I had heard good things about this author, but this was a disappointing read for me. I found myself rolling my eyes at the ridiculous main character, Hannah. As my friend Jayme said in her review “She had to be one of the dumbest women that I have ever met in literature!”

Hannah want to meet Mr. Right so badly that she’s willing to overlook all the faults in the new man she’s dating. What Hannah sees as taking care of her every want, her friends see as controlling and manipulative. Just when I thought Hannah had kicked him to the curb over some nasty comment or behavior, she lets him apologize and he’s right back in her life.

I didn’t find this one gripping, suspenseful, or unputdownable and only the very end of the book with a good twist caused me to round this one up.

Now that was a nail biter! Seriously, if I still had a bad nail biting habit, then my nails would be chewed ragged after finishing this book due to all the anxiety I felt while I was reading because this book was one intense, suspenseful, can’t stop reading, edge of your seat read!

I finished this book in nearly one sitting, because I was immediately hooked from the very first page. I was captivated by Hannah and the charming, yet there’s definitely something not right here, Alex. Their first date was a whirlwind of romance; he was the man of her dreams, or so she thought, because something sinister was definitely lurking underneath his otherwise charming and seemingly perfect surface.

The red flags were flashing red everywhere. They were so obvious to see. To us, the readers, to Hannah’s friend’s and co-workers, and even to Hannah herself, although she refused to admit it and instead chose to brush the warning signs, strangeness, and sometimes sinister happenings, about him aside, instead only choosing to see him as her Mr. Right.

Sometimes I wanted to reach through the book and shake Hannah and tell her to “Run!” or to “Wake the hell up!” anything to get her away from Alex, and fast. Instead I settled for yelling at my book, quite often in fact.

And that ending! Hello brilliantly woven, unexpected twist that I never saw coming! Just the way I love my thrillers to end. I was very satisfied. Kudos to the author for taking me by complete surprise!

Twisted. Suspenseful. Chilling. Sordid. Unputdownable. This was an excellently crafted thriller that will keep you captivated from start to finish.

Highly recommend!

So first, the good! I had never read anything by Sue Watson before, and I really like her writing style. Very fast-paced, good narration style, and good at building suspense. I will definitely check out some of her other thrillers.

This one though lost me a little bit because the main character, Hannah, as my Goodreads friends Jayme and Dita have also pointed out, was SO aggravating. There were obvious, and I mean OBVIOUS, red flags with another character in the story from about page three, and she decided to just ignore them or rationalize them away in a really unconvincing manner. It was hard to identify with a main character who was that out of touch, and put up with so many things that were so outrageously bonkers from Day 1. I like reading books about strong female main characters. While I understand that in real life women get caught up in toxic relationships, I read these books to live vicariously and hopefully to root for the heroine to eventually make some good choices. Or if she's making terrible choices, they need to be entertaining or funny and I need to still like her. Here, neither of these things happened. Hannah needed more gumption and more self-awareness. I had gotten tired of her before I was halfway through the book.

So in conclusion, I have decided that I like Sue Watson, but I don't like Hannah. I'll try Watson again for another thriller because I can see she has the chops to entertain me. This heroine just really didn't work for me.

Thanks so much to Bookouture, NetGalley and the author for the advance copy to read!

Holy. Twist. Ending.
First of all... You know in the movies when you're yelling at the characters through the screen because they're wandering right into an obvious death?

Yeah, that was me screaming at this main character the whole damn book. My goodness, the sheer denial and ignorance.

But y'all, this one was good. You feel the tension the entire time and you're left just waiting for the shoe to drop. And then the ending swoops in and gut-punches you. #JawDropper

Thank you to Sue Watson, the publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC.
I voluntarily read and reviewed this title.

What a cracker of a book.

Full of drama, nail biting suspense and plenty of edge of the seat moments.

I can guarantee that you will not be able to stop reading once you start.

A brilliant read from start to finish, highly recommended, 5 stars.

Honestly, I struggled with this one.

I generally adore this type of book but Hannah made me crazy. She ignored every red flag and didn't do the things people really do in the situations she found herself in with Alex.

Thank you to Bookouture for giving me a copy of this book. It was my pleasure to write an honest review.

Definitely not as riveting as her other novels. Characters were not believable and plot just dragged along. Only moderately entertaining but I've certainly read better.

Earlier this year I read The Sister-in-Law and LOVED it. So I was super excited for this book! Its different, a bit simpler, and I wanted to grab a hold of Hannah and shake the stupid right out of her. But Sue creates characters that get a reaction - Hannah being frustrating, Alex being infuriating, Chloe being heartbreaking. The ending was a bit abrupt; I would have liked another chapter or two but I think Sue left some things open on purpose. I have several other books on my Kindle from this author and I'm excited to read them all. Anyone who likes a good psychological thriller will enjoy this one!

A really decent thriller that I read in one sitting. This stands out due to the fantastic ending.
The book started off slowly but picked up pace mid way through and brought plenty of twists and turns.
This is not my first by Sue Watson and definitely won’t be the last.

I think this is a decent read for thriller season and can be read in a couple of days, if not sooner. I was fairly engrossed during it all and I wanted to keep knowing where this story would end up however the main character was a bit much for me. She just seemed clueless, which was quite possibly the point, but I felt myself almost getting frustrated at her for not seeing all these red flags. And then I would speed read through a scene because I was angry lol. There were also a few scenes where I thought the app skipped a page or two as it seemed to jump around sometimes.

I think I would give the overall book a 3 however the ending was probably a 4ish, as it caught me off guard a bit and did a little plot twisty thingy. (Literally yelled out PLOT TWIST and scared the dog...)

She’s been waiting her whole life to meet a man like Alex. But he’s been waiting too. And once he has her, he’ll never let her go…

Review
This was my first book by Sue.
The insane thriller about the crazies of online dating will pull you in.
Hannah meets Alex on this online dating site and he seems too good to be true.
But is he?

I really enjoyed this one and I'm looking forward to more from this author.
It started out a little slow, but half way through it really picked up.

Overall- Great Book

Thank You NetGalley, Publisher & Author for this copy.

Brilliantly unexpected ending, very clever indeed! Hannah drove me crazy throughout (grow a pair for gashsakes!) but that’s just brilliant writing which makes you invest so heavily. Beware dating apps!

Oh my goodness Sue Watson has knocked it out of the ballpark once again! But this time it’s a Grand Slam!!! My head is still spinning as I’m sitting here wondering, “What in the heck did I just read???” Twist after twist, jaw dropper after jaw dropper, bombshell after bombshell....
I just kept thinking this poor girl can’t catch a break and I want to shake her to pay attention to the red flags! I didn’t know who to trust and it was all just so delicious!
Definite 5 stars from me! Keep them coming, Sue!!!

Huge thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me the privilege of reading this book in advance for my honest review!

Hannah has done everything to make sure her life is safe and secure. She quietly worries that, aged 36, she might never fall in love. Until, encouraged by her best friend to join a dating app, she meets Alex.

It’s like he’s too good to be true. They connect with each other instantly and they have the same interests as well. Hannah’s friends aren’t so sure about him. But Hannah thinks he’s perfect.

But Alex knows Hannah’s perfect for him too. And once he has her, he’ll never let her go…

This was such a good book. The cover was so attractive and once I read the premise, I just couldn’t wait to read this book.

It was written so well. Right from the start you are drawn into the plot and it’s filled with suspense. As the plot progresses, you keep reading about how Hannah is easily manipulated by Alex and despite warnings from her best friend, Hannah refuses to accept that Alex isn’t perfect.

In terms of the main characters, Alex is easily dislike-able but Hannah is quite irritating and frustrating at times, when she ignores some of the quite obvious red flags.

Regardless, the ending was something just amazing. It was so unpredictable, that it actually left my mouth agape in awe!

Overall, an excellent and twisted psychological thriller.

Thank You to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

Creepy. Sordid. Chilling. Twisted. Watson writes a good thriller with many curves in the story. The biggest curve was the ending. I didn't see it coming. I thought Hannah was clueless and needed a good shaking. She was so oblivious to red flag after red flag about Alex. I liked her character the least. I liked Jas the best. She had the most common sense and pragmatism. The ending left me saying, wait! What will happen now that....
A good read, indeed.

Hannah has met the man of her dreams, Alex. Who knew that you could meet your significant other on a dating app!
Her best friend is trying to put the brakes on for her but she's not listening.
So he wants to know where she is all the time. It's because he cares so much. A tracking app on her phone is because he wants to protect her.
Hannah's office colleagues and friends are there to listen to her stories. They are supportive and happy she found a new man.
Her best friend and office manager can see red flags, or, maybe she's just jealous.
What are red flags to others are love, concern and protection to Hannah.
A great story with great characters.

What a crazy ride! First let me say that I was sure I had this all figured out just a chapter or 2 in...WRONG! Rich characters, a few quite unlikeable, drive the tale. Twists and turns galore! A Lifetime movie of a thriller!

Hannah is looking for a stable and fulfilling relationship after her last one that lead to a dead end. Her friend who is also her boss encourages her to try online dating. There she meets Alex who she deems as "perfect" and definitely puts on a pedestal from the get go. From the first date there was clear foreshadowing that something was off about Alex. From her coincidentally liking all the things Hannah likes (can you say stalker) and him even leaving taking the spoon Hannah ate off of (creepy, am I right?)

I really wanted to love this book and was encouraged when I saw all the great reviews. However, this book fell flat for me. Hannah's character never really resonated for me. I found her incredibly infuriating. Trust me, I understand people can become intoxicated in relationships, but this was a bit extreme. If all your friends are giving you warnings about a guy and there are clear red flags, would you really not listen time and time again? Maybe that is the case for some, but I just couldn't take it. But I'm also the friend who can't stand seeing their friends go back to the same guy again and again and thinking he won't continue making mistakes.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of "First Date" by Sue Watson in exchange for an honest review.

Hannah knew that Alex was perfect from their very FIRST DATE. 🍷
They both wanted a yellow Labrador, three kids and weekends in Devon.

Her boss, and best friend, Jas, recognized Alex for the man he was-
possessive and controlling.

But, all that Hannah saw was “love and kindness” and she ignored EVERY red flag, justifying his behavior, at every turn, no matter how outrageous or UNACCEPTABLE!!

I was EXASPERATED by Hannah!

She had to be one of the dumbest women that I have ever met in literature!
I could barely keep reading!

But, having enjoyed the author’s past work, I continued on, hoping there would be a big pay-off at the end.

I was satisfied with how it all wrapped up, with all questions answered, but it took perseverance to get there!

And, a few Porn Star Martinis! 🍸😉

Thank you to Bookouture for my gifted copy though NetGalley!
It was my pleasure to provide an honest review!

Available Oct. 16, 2020

First Date by Sue Watson kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I could not stop reading this. Anyone who has done online dating has had good dates and bad dates. However, has the perfect date ever turned into a perfect nightmare? This is what happens to Hannah,

Alex and Hannah hit it off immediately, it seems to good to be true. He is a solicitor, and her a social worker. They seem to have everything in common, or do they?

Hannah's co-workers are like family to her, they are not too sure of Alex. He is a controlling manipulative liar.
Suddenly Hannah is receiving threats, Alex goes as far as to putting a tracker on her phone to keep her safe.
Who is Alex?!?!?

First Date is a true thriller and highly recommended! Who can Hannah trust? Find out on October 16th