Description (from cover):'A suspenseful, spellbinding novel of love, jealousy, and murder, The Ripper's Wife reimagines the most notorious serial killer in history through the eyes of the woman who sealed his fate.
Love makes sane men mad and can turn a gentle man into a fiend...
It begins as a fairytale romance--a shipboard meeting in 1880 between vivacious Southern belle Florence Chandler and handsome English cotton broker James Maybrick. Courtship and a lavish wedding soon follow, and the couple settles into an affluent Liverpool suburb.
From the first, their marriage is doomed by lies. Florie, hardly the heiress her scheming mother portrayed, is treated as an outsider by fashionable English society. James' secrets are infinitely darker--he has a mistress, an arsenic addiction, and a vicious temper. But Florie has no inkling of her husband's depravity until she discovers his diary--and in it, a litany of bloody deeds...'
My thoughts:
I've said it before on this blog and most likely this will not be the last time that I say it: I love everything to do with Jack the Ripper. I love the gothic Victorian serial killer and how he was never captured. Of course, I am not condoning murder, but I find the hype and mystery of Jack the Ripper to be very entertaining. I also love to read anything that has to do with Jack the Ripper or his victims. Of course, when I heard that this book was being released, I knew that I just had to read it. I always like to read different portrayals of the events that took place in 1889 in Whitechapel and like to see how different authors put their own spin on such a famous story.
I will begin by stating that this book is graphic and very sexual in nature. It is not for people who don't like to read vulgar books. While I understand that the author had to do so as Jack the Ripper was portrayed as a sex fiend, it was a little excessive. Nevertheless, this book is mainly told in the character of Florence Maybrick who is the wife of Jack the Ripper. Although history gives us multiple suspects as to who really was the serial killer, it was nice to see this point of view and how someone married to the serial killer might have lived her life. I found Florence's character to be very likeable and engaging.
I really enjoyed reading this book and encourage readers to pick it up. It does have some strong language and vulgar things in it and a lot of violence towards women, but if you can look past that, I would say that you should so that you don't miss out on something quite entertaining. This book ended up being a little different than I imagined, but I don't mean that in a bad way. Overall, this book was an entertaining read that kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things would turn out next.
Overall Rating: 4
Title: The Ripper's Wife
Author: Brandy Purdy
Series: N/A
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: October 28, 2014
Pages: 368
Genre: Historical Fiction
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
About the Author:
Brandy Purdy is the author of several historical novels. When she's not writing, she's either reading or watching classic movies. She currently lives in Beaumont, Texas. Visit her website at http://www.brandypurdy.comhttp://www.brandypurdy.com/ for more information about her books. You can also follow her via her blog at http://brandypurdy.blogspot.com where she posts updates about her work and reviews of what she has been reading.
This has been a stop of the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours blog tour of The Ripper's Wife. Make sure you check out all the other stops on the tour!
Monday, October 27
Review at A Bookish Affair
Tuesday, October 28
Review & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Obsession
Interview & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair
Wednesday, October 29
Review at Kinx’s Book Nook
Review at The Maiden’s Court
Thursday, October 30
Review at Book of Secrets
Friday, October 31
Review at WTF Are You Reading?
Feature at Passages to the Past
Monday, November 3
Review at A Chick Who Reads
Interview & Giveaway at Mina’s Bookshelf
Tuesday, November 4
Review at 100 Pages a Day – Stephanie’s Book reviews
Interview at A Chick Who Reads
Wednesday, November 5
Review at JulzReads
Thursday, November 6
Review at History & Women
Friday, November 7
Review at A Book Geek
Monday, November 10
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews
Tuesday, November 11
Review & Giveaway at Historical Tapestry
Wednesday, November 12
Review & Giveaway at Broken Teepee
Thursday, November 13
Review at A Bibliotaph’s Reviews
Friday, November 14
Review at Girl Lost in a Book
Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher, through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, in exchange for my honest review. I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
