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This book starts as a real page turner, immediately you know something is not right. We see the story told in chapters alternating between the point of views of the main characters. This immediately leads to a feeling of suspense and unease. I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book and found myself compelled to turn the pages, to see what was going to happen next. However I did feel the end was a little lacking and over written. A good overall read, just not for me.

Full review to come.
I deeply apologize, but life is a handful lately and I'm using all my free time to read, not review. I hope everybody understands.

I read this novel when it was called You Were Made For this but I believe it’s now been re-titled The Dark Path. I prefer the first title but the new one works too. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this novel but it wasn’t what I got (and that’s a good thing!). It initially seems that Merry is the perfect mother to her young baby – she bakes, gardens and supports her husband whilst looking after their child. Sam is busy pursuing his film career from their new home in the woods in Sweden. Then Merry’s old friend Frank comes to stay and soon the cracks in the Merry and Sam’s marriage, and in each of their careful facades, begin to show. This book quickly feels dark, there’s so much tension simmering away and you just know something awful is going to happen but you don’t know what. I found this book really hard to put down and when I finished it it was lodged in my head for such a long time. I recommend this!

A dark and disturbing story which is very addictive.

It's well paced and I devoured in a couple of sittings.

4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Michelle Sacks for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Scandi-Noir?? Was I reading something else? Set in the Swedish Forrest Frank arrives at Merry and Sams place, secrets are exposed and tension is high.

Yawn yawn yawn.... not at all worth reading I’d like my two days back please.

Don’t bother there are better out there.

When I first requested this book from Netgalley it had the title "You were made for this" but i definitely think the Dark Path is a much better suited title.
Michelle Sacks' novel was a difficult one for me to read. She gives you enough that you feel confident you know whats happening and who these people are but leaves just enough to surprise you later on.
I will say this is definitely not a thriller for everyone, I personally am a super maternal person and the fact that I feel justice wasn't served hurt me to read. Which is the only thing really that brought it down for me and I felt like although I understand the choice and can see it being a realistic choice for the characters in this situation it was difficult to forgive.
The characters were well crafted; dark and disturbingly suited to each other. I remember feeling like Merry was misunderstood and treated unfairly but once you see inside everyone you truly understand why they're constantly drawn to each other.

An interesting read, I'm keen to read more of Michelle Sacks' work. Great debut!

3.5/5 Stars

Intriguing disturbing but addictive....a dark novel that haunts you but you can’t not read on....i would recommend. It is different and gripping

Sam, Merry and their baby now live in an idyllic part of Sweden. It’s a beautiful location, wholesome and good, but only on the surface. There are secrets and undercurrents and into this mix comes Merry’s best friend Frank (Frances) who knows her friend better than she knows herself. This story is deep, dark and disturbing and not really suitable for those of a sensitive nature. There’s nothing likeable about these three at all and they all deserve contempt. Starts off all calm and homely and then suddenly without any warning it’s as if you’ve stepped off a cliff and from that point there’s no going back and you have to read every single word with eyes half shut! Wow, what a book, it’s great and horrible all at the same time - I loved it!

A really unusual story but unfortunately a little far out for me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and found them all to be rather unlikeable. Perhaps that was the purpose but it just didn't work for me.

Undoubtedly well written, but I'm afraid I couldn't finish this book. It was too dark. The characters too unlikeable. Sorry.

Well written book. Rather strange characters in it and not really my type of book at all.
Very odd story line and didn't like Merry or her friend Frank that much either.

You Were Made For This is a chilling psychological domestic thriller.Narrated from three different point of views none of the characters are very likable in fact some of them are downright despicable.The author has a unique writing style that made this dark story an interesting read for me.

I would like to thank HQ & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This was an unusual story and I am not sure that I enjoyed the book all told. A bit far out for me. Sorry, but I did finish it.

I found this book to be slightly painful to read; maybe I have read too many thrillers but after a slow beginning, the end became a little bit obvious.

The main characters were extremely unlikeable and vindictive, so much so that I did not particularly care what happened to them in the novel.

The book has themes and moments that some will find deeply unsettling but despite all of this, it was well-written and I will look to read Michelle Sacks next novel out of curiosity.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review.

A seriously dark book filled with twisted characters. I found this book quite disturbing in parts, however it remained intriguing throughout. An enjoyable, if slightly uncomfortable read.

They have it all here. Merry is the doting mother to baby Conor, perfect wife to Sam. Sam is working hard to make a new career in Sweden, to support his family. Life in Sweden couldn't be better.

Merry invites her best friend, Frank to visit, to show her she has it all. Once here, Frank begins to see, life is not all its cracked up to be, and that Merry and Sam are putting on a show, not just for her and the world, but for each other too. The idyllic Swedish life is a facade and Frank starts picking at the scab that are their lives until it bleeds and won't heal over again.

If you think you enjoy a physiological thriller, this one goes even darker into the depths of human nature that are so so low, that by the end you will despise each person in the book,

When it came to reading the speech, I really did not like that there were no quotes marks. It made for uncomfortable reading. The ending was strange and perhaps rather flat, I wasn't expecting that but I was expecting more to happen.

I cannot fault the skill of the author in writing this multiple character viewpoint novel (hence the three stars instead of zero). Having said this, I struggled with reading and finishing this book. It contains a lot of description of abuse of a young child - the abuse, the abuser trying to excuse her actions, and the observer of the abuse not reporting it or taking action to protect the child. None of which should be written about as a form of entertainment. All of this turned my stomach and I think the book blurb should make it clear that this is contained within the book as I would have chose not to read it.

Wow, what an unusual, chilling and macabre read! Narratives from all 3 main characters made it a little confusing [I’d sometimes forget whose story I was reading] at first but once I got used to this it wasn’t so bad and possibly enhanced it. After moving to Sweden, Merry, Sam and Conor have the perfect life, or do they?

Some of it was upsetting and quite hard to read but like when you watch a scary film, just tell yourself ‘it isn’t real’! I believe this is the author’s first novel and I look forward to reading more from Michelle Sacks. My thanks to NetGalley and HQ for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A very unusual book. I’m glad I was able to review it as I will now read other books by the same author as they are released.
Beautifully written and a in intriguing read.
4/5 on goodreads.