Great story by Kaira Rouda. Really fabulous story, that kept me turning the pages!! A thrilling plot, and characters. Highly recommend.

Paul Strom is quite the guy and supremely confident that he is the master of his own destiny. The man who other men want to be, and the man who women want to be with. As it turns out, not so much.

Determined to make the day run to schedule, Paul sets off for the drive to his river home with Mia, his lovely young wife of ten years. Their kids are being taken care of by the dubious babysitter and this weekend will be all about the two of them. Paul has planned the next few days very very carefully. There are some work arounds that are necessary and Paul does get the feeling that Mia suspects something is up. But not to worry, the course of true love never does run smoothly. Paul is used to leading a complicated life and his increasing money troubles have brought him to this point. Drastic measures need to be taken.

BEST DAY EVER has a slow burn and is very much like a one room thriller, due to the small cast and its real-time play. We’re along for the ride with Paul, our urbane and narcissistic host, and included every step in the way in his Machiavellian plans to come out on top and be in complete control of his life and marriage. We’re not meant to like him, and of course we can’t admire him, but we can marvel at the inflated super ego that has resulted in his life unraveling at a greater speed now that he is finally spending some time alone with his witness, wife Mia.

Paul’s traits are horribly recognizable and therein lies the true horror; it is not inherent misogyny that drives Paul, it is more the extreme love he has for himself. Everyone has met one of these people, and Paul has taken it to an art form with quick thinking on his feet, lying on the spin of a dime and skillfully manipulating people and events to suit his own needs.

With domestic thrillers being so huge right now, many fiction writers have lifted the lid on the most dangerous experiences women can have; that being, those lived as a result of entering into relationships with controlling men. BEST DAY EVER is an excellent reminder that you don’t need to look too far from home to find real monsters. This novel doesn’t over dramatize and it doesn’t over explain, which makes BEST DAY EVER all the more chilling to read.

Best Day Ever started off so well. I was so curious to see what would occur on the 'best day ever' for married couple Paul and Mia Strom.
Paul was a real piece of work; and at times I shook my head at the nasty things he would say, or do.
But as the story progressed, even though I remained interested, I couldn't help but feel that it was a little too convenient, ie, their neighbour near their holiday home, and other factors just seemed a little too unrealistic.
(I don't want to give too much away so as not to spoil it for others). I did like that we got a real insight into Paul's personality (some may argue or lack there of).
This was an ok read for me.

This book by Kaira Rouda gives us one of the most unlikeable male leads I've come across in a while. Untrustworthy and unlikeable narrators aren't a new thing... think Girl on the Train and so forth, however I think the creepiest thing about our lead character Paul is that he lies to us. Out of laziness or habit I think, rather than any real fear of what we'll think of him.
It wasn't until I was part-way through the book I realised Paul reminded me of our narrator, Joe in Caroline Kepnes' (also creepy) You. Although, despite his sociopathic ways, Joe was actually quite likeable: smart and funny.

Paul however is just revolting and - in some ways he makes no attempt to hide that from the get-go. In fact, I was (electronically) highlighting abominable phrases he used when talking about himself, his wife Mia and others and there were far too many to use. In fact, far too many for me to even choose a 'top five'. So here is a couple of the earliest ones.

"I like the way I feel when I stand at the end of the dock. The backdrop complements me like a movie set: oh look, there's handsome, wealthy city-dweller Paul Strom enjoying a carefree day of leisure at his lakefront community. Very presidential." p 23

"I'm pretty adept at covering my emotions....

Me, I don't care, not as long as I'm making the big money. And I have. It has been a great ride. Even Mia, when we first met, may have considered herself above me. She was a copywriter on the creative team and I was just a client services guy. Now she knows what's what. It didn't take long for me to teach her how the world works." p 26

We already know from the backcover blurb the day isn't going to go as planned and things go downhill shortly after Paul and Mia leave on their 'best day ever'.

Because I'm a natural cynic I was thinking we were going to switch viewpoints and hear from Mia and find she was equally conniving and abhorrent. Or perhaps even more so. I mean there HAD to be a reason she'd stayed with him.

And we do hear more from Mia - though through her conversations with Paul. This is all Paul's show (at least until the very end). And I had to stop myself pondering the 'is he sociopathic vs psychopathic' thing and decided I just needed to remember he wasn't a nice person. Full stop.

I think part of what reminded me of Kepnes' very-excellent book You, was that this book was (essentially) told in second person. It wasn't hugely noticeable as Paul wasn't really talking to we readers non-stop. It felt like a first person narrative but every so often he'd throw in a question and I'd realise he was talking to us. He blithely comments a couple of times on how he doesn't want us to judge him harshly or think badly of him, but it's pretty obvious (and becomes more-so) that he doesn't care less.

He chatters away to us throughout the day with anecdotes here and there thrown in - the fact he's unsure why formerly close friends now ignore them, he mentions the death of his parents, a woman at work he was rumoured to be seeing, and so forth. They're flags I guess. Obvious ones, but less obvious is the question of whether Paul doesn't understand or know the answers, or whether he just chooses not to tell us. Then.

There's a strong sense of malice permeating Paul's narrative and his thoughts are seriously creepy. (And yes, I know I'm overusing the word creepy. But he seems more that, than dangerous.)

"You don't discuss family dirty laundry, not at all. You smile and quietly accept what comes your way. Don't make waves, not until you're the one in control. Then you get your revenge." p 99

Readers will kinda know where this book is heading, but it is most certainly not predictable and I think Rouda gives us enough clues to know that everything will not be going Paul's way, despite his planning.

I'd not heard of Rouda before and have since discovered she's written a number of books in both romance and contemporary fiction and am now keen to read more of her work. For me this book started as a '4' - as I wasn't entirely sure what was coming, but its cleverness is evidenced in retrospect, nudging it up to a 4.5 star book for me.

5* Twisted Stars

What a gripping read. Kaira is a master storyteller and Best Day Ever was very well written and flowed well. The book is written from the narcissist Paul’s point of view. His thoughts were truly psychopathic and just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse he managed to shock you again! Even though the story centres around a 24 hours period where Paul is promising his wife Mia, “the best day ever”, there are so many twists and turns and much is revealed in this short period of time.

I really connected with Mia and felt sorry for her naivety (too trusting) in the beginning but she managed to grow up quickly and become very brave indeed.

I enjoyed the Epilogue, which was from Mia’s point of view, it rounded up the story well.

I highly recommend this page turning psychological thriller.

ARC kindly provided by Harlequin Australia via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.