Finding The Other Woman

by Cole Baxter

The accident took her father’s life. It also took Amelia’s memories…

All Amelia has been told about the missing four years of her life is that her husband Carl found her after the car accident that killed her father, and they lived in the city together before moving to the suburbs.

She has no reason to question his story, but she knows Carl, and she can tell he’s holding something back. When he cries out in his sleep for Emily, she suspects he had an affair during her missing time and is trying to hide it from her.

When flashes of memories being to return, Amelia knows she can’t sit back any longer. But once she opens the floodgates, the truth is more twisted than she ever could have imagined.

A thrilling psychological thriller that you won't be able to put down!

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

279 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2021

About the author

Cole Baxter loves writing psychological suspense thrillers. It's all about that last reveal that he loves shocking readers with.
He grew up in New York, where there crime was all around. He decided to turn that into something positive with his fiction.
His stories will have you reading through the night--they are very addictive!

Sign up for Cole's VIP Reader Club and find out about his latest releases, giveaways, and more. Copy and paste this link to sign up: http://eepurl.com/dqL8yT

Reviews

[Debra - can't post any comments on site today grrr · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Memory, all alone in the moonlight
I can dream of the old days
Life was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again" - Memory -Barbara Streisand

Amelia lost her memory in the accident that took her father's life. Four years have gone by. She has no idea what happened during those lost years. Her husband, Cal, wants her to let it go. They lived in Brooklyn, he took care of her, end of story. Let it go, Amelia. Yeah, right!

Even more upsetting than losing her memory is that her husband, Cal, appears to be hiding something. When he mentions another woman's name in his sleep, Amelia knows he had an affair during the time she cannot recall. Is that what he is hiding? Why won’t he tell her what happened during that time? What will happen when she gets her memory back?

This book has twists and turns galore. I did figure out one BIG twist early on, but still enjoyed the book. This was a fun, engaging read! I wanted to take Amelia aside a couple of times. I kept thinking seriously, you haven't figured it out yet????? Good golly, Miss Amelia but you lost all sense of reason along with your memory!

Fun, engaging, pure escapism reading. The narrator of this audiobook did a fantastic job, and I was thoroughly entertained the entire book.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media 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

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Women's Fiction/Thriller Mystery. The main character in this book lost her memory of the last four years of her life because of car accident. The heart of this book is the main character trying to find who she really is. This book has some hard/dark to read things in it (like child rape). I really loved reading this book, but I do not think this is a thriller it is more like a women's fiction with a mystery. I really enjoyed the wild ride we went on in this book, and there was some twists and turns that made you guess what was going on. I loved getting to really know the main character, and I love to see her find herself and become strong. I listen to the audiobook for this book, and I loved the narrator. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher or author (Cole Baxter) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

[STEPH · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. Frustrating!

That was it? I saw the twist coming from a mile away, and it took a lot of patience to keep reading. The main character is plain and boring, even annoying at times. Yes, she had a traumatic experience in the past, but I just couldn’t bring myself to like her. The characters lacked depth, the story dragged, and the revelations were obvious from the start. I couldn’t find a single redeeming aspect of this book.

I don’t mean to be harsh, but I’m glad it wasn’t longer. It would have taken me weeks to finish because I’d probably stall and come up with silly excuses not to finish it.

[Amy Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me

I won't give away the plot or any spoilers. I will say that the female character was at times whiny, insecure & let herself be run over by her husband. It was tiring to keep reading about her questioning herself & hard to be on her side. The big reveal was a big bust.

[Donna Mallery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this fast paced book about a woman who has lost a large chunk of her memory after a fatal car crash. She is desperate to find out what happened in the 4 years following this crash. After all, her husband is speaking another woman’s name in an erotic dream. Who is this woman, and is Carl still having an affair with her? He won’t give her any information about her lost time, but she is determined!

[Lindsay Nixon · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 30%

I just can’t read anymore of this. The entire book so far has been two things: constant descriptions of a hard penis (her husband or her fathers) and retellings over and over (and over) of the past rapes she endured by her father. It is very graphic.

The only other thing going on in the storyline is that her husband keeps yelling out another woman’s name (Emile) every night while he is in the middle of having an erotic dream (and we get the nightly description of his erect penis too). However he denies knowing any Emily. Her husband is also trying to fuck her every ten seconds. For example, she’s crying about the death of her sister and he’s immediately trying to shove it in her. Many descriptions.

Gross, not for me.


Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced copy.

[Claude · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audiobook copy. I offer my review freely.

Oh boy... Where do I start? I knew this was going a bad one not even 5 minutes into the story. The MC, who suspects her husband of having an affair, says something like "In his dream, he whispered the name Emily. A name not even close to mine, Amelia!" Are you kidding me?? I knew immediately that either the main character was stupid, or that the writing was bad. Not a good start.

Also, I was extremely lucky to be a reader without any triggers. Nothing in the synopsis could have prepared me for all the sexual assault and sexual coercion found in this book. It's like the author chose to write a psychological thriller in-between all the mostly-not-consensual sex scenes. Don't get me wrong: I have no problem with sex in books. My problem comes from the fact that there were absolutely no trigger warnings for those who need them (and they WILL need them for this book!) and that it was constant. Almost every single chapter. It didn't advance the story; it was completely gratuitous.

Add to that a vapid MC, her ridiculous husband that should've been an ex, an amnesia story that barely holds, the repeated phrases that made me want to mail a thesaurus to the author, and the fact that I figured out the twist almost immediately, I simply cannot give this more than one star.

And that star belongs to the narrator, Jennifer Jill Araya.

Publication date : 05 April 2022
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TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Car accident, Pregnancy scare, and Toxic relationship.

[Sarah Thor · Rating 1 out of 5]

The “big twist” is immediately obvious, so the whole rest of the book is frustrating. I was literally mad at the main character for being such a whiny, mindless, moron. Does the author think we’re idiots who won’t immediately know what’s going on?! The author is clearly a man trying to write a woman, because he didn’t understand women at all. There was no trigger warning for the childhood sexual abuse, and there was a so called “happy ending” when the main character stayed with her husband that also was abusive. The same phrases are used constantly and begin to feel like a cheese grater on the brain. I wonder if he paid people to get good reviews… it’s the only way i can imagine people wanting to give this trash five stars. If I hadn’t borrowed this book, I would have burnt it. Fire. It needs fire.

[Stephanie The Book Nerd Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

No no no can't do it. Couldn't get past ch. 3. FYI trigger warning for rape of child by father.

[Lulu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, but I’m over whiny females.

[Jessica Heatherly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia has lost four years of her life after surviving the car crash that killed her father. Her husband, Carl, is not quick to provide her with many answers. Her curiosity is generally satiated until she overhears Carl moaning another woman’s name in his sleep. Who is Emily and why is Carl having such erotic dreams about her?! She MUST be the reason he’s not providing Amelia with details of her lost memories because he’s afraid she’ll find out about his affair. Amelia does some digging to try to find the truth. During her search, she begins to regain bits and pieces of her memory and knows she has to get answers to all of her questions. What she finds out about her missing years is shocking and life-changing for her. The whole truth lies with Emily whether Amelia is ready for it or not.

Once I finished this audiobook, I read a lot of reviews to see what others thought. Many loved it while others thought the main character was whiny and hard to connect with. Without spoiling any of the goodness, I’ve got a different theory. Amelia IS hard to connect with and feel sorry for because she’s all over the place. She’s often accusatory and over the top and dramatic and paranoid but she has a perfectly good reason for all of it! She is a victim. She’s been a victim for most of her life and she is mentally messed up because of it. Cole Baxter gives us a raw look inside the thought processes of someone with a form of PTSD and because of that, I think Amelia is a perfectly written character. We get to see the good, the bad, the hurt, and the pain oozing from every one of her thoughts and words.

Although I did guess the big twist about halfway through the book, I was hooked and didn’t want to put this one down. The journey Amelia took to get to the conclusion was one I wanted to be on every step of the way.

Jennifer Jill Araya did a fantastic job narrating this book! She grasped each emotion with perfection and truly made this story come alive!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to #netgalley and #dreamscapemedia for providing me with an ARC of the audio version of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[LaToya Burks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finding The Other Woman by Cole Baxter left me with a feeling of confusion about how I really felt about the book. This book had parts that made me do a double take – jaw dropping twists! However, that’s kind of where it ended for me when it came to what I liked about the book. It was predictable – as I figured out the ending by Chapter 9. The thing that bothered me the most was the use of tacky language. This book falls into the mystery/thriller genre. But the language that was used – you would find in erotica. I feel it was poorly used, it was tacky, and all I could think was – a man wrote this book. There’s a way to write sex scenes in this genre – and this was not it. Mind you… the tackiness starts from the very beginning of the book so at first it was hard for me to get through. But then it eased a bit, and it became a bit more enjoyable. Would I recommend this book to people? No. Would I tell them to stay away from it at all costs? No. There’s a story in there. Some of the jaw dropping moments is worth giving it a try. I give this book 3 stars.

[Jane K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t like this book at all. It’s supposed to be a thriller, but there were no thrills at all. I found Amelia very frustrating and Carl was a bit of a misogynist jerk. She expected Carl to read her mind and she wouldn’t tell him what happened to her when she was young that made her not like sex.

I couldn’t understand why she let Carl control everything and she didn’t have any say in her life. She seemed to let Carl do everything. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t work and Carl was the only one who worked.

The twist of what was really happening was silly and so lack lustre. Amelia and Emily were the same person. The part about Amelia being molested by her father is true and finding out he killed her sister and her causing the accident that killed him caused her to lose her memory.

[Lavins · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

We have the story of Amelia, a woman that can't remember 4 years of her life. It is the time after she had an accident while she was driving the car accompanied by her father. He didn't survive the accident.

Amelia starts investigating who she was during those four years and tries to remember how her life was like and what she was doing during that time. She gets a lot of push back from her husband Cal, which makes her more suspicious.

The ending was a bit predictable.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this nice book!

[Siobhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book was condescending to the reader. The ending was so obvious from the beginning that I guess it was supposed to make me feel real smart that I figured it out before the main character 🙄. Both the husband and the wife where annoying. They kept having the same fight over and over. I'm just happy it's over, Next.

[Tori]

I feel I cannot fairly leave a star rating as I was unable to finish the book for 3 main reasons-

1. The main character, Amelia, was unlikeable in the sense that not only could I not connect with her, I was totally detached from the story. I found her basis for her accusations against her husband absolutely ridiculous however the ending of the book may have changed my perspective on that although I doubt it.

2. The detailed and vulgar sexual descriptions were off putting to put it mildly although I can deal with that in moderation but I made it about halfway through the book before I quit and 90% of it entailed some sort of sexual content. No one in the real world refers to some of the things described unless they work in the sex industry.

3. Since my preferred genre is mystery/thriller and in particular psychological thrillers, I have very few triggers if any when reading a book. I expect depravity of some degree to be included but the child abuse/incest included in this book in the same manner as my #2 complaint was just too much and I felt dirty after listening to this book. I also couldn’t listen to it when anyone was around or in hearing distance because of how crude it was.

I have NEVER not finished a book I was given to review and I hate to break that record but I just couldn’t subject myself to this book any longer because I realized regardless of how it ended, I just didn’t care.

[EJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is *awful*. Horribly written characters, terrible plot conception and construction (did ANYone not figure out the "twist" in the first couple of chapters?) that make for a plodding, tedious, unbelievable, and lame storyline...But the worst is the gratuitous sexual abuse scenes of a child. There is a way to tackle child sexual abuse in fiction (Dark Horses comes to mind) but this absolutely was not it.

That's all I can say without giving away the so-called plot. Absolutely skip this one. So bad, on so many levels.

CW: sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, graphic sexual descriptions, toxic relationships, pedophilia, incest, rape, non-consensual sex

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to preview this audiobook. I wish I'd enjoyed it even a little, let alone as much as others from this publisher!

[Patricia Baxes · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the very first paragraph to the final words, Cole Baxter sends you hurtling from one emotional happening to another! Even though it felt like I’d read this story somewhere before, it was so gripping I literally could not put it down. Cole Baxter is definitely king of the psychological thriller!

Finding the Other Woman has it all. A totally incredible storyline; amazing characters that literally change the way you believe; outrageous plot twists and turns; and an ending that will definitely make you sit up and shake your head in wonder.

This is one totally kick ass book that everyone needs to read. Seriously. Put it on your TBR today! (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and was totally mesmerized by it. Kudos to Cole Baxter—5 stars just aren’t enough!) ❤️❤️

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Amelia was small, her pastor father regularly raped her sister, Maybelle and her at night. Later he was killed while Amelia was driving when she hit a patch of ice and crashed into a tree. Now married to Carl, Amelia has no memory of four years of her life but of course has an aversion to sex that Carl can't understand even though he tries. And when he begins calling out the name "Emily" in his sleep, Amelia is certain he is having an affair which she attempts to reconcile with her reluctance. So when she makes an appointment with a hypnotherapist to try to "unlock" those memories, she has no idea what she will unravel! It's shocking but so good!

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling story line you can't stop reading. Excitement, thrills, twists and turns keep you glued to the pages and sitting on the edge of your seat. Once you start reading the first page, you can't put it down. The characters are well developed and intriguing and bring so much to the story line. If you love a good, well written, suspenseful mystery, you'll truly love this one.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Sammye · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an entertaining psychological thriller that kept my attention from start to finish. The suspense is gripping. The plot and the characters are well developed. I highly recommend this drama filled book to anyone who enjoys a very good mystery. *this honest review is based on a complimentary copy from the author*

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not get into this book and I did not finish it. I gave up at about chapter 4. Amelia is annoying and the story is not there; it’s all about sex with her husband and her terrible relationship with her family. There is nothing compelling enough to make me want to continue reading this.

I received a copy from #NetGalley for an honest review.

[S I · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Is married to Carl but not is all as it seems. This story has so much packed in it that you are enthralled by every page! This book is it! For sure read this one!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book early! This is a pretty simple, straightforward womens fiction thriller. We follow a woman named Amelia who was in a car crash with her sexually abusive father. He died and now 4 years later, she has no memory of the accident or anything thereafter. She lives with her husband, Carl, who seems super sketchy. He has money and she doesn't know where its coming from, he's all of a sudden sex obsessed, and he's calling out another woman's name in his sleep. She's got a complicated relationship with her mom because she never stood up for her in the years that her dad was sexually abusing her, but she also feels she has nowhere else to turn at times. Most of this book is Amelia's quest to figure out what happened in the 4 years that are missing from her memory. The plot is really simple and predictable, but for me thats not a huge deal breaker if the ride is still fun. In this one it was for the most part, but Amelia got really annoying. She is VERY passive and does a lot to make herself a doormat to others, especially Carl. She also has never told him about her past abuse and thats a HUGE thing to leave out of a marriage, especially when the trauma is so impactful in her life. Her lack of communication and her meekness got really frustrating. Furthermore, Carl is scum. He won't even give her the common courtesy of telling her ANYTHING about the 4 years that are missing, thus forcing her to go into this investigative mode. Her mom is DISGUSTING and deserves worse than what she got. This book really doesn't have a likable character. Again, not a huge deal breaker for me, but a little annoying. Overall this was an entertaining read, but not one I'm going to remember very long.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

How would you feel if you couldn’t remember the last four years of your life? Would you just move on or do everything in your power to find out about it?

Amelia can't remember a four year period of her life. She remembers childhood and on, then a four year gap, then the past 6 months she can recall. She's determined to find out what happened during those four years. She was in a car accident that killed her father (remarkably her sister also died in a car accident with her father), and that is the last she remembers for four years. She is determined to get back those memories, despite her husband and her mother discouraging her at every turn.

Carl, her husband, Carl, has been calling out for Emily in his sleep, and Amelia thinks he is having and affair and is dead set on "finding the other woman."

I found the story interesting enough; however, I had the plot twist figured out very early on and was shocked it took so long to come to light. I really didn't feel invested at all in the characters, except maybe Emily who was a bit entertaining.

Definitely an easy listen audio, and I would try the author again because, although this wasn't my favorite, it was a decent read and I'm hopeful others would engage me even more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine not being able to remember the last 4 years of your life. Amelia was driving her father home one night when they were in an accident that killed her father, oddly being the same way she had lost her sister when she was 12. Her husband Carl found her but there's a huge 4 year gap of her memory missing. She is determined to put the pieces together, with or without her husband or mother's help. What secrets are they holding from her? Will she be able to finally get her memory back and shed some light on the dark secrets of the past?
Thank you Netgalley, Cole Baxter and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to read and review this book. I was given the audio version of this book to read and it seemed to flow very well. Fair warning, this book contains a lot of triggers from drug use, incest,  controlling behavior, manipulation and more. There were a lot of twists and turns in this book, some of which were predictable, some I didn't see coming. My overall thoughts is that I really enjoyed this book, but the extensive detail of the mention of incest and abuse got to be a bit much for me at times. I'm rating this ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Kristen Dutkiewicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if you couldn’t remember the last four years of your life?

This is exactly what happened to Amelia, but now she’s ready to take action and reclaim those missing years.

Her husband, Carl, has been crying out in his sleep for “Emily” and Amelia is about to find out exactly who this other woman is.

Listening to this audiobook, I found myself eager to hear what would come with each chapter. However, I found the twist predictable and never much cared for Amelia’s character. I wish she had more redeeming qualities. More notably, I truly despised Carl from start to finish.

Definitely an easy listen with a satisfying ending but needed more likable characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Emma Maher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't like the F Word being used so much, otherwise It was an absolutely fanominal book. I absolutely loved how Emelia wanted to discover her past, & how at the end she took hold of her feelings, finding out who Emily really was. You don't find out till near the end what the real truth is, but this book wasn't predictable at all. I loved how at the end Carl gave into the truth, & that both of them agreed to go for marriage counselling. It was a good ending where the sins of the past could be made right with justice through the legal system, & Emelia frees herself from her demons, becoming a stronger woman for It at the end.

[Holly Dimitrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

so this book was interesting.....
started out kinda strange and awkward
then as it goes on and on you get hooked and you want to know more
and it all starts to make sense and the mystery is figured out.
this book had soooo many twists and turns
such a good book

Warning: it did have some things sexual/minors/abuse that might trigger some
or just piss you off hearing it

[Courtney Suderno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this plot line; even though it’s tragic. I was bummed at first though thinking the ‘twist’ was predictable but then there’s more that continue and prove that first one is JUST the beginning.