Review: The Second Husband

The Second Husband by Kate White
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received and ARC of this book.
I was very confused by my review copy and I will go back and change my rating if the review copy changes before publication, but... ***Edited at the bottom***
I did not enjoy this book. I had multiple issues with it, from the 2-dimensional main character Emma and her constant "off-handed" materialistic mentions of everything from shoes to cars to restaurants to clothes to furniture, to the lack of tension or suspense, to the flimsy issue and “lie” that the whole plot was based on. I actually had notes upon notes of all the things I didn’t like ready for when I wrote this review.
But I will not go into all of that because the last two sentences of the book literally made no sense--to the point where I think there was something wrong with my review copy. The book had no ending at all and the ending that was included sounded like two sentences had been copied from somewhere else in the book and just stuck on. If that actually IS the ending, then I absolutely would NOT recommend it.
As it is, I would not recommend this book, despite the fact that I really enjoyed the author's previous work, The Fiancée.

***Edit***
I happened upon this book in the bookstore last week, and thought I would give the last few pages a glance to see if my opinion might change, or if my review copy was in fact messed up. I discovered that my ARC was NOT the same as the hard copy of the final book, but the actual ending made me like the book even less! I was not impressed at all.
So, that being said, here are the notes I took all those months ago about why I couldn't stand this book:
There are several internal monologues in which Emma worries endlessly as she goes through expensive food, searches for designer clothes, etc. It got way too repetitive.
There are so many details about things that don't matter, like random people's outfits, what people ordered at restaurants, expensive decor, etc. (Who cares if he wore loafers without socks?!)
The author is extremely heavy-handed about "clues."
Emma is always snooping around when she could be easily caught, instead of just waiting a few hours for a time when she definitely wouldn't get caught.
There is not enough backstory on Derrick. The reader is told he was "cruel," but not shown. Since this is such a huge plot point the reader needs to really feel and understand why Emma doesn't like him.
In a moment full of tension, the reader gets taken out of the story by mentions of the outdoor furniture story where they bought patio furniture. What? Who cares?!
Brittany is not a well-drawn character. She is amorphous and not even two dimensional.
In all the moments when Emma is terrified, she does nothing about it. And she's still so preoccupied with organic salads, silk blouses, and linen trousers.
Emma jumps to strange conclusions on very little shaky evidence.
There is no sense of tension or suspense. And when Emma is trying to make an escape, she waits 10 minutes for a taxi instead of hurrying down the road to meet it.
When you are reading a book and stop consistently to take notes about all of the flaws (and end up with pages of notes!) something is wrong. I would not recommend this book AT ALL, and will skip anything else by this author.
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