This was Everyone is Watching meets The Last One meets Lord of the Flies. A group of seemingly unconnected couples is sent to a remote island in Indonesia to compete in a brand new reality show called One Perfect Couple. Our main character, Lyla, is a scientist and has no desire to run on the beach in a bikini competing with influencers and actors, but since her boyfriend, Nico, is an aspiring actor himself, she decides to support his endeavor and join him. Literally nothing goes as planned, especially when they are all stuck on the island after a major storm, and their biggest worry shifts from looking bad on reality TV to making it off the island alive.

I know people are going to give this low ratings, but I enjoyed every minute of this survival story. The characters were so well developed; I was so anxious for all of them and had no idea what direction the story would go in. I couldn’t put this book/audiobook down, and I love that the ending wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I’ve read a lot of similar thrillers, and this one definitely had a fresh ending. I actually really liked the ending, but I’m not sure everyone will agree. I know people are going to give this low ratings, but I enjoyed every minute of this survival story. The characters were so well developed; I was so anxious for all of them and had no idea what direction the story would go in. I couldn’t put this book/audiobook down, and I love that the ending wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I’ve read a lot of similar thrillers, and this one definitely had a fresh ending. I actually really liked the ending, but I’m not sure everyone will agree. The Easter egg of her mentioning The Woman in Cabin 10 at one point was also clever.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, page-turning read with twist after twist, this is NOT it. However, if you want a perfectly paced survival story full of character development and reality tv drama with a solid ending, this is the one!

Thank you NetGalley & Gallery books for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion!

Finished this book in 2 days. Overall a fun read. Couples end up going on a reality show when a storm hits the island and they lose communication. They have to work together to survive despite limited water/food. Alliances are formed and secrets come out. Ruth did a great job of diving in behind the scenes of how reality TV shows are formatted and now everything looks perfect on the surface. Read this if you're a fan of survival/reality shows. I did love how Lil, the main character was a scientist as it offered a fresh perspective.

Scientist and academic Lyla reluctantly agrees to appear on a reality TV show with her struggling actor boyfriend Nico, about five couples sent off to a deserted island to see who will win a cash prize. Instead, the contestants find themselves trapped after a storm hits the island, taking out communication and leaving food and water in short supply. Then, cast members mysteriously die one by one.

Fast-paced, atmospheric, and sharply written, this pulled me in from the start. With a nod to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, Ruth Ware turns paradise into an ominous, inescapable trap, with growing dread as the situation becomes increasingly dire. This isn't a mystery, though. It is a story about a fight for survival with lots of danger, drama, and power struggles. Told in the POV of Lyla, with another contestant's diary entries interspersed, there is a large but shrinking cast of characters. As tensions and suspicions escalated, I rooted for Lyla and a handful of characters as much as I disliked others. The setting was vivid, and the island conditions were brutal. I found this hard to put down.
There was a fun easter egg in this too. The contestants attempted to signal a passing ship with a makeshift beacon by fueling it with pages of a book found in one of the huts. The book happened to be another of Ware's books, The Woman in Cabin 10, which I thought was a clever touch. This action-packed book is an entertaining summer read!

Thank you to Netgalley, Gallery Books and Scout Press Books for the opportunity to review this ARC!

Having this be my first Ruth Ware book I've read, I was not disappointed at all. The mystery, drama and tension was exciting! I felt the sense of trapped from the characters and it made this so much better.

While this wasn’t my favorite Ruth Ware book, I still enjoyed all its drama & tense moments. I appreciated the narrator who kept me on track with all the interesting characters, & I thought the journal entries were a nice touch. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This was a great read. It kept me on the edge of my seat. The characters were developed and the story line was great.

This was my second Ruth Ware book and it was a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t find the book all that thrilling and there were no big twists to shake it up. All of the information was pretty much there. I wish I enjoyed this one more but to me it just dragged.

Since I started reading Ruth Ware novels, I've been chasing the high of the first one (The Woman in Cabin 10 — conveniently mentioned in One Perfect Couple). This book gets me as close as I've been, but doesn't quite hit the mark. The beginning is a pretty slow burn, but once the couples hit the island it does take off. One Perfect Couple is basically just a grown-up version of Lord of the Flies with more deaths. I did enjoy it overall, but Ware's female leads are sometimes a bit too weak for me. For how weak Lyla was, it's honestly shocking that she gets the survive the whole story, especially when there are really strong women like Santana or Angel who could have been our lead. Other than that, and the fact that it's a story that's been done 100 times, it's a pretty good rendition of stranded on a beach trying to get out — especially with the few twists that Ware actually gives us. 3.5 stars overall

I was a little worried One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware would be a story we’ve seen play out a million times before- a behind-the-scenes suspense story set on an island as a reality show film. But no, I was wrong. It wasn’t as predictable as I feared.

Yes, there is the setup of a show, but everything quickly changes when a huge storm hits the island and a crisis arises. Many crises arise. Tempers flare. And more. There are a lot of characters, and I had a little trouble keeping them all straight in my head, but just go with it.

I liked the story and how it all played out and, of course, Ruth Ware can write anything; I’ll read it and probably love it. This book ended up being a solid four stars!

Synopsis:

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

Out on May 21

Okay I was SO excited to read Ware’s new book! Also, loved the fact that it was like “Love Island”, which is a show I am obsessed with! It did get a little boring midway and started losing my attention. I did like the main characters development and the ending really tied things together for me!

The book was engaging and I was hooked until the end. It is relevant to today's culture of reality love shows, which kept me interested in it. If you like Ruth Ware, this will not disappoint.

Best Ruth Ware book yet! I loved One Perfect Couple. Set on a secluded island, One Perfect Couple is about contestants on a TV show who have to survive when a storm hits and people disappear, get hurt, and the power goes out. They're far away from home and what will they do when put to the test to survive?

I didn't love the ending of the book, but otherwise everything else was really fun. Thrilling and suspenseful I wasn't very sure where the book was totally going to go, which I loved. There's a big cast of characters and at first I thought I would get lost in who's who, but didn't.

I read this in a day and would recommend it to everyone!

Thanks, NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC!

This is my new favorite Ruth Ware book! It is so good!! It has a few great nods to some classics with a similar plot while also leaning into modern day suspense.

I think I read 80% of this book in one day because I couldn’t put it down.

The book reminded me a little bit of her other book, One By One, in some ways but I liked this one a lot more.

It is really clear that Lyla and Nico are the odd ones out on the set of the new show, One Perfect Couple but seeing how that plays out in survival mode is really interesting. Anyone who loves reality tv shows with couples in them would probably be hooked right away on this book.

I didn’t think there was a big twist at the end but everything does click into place and overall I loved the ending.

Another suspenseful, twisty Ruth Ware book!
It took a little bit for this book to pick up but it was a great read. I was sure there was a nefarious twist involving the island itself but I never managed to figure everything out, which is always a plus..
The book seemed a bit darker than usual, but they are stranded on an island so things happen… Overall it was a bit slow paced but a great book!

3.5
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. Ruth Ware delivers a tense, race-against-the-clock thriller with One Perfect Couple. While not overly twisty, One Perfect Couple is fun with its Love Island meets Castaway premise.

I always read Ruth Ware books. I loved the premise of this book - reality tv show and standed on a deserted island, very much gave me Lord of the Flies vibes! Yet, somewhere in the back half of the book (around part 3) I lost interest and it was drug on for too long the fact they were stranded on the island. This book overall, just did not do it for me, unfortunately.

In the vein of Agatha Christie's iconic And Then There Were None, this thriller gathers strangers together on a desert island. Five supposedly randomly selected couples, all with aspirations of gaining fame and wealth, are recruited for a reality show at a remote but luxurious Indonesian island resort, as they set out to prove which of them is the "perfect couple." The producer is very secretive about most elements of the competition, and many elements about the island and the show itself just seem "off" to more than one contestant, but not enough to raise red flags.

The story turns sinister and becomes a tale of survival when a violent storm hits the island after the first day--leaving the contestants stranded and the production crew lost at sea. Alliances form and power struggles become violent as contestants begin dying off one by one until the last few survivors are faced with a crucial, life-changing decision.

Told primarily through the lens of Lyla, a skeptical scientist who agreed to participate to support her struggling-actor boyfriend Nico, the plot moves quickly. Characters are sketched in enough detail to give them each unique personalities, and the setting is described in such a way to create a plausible backdrop, but the focus of this page-turner is primarily on the plot.

Woah- this is one of those books that will keep you up late at night to get in “one more chapter” over and over again. This one is action packed and very fast paced. I love Ruth Ware’s thrillers, and this one is exactly what I love from her. It’s absolutely captivating.

Five couples are chosen to go on a reality show for couples. They are whisked away to a very remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The island looks like paradise.

There is a very scant filming crew, on this low budget reality show, “One Perfect Couple”. The crew mostly stays out at sea on the boat, anchored off shore.

The first night there, they have their first challenge/elimination which is followed by a brutally devastating storm. The boat took the eliminated contestant to a different island to be flown back home, but it never returned.

Nine contestants remained, in addition to one producer. The food and water must be rationed, the elements are HARSH, power and water have been lost and the heat is unbearable. With the tension and fear running high, there is no shortage of drama on the island. When it seems things couldn’t get any worse, it appears there is a murderer among them.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @GalleryBooks for an advanced e-copy of this book. It releases next week 5/21/2024.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Gallery books for approving me for this ARC. Ruth Ware is an auto-buy author for me, and I was excited for this book, but this was a let-down for me. Everything and nothing at the same happens in this book. Five couples go to a remote island to film a new reality TV show called One Perfect Couple. After the first challenge, a boat with the producers and the person being kicked off the island, is being taken back to the main island, Right after this happens, a huge storm hits the remote island, the boat doesn't return, and they realized they aren't going to be saved. After the storm, they find a cast member and one of the contestants did not survive the storm. They have to work together to survive, but tempers start flaring. This book's genre is mystery and thriller but there is no real mystery and no real thriller feeling. You find out early on who decided they were going to be the "leader" on the island and why all the bad things are happening. For me, I thought the thriller aspect was going to be someone from the crew or cast was going to be doing the killing, but that wasn't the case at all. The real "thriller" aspect was wondering if the remaining contestants were going to survive or not. The ending is what I love the most. All the girls decided to work together to figure out how to survive and they had a found-family aspect that I loved. There was no cliff-hanger or mind blowing ending. Instead , it was emotional and it makes you realize you were rooting for them the whole time. Overall, this book was good, not as good as I thought but if you love thriller-mystery books, and are a fan of Ruth Ware, this book is for you.

This was an intriguing storyline. When the synopsis compared it to And Then There Were None, I knew I had to give it a shot. Then that prologue hooked me. I usually pace myself with thrillers to give myself some thinking time (to try to figure stuff out on my own) but there wasn't a chance with this. I had to dive right in and figure out what the heck was going on. This is back to the old Ruth Ware. I was worried her stories were going too far outside of where I was interested based on the last couple. I'm so glad this story brought me back to her writing!