Happy Ever After sucks you in from the start, you think you know how the story will play out - unhappy wife meets attractive stranger at play group who says all the right things. Except he isn't who he says he is and then the intrigue and suspense commence. It is hard to say too much without giving away pieces of the plot other than this is a great story all the way to the very end.

I was given a copy of Happy Ever After by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Very up and down book. At times I was very absorbed at others I lost interest. Overall a good concept with well described characters.

Fantastic book! Very well written, will look for more by this author. Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this book.

I was really looking forward to this book as the blurb was so intriguing, but unfortunately I just didn’t like it as much as I’d hoped. It started off ok but I just couldn’t take to the main character (or any of them for that matter!) and I found lots of things that happened to be just too far-fetched and fantasy-like to work. However I do think others will like it and it’s really not bad at all for a debut to be fair. I suppose it just felt a little too contrived for my liking. I do think the author has genuine talent and maybe his next attempt will be the one that really lives up to the blurb! Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read Happy Ever After in exchange for an honest review.

Natalie is fighting a feeling of dissatisfaction. She finds herself dren tomone of the parents at her daughters nursery. Naomi and her husband, charlie had been trying for another baby. There is other problems that are putting a strain on their marriage.

At the beginning of the chapters, there is a text message. These are quite confusing as the people sending the texts haven't introduced to the story. It does make sense though by the end of the book. There's also a few paragraphs that didn't need to be there. It was as if they were written just to bulk the book out. This is another slow burner that I found hard to get into. I didnt ,like any of the characters, The last third of this story wa by far, the best part.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and the author C.C. Macdonald for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you ever need a definition for "doing the most," I give you this book. This book was a journey and a half and I'm not really sure why. I didn't hate the book, I will say that but I hated that it was incredibly long-winded, unrealistic and just a bit barmy. I will say it's entirely believable that Naomi (our main character) could behave like this because it's made very clear in the beginning that this is a woman hellbent on having another child and not a single soul is threatening that.

So this book follows Naomi, her husband Charlie and her little girl Prue. Naomi is desperate for another child for a really simple reason, she doesn't want Prue to grow up as an only child as she did. So like clockwork her and her husband have sex so she can conceive, of course amongst this is a very unhappy husband (mostly his own fault but I think the insane only wanting to be pregnant wife doesn't help), a house renovation and living in a new city where everyone clearly dislikes Naomi because she's from London. She is like the blurb says drawn to a character named Sean and makes a mistake and it's because of this mistake that things start to crumble and take a dark turn.

The blurb says someone knows her secret but I think that's very misleading, no one is trying to blackmail Naomi or pretending they know her secret, it's the incident with Sean and the aftermath that is the thrill and it's odd that anyone writing the blurb would choose to portray the book as something that it's not and not really write about what is actually happening and could be thrilling point for a lot of readers. Anyway, her encounters with Sean were very dry and lacklustre, I don't believe that she thought he understood her or anything considering they barely speak. So for me, it's hard to believe what happens between them.

The rest of the book is a rollercoaster of deceit, childhood trauma, impersonations and other wacky things. Basically very unbelievable things and you can't stop turning the page because you want to see what ludicrous idea is next going to present itself. I sound horrible writing this, but the thing is it *was* thrilling, it wasn't believable but I couldn't put it down after a while. So yes it thrilled me, but ultimately it's incredibly far-fetched and devoid of any logic. I didn't hate it though.

Naomi appears to have it all, but her perfect life begins to unravel when she meets Sean, a fellow parent at her daughter's nursery. A well plotted book, which succeeds despite its wholly unlikeable characters

A thriller with a difference.
The saying ‘ oh what a web we weave when first we practice to deceive’ is very true for this read.
Naomi appears to have it all- a loving husband, beautiful daughter and fabulous house but she’s bored and makes what appears to be a mistake. But at what cost?
Prepare for plenty of twists and turns.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Random House for gifting me a eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Happy Ever After - In this book we meet Naomi - wife to Charlie & Mum to Pru. Naomi and Charlie are going through a bad patch, struggling under financial pressure and the stress of trying for another baby. Then Naomi meets Sean. He’s everything Charlie isn’t.
This is one of those books that I couldn’t place for quite a while. I couldn’t figure out what kind of story this was. Therefore it was pretty intriguing. Although slow in places the story was interesting enough that I wanted to find out what happened. A clever story, a quite relatable story & generally a very good read.
Oh - and I did not see that coming.

I couldn’t make myself like any of the characters and whilst that isn’t always a reason for not enjoying a book in this instance add to it that I wasn’t entertained by the story either makes for a lowly two star review I’m sorry to say.

This was a bit slow for me to begin with. I read on but it just didn’t click for me. In some parts it just didn’t work, sorry.

I feel like this book had way too much happening in it that it got to the point where it was so confusing sometimes however there were parts that I really enjoyed

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, for which I did enjoy reading.
I did however nearly gave up part way through after a slow start. I am glad I persevered because the storyline was very clever, although the characters were extremely unlikeable. It was however a deceptively clever book which I enjoyed reading despite the main characters or maybe because of them.
Recommended

Happy Ever After was a thriller that was ok, the storyline was an old one and the characters were unlikeable.
Naomi is married to Charles and have a daughter together, Naomi is totally unlikeable, she just seems to own all the time about everything but especially the pigeons! Charles is self employed so spends his days in his office which I don’t think helps his mental health problems. Naomi is obsessed by having another child and harasses Charles for sex when her phone app tells her she needs to. Naomi gets close to the father of another child and something happens at the swimming pool that sends Naomi’s life into a downhill spiral. Finding out why and what towards the end was neatly tied up but the whole book felt disjointed and left me a bit underwhelmed.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage Publishing, Harvill Seckel for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This was an okay read for me as I struggling connecting to the main protagonists and the style of writing which felt staccato.

The story had Naomi wanting more instead of finding happiness with what she had. A wrong decision at a vulnerable point, and she landed in a pickle.

My first book by this author, my emotions weren't evoked. The story didn't cause the excitement which every line of the thriller should have caused.

I had to hop, skip, and jump to get to the end. An okay read, only for a niche audience.

Just couldn't get on with this, it felt disjointed and unbelievable at times.
There was no hook and I struggled.

This book won't be for everyone. If you're a veteran of fast paced thrillers, then there's definitely something here that'll keep you hooked. However, the writing style and characters take some getting used to, which might put some readers off.

Perfect for a sun lounger read!

love that thriller, really exciting story that keep you tense all along.
strongly recommend this book

#HappyEverAfter #NetGalley
An exceptional read. Highly recommended.
Naomi seems to have everything. A beautiful daughter, a gorgeous house, a perfect life. Behind the scenes, though, she and her husband are drifting from one another and struggling to conceive their second child.
Then Naomi meets a parent at her daughter's nursery. Sean understands her, or so she thinks. Looking for a connection, for a friend, Naomi makes a terrible mistake.
I'm so glad that i picked up this book and read it. It's godamm good.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for giving me an advance copy of this book.

Sorry this book was not for me. I couldn’t wam to the writing style or the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.