This was just too much for me. At times it was too confusing to keep track of the story threads and the narration and timeline. This could have been decent, but definitely needed more finesse.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.
This book was good. Not great. I did enjoy the story and writing but it was slow. I couldn’t really feel for the characters. I am big on character development and this just didn’t have it for me.

Claire works for the Home Office Immigration Service, not technically a lawyer, but she helps with appeals of decisions made regarding the status of a petition of residency. She's overburdened with the desperation of the petitioners and the work, but things are looking up for her now that she's met and become engaged to Angus. Yes, they've only known each other about 4 months, but Claire is quite pleased at the uptick in her living situation and future domestic arrangements in a beautiful new home that they got at a great price. When Claire meets the previous homeowner, Mark, she's struck immediately by how much he reminds her of an old boyfriend, Daniel. Perhaps that's why she soon finds herself in a huge mess...NO SPOILERS.

I was as confused about my feelings after finishing this book as I was at the beginning. My first thought upon finishing "The Couple" was, Why did I bother to read all that!? It was confusing and wholly unbelievable. Add to that the main character, Claire, quite possibly the most unlikeable person I'd ever read. She had zero morals and no redeeming qualities that would make her even halfway likeable. She was insipid, greedy, and completely stupid. The girl had the sense of judgement of a blow fly. The two male romantic characters, Angus and Mark, were also creepy and stupid, but we only have Claire's perspective to judge by. Other nominal characters were vague and not very well drawn out. I had to force myself to finish and the conclusion was so disappointing that I wanted to send Mitchell an email asking her to not write any more books. I usually reserve judgement for fledgling authors, but this attempt was so poor I was almost angry at her (and myself) for wasting so much valuable reading time.

I will admit that Mitchell may have some meager writing talent, but the plot itself was disjointed because it depended 100% on my willingness to shake away any common sense regarding the decisions Claire made throughout this book. I didn't care for this one, and I feel like a terrible human being for writing such a negative review. The author must have worked hard on it, I get it. But the bottom line is that it wasn't suspenseful, twisty, or enjoyable in the least.

I so wanted to like this book but I just couldn't get in to it. I just found it a bit slow, sorry not for me.

t was ok, predictable in places and I'm not sure how the two stories really fit together?
Some bits were tedious and the characters not very interesting however it did keep me reading till the end.

Once I finished this book I was glad that I did. Everything fit together at the end and made the rest of the book make sense. I almost gave up on it a few times because the main character, Claire, seemed like a really unorganized character and I just didn't like her. I'm not a prude, but the choices this character made put me off at first. I do love how it all came together though. I thought it was unique and thrilling. It has the kind of ending that makes the reader think about everything that happened and clears up the confusing parts. I was truly prepared to give this book 2 stars even at 60%, but the rest of the book definitely changed my mind.

The possibility of finding out how all of the various plot points ended up connecting is all that kept me going with this one.
There were so many useless details and too many scenery descriptions, the stuff about the main characters job was boring, and she kept acting like all these bizarre happenings were just everyday things for her. I kept thinking, “what is the point of this book?” BUT... at 91% in, an unexpected twist happened that made it somewhat worthwhile, however, it was a lot of time and effort to get through to get to what little payoff there was. If domestic thriller types are your thing, it’s worth reading, but overall was just meh for me. *Thanks to the publisher & #netgalley for the free ARC* #thecouple

The Couple
by Sarah Mitchell

Bookouture

Mystery & Thrillers

Pub Date 05 Feb 2019

I am reviewing a copy of The Couple through Bookoture and Netgalley:

Lawyer Claire and Hotel Entrepreneur Angus are engaged to be married after a whirlwind romance of only four months. They are both happy and successful, and ready to build a life together.

When Claire meets Mark the man selling them their house she. He looks identical to the man she finds that it looks eerily familiar. He looks exactly like the man she loved five years ago, the man whose loss broke her heart.

Claire finds herself drawn to Mark which causes her to go farther than she ever thought she would ever go, and she crosses lines she never thought she’d cross. But Angus behavior is becoming more and more suspicious. Claire doesn’t know if she can trust, Angus, Mark or even herself.

I give The Couple of four out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Sarah Mitchell is a new author for me and I'm so excited to add her to my favourite author list.
Following a whirlwind romance Claire and Angus get engaged and go house hunting. Having found the perfect house Claire is fixated as the previous owner, Mark, brings back memories as he looks just like a previous boyfriend from five years ago.
She soon becomes entangled with Mark but then finds herself in a position of not knowing who she should trust. Being submerged in a subterfuge of lies and deceit she attempts to unravel good from bad resulting in a fatal encounter.
Definitely the best book I've read so far this year a must read for fans of physiological suspense.

Psychological thrillers are my favorite genre of books. However, I could not get into this one. The "twists" weren't interesting or unpredictable and the characters weren't original.

What bothered me most about this book, though, was the writing style. I've never seen so many commas in my life. It took me so much longer than usual to read a page because each sentence was a paragraph long with comma after comma, just running on and on. It started to actually annoy me only a few pages in.

If the story was outstanding I may have been able to forget the writing style, or vice versa, but this book was unremarkable.

The Couple is a book with twists and turns you have no idea are coming. I was drawn right from the get go and devoured each and every word just anticipating the end. An AMAZING read for anyone who loves a good suspense!

Well, this certainly took my breath away and numbed my senses because I sure didn't see those twists coming. Although in retrospect there were a few red herrings, I believe I was just a bit too entranced in it all to sniff them out like a proper detective. . One of the reasons I couldn't go to bed at a decent hour was wondering if Claire( our main protagonist who is also extremely unreliable) was going to be able to make it out alive. This book just reeked of OBSESSION( and I am not talking about Calvin Klein) and made for a great Monday night read.

THE COUPLE is a debut psychological thriller by Sarah Mitchell and I absolutely loved it! I adore novels that are written in two time periods, namely the past and present, like this one.

The characters were very difficult to warm to, especially the main character Claire, who became rather irritating, annoying and dislikeable during the story.

Claire, who works for the Immigration Service is newly engaged after a whirlwind romance. Her fiance, Angus, is a hotel entrepreneur and they are looking to buy their perfect home together. When Claire views a house and meets Mark, the fellow who is selling the house, she finds that he resembles a former lover, a man for whom she still has feelings. Claire is drawn to him and Angus starts to behave very suspiciously, but can Claire trust either of them or herself?

For me, Sarah Mitchell’s writing is captivating and extremely well structured. This book is full of twists and turns and I really enjoyed it. The novel moved along at an intense speed and I loved how dark and twisted it was. The character development was brilliant and apart from most of the characters themselves, I liked everything about this book. THE COUPLE held my interest from start to finish and the way in Sarah Mitchell brought everything to a conclusion was just fabulous. I loved it and it has left me eager to read more from this author.

I would recommend THE COUPLE to anyone who likes this genre.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Sarah Mitchell for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.

This just wasn’t for me. I found the immigration side of the story dry and boring and Claire was extremely annoying both in the past and the present. There was nothing engaging about the story or the characters and it was very slow. I ended up skim reading from 20% onwards just to get to the end. Sorry :-( thanks to Netgalley, the author and Bookoutoure for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m having facial aches from how long my jaw was dropped open while reading The Couple by Sarah Mitchell!!! This book puts the “thrill” in psychological thriller! You know how some thrillers have a slower build to a shocking conclusion? This one was edge-of-your-seat shocking the whole way through!! What a fantastic book that left me literally buzzing, especially those last few twists!

About the Book

Whatever you think you know… you’re wrong.

Following a whirlwind four-month romance, lawyer Claire and hotel entrepreneur Angus are engaged to be married. Happy and successful, and ready to start their new life together, Claire and Angus find what they believe to be the perfect home.

But when Claire meets Mark, the man selling them the house, he looks eerily familiar. He looks exactly like the man she loved five years ago, the man she couldn’t bear to lose.

As Claire finds herself irresistibly drawn to Mark and crosses lines she never thought she’d cross, Angus’ behaviour becomes increasingly suspicious. Soon Claire doesn’t know whether she can trust Mark, Angus… or even herself.

The Couple is a psychological thriller with a stunning twist, perfect for fans of The Girl Before, The Wife Between Us, and The Woman in the Window.

Reflection

This book had me guessing the whole way through! I actually missed my train while reading it because I was so absorbed! It pulled up right in front of me and I was glued to my kindle. Worth it, since I had a great book to read while waiting for the next train!

Claire and Angus have a picture perfect life. After a whirlwind romance they are engaged to be married, living in a gorgeous mansion, and can barely take their eyes off of one another when together. But the mansion was sold to them for an incredible deal by a man named Mark. A man who Claire can’t seem to quite get out of her mind. Mark looks a lot like Claire’s ex Daniel, and there’s a history there she’d soon forget…

Flashing back in time five years to the Daniel story and then forward to the Mark/Claire/Angus story had my mind spinning! Both plots were so compelling, and it was hard to imagine what could have gone so wrong with Daniel that left Claire the way it did. But don’t worry! You’ll find out in due time what happened between Claire and Daniel!!!

Claire was such an amazing leading lady. She’s surprisingly independent, despite how she may seem outwardly. There’s this incredible scene in a bar at a co-worker’s birthday party that had me sitting up straight in my seat, barely believing what Claire was doing. I love her character!!!

The triangle between Claire, Mark, and Angus is completely fascinating. Claire and Angus have an incredible relationship. But something seems not quite right, even from the first chapter. You’ll have to find out what it is though! Is Angus too good to be true? And then we have the mysterious, sexy Mark. He pulls Claire towards him, with his magnetic personality. But what is Mark really up to? Again, I can’t spoil it! You’ll have to read it yourself!

I loved so many characters. Claire’s coworkers are surprisingly fascinating! Even the dull ones may have a bit more depth than you first realize! And Claire’s family also adds a context to the story that really worked. Sarah Mitchell is a master with characterization. Even characters only in a scene or two made a big impact for me and felt well-defined!

The ending has a few twists that roll in one after another, and had me glued to my kindle!!! Absolutely mind-blowing twists!!! I can’t recommend this book enough to psychological thriller fans!
I’m so grateful to the awesome team at Bookouture for organizing this blog tour and including me! This was an incredible book, and I’ll read anything Sarah Mitchell publishes next!

A very enjoyable read! I was very interested in getting my hands on this one after I read the blurb and I am pleased to say that I was not let down.

The story is written very well and the characters are interesting and jump off the page. I would recommend this read!

I thought it a bit slow going and some of the decisions of the main character baffled me with some very over the top events. However the end brings it all together with a very clever, great twist.

Published by the digital imprint Bookouture, Sarah Mitchell’s The Couple is a psychological thriller set in dual time.

As the book opens, we find Claire, an immigration lawyer, and Angus, an entrepreneur, engaged after a whirlwind romance, although Claire still has residual feelings for her ex- and Angus seems almost too good to be true. While searching for their perfect home, Claire meets the rather unsettling, but very attractive Mark, who reminds her of someone she’s met before, with interesting consequences.

As in many similar genre books, the main players in The Couple are all quite unlikeable. They are unveiled through the events that take place in the present and in a series of flashbacks to five years before.

A novel with several twists, with some plot turns that are, at times, a little confusing or disjointed, The Couple is, nonetheless, a smart read. One for the holiday.

This was the most confused, long-winded book I've read. It was so slow to get going! In fact it wasn't until near the end that there was any action at all! The story switches between two time lines and I felt this was very poorly done!!
It took all my will power to finish it!!

A delightfully twisty read, but a bit of a slow-burner. Lacked the gripping characters it needed and a bit implausible, but highly enjoyable nonetheless.