Description:
Following a whirlwind four-month romance, lawyer Claire and hotel entrepreneur Angus are engaged to be married. Happy and successful, and ready to start their new life together, Claire and Angus find what they believe to be the perfect home. But when Claire meets Mark, the man selling them the house, he looks eerily familiar. He looks exactly like the man she loved five years ago, the man she couldn’t bear to lose. As Claire finds herself irresistibly drawn to Mark and crosses lines she never thought she’d cross, Angus’ behaviour becomes increasingly suspicious. Soon Claire doesn’t know whether she can trust Mark, Angus… or even herself.
Review: 3 Stars
Whatever you think you know...you are wrong. This is what the book cover says and that is the truth! I’m very conflicted about this book. I think the plot has a couple of surprising twists at the end but unfortunately I do not think they are executed very well. Instead of surprising you they confuse you, make you re-read and wonder if you misunderstood. Chapter 24 conflicts everything we’ve read before. I don’t know if it’s a mistake or a twist to be honest. What makes me believe that it’s a twist is that it has been alluded a couple of times in the book that Claire maybe uncomfortable with her brother’s wife’s pregnancy. Why would that be the case if Chapter 24 is a mistake and not a twist? Also the ending, where we read what Claire thinks when she sees Jamie makes me feel like chapter 24 is the twist. However, the conversation in chapter 8 contradicts the twist in chapter 24 or maybe this is a smokescreen to confuse the reader. I think the conversation in chapter 8 or Claire’s interactions with her family could have been written so as to not conflict with the twist- the execution of the twist made me rate the book lower than I would have otherwise.
In terms of writing style, there are too many unnecessary adjectives that don’t really help build a better picture. The character development is not great. We don’t really know if Angus is a bad guy or not. He seems controlling but there isn’t enough about Angus’ character for the reader to make up their mind about him. Their whirlwind romance is not well described. Mark is shady from the start. I don’t understand why Claire has to lie to Angus when she goes to meet Mark to buy the antique mirror (another unexplained gap). Claire’s character too is all gray, you don’t know if she’s reliable or not. Some information about her cases keep dropping in but they do not add much to the plot, they don’t even help the reader build a better image of Claire.
Overall the characters of this plot are not likeable, in fact they are easily forgettable. When I stopped reading for a few hours and returned to this book it took me a few mins to recollect and relate to the characters agin. Picking up where I left off from was not easy because I did not feel very involved in the book.
My final gripe is with the title- nothing in this book focuses on one couple, it’s Claire’s story with 3 different men in her life so I don’t think the title is apt.
I’ve truly struggled with rating this book. I like the twist but when I think back it does nothing for the plot. Is it surprising- yes, but does it change anything - Nope!
I’ve been generous with my rating because the concept was a good one, there was a lot of potential in it but it certainly needed better execution. When I started this book I was hopeful and I’d love to rate it higher but after a lot of consideration I do not think that I could justify it if I rated this any higher than a 3.
Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley, #TheCouple
