An excellent domestic thriller written by the acclaimed duo authors, Hendrickson and Pekkanen.
Avery, an unlicensed therapist has an unusual method of fixing what’s wrong with individuals. In this case, the marriage of Marissa and Matthew Bishop due to an infidelity.
I was blindsided by the pieces of those secrets and lies as they become known in this thrilling book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher, St. Martin’s Press for an early digital copy of this book. The comments and review are my own opinion.

Alternating points of view give readers the inside scoop into the different characters’ thoughts. As the book continues, the thoughts come together to bring out the full story and reveal any secrets. Although slightly drawn out, the conclusion of the story wraps up - all the secrets are revealed and and questions are answered.

I'll start with saying this book immediately pulled me in! I couldn't put it down, I was reading it on all my breaks at work, on the bus and while cooking. I loved the whole plot line and I changed my mind so many times of how it would end! I love a book that I can't quite figure out. I'm giving it 4 stars just because I was slightly underwhelmed with the ending. The last 10-15% I pretty well had it figured out and it dragged on a little bit to actually say it. It was still a good ending either way though and I would recommend this to people who love domestic thrillers!

Thank you netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Another amazing thriller from these two extremely talented authors. Unputdownable and twisty until the very end. Highly recommend.

I am a huge fan of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s books. Their first two were amazing, but the third I found disappointing and really didn’t like it. I had wanted to save this book for when I really needed it and since I had been in a bit of a reading slump, this seemed like the perfect time for it.

I love their writing style with dual narrators and short chapters. It keeps you wanting to grab the book any chance you get.

The Golden Couple continues with that narrative style and is told from the perspectives of Avery, a former therapist turned consultant and Marissa, a new client.

Marissa has sought out Avery’s help as she recently cheated on her husband and wants to come clean about it. She tells him in their first session and her husband agrees to go through Avery’s 10 session process to fix their marriage.

As the sessions go on, more details come out about Marissa, her husband and their part. Avery starts to look into them more, while an incident with a previous client continues to haunt her.

I didn’t completely love the plot of this one, and I found some of the twists were easy to figure out. But even having said all that, the who/what/why of it and how everything is connected is always so good. There are always some surprises in their books and they always have all the loose ends tied up which I appreciate!

This is a fun book and absolutely lived up to my expectations and helped to break my reading slump. I recommend this book for anyone who likes a good, twisty suspenseful book

<b>What an engrossing, dramatic story! </b>

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Marissa and Mathew Bishop are a DC/Maryland "Golden Couple" - both are good looking, popular, and successful in their individual careers. <i>Their marriage looks almost too ideal...</i>

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But something is horribly, terribly wrong...
Marissa Bishop is desperate to repair her fractured marriage.

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Marissa hires the infamous couples counselor, Avery Chambers, hoping that her "Ten Step program" is going to salvage her imploding marriage.

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I can't go into many details without dropping a "brick-ton" of spoilers, so you will have to read the book or listen to the excellent audiobook to find out for yourself whether Avery succeeds in putting this Golden Couple back on their social throne. (I found the unorthodox therapies and analysis riveting stuff. Psychology and psychoanalysis have always been my kryptonite!)

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Did I figure out all of the mysteries, secrets and lies? You bet, and I suspect that you will, too! Even before I started listening to the audiobook (and reading the Ebook at my gym) I had a suspicion of where this story would go. The side plot involving Avery and the nasty pharmaceutical company held a few unexpected twists and turns, but for the most part, there weren't any glaring shockers that you couldn't see coming.

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Polly - Marissa's assistant at her high end boutique - was so annoying, and Natalie - Mat's ex-college girlfriend - was still in the picture, as was Marissa's "first kiss" childhood sweetheart, Skip.
Is that a love-triangle... or two... or three... that the authors have inserted in this busy plot?

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For a while there I couldn't tell if Natalie was there merely to establish a love triangle, or whether she was something more sinister.....! (One small pet peeve of mine: I actually dislike when villains become "nice people after all" at the end of a story, despite their many misdeeds.)

If you are a Hendricks and Pekkanen fan, then you already know that they don't usually do HEA's - but you do get a twinge of hope for a future HEA in this story - surprise, surprise!.... Well, not really. You could probably see that coming too....

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Although the writing was generally very good, the plot got a bit muddled towards the last third of the novel. In fact, it took an abrupt about-face, character-wise, which is something that can rarely be carried off well. Sorry to say, it didn't transition well for me here either. For me, the authors sort of bludgeoned you over the head with clues and over-explained things right from the very start. (Marissa's demeanour during the first counseling session gave the whole show away right then and there.)

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This story started off strongly, and despite the weaker third portion, I was totally invested in finding out how the story would end - and whether my preliminary suspicions were correct. (I wasn't too far off the mark. Maybe I've been reading too many thrillers?)

I'm rating this one a 3.8, rounded up to a 4, out of 5 because the writing in the e-book was very good (if a tad over-explained here and there). I was given ARCs for both the e-book and the audiobook of <u>The Golden Couple</u> by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. Karissa Vacker and Marin Ireland did a fabulous job of dramatizing this dark domestic thriller. My thanks to the authors, their publisher and NetGalley for ARCs of this e-book and audiobook in exchange for an honest review. (Expected Release date: March 8, 2022.)
(Sorry about all the Barbie and Ken graphics, but when they popped up in my image searches, I simply could not resist!!!)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of The Golden Couple.

Hendricks and Pekkanen are the masters of suspense. Therapist Avery Chambers isn't actually a therapist, not anymore anyway. Her non-traditional therapy practices are highly successful, but her strategies got her license revoked. That doesn't stop her. Enter Matthew and Marissa Bishop, a seemingly perfect couple -- but only from the outside. They hold more secrets than just Marissa's affair and Avery find herself in the middle of it.

This novel is highly recommended for any suspense fan and includes twists that the reader will not see coming!

This is an excellent book! I was up all night reading it, I could not put it down. It did start off a little slow and/or confusing for me, but after a few chapters I was hooked.

Thanks to netgalley, the author and publisher for the advanced copy.

ABSOLUTELY Loved this book. The, mysterious. The plot kept me guessing and shifting opinions from one chapter to the next. Both Avery and Marissa proved to be fantastic narrators- highly recommend and look forward to interviewing the authors.

Greer and Sarah have written another great book full of mystery, twists, and turns. Matthew and Marissa seem like the perfect couple to those on the outside, but when Marissa cheats she seeks out a therapist to help them through this rough patch. Avery, the therapist, has lost her license for her unconventional ways. This book is a page-turner and just when you think you have things figured out there will be a twist!

Preorder Book Alert. If you are a thriller lover, you need this one!!!

My favorite thriller writing duo @greerhendricks and @sarahpekkanen did it AGAIN. I LOVED this book about a couple in therapy for infidelity.

But their therapist isn’t just any therapist, she’s got an extreme method gauranteed to fix issues in 10 sessions.

The twists and turns of this story kept me on my toes, but the writing kept me HOOKED. I think I finished it in sitting.

It doesn’t come out until 3/8, but it’s so worth putting on your radar now!

Full of complicated characters harboring secrets, The Golden Couple is twisty and wholly engrossing. Each time I thought I knew where the story was headed, the authors threw in another curveball. A fun ride from start to finish!

Ah, the writing duo of Pekkanen and Hendricks is an absolute match made in heaven! The Golden Couple is no exception and perfectly demonstrates their writing brilliance and I absolutely loved it!

Told in alternating POV between Avery, an unorthodox therapist (newly relieved of her license) with unusual methods and her newest client, Marissa Bishop. It is a quickly paced, multifaceted thriller that led me down a merry path of speculating who was the bad guy(s). Twists and turns in all the right places had me speeding through, fully engrossed until the end. Bravo, authors, bravo!

My favorite part though is the character of Avery Chambers! Avery is a morally grey and incredibly flawed MC and I couldn’t get enough of her! She’s definitely someone I want to read more about and if she were to become the center of her own series, I’d read Every. Single. Book. Seriously, just take my money! But I digress – as usual.

I was able to both listen to and read The Golden Couple, thank you to @StMartinsPress and @Libro.FM, and it was an amazing immersive experience. Marin Ireland is one of my all-time favorite narrators and she embodied Avery’s personality complete with sarcastic wit and sass! Karissa Vacker gives an equally compelling performance with the voice of Marissa.

I cannot recommend this one enough!

I'm a huge Greer and Sarah fan and The Golden Couple definitely did not disappoint. I am incredibly grateful to have read an early copy of this. The book starts out with Marissa and Matthew Bishop at their first session with former therapist, Avery Bishop.

Once Avery begins working with them, it puts the three of them on course where their lives are oddly intertwined, and none of them realize it. If I say much more, it will lead to spoilers, and no one wants that. Let's just say if you have the ability to read an early copy, do so. And if you aren't able to, add it to your TBR list for March IMMEDIATELY.

HUGE thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

4.5/5 stars

I normally try to wait until closer to pub dates to read my NetGalley books but with this one I just couldn't resist diving in right away. I was able to alternate between audio and e-book and found both formats to be enjoyable, however I liked listening to it just a smidge more.

In The Golden Couple we follow a couple who is going to therapy using an unconventional therapist. It has the what the heck are these people hiding vibes but thankfully not the unreliable female narrator crap that I loathe even though I didn't particularly care for one of the main female characters.

Overall I thought it was a solid thriller with a plotline that I didn't predict right away, so a major plus.

Another winner from Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen! It will keep you guessing and just when you think you've figured everything out, there is another great twist. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title. This psychological thriller definitely kept me hooked and wanting to read to find out what would happen next, but that said, it wasn't actually the most thrilling ending or story. Plus, the main therapist character was a bit unbelievable. Still a decent read, and probably best for hetero readers.

The Golden Couple brings to light how things are often not as they seem…. The instaperfect family and their unconventional therapist both were hiding secrets from the past.

As always, I adore Greer and Sarah’s engaging writing and I flew through this psychological thriller in about two days. Just when I thought I had things figured out, a new plot twist would come along and keep me guessing!!

My only issue was that there were maybe a few too many dramatic storylines circulating on one book. I would have loved for Avery’s storyline to have continued into a series or to have been an entire book of her own!!

This book was decent. It had a lot of red herrings that kept me guessing and I definitely didn’t see the ending coming. It left me wanting something else though. I just can’t put a finger on what. I find myself comparing everything to The Wife Between us and it’s incredible twists. That is still my favorite.

Review posted to blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

Who knew Marriage Counseling could be so fun?!

As If!

When it comes to hiring a Counselor, Avery Chambers is quite sought after. Her methods are a tad unconventional and wildly unpredictable. A former therapist who got under a little hot water, Avery decided to open up a new type of counseling practice.

In only 10 sessions, the first of which is entitled “The Confession” Avery gets results.

Just ask Marissa and Matthew Bishop. Known as The Golden Couple, they hire Avery after Marissa divulges that she cheated on Matthew. What happens next is explosive and truth be told, highly entertaining.

If you’re going to grab this, I highly recommend the audiobook, as it was narrated by the stellar Marin Ireland and Karissa Vacker, both of whom knocked it out of the park.

Another winner by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen - who continue to impress. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Another fab buddy read with Kaceey.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Libro.fm

Published on Goodreads and Twitter.