The Second Wife

This book was recommended to me and I am really happy I followed the link to discover this jewel at the end. The realism and genuine character of Ally/Sara captured me immediately. It was written with so much depth and emotion that I struggled to put it down.The moment Ally was kidnapped and taken away to a life so different from her own and she had to adapt to a life filled with brutality and pain. But through it all, a family was formed that learned the value of love.David's character lived on the other side of the coin and for two years he had to process his wife's disappearance. His character learned to continue amidst the uncertainty of his wife's whereabouts.A heartfelt story is written with so much empathy and sincerity that I wish I can give the author more stars. A brilliant story I want to read more about.

So good! Ok, so... the subject matter is pretty dark for a "romance", but doesn't cross any of my hard limits. I think of this as more of a suspense/spy/romance. While not at all like Paul's other books, I totally enjoyed this foray into human trafficking. Of course, there were moments when I wanted to quit out, and never return, but they were tempered by the fact that I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!! Brilliant writing, and I'm super happy that an actual therapist wrote it, so there was realism in the diagnoses. I listened to the audiobook, which was excellent! The accents were totally fab. Especially Ally's gradual cadence change, from American to Middle Eastern... beautiful.

Alisha is very happily married, a successful psychiatrist, who is kidnapped by a Pakistani arms dealer to become his second wife. He saw her at a conference and decided that she would be perfect to provide him the son he's always wanted and can't get from his first wife.Her husband David and family have no idea where she is but don't know how to get over her disappearance despite two years having passed. Suddenly, David is given information that proves that Ally is alive and living in Pakistan. This story is told in alternating POVs between Ally and David, and it also skips back and forth from the time of the kidnapping to the present. It started out pretty well - the villain, Sayeed is really evil and what happens to Ally is horrific. David's character is plausible also - he is still in despair over his missing wife, but is trying to move on. My problem was the character of Eddie, the mercenary David finds to help him recover his wife. I found him very confusing as to what his motives were; he took way too long to rescue Ally and really didn't seem to help David all that much, fighting with him and sending him on stupid missions. The story kind of disintegrates and the extra coda tacked on with Eddie made no sense at all.The book also could have used a better editor. One of my pet peeves happened right at the beginning where Ally shakes her head and agrees. You nod to agree and shake your head to disagree. There were other places where I was taken out of the story for things like this.It was a good thriller though it dragged on a bit long.