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The Love Trap: an unputdownable psychological thriller
She longed for domestic bliss. Instead, she got a nightmare.
Concert violinist, Lily Gundersen broke her fingers. How? She mustn't say. With her career over, she worries she's going insane despite her perfect marriage and picturesque home. But after a car crash kills a young family and leaves her own body broken, she begins to suspect her husband's involvement.
Terrified to leave him without her children, Lily slowly sees the scope of her controlling spouse's grand gaslighting plan. But her hunt for damning evidence exposes the twisted man's scheme for something far worse than a life of abuse.
Can one traumatized woman reclaim the music within to defy a monster?
The Love Trap is a chilling, standalone psychological thriller. If you like cunning villains, bold heroines, and stories chock full of twists and turns, then you'll lose yourself in Caroline Goldsworthy's mesmerizing tale.
Step into The Love Trap and uncover the truth today!
Concert violinist, Lily Gundersen broke her fingers. How? She mustn't say. With her career over, she worries she's going insane despite her perfect marriage and picturesque home. But after a car crash kills a young family and leaves her own body broken, she begins to suspect her husband's involvement.
Terrified to leave him without her children, Lily slowly sees the scope of her controlling spouse's grand gaslighting plan. But her hunt for damning evidence exposes the twisted man's scheme for something far worse than a life of abuse.
Can one traumatized woman reclaim the music within to defy a monster?
The Love Trap is a chilling, standalone psychological thriller. If you like cunning villains, bold heroines, and stories chock full of twists and turns, then you'll lose yourself in Caroline Goldsworthy's mesmerizing tale.
Step into The Love Trap and uncover the truth today!
- GenresThriller
328 pages, Paperback
First published December 27, 2020
233 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 27, 2021
Captivating
Right from the beginning I was sucked into this book. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and has a good story line. I’ve been looking for a good thriller for a while and this fits the Bill.
Right from the beginning I was sucked into this book. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and has a good story line. I’ve been looking for a good thriller for a while and this fits the Bill.
February 18, 2021
A worthy read
This was a story that probably would more than likely, to some degree, resonate with many woman in the world. Manipulation and fear set the perfect stage for domestic abuse. After reading this story one will wonder just how many stories end this way and how many end in a different scenario.
This was a story that probably would more than likely, to some degree, resonate with many woman in the world. Manipulation and fear set the perfect stage for domestic abuse. After reading this story one will wonder just how many stories end this way and how many end in a different scenario.
January 30, 2021
Brilliant, breathtaking thriller. Couldn't put this book down. Highly recommended.
February 13, 2021
What a great read couldn’t put it down good lockdown read xx😷
February 16, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyed this psychological thriller . A domestic noir which had me hooked from the start . I couldn't put this book down as I was desperate to know how it would end.
March 29, 2021
Unputdownable
I read this book in one sitting (even with the three year old running around). It was truly unputdownable. Fantastic!
I read this book in one sitting (even with the three year old running around). It was truly unputdownable. Fantastic!
April 29, 2021
Good storyline
Too many lines were not edited so your mind would go to how sloppy that was. Distracted from ready the book
It was distracting.
Too many lines were not edited so your mind would go to how sloppy that was. Distracted from ready the book
It was distracting.
June 8, 2021
I don’t normally take the time to write reviews. I almost gave this 3 stars due to the horrendous editing job but I thought that wouldn’t be fair to the author, as the book was well written otherwise. I’m thinking it might have been an issue when converted to kindle format? It was really a struggle for me to finish based on that, but the plot was quite good.
February 27, 2025
On the surface Lily Gundersen’s life is perfect. A good looking and loving husband, two children and a beautiful large home. But Lily’s life isn’t perfect, far from it and when her husband, Topher, scares her daughter with threats of shooting the family’s pet rabbit, at a get together with friends, later pretending it was a joke, it’s only one of the many incidents that make Lily uncomfortable living with her husband.
I’m not quite sure what to think after reading this book. From the first pages it’s very engaging and I like how I was easily sucked into reading this right away, wanting to know more about Lily’s life with Topher and what she goes through every day. The story is told from a few different perspectives, but concentrates on Lily and what happens with her most of all. I like how different all the characters are although I did find it a little hard to really connect with some of the characters like Stephanie at first.
The story unfolds showing us what life for Lily is like with Topher. It’s no surprise to say that this story is a thriller all about the twisted relationship between Lily and her husband. Topher presents as the perfect guy among friends and at work, but while at home there are things that happen which make Lily afraid of Topher or afraid of what he’ll think of her. While this book is listed as a psychological thriller, and there are moments that are good with Lily and Topher’s interactions causing Lily to often question her own sanity, I’m just not sure if I’d call this a true psychological thriller as I felt I knew what was happening a lot of the time and could predict how the story was going to unfold..
The book is easy to read and I like what happens overall in the story. The build up towards the ending is good and I like the things that happen with Topher and Lily’s relationship with her parents. But at the same time I did feel as if I could predict how some of the story was going to go. The ending and final chapter was good, but the epilogue left me very disappointed. I won’t go into details of the story and what happens, but the epilogue felt like it should have been a good conclusion to everything that happened or maybe feature a twist, but it just felt disappointing and the final thought that Lily has in that epilogue just made it feel like a disappointing ending. Somehow, that final thought that Lily has didn’t feel like the thought of a true abuse victim would have, having gone through everything that happens, especially as it’s not the sort of thought I know some of my family members wouldn’t have who have unfortunately been in similar situations to Lily’s in the past, which is why I feel that epilogue moment was a disappointment.
There are a few uses of the f and s swear words and there is some violence and death mentioned. It isn’t too gory but does detail how a murder takes place and some horrific ways in which someone is abused. There is also a sex scene which is quite detailed and disturbing as it’s technically a rape. I wasn’t quite prepared for it and while it does a good job of showing what one character is like, I feel it could have been a little less detailed.
While I’ve said some negatives about this book, the story is one that sucked me in and made me want to keep reading it throughout. The pacing is good and I like what happens to all of the characters and what happens in the end to all of them too. The story does feel like a good paced thriller and it does show some good effects of domestic abuse and particularly the form of gas lighting that many abusers take to make their victims feel they are going crazy. But while the overall story is quite good, I did feel I could see what was going to happen and it does feel as if this book perhaps should have had some more sensitivity readers checking through it as it just feels a touch ‘off’ for me (and I do have some personal experience as I said with some of my family having had this kind of experience before).
I’m not quite sure what to think after reading this book. From the first pages it’s very engaging and I like how I was easily sucked into reading this right away, wanting to know more about Lily’s life with Topher and what she goes through every day. The story is told from a few different perspectives, but concentrates on Lily and what happens with her most of all. I like how different all the characters are although I did find it a little hard to really connect with some of the characters like Stephanie at first.
The story unfolds showing us what life for Lily is like with Topher. It’s no surprise to say that this story is a thriller all about the twisted relationship between Lily and her husband. Topher presents as the perfect guy among friends and at work, but while at home there are things that happen which make Lily afraid of Topher or afraid of what he’ll think of her. While this book is listed as a psychological thriller, and there are moments that are good with Lily and Topher’s interactions causing Lily to often question her own sanity, I’m just not sure if I’d call this a true psychological thriller as I felt I knew what was happening a lot of the time and could predict how the story was going to unfold..
The book is easy to read and I like what happens overall in the story. The build up towards the ending is good and I like the things that happen with Topher and Lily’s relationship with her parents. But at the same time I did feel as if I could predict how some of the story was going to go. The ending and final chapter was good, but the epilogue left me very disappointed. I won’t go into details of the story and what happens, but the epilogue felt like it should have been a good conclusion to everything that happened or maybe feature a twist, but it just felt disappointing and the final thought that Lily has in that epilogue just made it feel like a disappointing ending. Somehow, that final thought that Lily has didn’t feel like the thought of a true abuse victim would have, having gone through everything that happens, especially as it’s not the sort of thought I know some of my family members wouldn’t have who have unfortunately been in similar situations to Lily’s in the past, which is why I feel that epilogue moment was a disappointment.
There are a few uses of the f and s swear words and there is some violence and death mentioned. It isn’t too gory but does detail how a murder takes place and some horrific ways in which someone is abused. There is also a sex scene which is quite detailed and disturbing as it’s technically a rape. I wasn’t quite prepared for it and while it does a good job of showing what one character is like, I feel it could have been a little less detailed.
While I’ve said some negatives about this book, the story is one that sucked me in and made me want to keep reading it throughout. The pacing is good and I like what happens to all of the characters and what happens in the end to all of them too. The story does feel like a good paced thriller and it does show some good effects of domestic abuse and particularly the form of gas lighting that many abusers take to make their victims feel they are going crazy. But while the overall story is quite good, I did feel I could see what was going to happen and it does feel as if this book perhaps should have had some more sensitivity readers checking through it as it just feels a touch ‘off’ for me (and I do have some personal experience as I said with some of my family having had this kind of experience before).
February 5, 2021
Good story
I enjoyed the story but, unfortunately, it was spoilt for me by many spelling /grammatical errors. Had this book had a good proof reading I would have happily given it 5 stars.
I enjoyed the story but, unfortunately, it was spoilt for me by many spelling /grammatical errors. Had this book had a good proof reading I would have happily given it 5 stars.
February 3, 2021
Taking one star off for bad grammar
Other than the awful grammar this was actually a really good read - thoroughly enjoyed it and was hooked from the start
Other than the awful grammar this was actually a really good read - thoroughly enjoyed it and was hooked from the start
March 3, 2021
Good debut domestic abuse thriller by Caroline. Kindle version probably was not proof read but still worth a read. Wish her luck on her next one.
March 6, 2021
This was ok but there was just something missing. I speed read it after half way as it seemed a bit long and a bit frustrating.
May 6, 2021
I really liked the story and the plot! However, there is an *incredible* number of typos that were distracting and unprofessional. Really unbelievable.
June 2, 2021
Love at its worst
Wow. A story of shocking spousal abuse and beyond. This book is fast-paced and it will chill you to the bone. The husband is very twisted and a horrible human being. It will keep you guessing.
Wow. A story of shocking spousal abuse and beyond. This book is fast-paced and it will chill you to the bone. The husband is very twisted and a horrible human being. It will keep you guessing.
January 4, 2022
this book grabbed me from the first page.i really enjoyed it even though the subject matter was not pleasant
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews