What an incredible read! I have to say I have never read a book where I despised the characters so much but have been so grossly intrigued on how this would play out.

It follows the story of Merry and Sam, and their new life in Sweden. New parents, new little family, new life. UNTIL Frank the absolutely vile "best friend" comes to stay

This book certainly is not for the faint hearted, it is triggering, it is thought provoking and it scarily depicts the darkness of motherhood, marriage and friendship.

Thank you so much Netgalley for letting me read an ARC for an honest review

I found this book very hard to read. At some points I was ready to put it down and classify it as a DNF. The story did not flow for me and I was not enjoying reading this.
Really expected more from the blurb.

Took me a while to get into the characters of this book but when things got darker with the story line I was absorbed and couldn’t wait to get to the end.

I started this with very high hopes. Just my type of book. But oh dear. It quickly turned into a turgid nightmare. I would normally have abandoned this - a big deal for me as I really make a point of finishing all but the most hopeless books I start. Since I was reviewing this I owed it a fair chance. It didn’t get any better. The characters were one dimensional and honestly hateful. There were so many false pointers to the culpriit that I was desperate to get it over with. I read to the end but honestly I don’t know who did it. Do I care? Not really.

This book is difficult to review because... well the whole book is basically spoilers. Yikes. So, it's the basic stuff you find out in the first few pages to start us off.

The story is initially told by Merry and Sam. No, not those Hobbits, this is an American couple living in Sweden - so still a long way from home and with stunning scenery, but more rooted in reality. And that reality is harsh. These characters are painfully real. As in, unpleasantly so. Sacks wonderfully captures the unpleasantness that is far more common than we really like to admit. Those thoughts that happen in private moments of anger and hurt laid bare for the reader to squirm at. It's uncomfortable because it's so believable, even if these characters are an extreme and concentrated aspect of that. The narration is soon joined by Merry's childhood friend Frank. Between the three of them, the whole story unfolds. And what a story it is!

Yeah, this is where it gets difficult. Both to read and review. But, for such uncomfortable reading, I found the book hard to put down. I don't know if it's a morbid case of rubbernecking the wreckage that develops or sense of hope that these people will show a new side of themselves - which they do, and rarely for the better.

This is a story of secrets and lies. The pain people inflict on others. It's a story full of sadness. And it works wonderfully. The countless twists and turns often come from nowhere. The unexpected is commonplace. It makes for an enthralling story.

It is an uncomfortable read. But it's also rewarding. As the plot wrapped up a sense of comfort washed over me. It was worth the read. No review can do this book justice simply because I don't think you can talk about what makes it so powerful without saying too much, so please read this! If only so I can talk to you about it all!

Michelle Sacks writes an intense claustrophobic and harrowing psychological thriller that treads disturbing and sickening territory with protagonists that have little in the way of redeeming qualities. New York university professor, Sam, is married to set decorator, Merry, with a infant son, Connor. Sam comes into an inheritance, a remote cottage in a rural part of Sweden. They move from their frenetic and busy lives in Manhattan to Sweden, shedding their old lives with Sam aspiring to be a documentary maker. Sam is the type of man who has clear ideas of what a wife and mother should be like, and Merry is seemingly happy to pander to them. They settle down, a picture of domestic bliss, with Merry the ultimate domestic goddess. As so often with the appearance of perfection, this is barely skin deep, poke around a little and its paper thin surface cracks to reveal all is not as it seems. This is a story of marriage, friendship, betrayal, treachery, abuse, lies, secrets and deception.

This tale is told through the perspective of Sam, Merry and her childhood best friend, Frances aka Frank. Frank comes to Sweden to visit Merry, a woman she knows so well. She finds Merry's persona as the perfect wife and mother rather hard to swallow and it does not take her long to see through it. The women have a competitive relationship, Frank has had unsuccessful relationships in the past and Merry can't help but feel superior to her, with her marriage and son. Frank herself is a woman with her own darkness and secrets that festers inside her. The unlikeable trio of characters embark on an unpalatable course of actions and behaviours that you can just feel is going to end up as an almighty car crash. This is an atmospherically compelling and entertaining read with strong undercurrents of menace pervading the narrative, with rich descriptions of the Swedish countryside. This might not be a book for everyone with its elements of abuse and the characters that might not appeal. Otherwise, it is a novel that quickly claws its way into your psyche leaving you horrified, but unable to stop reading, waiting with bated breath to see exactly how things will unfold. Many thanks to Harlequin for an ARC.

Throughly enjoying read, would recommend everyone pick up a copy sit back relax and enjoy!!!Great holiday read!!!

A, disturbing story about jealousy, betrayel and twisted friendships! Told from the viewpoint of 3 main characters, each with their own dark secrets, this was a gritty, captivating read!

I thought that this was a good story. It was a little different, based in rural Sweden where the two main characters. had relocated from the US. The story gradually unpicks their secrets and reveals their current problems. The arrival of a close friend brings everything to a head with disastrous consequences. I felt that it was compelling and really wanted to know what happened in the end - but it is also very sad. Thoroughly recommended.

Not sure what to make of this book, whilst I enjoyed it somewhat i felt really confused at times trying to work out which characters pov the story was being told from.

I thought I'd reached saturation point with twisty domestic noire thrillers told through a series of revolving first-person narrators but this book persuaded me back and had me racing through to the end. While the premise is different, there's quite a strong Gone Girl vibe about this: the marriage-under-a-microscope, the toxic relationships, the twisted characters.

Sacks is smart about socially-prescribed gender roles ('devoted and all-nurturing and selfless. Without a self'), but needs to pay attention to grammar: mixing up 'we' and 'us', or 'me' and 'I' is jarring and painful to read ('I booked a hotel for Merry and I' - no!).

I was completely gripped by the first half, slightly less so by the second which shifts into murder investigation mode. All the same, a fast-paced and clever book that manages to be creepy and claustrophobic.

I'm afraid I didn't like this at all and found it very confusing - the POVs didn't sound as if they came from different people and I got confused early on. I did persevere but I don't think I've disliked characters in a book as much before. That husband? The wife? Ok so the baby seemed cute.

The style of writing did match the claustrophobia of the setting which was nice but all in all, the story felt stretched to fill a novel.

I might have missed the point with this novel as others have loved it. That's the beauty of the book reviewer I guess. We all think differently. For me, this didn't work (but that Swedish remote cabin in the woods definitely did!) but for others, it's going to be an exciting series of mind games.

This is a much-hyped book which always makes me a little wary but it turned out that the hype is well deserved. The scene setting was evocative and conjured up a landscape I knew little about. The characters Of Merry, Sam and Frank are all incomers who try to fit in but are hampered by their unlikely relationship with each other. The book’s ominous tone builds slowly until tragedy strikes and their lives unravel. My only criticism would be that the ending seemed a little unsatisfying but that’s more a matter of my taste in books rather than a failing by the author who is a talent to watch.

You Were Made For This is a beautifully written, utterly riveting and genuinely disturbing novel that ate up my morning.

Merry and Sam live an idyllic life in Sweden – but even the brightest lives hide the darkest secrets. When Merry’s best friend Frank comes to stay she sets off a series of events that lead to tragedy…

You Were Made For This is extremely absorbing – the author paints a picture with words, the sense of place is palpable and the characters pop from the page. They are horrible horrible people to be honest, don’t expect to have much sympathy for any of them but that, in itself, makes this extraordinarily compelling. The disquieting, morbid sense of it creeps up on you, leading you further into the quagmire of human nature with an absolutely captivating prose that digs you deep into the lives of these three ingeniously done characters.

It is a tangled web that unravels around you and every single moment of it is completely, darkly enchanting. It has an almost fairy tale sense to it – the type the Grimm brothers wrote if you read the originals rather than the Disney versions – the sense of horror that comes slowly but surely, leaving you melancholy and a little fretful.

Intelligent writing, a hugely gripping story, a slow burn to an emotionally horrific conclusion, You Were Made For This is definitely one of the best books of it’s kind I have read this year. I was hooked, couldn’t look away, I read first page to last in one huge gulp of a sitting.

Highly Recommended.

Set in a lovely house in the Swedish countryside we were drawn into the simple lifestyle of the husband, Sam his wife Merry and their baby Conor. The book is quite boring early on with Merry being a rather typical downtrodden wife with simplistic tastes - although not the best mother. I couldn't wait for the arrival of her best friend Frank to 'liven things up'., and when she did from that moment on the story really improved. To quote four words from the text "blood, sex and death" - the book had it all and I raced to the dramatic and enjoyable end. However, a word of warning as there are no speech marks, and very few question marks which may have been deliberate or just dodgy proof reading? Because of that, and the slow, early chapters I could not give the book five stars.

I should have seen the warning signs in the blurb when it said "Dark and treacherous things" but I really wasn't prepared for how disturbing this book is. It will depend on your own sense of the world and the fact that it is only a book - but for me it was a very difficult read in parts. I found myself gasping out - "no, no" so on that level the author has written a good book to invoke such reactions from me.

The story begins quiet, calmly, and all seems well with the world. Little by little it begins to twist and turn and eventually it all comes crashing down. If that wasn't enough there are still some twists the author has to reveal to the reader.

I hated all of the characters - I didn't warm to any of them. They were all so self absorbed and each in their own way controlling of others. Again the author has written them well to evoke this reaction in me. But did I want to read about them, or enjoy reading about them, maybe not. What I had to know though was what was going to happen and when it did - who did it!

A very different read for me and one that at times I did not relish - a story I am sure I will stay with me, but I rather wish it didn't. My one real gripe is the character called Frank - she is female and I could not for a long time remember that! Her given name is Frances and at one point she even corrects the police when they call her Frances. I did not see the significance of her name - maybe it got lost in editing.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. The atmosphere conveyed in the book is so bleak - the writing so evocative and for that it deserves the 5 stars.

You Were Made For This is out 28 June 2018. My thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for a copy of this book to review.

Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book.

Merry, her husband Sam and their baby son Conor have the perfect life in Sweden. They have a lovely house and Merry tends the garden and bakes a lot. Sam has a new job and tends to leave Merry alone quite a bit.
Merry’s friend Frank comes to visit and she is soon part of the family, she starts tending to Conor and becomes friends with the neighbours.
Frank and Merry know each other inside out so it soon becomes apparent that Frank notices things about Merry that others don’t, and they are things that are impossible to believe.....

These characters are very well developed, Although I have to say very unlikeable. The story is told in three different points of view which I struggled with in the beginning and then as I got more into the book I found myself enjoying the story and was quickly turning the pages until the end.

Another thrilling read following a toxic friendship. Very interesting insight into a hard relationship and you could sympathize with all the characters at some point. Full’of Twists, I loved it.

This was a good book. It started off with a mother who does not connect with her child and as that is the second book I have read of this sort in the last month I was rather upset. As a mother I find these stories very unsettling. However there of the Swedish cabin in the woods was too great and I ploughed on. It was a very good story and it held my attention very well. Interesting characters.

Merry and Frank have been friends and rivals since childhood. Each one wanting what the other has. Each one competing for affection. As adults Frankie knows how to be successful at work, but her private life is a mess. Merry, her controlling husband and baby Conor live an apparent idyllic lifestyle in Sweden – until Frank decides to visit.
Is anything truly what it seems? This story is compelling; the characters creepy; the outcome tragic.