ARC REVIEW The Missing Wife by Sheila O'Flanagan

The Missing Wife is a story about a woman finding herself again. After about a couple of years being married to her husband realizes just how controlling he really is, and starts planning her escape because she knows he would never let her go willingly. Imogen plans for two years all the while her husband Vince continues to barade her for being useless and helpless without him. Vince is a narcissist he tears her down and then tells her she would be helpless without him, Vince has to be in control of everything and it goes beyond OCD, he controls every aspect of her life and if anything ever goes wrong everyone especially Imogen is at fault except himself. He needed to be the center of Imogen's life so slowly her friends all left and he distanced her from what little family she had left. Two years and Imogen gets the perfect opportunity to escape.

Imogen use to not be like this and she is determined to prove to herself that she is better than what Vince says. She goes to the south of France where she spend part of her childhood, it's when she was the happiest and when her time there ended badly she was determined to go back. She knew she would be safe there because she never talked about her time there with Vince, and she would lay down false leads in the opposite direction. Imogen spend quite a bit of time remembering her childhood and her time in the little town and also everything after it, and even her relationship with Vince and how that went all wrong. Even after all the times Vince claimed Imogen couldn't plan, she proved him wrong she planned well. She opened up a secret bank account she would set aside money in she destroyed her phone, she layed out a false trail. Slowly as time goes on she finds a temporary job, an apartment, and now she's making new friends Imogen is finally remembering what it was like to be Imogen. But Imogen still worries that Vince will find her after all Vince doesn't like being told no, he doesn't like to be proven wrong, and Vince doesn't know when to quit. 

Overall, this was a great read. I'm not normally one for women fiction, I do enjoy it every now and then and this was a great choice for me. It was emotional without being angsty, the flashback scenes were well placed and well done revealing what needed to be revealed at that moment. Romance is not the main focus, Imogen finally rediscovering herself after being lost for over five years and her husband trying to find her was the focus, but romance was there in the sidelines just waiting for her. It has a very satisfying ending it left me with a bit of a book hangover to where I just had to sit there and let my brain absorb what I just read. Top it all off with the imagery it was beautifully written.