This is one strange book. It was well-written, but totally different from what I was expecting. The Mistress's Revenge is the "journal" of a woman who was just dumped by her married lover after a five-year affair.

At first, you get the idea that this poor woman was strung along by the this horrible man. Then you start to realize that the woman isn't so wonderful herself, and the man is even more horrible than you first believed. The ending was a total surprise and this is absolutely NOT a book you want to "cheat" on and read the ending first. (Do people really do that? It would drive me crazy to already know the ending. I can't even stand to read series books out of order.)

This book was hard to put down. It's one of those train-wreck things. I just had to keep reading to find out how much worse it was going to get. Not the writing; that was great. I'm talking about the downward spiral into delusion and insanity by the main character. Wow.

The description of this book says it's "fiery, passionate, engrossing, unsettling, manipulative, and graphic." I'm not sure it's fiery, passionate or terribly graphic, but it is good in a Fatal Attraction-minus-the-bunny kind of way.

My only complaint is that it takes place in England, so there were several words I had to look up. How did people read international books before the internet?

I won this book in a GR First-Reads giveaway. (Thank you, GR!) ( )

**I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book through a Goodreads First Reads contest.**

I do believe that if I had not gotten this book through First Reads that I would not have pushed myself to finish it and write a review. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting in the way the book would be written but I was not satified with what I got. This book is written somewhat like a journal would be and while some stories written this way are easy to follow, I think the rambling by the main character is what first put me off. I felt as if there was no flow to the story. I also felt as if it took longer for the main character to unravel than it should have as her psychosis became increasingly worse. At the end of the book I found myself wondering what was going on and why the story didn't just end already. I don't believe that I will be reading this book again or recommending it to anyone. Sorry. ( )

I received this book as a GoodReads first read.

If you have ever been jilted by a lover, believed the lies of a smooth talker or befriended all your ex's friends and family on Facebook (and really, who hasn't done that at least once?) then you should read 'The Mistress's Revenge'! From the beginning this book draws you into the hurt and pain that the main character (Sally) is feeling from being dumped by her lover of 5 years. As the story progresses Sally becomes increasingly erratic and out of touch with reality as she starts anti-depressants and self-medicating. And, in the end, she really does have her revenge and not in a way I, as the reader, expected! The only question I have is if the book is based on a true story or 'fiction informed by experience' as Sally states in the end.
( )

On the one hand, the book moved slow in parts... but on the other hand, I kept coming back to it. And the surprise ending was extremely well done. Even after I realized there was going to be a surprise, I was still uncertain just what it was going to be, until after I got there.

All in all, not a bad book, and I would recommend this to others... but even more, I would recommend to keep an eye out for this author. This was her first -- I think she can - and will be - better. ( )

I could not get into this book and ended up not getting very far before giving up on it. I didn't like the diary style writing. ( )