A so so read about a couple who move to England. Rob gets a chance to teach at university while Jacey gets to stay home at Malin house. Strange sounds and appearances start to rattle Jacey. Old curses and rumors abound that are tied to Jacey's grandmother. Elements of The Shining are scattered about. This was not my cup of tea.
Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read and review.

Although I didn't like the characters very well I read the book as i really wanted to find out if something supernatural was happening - no spoilers here! great plot

At first, I did not think I was going to enjoy this book. The beginning seemed to drag a bit before anything really happened. However, at about 50% the story really started to pick up and made up for the beginning. The characters were however horrible. Rob was the actual worst and Jacey was so insecure and naive. Jacey, however, did grow on me towards the end.

The storyline was good, an unreliable narrator or a ghost? Or both? I love a book where you really have to pick up on the clues to determine what is actually going on because you can’t rely fully on the narrator. Or so you think.

All in all, this was a good quick read for me. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes psychological thrillers.

Unfortunately I couldn’t care for the characters in this book and that meant I couldn’t enjoy it properly. The book would have been better had the characters been more interesting.

His job offers the young couple the opportunity to relocate to England for a year and live in gothic mansion while he works. She starts to hear and see things as soon as she's alone in the house. He's kind of a jerk, policing her vocabulary and behavior so she won't seem too American and embarrass him. Their new home is near the small village her grandmother came from and she begins to hear rumors of a family curse. I mostly enjoyed this one. The Jayce compares her situation to The Shining and, while that makes total sense, I think I was getting more of a Rosemary's Baby or Yellow Wallpaper vibe. It was great until the ending, which was a bit of a let down after the author had built up so much great suspense.

Thanks for the ARC.

The supernatural storyline kept me reading but the characters were unlikeable and the ending anticlimactic.

The Perfect Couple by Jane Mcloughlin. Joffe Books, Lume Books, 2024.

Jacey met Rob, her handsome but disappointed and disappointing husband ten years earlier. They have a negative encounter in a bar, then he turns up as lecturer in her 2nd year English class. They’ve been together for nine years, married for seven, the year after she dropped out.

The story begins with a quick flashback to their decision to quit their jobs so he can accept a one-year academic appointment at a small UK university. Faced with the decision, Jacey experiences “hollowing”; the air, light and sound around her change. This appears to be her response to stress, familiar but not felt since she was a teenager.

In London for a week before heading to Sussex, first their bar tab and then someone’s dog land in the river and we experience Jacey’s “hollowing” again. Before he drops them off, the taxi driver hints that the accommodations arranged for them for the year are haunted. Jacey and her mother have a puzzling relationship. Jacey’s maternal grandmother was a WWII war bride; some of her story emerges.

Jane Mcloughlin is an accomplished writer. The Perfect Couple is an intriguing, easy to read and follow story with some unexpected twists.
Character development well done for both main characters, Jacey is more engaging if readers can overlook her questionable decision making (leaving a demanding job as an arts development officer, knowing she can’t work in the UK so will be dependent on her increasingly unappealing husband who will be working long hours) without a good plan for her time. I found supporting characters to be shadowy; some relationships that were unexpected emerged and some relationships that I guessed might emerge did not.

At this point in my life, I read only for my own entertainment and enjoyment. I don’t read anything I don’t have to read, I don’t finish books or even read more than a few pages unless I enjoy them. I started reading this book one cold February evening, and “finished” it in one go. I say “finished”, because at 30%. I skipped to the beginning of the last chapter, read the first few sentences to see who was still there, then worked my way backward, glancing through just the first few sentences of the last ~10 chapters. Then I went back to Chapter 14 and resumed reading where I’d left off (not something I’ve done before) until after 1am.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of The Perfect Couple free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. #THEPERFECTCOUPLE #NetGalley

This would have been more entertaining had it not featured a whiny man-boy and his idiotic door mat wife as main characters. Seriously, they were irritating and I was pulled out of the story time and time again by the douche or the idiot.

I mostly stayed reading because I wanted to know if there was something supernatural going on or not. I won’t spoil that – I’ll just say that the way the plot played out was surprisingly satisfying.

I only wish that there was at least one character I actually liked.

An okay read.

• ARC via Publisher

Never saw the end coming on this one, and didn’t like the end much. Too many players involved. Written really well though, lots of twists and turns. Characters were well written and believable. It was just the end I wasn’t keen on.

Jacey and Rob move from America to Malin House, a grand mansion, in the English countryside. Before long, Jacey starts experiencing some strange things - bells ringing, knocking, paranoia. A little boy seems to be following her… but why can’t anyone else see him? And what does this have to do with her Nana Ivy?

This was a quick and easy read that kept me turning the pages so fast that I got through it in one sitting. I enjoyed the supernatural element, and it was definitely chilling in places. However, I felt the ending let it down a bit for me and I’d have preferred a few more twists and turns.

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for my advanced copy.

“Just don’t listen to any of the rumors” says the taxi driver as he drops Rob and Jacey at Malin House, a dark gothic style mansion where they will live for the next year. If that weren’t foreshadowing enough, the caretaker tells them that the basement door is “locked because there’s nothing there, really.” Really? Rob, a guest lecturer at the University, loves the house and quickly establishes a downstairs office while Jacey finds it hard to settle in this gloomy, somehow threatening house. Soon, she’s hearing moaning sounds and tinkling bells. A small boy kicking a ball appears in the house and nearby village. Two strange women claim to know her family’s powers. She suspects Rob of lying. And what’s with the increasing strange choking feelings?

The Perfect Couple (hint: they aren’t) is almost impossible to put down. Part mystery, part horror and totally thrilling, it draws you in from the first pages. Jacey is a sympathetic character, baffled by English customs and dialect, as she tries to understand what is happening to the house and to her marriage. Jane McLoughlin builds suspense slowly to a conclusion that is totally unexpected. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Joffe Books and Jane McLoughlin for this ARC.

this story was just so good read in a day.Jacey and her husband Rob are moving from America to Sussex England for a year for him to teach at the University. the house that they are staying in is Malin house a very big house and so creepy. Jacey s Nan came from England and married an American so she wants to do some sightseeing . there. Rob starts to be distant with Jacey he not the nicest anyway and then she starts seeing a little boy. and she thinks her husband trying to have her sectioned. its so good but so creepy a very addictive read

3.5 stars - A well written and crafted story, I was really engaged throughout and wanted to find out what was going on throughout. The main character is an ok perspective to read from and despite the element of sometimes finding her annoying, I really felt for her and her story. The villain of the piece is also well written although it is a predictable trope used throughout. Where I personally felt that this story needs some editing is ensuring that all questions raised are at least hinted at if not completely answered, and there is a need to suspend your disbelief at times. I feel that this is an author I would pick up again, and although not as twisty as perhaps I was expecting, this is a well crafted book that could do with a little but of expansion. Overall, I would recommend for people looking for an atmospheric, interesting thriller that embeds the supernatural element well and uses it to great effect.

3.25

Overall, it was a decent story. However, I found the main characters, Rob and Jacey, to be unlikable and it kept taking me out of the story.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

When Jacy moves to England to live in a historic old mansion with her professor husband Rob she is very interested in checking out local history of the town and mansion since her grandmother used to live there. The mansion is interesting but can be creepy at night with odd happenings, noises etc. Rob dismissed everyone of Jacy's concerns and makes her to feel she needs mental therapy.
After meeting local sister Madyln and Maeve she learns about the "curse" of the kinnet family and about all the young boys who were drowned long ago. Jacy becomes more and more concerned with the events at the mansion especially when she keeps seeing a young lost boy who comes and disappears often.
After her new friend Rael claims he was pushed into ongoing traffic by a person who wasn't visible on any cameras and finding secret correspondence between Rob and her mother Jacy is convinced Rob is having an affair and wants to divorce her.
Things come to a head when Jacy herself is injured in an accident and learns about her families past secrets. A fast paced suspenseful book with a satisfying ending.

The cover will pull you in it is an awesome cover!

This was a very creepy and dark read! Rob and Jacey move to England so that Rob can take a new job and at first Jacey was very skeptical whether to move or not. When they move Rob assures her that everything will be great and they will make friends easily!

When they move to the house it is huge and there are sounds that start coming and not sure from where. No one else can hear them except Jacey. Rob just thinks she is being paranoid and crazy. Jacey starts to wonder what is going on and nothing is making sense at all.

This will grip you from the start and want to find out how it ends. Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review. I really enjoyed this book

This is one of those creepy-dark novels that both delight and amaze you! Rob and Jacey move to England so Rob can take a position at the local university. Jacey is excited as her grandmother lived close to where they will settle and even though they don't know anyone there, they are certain they will make friends easily. But the house they move into is huge and immediately Jacey begins hearing odd sounds--what she calls "the hollowing--and sees a young boy outside kicking a rubber ball. But no one else can hear or see what she does and she becomes paranoid when Rob confronts her and seems to pull away when she acts "crazy." And then she finds letters her own mother has written to her husband; what is going on and why does nothing make sense anymore?? I raced through this one as I had to know!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

This is a good gothic style thriller, that ticks the boxes of all the usual tropes. That said, it’s an intelligently written novel that deserves success, I really did enjoy it! I think it would make a great movie!

It was going to be the perfect year abroad! Rob assures his wife it will be an adventure they won't forget, living in a gothic mansion in England! She goes along thinking it'll be great for their marriage! As soon as they arrive though she starts hearing noises then voices! Why can't anyone else hear these things?! Then there's a little boy but nobody van see him either! Her husband is now acting strange very stand offish, dismissive, and when I bring things up he says its all in my head! Something strange is going on with the people in town and her husband and she needs to find out! This book was a good read! I definitely think its worth reading! I would recommend it! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!