Just finished this novel and what a ride man! The Best Day Ever is told by the husband, Paul. He is the classic good looking man, with a beautiful young wife, perfect kids and money making job. He decides to take his wife for a trip without the kids to the lake house and has planned the best day ever for her. Little do we know is that nothing will go as planned as we discover more of him and his real intentions! And... It. Will. Creep. You. Out. The fact that the whole novel unfolds in 24 hours is what makes this book intense and hard to put down! Amazing 4 star read for me!

I think this character aspires to be Joe of You fame but, while a total lunatic, he does not come close. Quick read that moved fast. I loved seeing both sides of the story. Free from Netgalley

Paul Strom is one of the shallowest, most self centered, chauvinistic characters you will meet. At first, I thought Rouda was writing a parody of every despicable trait a man could have when it hit me that he was a classic pathological narcissist and men like him really do exist.

The action in this domestic suspense novel takes place over less than 24 hours with an epilogue one year later. Paul wants to spend the “best day ever” with his wife and is intent on not letting anything interfere with it. Why is he so intent on this?

Paul is so heinous you might be inclined to stop reading this book….but don’t. You will be rewarded if you stay with it to the end. His sinister actions drew me in; I couldn’t put the story down and finished it in a day. It is well written with excellent character development and a satisfying ending.

I loved every second of this story with characters that you rooted for and others you rooted against. Positively creepy in its accuracy of a narcissistic personality. Fans of Liane Moriarty will love this one!

I received a free copy from NetGalley. The author does a wonderful job of making you totally creeped out by Paul. It is so easy to root for Mia. Paul tells most the story. He has a weekend away planned with his wife but things do not go as he planned. Of course it isn't his fault and then you learn more about what also isn't his fault in his past.

What a great concept for a novel, loved the suspense and the fact that her husband got exactly what he deserved.

Thrilling, suspenseful, mysterious, and gripping, I fell into this story that only lasted 24 hours. Negalley, thank you for an arc for an honest review, because I am IN LOVE. It was a book I couldn't put down for a single second and read it in one setting.

BEST DAY EVER is set over the course of a tense 24-hour period. I normally enjoy domestic suspense novels like this one. The only reason I didn't rate BEST DAY EVER higher is purely a matter of personal preference -- I got tired of Paul's voice. I kept wishing we could see Mia's perspective. That being said, I did find myself flipping the pages and wondering what would happen next. The pacing is well-done and the ending is highly satisfying. Backstory is woven into the story in a seamless way. I will definitely look forward to Rouda's next novel.

When we first meet Paul and Mia, he appears at first glance to be a normal--albeit perhaps slightly narcissistic and yuppified--proud husband. He has two boys he adores, a gorgeous wife, a good job, and he is headed on a romantic weekend with his wife to their vacation home. It's going to be the "best day ever" he keeps saying throughout the book. Side note here, I would be so annoyed if my husband did that, but it does fit Paul. You'll see.

As with most books like this, things are not as they seem. Paul and Mia both have secrets and while their life seems vanilla on the surface, we quickly deduce that there are definitely some problems in their marriage, and perhaps something even more sinister. But really, none of us pick up books in this genre to read a nice little story where nothing bad happens, right?

Best Day Ever takes place during the course of a 24-hour period. It's a narrative device that can work or go terribly wrong, but in this case I think Rouda does a good job of slowly releasing the the history of Paul and Mia's marriage through Paul's glib thoughts. And since most of the narrative is through his eyes, it's up to the reader to decide what the truth really is. As we switch back and forth between memories and the present, suspense is building at a steady click, propelled by the details in the backstory.

I highly recommend this book. It's a face-paced page-turner and of course contains those dark, salacious and mysterious elements that psychological suspense addicts are so attracted to.

Following in the footsteps of Patrick Bateman, Joe Goldberg, and the guy from "Normal" (were we ever told his name?!), Paul Strom is, on the surface, a charming bastard. Or, at least he thinks he is. He dresses well, he has a perfect wife, perfect children, a perfect home, and is on his way to his holiday lakehouse to give his wife "The Best Day Ever". Perfect, right?

Well, no. This won't just be her "Best Day Ever" - it'll be her last day ever, if his plans work out.

I requested this on Netgalley because I do like a good villain - and I like when thrillers are told from the point of view of the baddie. As with the aformentioned characters, sometimes this works (Normal), sometimes it doesn't (You). Unfortunately, for me, this doesn't. I found the first 50% quite boring - Paul was narcissistic, egotistical, never stopped talking about how great he was, and just rabbited on and on and on about himself and his achievements. I found his voice very dull and monotonous, even if he was darkly comic at times. I found that too often he crossed into Pantomime Villain territory and half expected him to rub his hands together with glee.

The final few chapters were like something from Murder She Wrote or Scooby Doo, with every tiny minute detail examined. It's like telling a really good joke and then having to explain it, it just takes all the good out of it. I like having one or two things left to work out myself instead of a step-by-step guide of how everything works (but that's just my personal preference).

So - this wasn't my thing, ufortunately, but I can't like everything I read. I will say that I didn't like "You" by Caroline Kepnes either and that got extraordinarly good reviews, so if you were a fan of the former, maybe give this a go and see how you get on with it.

Paul Strom lives a picture perfect life: a high-profile advertising executive job, a gorgeous wife, two darling boys, a huge house in the best neighborhood suburbia can offer, and a vacation cottage in an exclusive lakeside area. On the outside looking in, any stranger would see a caring, loving, and providing husband in Paul, but something lurks beneath the surface that you can’t quite place your finger on. Is this marriage really what it seems?

BEST DAY EVER outlines the events of a 24-hour time period in which Paul has planned the “best day ever” to show his wife how much he loves and adores her. He has put together a picturesque weekend away at their lakeside cottage, fully equipped with a romantic playlist for the car ride and reservations at the fanciest restaurant the town has to offer. Lately things between Paul and his wife, Mia, have been on edge as Mia has suffered with health ailments that doctors cannot seem to find a cure for. Despite changing her diet to a restrictive organic, vegetarian lifestyle, Mia cannot stop her weight loss and constant illness.

Paul narrates this novel as we watch the events of the day unfold. Slowly, the reader is introduced to Paul’s backstory and the secret activities he’s engaging in behind his wife’s back. Paul is the epitome of a narcissistic and unreliable narrator. Never once does Paul take a moment to reflect on his actions except to praise himself for being smart, loving, or some other positive character trait. As time ticks away on the best day ever, Paul is met with the realization that perhaps he has underestimated Mia. She has learned bits and pieces about Paul’s life and reveals them to him as the day goes on. Rouda’s slow-building narration draws the reader to continue flipping through the pages to discover exactly what Paul and Mia have in store for each other.

Parts of Rouda’s novel seem forced, with what seems like an exaggerated narration by Paul at times. While I understood this was all in an attempt to drive the point of Paul’s narcissism home for the reader it became obnoxious and almost redundant at points. The choice to have a male narrator is uncommon for the psychological thriller genre, so I was excited to find Paul telling the tale. I would have rather had the over-the-tops bits of his personality toned down, as I found Paul to be just as creepy and unlikable without them. Overall, I found Rouda to have provided an intriguing, story in which I had a general understanding of what the main character’s motives were early on and how the situation might unravel. Despite the lack of huge plot twists, I was still interested in learning how the day would play out as Rouda slowly built the tension between Paul and Mia. BEST DAY EVER is suitable for a reader looking to give a male narrator a try, but should go in to the novel knowing that this is a slow-building reveal.

Thank you to Graydon House (Harlequin), Kaira Rouda, and NetGalley for providing me a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

This is a hard book to review without giving away every plot twist.

I can't say that I liked the book, but I did find it pretty compelling. I was five pages in when I started exclaiming "I hate the narrator!". I was about ten pages in when I figured out that was kind of the point.

It felt like the author had a "I'm going to make the narrator SO BAD!" checklist going, and, to her credit, she hit all of them. Honestly, I felt she could have dialed the evil back by about half and still had a good solid book. After a while, I started saying "Oh, of COURSE he...." when a new revelation popped up.

I was also very disappointed by the ending. I felt that while possible realistic, it was not very healthy for her female protagonist.

This is not a book I will reread. As I said, I found it compelling and well written, but oddly clunky in the amount of Bad Things happening left, right and centre.

If you've seen "Nightcrawler" with Jake Gyllenhaal, and been thoroughly enthralled, you will surely enjoy this novel. Paul Strom paints a perfect picture of his life as he narrates his story. He has the perfect "younger" wife, Mia, and two adorable children, both boys, just the way Paul wanted it. He has a great job, two homes, one in Columbus, Ohio, and one on Lake Erie where he is in fact taking Mia for their "Best Day Ever". The reader has no reason to question Paul's happy life until they see Paul questioning it himself. Surely Mia isn't hinting to know things she shouldn't. There is no way she can know of his plans for their "Best Day Ever" or can she? And if so, how?

Let me preface this review with a caveat about my reading preferences. I am not a huge fan of fiction written in first person. It's taken me awhile to figure this out, and I think it took this book to solidify my feelings about it. My dislike of first person is probably why I didn't enjoy this book as much as others.

Also, I should warn readers that if domestic violence triggers you, you should not read this book.

From the first few pages of Best Day Ever, I could tell that the narrator, Paul, was a dangerous person, and was plotting to do something horrible to his wife, Mia, over the course of the "best day ever" he was planning. The book is narrated by Paul, which provides the reader a glimpse into the mind and rationale of a psychopath. It took me a couple tries to get into the book because Paul is so intense and terrifying. I found myself reading to find out what happens to Paul's wife and children.

I won't give away the plot, but thankfully someone turns the tables on Paul. I did find myself wondering how someone might do so given Paul's attention to every single detail of his life and the lives of the people around him. Perhaps psychopaths who have to fake their emotions act this way, constantly observing how other people act and behave so that they can mimic that behavior and "pass" as normal. His mind and thoughts were constantly in motion, and it was pretty exhausting to read that process.

Others really loved this book, so if you are into thrillers and suspense this might be for you.

Thank you to the author, Kaira Rouda, the publisher, Harlequin, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Best Day Ever.

Interesting story, keeps you constantly guessing. I loved the 2nd person narrative style. You hardly ever see that in fiction and it was very well done in this book.

Great psychological thriller. The narrator was gripping and I did find myself able to almost empathize and understand him a little, though it was also clear what a lot of the other side of his bravado was.

First off, you’ve got to love a creepy unreliable narrator and, boy oh boy, is Paul Strom deliciously awful. Beneath his facade of a successful ad executive and father, Paul is a lying, cheating, sociopath that will stop at nothing to get rid of the people who stand in his way. For the first half of the book, I wanted to reach into the pages and tell Mia to grab her sons and run away as fast as she can.
Kaira Rouda deftly tells the story of Paul’s plan for the “best day ever” through his stream of consciousness narration. As he brags more and more about how women love him, how wonderful his life is, and how he is the most successful man ever, the reader gets pulled deeper and deeper into the dark waters of Paul Strom’s narcissism. Even when things start to wrong with his plan, he finds a way to twist the narrative and convince himself that he is the greatest. A great read.

Paul and Mia are travelling to their country home; Paul, the narrator promises repeatedly that it will be "the best day ever" but as they approach their destination cracks begin to show--Paul is having an affair, Mia is suffering from a mysterious illness, and their financial situation is precarious at best. Paul definitely seems to be planning something but it has ominous overtones.

I was expecting a standard "criminal narrates his evil plans" book but I was pleasantly surprised when the tables turned and the novel went to some new and exciting places.

I have to admit, at first I was skeptical reading this. The first person voice of Paul was a little simplistic, off putting. The way he spoke seemed very much like a five year old, but it became increasingly obvious that he was, in fact, an evil 5 year old. Once I realized Paul was a total sociopath, I re=read passages from the beginning and it all clicked. This was an ARC from Net Galley, and I loved it. My only complaint is that [spoiler removed - see goodreads review].

I'd rank this somewhere between a mindless beach read and "omg best book ever."

Paul Strom has it all…..perfect children, a perfect wife (who just happens to have the perfect bank account), the perfect career, a perfect life. He is totally blessed with high intelligence, good looks and the ability to charm just about anyone. Paul loves women and women love him. Paul is misunderstood by just about everyone he meets, and he just can’t seem to grasp why he isn’t loved by all.

God Bless his egotistical, narcissistic, delusional, manipulative heart.

What Paul believes about himself is just sad. Paul is a psychotic jerk and is about to get a reality check handed to him all tied up in a nice pretty bow. Well, maybe not so much because he is so out of touch reality, none of what happened is his fault.
Yes, this is Paul’s story and the reader gets up close and personal with his thoughts, desires and how he was wronged in so many different situations. Nothing is ever Paul’s fault….you know, because he is perfect.

But anyway….as you can tell from the title, this book is about the BEST DAY EVER. Paul and his lovely wife, Mia, are taking a weekend trip to their beach cottage. Their two boys are being cared for by a babysitter and Paul and Mia are going to have a carefree weekend alone. It’s going to be a perfect day with his perfect wife at his perfect cottage. Nothing will get in the way of the Best Day Ever. Or so he thinks. I won’t give anything away, but Paul’s plans get ruined and the sweet smell of revenge is in the air. It is the best day ever…..just not for Paul.

The day is told from Paul’s perspective and the reader learns a lot about his marriage, his job, his lovers and everything in between. For about five seconds, I kind of liked Paul. He seemed to be the devoted and loving husband every girl dreams of having. But as the story progressed, it didn’t take long before I started to despise this man and everything about him. And this is how it is supposed to be. At the end of this story, you will despise Paul as well. Paul is an evil, asinine jerk.

For the most part, I liked this book. Getting inside Paul’s head seem to draw out a little longer than I would have liked, but to get to the heart of the story, I understand why the author did this.

The Best Day Ever is well-written and although the story was slow going for me, the journey to the end was well worth the effort. It’s a dark, gripping psychological thriller that will keep you turning each page determined to know how this twisted story will end.

3 ½ stars