Two couples turn up unannounced and uninvited at a brothers home. There follows some revelations. Despite the blurb which sounded great, it did not live up to expectations. I could put up with the obnoxious characters but not the very stilted writing style. Sorry to say it was boring and didn’t work for me on any level. No doubt I’m in the minority and lots of people will enjoy the book.

For everyone else – it’s a bog standard Saturday, but for brothers Edmund and Jasper their whole worlds are about to be turned upside down. Happily engaged to girlfriend Holly, Jasper can’t wait to share the news with his big brother. Rushing over to his house with their mutual friends John and Anne, champagne and celebrations at the ready, they’re all anticipating Edmund’s excitement. But instead, Edmund is solemn, withdrawn and definitely not ready for visitors. Neither does it seem; is his surprise long-term partner, Ovidia. Over the course of one day secrets are exposed, hidden lives are unearthed and relationships are shattered – the pretenders are about to face realities they never thought existed.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this story – it started off quite hard to get into as it launched straight into a discussion between the friends without much backstory or foundation. Nevertheless, I was intrigued, wanting to know more about the complex characters and the seemingly strange situation they’ve got themselves into. You have no idea initially where this book is going to go – which makes it a suspenseful read, but also a little bit confusing as there wasn’t really a clear understanding of what was happening from the off. Honestly, I was pretty bored at points and it took me ages to read because I really struggled to get into it. Although LOTS of tricky subject matters were broached and lots was going on, at the same time, nothing really happened. There seemed to be too much flipping between characters and their individual story-lines without actually giving you a chance to actually understand or get affiliated with that character enough to care or want to know more. Once you finally did get a bit more insight into each of the characters and their personal ordeals, as much as I’d love to say it picked up, it still fell a bit flat for me. None of the characters were gripping enough and all of their narrative arcs were similarly dreary and depressing – without enough pzazz to perk it back up and excite the reader.

I couldn’t help but feel that this would be a great play or fringe theatre production as opposed to a novel. The story from Agatha Zaza felt more like a script than a book and I feel that in a theatre setting the emotions and twists would come out a lot better. Zaza did a great job of keeping the reader guessing – the end was really neatly wrapped up, and some of the surprising twists that seemed to come out of nowhere definitely did catch me off guard, so kudos to Zaza for the shock factor! There were a lot of moments where the narrative picked up and really started to gain steam, I just wish the momentum had continued for longer rather than fizzling out as quickly as it did.

Overall, I’m looking forward to the day I can sit in an audience and watch ‘The Pretenders’ come to life on the stage and will make sure I bring my tissues for the raw emotion and heartache that Zaza packs into this narrative by the bucketload.

Thanks to NetGalley and Agora Books for my advanced reader copy! 💕

I really enjoyed this book. It had great characters that really resonated with me and a really enjoyable story that kept me engrossed throughout. Definitely worth a read.

I am no the biggest fan of books taking place in a short amount of time, but this one surprised me! I liked the mix of characters with their various personalities. There was an air of mystery from the beginning which I enjoyed. Thank you, NetGalley!

Loved this one! So easy to read and lots of twists and turns along the way. Definitely a quick read and one I recommend.

A gripping read which made me want to read on. Would recommend. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

This book was brilliant, lots of twists and turns, great characters, great storyline. Would recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

oooh now this was a fun one. I love twisted, domestic suspense and that's exactly what this was. i couldn't put it down.

I did enjoy this book but I did find it a slow burner , it also has some very dark themes domestic violence and infant loss to name a couple , sensitive topics but its wrote in way that will get you thinking

I enjoyed this book. It's beautifully written and the characters are great. Full marks for the suspense, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review..

The Pretenders is a psychological thriller that tells the story of three couples and their experiences as they gather to celebrate an engagement. It took awhile to get to the characters' various revelations. Their interconnections are often surprising, and you are eventually pulled into the story more and more because you want to learn more about how the story will pan out. It is a book of secrets and lies, and the toll that can take on relationships!

The Pretenders packs a punch of mystery that is expertly unravelled throughout the novel. The story features the complexities of relationships and the concerns of what really happens behind closed doors. This book does need to come with trigger warnings surrounding domestic abuse and the death of a child.

This was my first book by Agatha Zaza and most definitely won't be my last. Tremendously written and paced with a great use of timeline to tell the storyline of these lives and all their secrets. Five stars, easy!

This book made me feel quite uncomfy. I didn't warm to the characters and didn't really care what happened to them and how it turned out. Not my cup of tea.

This book was a great disappointment, it all centers around 3 couples and the ways they lie to themselves and each other.
It is very sad and tragic in parts but mostly, it is boring - for 90% of the book nothing of any interest occurred.
I continued to read, in order to finish the book.
The only interesting parts occur in that last 10%, I was left unsatisfied after reading this book and wish I hadn't picked it up...

My first surprise of 2021. I could not put this book DOWN even though it was not the thriller I expected. The characters - oh my gosh. We have three couples that all intertwine in sometimes strange ways with each other. We find out all the ways after 2 of the couples show up at Edmund's house - his girlfriend is there as well making couple three. Some know each other already and how they know each other is surprising and addresses a topic not brought up often in fiction literature. Lots of secrets abound, and watching it all unravel was fascinating. This will be my first 5 star of the year- highly recommend!

Fantastic read to start the year!

3 couples meet on a Saturday, two of the six are related, two have a past and all of them have secrets about to be revealed over the course of the day.

A great read, which really ramps up in the second half of the book and many revelations I really wasn’t expecting.

This book is really well written, I loved characters and the way the story tackles aspects of relationships that are not often talked about.

It had me gripped until the very last page.

Did not love this book or the characters. I thought it was hard to connect with. I'm not really sure why as it is the type of book that would usually draw me in.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel and the storyline within it are stunning. The loyalty amidst betrayal I'd both admirable and insane simultaneously.

This would make a fantastic book club pick due to the complexity of the characters and their relationships

I was excited to read a thriller by a debut author but this book didn't pack the punch I was hoping for. I found myself putting the book down too often, not looking forward to picking it back up again. Overall, it moved a bit too slow for me.