Sad and depressing. I did not find any of the characters appealing. Sex and greed are the major themes. ( )

"The Reliable WIfe" is a bit of a mess - part romance story, part mystery/thriller and part something else (that I just can't figure out what.) The book blurb leads the unsuspecting buyer to think that this book is more than it is. The story of deception and forgiveness, under normal circumstances, would make a good read but this story wasn't good - at all. After reading the entire story, I don't understand the motivation behind any of the characters nor do I understand the point of the story.

This is a perfect example of don't judge a book by it's cover and don't believe the marketing geniuses who write the book blurb. ( )

This book was PREDICTABLE and (in some areas) BORING. The beginning was so slow. The story would pick up in a few areas and the story would become really interesting.

For me, this story line had the makings of an excellent book however there was a lot things about the characters that was not believable. I felt a lot of sympathy for Ralph but it was hard me to believe that he would let Catherine kill him. I liked Catherine and her story was believable except for her relationship with her sister Alice. Maybe I skimmed too much through that part cause I didn't get why Alice was even in the story. I did not like Antonio/Toni and the more I read about him the more I did not feel sorry for him. The ending was depressing and boring.

This book kind of reminded me of a movie I once saw called Original Sin. The movie was much better. ( )

This was not a book I normally would have choosen to read. It was a book assigned to our book club. I read through most of this book and skimmed it when the details became boring and uninteresting. While I have read other books that were worse than this, I wouldn't bother reading another one from this author again. The setting and characters were dreary and hopeless. There was constant death and depression. I would never recommend reading this book to anyone, especially during the winter months! ( )

Catherine Land arrives in Wisconsin during a blizzard to marry Ralph Truitt, who is a very wealthy businessman. Why would a woman be a mail-order bride? What has happened in her life to set her on this course? What makes a man accept a woman through a picture and a letter? An astonishing book with many twists and turns and a surprising romance. ( )