REVIEW: Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda @GraydonHouse @harlequinbooks @kairarouda
Best Day Everby Kaira Rouda
Graydon House / Harlequin
🔥 Happy Release Day! 9/19/17 🔥
I glance at my wife as she climbs into the passenger seat, and I am bursting with confidence. Today will be everything I’ve promised her…and more…
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever.
But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really?
Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those who are closest to us, Best Day Ever crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter toward its shocking conclusion. In the bestselling, page-turning vein of The Couple Next Door and The Dinner, Kaira Rouda weaves a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal dark enough to destroy a marriage…or a life.
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever.
But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really?
Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those who are closest to us, Best Day Ever crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter toward its shocking conclusion. In the bestselling, page-turning vein of The Couple Next Door and The Dinner, Kaira Rouda weaves a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal dark enough to destroy a marriage…or a life.
My Review:
Paul Strom has the BEST DAY EVER planned for his wife and a weekend away from their sons. He's the perfect husband - beautiful house, a job that anyone who watches Mad Men would envy, two wonderful sons... and now the perfect weekend at the lake house. Life couldn't be better... right? On the car ride up, he notices his wife is a bit distant but he can't quite figure out why. Surely she doesn't know what's really going on in his life. He's made sure to cover all his tracks.. and she knows the rules. So why is she challenging him now?
Told in first person narration strictly from Paul's point of view, we slowly see his narcissistic and controlling ways. Personally, I LOVE being in the mind of a sociopath. Set in a 24-hour time period, we watch as he tries to control his primal instincts and convince himself that his wife is being the good girl he wants her to be. I struggled a little bit with the slow pacing and the sudden movements from past to present. However, it didn't take away from this being a fast read. Personally, I would have liked to see a bit more of the sinister in Paul - the more calculating and devious side without him losing control. For someone who is inherently paying close attention to detail, it seems as if he would have been better at fooling more people but I suppose all good things must come to an end, right? 😉 I do wish I knew more about Mia's side and what she went through but it was also refreshing to see things strictly from the male side and not the woman, who is almost always the victim. This wasn't as suspenseful or as sinister as I was thinking it was going to be going into it. However, that epilogue did get me thinking....
Told in first person narration strictly from Paul's point of view, we slowly see his narcissistic and controlling ways. Personally, I LOVE being in the mind of a sociopath. Set in a 24-hour time period, we watch as he tries to control his primal instincts and convince himself that his wife is being the good girl he wants her to be. I struggled a little bit with the slow pacing and the sudden movements from past to present. However, it didn't take away from this being a fast read. Personally, I would have liked to see a bit more of the sinister in Paul - the more calculating and devious side without him losing control. For someone who is inherently paying close attention to detail, it seems as if he would have been better at fooling more people but I suppose all good things must come to an end, right? 😉 I do wish I knew more about Mia's side and what she went through but it was also refreshing to see things strictly from the male side and not the woman, who is almost always the victim. This wasn't as suspenseful or as sinister as I was thinking it was going to be going into it. However, that epilogue did get me thinking....
For those who love a slower, unique pacing of a full day in a domestic thriller with an unreliable narrator whom you'll grow to detest, this is a book you won't be able to put down.
View all my reviews
About the Author:
Kaira Rouda is a USA TODAY bestselling, multiple award-winning author of contemporary fiction exploring what goes on behind closed doors of seemingly perfect lives. Her next novel, BEST DAY EVER, is out September 19th.
She lives in Southern California with her family and is at work on her next novel. Connect with her on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest: @KairaRouda; and on Facebook at Kaira Rouda Books.
If you'd like to host Kaira at your book club, in person or via Skype/Facetime, please reach out through her website KairaRouda.com
About the Author:
Kaira Rouda is a USA TODAY bestselling, multiple award-winning author of contemporary fiction exploring what goes on behind closed doors of seemingly perfect lives. Her next novel, BEST DAY EVER, is out September 19th.
She lives in Southern California with her family and is at work on her next novel. Connect with her on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest: @KairaRouda; and on Facebook at Kaira Rouda Books.
If you'd like to host Kaira at your book club, in person or via Skype/Facetime, please reach out through her website KairaRouda.com
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