There's nothing I love more than a good psychological thriller, but unfortunately this wasn't one. It felt to me like far too much of the focus was on the wife's desperate attempts to conceive a second child and her almost aggressive contempt for her husband, rather than on the actual danger of the situation.

The final reveal is decent enough, even if it is one that's been seen numerous times before. It was just a case of too little, too late for me, as by that point nothing could save the situation. I also found the way that Naomi kept repeating everything that had happened at the end quite irritating - we read the book, we know who did what and why. But i guess it would work well for anyone who didn't want to read the whole book and instead wanted to just find out the end - skip to roughly location 3492 or there about (varying depending on font size, but somewhere in that vicinity) to find the section where Naomi very helpfully tells Sean everything he did and why he did it.

Personally, it's not one I would bother with. I was lured in by the gorgeous cover, but there's no substance to back it up.

Happy Ever After was an entertaining psychological thriller but unfortunately I didn't really relate that well to the characters- a bit entitled, a lot stupid and yet there was something compelling about it as the story played out.

A mistake and a baby, some strange goings on and lots of lies make up the centre of this one- it is a page turner for sure and there are plenty of twists to keep you happy.

Overall an enjoyable read but I didn't really root for anyone or care what happened to them. If Charlie was my husband I'd probably just have divorced him to be honest...

Recommended though for psych thriller fans. There's a lot to enjoy.

A thrilling read, but unfortunately a bit of a familiar plot line. However, still lots of surprises and unexpected twists and turns. Well written and will keep you engrossed to the end.

This is a well-executed, twisty, turny thriller. Naomi is fighting a feeling of dissatisfaction in her seemingly charmed life, with a distracted husband and overrunning building work at home. She finds herself drawn to one of the other parents at her daughter’s nursery. But things quickly get out of hand, and, full of regret, Naomi tries to put things behind her and get her life back on track. It soon becomes clear, though, that someone doesn’t want to let that happen, and Naomi finds herself in an increasingly twisted game of cat and mouse as she tries to find a way out of her situation.

This is a convoluted and suspenseful psychological thriller from CC MacDonald featuring Naomi, a mother and wife who on the surface appears to have the perfect life. She is married to Charles, an inventor with mental health issues, suffering from depression, issues that elicit very little in the way of sympathy from her and there is a growing distance between the two of them. She has a two year old daughter, Prue, but Naomi is desperately obsessed with getting pregnant again so that Prue is not an only child, but so far this goal has proved to be elusively out of her reach. Upon meeting the good looking Sean at Prue's nursery, she joins him for a swimming lesson with their children. In the shower, Naomi makes an error of judgement that she is going to live to regret. The story includes texts, client therapy notes, and details of internet searches. As Naomi's life spirals out of control, Sean disappears, there is a deranged stalker, and a series of odd and terrifying events begin to plunge her into a horrifying nightmare. In a narrative of twists, secrets and lies, there are plentiful descriptions of everyday domestic life, and none of the characters are even remotely likeable. This felt like an average psychological thriller, although others might enjoy this more. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.

I just couldn’t engage with this I’m afraid. It’s marketed as a psychological thriller, but, for me it’s just a very mixed up tale about parenthood and a frustrating lead character obsessing about another child.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview. Not for me I’m afraid.

1*

Naomi is desperate to get pregnant. Her lifelong ambition of having three children before the age of 35 and living in a big house by the sea is under threat. Yes, she has one child but time is passing and despite half hearted attempts the second pregnancy is not happening. The big house almost happened but her depressive husband's business failed and so they can only afford to buy a doer-upper which is a building site at the beginning of the story. Frustrated by her husband's lack of joie de vivre< Naomi turns to handsome Sean who she thinks is the dad of one of the other children at her daughter's nursery. Big mistake!

I sort of enjoyed this novel. But it requires quite a big suspension of disbelief on several accounts. A couple of examples: her daughter's suspension from nursery for four weeks for biting a member of staff. She's two for heaven's sake! I just don't believe that would happen. And the sex scene at the swimming pool where two very young children are left unattended while the two adults in charge have sex. Really? I mean really?

There were other things that worried me. None of the characters are likeable. Not even the two year old child, Prue. Naomi herself is self-centred with no empathy for her husband Charlie's mental illness. She comes across as entitled and with a steely determination to get her own way. Charlie is ill but he too has many faults including laziness and deceitfulness and a very basic character flaw which is unforgivable.

I found the insertion of text messages confusing as there was nothing to tell you whether they were between people or just written by one person. The MSN messages from 2003 were also very hard to follow out of context.

What I did like was the build up of suspension which was very well done. There were twists which I didn't see coming and believe me that is no mean feat. I read a lot of psychological thrillers and am good at guessing what's going on. I was surprised at least twice in this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A brilliant, engrossing thriller with an interesting, complex pregnant anti-hero at its core. I loved this book from the off because of the protagonist's voice - she wasn't a perfect mum and she wasn't all bitchy and dark, she was all the shades of grey inbetween. I was shocked to discover the author of this book was a man because the female voice was so good.

Naomi has everything. Seemingly devoted husband, gorgeous house that she's renovating, and a gorgeous daughter. But she's bored. And she makes a single mistake. So far so predictable right? But that mistake snowballs in ways I didn't see coming at all! I'm good at spotting twists and predicting outcomes. I didn't spot anything coming in this one - and I bloody loved it = plus there are a couple of genuinely terrifying, hair-raising moments - and I'm hard to scare!

So Chris MacDonald, hurry up and write your next novel please!

Interesting take on the 'stalker' genre. Enjoyable read with well rounded characters. Could have done without the epilogue though.

This came across as a bit of a strange mix of a book...part traditional romantic entanglement and disappointing husband, part terrifying stalker and domestic thriller.
The use of internet searches, therapy notes and text messages worked in parts but was a little too disjointed for me as some of the leaps were difficult to follow. Perhaps a little more background as we went along might have helped makemore sense of it all.
There were also several incidents in the book that I just couldn't imagine really happening- such as finding out an external door in your house has never shut properly- surely one of the first things you check when you move in is your own security?
Whilst ordinarily I would feel sorry for Naomi, being hunted down and terrorised in her own home, I actually felt very little sympathy for her. She was not a very likable character, very unsympathetic to her husbands struggles with his mental health, all too ready to leap into bed (or shower) with the first man who paid her attention and generally a bit whiny.
Sadly this made it a difficult book to really get into as I like to really get behind a character and feel joined to them as their story unfolds.
There were some nice little twists but overall it felt like lots of disjointed ideas had crammed themselves into one story where they may have been better divided into two different tales.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK for the ARC.
I was really looking forward to reading this, from the description - I do love a good psychological thriller. However, this just isn't one.

Naomi is obsessed with her ovulation cycle in order to give Prue a sibling. Husband Charles is a depressive, and inventor working from home. Their house is being renovated and stress surrounds them both.
Having coerced her apparently hapless husband into having sex at the 'right time' her thoughts turn to Sean - a rather handsome dad whose son attends the same nursery as Prue. They end up in a rather tawdry - and not very believable - sexual encounter in the shower at a swimming pool. Finding herself pregnant, Naomi also finds Sean has disappeared. Can she be sure she's carrying her husbands child?
Then some strange things start happening around the house and with Charles's work.
Amidst the thin storyline and shallow characters the reader is given the printed results of all of Naomi's Google searches following the progression of her pregnancy and all that worries her, scripts of Charles's discussions with his therapist, and intermittent disconnected texts between some girls in 2001.

I struggled to finish the book as I feel obliged to do so, then on reflection realised that there was really no substance to it.
I hate to be negative about anyone's writing but this is my honest opinion.

A clever psychological thriller with twists that I didn’t see coming. At times I was a little confused but was glad that I persevered.

I read the first couple of chapters and then skimmed through to see if it got any better but it did not grip me in the slightest. The characters were shallow and unpleasant and the plot melodramatic and unrealistic.

A story about a couple trying to conceive their second child.
I could not relate to the characters and really struggled to keep reading this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage Publishing for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well I am really sad to say I struggled with this book, I think the main problem was I just didn’t like the characters especially the main protagonist Naomi. The storyline didn’t really grab me but I did continue to the end and I can’t say the book wasn’t well written because it was maybe it was just me as sometimes domestic thrillers just get stale and a bit samey and this seemed to be the case for me here. Others may find this book better but for me it was just a 3 star read.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Harvill Secker for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I fancied a bit of domestic noir so I wanted to read this book. I did find Naomi the lead character very hard to get on with however. She moans about everything and then goes and has sex with someone in a leisure centre. Very hard to get to understand the motivations of someone when they are so flippant and act totally different to what you would expect or hope when they are having problems at home.

The storyline with the man who then starts to come into her house and destroy her life then fell flat for me as I didn't feel any sympathy for her. Is that awful? It did feel like something I have read before and I did struggle to 'get' this book because of that too.

I very rarely give up on a book and this is one of them. I just could not get into it. I found myself skipping pages and I had no empathy with Naomi the main character who has an affair despite being married with a child. The story did not grab me and hold my interest. I am sorry but I did not finish this book.

Great cover but a plot we've seen hundreds of times before as a mad psychopath waits 20 years before insinuating himself into the home of an unpleasant couple (husband with "two flat floury baps for an arse") to ruin their lives. Masses of filler comprising domestic minutiae, another of those baby-obsessed women with an ovulator app always within reach, and some unintentionally hilarious lines: "he had been so genial and friendly even though he had a dog-murdering python waiting in his car"! Not for me, I'm afraid.

This is novel I didn’t enjoy, I don’t think the story was well written and made sense. I didn’t take to any of the characters and really didn’t want to read about people cheating on each other! Not my cup of tea

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, it was very enjoyable. I found the plot line engaging and the characters believable. I have not read anything by this author before but will do in the future! I will be recommending this book to friends and family.