3.5 stars rounded up.

*Arc review*

I really did enjoy this book. I thought the story line was really good, I didn't really love anything about the characters... I definitely thought I knew what the ending was going to be, but I was caught off guard by some of the ending. The ending kind of fell flat for me a little bit. Like it was just kind of a generic ending.

Side note, the formulating of the ebook was very messed up and I found it really hard to read. But didn't take any stars off for that.

What a fun and mysterious read! Great for fans of ONLY MURDERERS IN THE BUILDING and THE PARIS APARTMENT. It has the best Agatha Christie vibes - I enjoyed every second.

The New Couple in 5B was an interesting read for sure. The characters were well developed and the storyline was very intriguing. However, the book was slow to take off. The last quarter of the book felt almost thrown together with plot points. The pacing could have been improved. Otherwise, I did enjoy it!

If you are a lover of the shining by Stephan king this book is for you! It felt like a revitalized twist on the classic. The similarities are there to give those psychological goosebumps. But it’s still diverse enough from the shining that you can see the author’s personality and own twists really shine through.

There were a LOT of characters I will say. Some were a bit similar so it was hard for me to remember who was who at points however thanks to the kindle search option I just dropped the name in and the authors description was the first thing that came up for each name getting me back on track. I think my brain was to in grossed in the story to remember names this was more a reader error but something other readers may also have a hard time with so just pay better attention than I did! But the author still did a great job with the character depth and development.

The first 10 chapters really thrust you into the story line and set the action up. And by 25% of the book it was hard to put down. Kindle gave me an estimate of 8 hour read I finished it in 5.5 hours 😅 less to say this book has a grip on me.
It was a great read and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to be an arc reader!!

Wow!! What did I just read?! I couldn’t put this book down!! The characters were well developed and I found myself staying up way past my bedtime to finish it. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this incredible book! I will definitely be sharing it with all of my fellow book lovers!

This book reminds me of a movie I’ve seen, but can’t place the name. A couple is left an apartment in an expensive building by an uncle. Unfortunately, many deaths have occurred at this building through the years. As soon as the couple move in, weird things begin tohaapen. This story goes back and forth between the present and the past. Some great twists and unexpected things kept me guessing about how this book would end!

I really wanted to love this book! I hate to give a bad review and I don’t want to, I just don’t think this book was for me. I kept waiting for something big to happen, something exciting, but it never came. Disappointed but I hope others will love it!

This was not my favorite book by Lisa Unger, but I still enjoyed the mystery. Unger writes stories that usually captivate and sweep me away, but I found my self slowly reading this one and I don't know if it was the pacing or the characters. I will still continue to read her books, but this just didn't do it for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Park Row books for an advanced readers copy of The New Couple in 5B.

I really had a trouble putting this book down each night. It reels you in early on with the dueling time lines that interweave the storylines and help with character development. The author does a great job of getting you intrigued by the history of the building early on in the story and it continues up to the ending.

This book does have some themes that could be triggering for some readers. Though I found it acceptable even for young adult readers.

Thank you NetGalley, HarperCollins and Killer Crime Club for my advanced copy. I really enjoyed The New Couple in 5B. Lisa Unger keeps us engaged with all her twists and turns. She also adds some paranormal elements to this one. I don't want to give anything away, so I will end by saying read this you will not be disappointed.

Fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware will love this new thriller from NYT bestselling author Lisa Unger! The story follows a writer and her actor spouse who inherit an upscale apartment at The Windermere, a luxury building in New York City with a very dark history. As Rosie sets out to research and write about the murderous history of the building, death and danger follow closely behind her. Unpredictable and original!

The characters were so well thought and intriguing. The building even felt like a living breathing character. I had a love hate relationship with Chad, I couldn’t tell if he was a great actor or a horrible husband. I had all the feels for Rosie…she grew up with an intense family, had a therapist that said they were wrong, was she depressed or just going crazy? I wish there was more insight into why some of the residents looked 20 years younger than they were. The ending was one I didn’t quite see coming.

I really enjoyed this book. A couple is gifted an apartment from a family member, and the story weaves between past and present to tell about the history of the building they will now live in. Lies, betrayals, and even ghosts? I liked how the book was written, and I’ll definitely check out other books by this author as well.

THE NEW
COUPLE
New York Times Bestselling Author of
SECLUDED CABIN SLEEPS SIX
LISA UNGER
Horror/Thtiller
Engaging narrator
Reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby
A lucky inheritance
turns into anything but lucky
Combination of & horror
mystery build into feelings of dread
Fast moving & creepy
One of her best books vet

What would you be willing to do for the perfect New York City apartment? The Windermere exudes exclusivity and power and Chad and Rosie have just inherited their own little 5 million dollar piece of its dark history from Chad’s ailing uncle. Despite whispers of ghosts, cults, murders, and suicides occurring at the residence, Rosie and Chad experience nothing but good fortune. He lands an acting role of a lifetime, they are trying for a baby, and she is a “best selling author” researching the history of the building for her new book. It isn’t long before their luck turns. As Rosie gets deeper and deeper into the truth of the Windermere’s past, she begins to see strange visions of the spirits who have died within its walls and they are telling her to run! Who is watching the residents of the Windermere and who can she trust?

The tension and suspense builds and builds until the very end which comes full circle to the beginning. If you are a fan of Riley Sager’s Lock Every Door, you will love this twist on how a building’s past never really stays in the past. This was my first read by this author and will definitely be adding a few more of her titles to my TBR!

A creepy mystery with supernatural touches that has a great sense of old New York apartment buildings which is more Rosemary’s Baby (acknowledged) than Only Murders in the Building.

Rosie and Chad Lowan are on the way up: Rosie’s second true crime book has been accepted and Chad is, finally, up for some juicy and lucrative acting roles. And the cherry on top is when Chad’s uncle dies, leaving his $5m dollar apartment in the Windermere building to the couple instead of his daughter.

I’m guessing that, like me and Rosie, most readers will only have experienced a traditional doormanned New York apartment in books or movies and that makes this novel feel a little staged and old-fashioned. Rosie never feels quite comfortable in Apartment 5B, despite the warm welcome from elderly neighbors, Ella and Charles Aldridge, and when people connected to the building start getting murdered, she feels even more out of joint.

All very atmospherically done, with Rosie’s family background coming to the fore as she starts having “visions” (or are they?) and the dogged detective digging up clues from the past. It’s a little slow going for most of the novel - maybe could have done with Rosie’s editor to trim the fat? - but has a couple of decent twists though (view spoiler)

Rosie is quite a passive character. For all the “research” she does, she doesn’t seem to find anything that leads to the mystery being solved. Her commitment to Chad leads her to make convoluted explanations/excuses for his behavior and I found her attitude to seeing a horrifying apparition in the basement to be surprisingly casual - you wouldn’t have seen me for dust if that had been me. It’s really the antagonists who drive the plot along and that keeps being justified by characters agreeing that you just never know what will motivate someone to murder.

Overall, a decent read though it niggled that several characters had “faceted” eyes which I’m having trouble visualizing - are they insects?

Thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

📜The New Couple In 5B
✍️Lisa Unger
📠Harlequin Trade/Park Row Books
📚Mystery/Thriller, Fiction
🗓️Pub date: March 5, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @parkrowbooks for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Also, thank you to @launger for writing a spine-tingling thriller!

✨Newly married couple, Rosie and Chad, are surprised to learn that Chad’s late uncle left them his luxury New York apartment in his will. This couldn’t have happened at a more convenient time, as they are financially struggling and barely making ends meet.

✨Upon moving into the apartment at Windermere, everything seems wonderful—the fellow tenants and doorman are nice, and they are thrilled with their new lodgings.

✨But suddenly things start to happen—unspeakable things—and Rosie and Chad wonder if they’ve made the right decision to move in. Why does the apartment building have cameras in practically every corner? And why has no one mentioned all the grisly accidents, suicides, and murders that have occured here over the years?

✨A gothic-vibe thriller, The New Couple in 5B is creepy and haunting, and I couldn’t get enough! A cross between Lucy Foley’s The Paris Apartment and Rachel Hawkins’ The Heiress, you’ll definitely want to read with the lights on and the doors locked! Great book!

✨QOTD: Would you move into a place if you knew it harbored nightmares?

#netgalley #thenewcouplein5b #lisaunger #thiscovertho #parkrowbooks #thrillerfiction #winterreleases #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #ivegotbooks #killmewithwords #idratherbereading #creepyvibes #thrillersandkillersofig #readwiththelightson #qotd
#gothicvibes

Having previously read a few of Lisa Unger’s books, I was excited to jump into reading The New Couple in 5B. The story is about a young married couple, Rosie and Chad Lowan. Rosie is a true crime writer and Chad is an actor who has yet to get his big break. Their lives change when Chad inherits a historic luxury apartment at The Windermere, in the Murray Hill neighborhood of NYC. The Windermere has a dark past with a history of murders and suicides. Rosie decides to write about the history there and in the process of her research, the more she finds the more she worries about who she can trust or what to think. Rosie believes she is being watched and as her paranoia builds, so does the suspense.
I enjoyed the dual time line and points of view. This book was definitely a page turner and kept my interest. However, I felt like there were too many clues in the beginning as to who was suspicious. Also, I was not expecting the paranormal elements in the story. As a reader, I generally don’t love stories involving the supernatural, but if I do read them I prefer a heads up going into it so I can shift my mindset.

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC.

Inheriting an apartment from Chad Lowan's uncle should make him and his wife Rosie happy. This is not just any apartment. It is more luxurious than they can believe. Chad took good care of his uncle before his passing, yet his cousin is furious that her father did not leave the expensive apartment to her. The apartment is worth millions, so while Chad's cousin is furious, Chad and Rosie are more than pleased.

As Rosie and Chad begin to settle in, problems hit hard and fast. In fact, there are some mysterious occurrences. One thing Rosie finds strange is their ever-present doorman. He always seems on the job, day or night, and this is very odd to Rosie. Then factor in the history of the apartment building itself. There is more than just any history. In fact, the building's history is shrouded in mystery and it proves to be a rather dark one at that.

When I first got this book, I got it as a Kindle ARC, as every book by Lisa Unger is an absolute must read. However, I was then able to get it as an audiobook for review, and I must say that I definitely enjoyed this book more as I was able to listen to the excellent narration.

With a creepy vibe, this story kept me riveted from beginning to end. It was intriguing to see behind the actions of the characters and the twists that were in this story. I must admit that I was surprised that this book had a strong paranormal vibe to it and that is something that I try and avoid. However, as a fan of Unger's I stuck with this book and found it impossible to put down.

Many thanks to Park Row and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Chad and Rosie helped take care of Chad’s uncle in his last months of life. When they find out that he unexpectantly leaves them his expensive apartment, they were floored. Everyone was welcoming and they tried their best to adjust to their new place. Rosie soon learns that there are mysteries contained within Windermere and not all of them are in its past. Will Rosie discover the truth about Windermere before it is too late?

The New Couple in 5B is a stand-alone mystery that was one-part suspenseful and one-part history. Readers will wonder how many of the issues are personal and which parts may be supernatural, yet Unger did a superb job blending all elements into a cohesive storyline. I was a little disappointed in the ending, but the build up made the entire experience a pleasure.