Best Day Ever
A Novel
by Kaira Rouda
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Pub Date Sep 19 2017 | Archive Date Aug 21 2018
Harlequin (US & Canada) | Graydon House
Description
THE PERFECT MARRIAGE IS THE PERFECT ILLUSION.
Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he’s promised today will be the best day ever.
But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really?
Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those who are closest to us, Best Day Ever crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter toward its shocking conclusion. In the vein of The Couple Next Door, Kaira Rouda weaves a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal dark enough to destroy a marriage…or a life.
Praise for Best Day Ever
“Highly entertaining and truly surprising!” —Kate Moretti, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year
“Best Day Ever is a creepy, spine-tingling and utterly addictive tale of domestic suspense.” —Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, bestselling authors of The Good Widow
Advance Praise
EARLY REVIEWS FOR Best Day Ever
“This
latest psychological thriller from bestselling Rouda is destined to fly off the
shelves, enticing readers to ride along as this multifaceted day in the life of
the Stroms unfolds.” -STARRED Library Journal reivew for Best Day Ever
“Rouda keeps the pace taut, the action spare, and the characters intense as she takes readers on an hour-by-hour recounting of the couple’s fateful getaway. Rouda’s first book under Harlequin’s Graydon House imprint heralds the publisher’s welcome move into “edgy women’s fiction” and will be sure to find a wide readership.” -Booklist
“Darkly funny, scandalous, and utterly satisfying”. - Kirkus Reviews
“It’s clear from the beginning that something sinister is going on in this novel, which will cost you sleep as you race through its pages. Chilling, satisfying suspense”. – Good Housekeeping
"A tensely written, shocking book that will hold readers on the edge of their seats to the very last page." -Publishers Weekly
"Kaira
Rouda's BEST DAY EVER is a breath of fresh air. Move over Kepnes' Joe Goldberg,
there's a new sociopathic voice in town. Paul Strom is irreverent, arrogant,
psychotic and yet, utterly addicting. Who will win the Lakeside showdown, Mia
or Paul? You'll whip through the pages to find out. Highly entertaining and
truly surprising!" - Kate Moretti, NYT Bestselling author of THE VANISHING YEAR
"Riveting and provocative, Best Day Ever is a gripping suspense that plays with your mind and makes you wonder how well you truly know your spouse...Fast-paced, dark, and slightly disturbing, you won’t be able to put this book down until its jaw-dropping ending... Absolutely brilliant!” —Kerry Lonsdale, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Everything We Keep
“Through self-conscious charm and a chilling wit, Rouda’s narrator creates laugh-out-loud moments that will feel like guilty pleasures in light of the story’s high-impact conclusion. This may well be the most entertaining read of your year.” —Kathryn Craft, award-winning author of The Far End of Happy, on Best Day Ever
“We read Best Day Ever in one sitting—ripping through the pages with a breathless urgency. The book takes place over just twenty-four-hours, making you desperate to know: what exactly does the seemingly perfect Paul Strom have planned for his wife when he takes her away for the weekend? Here's what we can tell you: whatever you think it is, you’re wrong...Best Day Ever is a creepy, spine-tingling and utterly addictive tale of domestic suspense.” —Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, bestselling authors of The Good Widow
“Kaira Rouda spins a sinister tale of a disintegrating marriage that raises the bar on the unreliable narrator. Deliciously diabolical and highly readable, BEST DAY EVER kept me flipping the pages with anticipation and fascination. Unputdownable!” -A. J. Banner, USA TODAY bestselling author of The Twilight Wife
Marketing Plan
We also recommend you check-out the three other launch titles for Graydon House, a new imprint launching September 2017:
Something Like Happy by Eva Woods: https://www.netgalley.com/publisher/title/107228
Perfectly Undone by Jamie Raintree (debut author): https://www.netgalley.com/publisher/title/107230
House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick: https://www.netgalley.com/publisher/title/107229
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781525811401 |
| PRICE | CA$33.50 (CAD) |
| PAGES | 384 |
Featured Reviews
Robin R, Reviewer
WOW! Is this a new author? No she's not but what a drastic change from her pervious works. This book was fantastic! Wicked smart, with a sassy, self absorbed narrator! I was cheering for Mia by the end of the book! This is a MUST read!
Rosemary S, Librarian
On the surface Paul Strom and his wife Mia seem like the perfect couple. Paul, he’s such a romantic – he arranges for their sons to be watched over by a babysitter so he and Mia can have the “best day ever” at their lakeside vacation home. Taking place over the span of one day, and narrated by Paul, this is a creepy look inside the mind of a psychopath. it doesn’t take readers long to discover something about Paul isn’t right, and that the best day he has planned is anything but. My heart rate shot way up while I was reading this – not great for right before bedtime!
Reviewer 190783
I really liked this book. The characters were well developed. I found the husband entirely creepy, almost from the first moment. I loved the twist at the end.
Nita H, Reviewer
How unnerving to read the story from the perspective of the narcissistic husband! Throughout the story I found myself shaking my head at the audacity of such a personality and on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next! Excellent suspenseful read! I received an advance copy from Great Thoughts Ninjas. All opinions are my own.
Robyn F, Media/Journalist
This book gripped me from page one. I literally read it in two days--I couldn't put it down. Best Day Ever is a psychological thriller involving the narrator and protagonist, Paul Strom, and his wife Mia. The author does a great job of telling the story from Paul's POV, and the reader has a sense of foreboding from the first page. Soon, it becomes apparent that Paul isn't the honest, reliable narrator we initially believed him to be. Great fun to read--I highly recommend it.
Librarian 302911
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.
R.S. J, Reviewer
If Amy Dunne/Gone Girl every had a brother or cousin, it would be Paul Strom. The book is told from his unreliable perspective in the span of 24 hours. Each chapter covers anywhere from fifteen to 45 minutes. One would think that not much could happen in that time that could fill an entire book. But when it starts with the premise of a romantic weekend and ends in attempted murder, there is plenty of action! We see everything through Paul's eyes at first, it is almost voyeuristic, and then we slowley start to put pieces together about the past that are leading to this vacation getaway for Paul and his wife.
This is one of the most suspenseful psychological thrillers that I've read in awhile. So many books have promised to be the next "Gone Girl/Girl On the Train" and have not lived up to those claims. I think "Best Day Ever" comes pretty close to it.
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