Lyla is a scientist, a virologist to be exact, but the research she’d been working on is going nowhere. She had spent months trying to replicate another scientist’s results, and she hadn’t been able to. Now she’s at the point where she has to write up her failure, and her contract is almost up, so with results like that she’s sure that her contract won’t be renewed, and she will be a 32-year-old scientist with no job.

She does have a boyfriend though. Nico is a little younger, someone she met at a Valentine’s Day party a few years back, or rather an anti-Valentine’s party, and they hit it off. Nico is an actor and barista, trying to find his big break before he turns 30. And then his agent calls. It’s a reality show where 5 couples will go to a deserted island. There will be challenges, and people will leave one by one until there is a winner. It’s called One Perfect Couple, and Nico being on the show can really boost his career.

Lyla agrees, as she can use the time to write her paper. And she can just fail one of the earlier challenges, get kicked off the island, and go back to her work while Nico works on becoming a reality tv darling. But when they get to the island, Lyla has a bad feeling. It’s a beautiful island, with white sand beaches and coconut trees, and their cabins all look beautiful. But the rest of the luxury buildings on the island aren’t finished. And the crew won’t be staying on the island. A lot of the filming is being done by remote. Nico tries to calm her down, reassuring her that a lot of entertainment is done on a shoestring, and that she is just getting a look behind the scenes. But she’s not convinced.

Their first challenge is to reveal how much the couples know about each other. And while Lyla does really well, Nico does not, and he’s the first one off the island. Before Lyla can even realize what’s happening, she’s alone on the island. But his tantrum is no match for the storm that arrives overnight. One of the cabins is down, collapsed under a tree that came down, and the only source of communicating with the rest of the world is a radio that no one knows for sure how to use. The production company had confiscated all their phones and computers, and the remaining contestants are alone on the island.

The contestants don’t know how much damage may have been done anywhere else. Did the boat with the crew and Nico make it back okay? Does anyone know they’re stranded there? Is someone coming to rescue them? The first day or two after the storm has the group trying to clean up a little and stay calm. But as the days go by, they start to get worried. They have limited supplies of food and water, and a couple of them needed medical care after the storm. Lyla did what she could, but she’s not a medical doctor and they didn’t have many medical supplies. They keep trying the radio, but they can’t get through to anyone.

The longer they are there with no communication from the production company, or anyone else, the more desperate they get. Factions start to form, and they start fighting over the supplies. Lyla and the other contestants who are left are no longer fighting for the prize or the notoriety of winning a reality show. They are just fighting to survive.

The master of suspense Ruth Ware is back with One Perfect Couple, a story that is part reality show, part Lord of the Flies, as she examines the inimitable strength of the human spirit. As these characters are put through the fight of their lives, readers are left wondering who will make it out alive and just how much they will have to struggle to get there.

One Perfect Couple is a powerhouse of a story, a combination of a locked-room murder mystery and a story of survival of the smartest. There are layers of secrets that get peeled back as these characters have to fight harder to survive, and just when you think that you know what’s going on, there is another twist coming at you. Reading through it again, knowing where the story goes, shows you all the bread crumbs that are there, leading you to all the answers, and reminding you again of the genius of Ruth Ware.

Egalleys for One Perfect Couple were provided by Gallery Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

One Perfect Couple was an entertaining book. I wouldn't call it a thriller, exactly, but more of a survival book. There wasn't too much of a mystery to solve and it was more about everyone trying to survive on the island after a storm leaves them stranded. The beginning set up Lyla and Nico's relationship and the reality show, but then the book quickly took a turn once they were actually on the island. It would have been kind of nice if Lyla's relationship with Nico was developed more or if we got to see more of the show itself, but ultimately this was more of a book about survival. The description is a bit misleading and I wouldn't really compare it to And Then There Were None, but it was still a fun beach read.

Ruth Ware’s newest novel, One Perfect Couple, drops today and it’s a juicy summer suspense! ☀️🫢

GENRE: Thriller/Suspense
MY RATING: 🌟🌟🌟 (3/5)
#gifted @gallerybooks — tysm!!

READ IF YOU LIKE:
▫️Reality TV shows 🎥
▫️Books with parts
▫️Journal entires 📝
▫️Slow burn thrillers ❤️‍🔥
▫️Island setting 🏝️
▫️Drama-filled suspense novels

MY THOUGHTS & RATING:
I owe Ruth Ware a big thank you bc her books helped get me into reading a few years ago! 🤩 She writes the BEST details that make you feel like you’re one of the characters on her eery scenes. Some of my favorites by her are: The Woman in Cabin 10, The Turn of the Key, In a Dark, Dark Wood & The It Girl.

One Perfect Couple was a solid summer popcorn thriller 🍿 It wasn’t my fave of hers, but it was enjoyable! The private island setting with a reality TV crew was a super intriguing start. But there were a lot of characters to keep track of and the reality TV aspect fell apart so fast?! 🤔 The middle got repetitive for my personal taste. I think if I was listening to the audiobook (Imogen Church— I could hear her voice while I was reading 😂) I wouldn’t have lost interest. Howeverrr, the ending was fab! 💥 The pace picked up along with my heart rate lol! I stayed up late to finish 👀 I’ll always be a big Ruth Ware girlie.

DETAILS:
▫️Publishes: 5/21/24 (today!)
▫️Pages: 385
▫️Format: Physical

Thank you NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Ruth Ware for the opportunity to read this e-ARC!

Ruth Ware does not disappoint. The premise: a reality tv show set on a tropical island - five couples, skeleton production crew, faulty cameras, and one massive storm.

After a massive storm wipes out the boat that is taking away the first person to be eliminated from the competition, the rest of the couples need to band together for survival...but people keep dying from unnatural causes.

The pacing kept me on the edge of my seat and I liked that the women were all strong and banded together.

Struggling actor Nico has convinced his girlfriend Lyla to go on a Love Island style reality show. He hopes it'll boost his career and give him the break he's been looking for. Things don't go according to plan when the ship that takes them to the island where The Perfect Couple will be filmed leaves for the night with the first contestant kicked off the show and a big storm rolls in.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I found it to be a mash-up of And Then There Were None and The Lord of the Flies. The author does a great job of giving the reader the claustrophobic feeling of being stranded on an island and builds the tension up in the characters reactions and interactions. I liked the art up of the radio calls in the first part of each chapter in the first section and the diary entries in the second section. It definitely keeps the reader guessing! Highly recommend for those who like locked room crime fiction!

Thank you to Gallery Books, author Ruth Ware, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

I am a Season Pass holder for Ruth Ware. I methodically read all of her novels when they come out, and this is one of her best. Building on the "locked room" mystery trope, the backdrop for this thriller is a reality TV show set on an island. Think "Survivor" meets "Love Island"- 5 couples, weekly challenges, except if one end of the couple doesn't hold up, they get sent home and the couples are encouraged to swap around. Lyla, a scientist and not the normal "reality TV" type, begrudgingly allows her actor boyfriend, Nico, to sign them onto the project; she can't help but wonder if this show is not only a last-ditch effort for his career, but for their relationship as well. Things turn intense pretty quickly after they arrive: the contestants have to deal with a storm, power and communication failure, and maybe some untimely deaths! This is more of a thriller than a mystery, as it's pretty clear what is happening early on; it's left for the reader to keep reading to see if Lyla is going to survive. This book had a fun concept, diverse secondary characters, and a slight twist at the end that was really fun.

Happy publishing day to this book. Dare I say that this is the thriller of the summer?! In the book, Lyla and Nico have been dating a few years when Nico (who wants to be an actor) gets the couple on a realty dating show. Things seem to be going okay.. until Nico gets kicked off the show immediately and then the boat where the show is being filmed ends up stranded on a deserted island. Definitely a face-pace, thriller (that is a little gross at times?!) that you’ll want to read on the beach and NOT on a cruise!

I am always on board for a new Ruth Ware novel. She writes mysteries that hook me in and won't let me put down the book. This book was no exception. The premise of reality tv is always interesting with how pervasive it is in our daily lives. I really enjoyed the characters and the feel of the story. Loved this book!

Since it was harkened to Agatha Christie’s book Then There Were None, I was definitely looking for things similar to the book. Besides the general comparison of them being on an island, shipwrecked and a murderer among them. There are some things I could see that would be referenced to Christie’s plot but with a twist, The comparisons between the two books would be a wonderful start for a book discussion.i have to admit one question was what has everybody have in common? It stump me to the very end.
This is definitely a must read book for the summer and you will not be able to put it down. Ruth Ware is back in the game(intended pun).
Thank you NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for giving me the chance to read the advance readers copy.

With a mix of the competition of Love Island, the grit of Survivor, the heart-pounding energy of Lost, and the suspense of And Then There Were None, One Perfect Couple kept me flipping through pages, desperate to know how this wild story would end.

Lyla has had a bit of bad luck lately, she’s struggling with her job and feeling stuck. When her boyfriend suggests they go on a new reality television show on a remote island to help him get his big break, she agrees. Once arriving on location, multiple red flags start to rise, and things begin to go south. When a storm breaks loose over the island on the first night of filming, the contestants are isolated, cut off from the world, and forced to work together to survive.

This thriller definitely kept me on the edge of my seat and invested in Lyla’s story. Immediately the combination of Agatha Christie, Love Island (my fav!), and Survivor, made me want to grab this book! And the inspiration for each was interwoven well into the story, plot, and cast of characters. While I was hoping for more of the mystery aspect similar to And Then There Were None, this book had an insane (and nerve-wracking) amount of high stakes and risky choices. Definitely a great thriller beach read for the summer!

3.5/5

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

First things first, I love Ruth Ware! I was SO excited to get this one. THANK YOU to those who approved me, you have no idea how happy this made me. I loved this book, I loved the setting, and I hated some of the characters (that's a compliment!!). I love it when a book really gives you strong opinions on the characters, to me that means the author did a fantastic job of portraying what they wanted the reader to feel. This was such a good thriller, the setting was great too. No spoilers of course and a vague review as usual as I don't want to give anything away! I'm already recommending this to everyone!

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware was a thrilling read. Four couple go on a new TV reality show, One Perfect Couple, that takes place on a perfect tropical Island. The boat leaves the first day after the first person is kicked off the island. It was to return the following day, but there was a horrible storm that night that cut all power. Then everything changed. The boat didn’t return and people end up dead. But by who?

Thank you NetGalley, Gallery Books and Ruth Ware for the ARC for my review.

I love Ruth Ware. She is very Agatha Christie like and I generally cannot put her books down. This book is no exception to that. The Perfect Couple is fast-paced, dark, lots of thrills and twists and so well written. I loved the characters. While I am not a fan of reality television I was intrigued by the plot. Highly recommend.

Thanks to Gallery and Simon Audio for the copies of this book!

Lyla and Nico have been together for two years, and Nico is looking to make his big break into acting. When an opportunity comes up to head to Ever After Island on a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, Nico convinces Lyla to sign up. They’ll compete against four other couples in paradise and he’ll get the exposure he needs.

I really enjoyed this one!! I did a combo of listening and reading and honestly thought both formats were great. I always love a tropical storm that strands our characters in a thriller, and it was quite the turning point in this book. The whole cast was perfect for a locked room mystery, and things turn pretty sinister, so there are definitely some trigger warnings. This is a really engaging read with lots of little twists and turns, and while the ending isn’t the *most* satisfying, it worked well for the book.

Oh my goodness I feel like I just read The Lord of the Flies but it was adults instead of kids! Truly so well done!

Five couples on one island going through challenges and tests to see which is the One Perfect Couple. Oh and it’s on a beautiful remote island in the Indian Ocean. Sounds too good to be true right?

When Lyla’s boyfriend Nico convinced her to join him on a remote island for the filming of a reality TV show called One Perfect Couple, Lyla was convinced she would fail purposely so she could get back to her job as a scientist but her actor boyfriend Nico could stay on and finally launch his career. But that’s not what happens. Instead a storm happens, knocking the inhabitants of the island into survival mode. And one by one people start dying…

I loved the sneak peek of the mayday calls in the first part. The diary entries in the second part. And the tie up in the final installment. While not your typical whodunit thriller, this one kept me on my toes still!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the always impressive Ruth Ware for a chance to read this advanced copy. I’m just glad I finished on publication date so I can share my thoughts ahead of the mob of readers who will no doubt love this book just in time for summer (Island?) adventures!

One Perfect Couple is the third book that I’ve read by Ruth Ware, and it’s my second favorite after Turn of the Key. I like Ware’s writing and I think her books are very engrossing and fun to read. I would say One Perfect Couple is more of a survival story than a mystery thriller. This book is like Survivor meets Love Island meets Lord of the Flies. The story focuses on this group of reality show contestants trying to survive on this remote island after a bad storm leaves them stranded. There’s a lot of tension, drama, and fighting between the group. People start dying and one of the group is a killer.

I read this book pretty quickly, but there were some slower parts that I was not interested in. There are many characters to keep track of in this story and some of the characters just got on my nerves. I did think the ending was exciting and I liked the conclusion to the story.

If you like survival stories or mysteries set in remote locations, then you should check out this book.

3.5⭐️

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware follows the main character, Lyla, to a remote island by Indonesia with her boyfriend, Nico. The couple are on there way to film a reality show with four other couples. However; things go wrong. Very wrong.

What I wished would have been different in this novel was the pacing. The “twist” happened too quickly. You know from very beginning that they are going to be stranded because of a storm. I wanted more of the reality television show. The first 50 or so pages of the book had me hooked. I was invested in Lyla and Nico. I was invested in the reality show, but once the reality show was gone, so was my interest. The novel didn’t do much to keep me in suspense; most of what happens was predictable and has been done many times before.

I liked the premise, I liked the characters, I liked the setting—I was just left wanting more.

Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence

Instagram: english_versevoyager
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/163308591-sarah-martin

Review of "One Perfect Couple" by Ruth Ware

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of Ruth Ware's latest thriller, "One Perfect Couple," in exchange for an honest review.

Ruth Ware’s new book is a wild ride set on a remote island for a reality TV show. Five couples, including Lyla and her actor boyfriend Nico, compete in "One Perfect Couple." Things take a dark turn immediately when a storm hits, cutting them off from the world, and contestants start start to go one by one.

Ware delivers her usual twists and turns, keeping you guessing. The use of diary entries to build tension is a nice touch, adding layers of suspense to the unfolding mystery.

However, the characters felt a bit flat, and I didn’t connect with them much. This detachment made the high-stakes drama less impactful. Some dialogue was also a bit off.

Overall, it’s a fun, fast-paced read. It's perfect for fans of reality TV and locked-room mysteries, and it offers enough suspense and intrigue to keep you turning the pages. While not my favorite Ruth Ware book, it is a worthwhile read for those looking for a thrilling, albeit flawed, summer escape!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I am a big Ruth Ware fan. I’ve loved her previous books. With that said - I was not as impressed with this book. The premise was interesting - reality tv show filming on a remote Island. I did not feel like the characters were well fleshed out and I didn’t find any that I connected with or wanted to root for.

It’s not an awful book, it just wouldn’t be my first choice.

Ruth Ware’s newest psychological thriller is the beach read of the summer, as long as you are safely anywhere but the beach. Five couples are swept away to be contestants on the newest reality TV show: One Perfect Couple, where five people hoping to make the next leap in their show business careers and their (reluctantly) supportive partners battle to prove their love and remain on the island. But when the perfect storm leaves them stranded and disconnected from the rest of the world, Ever After Island turns into a real life survivor.

Ware does a great job of providing fresh twists and turns to a relatively saturated genre. Even when I thought it was transparent, I would turn the page and find a new surprise. One Perfect Couple is a great book to throw into your bag and read wherever you land- entertaining and compelling.