43667006. sx318 Careful What You Wish For by Hallie Ephron, Amy McFadden (Narrator)

Published August 6th 2019 by HarperAudio, William Morrow

4.5 Stars:

This book was an enjoyable thriller/suspense story that would be an organized woman’s nightmare. Emily Harlow has quit her teaching job to open her own organizing business with her best friend. They are hired to help an older widow clean out her home and a storage unit that she found out about when a bill arrived in the mail. What the ladies find in the unit is surprising. It appears that her late husband has been stealing books and documents from libraries. While hiring her mother to help catalogue the storage unit, she takes on another job recommended by her husband’s legal partner. The young wife of a rich man, she has a garage full of stuff that she brought into the marriage that she now wants to get rid of. Drinking with the woman, she shares some secrets about her own life and her hoarder husband. You just know this is going to end badly.

As the story progresses, Emily is being set up for murder and more. There are several things going on in this story dealing with Emily’s clients that kept me guessing. I liked Emily a lot, although even she admits she has made mistakes in her life. Her mother seems unlikable when we first meet her, but as the story progresses, I begin to like her a lot. She helps Emily when she needs it and even when she doesn’t know she needs it. I thought I knew what was going to happen, but there were a few twists here and there that kept me changing my mind. The author does a great job with the plot and this is a well written, enjoyable thriller that I recommend.

I listened to the audiobook of Careful What You Wish For narrated by Amy McFadden. She did a wonderful job with the narration. She gave all the characters a distinctive voice, including the male voices. Her emotions ranged throughout the book when called for and her reading voice for simple narration is pleasant to listen to. I will watch for other books she narrates. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book upon my request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

41154239About the Book: From the New York Times bestselling author of There Was an Old Woman comes a novel about a professional organizer with a deadly problem she may not be able to clean up.

Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people declutter their lives; she’s married to man who can’t drive past a yard sale without stopping. He’s filled their basement, attic, and garage with his finds.

Like other professionals who make a living decluttering peoples’ lives, Emily has devised a set of ironclad rules. When working with couples, she makes clear that the client is only allowed to declutter his or her own stuff. That stipulation has kept Emily’s own marriage together these past few years. She’d love nothing better than to toss out all her husband’s crap. He says he’s a collector. Emily knows better-he’s a hoarder. The larger his collection becomes, the deeper the distance grows between Emily and the man she married.

Luckily, Emily’s got two new clients to distract herself: an elderly widow whose husband left behind a storage unit she didn’t know existed, and a young wife whose husband won’t allow her stuff into their house. Emily’s initial meeting with the young wife takes a detour when, after too much wine, the women end up fantasizing about how much more pleasant life would be without their collecting spouses.

But the next day Emily finds herself in a mess that might be too big for her to clean up. Careful what you wish for, the old adage says . . . now Emily might lose her freedom, her marriage . . . and possibly her life.