This book was really good. I really enjoy when I think I know what's happening, and then in a split second it all changes. It's the art if a good writer to be able to give you all the clues, get your sucked in, and then switch it up while keeping the reader engaged.

Than you netGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book fell flat for me. While the idea had promise, the character were never fully developed & their relationships felt unrealistic.

The ending had a different twist which I enjoyed but wasn't a jaw-dropper for me.

Nina and her husband Jake have a horrible argument and the next night, he doesn't come home. The same evening, Christian comes home to find his wife Lily acting strange and withdrawn. A little later, Lily begins to tell her husband how Jake attacked her and she fought back, injuring him before she ran away. Days go on, and Jake doesn't return home. Christian and Lily fear the worst and began to try to cover Lily's tracks. All the while, Lily is having to play dumb to her friend and co-worker Nina. Is Jake alive? Did Lily hurt, or worse, kill him? Or did something else happen?

As a Kubica fan, I was really excited to read this. However, it fell flat for me. At times it dragged, and I figured out the ending about halfway through. I did like the multiple POVS and the Fall setting. I got a little worried that I wasn't going to be happy with the ending, but was happy to see that everything turned out how it should.

This was a decent one from Kubica - I really liked the premise and the choice of perspectives to include. As always it was a major page-turner and it definitely kept me guessing. I found the writing a bit jilted and the sentences quite short, and at times a bit cheesy. Perhaps another edit is coming before pub day.

3.5 Stars for me on this one.
Thanks to Netgalley for having provided me an ARC Copy of Just the Nicest Couple. I am a huge fan of Mary's books so I was excited to read this one and expect a great thriller. It def was a good one and so much went on in this one. At first keeping up with the characters was kinda too much for me and the writing was a bit all over the place but eventually it got better and could focus on each one and their role in the story. Overall it was a pretty good one, I have enjoyed her others better but still a good read.

How well do you know your friends? Could they kill your husband? Just the Nicest Couple follows two couples in the midst of a missing husband. Nina's husband Jake hasn't been heard from in a week, did he leave her or has something happened to him. Lily's on edge and Christian is doing everything is his power to keep her safe. Who did what? How safe do you feel with your close friend? This book had some twists that made it more intriguing. Once I was half way through I had to know what really happened to Jake. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Unfortunately for me this book fell flat. While the idea has promise, the character were never fully developed & their relationships felt unrealistic, very 1 dimensional,

The overall twist I didn’t figure out until almost the end which is fun, but I just didn’t care enough about the characters for the book to be enjoyable.

Just The Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica

Mary Kubica loves to write about neighborhood drama, and Local Woman Missing blew me away as being one of my favorite thrillers of last year. Just The Nicest Couple isn’t the same kind of book, but it doesn’t have the same suspense or shock value as some of her other novels.

It’s still a neighborhood drama, following two couples who are neighbors and friends. The wives both teach at the elementary school together, and one of their husbands goes missing following a fight the couple has one weekend. The two couples end up being more involved in each other’s lives than they previously know as secrets are revealed.

What I Liked:

- The fall setting
- The quick chapters

What Didn’t Work for me:

- It was pretty predictable
- The writing style wasn’t as compelling

Hold on to your seat, because the lies and betrayal in Just the Nicest Couple are going to give you whiplash. You should be suspicious of everyone and everything they tell you, but you might just be able to guess whodunnit if you're well-versed in thriller tropes. Netflix would be remiss in not signing this one immediately for film.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Just the Nicest Couple.

To call this a thriller would be a disservice to the genre.

This is one of the slowest books I've ever read with the most mundane plot. Nothing dramatic or exciting or suspenseful happens.

First, the title is misleading; who is it referring to?

Neither of the couples mentioned here are interesting or fascinating.

Second, the plot is so boring, filled with repetition in thought, deed and action; Christian and Lily talking in circles over what could have happened to Nina's husband; Nina constantly worrying about Jake, and her mother's deteriorating health, then back to her husband and how much Jake resented her for spending more time with her sick mother.

Third, the tropes are raging here; Lily purposely withholds information and is your typical unreliable witness/character, coincidence and assumptions play into the sequence of events, Jake is a bully with a powerful career as a neurosurgeon while Nina is just a teacher with no friends except her mother.

At first, I thought Christian was a decent guy, (and he was) but his constant thoughts about how hot Lily is and how she always looks good got tired and annoying fast.

The ending was...exactly as I imagined it. Corny and silly, very Lifetime-y.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this before publication but it wasn't what I had hoped for.

Just the Nicest Couple was my second thriller by Mary Kubica and after the roaring success I felt she had with Local Woman Missing, I think this one will hold the second place spot for now. The story itself was great, it progressed nicely and the twist absolutely threw me for a loop. However, the sentence structure felt choppy at times... and this is coming from someone who is terrible at grammar and word creation. The final chapter tied up things a bit too quickly with some plot points not feeling like they matched up with the character's attitude toward a situation as it had through the course of the story. Otherwise, this story satisfied my craving for a good thriller and still am looking forward to reading more of Mary's backlist.

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

As much as I loathe to say this because I love this author, her latest with Just the Nicest Couple was awful. Unbelievable characters and situations, missed opportunities, redundancies, and that terrible ending. I kept reading because I loved the author’s previous novel Local Woman Missing and kept hoping the second half her latest would redeem itself, however it jumped the track and landed in the worst possible place for me.

Mary Kubica does it again! I love ALL of her books! I literally read this book in 4 hours. The first couple of pages pulled me in and I knew I was up for a long night! There are two couples, the two wives are friends and one husband turns up missing! This was unputdownable! And the twist at the end, I did not see that coming!!! This is a must read and I’m certain it’ll be a best seller!!

3/5 stars. I love me a good Mary Kubica book. This one was not my favorite, but that is okay! I was pulled into the plot early, but I found myself putting the book down, and not being on the edge of my seat to pick it back up. It was more of a slow burn for me. I am glad I stick with it and finished it, though.

Just the Nicest Couple
My thanks to #NetGalley and #HarperCollins for the advance copy ebook of #JusttheNicestCouple by Mary Kubica, in exchange for an honest review. This was my first Mary Kubica book, and what a rollercoaster ride it was! Two friendly co-workers and their husbands find their lives intertwined when one husband goes missing. This is a great psychological thriller with several plot twists and red- herrings here and there. A very tense story that’s filled with twists and culminates in a very satisfying ending.

Thank you to @harpercollinsca for the advanced digital copy of Just The Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica.

I am a big Kubica fan (as you can see by this picture). She’s had me since Good Girl; I am the first to admit that since then, some of her books have been significantly stronger than others, but Just The Nicest Couple didn’t disappoint.

The story is told through the alternating POVs of Nina, a school teacher whose husband, Jake, is missing, and Christian, the husband of Nina’s co worker, Lily. Nina and Lily are friends and co workers, and the couples are friendly. When Lily confides in Christian that she was attacked by Jake the day he went missing in a park and hit him on the head with a rock in self defence before fleeing the scene, Christian immediately begins to help his wife cover her tracks.

I know some people found the writing to be simplistic, specifically Christian’s POV and some of the comments he made regarding Lily, but I felt it was very much intentional, emphasizing his naivety and justifying his actions.

This was definitely a slow burn domestic thriller - exactly what I’ve come to expect from Kubica. I found it equal parts predictable and surprising, but which I enjoyed; the book went where I expected and wanted it to, but I was also surprised by the final twist and how it ended. If you are a fan of Kubica already, this book was definitely for you!

I've liked some of Mary Kubica's books but this one did not do it for me. The writing was awful and I couldn't enjoy the characters or story one bit.

Just the nicest couple is a book about two friends and their husbands. One friend comes home after claiming her friends husband attacked her. She has blood on her clothes. The book continues with one wife looking for her missing husband and her friend trying to keep secret that she was with him. This is a good book by a great author. At times, I felt the story got long. I did guess the ending also. But if you love this author, you should give this book a try.

Fans of Mary Kubica's other books are sure to enjoy this latest offering. JUST THE NICEST COUPLE is one of those books that feels like it's about people you might know. I especially enjoyed how the lives of the couples intertwined.

The pacing feels right for the domestic suspense genre and Kubica maintains a good balance of the characters' inner thoughts with external action. While we don't do a deep character dive on anyone, we don't need to for the sake of the plot.

The ending is satisfying, which in my opinion is important in this type of book so that the reader feels his or her time was well spent. Overall, this is an enjoyable and suspenseful read.

Just the Nicest Couple is a fun, quick read with plenty of twists, characteristic of Mary Kubica thrillers.
Thank you HarperCollins/Park Row Books for the physical review copy!