For me, this book was mismarketed. It is not a mystery or a thriller. It was too slow moving for me and I didn't have a good time. I hope Ruth Ware will go back to mystery roots because I love them so much, such as Turn of the Key and The Death of Mrs. Westaway.

I love a great Ruth Ware and this has a bit of everything. The story involves a wannabe actor who is dating a woman who has her doctorate in virology. He signs them up to participate in a new reality show that will be filming in the Indian Ocean on a remote island. She reluctantly agrees because she sees the importance to his career and wants to try to support him. They take a ridiculously long journey to the island and meet the other cast members, Surprising twists occur and also a massive storm that leaves the cast facing dire circumstances that they have to handle to try to survive,
This is classic Ruth Ware, with an isolated setting, a group of questionable characters, and challenging circumstance, followed by people dying one after the other. The other interesting aspect of this book that fits the remote setting is the Lord of the Flies nod.
I really enjoyed picking this one up and highly recommend it for those wanting a great setting and a closed circle mystery.
#OnePerfectCouple #NetGalley #GalleryBooks

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy from one of my favorites!!!! Ruth Ware doing love island meets survivor with murder was just awesome. She gets better with each book, which seems impossible because they’re all perfect!

Ruth Ware once again brings her yearly "summer" psychological thriller to her fans and as always she keeps your pulse racing with every page. Her descriptions are so real and accurate, I actually felt like I was stuck on the island with the characters. Great book...thanks for the advanced copy!

Ruth Ware did it again! She is such a mastermind with mysteries, thrillers, and twists, all while writing compelling and complicated characters. I was hooked from the beginning. The study of human behavior through her characters is also compelling from a behavioral perspective.

What a page turner this book was. I am quite familiar with Ruth Ware’s work, as I’ve now read 7 of her books, and this one will definitely be rated amongst my favorites.

It was a high-stakes thriller, with a well-written plot. I always love when she creates a whodunnit type mystery and adding in the element of these characters being stranded on an island with a reality tv premise, just really worked so well. This book was so visually descriptive and utterly captivating that I felt like I was right there alongside these characters fighting for survival. I loved how the reveals were done. I was pleasantly surprised by how much emotion I felt towards these characters. Most thrillers don’t have me as invested as I was in the fates of these particular characters, but I think that’s just another testament to Ware’s writing. She really captured the human spirit in a thriller predominantly about survival.

Overall, this was an absolute solid thriller and I will be highly recommending it.
Thank you to Gallery Books, Scouts Press, and NetGalley for my #gifted ARCs!

I was very unsure this book would deliver much excitement with the “trapped in a storm or on and island (or both)” becoming very played out and often predictable, not to mention, it’s been done already but Ruth Ware herself.

However, despite it taking me a good while to remember which of the many characters was which, I got past this and was hooked.

I love Ruth Ware, she has, so far, never disappointed me, and I can always count on an intriguing and suspenseful read. Is every single thing believable? No.
But suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to enjoy the ride, because this was a fun one.

*Thank you to Scout Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review and to Simon Audio for the gifted ALC*

Eeeeeee!! This is a Fyre Fest of a reality show - "One Perfect Couple" is essentially the Newlywed Game meets Temptation Island and honestly I would've been game if that was all that happened. Luckily it quickly devolves into a Lord of the Flies situation, so there are plenty of thrills. Alternating between Lyla's PoV, the distress call transcripts, and Zana's found journal entries, it all tells a conflicting story... Also someone please tell me what happened to Joel because I have NO idea. Imogen Church's narration was riveting and I loved the different accents she did.

I do think that there were several missed opportunities for plot twists, but I still really enjoyed the read. It's truly a story of women coming together to survive at all costs.

Ruth Ware delivers another page turner! I finished this one in a day. Reality tv gone wrong, 5 couples compete to be the perfect couple before a perfect storm leaves the contestants stranded on the island with a murderer. Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ruth Ware loves to put groups of people in remote locations where trouble is sure to follow. This formula has worked for her before (One By One especially) and also in her latest One Perfect Couple. Five couples are sent to "Ever After Island" in the Indian Ocean to compete for the title of One Perfect Couple for a "Survivor" type show. But there are red flags from the beginning-producers evade questions as to if One Perfect Couple has been actually picked up by a network or is still in "development." Upon arrival on the island the contestants are told they must surrender their phones and other electronics- seemingly to prevent details of the show from being leaked, but with all communication to the outside world cut off, their biggest challenge becomes far more than not being to able to post on Instagram. When a massive storm hits Ever After Island they are left to fend for themselves in brutal conditions. Narrated by contestant Lyla, who was pressured to participate in One Perfect Couple by her actor wannabe boyfriend Nico, the tension increases with each passing day as their meager supplies decrease with no way of reaching the outside world. One Perfect Couple is a blend of old school psychological drama & suspense and modern day "reality TV" where it's already impossible to know what is truth and what is being staged for the cameras. The characters are an interesting mix of Millennial's and Gen Z'ers, all looking for their shot at fame. It's fast paced and a bit quirky, with an ending that is perfect for none of the couples but works brilliantly.

This was... not great.

It didn't feel like a mystery. It felt like the big reveal happened around 50% and after that, there was no suspense. I don't know how or why this book fell flat, but it was just not her best.

I also got all the characters confused, which is a me problem and not the author's fault. That's my reading red flag. It's a curse. But they all started to blend together because everyone was GORGEOUS.

I definitely felt like the MC was not the brightest. She kept trying to be the peacekeeper instead of figuring what the F was going on.

It was quick, I'll give it that. Didn't drag on too long but was definitely not my favorite of hers.

One Perfect Couple is a new reality TV show pitting couples against each other to proclaim one the Perfect Couple. Lyla is a scientist whose latest experiments aren't turning out the way she hoped so when her wanna be actor boyfriend asks her to join him on the show, she acquiesces. Nico desperately wants to be on the show because he thinks it's his shot to fame since his acting career isn't going anywhere.

There are four other couples along with Baz, the producer and his assistant Camille who deals with the contestants. They all meet in Indonesia and then head out on a boat to the middle of the ocean, a 20 hour trip from land. The competition has only been underway on this deserted island for one day before a storm comes through and devastates the island leaving the competitors not knowing if they will be rescued or stuck for a long time. This is when a story about couples becomes more a story of survival.

Most of the story is told in the first person by Lyla, but we also hear the SOS calls and diary entries. This is very much a character driven novel, my favorite! It takes a little bit to really get to know all the characters and of, course, they act differently when they know they are on camera versus when they cameras aren't around. But you really get to know them and I couldn't help but root for certain ones.

I couldn't put this down, another sign of how much I enjoyed it. I think I will stick with novels though, I still don't have a desire to watch the type of reality TV that this book talks about. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Great Ruth Ware as usual! Loved the storyline and setting. Was interested in the characters and couldn’t finish fast enough. Definitely recommend for any mystery lover. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

If something is too good to be true, it probably is. Lyla has concerns about the project from the first time Nico discussed it with her and she was right. When a mystery starts out basically telling you there is going to be a problem, you know going in there is going to be a problem. The mystery is how big a problem and who is going to survive. It's like "Survivor", "The Bachelor", and "Lord of the Flies" mixed it up and produced "One Perfect Couple" as a Reality TV series. What could possibly go wrong? Throw in a hurricane, a deeply hidden agenda and a volatile mix of personalities and the answer is: a lot. The story grabbed me, kinda like a train wreck or a Nascar race, I just couldn't look away. I can't say I enjoyed it, I'm not really a psychological thriller reader, but it did make me want to know how it all ended.

Lyla is a virologist whose research has not produced the results she, and the school she is working for, were hoping for. She is facing the end of her contract and wondering where she goes from here. Lyla thought she would be more settled at 32 years old. Her boyfriend of over two years, Nico, is a struggling actor just waiting for his big break. When Nico's agent approaches him with the opportunity for a new Reality TV series for couples, he is so excited. This will surely be his big break. He just needs to get Lyla on board, but how hard could that be? Afterall, she would be guaranteed a two-week trip to an island paradise and help Nico get his big break.

3 1/2-Stars

My thanks to the Publisher and Author for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

One Perfect Couple had so many twists and turns....and the journal aspect really kept me on my toes.

Wow. That was a whirlwind and I loved it. Absolutely pulled some Lord of the Flies vibes in a Bachelor show-type setting with, of course, a thriller-style twist. A quick read and enjoyable ride. Highly recommended. I've already put in on order for my library!

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware was a fast and entertaining book! It’s not what I was expecting after reading the plot summary - I would describe this as part survival, part reality show, rather than a psychological thriller, but it was entertaining and a nice change of pace for me. Add in a devastating storm on a remote island and I’m immediately hooked!

Ware is a great writer and I find most of her books engaging, well planned, and presented in a way that’s enticing and exciting. Ware did an extremely good job creating a rich sense of atmosphere on the island and I was immediately drawn into the setting and survival in the aftermath of the storm.

Where this story fell short for me was the character development and sense of tension and suspense. While the survival aspect was fun to read, I didn't find the storyline very complex or thrilling. There wasn't much tension, and there was no element of guessing or puzzle-solving to discover who committed the murders. I also felt like the pacing dragged in a few places and the story could have been a little tighter to create more sense of urgency.

One Perfect Couple is a quick read and entertaining. Unfortunately, while I've been a fan of Ware's previous novels, this one fell short for me. I would still recommend it to readers who enjoy survival stories with a hint of mystery, although it may not satisfy those looking for a serious psychological thriller.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Ruth Ware for an advance copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I had high hopes for this one, but I could take it or leave it. A couple - Nico, an aspiring actor and Lyla, a doctoral grad - sign up to join a reality tv show set on a tropical island where couples will compete to show they are One Perfect Couple. A storm arrives the first night and as you would expect, chaos ensues on what quickly becomes a deserted island. Told from the perspective of the person in the aforementioned couple that did not want to join the cast, obviously. This is as if Paradise Hotel, The Bachelor and Survivor had a book baby.

I have enjoyed all of this authors novels. One Perfect Couple is now one of my favorites. I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen next. I"ll be waiting eagerly for her next great novel.


Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery books for my gifted ARC.

*3.5 stars rounded up.

A survival story set on an island twenty hours southwest of Indonesia. Five couples have come to Ever After Island to compete in a new reality TV show competition to decide who is 'The Perfect Couple.' Unfortunately the island is hit by a hurricane shortly after the competition begins and survival becomes all too real.

The main protagonist is Lyla, a scientist whose current research contract is not likely to be renewed. So when her aspiring-actor boyfriend Nico begs her to apply with him to be part of the cast of a new reality TV show, she reluctantly gives in. Nico sees it as his chance to launch his career to the big-time but Lyla figures she'll just give it two weeks before getting herself kicked off the island and she can get back to 'real life.' Neither could imagine how things will actually unfold.

A good beach read to take on vacation--it's entertaining and suspenseful. I am not a reality TV show fan so that part didn't really interest me. It seems like an over-done topic but Ruth Ware does some exciting things with it that kept me turning pages. Sort of a cross between Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and William Golding's Lord of the Flies.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new thriller via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.