Yikes! I’m not usually a thriller type of reader but this was written well and kept me on my toes!!!!

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Good suspense/thriller novel. Great weekend read.

I received an e-ARC of The Perfect Father by Charlotte Duckworth from Mobius Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
3 stars. Parts of this book were entertaining, others seemed a bit far-fetched and the ending was obvious. Overall an okay read.

Such a good read! Charlotte Duckworth is definitely an auto-read author for me after loving this and her previous work. The tension is high and the characters are complex... I couldn't get enough of this book.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This is a new author for me which I enjoyed and look forward to reading more from her in the future. This is a well written story about a perfect man that may not be all that perfect. This is a story of secrets and toxic relationships. This is a suspenseful story that kept me turning pages to the end. This is a story full of action and is dark in certain parts. The characters are connectable and I enjoyed being pulled into the story from the beginning by them. I also enjoyed what they brought to the story and how they brought the story to life. This is worth the pick up. I highly recommend reading to find out if this man was as perfect as he wanted everyone to think or is his life based on lies?

Robin and Esther appear to be a happily married couple. Esther has a high-powered job and Robin is a stand-up comedian when he can get some jobs. One day, they decided they wanted a child and just before starting IVF, Esther finds herself pregnant. However, her pregnancy is plagued with being constantly sick. When Riley is born, Esther is ready to return to work early because Robin has decided that he wants to be a stay at home father. He loves their little girl so much and is a caring father to her.

This book started off in what appeared to be a marriage of two strange people. I did not see them as a couple, so dissension between them was not surprising. This unhappy atmosphere in the book was making me wonder why I chose to read it…until….some surprises came along that made me stay with the book. It’s a sad story which shows Robin a product of his relationship with his father and Esther who appears to not be as strong as she may appear to others. I simply did not like these two characters. The one person I did like is Viv, Esther’s friend. She is solid and steady and the kind of person you would want for a friend. Pieces of the puzzle fall into place as the book finishes. Thank goodness for that or I may have given this book a DNF early on.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I gotta say- this one is a bit of a mess. Told alternately by husband and wife Robin and Esther, and moving back and forth in time, it's the story of two remarkably unappealing people and their poor daughter Riley. The novel opens with a note from Robin to Esther- Sorry. Sorry for what? Well, next thing she knows, she/s visiting him in the hospital and looking for their daughter. It's a an interesting set up and the writing is good but I found it impossible to connect with either of the adults. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers from me.

After suffering from a difficult pregnancy, Esther finally has a healthy and beautiful baby girl. While she returns to work, her husband, Robin, offers to stay home as the stay-at-home dad to take care of baby Riley.

But something is not so perfect about Robin. He has secrets, and Esther is forced to face her worst nightmare when she returns home from work one day and both Robin and Riley are missing.

The storyline hooked me, and even though I am typically not a fan of stories with unlikable characters this one drew me in from page one and I found myself staying up late to finish it.

I will say I find it much more a work of fiction and drama than a thriller (as it is classified). However as soon as I readjusted my expectations, I was left satisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

When Esther receives a text message from her husband that just reads "sorry" and comes home to find an empty house, she's panicked. Robin has stayed home to care for their daughter since her birth and, after an extremely difficult pregnancy, Esther was grateful that he did. Now he's left with their two-year-old and she's filled with questions.

This is one of those books where the narrator is deliberately withholding information from the reader. Almost immediately, we discover that Robin wasn't a perfect father or husband. The plot jumps between the past and present and chapters alternate between husband and wife. It was interesting, but everything important had happened long before that text message and I never felt a real sense of urgency or suspense.

The Perfect Father
By: Charlotte Duckworth
Publication Date: August 3, 2021

I fell in love with Charlotte Duckworth when I read Unfollow Me and I was so happy to be able to read her newest book.

After some fertility issues, married couple Robin and Esther are finally blessed with a baby girl. It was a miserable pregnancy for Esther and after Riley is born they decide that Robin should be a stay at dad since Esther has a good job with good pay and Robin’s comedy career has not been going well. Robin takes this new role on and flourishes but not all is as it seems. When Esther gets a text from Robin with one word, “sorry” her whole world is turned upside down and secrets and lies are revealed.

This book had so many twists and turns I was getting motion sick. I gasped. I cringed. I could not put this book down.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Perfect Father.

I've never read a book by the author before so when my request was approved, I went into it with an open mind.

My review is an outlier. The Perfect Father isn't a mystery or that suspenseful. It's similar to many books of this genre; the husband is a liar and adulterer, the wife suffers from PTSD and a reliable character; there is a secret surrounding the parentage of their daughter, which I figured out early on. But, I read a lot of books like this.

I didn't like any of the characters; the wife is the breadwinner and holds an important position in a charity but her personality and behavior is subservient to her husband, who tells the readers (often) is hot and out of her league.

Her husband is a scumbag; easily duping his wife with copious lies and a drug habit she's apparently never sussed out after X number of years of marriage. This is just one of the many hard to suspend disbelief moments.

The narrative flips flop back and forth between wife and husband; this wasn't distracting but there was a lot of info dumping and not much drama/action moving the narrative forward.

There's a lot of repetition as Robin obsesses over his ex-girlfriend, cares for his daughter and meets up with his baby mama; his wife naturally glosses over Robin's indiscretions because she's to blame and she loves him. What a doormat.

The ending wasn't a surprise, a bit too pat for me.

The writing was okay, but it felt longer than it should have, which is not a good sign. This wasn't what I was hoping for in a thriller but some readers will enjoy it.

Who does not love toxic relationships and family secrets? As long as they are not mine... I am all in !

This one was hell of a ride from start to finish. I would have to say this may even be a top 10 favorite of 2021. The ending tied everything together perfectly and my jaw was left on the ground. This book definitely lives up to all the hype!!

This was my first novel by Charlotte Duckworth but it will not be my last.

I have mixed feelings about this book as I felt it was a little hard to follow. I enjoyed the twists and the mystery behind it but couldn’t find myself relating or connecting to any of the characters.

Robin and Esther are complicated people, wow! I had a hard time understanding their marriage in this book but it had many twists and turns. Why did Robin kidnap his own daughter? What secrets are they both hiding? Does someone know these secrets? Hmmmm. This is what made me like this book.

But it is also a slow burn, which did not bother me. Overall, an ok decent domestic thriller/suspense book. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Charlotte Duckworth and Mobius Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 8/3/21

The Perfect Father
Charlotte Duckworth

**Pub Date Aug. 3rd**

Esther and Robin are an unconventional couple who finds themselves creating an even more unconventional family. Esther barely survives a terrible pregnancy, so Robin agrees to be the stay-at-home father for their daughter, Riley. This works out well because Esther is a powerful business woman, and Robin is sort of a failed comic. One day, Esther comes home to find the front door wide open, and her husband and daughter missing. She receives a single text from Robin, just stating, “Sorry.” What results is a time hop through the relationship, pregnancy, and first couple of years of Riley’s life. Is Robin truly the doting, supportive father Esther thought he was?

I’m intentionally elusive in this review, because it’s best to go at it a bit blind. It’s difficult to talk about while not spoiling.

Things I liked about this book: Kim! Kim is an amazing, important character. I hated her when she was first introduced, but by the end she was the shining star. There were some shocking reveals, which are always fun in psychological thrillers.

Things I didn’t like about this book: There are topics discussed in such a way that I really wasn’t sure if I was going to finish the book or not. For such a forward-thinking book in some ways, I felt it really missed the ball in others. Also, it wasn’t suspenseful enough for my taste. I think there are a lot of readers who will absolutely love this book. For me, it was solidly 3 stars.

Thank you @netgalley, Charlotte Duckworth and Quercus for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review

This book was easily a 4.5 star read! This book was fantastic! In the perfect father, we follow Esther who after receiving a suspicious "sorry" text from her husband she finds him and her daughter both missing. This book had me reaching for more and I thought it to be thrilling but not overboard, highly recommend!

*Thank you to net galley and the author and publishers!

#SORRY
This is the first word in the book. I was hoping that it would not be the fate of the overall story. Robin and Esther are married and trying to have a baby. He is a comedian down on his luck, and she is a successful director with her company. Without giving away any spoilers, they hit quite a few bumps and challenges in their relationship.
I ended up giving this a 3/5 stars. There were some plot gaps for me, along with a lack of character development. I would still recommend the book overall for anyone else to make their own judgement, and would still read this author again. #netgalley #ARC

Rating: 3 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book: The Perfect Father
Author: Charlotte Duckworth
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

Sipping Synopsis: “Sorry”- this is the cryptic text that Esther received from Robin, her loving and devoted husband. A husband who seemed to have run off with their 2-year-old daughter, Riley.

“Sorry” is NOT how I felt for any of THE most unlikable characters. I wanted to feel sorry for Esther, but I think she just did not make smart moves. Robin was sketchy from the start. And then the friends were almost like frenemies.

“Sorry” is how I felt at the ending. Without spoiling anything, I was so drawn in for most of the story, like 85% then I felt a little letdown because of the ending.

Final sipping thoughts: Although the ending was not exactly how I would have wanted it to go, I still enjoyed reading The Perfect Father. Most of the time, I was on the edge of my seat. The twist and reveals were not earthshattering but pretty juicy, some foreseeable and others jaw dropping. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Hyperemesis gravidarum which is a rare sickness that plague pregnant woman. I would recommend this book because I know that a lot of people would love the ending-I like just a little more darkness in my thrillers, lol.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @MobiusBooks for an advanced copy of @ThePerfectFather

The perfect mate and partner? One who stays home with the child while the wife works? Then why was he leaving in a hurry? Robin is a complicated person. Readers get to know him, wife Esther, and daughter Riley. What Esther doesn’t know is the only thing Robin is really good at is lying. The author shifts back and forth between the past and present so readers can digest all the backstory that led to Robin leaving with Riley. One character is very evil, pernicious, and menacing, I figured out one thing that would happen and agreed wholeheartedly with the action taken. The question is does anyone really know, I mean, really know someone else?

This was my first time reading a book by Charlotte Duckworth and it definitely won’t be my last! I loved that the plot was complex and found the characters interesting. There were plenty of shocking twists along the way, but I felt the ending was a tad predictable. Overall, it was a great book that I’ll be recommending to fans of psychological thrillers.