To His New Wife

by Willow Rose

His ex sent me a letter. I thought she was dead.

When Emma married Benjamin, her life came as close to perfect as someone like her ever could have dreamed. No longer just working for his father, she was part of the family. Helping Benjamin move on from the tragic loss of his first wife hasn’t always been easy – tears, anniversaries, photos of her everywhere – but it brought them closer together, even if his daughter still spends all her time shut up in her room.

But then the first letter arrives at Emma’s desk at work. A pristine white envelope with flawless calligraphy inside.

To Benjamin’s new wife,

With love from,

The wife he killed…

An addictive, jaw-dropping psychological thriller from multi-million-copy bestseller Willow Rose. For fans of Tess Gerritsen, Freida McFadden and Jeneva Rose.

What readers are saying about To His New Wife:

“Wow wow wow!!!! Didn’t expect them twists to blow me away!!!!! My heart is still pounding!!!! This book had me hooked honestly couldn’t put it down. Thought I had it all worked out but I was completely wrong! Fantastic!!!!” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

“This book has bestseller written all over it. I had to remind myself to breathe as packed a punch and kept me breathless from beginning to end! I finished it within 24 hours… The twists, turns were at full-throttle lightening speed it just kept going and going it never slowed down I absolutely loved it!… A massive 5 sparkling stars!” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

“This book is going to be huge on Booktok, mark my words! From the very first page, I was hooked. It really has it all… I went whaaaaaaaaaaat!!!?? my jaw dropped. An absolute 5-star read!!” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

“Wow wow wow… I could not put it down and have spent the afternoon shushing everybody to allow me to read in peace!” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

“Wow… An incredible thriller. I could not stop reading… Perfect… So gripping.” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

“Wild!! If I could just use one word to describe this book, it would be wild! So many twists and turns that you just can’t put this book down!!” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

“Wow! Just wow!” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

“What a prologue… Wow!… The twists just kept coming left and right. Definitely add this to your TBR… I will be recommending [this] to everyone!” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

“Amazing!… Hooked me within the first two sentences. If you are looking for something that you want to read in a day and not be able to put down this book is for you.” Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime

288 pages, Paperback

Published February 9, 2026

About the author

Willow Rose is a multi-million-copy best-selling Author and an Amazon ALL-star Author of more than 100 novels.

Several of her books have reached the top 10 of ALL books on Amazon in the US, UK, and Canada. She has sold more than three million books all over the world.

She writes Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense, Horror, Supernatural thrillers, and Fantasy.

Willow's books are fast-paced, nail-biting pageturners with twists you won't see coming. That's why her fans call her The Queen of Scream.

Willow lives on Florida's Space Coast. When she is not writing or reading, you will find her surfing and watch the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.



Connect with Willow online:

http://www.facebook.com/willowredrose
https://twitter.com/madamwillowrose
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Inbox already stuffed? Send the word: “ebooks” to 31996 to get a text alert with news about new releases, giveaways, and bargains from Willow.

Reviews

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping, dark, twisted, menacing, suspenseful, and shocking! To His New Wife proved to be a fast and thrilling read which kept me guessing and turning the pages! Just when I thought I had things figured out, Willow Rose threw another zinger into the mix, and I was left rethinking my list of suspects!

Emma thought she had her happily ever after when she married Benjamin. She is welcomed into his family and works for Benjamin's father. Benjamin and his daughter lost his first wife tragically. But Emma is hoping to help them pick up the pieces. Then a note arrives! A note that appears to come from his first wife claiming that Benjamin killed her!!!! Emma is naturally shocked, full of questions, and left feeling uneasy after receiving such a note. What really happened to his first wife? Who is behind the letters? Who can be trusted?

I thought Willow Rose did a great job of inserting doubt and fear into To His New Wife. I felt for Emma and her trepidation and fear jumped from the pages. Emma doesn't know who is sending the notes, but they are getting under her skin. I thought this was depicted wonderfully in this book. Is his first wife dead or is she alive? If she is dead, why is someone sending the letters? So many questions swirled in my head while reading this book.

I found this book to be an entertaining and suspenseful page turner which kept me guessing. I loved the tension and suspense. I also enjoyed the sense of unease and impending danger. Like Emma, I never knew who could be trusted in this book. This is the second book I have read by Willow Rose, and I look forward to reading more of her books.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com 📖

[Johnna · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a saying that says the truth will set you free. Emma needs to hear that.

Emma is ridiculous. First of all, if it were me and I were constantly being compared to the dead wife, you better believe I’d be gone.

Second, If you think your husband might have killed his first wife, why don’t you … tell someone?! Why not defend yourself against allegations (if there’s not a basement, tell the detective there’s not a basement and then he will know Lily lied, wtf is the matter with you!!!!)

Emma had the letter that said Alice lost the necklace and then she finds the necklace in the storage unit and she doesn’t even think about that, that she’s being set up???? I saw it a mile away after she touched the shim!!! Also - plot hole - the brakes failed but there was a shim under the pedal?? Which is it?? If they found the shim why was it considered an accident in the first place????

Why did Lily lie and then act all surprised and high and mighty when Emma is arrested??

The ending was honestly the best part, which is weird to say, but the trial was super interesting. Believable, idk, but I devoured that part of it.

I had high hopes for this book but it just kept p*ssing me off.

[Shaz ♡ · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

This hooked me in straight away but I lost interest midway through the book. I found it quite repetitive and easy to guess what was happening next.

This would be a great read for someone just getting into psychological thrillers but it fell a bit flat for me sadly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC 💌

[Barbara O'Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many errors

Poor editing/proofreading. Brake failure leaves skid marks. Pearl necklace morphs into gold pendant. Just too many obvious sloppy contradictions slap reader in the face.

[Marcie Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝗔 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗱. 😈

This is pure popcorn thriller territory, and I mean that as a compliment. It wasn’t particularly unpredictable—there were no huge shocks or jaw-dropping twists—but honestly, I didn’t care one bit.

I was completely enthralled from beginning to end. The story just kept pulling me along, and I was thoroughly invested in what was happening.

Sometimes a thriller doesn’t need to constantly surprise you to be incredibly entertaining, and this was definitely one of those books for me.

𝗔𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝟱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗺 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝗲. 📚

I think this is my first book by her—and I’m already ready for more.

[Krystal Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars, and those stars are strictly for pacing. It moves so fast you start to forget that you hate everyone.


MAJOR SPOILER COMING











Benjamin is the killer. There. That’s the book. That’s the entire fucking experience. By page two this man radiates “I murdered my wife” energy. He’s a rich surgeon widower who controls everything, acts weird as hell, has a dead wife named Alice, and somehow Emma still spends half the book internally debating whether he’s trustworthy.

Emma has the survival instincts of a decorative pumpkin. She gets creepy anonymous letters saying Benjamin killed his first wife and her reaction is basically: “Hmm. Concerning. Anyway, let me emotionally bond with this obvious murderer.” I have seen less denial in cult documentaries.

And Benjamin? Holy shit. The second he appears on page you just KNOW he has at least one hidden basement and a collection of murder gloves.

Which, surprise, HE DOES.

The daughter Lily honestly deserved hazard pay for surviving these two idiots. She’s skulking around acting traumatized because, spoiler alert, HER DAD IS A FUCKING MURDERER, and somehow Emma still needs forty-seven additional clues before her single remaining brain cell activates.

[Chailey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very well written, but kept me hooked because I wanted to know what happens. Then I was completely let down by the ending which was stupid and didn't make sense. Waste of time.

[Monica Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an intense book!! I still have so many questions!!

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one started out with a bang and held my interest the entire story! The fact that Willow Rose kept us in suspense for so long was an experience in itself! Every time I thought I figured out who the culprit truly was, something happens that made me quickly doubt myself! The story took many turns before the big reveal and it was definitely worth the wait! Overall a great domestic thriller that makes me want to dig more into this author’s catalog! Thank you NetGalley & Bookouture for an advanced reader copy.

Publication 🗓️ : 02.12.26

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just saying one surgeon wouldn’t be doing cleft palate repairs and heart surgeries… That’s plastics vs. cardiothoracics

[Niraja Surendran · Rating 2 out of 5]

now why would you ever trust a man over your sister

[Bethany · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book could have been an email. It said a lot while saying nothing. I should have just set it down. Did I mention there is a sequel?!? No. Thanks.

[Kathy Brackin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stone family secrets, Emma in bliss marrying Ben but he is not who she thinks he is 😳😳 really intense!!

[Mady Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5- feel like the story was going in the same circle over and over but was overall a fine thriller

[Krys · Rating 1 out of 5]

For something labeled as a "jaw-dropping psychological thriller," the only time my jaw dropped was when I yawned. I'm pretty sure my eyes rolled more than anything else because this book? It was utterly ridiculous in so many ways.

To begin with, there wasn't a shred of decency to be found in any of the characters, save for perhaps Emma's sister... unless you count the complete 180-degree personality shift Lily undergoes for reasons that are never actually explained. And Emma herself? Her reactions make absolutely no sense whatsoever. In the blink of an eye, one letter supposedly written by her new husband's dead wife is enough to completely shatter her trust in him and send her spiraling to the point that she almost throws away the career she's worked so hard to build. From there, she proceeds to make some of the stupidest decisions imaginable. Even after the police become involved and essentially imply she may have had something to do with the first wife's death, she still refuses to tell them the truth. Meanwhile, the actual culprit is so painfully obvious that I swear Helen Keller could have figured it out long before Emma did.

Sadly, the plot itself is just as much of a mess as the characters. It's packed with repetitive scenes and plot points that simply don't hold up under even the slightest scrutiny. For example, after reading a letter from the supposedly dead wife explaining exactly where cameras were hidden throughout the house so Benjamin could secretly watch her, Emma never once thinks to even glance in those locations to see if the claim might actually be true. She becomes convinced her stepdaughter is behind the letters, even discovers what could potentially be incriminating evidence in the girl's room, yet never actually bothers to verify what she's found. At the same time, she's conducting her own investigation into the first wife's death, and even after uncovering what appears to be significant evidence, she still doesn't involve the police.

In the end, even if the characters and plot hadn't been such complete disasters, the sheer number of continuity errors would have been enough for this to earn one star from me. In fact, books like this make me want to start my own editing company that specializes in finding these kinds of mistakes before publication, simply to spare myself the headache of encountering them later when it's time to review the finished product. Because honestly... how does a traditionally published novel make it to print with this many glaring inconsistencies (keep in mind that these are only a handful of the ones I found).

- After Emma misses an important meeting, she's told that Robert (the head of the company and her father-in-law) "handled the presentation." Yet the very next time the meeting is mentioned, Robert is telling Emma it's been rescheduled and warning her not to let him down because it's an important client. Which is it? Did you already present the pitch or not? To make matters worse, this same client and presentation are repeatedly used throughout the novel to demonstrate how much these mysterious letters are supposedly affecting Emma's work performance.

- A little later, Robert tears Emma apart because revisions are late and reviews have been submitted incorrectly. The problem? The story begins the day Emma returns from her honeymoon. So exactly when did all these missed deadlines occur? This contradiction becomes even more confusing because only a few pages earlier Emma is reflecting on how she's never had issues at work before and has always been considered the perfect employee.

- Then there's the moment Emma goes out of her way to bake Lily her favorite double-chocolate brownies, only to later discover them "dumped in the trash, crumbled into yellow dust." I'm sorry... if my double-chocolate brownies somehow transformed into yellow dust, I'd probably throw them away too.

- Another glaring inconsistency involves the mysterious letters themselves. When Emma receives the first letter supposedly from Alice, she shows absolutely no sign of recognizing the handwriting. Yet when the second letter arrives, she instantly knows whose handwriting it is. Not because she already received the first letter, but because she's apparently seen it throughout the house on recipe cards she uses in the kitchen, discarded birthday cards, and other handwritten notes. If she recognized it that easily, why didn't she recognize it the first time?

- When something happens at school and Emma is called to pick Lily up, we're explicitly told the principal is a man. Yet by the time Emma arrives at the school, the principal has somehow become a woman.

- During Emma's first meeting with her sister in years, the author makes a point of mentioning that Emma's coffee has gone cold and developed a film on top. When her sister arrives, said sister is offered coffee but declines, saying she won't be staying long. Literally a few sentences later, however, the sister has apparently ordered a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy (among other things), and has had her coffee mug refilled three times. Emma has also somehow ordered avocado toast and now has a glass of water as well. Then they simply leave without finishing their meals or paying the bill. Or maybe they did pay, but the author apparently didn't think it was worth mentioning. Neither would surprise me to be honest.

- On two separate occasions; once near the beginning of the novel and once near the end, Emma describes locking eyes with someone or having her gaze flick to another person. The only problem is that in both of those instances, those people are standing behind her. Honestly, if Emma has eyes in the back of her head, you'd think she would have spotted the truth a lot sooner.

And if all of that somehow wasn't enough, the author still manages to tack on one final head-scratcher. Every loose end has already been neatly wrapped up by the conclusion, yet the book ends on a bizarre cliffhanger whose sole purpose seems to be announcing that there's going to be a sequel. Which left me wondering... what on earth is there possibly left to tell?

[Rania Kamal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was super excited for this one ! And as much as it pains me not to find it worth the hype and the expectations but i gotta be honest! This started amazingly, but somehow in the middle of it, the story line starts to drag and drag and that is not a good sign with thrillers! Any way for the sake of the ending i still give it 4 stars.. it had so may potential and maybe still is but not for me, toward the end it flipped from being a thriller to a detailed dairy that i started to feel that is it i’m trapped now in Emma’s life reading every single small thing she does in her life.

[Sarah Marasco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty predictable and the main character suckssss. But still going to read to sequel

[Sarah Lawton]

Dumb - felt like Frida and found out on the last page there’s a sequel 🙄🙄

[Whit · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a mind blowing and terrifying roller coaster ride!

Her entire life, Maya Angelou preached, "WHEN SOMEONE SHOWS YOU WHO THEY REALLY ARE, BELIEVE THEM!!!!"

But no, Emma refused to believe the possibility that her husband could have murdered Alice, his first wife. She saw him as she WANTED him to be instead of who he really was. Kept making excuses for his heinous behavior.

Nevertheless, the person who turned out to be Emma's savior, was super shocking!!! Awesome story!!!!

[daniela weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay, outlier opinion:
this was not only cliché
but underwhelming and
frustrating: no spoilers,
but what the heck? .-.

[Danielle Lanae · Rating 2 out of 5]

It could have been much better, the story line kept me reading and it was intriguing I suppose. What I felt let this down was the absolute lack of any character development. From any character whatsoever.

Emma talks about how she was under all this controlling behaviour, and she was happy she was allowed to finally pick her own clothes, choose her own home bits etc, but there was literally never any mention of Ben being controlling like this.

He was always ‘good looking, saved children’s lives and steady surgeons hands.’ It would have been good to see the internal conflict of Emma actually having grounds, and seeing Ben being this controlling yet perfect creep.

[Daria Keenan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yoooo fam… skip this one😂

The characters are flat. The twists feel manufactured. The gaslighting gets repetitive. The ending sucks. It was as underwhelming as the rest of the book.

I listened to this one on audio, and that somehow made it even worse. Every time the narrator had to do a male voice, it was so unbelievably painful to listen to that it pulled me right out of the story. Between the awful narration and what I thought was just a genuinely bad book… holy moly, what a disappointment. Glad that’s over 😮‍💨

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so disappointed with this book. Emma was so unlikable and boring and mousey. And the ending? Awful. Simply awful. Willow Rose owes me time back or something because yikes.

[Clarabelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭐ 1/5

The description really caught my interest, so I decided to buy this book on Audible. I was even considering buying both books since there are two parts, but honestly, I’m glad I didn’t.

I managed to finish it, even though there were so many times I wanted to just give up and move on to something else. I ended up listening at 1.5x speed just to get through it quicker, which probably says enough about how much I was enjoying it.

I found the story very predictable, and I just couldn’t connect with the characters at all. I kept waiting for something to happen that would make me feel invested in the story, but it never really happened for me. The description made it sound like a gripping psychological thriller full of shocking twists, but the actual story just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Unfortunately, this was a big disappointment for me. The premise sounded interesting, but the execution just wasn’t there. I’m glad I finished it, but I won’t be continuing with the second book.

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

she has done it again!

Willow has come up with another gem! I don't know if this is the start of a new series, but she definitely has left it open for continuing. The new wife, her new family, everything is looking up. Sometimes we have to be careful what we wish for. The perfect husband, the perfect new daughter, the perfect new life. What will bring it crashing down. For starters, how about letters from the grave! If this doesn't intrigue your curiosity, nothing will. You definitely need to pick up this book. Once you pick it up, you won't put it down! Find out how the perfect family falls completely apart! Even when you know who did it, Willow weaves enough twist and turns to keep you hooked!

[Books & Dreams (Monisha) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Veelbelovend en vermakelijk, maar iets te voorspelbaar

Aan zijn nieuwe vrouw trok me meteen aan door het uitgangspunt. Het verhaal klonk veelbelovend en in grote lijnen heb ik me er ook echt goed mee vermaakt. Het leest lekker vlot en ik was absoluut benieuwd hoe alles uiteindelijk in elkaar zou vallen.

Toch miste ik nét dat beetje extra dat ik bij dit soort thrillers zo fijn vind. Hier en daar zag ik bepaalde ontwikkelingen al aankomen en daardoor wist het verhaal me uiteindelijk niet echt te verrassen. Ik bleef wachten op die ene grote plotwending waarbij alles wat ik dacht te weten ineens op z’n kop zou worden gezet, maar die kwam voor mij niet.

Dat neemt niet weg dat ik het zeker een leuke thriller vond. Het uitgangspunt is interessant, het leest makkelijk weg en ik wilde blijven lezen. Alleen had er wat mij betreft qua spanning en verrassingen nog iets meer ingezeten.

3,5 sterren

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

To His New Wife was entertaining enough, but definitely one of those books you have to avoid thinking too hard about. There were quite a few plot holes and the characters were frustrating at times, I felt like I was constantly side eyeing their decisions. I found most of it pretty predictable and not a lot really caught me off guard. That being said, it kept me interested enough to keep turning the pages. I’d say it was a fun enough read, but not one that particularly impressed me or will stick with me.

[Ann Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Elba Sharpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definite need to read!

Love a book that captures you from the start! Definitely many twists and couldn't put it down alright!! Can't wait to start the next book!!

[Samantha Killian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️