. 🤣👹
Don’t believe him has literally invaded my dreams. I woke up pissed off at my husband about having a nightmare about this book. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thoughts while reading:
Immediately hooked Wait what WAIT WHAT Omg, did I just read that right? STFU I need an inhaler NO WAY NO F’ING WAY Im never going to recover from this book
The main character really pissed me off. You literally caught your husband with his dick inside a college girl, but you don’t know if you can call him out?! WTF? Also, she had the ability to pull money out for Scarlett, but couldn’t pull money out for herself? She had to have known that Warren wasn’t going to leave her anything. Also, why didn’t she check his face in the morgue when Warren supposedly died? But furthermore, how did his body get separated into parts by jumping off a bridge?? Things just didn’t add up in the book.
Also there were several plot holes that just didn’t add up. It felt like at the end the author was just throwing random twists in to keep the reader going. Honestly, I don’t think I could have read this book and finished it. I listened to it, and the narrator was decent. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Wtf was this dumpster fire It read like the author had just gotten fluent in English from duolingo and immediately decided to write a book Im also convinced she has never met another human being and has no clue how they act or talk Finished it coz I was thinking surely there would be a twist or something to warrant the high ratings it's been getting but...??? Nothing made sense? There was a 'twist' on every page by the end of the book and none of them shocked me because none of them even made sense.
Worst book of 2025 so far, and it's not even close. The combination of plot holes; grammatical mistakes; and continuity errors together with one-dimensional characters making absolutely ludicrous decisions made this book nearly unreadable. At times, it felt like a fever dream trying to parse out what the author was attempting to convey. Most of this book should have been killed by the editor. What a mess.
This definitely delivered the twists and turns Monica is known for. One thing she is always going to do is keep you shook. I was not expecting this family dynamic at all—I thought I had it figured out and was completely off. The ending was an absolutely wild twist, so much so that I had to sit with it for a minute to fully process what actually happened. Still a solid, mind-bending thriller that keeps you guessing.
Wow! Just when I thought everything was explained, there was another curve ball! This book was everything I hoped for and more. It was such an easy read that kept me engaged throughout the entire book. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a suspense/thriller book! Talk about a crazy family dynamic!!! 5/5!
Another absolute STUNNER from my thriller QUEEN Monica Arya. If you’re a fan of Freida McFadden, Verity, jaw dropping twists and questionable narrators you NEED to read this. HIGHLY recommend 🖤
“Twenty plus years of marriage later, and I’m now realizing I don’t like being told what to do by a man who can’t get me off, even if I handed him a road map to my body.”
“It’s amazing what an orgasm and a coffee can do for the soul. It can be the difference between letting your husband live an extra day or not.”
Thank you Monica for a chance to beta read Don’t Believe Him!
Monica is the queen of twists, thrillers and books you don’t want to put down! Don’t Believe Him follows Nina, doting wife to Warren and loving Mom to Ava and Max.
Nina and Warren meet her freshmen year college when Warren, Professor Cooper, is her teacher. They start an affair, get married and start their family together.
20 years later and they are empty nesters and Nina starts to worry that everything is not as happy as it seems. Do you know the person you are married to?
Another psychological thriller that will be hard to live up to! Honestly the ending of all her books I’m always like “Ok…it’s the ending now… but there’s still like 50 pages left, WHERE CAN THIS POSSIBLY GO??” But she sure finds places to take it. 🤣
My absolute favorite WTF author. Excuse me while I pick up my jaw off the floor. Just when I thought I knew what was coming next, I got hit from the side with a completely different outcome. I have no idea how these stories materialize for you but Monica you are the QUEEN of Psychological Thrillers.
I love a domestic thriller. I don’t want to give away plot points. But if a revenge tinted, woman awakening and slice and dice with a side of spice is your thing. This one is for you. Infinite stars.