Samantha Hayes is my top 10 favorite authors. I really enjoy her book but I just felt like this book was a very generic for you. I seem to be getting a lot of these lately where the story is the same as every other story that I can predict from beginning middle and end. The story line is the same as everything else the characters are going through the same situation. I am going more towards books that have different situations that I haven't read about yet. I still love Samantha Hayes and will continue to read books by her.

Loved the last couple of Samantha Hayes novels and I thoroughly enjoyed the first two thirds learning about Will and Jo and their life together before the day he walked out and never came back. Jo stills ’talks’ to Will and is determined to discover where he is when she sees photos of him in a different family. So far, a 4-5 star read. However, I would have preferred a different last third ad it didn’t really work for me. It became a different book. And I preferred the first.

This was just okay for me. The pacing was too slow the whole time and while there were a couple of decent twists throughout, it just wasn't what I was expecting after reading and loving "The Liar's Wife". The characters started to really annoy me and there were several times that I straight up rolled my eyes at what was happening. I just wanted more from this book, so while this isn't a terrible book by any means, I was disappointed.

**Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!**

This book was a fast read. I loved the twist at the end. The narrator is unreliable which is good and bad depending on your personal preference on books. I enjoyed this one and will definitely read more books by samantha hayes.

Unique story, very well written and plotted. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

This was a fast read as it was suspense pure. While it was a bit slow at the start with Jo, the wife labouring the point that her husband left her suddenly, the story certainly picked up. The end was unexpected but a bit too much for my taste. Nevertheless, an enjoyable, thrilling read.

I really enjoyed this book. Well written & thought out with plenty twists. I did guess a big one pretty early on. I would recommend this to anyone.

This is my first novel from this author but I can see myself reading more of her. The writing was clear and easy to follow. The main character had her flaws, albeit she was irritating through much of the book. It started off a little slow then picked up, but it almost felt like the ending was rushed. Even so, I did enjoy the book and would recommend to others looking for a good psychological thriller.

Jo’s husband Will has been missing for a year her friends are there for her but want her to get on with her life.
Her best friend Louise tells her she should go on holiday but with pennies tight she can’t afford it.
So she signs up to a website for house sitters . Jo & Will mentioned about going to Hastings so Jo decides to look at houses there one particular that stands out as she looks closer she see’s Will’s face staining back at her.
Jo wants to find out why this woman has photo’s of Will in her house. So Jo applies and is accepted to house sit.
Jo arrives at the house and goes into the lounge but there are no photos. But upstairs there is a locked room.
Who is this woman Suzanne and what has she got to do with Will going missing.
Great read
Thanks NetGalley

Jo's husband has been missing for a year. He left the house one morning and was just gone without a trace. Except for the fact that Jo keeps seeing visions of him everywhere and having conversations with him. She's definitely an unreliable narrator and doesn't let us in on the fact that there actually is a reason Will might have run off until well into the book. It's hinted at on the back cover, but I almost never reread the description before starting the book.



After a friend convinces her that she needs to get away for a while and signs her up for a house sitting service, Jo sees a listing with pictures of her missing husband on the mantle. There's no question that the pictures are of Will. She took them herself.



The plot of this one twists and turns and despite a hard to accept coincidence or two, it was pretty entertaining.

Samantha Hayes does it again! Her books never disappoint, and she deserves so much recognition for writing engaging, fast paced thrillers. While not as good as Date Night, The Happy Couple still kept me reading and guessing. This is a great book if you can suspend reality and use it to escape for a bit.

This was a quick read for me and it was ok nothing more nothing less!

It was slow to start then warmed up and then cooled again towards the end
(I just felt the ending was abrupt and that there was lots of things left unfinished) Found the main character a little irritating at times and the title certainly doesn't match the content!

A good, unique read. A cast of characters with the main focus being on Jo now and then. 'Now' is a year on from the complete mystery of the disappearance of her husband and 'then' was when they were the Happy Couple. However, as the story evolves a lot of secrets and shocking revelations come out. Lots of good twists and turns.

I really like this book! I haven't read anything by the author before but this will definitely not be the last! The book sucked me in and kept me reading til the end!

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review

The Happy Couple is a slow burner of a thriller with a frantic end.
Jo has been on her own for a year, Will her husband has been missing, she doesn’t know if he’s dead or alive but it hasn’t stopped her looking for him. Louise her best friend thinks she needs a holiday but Jo doesn’t think it’s a good idea but meets Louise halfway by signing up to a website for looking after peoples houses and animals whilst the owners are away. Jo peruses through some houses and sees a lovely cottage where her and Will were meant to be going on holiday next but on looking at the photos there appears to be photographs of her husband on the mantle piece. Why, how and could it really be her husband??
This was a slow burner for me, I did enjoy it but the ending was a bit rushed for me still leaving a couple of unanswered questions.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

The Happy Couple is an intriguing psychological domestic suspense mystery from Samantha Hayes.

The story starts almost a year after Jo’s husband Will had gone missing and I really felt for her. Samantha Hayes does a great job of bringing to life Jo’s multitude of feelings – anger, anxiety, fear, confusion and despair – and the sadness of a life on hold.

I particularly enjoyed from where Jo got to the rental house: the delightful dog, the charming neighbour and the beautiful scenery. There is tension and mystery a-go-go, although some of Jo’s thoughts could be a bit repetitive and I was frustrated by some of her actions – or rather some of her inaction. However, I absolutely did want to know what was going to happen and what the explanation was.

The second half of the book flies by in a series of twists and revelations which are both surprising and heart-breaking and the ending is shocking. If you have enjoyed Samantha Hayes‘s books before then you will love this; and if you haven’t yet tried her writing, give this one a go!

Thank you as always to Bookouture for the ARC of The Happy Couple and for my spot on the blog tour.

Jo is devastated by the disappearance of her husband. Is he alive or dead? Her best friend Louise suggests a holiday but Jo can't afford one: she considers house-sitting and finds one online that has photos of her husband Will. Has she finally found him after all this time...?
The character of Jo is an interesting one which drives the plot with her deep sense of sadness and hope. She has suffered such a huge loss due to Will's disappearance. It represents her lost opportunity to have children, her lost confidence in herself and their lost shared future together.
I admit that I found myself confused at some points during The Happy Couple as Jo frequently sees Will and talks to herself. This device shows us the impact that the stress of abandonment is having on her, and her desperation to find Will and her old life again. Her inner voice actually speaks out loud sometimes and this does allow a touch of humour as other characters respond. However, my overwhelming feeling was concern as it is clear that Jo's mental and emotional health is very delicate.
We catch glimpses of Jo and Will's marriage and it becomes obvious that there were tension between the so-called Happy Couple. I correctly guessed the major plot twists that led up to the book's finale, and I am not sure how credible I found the plot overall, but it was definitely an enjoyable read and sustained my interest until the end.

thank you for your opportunity to read your book, it wasn't my usual kind of book but all the same was a good read and i have read a few of Samantha's before and this ia right up there with the best

Jo and Will were meant to be the perfect couple, until one day Will doesn’t come home. One year on and Jo still can’t seem to get over it, he’s all she thinks about all day long. She has imaginary conversations with him and imagines him still being there with her as if he never left, but he did. With no trace of Will for a year now, Jo’s friends are urging her to move on, trying to get her dating again or even take a holiday. When Jo reluctantly agrees to take a short break house-sitting for someone in Hastings she is aghast when she looks at the property’s pictures online, and discovers in the living room there are three pictures of Will on the mantlepiece – she even thinks she may have taken one of them. The only way to know for sure is to go ahead with her little break and find out what on earth is going on.

I’ve been a massive fan of Samantha Hayes for a while now, I’ve read all of her earlier books and was thrilled when she signed with amazing publisher Bookouture because I knew her books were going to keep getting better and better and they have, and The Happy Couple is no exception. It has every necessary ingredient to make one explosive Psychological Thriller; suspense, misdirection, tension, duplicity and spine tingling twists. The story starts out innocuously enough, but just as with a spider web and a fly, the reader gets pulled in and cannot escape the inevitable. I was immediately absorbed into Jo’s mindset as she battled with the demons inside her head.

Told from Jo’s point of view the author seamlessly switches between past and present as Jo hungrily searches for answers as to why her husband of 8 years would suddenly up and leave without a trace, and what is his link to Suzanne, the owner of the house in Hastings? My attention was completely hooked and every time I thought we were getting somewhere there would be another twist in the tale.

The characters are vividly drawn, all “pop” in their own way, each one memorable, not all likeable, and for me one or two that I changed my mind on throughout. The plot is exceptionally well crafted, I thought I saw where the plot was going, on the whole I did, but it gave me so much more than I bargained on, throwing up a few curve balls towards the end.

I devoured this book, I didn’t want to put it down. At times I had to remind myself to relax as my body was knotted with tension at some parts of the book. The Happy Couple was such a breath-taking joy to read, and the ending was perfect.

In this book we meet Jo who's husband Will has vanished and she hasn't heard from since, which is worrying as they were trying for a baby too despite her pcos so when her friend Lou tells her to house sit for someone and get a holiday and be paid for it too, it becomes irresistible especially as she sees her husband in the strangers house photo's...

A bit far fetched but still an interesting story it wasn't the best mystery but did keep me intrigued enough to read on to the end it wasn't unexpected and easily predictable too towards the end but still an intriguing and interesting story to read.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!